#i was born to become friends with people and fucking pine over them in a way that makes me unhealthily attached to them. and then

[biolums]

my mental state: a moodboard.

[mariana-oconnor]

oh my god I would love a gwaine becomes spymaster merwaine fic holy shit what an incredible idea

It would have been so much fun. I have about 6k of post s3 finale with Gwaine and the new knights trying to fit in and I had bullet points of things that needed to be included. I rescued it from the hard drive of my laptop before my laptop before my laptop before last. This thing is over 10 years old and languishes.

It was really born out of my irritation that they did absolutely nothing with Gwaine after establishing his character in his first episode except ignoring all the possible interesting things they'd come up with and essentially making him the comic relief. There was going to be some connection with Caerleon and his family. Some bits taken from classic Arthurian legend.

Here are the bullet points:

Reveal of Gwaine’s nobility (he and some others are caught on Caerleon lands and he uses his family name to gain them passage?)

Accidental magical marriage to Merlin

Gwaine using taverns as hubs for ‘gossip’ i.e. espionage.

Gwaine being underestimated by people

Gwaine being a bit of a slut, but an ethical and honourable one

Gwaine pining after Merlin like a Norwegian Spruce

Things Gwaine Has Seen on his travels – cool magic things, cool magical people he’s met, ‘friends’ and enemies he’s made. At least one nymph. Look, Gwaine has Seen Some Shit, not just the inside of taverns. He’s been travelling around a magic land for years. He was forced into gladiatorial combat by slavers, the guy has Lived.

LANCELOT DOESN’T FUCKING DIE HE AND GWAINE ARE UNLIKELY FRIENDS WHO HAVE TO WORK THROUGH THEIR DIFFERENCES.

Leon handling Gwaine being spymaster because he’s a practical kind of guy.

Gwaine getting that magic thing where his strength/resilience is affected by the sun (a curse?)

I especially like the capital letters. I had clearly installed my big brain that day. 😂

[friends-to-lovers-tournament]

Friends to Lovers Tournament: Round 1, Side A, Match 7

propaganda under the cut!

Sasuke/Mai:

THE MOST FRIENDS TO LOVERS EVER. Mai is the MC of Ikesen which is a dating sim/otome game. Originally from the 21st century, she's accidentally time travelled to the Sengoku Era where she unknowingly rescues Oda Nobunaga from his historical death thus changing the course of history forever. She reunites with a fellow 21st century dweller Sasuke whom she'd briefly met right before the accidental time travel, who is now a ninja. Though they're on opposing sides, they're friends in all the routes as Sasuke promises to protect her and bring her back to the 21st century safely. Regardless of which route you're playing, Sasuke will always be your friend and he's the same smart yet silly goofy guy, making references to 21st century events and slang and memes which have the other warlords scratching their heads in confusion. Sasuke's route is the ultimate friends-to-lovers + slow burn + mutual pining combination, as they both gradually develop feelings for each other, yet it's also kinda frustrating (in a good way) bc Sasuke is SO clueless to her feelings and his own for a good majority of the route while Mai was down horrendous for him. The pay-off in the end is really sweet (i legit cried when sasuke finally confessed to mai lol) and spicy (ikesen is uhh a bit of a mature game), which makes the achingly slow burn really worth it. Also Sasuke's just a really nice fucking guy, like real boyfriend material, no red flags, the perfect golden retriever boyfriend frfr

Fuyupoly:

Submission 1:

they're from the winter troupe of the mankai company, and unlike the other troupes they're all adults. that said, they all have varying degrees of trauma and emotional stuntedness. it takes them some time to fully open up to each other bc they're all very cautious of each other's boundaries and don't want to cross any lines which initially led to some issues in the group's formation. over time they've learned to bridge the gap while still being mindful of hard boundaries. at one point they have a discussion about what exactly their relationship is (gay) cuz they were talking about how the other troupes have clearly defined dynamics (spring=family, summer=besties, autumn=rivals & teammates) but they don't,, and homare deadass says they're "people bound by a common destiny" which in and of itself sounds very Gay (like why are you as a man bound to other men by a common destiny), but it goes even further because homare starts spouting WEDDING VOWS: "In sickness and in health, for better or for worse, we shall share our laughter and our tears as those with an intertwined fate... How beautiful we are!" THIS IS A DIRECT QUOTE FROM THE GAME AND THE MC EVEN REMARKS "i can already hear wedding bells in the distance..." 

gradually they become closer, in individual sub-units based on who's paired up as co-leads for a play, and as a troupe overall. also two of its members are childhood friends who had a messy 'divorce' in their young adulthood and it took the game breaking its genre to introduce a timeloop for them to finally make up if that means anything to you. one of their troupe songs "precious to us ~bokura no kisetsu" has some pretty beautiful and fruity lines: "The many kindnesses born in me here / Never fail to breathe life into my chest / Even all the pain and bitterness / Have now become dear to me (Ah…Stay with me)", "No matter how many times our season passes / Let us keep living together / Holding our hands, without ever letting go / Let us open up the curtain of tomorrow", "There is no need for words, because once our gazes meet / Joy sparks a light in your eyes", "Our journey, may it be a brilliant one / As our breaths overlap as one"

a lot of their plays has a LOT of homoerotic tension between the two leads too. their first play has tsumugi and tasuku play angels, and it's heavily implied that tasuku's character has an unrequited crush on tsumugi's character. their third play has azuma play a vampire and tasuku play Just Some Guy and it's generally agreed in the fandom to be one of the gayest, if not THE gayest, play A3 has ever written. obviously the vampire thing is very fruity, but there's also how the vampire was longing to bite the human but was holding himself back, and when the vampire left the human in the end, the human was absolutely HEARTBROKEN over it and was swearing they would reunite one day. the stage play of this takes it even further by having the vampire embrace the human from behind and BITE his neck. the fourth play is a watered-down adaptation of Phantom of the Opera where they genderbend Christine into Chris among other things and change the relationship between Chris and the Phantom to one of friendship.... ostensibly so, because there's still a lot of homoerotic undertones in their interactions. i could go on but this should be enough of a sampling taste 

Submission 2:

the writers rlly said "let's take 2 normal guys who are childhood friends and have been into theatre since their school days and have them go through a pre-canon messy divorce, an eccentric poet with a potentially controversial haircut, an amnesiac sleepyhead who can only be awoken with marshmallows but is also somehow extremely athletic despite doing nothing but sleeping and eating marshmallows all day, a man who is so beautiful and mysterious he breaks gender, and a supposed android from a fictional south asian country, and throw them into a blender, oh and for good measure let's throw in some theatre and angst and gay and angst and gay" and the end result was marriage. i mean it took them a lot of awkward fumbling around and conflicts to get there but they got there and thats what matters. ok *technically* in-text they're all rlly good friends and kinda found family BUT they are found family via marriage papers i do not make the rules chief

Submission 3:

The reason why they are so friends-to-lovers to me is because their relationship is founded on quiet and unconditional acceptance of each other—regardless of how flawed they may be or how heavy their burdens and trauma may be. When the troupe first formed (sans Guy who was in another country at the time), they didn’t have any major clashing personalities at the very beginning and generally they were mindful of each other’s boundaries, unlike the other troupes that came before them. However, it’s BECAUSE they were too mindful of said boundaries that it was difficult for them to break down their walls and bond as a team—and there were a LOT of walls to break down, as all of them had varying degrees of emotional baggage and trauma.

In fact, it’s only three plays in that they finally truly start opening up to each other, with Azuma getting the ball rolling by opening up about the deep loneliness that haunted him ever since his childhood. It’s during this conversation that they also discuss what their relationship as a troupe is, because the other troupes have defined their relationship as a team (Spring is family, Summer is best friends, Autumn is rivals & teammates), and Homare goes on to declare that they’re “people bound by a common destiny” and goes on to spew wedding vows: "In sickness and in health, for better or for worse, we shall share our laughter and our tears as those with an intertwined fate... How beautiful we are!" I mean… it can’t get any more obvious than this, really. They are married.

But anyway, Tsumugi says he wants their relationship to be one where while they respect each other’s need for space, they’ll also be there for each other and share their pains and burdens—or in his words: “supporting each other when our burdens become too heavy to bear on our own”—which I think is really sweet because it carries this idea of quiet, unconditional acceptance; they don’t push each other to share more than they’re comfortable with sharing, but with whatever they ARE comfortable with sharing everyone carries the load and pain because pain is easier to bear when you’re not bearing it alone <3 

A later part of the story focuses on Hisoka, a mysterious amnesiac, being terrified of regaining his memories and facing some “sin” from his past that has led to another character, Chikage, trying to take revenge on him. When he confesses this to the rest of the Winter troupe, Homare asks, “How heavy is this sin you bear?” and Azuma suggests, “Perhaps it’s just heavy enough for the five of us to carry together.” (at this point Guy hasn’t joined yet). The stage play adapts this scene into a song called Key to Memory. The key (pun unintended) part is 1:27 where there’s a back-and-forth between Hisoka and the other Winter troupe members (sans Tasuku because he wasn’t in that particular play)

Hisoka: “I’m scared…”

Tsumugi, Homare, Azuma: “It’s okay.”

Hisoka: “My unforgivable sin…”

Tsumugi, Homare, Azuma: “Let’s carry it together.”

Hisoka: “I might not be me anymore.”

Tsumugi, Homare, Azuma: “It’s all right. We understand and we accept you, so let’s go together.”

And it ends with Hisoka singing: “I was afraid to open the door of my locked memories. But if everyone is here, I believe I can do it.”  In both the game and stage play, Hisoka fully regains his memories and reconciles with Chikage (long story). He tells Fuyupoly he can’t go into detail about his past with Chikage because it’s dangerous but he’ll tell them when the time is right, and they accept this saying that no matter what his past is, they know and love him as their Hisoka which obviously is a very sweet thing for friends to say, but it’s also very Marriage-coded to me.

Later, Guy is introduced as an android from Zahra (a fictional South Asian country) and joins the Winter troupe as a temporary member—because he’s stuck in Japan for the foreseeable future—until they find a permanent member to replace him. The other Winter members have a conversation among themselves and agree that regardless of whether he’s really an android or a human they’ll accept Guy for who he is and help him improve his acting, which again harkens back to the idea of ‘unconditional acceptance’. Eventually it’s revealed that Guy is in fact a human who has forgotten his memories of the past and his emotions. He recovers his memories all at once which shocks his system and causes him to pass out. When he wakes up in his room, he finds the rest of the Winter Troupe asleep around the room—which I believe is symbolic of their whole theme of “quiet acceptance”: they don’t want to push Guy to share beyond what he’s comfortable with, but they’re always there to listen to him and share his load if that’s what he wants. He opens up about the memories he recovered, and they don’t treat him with pity like he’s a lost child, but still extend gentle empathy and understanding. They also emphasise that it genuinely doesn’t matter to them whether he’s human or android because he’s Guy first and foremost. It’s at this point that Guy truly lets himself become part of the Winter troupe/Fuyupoly and not just as a temporary stand-in member, because he’s found a place where he’s found himself again and people who will accept who this “himself” is, whether that be an android devoid of emotions or a human brimming with vivid beautiful emotions.

[Mod note: There’s a LOT more but we’re afraid of crashing the post. I (Deli) summarised it the best I can since I’m familiar with A3, but if you want to read the full thing you can check it out on this google doc)

[redux-iterum]

Ok, here's a little challenge for you and the editors; roast for me 10 WC couples of your choice.

This was fun! We each took five with a bonus from the editor, and you can read our complaints after the readmore.

LYNX (editor)

Violetshine X Tree: I'm still trying to get through the latter half of AVOS, so I haven't seen their first time meeting up or them falling in love or anything like that. What makes me rather uncomfortable with this couple is that Tree's old enough to be Violetshine's father. Pebbleshine and Hawkwing were already young lovers, but with the release of Tree's Roots, one can calculate Tree to be born around the same time as Hawkwing. He even meets a heavily pregnant Pebbleshine when he's around fifteen months old. Honestly, if his and Violetshine's dynamic in late AVOS is good enough for a Warriors couple, I'm willing to just headcanon him as at most eight months older than her to make it more palatable. By the way, this has nothing to do with the ages when they meet up. Violet's a year old by Darkest Night and nearly an adult if her sister's warrior assessment is anything to go by.

Clear Sky X Storm: It's been some years since I read DotC, but the love drama in The Sun Trail was pretty stupid. Especially the insta-love thing. Maybe it was an insta-attraction? But this is Warriors and we can't have that, noooooooooo...

Clear Sky X Star Flower: Everyone's gone on with how Clear Sky getting with his son's ex is rather dubious, but what is often neglected is the fact that Star Flower can make choices too! She made the choice to go for her ex's dad which is about as questionable as Clear Sky's choice! My personal headcanon is that she's the kitty equivalent of a gold-digger.

Pebbleshine X Hawkwing: Alright, so you're either of these two nitwits who've recently become a warrior. Your very way of life has been drastically upturned by someone you thought you could trust. You've lost family and friends to your betrayal, and what's worse is you've lost your home. The world you've known for your whole life has been ripped form you and you have to keep ambling forward with the hope that the place you'll finally settle in will be worth all this hardship. The path ahead of you is long, uncertain, and dangerous, and you'll need to have a clear head to have a hope of surviving this season. SOUNDS LIKE THE PERFECT TIME TO BOINK AND START A FAMILY, AM I RIGHT?

Bumblestripe X Dovewing: Pushy, inconsiderate, trademark Nice Guy, from questioning why they haven't had children yet at some random meeting to suggesting they have children at her friend's funeral, everyone's said it already. Bumblestripe is not a good cat for Dovewing. I'm glad she's not with him since that makes her happy. But... Tigerfartstar X Dovewing: Yeah, Dovewing, your taste in toms is awful. This temperamental, arrogant, patronizing shipdit, while not as bad as Bimbostripe over there, is still pretty bad. It's been a long while since I read OotS and I haven't yet read Tigerheart's Shadow, but I probably should to get a refresher on why I hate this couple.

DULLARD

Bristlefrost x Rootspring: So ignoring that Rootspring as a -paw is a whiny, overly defensive putz that acts self-conscious about having Tree as his father, Bristlefrost does not ONCE show interest in him. Not once. Count ‘em, zero times. In fact, she’s aware of his crush on her and is embarrassed whenever he comes around and whenever people notice him staring at her. She actively avoids him and speaks curtly, even rudely, to try and drive him off. Then, out of buttfuck nowhere, she says she has feelings for him once he’s a warrior? When they’ve barely interacted beyond her spurring his affections? Fuck with that?

Crowpaw x Feathertail: Feathertail, you’re a nice girl. You’re team mom and almost a second in command to Brambleclaw. Everyone likes you. So why in the good god damn fuck does a pissant like Crowpaw (an apprentice at the time, by the way) deserve your recognition, let alone your love? You could get literally any other cat you wanted to, and you go for the fruit that was formerly hanging the lowest, but dropped off the tree and is now rotting on the floor. He is nothing but a dick to you and only starts being remotely kind two seconds before you die. Please love yourself and do better in StarClan.

Bluefur x Oakheart: Speaking of low hanging fruit, this is a very, very easy one to dunk on. It’s moreso the fact that this entire “relationship” is treated as one of the great tragic romances in this series than anything else. The two of them talk, what, two or three times? And then have exactly one night together before Bluefur kills one of their kits and shoves the other two on him and then that’s it. That’s all they had. A one night stand and child death. What a love story. Why does Bluefur think Thrushpelt is the worse option, again?

Dustpelt x Fernpaw: GOD, this relationship is creepy. I still get simultaneously unnerved and mad whenever I read the first arc, because Dustpelt initially seems like he’ll go with Sandstorm before she stupidly falls in love with Fireheart, but then he sets his sights on someone so much younger than him that he actually asks if he can mentor her instead of his original apprentice (her brother, fun fact). Let me emphasize that, because he is actively seeking a power imbalance in this relationship, and he clearly intends to eventually get with her. Bear in mind that she is still being treated like she’s a young kid, if not a teenager, by the narrative. I could be here all day on this fucking topic, but let’s move on.

Berrynose x Poppyfrost: We all know what I’m going to say here. Berrynose having the brass to say loving things to a dying, agonizing Honeyfern after she spent all this time pining after him, and then less than two months later, he shacks up with her sister. That is the coldest thing he could possibly have done to her. The fact that the writers decided that she’s totally okay with the relationship and takes care of her sister’s dead kits like they’re hers is extra terrible. Like, she still gets the scraps when she’s dead? Seriously?

[decennia]

I don't know who needs to fucking hear this, but I'm about to say it with my full chest:

SEVERUS SNAPE DESERVES NO RIGHTS, I SAID WHAT I SAID.

Why? I'll tell you why:

Let's start with Neville Longbottom. Often the butt of the joke, Neville was often played up for comedic effect, so I can understand why we never took the implications of his boggart seriously.

But the fact of the matter is: Neville Longbottom was more terrified of his potion's teacher than he was of Bellatrix Lestrange, a woman who was a proud Death Eater who tortured his parents into insanity, a fate several people throughout the series state as "worse than death."

I've heard the argument from Snape Apologists that Boggarts are "superficial" creatures, so they don't go much deeper for a fear of yours, and, having gleaned a recent and prevalent one, will shift into that. Hence why it would be Snape, who recently tormented Neville, rather than Bellatrix, who Neville has never met.

It still stands, however, that Bellatrix is a known Death Eater, and Snape was just his potion's teacher.

We also see from Harry's own experience with the boggart, that the boggart hesitated before turning into the dementor. It "chose" which of Harry's fears to become, Voldemort, or fear itself?

Now, because I always listen to both sides of a story, try and see it from both perspectives before I draw a conclusion, I asked myself "why?"

There never is a good reason for abuse, but I still tried to look at it from Snape's eyes. And the conclusion drawn was literally the same as almost every single motivation for every one of Snape's decisions: because of Lily.

Neville was born several hours before Harry, and was a contender for being "the Chosen One" (the one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies) but Voldemort chose Harry.

By Snape's logic, it meant that if Voldemort had chosen Neville, Lily would've still been alive for him to woefully pine for from a distance.

And so he takes it out on a fucking c h i l d.

He abuses him, torments him, and even forces Neville to poison his pet toad, Trevor, who has been shown to be of incredible significance to Neville.

And when the potion doesn't poison Trevor? And actually proved to be a competent potion? Snape made his displeasure known by deducting five points from Gryffindor.

I know that's not a Big Deal™ in the grand scheme of things, but we have to remember that Neville was a CHILD.

Moving on from Neville, let's get to: Lily.

Remember what I said before, about Lily being his end-all and be-all for everything? I meant it.

I'm not saying she was the sole reason Snape became a Death Eater, but she was the "last straw."

Snape's dislike for muggles stemmed not from Lily (of course not, he loved her), but from his father. Yes, I remembered his father, Tobias Snape. The muggle, the abuser. Apples and trees, I guess. From what I recall, Tobias was never physically abusive towards Eileen, Snape's mother, but he was emotionally and mentally abusive towards her. This would be cause for resentment for any young child growing up in that environment.

But, for a moment, may I direct your attention to Harry James Potter?

Who grew up that exact same way with the Dursleys?

Who was also neglected (Severus was said to have ill-fitting, mismatched clothes, sound familiar?) but who also did not have Eileen there to protect him?

And did Harry ever become a member of a muggle hate group? (No. The answer is no, in case you all didn't remember that Very Important Detail of the series).

So, yes, Snape was abused, and no, I am not condoning it, I do sympathize with him on that front: no child should ever go through that. Ever. No matter the fucking child, there is no good reason for it. But do I condone his actions later on in life? Absolutely not.

Because he called Lily a "filthy mudblood."

Not just "mudblood", but a filthy one, too. And why did he do that? Because she defended him against his bullies. Yes, Sirius and James were bullies, I guess everyone's faves are a little problematic in this bitch.

And not only did he call her that, but he also was besties with people who fancied themselves the next generation of Death Eaters.

And when Lily asked him if he STILL intended on becoming one, he never gave her an answer, prompting her to sectumsempra all ties with him. Meaning, she probably gave him multiple chances to not be a raging bigot, none of which he took. Love of his life my fucking toe, gtfo—

Also, Snape obviously knew what his "friends" were doing at the time. Particularly, and especially, Mulciber's attack on Mary Macdonald.

Now, we can't talk about Lily without talking about James and the Marauders.

I HAVE NOT FORGOTTEN THAT THE MARAUDERS BULLIED SNAPE, OKAY? But listen up: still not a good enough reason to join the wizarding world's KKK. Actually there is no good reason, period, end of message, send tweet.

He loathed them so much, he literally gave zero fucks about their wellbeing.

Even though! Sirius' biggest crime against Severus is jokingly telling him to follow Remus Lupin under the Whomping Willow during that time of the month.

And Severus would swear that James' biggest crime against him (after "stealing" Lily, of course) would be stopping him from encountering the werewolf and saving his fucking life.

Where the fuck was that reciprocated energy when Snape KNEW that James was also marked for death?

Also, are you going to tell me, that with his ear so pressed to the ground about news on Lily, that he didn't know who the real rat was? That he didn't know that it was Peter Pettigrew? This is speculatory, but... Snape had to have known that Sirius was not the betrayer, he must've at least known it was Pettigrew, meaning he let an innocent man waste away in Azkaban and for what? Something that happened when they were kids? I wonder why Sirius is a "stray dog" idk probably because someone let him rot in Azkaban for thirteen years?

Don't even get me started on how he literally stepped over James' body to get to Lily's while Harry sat there crying. Please. Or the fact that he only wanted Lily spared? He literally said "yes, only her, please, Dark Lord, fuck that newborn"?

OKAY AND MY FINAL POINT BECAUSE THIS GOT TOO LONG AND HONESTLY I'M LITERALLY WAY TOO FUCKING ANGRY AT THIS POINT... I PRESENT TO THE COURT: THE CARROWS.

Severus had been made headmaster of Hogwarts, and what does he do? Allow the Carrows to torture muggleborns and first years. Eleven year olds. Disgusting. Please. What the fuck.

I don't think Severus Snape died a fucking hero, or in "penance." NOT when twelve hours prior, he'd been turning a blind eye and a deaf ear to eleven year olds screaming as the Cruciatus Curse was used on them.

Also, James never sexually harassed Lily? Wanna discuss sexual harassment? How does "waiting outside the Gryffindor common room until someone lets you in even though it has been made very clear that the person you want to speak to doesn't want to speak to you" sound?

I am not denying that Severus Snape is a tragic character; he's a very complex and somewhat interesting one, even. All I am saying is that I don't think saying "always" on the brink of death excuses any of your past actions. He's a martyr at best — having his sins "forgiven" by sacrificing himself for a just cause.

Yes, this is a hill I'm willing to die on. But, as always, I am open to a respectful conversation (not argument, conversation). If you disagree, I'd love to hear why. Try and change my mind; as long as you do so respectfully, I will hear you out.

[girl8890]

Like you, Like you (I)

{ BTS Master List }

Summary: J-Hope has always been the out going and confident one in the group. He’s the one everyone goes to if they want to have a fun time. When you finally get to meet him, the guy you’ve had a crush on since you were 17, and hearing about for so long by your best friend Taehyung, you don’t understand why he’s so distant towards you. Until, Jin tells you his secret.

Pairings: Idol!Hoseok x Reader, Idol!Taehyung x Reader (Platonic)

Genre: friends-to-lovers, smut (pt2), fluff, some angst

Warnings: jealousy, mutual pining, first kiss, confessions, secrets revealed

Rated: T (for pt. 1)

Translations: Ajumma (Older women, less respectful then ajumeoni), Noona (Older female or sibling)

PT.2

*･゜ﾟ･*:.｡..｡.:*･'(*ﾟ▽ﾟ*)'･*:.｡. .｡.:*･゜ﾟ･*

You've been best friends with Taehyung since you could remember. Literally, you had the same birthday and were born in the same hospital. Your parents were best friends, so it was only natural Taehyung, and you became best friends as well.

You both never dated each other, never wanted to actually, but for some reason, people always assume you were dating. It's not a big deal. If anything, it helped you a lot over the years, especially when you were in high school and all the prepubescent boys wanted nothing but to hook up with you. 

When he became a worldwide idol, though, you had to make sure you told people you weren't dating. But luckily, you are out of high school now, and the people you surround yourself with would never try to make you uncomfortable.

You only see Taehyung a couple times a year when they're not on tour, but you talk almost every day with each other. And today, you're finally getting the chance to meet the rest of the famous BTS members. But right now, are your on the phone with him, you can’t help yourself but tell him how your truly feeling.

"I'm so nervous, Tae! What if they don't like me?"

Your a big fan, even going as far as to say your definitely ARMY, so you were very nervous about meeting the other guys that take up your entire playlist on your phone. And just like most, basically all, the other ARMYS in the world, you have your own personal bias. Which, Taehyung loves to tease you about.

"Oh, please, Y/n. You've quite literally jumped off a cliff without thinking twice about it. Are you saying you're nervous about meeting the guys or someone specific?"

You can hear Taehyungs playfulness through the phone, but in all honestly, what he’s saying is not far from the truth. Your personal bias is the hope of the world, J-hope himself. From the second the boys debuted, to today, you were star-stuck by the rapper.

You roll your eyes, but then remembered Taehyung couldn’t see you.

“Oh, hush Tae. Your just jealous your not my personal bias.”

“HA!”

It was one jokingly harsh laugh, but when you first told Taehyung about your bias back in the day, he was upset that you didn't make him your bias. In 2014, bias started becoming a thing, to the point it had its own definition just for BTS. Hence, you had to explain what "bias" actually meant. Taehyung was then very much relieved you didn't make him his bias.

It's not that he doesn't think your attractive, but you both are basically siblings at this point. Even though you both kinda act like a couple, you're very much not.

You hear Taehyung yawn from the other side of the phone, and you can tell right away he stayed up late last night. He was probably helping write music or practicing his vocals.

"Do you what to cancel today? You sound tired."

"Absolutely not! I've been talking about you to the boys since we debuted, and I finally get to introduce you to them. Your not getting out of this now, Kit Kat."

You giggle at the nickname Taehyung gave you when you were both ten years old. It comes with an embarrassing story about you one time scarfing down so many Kit Kat's to the point you threw up.

"Whatever you say… squishy."

"Oh my fucking God! Not that nickname again."

Even though you couldn't see him, you knew he was rolling his eyes at you. Unlike your nickname, you only gave Taehyung his nickname a few years ago. You would never personally insult Taehyung, but he has this thing about his stomach.

One day, when he was visiting home, you found him poking at his stomach while watching Tv and called him squishy. He hated it, but anytime he’s making fun of you, you call him this nickname back just to annoy him.

After a moment of silence on the line, you hear Taehyung shuffle around. It sounds like he’s picking up a pair of keys and opening a door.

“Well, I’m on my way now.”

“W-what? I’m not ready!”

“Well, get ready. I’ll be there in fifteen.”

After that, he hung up without another word. As much as you love Taehyung, you hated how uncoordinated he is. For a global idol, he’s not very good with making plans or keeping up a schedule, for that matter.

You throw your phone in your bag and go to get changed into something more presentable. You don’t want to meet the other BTS members - with a BTS shirt on!

You change into a plain black tank-top and cream-colored cardigan. It pairs perfectly with your blue jeans and white sneakers.

After 15-20 minutes have passed, you hear a car door shut outside. Before you can stop yourself, you grab your bag and run out the door.

You see Taehyung with his famous boxy smile and run right into his arms. He wraps his arms around your waist and spins your around. You don’t even realize what car he was in or who else was with him until he puts you down.

You see the big white van behind him and know right away - he's not alone.

"Ugh, Tae… who else is with you?”

Taehyungs boxy smile turns into a mischievous one. Without looking away from you, he pulls the van door open. ALL the BTS members are right there, smiling and looking like they're doing the segment they did years ago with meeting fans in an elevator.

"HELLO!" They all say at once.

Your eyes are vast, and your jaw drops when you see them. You can't believe all the BTS members are right in front of you, to the point you've been run speechless. The most you can do is wave at them while Taehyung giggles next to you from your reaction.

You look at him from the side and glare. You playfully shove his shoulder, and this giggle of his becomes full-on laughter.

"Quit laughing, squishy."

Taehyung wipes his eye from a tear that sprouted from laughing so much.

"I can't help it, Kit Kat. Your reaction was priceless!"

You roll your eyes at him then look back at the boys, who begin to file out of the van one by one.

Namjoon is the first to come up to you, and you can't believe the leader of BTS is standing in front of you.

"Hey Y/n, I've heard so much about you. I feel like I practically know you from how much V talks about you."

Namjoon then playfully bumps Taehyungs shoulder, and he rolls his eyes at him.

“Does he now. Well, I hope my baby Tae hasn’t said anything too bad.”

It came off as a joke, but you were actually secretly hoping it was the truth.

“Oh please, Y/n. We’re literally the same age!” Taehyung references the ‘baby Tae’ nickname.

“No, no, Tae. I’m ten minutes older.”

“Oh my fucking - yeah, sure practically an Ajumma.”

You give him the stink eyes for calling you practically a middle-aged woman. As you and Taehyung were making fun of each other, you didn’t even realize another one of the BTS members walked right up to you.

“Hi I’m J-Hope… your everlasting hope.”

The second you hear him speak, you look at him starstruck. The celebrity crush you’ve had since you were 17 is standing right in front of you. He didn’t say the whole famous introduction he gives like in interviews. However, you were still fangirling majorly on the inside.

“H-hi” is all you can stutter out, to nervous to say anything else.

You think it may be just your mind playing tricks on you, but you swore you saw his eyes look at you up and down like he was checking you out.

Hoseok bites the corner of his lip then glances at Taehyung with an emotion you couldn’t quite recognize. You didn’t get quite enough time to think about it, though, since the rest of the BTS members came up to you to meet you.

That day… was four months ago. It was both the strangest and most exciting day of your life.

It was exciting because you finally got to meet all the members you’ve been dying to meet. You and Taehyung made it a tradition that every Thursday, which was the same day you met them, you came to the dorm and hung out with everyone. You loved being around all the boys, and they even all started calling you noona.

Even though you were younger than 5 out of the 7 of them, they all started being in on the joke of you being an old soul because of how you claimed to be older and wiser than Taehyung.

It was strange because of how one of the members acted around you. The one member you wanted to impress the most. The one member you thought would be rambunctious, and confident around you, barely talked to you.

You practically fell in love with Hoseok because of how funny and bright his personality was in videos. Taehyung would talk about him with you all the time too, and you loved every second of it. Now that you met him, you don’t understand what you were doing wrong.

On that day, the day you meet all the BTS members, he was always next to you and cracking jokes every five minutes.

There was one point you almost spit out your water all over Jungkook. You were in the middle of drinking when Hoseok started doing a random dance, and poor Jungkook was almost drenched.

You laughed up a storm the whole time you were with him, but after that day, it was like you were a complete stranger to him sometimes.

You knew he knew; you existed. Anytime you were in the dorm with the boys, while Taehyung wasn’t there, he would talk to you more openly. You could tell he was acting a little guarded, but he still made you laugh until you were practically crying.

If Taehyung was there, or if he entered are room you were in, Hoseok would either quit talking to you or leave the room. It was so weird. One minute you both would be having the strangest, but honestly the best type, of conversation, and Taehyung would come in, and Hoseok would become silent and stiff.

Like today, you were sitting in the living with Jimin, Jin, and Hoseok, watching them play video games. Hoseok was sitting next to you, and both of you were in your own little world. Talking up a storm about the usual weird things to thought was best to talk about.

“You know, noona, you got some interesting teeth.”

You raise an eyebrow at Hoseok curiously.

"Interesting teeth? Well, now you have to explain. How are my teeth interesting?"

Hoseok's smile breaks free on his face for the simple fact you are actually interested in what he just said.

"Oh - I mean, they're so white and straight. That smile of yours can easily brighten up a room."

You blushed at his compliment and couldn't stop your own smile from breaking free on your face. His eyes look down at your smile, and you watch him bite the corner of his mouth.

It's moments like these with Hoseok that you think, just for a second, maybe he has the same feeling you do for him. But then, as always, when Taehyung walks in, that all disappears.

Taehyung makes himself know when he yawns extra loud to the point, it's almost a scream. You look over at your best friend and smile at him. But you don't miss, in the corner of your eye, Hoseok's smile falls, and he scoots himself a couple inches away from you.

Taehyung looks around until his eyes land on you, and he smiles his famous boxy smile at you.

"Kit Kat, you're here!"

He runs over to you and practically jumps on top of you on the couch. You giggle into his embrace and ruffle his hair.

"Good to see you too, Tae. I was wondering when you would come out of your Hobbit hole you call a room."

You and Taehyung start to have an easy conversation as always, but you don't miss Hoseok getting up from his seat and leaving the room. You watch him go until he turns a corner and is out of eye shot.

Taehyung is now sitting next to you with your legs in his lap. The second you put your legs on his lap, and he places his hand on your calf, Hoseok was getting up to leave.

This was how you and Taehyung usually sat, and it was no wonder so many people thought you were dating back in the day. You both were just so comfortable with each other and didn't care what other thoughts you two were to each other.

After Hoseok leaves the room, you turn back to Taehyung, and he's now watching Jimin and Jin play video games.

You don't want to pry into other people's business, but you feel like Hoseok constantly leaves rooms because of something you're doing wrong. You just want to find out what it is so you can squash the problem.

"Hey, Tae, can I ask you something?"

Without looking away from the Tv, Taehyung hums to indicate he's listening.

"Did I do something wrong to Hoseok?"

Taehyung whips his head to face you again, and you don't miss his one-eye twitch with the question.

"What do you? Did he do something to you? Do I need to talk to him?"

Taehyung was about to get up to do just that, but you stopped him by laughing at how overprotective your best friend was being.

“No, no, nothing like that. It’s just - I realize since I met Hoseok that we’re having a great conversation one second, then the next he leaves the room. It’s always when you come in, and I don’t get why he does that.”

Taehyung tilts his head in confusion. He hasn’t noticed or didn’t pay enough attention enough to notice how Hoseok acts around you. But now that he thinks about it, every time Taehyung enters a room you and Hoseok are in, he leaves every time.

“I’m not sure, but that is weird.”

You nod your head in agreement.

“Because he likes you, duh.”

You turn to the voice and see Jin’s eyes go wide. You honestly forgot the two were even in the room until Jin said something. Jimin looks at Jin with eyes of betrayal.

But there’s no way you misheard him. Hoseok, the famous J-hope himself, likes you? There’s no way you could get this lucky. There’s no way the man you’ve had the most major celebrity crush on since you were 17 likes you.

“W-what did you say?”

Jin glanced at Jimin’s angry face, then Taehyungs confused face, then went back to looking at you.

“HaHa! Nothing. J-hope having a crush on you, Whatttt… OW!”

Jimin smacked Jin’s arms for being so stupid when trying to play off the situation. Jin's ears turn red because he knows he definitely made the situation worse. He's never been good at lying, but he just admitted one of his best friend's secrets.

You continue to look at him, completely shocked. You can't believe what he just said, and you don't know how to feel about it, like it can’t be real.

"Hoseok likes me?"

You repeat to yourself in a whisper, but the room is so quiet everyone hears you. You hear Jimin sigh, so your attention moves to him.

"He does, but please, please don't say anything, noona. I don't think he can handle you breaking his heart, and we would all hate to see him hurt."

You raised an eyebrow at Jimin and looked at him, completely confused. Why would you break his heart? And more importantly, why would he assume that?

"Why would you think I would reject him? I've literally had the biggest crush on him since you guys debuted."

You felt your cheeks heat up from your confession, but you thought it was needed to be said to prove how much you would never, ever break Hoseok's heart.

Jin and Jimin look at each other confused, then back to you.

Then Jin asked, "So you and V aren't a thing?"

"WHAT?!" Both Taehyung and you said at the same time.

Jimin’s and Jim’s eyes widened at the same time.

“Wo - Wo, hold on now.” Everyone looks over to Taehyung. “You all think Y/n and I are a thing? Do you guys really think after all these years, or at least these past few months, I wouldn’t have told you if I had a thing for my best friend?”

Jin rubs the back of his neck awkwardly, and Jimin bites his lip in embarrassment.

“It’s just - you guys are always so cuddly, and we kinda just thought… you know?” Jimin was spacing his words out, but you understand what he was saying.

You didn’t even realize that it would have come off that you and Taehyung had a thing. You’ve been asked if you two dated before, but that was so long ago. Now that you think about you never clarified with the boys that you weren’t.

Even though this news was exciting, it didn’t stop you from realizing the obvious. Hoseok was jealous. He was jealous, and that’s why he always ran out of the room when Taehyung entered with you. He didn’t want to watch Taehyung, and you cuddle up to each other like you always do because he thinks you have a thing for each other.

Even though this information should sadden you, you can’t help how relieved it makes you feel. You’ve been thinking you did, or have been doing, something wrong the entire time. It’s like a weight has been lifted off your shoulders.

But now, you need to find the man that’s been making your heart skip a beat for the past few years. You need to find Hoseok, and tell him you have the same feelings in return.

Without another word, you take your legs off of Taehyung’s lap and run in the direction Hoseok went. The hallway he went down leads to the kitchen, so you check there first. He wasn’t there. You think he could be outside, so you check the back yard next, but unfortunately, he wasn’t.

When you walk back into the dorm, you find Yoongi sitting in the den with a book in hand.

“Hey, Yoon’s! Have you seen Hoseok by any chance?”

He looks up from his book with his usual poker face.

“I think he went to his room. Everything okay, noona?”

You look in the direction his room is up the stairs, then nod at Yoongi.

“Yeah, everything’s perfect, actually. Thanks!”

You run up the stairs and don’t miss the way Yoongi smirks at you. As you disappear down the hallway in which Hoseok’s room is, Yoongi shakes his head and looks back at his book. Unlike the rest of the members, Yoongi didn’t think Taehyung and you were dating.

The wise Suga himself knows when he sees two people pinning after each other.

“Was wondering when you would realize he likes you back,” Yoongi said to himself out loud.

You ran down the hallway and skidded to a stop when you got in front of his door. You stared at the door for a few seconds to catch your breath. You feel like you’ve practically run around the whole dorm in a search for Hoseok.

When you finally catch your breath, you take one more deep breath in, then knock on the door.

Hoseok is currently sitting on his bed, staring out his window and wallowing. He hates how much his heart wants to jump out of his chest every time he sees you. He hates that he has feelings for one of his best friends girl.

When he first got out of the van, the first day you met everyone from BTS, he was dumbstruck by how beautiful you were. Luckily, you were too shocked from seeing all of his fellow members that day you didn’t realize his reaction to you.

His lips parted, and he couldn't believe Taehyung had a friend like you. Your smile was breathtaking, and your laugh when someone made a joke was music to his ears. Hoseok may be a scaredy-cat to most things, but he's never been nervous about meeting someone before.

He was relaxed and collected the whole day until he stepped out of that van to actually meet you. He doesn't think you even realized, but he was initially going to give you the whole 'I'm your hope, you're my hope' introduction, but at the last second changed his words.

They weren't intentional, and he couldn't believe you, someone he just met, made him forget something he said a million times.

His eyes couldn't help themselves, they wandered down your body, and he had to bite his lip from keeping himself from drooling over you. He wanted to talk to you all day, make you laugh, and get to know you.

But he didn’t. Because he also realized something that day - even if it wasn’t true - that Taehyung and your relationship was more than platonic. The nicknames you gave each other and how comfortable you were with each other showed him this.

He wanted to be the one that had cute nicknames with you. He wanted to be the one to make you smile when he entered the room. He wanted to make you laugh and cuddle you on the couch, but sadly, he wasn’t that person.

Taehyung was.

Out of all the things he hated, he hated his jealousy the most. He should be happy that Taehyung has a unique, beautiful girl like you by his side, but he’s not. He is not happy because he wants you to be his girl. He wants you to look at him the same way you look at Taehyung when he enters the room.

Every time he feels his heart crack when Taehyung embraces you or your eyes admire him. His heart hurts so bad, that he leaves the room almost every time. He’s afraid that one day he’ll let his emotions be known. That one day, he’ll catch you both greeting each other with a kiss instead of just a hug. On that day, his heart may just break completely.

He’s only known you for a couple months, but it feels like he’s known you forever. You laugh at all his jokes, and your presence always makes his heart skip a beat. Just being in the room with you, without Taehyung, is like a breath of fresh air.

He only wishes you felt the same.

He feels a tear glide down his cheek, and he’s too exhausted by his feelings to wipe it. He only moves from his spot when he hears a knock at the door.

He turns to look at the door curiously. He’s not sure who could be wanting to see him in his room at that moment, so he calls out and asks…

“Who is it?”

“I-it’s me... Y/n.”

Hoseok’s eyes go wide, and he finally whips his tears that fell when he was thinking about the past and… you.

He looks around his room, that’s always clean, but thinks it’s too messy to have a girl like yourself in it.

“J-just give me one second!”

He curses to himself by how his voices cracks. He quickly makes the bed look neat and then picks up any trash on the ground, which was literally one tissue, then walks to the door. He opens the door and finds you on the other side.

Your cheeks are red, and you look out of breath, but he still thinks you look absolutely stunning even in your exhausted state.

You both blink at each other, and he realizes that he began to admire you instead of inviting you in. He shakes his head and tries to dissipate the awkward silence with a funny welcome.

“Come on in. Welcome to casa el J-Hope.”

You laugh at his cliché Spanish Welcome, then step over the threshold into his room. Before Hoseok closes the room begin you, he looks in the hallway to see if anyone saw you come in. He doesn’t think anything is about to “go down” in his room, but he rather not hear any questions from his friends later.

He shuts the door then turns back around. He knows you’ve never been in his room before since there’s never been a need, but that doesn’t stop him from being weirdly nervous from your reaction to what it looks like.

After you glance around his room a couple times, you turn back to him with a tight-lipped smile.

“Cool room. Very clean, just as I expected from you.”

Hoseok smiles and holds in his girly giggle that really wants to come out.

“Thanks… not that I don’t love having your company, but can I ask why your here exactly?”

Hoseok wasn’t trying to be rude, the complete opposite actually, but you’ve never come looking for him before.

You bit your lip and started to look nervous about the reason why you were there. Hoseok’s eyes instantly go to the movement of your lips, and he swallows even though his throat is dry.

He wants to know so badly what your lips would feel like against his own. Once that thought surfaces in his brain, he looks back to your eyes and prays you didn’t just see him admiring your lips.

You look down at the ground nervously again, then you breathe in a shaking breath. Hoseok eyes go wide when you start to walk towards him. His first instinct is to back up, but he stays in his spot because he’s never been this close to you before.

He can smell your perfume from how close you are, and it’s the most amazing thing he’s ever smelt just for the simple fact that it belongs to you. He tries to keep his composure and not act like you being only a step away from colliding with him doesn’t affect him - but it does.

When your eyes finally look up at him, the air gets stuck in his lungs by how you’re looking at him. He’s always wanted you to look at him like that. It’s similar to how you look at Taehyung, but with something extra. Not just ‘I’m glad to see you,’ but more like… I’ve always wanted to be with you.

He thinks his mind is playing tricks on him. Your eyes aren’t looking at him that way; they can’t be. There’s no way you would ever want to be with…

“Hoseok-“He holds his breath. “-do you like me?”

His brain stops working for a second. He feels his eyes twitch, and his palms get sweaty. It’s like his body just decided to shut down because of your question.

Your not just asking this question for the fun of it. You’re asking this question because you know the answer.

He already feels his heartbreaking by your expected rejection. The confident J-Hope everyone knows and loves is now breaking down on the inside. He can’t say anything. All he can do is stare at you wide-eyed and wait for his body to start working again.

You look at Hoseok, confused as to why he hasn’t answered you. You tilt your head to the side and stare up at him. You then realize your question was maybe a little too - forward.

Your eyes then match his by how wide they go, but you sober up quickly.

You slowly reach your hand out and grab his hand, interlocking your fingers together. He glances down at your hands, and you watch his body relax.

Although you still see the stress he’s feeling in his eyes, he’s at least letting out the air Hoseok didn’t even realize he was holding. After another moment of silence, he shuts his eyes and hangs his head in shame.

“I do.”

If the room wasn’t so pin-drop quiet, you probably wouldn’t have heard him. He doesn’t see it, but your smile stretch’s so vast you think it’s going to crack your skin.

“You do? I mean like - like me, like me?”

The cheery tone you had is what brought him to look back at you. He nods his head, and your smile gets even more expansive than you ever thought possible. Hoseok’s eyebrows furrow together, and he doesn’t understand how you think this confession is a good thing.

Shouldn’t you be mad at him? Shouldn’t you be running to Taehyung, and telling him one of his friends have been crushing on from the very start?

But you do neither. Instead, without warning, you wrap your arms around his neck and pull him into a tight embrace. Hoseok is surprised and steps back to prevent him from falling. After a few seconds, he hesitantly wraps his arms around your waist.

Your face is buried in his shoulder, and you confess against it, “I like you too. I like you, like you too.”

His eyes are wide as saucers, and he pulls away from you to look you in the eyes.

“Say that again.”

You watch the corners of his mouth switch up, and you giggle at how excited he’s feeling just from your confession.

“I like you, Hoseok. I have for a very, very long time. Taehyung and I aren’t together. The only person in this house that I’ll ever what to be with… is you.”

If you were against him again, you would feel his heart beating rapidly inside his chest. He stares at you in awe, and he feels like he’s in a dream.

He puts his hands on your face and cradles your face in his hands, and starts to talk to himself out loud.

“She likes me back. Y/n fucking likes me back.”

You laugh historically at how he’s talking about you to himself while you are right in front of him. You nod your head, and his smile brightens even more by you confirming, once again, that you like him.

He can’t help himself. He pulls you in for a passionate kiss. Just as he expected, your lips are soft and feel so good against his.

It’s the most amazing feeling, for the both of you, that you both can finally know what it’s like to kiss each other. To finally understand what it’s like to kiss the person you’ve been pining after for so long.

To finally kiss the person… you both like, like.

-

-

-

PT.2

[xthunderbolt]

Some romanian myths and legends I grew up with that might be relevant to Servamp somehow

Romania has A LOT of myths and legends, especially about vampires and spirits, and all of them depend on the area you go to. Most myths you might have heard come from Transylvania because of Dracula, but these are all from my grandparents' area and the area I grew up in, which is a little far from Transylvania. Also a little warning: we are weird.

1. VAMPIRES ARE DESCENDANTS OF DEMONS

This is a pretty popular one, and the reason for it is Vlad Tepes. It's said that he made a blood pact with the devil for him to become a vampire, and what do we have in Servamp?

If the text ain't clear enough, it's about how Sensei's reincarnation technique is similar to that of a Servamp's creation and how it includes the vessel drinking the blood of the core. And sure, maybe it's not the blood pact we've read in stories and seen in movies, but... the blood is offered (forcefully or not), so it's like a pact made between the vessel and the core, a pact for immortality.

It's also believed that after death, the demon they made the pact with, takes them with them in the underworld and turns them to demons. And in Servamp we have the Inners who practically turned some humans into vampires by becoming part of them, and I think we could consider the underworld their inner world, since it's also part of the Servamp.

2. STRIGOI (stree-go-ee)

I actually wanted to turn the myths about them into a Servamp theory because there are a lot of similarities between them, but we still have yet to learn a lot about Servamps and their Inners.

Nowadays, they're called evil spirits who come to torment their families and friends who did them wrong during their life (similar to poltergeists). Back in the day, they were called living dead or vampires. It was believed to be the actual dead who got up of their graves and went to torment their families and friends and even to kill them for, you guessed right, blood.

It's also believed that strigoi can change into animals, usually bats or black cats. And what do we have in Servamp?

Plus the other Servamps with their animal forms.

And Hugh is the fucking representation of a traditional vampire c'moooon.

And it's not over.

They only got out of their graves at night because they couldn't maintain their human forms in the sunlight. And what do we have in Servamp?

But here's another super interesting thing. There are many ways to kill one, but one of the methods used in my grandparents' area was to put a wooden or silver stake through them - usually the chest to pierce the heart - so that they wouldn't get out of their graves anymore.

And what do we have in Servamp?

They also used to open up their graves when the sun was the strongest so "they'd burn the strigoi in them", but this is not relevant to Servamp.

But wait, there's more! In some cases, strigoi are born with weird conditions, but in most cases, it was believed that the people most likely to turn into strigoi, were the ones who

Practiced witchcraft (though looking back at the stuff we do/did, we all practice(d) witchcraft dkdksk)

Lived in heavy sin

Died of su!c!de

Died a tragic death

Born the seventh child of the same sex

It's not known yet how Servamps died but I mentioned these because all of us headcanon that they died in tragic ways. Plus there are seven vampires, though I know that this is related to their sins, but the coincidence it's interesting.

3. MOROI (moh-roh-ee)

These are like... a lower class of Strigoi I think I could say. The only difference between them is that these ones aren't as strong and dangerous. And they only come to kill and eat animals.

But what do we have in Servamp?

Subclasses. (I can't add pics anymore so imagine here a pic of Belkia and Hugh and Kuro talking about them.)

4. TO KEEP EVIL SPIRITS OR STRIGOI AWAY FROM YOUR HOME, YOU HAVE TO PUT GARLIC BY ALL YOUR WINDOWS OR CLEAN THE OUTSIDE AREA AROUND YOUR HOUSE WITH A BROOM MADE OF OAK OR PINE BRANCHES AND THEN LEAVE IT BY THE ENTRANCE DOOR (we're weird, ok?)

But here's our traditional whoosh-spirits-away broom and what we have in Servamp.

5. BLACK CATS

Hilariously enough, even if it's believed that Strigoi can take their form, we don't consider them bad luck. Unless they cross your path. And if this happens, you gotta take three steps back and spit three times (WE'RE WEIRD, OK?), one it's to ward off the bad luck, one so the cat won't take a life away and one I forgot.

But the thing related to Servamp here is that we consider it good luck to keep a black cat around your house. Not only it keeps evil spirits away, but it also brings in health because of the myth of their nine lives. And Kuro considers himself a soothing/healing cat.

6. TO LIFT GENERATION CURSES PUT ON YOUR FAMILY YOU GOTTA PUT A VIRGIN ON A HORSE AND HAVE THEM SURROUND YOUR HOUSE FOR EACH CURSED GENERATION. WHEN THE HORSE DIES, THE CURSE IS LIFTED (I'm sorry we're so cruel)

And we have this sexy motherfucker on a skeleton horse AND I'M NOT SAYING HE'S A VIRGIN, BUT WHO KNOWS? 👀

7. IF SOMEONE DIES AT A YOUNG AGE OR BEFORE GETTING MARRIED YOU GOTTA GIVE THEM A SILVER JEWERLY - USUALLY A RING - SO THEY WON'T COME BACK TO LOOK FOR A SPOUSE OR TAKE SOMEONE FROM THE FAMILY THEY WERE CLOSE WITH WITH THEM (example: my aunt lost a 12yo daughter and they forgot to give her the silver necklace. Four months later, her sister died, who she was very close with)

But whatever, here's Lawless with what I think is silver besides the gold.

PLEASE NOTICE HIS PURPLE UNDERWEAR

[bisamwilson]

uno reverse star trek aos bc im curious

i love aos with my whole entire heart (to the point that i’ve unfollowed otherwise good trek blogs bc i got tired of seeing so many posts ragging on aos rip). aos got me into trek and i’ll be thankful for it for that forever

like first off the casting is fucking perfect. you can tell all of them love star trek so much. like pegg wrote beyond (which was the most “trek like” of the aos movies imo) and put so many cute little nudges towards the originals in there that i loved. quinto and nimoy were good friends and it was obvious quinto just wanted to do right by nimoy’s legacy. any time i see karl urban as bones i think about that story of how nimoy got teary eyed watching him bc of how much he acted like de. john cho is a badass sulu, anton was a major part of the heart and soul in those movies, and i love just how dedicated zoe saldana is to showing off uhura’s incredible competency.

i haven’t mentioned pine yet, for good reason, and that is because, despite how a lot of trekkies i know feel, i love aos kirk. i love just about everything about who he is as a character. i’d even venture to say i love him more than tos kirk (though i love tos kirk more than life too). pine pours so much life into him as a character. here’s a kirk that’s every bit of the genius he is in tos, but he’s at his youngest, most reckless, most cocky. he’s a twenty something who’s spent his entire life being left behind (by his hero father who follows him everywhere he goes, by his mother who is reminded of her lost love every time she sees him, by his piece of shit uncle, and perhaps most importantly, by sam. we’ll come back to sam later.) he decides it’s easier to throw up a facade, a cocky devil may care attitude supplemented by his pretty blue eyes and his frankly ridiculous aptitude scores, and spends his life pissing people off from the get go so he never has to feel the hurt when they leave.

which brings me back to sam kirk. (this bit gets negative @ jj specifically despite the ask prompt, fair warning.) as both a trekkie and a star wars fan, there are many things i will never forgive jj abrams for, but at the top of that list is deleting the scene where sam leaves jim behind. because that, in my i’ve-spent-way-too-much-time-thinking-about-jim-kirk opinion, is what defines jim, even more so than the dead dad who died on his birthday. that’s the final straw. his big brother, the one who was supposed to be with him no matter what, tells him he’s leaving bc jim’ll be fine. he’s a goody two shoes with perfect grades who always follows orders, but sam’s a kirk. so he can’t stay where his uncle is. up until this point, jim’s done what he’s supposed to do. he listens, he does his chores, he minds, he does well in school. he keeps quiet as much as he can. until his brother leaves and so he decides to steal a car and drive it off a cliff. he decides to become what sam says is a kirk, and fuck the consequences. being good and mindful got him a family who didn’t want him, so he’s gonna be a delinquent instead, bc then at least he doesn’t have to worry about getting left behind again.

and despite whatever womanizer image jj was going for, chris pine got /this/. you can see it written all over his face: the wonder at looking up at the enterprise in the iowa shipyard, the dedication to beat a test to prove people didn’t always have to die, the way he looks so shocked when spock prime treats him with such kindness, tells him how much of a great man he is and will be, that he was such a fantastic captain. even in stid (which isn’t my favorite by a long shot) you can see kirk struggling with his own self worth, see how much he feels like he was just living up to everyone else’s shoddy expectations when he lost his captaincy. see how much he feels like martyring himself is the only way even though he doesn’t want to die, bc if he doesn’t someone else would have to. and his crew means more to him than he does.

most importantly though, we get to see kirk work through it. he relies on bones, to the point that uhura is basically holding him up when it looks like he might die via missile explosion in stid and to the point he trusts bones to just be there on his birthday in beyond. he openly admits to spock in beyond that he wouldn’t know what to do without him (despite never letting himself need anyone at all since sam). he jokes around with uhura, saves sulu. trusts chekov to take care of things when scotty quits. assures scotty he’ll take the blame if things go wrong in beyond. he is close and in sync enough with his crew by beyond that his security on the bridge know exactly when to hand him a phaser when he rushes off. he’s dropped his cocksure attitude and grown into the captain he was always born to be, that spock prime told him he was. for the first time since he was like nine years old, he’s let people in.

and that, more than anything, is why i love aos so much. the cast is wonderful and the storylines are (mostly) entertaining to watch, but more than anything, aos jim’s journey is just so relatable to watch. it’s heartbreaking in its infancy and so incredibly satisfying by its end. tos kirk seemed louder than life to me always, which is maybe why i gravitate to aos jim more. he’s got so much in him that he has to find a way to let out. and he does

[princesssarcastia]

2021 Harry Potter Fanfic Primer

im here to point fingers at the incredible authors that have enabled my new interest in HP content.  im still conflicted and upset about it, tbh, but for now we’re leaning into the curve.  we’re getting out our shovel and finding out just how deep we can make the hole we’re in.  hand in unlovable hand my beloved <3.  anyway, these fics are wonderful, their authors are wonderful, and you should go read their stuff. if there’s a star next to it that means im losing my mind over it and always will be.

Creatively Maladjusted, by elumish on AO3, 101k  (they also have a wonderful writing advice blog on tumblr, @elumish, which I recommend following if you are a writer) 

A very excellent re-telling of harry’s first year at hogwarts if he were sorted into Slytherin, plus some more not!fic or piecemeal re-tellings of his second and part of his third year.  Harry, in this, has a slightly different trauma response to growing up with the Dursley’s.  He’s a bit quieter, and the signs are a bit more obvious to the people around him, and I enjoyed that immensely. 

Honestly, if you’re going to get sucked into something you have absolutely no business getting sucked into, elumish is the way to go, their fic is incredible. their teen wolf fic is also immaculate, if you’re so inclined. 

Dissonance, by ImpishTubist on AO3, 2.5k (@impishtubist on tumblr)

Set during fifth year.  Oblivious!Harry has always been a delightful trope when well executed, and this is well executed.  Plus, some angst between Remus and Harry over what Umbridge has been doing to him.

I would certainly recommend a lot of ImpishTubist’s other hp work on AO3, like Lacuna.

blow us all away, by rexcorvidae on AO3, 23k (@rexcorvidae on tumblr)

In progress (like, updated last week in progress).  Currently in the beginning of Harry’s first year.  Fem!Harry, Indian!Harry.  Hagrid puts Harry in touch with Remus when she has questions about her parents, and they become reluctant, traumatized, angst-ridden pen pals who keep missing each other’s true intentions like ships in the night.  hot DAMN do I love this fic.  there’s hints of the way the dursley’s treat Harry peaking through in her letters, and I appreciated the attention to “hmm, her experience as a girl of indian descent in britain under the thumb of a bunch of white people who like being Normal may not have been gucci”

Definitely comb through the rest of their HP fic, too, I may or may not have gone feral over it.

Where the Heart is, by silver_fish on AO3, 15k (@kohakhearts on tumblr)

Woof.  This one said, “hey, harry was probably SUPER depressed in the summer after fifth year.  like, clinically.  maybe someone should do something about that.”  Fuck yeah.  Then this one said, “that someone was Snape.”  You all know my opinions on Snape; generally, Bad.  But damn if this fic didn’t wholly convince me by the end of it.  I thought it was a very realistic way for Snape to start seeing Harry as a person all on his own, and not a proxy for Snape’s angst over James and Lily, respectively.  The angst is wonderful, the ending is even more so.

*bernie sanders voice* I am once again asking you to read through the rest of the author’s HP fic.  a lot of them have similar themes; there’s actually a great one with Molly that i’m not reccing here, Wonder.

☆Bindings, Bindings, by Quietlemonhush on AO3, 60k (@quietlemonhush on tumblr)

WORDS CANNOT EXPRESS TO YOU HOW MUCH I ENJOYED/AM ENJOYING THIS.  If I had to pick a single fic and say “you, it’s your fault I’m stuck here,” it would be this one.  Anyway Lily in the afterlife is So Very Angry about how Petunia is treating Harry, and how Sirius is rotting in Azkaban, and how Remus is alone, that she literally brings herself back to life and drags James and Regulus with her.  All three of them are there to chew bubblegum and fix everything that went wrong after they died—and would you look at that, they’re all out of bubblegum!  There’s only Fury left.  That inciting premise is very crack, but every moment after that is very much not crack.  Lily and James love harry more than anything, the way a child should be loved; James and Sirius have the epic friendship of a lifetime; Sirius and Remus have staggering amounts of resolved sexual tension and take turns keeping each other in check; Regulus, though he realized that Voldemort and his family were shit before he died, is still unlearning all his racist bullshit and, also, years of trauma.  Actually, they’re all traumatized, but hey: now they have one another again and not a damn one of them seems inclined to let go anytime soon.  Quietlemonhush went, “hey, HP has a lot of Awful people in it, and a lot of Righteous people in it, and many of them are Very, Very Powerful; also, love is the most powerful force in the universe” and i said “hell yes tell me more right now.”  And then they did!

Quietlemonhush writes Sirius/Remus in a way that makes it sooo much fun to devour, so the rest of their HP fic is most certainly worth a look, if that’s your thing.

Rebuilding, by Colubrina on AO3, 113k (@colubrina on tumblr)

Hermione/Draco (*shrug emojis into the abyss* yeah, yeah, like none of us have ever been there before).  Takes place during Hogwarts 8th year, and while the beginning is, IMO, a little unfair to Ron, it gets much better.  Tells the story of Hermione and Draco clearing the air, learning to like each other, having some hormones over each other, and then falling in love.  Also tells the story of Hermione and Theo Nott becoming friends; the story of how every single 7th and 8th year student is fucked to hell by the war and the Carrows; the story of how they start an emotional support group about it and all become friends; and the story of, what the hell do you do with yourself after that kind of trauma?

I’ve been dipping in and out of Colubrina’s HP since before I was even on tumblr; I actually found them in those dark yesteryears when the only fandom interactions I had were on fanfiction.net.  Of such fame as Green Girl, which is an HP fic staple, and has also written a lot of wackier, crackier, and darker things than that.  If you don’t take yourself too seriously, I highly recommend many of their big HP works, though I imagine it’ll press some people’s buttons.  Colubrina’s work really does take up a corner of my mind whenever I’m in an HP mood, and will take up yours if you let it.

☆ all waiting is long, by shuofthewind on AO3, 149k ( @shu-of-the-wind on tumblr)

This is so well written that I can’t stop thinking about it.  It is occupying my mind when I lie awake at night, you know?  It’s one of those.  Hermione messes with something she probably shouldn’t have in Grimmauld Place, so when Sirius is sent through the Veil in the Department of Mysteries, she gets thrust into an alternate universe...in 1975.  Instead of handwaving it away, shuofthewind actually gets into the mechanics of it in a way that makes sense, to emphasize that hermione is never going home.  ever. The world she finds herself is shifted slightly to the left, quite a bit darker, but in a “the author is treating the idea of a society-wide conflict over blood purity much more seriously than JKR ever did” way, not a sensationalist way.  Now, Hermione has to grapple with all her grief at losing everyone she’s ever loved or known, the moral/ethical/magical implications of sharing what she knows about her future in an alternate world, and, you know, a goddamn war with people who want to murder her for being who she is.  This Hermione is smart, and she’s kind, and she’s powerful, and she’s making real friends.  If you hate JKR’s guts I’d go read this right now, because it delivers in all the ways she failed us.  It’s plotty, its got great world-building, and it pulls back the white curtain on the wizarding world to show you that, like real life, it’s multicultural and full of queer people...and the discrimination that comes with both.

shuofthewind write epics, mainly for the MCU, and I’ve read some of them a looooong time ago, so this fic kinda seemed out of left field for me but im SOOOO GLAD it exists.  If you want MCU fic you can sink your teeth into, go for it, but alas, they do not have any more HP fic (.......yet?)

Speak Now [+] Listen Now, by mrsfrizzle on AO3, 33k altogether

Harry reaches out to Remus for support because Umbridge is getting to him with her literal torture.  Remus, being a former professor, former mandatory reporter, person who loves Harry and has since he was born, and all around good man, tells Harry he has to tell someone, or Remus will.  It’s everything any adult looking back on that time in HP canon ever wanted, which is for an actual adult to say “what the fuck, those are literal chidlren” and then do something about it.  Then, a far more dangerous task: Harry trusts Remus enough to go to him about the Dursleys.  Harry and Remus’ relationship develops SO WELL, and there’s a bit of exploration about how Sirius may not exactly be guardian material, because he did in fact spend 12 years of his life getting tortured instead of growing up.  I think I’m actually going to go reread this right now, because it speaks to my id.

they do have some other HP fic which did not appeal to my hyperspecific wants, but may appeal to some of yours.  I think they’re also a published author, there should be a link on their profile page.

chase the stars, by Duskglass on AO3, 101k (@felix-duskglass on tumblr)

When Harry is five years old, a picture of him ends up in the Daily Prophet, and Sirius Black, Terror of Ministry Officials Touring Azkaban everywhere, gets a hold of that issue.  He then, in order: breaks out of Azkaban; crosses the countryside to Surrey; Finds Harry: Kidnaps Harry; Breaks Into Remus’ Apartment; starts processing (or maybe just acknowledging) his trauma from Azkaban, the war, and his childhood; and pines after Remus.  It’s a little plotty, and deals a lot (sometimes through flashbacks) with the specific awful things that happened to Sirius—largely because, after years in the constant presence of Dementors, those are nearly literally the only memories he has left.  It’s a wonder he’s got the strength to love Harry and Remus at all.  But then, maybe it isn’t.

This is a Very Serious Fic, but the rest of Duskglass’s HP work is actually just cracky enough to tickle your funny-bone, while still making you think “okay but why couldn’t we have done that in the first place.”

So!  That’s it for recs, for now.  These are all things I’ve found and read in the last month; if any of y’all are interested in my old HP recs, let me know and I can make a post for that, too.  While I’m still very conflicted about my choice of current fandom, I am not in ANY way conflicted about my taste in fic and authors.  Send these guys some love, read their fic if you’re so inclined, and leave some nice comments at the end of it.

[harrydracobang]

Harry/Draco Big Bang Fic & Art: A Sense of Scale (Mature)

Title: A Sense of Scale Author: @fantalf Artist(s): @dragontamerdame Pairing(s): Draco Malfoy/Harry Potter, background original pairing Other Key Characters: Original Male & Female Characters, brief Neville Longbottom and Narcissa Malfoy appearances, mentions to other canon characters Rating: Mature Word Count: ~70,000 Era: Post-Hogwarts, EWE Content/Warnings: POV Draco Malfoy, POV Third Person, Potions Master Draco Malfoy, Flying Instructor Harry Potter, Powerful Harry Potter, Castelobruxo, Magical Theory, ayahuasca, Misunderstandings, Housemates, Recovery, Mutual Pining, Possession, Dark Magic, Brazilian Folklore, Brazilian Folkloric magical creatures, Past Relationship(s), Getting Back Together, Draco Malfoy is a bit of a liar, POC Harry Potter, a bit of angst, wildfire, villainous character, Manipulation, Implied/Referenced Animal Violence, Animal Death, but it's brief, latin america, Indigenous Culture Magic and Gods, a lot of bonding, but not between humans, Tattooed Harry Potter, Implied Sexual Content, Neville Longbottom & Draco Malfoy Friendship, Supportive Narcissa Black Malfoy, seriously though I don't claim this story makes a whole lot deal of sense, Draco has an obscene amount of nicknames for Harry, he's also so oblivious, but get mad at him not me, a very stubborn sentient school, and a temperamental parrot, don't kill me for this, Domestic Fluff, Drinking, Self-Worth Issues, Minor Character Death, Non-Consensual Entheogenic/psychedelic substance use (brief), Parselmouths & Parseltongue (Harry Potter), Familiars, Draco Malfoy Has Long Hair Summary: Potter merely shrugged, as if it was nothing. After all, it wasn’t his life’s work. “You can try to win it over.”

Draco snapped, “What?!”

“The school. Win it over.”

“How the fuck do I win a school over, Potter?! It’s a bloody school, not a person!” And he didn’t win people over that easily, overall.

“I don’t know. Use your charms. I know you to be very inventive.”

——

In which Draco spends an obscene amount of time thinking of new nicknames for The Living Git, lying to himself and using his charms to seduce an extremely uncooperative sentient school.

Author’s Notes: Somehow, when I joined the fandom back in January, my brain decided that BB was a great(!) fest to start writing fanfic. Boy, was I crazy. I clearly didn’t know better. I still don’t know what I’m doing half of the time, but I regret nothing.

So, let’s do it!

The name of the story and the quotes on the beginning of each part are from a poem called Detail of the Woods, by Richard Siken.

This is a crazy story that has no business making sense 100% of the time. That being said, there are some sentences in Portuguese throughout the fic. It’s totally understandable from the context and not knowing them won’t jeopardise your experience. But, if you’re really eager to know a bit of Portuguese, I left the translations on the endnotes of each chapter. There’s also I really long ending note—you’re free to ignore—about some history JK ignored when building Castelobruxo.

For this story, I researched a lot, and among my resources are the books Geografia dos Mitos Brasileiros by Luis da Camara Cascudo (Brazilian Myths’ Geography), and Lendas Indígenas (Indigenous Tales) by Iray Galrão; the YouTube channels of Felippe Barbosa and Ler Até Amanhecer (Read Until Dawn). The Moriaetem Potion is inspired by a real potion. I don’t intend to offend anyone, and I won’t claim to try to bring awareness about the question, because this story is purely for fun, but this is a genuine issue that has repercussions to this day.

SoS (pun intended) is totally self-indulgent and was born of my indignation with JK for what she’s done to this school. I wanted to make it right by writing something both fun and respectful about my culture, and though it might sound too insane at times, I love it and I hope you’ll also enjoy it.

BIG, incredible, enormous thank you to the following people: Chay, you’re one of the best best friends I could’ve wished for, thank you for putting up with my crazy ideas and encouraging me not to give them up. Tai, you’ve become a dear friend and your excitement and encouragement about this story kept me going (not only one of the OCs is named after you, but the story is also a gift for you). Crazybutgood… What can I say beyond thank you for being such an angel and such an important part of my life? You’re the best. Em and Spaceboundwitch, your eagerness and enthusiasm about SoS was contagious and made me cry. Thank you so much for all your work, guys.

Last, but not least, how can I not mention how perfect Ash’s been throughout this process? You’re the best artist I could’ve hoped for and I’m confident this was the perfect match. You captured so well the essence of my story and its characters and their differences, and I can’t thank you enough for that. Also, thank you mods for your work and for making this match happening. You can find their brilliant illustrations on chapters 11 and 15.

Disclaimer that the only characters I own here are Francisca, Fernanda, José, Berê, Lua, Tainara, Rudá, some school staff I don't remember the names and the animals. Unfortunately.

There's a playlist with the song on Chapter 8 and other songs I think fits the story's mood. You can find it HERE

No beings were harmed in the making of this story.

Without further ado… Enjoy.

Artist’s Notes: It’s been such a delight getting to have access to and illustrate Lory’s (wonderful, magical, brilliant, imaginative, fascinating) story. And for that, I have to give a big shout-out to the mods for being lovely and pairing me with the fic summary of my dreams. The scenes that I have illustrated sparked my imagination and creativity so much, although I felt the urge to sketch practically every scene as I went on to read the whole story. I hope my illustrations bring to life the tenderness and intimacy between Harry and Draco in the first scene, and the intensity and power of the magic in second scene. Please enjoy this wonderful fic!

READ AND VIEW ON AO3

[h0rr0rsaxo]

[ Strange place, stranger people - Simp Party ]

SYNOPSIS; Nightmare and Addict find a strange place.

Tags; @insane-horror-movie-addict

Warnings; Mentions of "deaths", and angst.

Note: I got kind of lazy, but I definitely wanna continue this. Also to mention, this isn't canon in the simp party universe, I kind of just wanted to play around with the concept. If you didn't really get what was going on, I'm sorry! I feel like I didn't rlly word things properly, I apologize!

Word count; 15, 869

The mansion had been completely silent.

It had been a few weeks since both Nightmare, and Addict had been taken in as proxies for Zalgo, and there was no going back. They were too far gone, the familiar yet terrifying symbol had been engraved in their skin. Being eternally bonded to Zalgo had practically meant death, both women were nothing but shells of people they had used to be. 

An odd glint in their eyes became visible. Most didn’t know what it meant, but it brought a nasty feeling to their stomach that just didn’t sit right. It felt like a sad person playing the piano in an empty room, drowning in regret and rage. It was a feeling of a person trying to find themselves, but as they do, they found their worst side and not their caring one. Nightmare could barely react to her own son, and Hunter had been in the care of Tenshi now.

It was a terrible thing to become. It was tragic to see such great people be turned against not only their friends, but themselves.

The way the sky gloomed and darkened, enveloping into a despairing greyish hue, bringing the strangely comforting smell of pine and soil from the earth. The rain had no secrets to keep, it simply came and poured into this abyss of life, with no concern of what of who is in its path, simply pouring the droplets and pellets rain upon whomever it chose. Usually, the cold from the rain was uncomfortable and unsettling, but on this particular day, it had been oddly comforting to the pain that had been twisting in hearts.

The men stood silently at the graves, the rain endlessly pouring in as the sky darkened further, usually, the men wouldn't  be seen near each other. But after the events that happened, they could barely mutter a word, they didn't dare to speak to each other. Not after the deaths of not only their friends, but their lovers as well.

Hoodie was weakening by the endless cold pouring from the sky above, but he couldn't even attempt to care for his well being when all his close friend, and his lover were symbolically resting within the soil below, his life was draining of it's color all over again, he couldn't even bear to glance at the makeshift tombstones entirely, he couldn't stand the fact he wasn't able to protect them. His body was trembling from slowly turning to the boy beside him, Varrick had an endless stream of tears while emotionlessly staring at Addict's tombstone.

"I couldn't…protect her."  Kellin's hand gently reached up and grazed upon his cheek, he felt droplets rolling down his face and he realized that he was crying. Suddenly, as if a dam had broken, he sobbed and covered his mouth quickly. The sobs erupted from his body uncontrollably, everything he had been holding back under the guise of Kellin 'deserving it' suddenly hit him at once. 

"You really are the most selfish bitch to have ever been born, aren't you, Nightmare? You left me, you left me again!" The cold voice suddenly rung in their ears. Toby lifted his head, trying to wipe away the streaming tears, looking up at the grave. Something had changed in his eyes, there was a something swirling within them -something utterly frightening. "You left me!"

Masky had been holding it all back, but now it was too much. "Oh god!" He sobbed against his hand. "Oh god, I'm so sorry....I'm so sorry...Addict," he fell to his knees as the tears flowed down his face. "I-I'm so sorry...Addict...I'm so sorry.." He wanted to apologize and save her. He wanted to fight. To fight to stay by her side. To fight for her. "I...Fuck…!" He cupped his face with his single hand, sobbing into the skin and shaking his head. 

Liu had to look over his shoulder to assure himself the girl wasn't there, she wasn't and he was standing without her. But he could hear her so clearly, laughing and teasing, and with this came the image of a smile so small and riddled with sadness that it could barely be considered a smile. He closed his eyes again, trying to get more clarity in his mind, and he visualized the girl again. With her long blue hair that she flicked away in annoyance when it got in the way. Her soft blue eyes wavering slightly as she stared off into the distance, entire stories would dance through her eyes in the silence. This couldn't be true. It couldn't.

Jack imagined Addict. The image of Addict's eyes, lightly brimmed with tears and trembling in despair from the betrayal of someone she had trusted, it all flashed before his eyes. Her eyes, they told her story, and in that moment she had looked so hurt...and they had looked so dull and deprived of untold stories. His heart twisted and throbbed, and this made his hand grip the cloth of his cloak over his chest. "Addict..." the murmur left his lips in confusion. As he stood there only one thought crossed his mind after this pain, it was a thought that he himself didn't understand the purpose behind.

After the ceremonial burying of the familiars that once inhabited the mansion, the group split up, going to come with Addict and Nightmare's "deaths" in their own ways.

—

"Nightmare, where the fuck are you taking me?" 

"Trust me, I found some really weird shit. You're definitely going to wanna see this, Addict." The shadows that lurked in between the trees are still as death, the colours of grey and black bounced his visions in every which way he looked. There seemed to be no end to this cruel maze. Apprehension nipped hee toes, the voices in her head desperately screaming for him to turn back and run, and yet through the eerie whispers of the trees and the hoots belonging to watchful eyes above he kept forward. A small spider-monkey hopped onto the blue-haired women's shoulder, fearfully looking at their surrounding.

"Even your damn monkey doesn't trust it. Could you at least tell me where you're going?" Addict huffed, "Y'know my boss is going to be on my ass about this. My shift isn't even over yet, I'm supposed to be looking over the city right now. Not some…creepy forest."

"Just trust me on this! Your boss will praise you after I show you the weird shit I found," The trees stood tall enough so their branches and leaves shaded the forest floor of any sunlight- the nameless soldier is starting to shiver under his armour. Doubt piled on top of her head like stones stacking on top of each other, it isn’t a good idea to be alone deep in the woods especially at night.

“I know where we’re going, Mink” she grumbled to her animal-companion as if she had shot him a snarky remark. Turns out she wasn’t the best at trekking shortcuts. 

"Both Mink and I disagree with that statement." Addict rolled her eyes at her friend.

Nightmare noticed that in front of them wasn't just trees anymore, there was a path now and she perked up at this. This path had to lead to the mysterious place she had saw, there was no doubt about it, seeing the graffiti she had sprayed all over the trees to use as a land-mark.

"Follow me…you're going to wanna see this."

—

Nightmare and Addict quickly moved towards the gothic-looking they had been eyeing ever since arriving in the ominous forest moments ago. Addict yanked the gun from her shoulder and pressed the butt against her shoulder, raising it in front of her warily. Nightmare tightened her cold fingers around the handle of her scythe, her hand beginning to shake with anticipation once they arrived at the door. 

Nightmare looked over his shoulder at Addict and the gun-wielder nodded humbly, pressing her gun tighter against her body to take aim. Nightmare grabbed the handle of the door and counted silently in her head, twirling the handle and shoving her shoulder against it. Nightmare raised her in the air and Addict jumped through the door frame, pointing her gun about in different directions. Her finger itched to press the trigger once her brown eyes acclimated to the darkness of the room. Upon seeing and hearing no intruders, Addict and Nightmare cautiously lowered their weapons.

“What…is this place?” Addict's boots thumped softly against the hardwood floors as she walked further into the room and examined its contents. Nightmare moved around a table and stared up at the framed pictures on the wall.

"It's…you…and me? In the pictures, but we look older.." Nightmare pointed, as Addict walked forward. The pictures showcased Nightmare in a black dress, smiling while a child was beside her. She even had horns sticking out from her forehead, which was strange, she wasn't a demon. She was a vampire.

"Is that…me?" Addict quietly muttered. The next photo showcased a stoic looking Addict, with an unknown symbol engraved onto the underside of her wrist. She looked relatively the same, except a tall faceless entity stood behind her, with a rather formal and classical suit. Something you'd usually never see a monster wear.

"This is so fucking creepy. Mink, hand me my spray-paint." Nightmare's voice was barely above a whisper, her eyes widening at the almost creepy scene before them. The small primate dug into her bag, and handed her the spray-paint. "This must be some sick joke." 

"No! Nightmare, this is evidence. I need to show Leon and Chris," Addict grabbed her shoulder, "This can wait, right now, we just need to figure what the actual fuck is going on."

"Whatever you say…but as soon as you're done, I'm burning this place to the fucking ground."

—

The darkness consumed her eyesight and Addict easily yanked a flashlight out from the back of her pants, clicking it on as her eyes relished in the illumination. The ball of light at the end of the strain flicked around by the influence of her hand, her eyes darting around the closet to see weapons of all sorts, even a few masks. She kept seeing multiple pictures, even a few knives. She grabbed a dagger, and stuffed it in her boot for safe keeping.

But then her eyes fell upon an old, withered door and she stared curiously, moving towards it slowly while raising her gun. Using her flashlight hand, she placed her fingers on the handle and turned it lightly before yanking it open rapidly.

 

She jumped back a few feet and shined her flashlight up just in case something jumped out at her, but her eyes soon stared down the arrow of a makeshift crossbow bolt pointed directly between her eyes. Nightmare attempted to stare back through the bright light of the flashlight, her eyes squinting as he lowered the scythe in her hands. They stared at each other for a few brief moments, the only thing they both could hear were the sounds of their tired breathing. Addict pouted and let out a sharp huff of relief, Nightmare cocking half a smirk from her startled state and stepping out of the doorway back the way she came. "You fucking scared me, asshole.." Addict muttered.

 

Addict rolled her eyes and turned around, clicking the button on her flashlight off and retreating back to the entryway to the house. Her eyes darted around the room and she saw no one but soon heard a couple pairs of footsteps moving up the stairs. Nightmare stepped through the double doorway and quickly descended down the steps, her eyes keeping a lookout on the house's surroundings just in case any people decided to crash their party. Finally, her gaze set on the vehicles parked by the home, "Oh fuck, I think whoever lived here…they're back."

"Oh shit, let's ditch this place. I don't know who those weirdos are, but we can find out later." Nightmare tugged on her hat, lowering it lightly to cover the top-half of face, "Let's ditch this place." 

"Right..right…" Addict nodded her head, "But….you know another way out…right?" 

Nightmare stopped suddenly, her eyes widening slightly. Despite the lower-half of her face covered, Addict could see her sheepishly smiling.

"You have got to be kidding me.."

Suddenly, the sound of people bursting into the mansion sounded, and Nightmare was quick to react. 

Nightmare rushed around Addict as she pulled the trigger to her silenced pistol vigorously, her aim set on a window in the kitchen. She tossed her scythe against the wall and swiped her own pistol from her belt, raising it and feeling the recoil of its deadliness blast back in her hand, watching the glass shatter into a million pieces. "Addict! Let's go! Now!"

Addict looked over her shoulder as more unknown men came in last, one of them already making his way around the corner and towards the back rooms of the house. Addict turned to the adjacent hallway and disappeared behind its walls, her ears picking up movement behind her. But right now, it didn't matter. The only thing that did? Escaping.

She leaped through the window, ignoring the little shards of glass that she stumbled onto upon leaving. Nightmare followed, quickly grabbing her scythe before running out as well. 

—

Trees whispered silently with each other through the voice of their rustling leaves, warning that the storm rapidly approaching might inflict damage on the unwary shrubbery. Corpses that were ripped to shreds lied dormant that were long-ago left behind by the other murderers who inhabited the mansion. A thick blanket of snow plagued the grass in the forest, making the trees shudder under its tyranny.

The strange thing about the Slenderman forest, some parts were completely clear of snow, and some parts weren't.

"Don't let them escape!!" Varrick barked out to the fellow killers, his skin reddening from the harsh winds of the winter. The proxies challenged themselves through the tough icy-wind that fought the human part of them. 

"The d-d-damn s-s-snow!!" Toby's disgruntled voice wavered, as he directed his words to the leading proxy. His arm swung like an authentic killing machine, yet through the thick fog of snow concealing the opposing man, his skills were practically useless.

Hoodie's annoyance had been growing ever since the two women had managed to escape their grasps, but the snow only aggravated him further.

The grip on his firearm tightened further, Hoodie found himself staring back up at the snowy sky once a vicious wind tore at his hair and clothing. He narrowed his eyes once seeing the snow beginning to fall heavier and heavier. There was no more time to waste; with or without the group, he was going to find those two. With Nightmare gone, he had nothing else to look forward to anyways.

The snow thrashed back and forth. The figure the murderers were after had been running through the snow-filled forestry environment. Addict lunged over the rocks and logs in the way of his fast travels, he couldn't afford to look back for a single second. Nightmare was barely keeping up, while Mink was safe, hopping from tree to tree.

Finally, the end of the woodlands revealed itself to them. Addict rushed out, wildly waving her arms for any sign of incoming cars. Fortunately for her, there was one that had stopped before it would hit them.

The car door swiftly opened for him, as she stumbled in, Nightmare followed suit. Thankfully, without question the car instantly sped up before the killers could manage to catch up. Her face brightened with relief, the adrenaline had been calming, yet she had still been shaken from the previous events.

"Addict?! Are you okay?! I fucking knew I shouldn't have let you go." Addict caught the worried hues of a familiar face, his lips slightly parted as he looked at Leon. 

"Y-yeah...I'll be fine.." She slightly whispered, examining him further. "Thank you so much..I don't know what I would've done if you weren't there.."

"Hey, how did you know where we went anyways?" Nightmare asked, somewhat suspiciously. 

"Oh uh..I kind of…followed you guys. But! Only because I don't trust Addict following someone like you-! What were you thinking?!" Leon asked while looking over at Nightmare briefly. She deliberated quickly in her instinctual mind and shook her head.

"I honestly…don't know. It was insane to try and explore a place like…that." She whispered. "I definitely wanna…go there again though." Mink cuddled up against Nightmare's hand as she said this, as she softly pet the small monkey. 

[splintergirl13]

So here is a little head cannon I thought of while reading your fan fic.

What if herobrine never had/celebrated his birthday so he forgot when it was, so Steve and Alex pick a day and celebrate his birthday with him. (P.s. sorry I have horrific grammer)

I liked this idea so much I made a little drabble under the read more :3 I hope it is worthy of such an great headcanon! Thank you so much for the ask! It fills me with joy to hear that people are thinking about my story lol <3. And don't worry. Grammar is hard and doesn't make any sense. I feel your pain

Before we dive in: this takes place pretty earlier into Steve and Brine becoming friends. So they are just starting to pine. Not in a relationship yet. Alex and Brine are still a little wary of each other but have come to accept that they are stuck with each other.

I'd say this is rated teen for just some small strong language lol

-

The Birthday Brine

-

It was a hot, lazy summer afternoon. Too nice to spend down in the mines. But a little too warm to do any strenuous activities.

So Alex and Steve decided to go on down to the small river they frequented on days like today. A secluded area where the water pooled deep enough to swim. And, of course, Herobrine tagged along. As was becoming more of the norm these days.

Steve was lying comfortably in the shade of a few trees on the bank of the river. Legs in the water; small waves lapped up to his knees as the water went by. Arms crossed behind his head. His shirt was off and laid over his eyes, shutting out any of the light that filtered through the leaves. Not really dozing off, but close to it.

Herobrine was similarly relaxing. He lay on his belly; balanced precariously on a nearby tree that had fallen over the river. Looking like a big cat lounging about in the direct sun. Soaking up the rays. One hand was draped down to the side, touching the cool water.

Alex was the only one fully in the river. She was a little upstream, floating on her back. She had taken off her pants, leaving them on the shore, and let her long green shirt cover her lower half. Every once in a while she would swim back to her original place as the current took her down towards Herobrine.

The trio had been chatting absentmindedly. Talking about anything, really. Steve ranted humorously about his pickaxe making a squeaking sound. Alex discussed way too many of the current happenings in town. Even Herobrine brought up that a dragonfly had landed on his shoulder. Which had the trio all staring for a bit before it flew off and they went back to their current positions.

It wasn't until a certain question came to Alex’s mind that the peace of the scene was disturbed.

"Hey Sparky." The adventurer asked. "...How old are you?"

Herobrine took a while to answer. Seeming to think through the question slowly. Finally he asked without opening his eyes. "Why?"

"Just curious." Alex shrugged, swimming a little.

The demon shifted. Now peaking over to look at Steve. It was like the miner could tell that he was being looked at because he lifted his shirt to look back questioningly.

Herobrine spoke up. "When was the last time I respawned? Four months ago?"

Steve frowned. "Yes. More like three. You fell through a roof, remember?"

"Right, right." Herobrine moved his hand up out of the water. "Terribly made and rusty old structure. Glad it forced a respawn. Tetanus is not fun even with healing powers."

"Why is this relevant?" Alex asked impatiently.

"I'm 28." Herobrine said immediately.

Alex sat up in the water. Causing a bit of a ruckus amongst some fish that had gotten close. "No you're not!"

"Yes I am." Herobrine turned his attention to her. She shuddered ever so slightly under his scrutinizing stare. "Every time I die, I respawn back to the same age at which I turned immortal."

Alex crossed her hands over her chest. "Okay, well that's only technically. I meant, like, if you count ALL the years you've been alive."

"I have no fucking clue, Alex." Herobrine rolled his head to the otherside of the tree to ignore her. Yet continued to talk. "Time loses all meaning when you're immortal. Not to mention I was trapped in the nether for most of that time. So it's even harder to tell."

"What's your best guess?" Steve asked, now curious as well.

And the head came back around. Looking at Steve. The demon wouldn't ignore the miner. He bit his lip, eyes trailing towards the water. "I dunno... maybe a few centuries... a millennia or so..."

"Old." Steve clarified. Seeing that the demon was struggling a little.

"Yeah... old." Herobrine scowled.

"So, what, do we have to, like, wait until you live a year to celebrate your birthday?" Alex giggled. "No wonder you don't remember it. It would never be your birthday based on that criteria."

Herobrine scoffed. "What are you talking about?"

"Yeah." Steve added, putting the shirt back over his eyes. "Come to think of it, when is your birthday, Brine?"

"You want to know the exact date I was born?" Herobrine sat up now, clearly confused. "Fuck... I don't know. I didn't even keep track of days back then. I just survived. It wasn't until I met... my brother that we talked about days. And he was able to do some weird 'code calculation' as he called it to figure out my true age. But we didn't really care about that. None of us counted in the aether. None of us wanted to count. When you have endless time you tend not to care. It's a depressing chore."

"So none of you celebrated your birthday?" Alex asked.

"Why would you celebrate your birth?" Herobrine growled. "Existence is a curse."

"That's why we have to celebrate!" Alex exclaimed. "It helps us mortals to forget about our fleeting existence."

"Yeah!" Steve enthusiastically raised a fist to the sky in agreement.

"Like the aether needed another reason to celebrate..." Herobrine grumbled, flopping back down on the tree. "The amount of bullshit dances I had to get dressed up for was astronomical."

"So you really have never had a birthday, huh?" Steve wasn't sure why he was surprised.

"Nope." Herobrine said, popping the p and settling back on the tree. Thinking that was the end of the conversation.

But Steve and Alex had other plans.

"Bro you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"You think we have enough time today?"

"Sure why not? We were already planning on going into town together."

"Then we better hurry."

"What are you two talking about?" Herobrine muttered. The siblings were getting out of the water and putting back on their clothes.

"We're going to throw you a birthday party!" Steve smiled over at him.

Herobrine almost fell off his branch.

"W-what? Why?"

Alex shrugged. "Well, if you don't know what day your birthday is, it might as well be any day. And since we are already all together and don't have any plans for the rest of the evening... why not?"

Herobrine teleported off his tree and stood next to the two. "You really don't need to-"

"Too late, it's happening." Alex smiled. Starting to walk off. Not putting on her shoes as she walked through the increasingly tall grass.

"Go wait in the nether and come back around sunset!" Steve pushed on his back excitedly. As if he could shove him through a portal that wasn't there.

"Why?"

"We are gonna surprise you!"

"Oh. Yippee. Surprise." Herobrine did not mask his unenthusiasm.

"It'll be fun, I promise." Steve said as he stopped pushing and went to go join Alex.

Herobrine was left alone and very confused as to what had just happened. He blinked up at the setting sun and winced. He wouldn't know the correct time in the nether. So he decided to go back to his tree branch and relax until the time came. He had no idea what was in store for him. But he didn't try to think too hard about it. If he didn't like it he could always teleport away.

All this talk of aether and age had his head buzzing with unpleasant thoughts. He tried to will them away and think of nothing instead. Watching as the river flowed beneath him. The dragonfly landed back on his hands.

-

It was just after sunset when Herobrine was walking up to Steve's small house and knocking on the door. Steve was adamant about him knocking. As Herobrine had the tendency to just teleport into a location, unannounced. There was the sound of muffled talking as well as a wonderful smell of something cooking in the furnace.

He heard the miner walk towards the door, he recognized his footsteps easily. Much different than Alex’s.

Steve cracked open the door. "Herobrine, you have perfect timing! We are just finishing up."

Herobrine tried to move forward but Steve closed the door more. He smiled, shyly. "Er. You gotta close your eyes."

"... Why?"

Steve smiled wider. "It's all part of the process."

So Herobrine huffed and closed his eyes. Steve took him by the hand. Leading him inside. Herobrine could feel his heartbeat where they connected. The miner was excited. So Herobrine was excited.

He was led into the house and then Steve stopped and walked over to join where he could sense Alex.

"Surprise!" They both yelled.

Herobrine stood there with his eyes closed. Face oozing confusion.

"Open your eyes now, Brine." Steve whispered loudly to him.

"Oh." And he did. He blinked and took in the sight.

The inside of the house was decorated with a few colored strings on the ceiling and what seemed to be little torches everywhere else. It was very simple and yet very pretty.

"Do you like it?" Alex asked.

"We didn't have too much time to decorate so we made due with what we had." Steve said. "Probably not as fancy as your aether parties."

"No." Herobrine smiled. "But I like this better." The aether parties were always decorated with too much. This was nice and made Herobrine feel cozy.

Alex gestured to the table, patting the chair to sit down. "Since it's pretty late we figured we'd just do a birthday dinner. Steve said you would eat if we made you food."

Herobrine nodded. Glad he hadn't had anything to eat for a while. He wasn't the biggest fan of eating. Steve had been reintroducing it to him slowly. The miner was an excellent cook.

"Good!" Alex smiled. Steve sat next to Herobrine at the table. "I handled dinner and Steve handled the most important part of a birthday, the dessert!"

"It all smells nice." Herobrine commented politely. It did. He was actually excited to eat.

Alex disappeared into the kitchen. Preparing plates for them all. Steve and Herobrine shared a look. Both smiling, somewhat uncomfortable and comfortable at the same time. It didn't last long as Alex came out with two plates, setting it down in front of them.

The meal consisted of roasted corn, slathered in butter, some sort of shredded pork on bread with some sweet sauce, and a cold potato salad. Steve instantly dug in. Probably hungry from all the work they had been doing. Herobrine waited for Alex to return with her own plate before starting to pick at the food. It wasn't long before he was eating more sloppily than Steve. Alex apologized, saying she wanted to make something more special like a smoked biscuit but Herobrine wasn't sure why she was sorry. It was all delicious. And Herobrine found himself wanting to eat the entire plate. It was the perfect meal on the warm night.

The house was filled with the delightful sounds of eating. None of them talked very much. Not needing to. Just enjoying each other’s company. And the food! They were all very invested in the food.

Once they were done, Herobrine was tempted to ask for more. But he remembered that there was still dessert to eat. He started to try to clean up his plate. But Steve stopped him immediately. "Ah, ah. No dishes when it's your birthday."

"Hmm. This birthday business keeps getting better." Herobrine smirked at him.

Steve disappeared into the kitchen and returned with two plates filled with two generous slices of homemade chocolate cake.

He set them down in front of Alex and his own seats. "We have a special slice for you, Herobrine. Hold on."

Steve rushed away and walked slowly back with a similar piece of cake. But this one had a very tiny torch stuck in the middle of it. Herobrine blinked. Huh. Strange.

"It's a candle." Steve explained. "It's a tradition to have some on your cake. We only had this old one." He set the on fire cake in front of him. Herobrine enjoyed the fire flare. "Usually you have a candle for every year you've been alive."

"But that would've set the house on fire." Alex snickered.

Herobrine rolled his eyes and tried to grab his fork. But Alex stopped him. "Wait! We have to sing to you!"

"Er, no thanks." That seemed silly. He did not want to be sung to.

Steve made a face. "I don't like that part either. I think we should skip it."

"We have to! It's tradition!" Alex wrapped her elbow around Steve’s neck. "Come on, Stevie. One time!"

"Alright. Alright." He caved easily. And they began.

Herobrine sat awkwardly as the two sang a little song. Saying his name. Herobrine had never heard Steve sing. It was nice. He had a pleasant voice. He thought the man should sing more. He hummed a lot but never truly sang.

Once they were done. Alex said. "Now you make a wish and blow out the candle."

"A wish? Wish for what?"

"For anything." Steve added. "But you have to wish in your head. And don't tell anyone or your wish won't come true."

"Like a curse?"

"Yeah kinda. But it's just for fun."

The demon chewed on his lip. Seeming to think about it. He nodded eventually. "Okay. I've made my wish."

"Now blow out the candle to complete the spell." Alex joked. Steve nudged her.

Herobrine looked at the small torch on the cake and willed the fire away. It went out.

Alex and Steve stared. Alex giggled. "Guess there's more than one way to skin an ocelot."

"Why would you-" Herobrine blinked.

"It's an expression." Steve laughed, sitting down and picking up his fork to eat his piece of cake. "Ignore her and dig in while the cake is still warm."

Herobrine did, setting the small torch- candle aside and picking up his fork to eat. The cake looked moist. Fresh. And smelled absolutely delicious. His mouth was watering before he even put the treat in his mouth.

When he took a bite he almost moaned. "H-holy fuck." He quickly took another bite.

Alex giggled. "Never had a Steve-made cake have you?"

"Steve, you should stop cooking everything and just make cake from now on." Herobrine had almost finished his piece already. It was just so damn good. He couldn't stop.

"Then it wouldn't be special." Steve chuckled. Looking happy that they both seemed to be enjoying his cake.

"Can I have more?" Herobrine asked, frosting definitely smeared all over his face, unabashedly.

Steve and Alex howled at that. The demon just looked so different from how they normally saw him. It was nice. And also hilarious.

Herobeine got a second slice and sat back, looking full. The demon didn't usually eat so it was a lot all at once. Totally worth it though.

"Present time!" Alex jumped up from the table as Steve moved the dishes into the kitchen.

"Present time?" Herobrine parroted.

"You get presents on your birthday!" Alex walked over to grab two things that had been set aside on a coffee table. "From everyone who comes to the party."

Alex handed Steve something and walked back to the table to give Herobrine a rectangle that looked like a book wrapped in paper. Herobrine took it confused. "Er, thanks?" He held it in his hands.

"You gotta open it dude!" Alex said excitedly.

"Open it?"

"Yeah tear open the paper!"

"Oh." Herobrine, a demon of destruction, ironically opened the book very carefully. Not wanting to damage it.

He held the book up once it was unwrapped. It was, indeed, a book. Not too hard to guess correctly.

"It's a book of modern day phrases." Alex explained. Tapping the cover. She smirked. "I know that you have some trouble with some of our more modern hip lingo."

Herobrine lifted an eyebrow at her. He flipped to a random page. "There's more than one way to skin an ocelot? Oh. I get your 'joke' now."

"See. You're learning already." She snickered. Steve smiled too.

Herobrine looked confused. But not unappreciative. He waved his hand, tucking the book away into his inventory. "Er, thanks. I will read the rest later."

"No problem!" She giggled. She then pushed Steve forward. "Go ahead, your turn."

Steve had a paper package tied up in butcher's twine behind his back. He coughed and walked forward, handing Herobrine the parcel.

The demon took it. Knowing what to do now, he tore into the paper. Revealing what was inside.

He paused when he realized what it was after pulling all the paper off and letting it float to the ground.

"It's... your cloak." Herobrine said. Not giving away any emotion. Steve seemed to droop a little. Expecting him to be a little happier. Alex nudged the miner. They shared a look. Steve rolled his eyes. He walked closer to the demon, touching the cloak in his hands.

"I knew it would already fit you. And there wasn't enough time to get you a new one made. I just know how much you like to borrow it from me when it gets colder." Steve ran his fingers along the cloak. Pointing out some stitching on the green material. "I sewed up all the holes so it won't be as drafty. And-" He tapped the button that held the cloak together. "I replaced the old latch with a golden one I got from town today. I know you said you like to wear a little gold in the nether for piglin respect or... whatever." The miner let go of the cloak and backed up, rubbing his head awkwardly.

Herobrine stared at the green gloak. Rubbing the material in his fingers.

"If... if you don't like-"

"I love it." Herobrine almost whispered. Sounding so genuine it made Steve blush and Alex smile. "It's perfect."

"O-oh." Steve scratched his head again. "Good. I'm glad." He smiled, looking away. Desperately trying to hide his blush. He had gone bright red. And Herobrine wasn't helping.

The demon stood instantly and put the cloak around his body. He had worn it before. But it looked different now. Like it was his now. It was truly his.

Herobrine looked up at Steve. "This is... the greatest gift I've ever been given." He didn't smile but his glowing eyes said it all. He was absolutely telling the truth. "Thank you, Steven."

The miner stared back. Smiling to the side and tilting his head. Embarrassed but screaming on the inside in happiness.

Alex had to butt in. Not liking the way the two were looking at each other and getting a little protective of Steve. "Pfft. Thanks a lot there, Briney boy. Glad my gift meant nothing."

Herobrine blinked. Processing the words. And then realized. "Oh, no, sorry Alex. Thank you as well."

"Yeah whatever." Alex nudged him with her fist, walking past him. She then let out a yawn. "Well. I think I'm all birthday partied out. Mind if I crash on your couch, Stevie? It's too late to walk home."

"Sure I'll get you some blankets." Steve mimicked the yawn. His eyes looked tired. They did do a lot to put the party together for him. They deserved a rest. "Happy Birthday, Brine."

"Thank you." Herobrine nodded. "Thank you both. This was... enjoyable."

"See our traditions aren't so bad." Alex said, flopping down on the couch.

"I do believe I've judged it too early." Herobrine nodded. "You do this every year?"

"Yep. And you get to do the planning and gift giving to us when it's our birthdays. No party is exactly the same." Alex nodded. "I think planning is actually more fun than celebrating your own birthday."

"Oh. Well I look forward to that. You will have to remind me when the time comes. Time is... difficult for me."

"Of course, dude." Steve produced some blankets from the closet. Herobrine sensed it was time to make his leave. He headed for the door.

"Thank you again." He said a little awkwardly. "I will uh, see you both tomorrow."

"Sounds good!" "Bye!" The siblings said.

And with Herobrine out the door. Steve and Alex looked at each other.

"I think that went well." Steve said.

"I think you owe me money for not making a single birthday suit joke." Alex said back. He threw the blankets over her head as she giggled.

"Goodnight Alex!" He went to his bedroom, trying to hide his blush. "Put out the candles before you sleep."

"I'm just saying, Stevie! That would've been a better gift if you-"

"Goodnight Alex!!"

Herobrine stood just outside the door. He wiggled his shoulders a little. Feeling the soft weight of the cloth around his shoulders. He smiled. Feeling warm inside and out. And teleported off.

[fresh-prince-of-denmark]

Cyberpunk 2077 Literary Analysis Pt 7: Leave me Alone, Hemingway, You’re Supposed to be Dead

Surprise bitch I bet you thought you’d seen the last of me.

Cyberpunk spoilers ahead!

Cyberpunk meta literary analysis masterpost here 

Okay, so I thought I would be done with this, but it kinda feels like Hemingway has me by the left asscheek and won’t let me go as of late. So here we are: Cyberpunk literature meta-analysis part 7: For Whom the Bell Tolls

Hemingway comes up a few times in Cyberpunk, too many times to ignore. It’s not surprising, really. We know that Johnny is actually a pretty well-read guy from some of his passing comments, and if I had to guess, he’d probably really connect to Hemingway. In fact, if you play Johnny’s ending with Rogue, the final quest is called “For Whom the Bell Tolls” (which is also cool since it keeps the theme of all the missions being song titles, as this is also a Metallica song). But for once, this analysis isn’t entirely about Johnny or V. Hopefully this rings a bell (pun intended), as we’re very explicitly told who else really connected to Hemingway.  

Jackie Wells.

During the quest Heroes, Mama Wells will ask you to go through Jackie’s garage to find something for the ofrenda. One option is a book, For Whom the Bell Tolls by Earnest Hemingway. Misty will comment that he used to read it before a big job, and that it was important to him. If you choose to bring the book for the ofrenda, V will “read from the book” (I put this in quotes because the passage they read has actually been misattributed, it is a Hemingway quote, but not from FWTBT, rather from another of his works titled “Men at War”):

“When you go to war as a boy, you have a great illusion of immortality. Other people get killed, not you... Then, when you are badly wounded the first time, you lose that illusion, and you know it can happen to you.”

The majority of our main characters start out as The Fool, naive and feeling like they’re on top of the world, the kind of hubris that can only come with youth. Yet, like Hemingway says, it takes a bullet to give one a dose of reality.

For Whom the Bell Tolls is a story of war. Our protagonist, Robert Jordan (I’d be really interested to know if Johnny’s birth name, Robert John Linder, was inspired by this), leaves his cushy job as a college instructor in the United States to join the Republican side in the Spanish Civil War. Robert begins the novel fairly bland; he has no real friends, no real family, and he feels completely disconnected from the world. In all honesty, he’s boring. Like, if wet cardboard were a person. He doesn’t really care if he lives or dies, not because he’s a badass, but because he really doesn’t have anything to lose. No passion, no connections, nothing he loves that ties him to this earth despite the fact that he is a man of such strong convictions that he willingly joins this war. Robert is tasked with destroying a bridge, meeting comrades of varying philosophies along the way, who become a kind of found family to him. Despite going out of his way to avoid making connections, he falls in love, not just with the love interest Maria, but with his friends, finally giving him something worth fighting for, something connecting him to this life. The novel concludes as the group finally blow up the bridge (a task done in vain, since the Republican side has ultimately sustained more losses than the Fascists), and Robert is injured. He convinces the others to leave him behind so he can buy them time to escape. The novel ends just as it begins; our protagonist lying in wait in a forest, gun in hand, “heart to the ground,” on a bed of pine needles. (For more on cycles/mirrors/reflections, see here).

While there’s a much larger political message here that could parallel the themes of Cyberpunk, I want to focus more on the philosophical side, as it ties in with my previous analysis much more coherently. The biggest theme of this novel is about how interpersonal relationships are what matter most in this life, which is summarized very nicely by the poem by John Donne which not only lends the novel it’s name, but serves as it’s opening epitaph:

No man is an island,

Entire of itself.

Each is a piece of the continent,

A part of the main.

If a clod be washed away by the sea,

Europe is the less.

As well as if a promontory were.

As well as if a manor of thine own

Or of thine friend's were.

Each man's death diminishes me,

For I am involved in mankind.

Therefore, send not to know

For whom the bell tolls,

It tolls for thee.

This poem and the overall meaning of the book work on two levels. The most obvious is that we all die one day, that mortality is fleeting. But on another level, No man is an island. Our identity is tied within our communities, those that love us, and those we live for. “Therefore, send not to know/For whom the bell tolls/It tolls for thee.” Each time a person dies, a piece of all those who loved them dies with them. Funerals are not just for the deceased, but for us, a chance to bury the pieces of ourselves that died with them. “Each is a piece of the continent/Apart of the main/If a clod be washed away by the sea/Europe is the less.”

Johnny is incredibly similar to Robert Jordan. Despite knowing a lot of people and having a lot of connections, Johnny is not particularly loved, and that feeling is mutual. He even tells V that they are the only person who knows him that that doesn’t hate his guts. Both Robert and Johnny are men who base their morals and identity solely on principal and ideals; standing up for what is right, fighting against oppression, rebellion, but that passion is not borne from interpersonal relationships and connections. It is made of hate of the world, not love of their fellow man. This leads to one of Johnny’s fatal flaws; he did not fear death, because he did not feel as if he had anything to lose. He was consumed and driven by hate, not love, leading to all of his failed relationships. Had Johnny something to lose, he may not have taken all of the stupid the risks he did, acting as if he did not care about his own life.

V, in many ways, parallels Maria, Robert’s love interest in the novel. While Robert salvation lies in the love he has for all of his newfound friends, the main focus is on the love interest, Maria. Here’s an interesting bit of dialogue between Maria and Robert:

"Now, feel. I am thee and thou art me and all of one is the other. And I love thee, oh, I love thee so. Are you not truly one? Canst thou not feel it?"

"Yes," he said, "it is true."

"And feel now. Thou hast no heart but mine."

"Nor any other legs, nor feet, nor of the body."

"But we are different," she said. "I would have us exactly the same."

"You do not mean that." (20.66-71)

In this moment, Robert and Maria are talking about how they feel as if they have fused into the same person, as if they share a body. Yet there is a key difference in how they view their relationship: Maria wishes that they were exactly the same, while Robert states that she doesn’t mean that. Similarly, while Johnny seems to enjoy the growth he and V provide one another, his greatest fear is V/himself being changed into something they are not. Hmmmm….

Johnny and V are very different people by the end of Cyberpunk, finding meaning in relationships just as Robert has. For V, this means Judy, River, Panem, Kerry, Misty, Vik, etc. And for Johnny, this means V, and by extension, all of the people who make up V’s identity through their love and friendship. Despite dying and rising again as lines of code, V is able to finally show Johnny what it means to be human. His journey, I believe, can be accurate summed up by this quote from the novel:

“This was the greatest gift that he had, the talent that fitted him for war; that ability not to ignore but to despise whatever bad ending there could be. This quality was destroyed by too much responsibility for others or the necessity of undertaking something ill planned or badly conceived. For in such things the bad ending, failure, could not be ignored. It was not simply a possibility of harm to one's self, which could be ignored. He knew he himself was nothing, and he knew death was nothing. He knew that truly, as truly as he knew anything. In the last few days he had learned that he himself, with another person, could be everything. But inside himself he knew that this was the exception. That we have had, he thought. In that I have been most fortunate. That was given to me, perhaps, because I never asked for it. That cannot be taken away nor lost. But that is over and done with now on this morning and what there is to do now is our work.”

In addition, Robert’s final conversation with Maria as he is convincing the others to leave him behind so he can buy them time to escape is nearly identical to Johnny and V’s final conversation:

"Listen to this well, rabbit," he said. He knew there was a great hurry and he was sweating very much, but this had to be said and understood. "Thou wilt go now, rabbit. But I go with thee. As long as there is one of us there is both of us. Do you understand?" (43.319)

Here, Robert is telling Maria that because they are the same, only one of them needs to survive in order for them both to live. Compare that to what Johnny tells V:

V: For fucks sake, defend yourself! You’re not even trying!

Johnny: Hmm…sounds kind of familiar. We know that attitude. See, V? Stayin’ with you whether you like it or not.”

This scene is further paralleled by the fact that V crosses a bridge to reach Mikoshi, which is set to be destroyed, just as Robert was tasked with destroying the bridge. Furthermore, in the Suicide ending, the overall theme is about how V “never realized just how many friends they had.” Friends who, in all other endings, were willing to die for V, as losing them meant a piece of themselves dying with them. Similarly, Robert considers killing himself as his friends escape, as the pain of his injury becomes too much to bear. However, he is comforted knowing that his sacrifice will mean that they live, telling himself, "I don't mind this at all now they are away.” Despite now having something to live for, like Johnny, they are still able to brave their deaths as now they have been given meaning. And not just any meaning; love. No longer hate, or rage, or blind idealism. Love. 

This is the overall message of Cyberpunk: maybe you won’t change the world. Maybe you won’t win the war. Maybe your sacrifice isn’t going to change history. Maybe, in the grand scheme of the universe, you don’t matter, and you won’t ever be a legend. But you do matter to the people in your life. No man is an island. We were made to be in each other’s lives, to love one another, to change one another for the better. And that’s what life is all about.

[taeyamayang]

hi sweetie! congratulations for the 400 followers, you absolutely deserve it and i would love to join your event !!

my nickname is ory and i prefer boys! i pick the cards of diamond, heart and clover. i'm introverted (my mbti it's istp) and normally i'm quiet/reserved with a big 'no energy' energy and i'm really shy when i meet people for first time. mostly i'm the mom friend since i'm caring, calm and supporting with the people who i genuinely care but despite that i tend to be individualistic and sacarstic, i'm also logical, openmind, a little bit tsundere and i get bored easily.

i really like learning things about history, if i'm not doing other things i'm probably watching a video about history of anything, also i like to travel (especially roadtrips), reading/wirting, sleep and in general just vibe with my friends, meanwhile somethings that i hate it's feel like i should take care of someone like they're my son or something, i like to take care of people but i hate feeling like they depend on me and rude people for no reason.

my type it's someone who it's kind, empathic, mature, funny and who i can talk about anything! (tbh, basically my type are xsfp, idk why but i always fall for them). my prompt word it's caramel!

thank you so much and i hope you have a nice day/afternoon/night <3!!

a/n: thank you ory for submitting an entry and im so sorry if this came out too late but i do hope you could still enjoy this! have a nice day as well love

you chose: DIAMOND, HEART, & CLOVER

DIAMOND: best friend

YOUR BEST FRIEND: Hinata Shoyo

TROPE: slow burn best friends to lovers? heh

GENRE: wholesome | crack | chaos ensues | childhood friends | fucking slow burn | figure your feelings NOW | mutual pining but no one wants to admit | well good luck on that | fluff!

GIST: You probably wouldn’t forget the odd kid who randomly offered you caramel candy bar back in pre school. He saw you crying at one corner of the classroom after the naughty boys in the class teased you about your new hair clip. That incident wasn’t a big deal if you look at it in retrospect, but what the oranged-haired kid did for you was something else. He broke his candy bar in half before handing it to you, then introducing himself as Hinata Shoyo. He promised to protect you from the big boys in class even if his stature rather looks frail. But still you cling onto his promise. Little did you know that he would become your lifelong friend from that point onwards. You have been friends with Hinata since he was still into soccer, mostly influenced by his male friends, to where he is nowㅡa famous professional volleyball player. When things got rough for him in practices, you know exactly what to bring him—was his, and now both of you’s an old-time favorite treat, a caramel bar.

HEART: soulmate

YOUR SOULMATE: Nishinoya Yuu

TROPE: soulmate au

GENRE: fluff! | comfort | wholesome | romance | god im so jealous of the two of you -__-

GIST: Everyone in this universe is born with a heightened sense of smell. Arguably it makes sense because the only way to find your soulmate is through a fragrance. And to you, when you found your soulmate, your experience was rather sublime. You are aware that a whip of scent welcomes a person when they meet their other half, but you didn’t expect the scent to be overpowering. The smell of slowly toasting sugar over a hot flame slams your nose upon entering a café. At first, you thought, it could be that the employees are stirring caramel in the kitchen but as your feet lead you deeper into the store, the toasted sugar abruptly changes. A fusion of cream and saltiness in the air mix with toasted muscovado. As you trail your steps, the scent of savory and sweetness clogs your nose, thereafter emulsifying your senses with the overwhelming experience. You step back, unable to control your limbs resulting in accidentally hitting a boy sitting in a mahogany chair next to a table by himself. The boy has his eyes as wide as yours, mouth gaped, and his face pale from seeing you. Finally, the commotion in your senses dies down as the boy utters before smiling, “It must be you.”

CLOVER: star-crossed lover

YOUR LOVER: Sugawara Koushi

TROPE: mutual love but unfated lovers

GENRE: ANGST | hurt no comfort | major character death | romance | mutual pining

WARNING: mentions of blood | im sorry for hurting you ory vskshsn

GIST: You knew it was coming, but at the back of your head, you refused to believe it. It was as clear as daylight that you are bound to lose your everything. When his hand drifted from your grasp in the ambulance on the way to the hospital, a part of you was already preparing yourself for the worst. You could vividly remember how his bright caramel eyes turned dull as the blood from his abdomen leaked. You hold on to him tighter, but in turn he gradually drifts away. He lets out a final moan from his mouth, staring at you as he smiles. The type of smile that had you falling for him, the one that swayed you to be with him, and the one that taught you what love truly means. His free hand reaches for the side of your face, leaning your head to his touch as dried blood imprints traces on your skin. He caresses your cheeks with his fingers and he mutters, “Don’t be too sad when I’m gone. You have so much love in you, so don’t put it to waste. I can’t be your last lover, but at least for me, you are.”

Masterlist | HQ Masterlist

[cupofteaguk]

i’ve seen the way you look at me when you think i don’t notice

FROM THE PETALS COLLECTION 

[pairing] :: jungkook x fem!reader

[genre] :: percy jackson au + angst 

[word count] :: 7.3k 

[note] :: attempted a son of hades!jungkook storyline. vaguely inspired by nico di angelo’s character arc if you’ve read the books (because coughs well this use to be an unpublished nico di angelo fanfic don’t at me LMAO), but you don’t need to remember the character slash be an expert in the story to read this fic! Also this is a friends to lovers fic hidden behind my attempt to write a story of grief. pls enjoy! 

.

When Jungkook is fifteen years old, he arrives at Camp Half Blood with pennies in his pockets, one Kim Taehyung on his back, and monsters on his tail. There are all kinds of creatures that have been following him for weeks—some with wings, some with clubs, but all with the intent of murder in their eyes as they chase Jungkook up the hill. Taehyung had warned him about this happening, that starting this journey would attract lots of unwanted attention from lots of dangerous half-breed monsters. Something to do with Jungkook’s scent, whatever the fuck that’s supposed to mean. 

In the beginning, Jungkook hadn’t known what to expect, hadn’t known what Taehyung meant by strange creatures and a camp just for him. Even right now, as he is running as quickly as his legs can take him with his lungs feeling like it’s about to burst—he doesn’t really understand. 

What he does understand is that he has been alone his entire life. With a childhood filled with no father and a frightful mother, Jungkook has grown up spending time by himself in the company of his own thoughts and emotions. With such a strange (and lacking) family dynamic, it exposed him to lots of bullying and snide comments from peers, most commonly seen during school or walks home. The first half of Jungkook’s childhood is defined by this—by the teasing for being different, for failing classes, for being awkward and shy, for never knowing his place. The second half of Jungkook’s childhood is filled with sleeping on the streets, with stealing food at convenience stores, on how he’s been truly alone since he was thirteen. 

That is, until Kim Taehyung corners him at the midnight strike of his fifteenth birthday—which leads the two of them to this current moment. 

Jungkook doesn’t understand much right now. All he knows is that he needs to run. 

As Jungkook approaches the top of the hill, he sees a group of people surrounding an archway. They’re all bundled up in gears of shields and swords, and each of them turn towards the boys as the monster thudding grows louder and Jungkook’s calls become more clear. 

Half of the group near the archway break off, immediately making their way towards Jungkook and Taehyung. There are a few questions thrown here and there, before the main objective is just to make sure the boys get to safety. Taehyung’s weight gets distributed between Jungkook and another person, and together the bigger group makes their way across the hill. They cross a tall pine tree that Jungkook hardly notices, because he’s completely out of breath, wounded across his entire body, with legs that feel like jello. 

Taehyung’s weight shifts entirely to the other person as Jungkook trips and falls to his knees. Quickly, Jungkook whirls around so his butt and his arms are on the ground. With his eyes directed towards the hill, his heart crawls up his throat as he sees the monsters making their way up towards him. His body moves before his mind does, his arms moving him closer towards the archway. 

Someone settles themselves right behind him. “Woah, hey.” Your voice is soft, your hand between his shoulders is comforting. “You’re okay, you’re safe now.” 

“B-But!” Jungkook stammers, pointing shakily towards the creatures now growing closer and closer to everyone. “Those monsters! They’re coming!” 

As soon as he says that, the monsters stop in their path, right next to the pine tree from earlier. Their collection of beady eyes glare angrily down at Jungkook, their screams are hollow cries that press painfully against his ears. This conveyance of frustration continues on for a few seconds, before one by one the monsters turn around and make their way back down the mountain. 

Jungkook’s breathing is frantic, along with his heart rate, as he watches the creatures disappear below the dip. “W-What the hell…?” 

You angle your head toward in order for Jungkook to look at you—you wear an expression of softness, of understanding, and Jungkook momentarily sees stars. 

That, however, could have also been from the excess oxygen in him, and the fact that one of those creatures had landed a swipe to his head. 

You gesture to the pine tree. “You see that tree? That’s Thalia Grace’s tree—a long time ago, she and some of her friends were trying to get here, and Thalia sacrificed herself to ensure her friends could be safe. She was a daughter of Zeus, so he turned her into a tree that would protect the camp. Monsters just like those can’t get in anymore.” 

Jungkook feels the adrenaline fading, along with his ability to follow conversations. Daughter of Zeus? Like, Zeus from those Greek mythologies? The camp? Had this been the place Taehyung told him about? 

It’s all too much to keep up with. Jungkook faints before he can ask his question, in which the last thing he sees is your eyes, concerned and twinkling. He passes the thudding in his heart off as pure and utter exhaustion. 

Jungkook wakes up on top of a white hospital bed a few hours later, head swimming and Taehyung situated at the foot. He offers a cup of something called ambrosia that immediately clears the headache. “Woah, what the fuck?” He asks, holding the cup away from him and staring at it with wide eyes. He looks over at Taehyung. “What is this? My headache went away as soon as I drank this. Also, it tastes like banana milk. Is this a dream?” Without waiting for an answer, Jungkook leans back and takes in his surroundings. He looks to be an infirmary, beds with white sheets along the walls and light shining in through the windows. There’s a few other people lingering about, hovering over occupied beds. 

“Jungkook.” Taehyung’s soft voice pulls his attention back. “We’re in Camp Half Blood. You brought us here.” Taehyung’s smile is sad, but confident. “You brought me back, even though it was my mission to bring you here. Thanks.” 

Jungkook stares. “So… you weren’t lying about the camp. T-This is all real?” 

It is then that Taehyung explains everything to Jungkook. Explains that the Greek gods Jungkook learned about in class are real, and that sometimes they come down from Mount Olympus to mingle with mortals—which is where their demigod children come from. Demigods are part god, and therefore have enhanced physical ability as well as some level of control or skill over the realm of their godly parent. Taehyung goes over this information as slowly and as calmly as possible, but Jungkook still has trouble processing the information. In a way, it makes sense that Jungkook would be in this position. He’s always known he was different, always felt like he could never fully belong in the mortal world he spent so long occupying. He just could never label his feelings with a concrete answer. 

Until now, that is. 

Jungkook decides to ask Taehyung one more question. “Why couldn’t you explain any of this to me on the way over?” 

Taehyung seems to be choosing his next words carefully. “As we kept going, you were attracting more monsters. That’s something that normally doesn’t happen, unless the demigod the creatures are tracking is one that’s insanely powerful. Like, a demigod that’s born from the Big Three—Zeus, Poseidon, or Hades. I read accounts of what happened to us happening to other kids that were born from any one of those three gods. I figured that the less you knew, the better. A demigod who doesn’t know they’re a demigod is a much less serious threat—your scent isn’t as strong as it could be if you know about who you are.” 

Jungkook ponders this. “So my dad could be Zeus, Poseidon, or Hades?” He’s definitely heard of those gods. The ruler of all gods, and his two brothers. 

Taehyung presses his lips together, leaning forward in his seat so his forearms rest on his knees. “Maybe,” He says. “It’s pretty rare, though, so I don’t want to give you an answer only for it to not be true. Only time will tell.” He must see the lost, the confused, the anxious look on Jungkook’s face, because Taehyung takes a seat on the edge of the hospital bed. “Hey, JK, cheer up.” The usage of his nickname makes the corner of Jungkook’s lips turn up. “While we wait for your dad to claim you, you can stay with me in my father’s cabin. My dad is Hermes. He’s a patron to travelers, so all campers who come here are welcomed until they’re claimed by their godly parents.” 

Jungkook can only manage a nod at this. He still has many questions, still does not fully understand. With what Taehyung is telling him, Jungkook is not even sure he will belong here, or if he will be ostracized once again for being different amongst the different. 

But he trusts Taehyung—so he’ll follow Taehyung. 

.

Jungkook is at Camp Half Blood for a week before Taehyung is called for another assignment. It’s due to a prophecy given by the Oracle who lives on the campgrounds—the figure grants quests to campers to undergo a series of dangerous adventures in order to accomplish something for the long term benefit of demigods, the human race, the Greek gods themselves, anything of the sort. 

In the case of Taehyung, he is chosen by fellow camper Kim Namjoon to join him in and travel west and retrieve stolen items from a museum collection. It seems like an easy quest. At least, that’s what Jungkook is told. 

Kim Namjoon is a son of Athena, someone whom Jungkook met a day into his arrival at Camp Half Blood—friendly and smart and answers Jungkook’s questions about mythology with ease. It had been good when Jungkook first met the former, because he had many questions, some of which couldn’t be answered by Taehyung. Namjoon is someone that Jungkook immediately grows a fondness and admiration for—only leaving him that much more confident that the quest will go smoothly. 

“You guys will be okay… right?” Jungkook asks Namjoon, as the latter is shouldering his backpack. He’s not the only person seeing Namjoon and Taehyung off on their quest, but Jungkook had been one of the first people to show up. After all, when your only friend is leaving on an adventure, it tends to bring in the worry and the anxiety. “And you’ll watch Taehyung, won’t you?” 

“Of course I will,” Namjoon reassures, tight smile across his lips but he distracts Jungkook with a hand on his shoulder. “Taehyung and I have been doing quests together for a few years. We got each other’s back.” 

Taehyung slides in next to Namjoon, glancing over at Jungkook with all the care in the world in his eyes. “Hey JK, just promise me you’ll do your best to be comfortable here, okay? Keep trying out those different skills we were working on, okay? Your dad will claim you, I’m sure of it.” 

Jungkook looks down at his fingers, wringing the hands together. “I-I’ll try my best.” 

Namjoon and Taehyung exchange glances, partaking in a silent language exchange, before Taehyung looks back at Jungkook. “I know someone who can help.” 

Taehyung leaves Namjoon with his backpack before stepping away from the group, making his way down the hill back towards the camp grounds. Jungkook follows shortly behind. It’s still early in the morning, most campers are inside their cabins sleeping away the mist, but there’s a small group of campers near the archery grounds. There’s some laughter as a new person steps in to ready the bow and arrow. Jungkook watches as this new archer aims as the target, pulls back the bow, and—! 

“Y/N!” Taehyung calls. 

The person at the archery station flinches, sending the arrow a few centimeters away from the center of the target. You whirl around, and Jungkook’s stomach drops because it’s you—the person who helped him when he more or less crashed into Camp Half Blood. 

You gape, still holding the bow in your arms as your eyes narrow into a glare as you continue to stare straight at Taehyung. “Kim Taehyung! Where are your manners!” You call out. “Aren’t you supposed to be on a quest now?” 

Taehyung slings an arm around Jungkook’s shoulder. “I need to borrow you for a second, it’s important.” 

You seem to be saying something to one of your friends, because you hand the bow to a friend before walking over to the two boys. 

As soon as you reach your destination, you look at Jungkook and give him a bright-eyed smile of recognition—one that brings him back to the first time he met you, when he saw stars. “Hey!” You exclaim. “I remember you, you came in with Taehyung last week. You looked like you had been through a lot—are you feeling better now?” 

“I-uh…” Jungkook tries to form words. 

“He had some ambrosia, he’s fine,” Taehyung cuts in kindly, sending Jungkook a look he can’t decipher. Taehyung goes on a momentarily rant, explaining that Jungkook would just need someone to help him further adjust to life at camp, as well as help him figure out who his godly parent was. 

Taehyung says a lot of words, but Jungkook isn’t entirely paying attention. His gaze is fixed on you, taking in your easy smile and bright eyes. He can feel his eyes widen and the flush crawl up his cheeks the longer he lets himself look at you—yet, he doesn’t understand what it means. He’s never seen someone like you before, in his years of school and in his years living on the streets. 

“So, I just need you to help him out. Hopefully his dad will claim him before we get back.” 

“That’s something to look forward to,” You reply, sounding genuinely excited for that. You turn your full attention to Jungkook this time and smile. “Hi, I’m Y/N. Nice to finally meet you!” 

He takes your hand. Fifteen-years-old, and he wears his emotions in his eyes. “I’m Jungkook.” 

.

Jungkook is at Camp Half Blood for three weeks when he starts getting nightmares. 

Not only that, but it’s the same kind of nightmare—something horribly realistic and chaotic and messy but so painful that Jungkook finds himself waking up with tears dusting itself in his eyes. 

It always starts off the same: Namjoon and Taehyung on their quest. They appear to be in a room of antiques, each boy looking cautiously at the collection around them, with their backs pressed against each other. There is a low hum in his dream, where the voices emit a low frequency and sound like static—like he’s hearing the conversations underwater. Suddenly, a burst comes from above, a shatter of something in the room, a clatter of hollow bangs and clashes, and a yell. His dream always turns blurry after the fight starts, but it always ends the same—Namjoon pulling Taehyung away from a fight. And the latter is badly wounded. 

And Jungkook always wakes up at the sight of Taehyung. And it’s the same question that swirls around in his mind, over and over again. Did Taehyung die on the quest? 

At first, it’s easy for Jungkook to write off the dream as a dream—nothing more, nothing less. Perhaps his subconscious playing tricks on him, playing around with his fears and turning it into videos to play in his brain. But with each passing night, a voice starts to ring in his mind. 

My dear boy. It’s a deep voice, husky and low and full of pitiful sadness, like it can sense the pain that Jungkook is trying to internalize. Don’t you understand? Kim Namjoon let your best friend die. 

There’s something about the voice that is familiar, like he’s heard it before. 

The voice plays in Jungkook’s mind over and over again, like a record, and it shakes him to the core. The potential of what the voice is and what the voice could mean frightens him, and it shows. 

It shows in when Jungkook just outright misses the target with his bow and arrow in the present day. The pair of you are out on the field today, and you’re furrowing your eyebrows together. 

“Are you alright?” 

Jungkook stares at his arrow, somewhere flung off to the side, before his gaze shifts to you. You’re always so sturdy, so concerned, so worried for him. Besides Taehyung, who else cares so much for his safety and wellbeing—? 

He stops, lowering the bow. He wears a serious expression. “Can I tell you a secret?” He whispers. 

You furrow your eyebrows at his tone. “Of course. Is something bothering you? I know your father hasn’t claimed you yet, but the gods can be really busy around this time…” 

“No.” He shakes his head. “Not that.” He steals himself for speaking the words into reality. “I had a dream that Taehyung died, even though Namjoon promised me nothing would happen to him.” He doesn’t miss the way you flinch at his accusation. 

You don’t reply to him at first. You stare at him, eyes conflicted. Jungkook stares back, briefly wondering whether you’ve had the experience of knowing death. He doesn’t voice the question, choosing instead to maintain steady eye contact with your nervous expression. 

“Perhaps it was just a dream, Jungkook,” You say carefully. “Namjoon always keeps his promises. He and Taehyung have been working together on quests for years. And Namjoon is the smartest person I’ve ever met. If they ran into a situation Namjoon thought they wouldn’t be able to handle, he wouldn’t even think to risk the lives of the people he’s with. He won’t let you down.” You’re smiling tightly, clearly trying to keep the tension light but Jungkook suddenly finds that his heart is not in the mood. 

He wants to believe you. He wants to believe in Namjoon. But he knows what his dreams are. And that voice. These are things he cannot ignore no matter how hard he tries. 

But the thing is, his dreams are real—Kim Namjoon does not keep his promise. Jungkook can see this across his face the moment Namjoon returns to camp, alone. 

“Not only did they know we were coming,” Namjoon explains quietly to the camp counselors, late in the night, at a meeting spot reserved for higher ups. “They had taken over the museum a few weeks before we showed up. It was an ambush. I… I couldn’t save Taehyung.” 

No. 

“No!” Jungkook cries out, standing up and making his position known—loitering in the background of the meeting. 

Namjoon meets his gaze from across the gap that separates them. “Jungkook?” 

Jungkook’s head is spinning, his breath coming out in gasps, as he backs up slowly away from the growing crowd of camp counselors. “Y-You promised me!” He accuses loudly, pointing at Namjoon. “You promised nothing would happen to Taehyung! You lied to me!” 

“Jungkook, I’m sorry.” Namjoon steps out from amongst the group of counselors, a hand out in front of him as if approaching a frightened animal. “We were overwhelmed. If I could take it back and save him, I would—!” 

“Shut up!” Jungkook cries louder, running his hands through his hair. He should have known, should have known that weight in his gut was a warning and not a feeling. The tears in his eyes make it blurry to see anything to understand anything—because Taehyung is dead, along with his kindness and compassion and the safety he brought. “I hate you, I hate all of you!” 

Suddenly, there’s a rumble in the ground, a shake in the Earth so intense that a hushed silence falls over the crowd. At once, the ground splits open and a roar of fire explodes up from the pit, threatening to drag in anyone who gets closer. There are screams from the campers, from the counselors, but Jungkook doesn’t care. He’s so angry, so hurt, so lost. He doesn’t hear any of it. 

Until he hears your voice. “Jungkook!” You scream across the gap. 

Jungkook stills upon hearing you, lowering his arms and opening his eyes. Blinking away tears, he feels his heart rate slow back down to a manageable pace. The split in the ground closes before he looks up. He sees the camp counselors up ahead, equal looks of fear and horror across their eyes. 

He turns just enough to see you. You, with your wide eyes, looking confused and upset by what he has just done. And Jungkook feels nothing but disappointment. He has never done anything like this before, and he doesn’t know what it means. 

So he runs away. He runs away from Namjoon and this god forsaken camp that he knows will remind him of Taehyung. 

He runs away from the whispers from campers, a representation to serve that Jungkook will never truly belong here. 

He runs away from you, the only other person he would think to trust from now on. He can’t handle any of this anymore. 

. 

Two weeks after Jungkook runs away from Camp Half Blood, and a shadow of a figure appears to him in the midst of the evening air. It’s a ghost with a dark twisted smile, who calls himself Min Yoongi—a king in a past life, who now resides in the Underworld as a judge for all souls. 

He tells Jungkook that Jungkook is a son of Hades—which explains why he knew about Taehyung’s death, why he split the ground open all those weeks ago. There’s something borderline dangerous about Yoongi’s smile. 

Every fiber and nerve in Jungkook’s body is begging him not to trust this ghost. But, of course, Jungkook doesn’t listen. He stopped listening to things a long time ago. 

Besides, Yoongi soon makes offers that Jungkook cannot escape from. A way to bring Taehyung back, a way to strike revenge upon Kim Namjoon, a way—! 

Jungkook blinks the thoughts away. He had dozed off again, something he’s been doing a lot lately. 

“You should sleep,” Yoongi advises, his voice more of a whisper than anything else. There’s a touch of eerie to him, in his paper white skin and gray eyes. 

Even though Jungkook doesn’t desire sleep, far from it, he settles with listening to the ghost anyways. So he curls up on a makeshift pillow crafted from his beaten down (stolen) leather jacket, and closes his eyes. 

But instead of the previous nights, where he dreams about death and destruction, dreams up different ways Taehyung could have survived, dreams up Namjoon not caring about Taehyung’s death—he dreams of you. 

Dreams about you are such a rarity now, but they always make him feel warm. Content. Almost satisfied. 

In the dream, the pair of you are situated underneath a big tree at the edge of the forest. You’re in the middle of teaching him about Mythomagic—a card game he had immediately developed an interest for—and he realizes he’s dreaming about a memory this time. When he steals a look at you, he sees sunlight curling around your form, lighting up your hair and your eyes. He hears your laughter and sees the crinkle in your eyes. He can feel your happiness and the innocence in the air around you. He remembers the peacefulness, the calming nature of you. 

He misses it—he misses you. 

A cold chill running down his spine startles Jungkook awake as he springs into a sitting position. The fire before him has long since been put out, and Min Yoongi is floating in front of him. The latter wears a sharp look. “You’re dreaming about her again, aren’t you?” 

Jungkook sighs. Good things in his life could only last for so long. He runs a hand through his hair and turns to gather his jacket into his arms. “I thought I asked you to stop peeking into my mind.” 

“You were smiling,” Yoongi observes quietly. 

“That’s none of your business,” Jungkook snaps. 

“It must have been a good dream. I couldn’t see the contents of the dream, just the subject.” 

“Stay out of my head!” Jungkook hisses, standing up and sliding his arms into the jacket. 

“You care deeply about her.” 

“What do I have to say to get you to stop talking about her?” Jungkook retorts hotly, feeling his temper rise. It had been a good dream. The best one he’s had all week. 

Yoongi looks at him passively. “Just answer one of my questions,” He settles calmly. 

Jungkook grunts. “Fine. What is it?” 

“Why exactly do you care so much about her? You hardly know her.” 

Jungkook slides his backpack over his shoulder. He ignores the touch of passive aggressiveness in Yoongi’s tone. “She was the only one at camp who went out of their way to make me feel like they actually gave a shit.” 

“She cares more about Namjoon than you,” Yoongi interjects bluntly. “She and Namjoon have been friends for longer. She only talked to you because of Namjoon, after all. And don’t you hate him?” 

“Shut up.” 

“You worry she doesn’t care for you the way you do. Haven’t you wondered why she hasn’t tried looking for you?” 

“Shut up.” 

“She was only nice to you because Namjoon asked her to be nice to you.” 

“Shut the fuck up!” Jungkook explodes, turning towards Yoongi with his arm out in a striking motion. His arm cuts clean through the ghost, and he watches as the pieces wisp away into the air. Either way, it doesn’t matter. Yoongi will be back soon, probably to reprimand him, but mostly to carry on as if this hadn’t happened—to continue asking questions and continue trying to piss Jungkook off. It doesn’t matter. Jungkook could never bring Yoongi any harm. The latter is a ghost, after all. 

There’s still a lot he doesn’t understand. 

. 

Jungkook calls off his deal with Yoongi shortly after the You Incident—in which a series of dreams about you sent Yoongi on an accusatory streak that sent him back to the Underworld where he rightfully belongs. It’s good because he doesn’t want a ghost meddling in his personal business, and his personal feelings. 

It’s bad, however, because Jungkook no longer has an evil ghost by his side that offers up revenge. 

This leaves him to do the next best thing—try and summon Taehyung. 

As a son of Hades, his powers do include communicating with ghosts like Yoongi and cracking holes into the ground, but it also involves the ability to summon deceased souls. All that is required is a pit, some food, and a cantation in Ancient Greek. It’s supposed to be simple, and in a way it is. 

Except when the soul he’s trying to summon doesn’t want to be found, which is exactly how it has gone with Taehyung. He’s tried to get Taehyung’s attention for weeks now, to no luck. And he’s tried everything. 

Jungkook scowls to himself as he takes in the local convenience store to buy the various items he’ll need to attempt another summoning. Animal blood is one of the best tools for this type of power, but animal blood doesn’t exactly like up on shelves in aisles of grocery stores—so Jungkook has settled with fast food meals, chips, or anything cheap he can get his hands on. 

He glares at the lineup of sodas in front of his gaze, trying to focus but he finds his mind wandering against through his memories, picking the ones that are most guaranteed to make him feel like shit. 

His mind settles on a line Yoongi said to him countless times regarding you: She was only nice to you because Namjoon asked her to be nice to you. 

His hands shake in his pockets, determined not to believe it, but finding himself pool with doubt nonetheless. 

“Jungkook.” 

He jumps out of his skin at the familiar voice he’s spent the past many months thinking about, as the sensation rings through his body. He experiences brief flashes of emotions he hasn’t undergone in awhile: peace, warmth, hope. He turns on his heel and can’t help the way his eyes widen at the sight of you. 

The months that have passed since his disappearance really does wonders to your face. You look older. You look wary, but well prepared. Most of all, your eyes are still that bright light he remembers more often than he cares to admit. But you also look sad, like the sight of Jungkook is worse than you expected. 

“Jungkook…” You say again, quieter this time. 

You saying his name again brings him back to reality, brings him back to where he is and why he’s here. He doesn’t need you. Like Yoongi said, you’re friends with Namjoon—and Namjoon is the reason why Taehyung is dead. His voice sounds hollow. “What are you doing here?” 

“I should be asking you the same question.” 

His scowl deepens as he settles for a Mountain Dew on the rack. “That’s none of your business.” He catches the hurt that flickers in your eyes, but he turns towards the cashier before he can feel sorry for you. 

You trail after him. “Please don’t shut me out,” You plead gently. You stay behind Jungkook as he pays for his food. “I came here looking for you.” 

“Awfully convenient—but I don’t think you should be wasting your time,” Jungkook grumbles, bounding out of the shop and stopping along the sidewalk. “Why don’t you go back to Namjoon and keep being his best friend and just leave me alone?” 

A sort of realization seems to settle in your eyes, as if you’ve just confirmed something. “I’m not leaving,” You say firmly after a moment. “I’m here by myself, Jungkook. No campers, no Namjoon, it’s just me. I know you’re mad at Namjoon, and you have every right to be upset. I know why you cracked a hole in the ground. I understand all that now. But I really think you should stop blaming Namjoon and hurting yourself. Namjoon didn’t mean to let Taehyung die—!” 

Jungkook whirls around, his eyes a twin set of fire. “Don’t say his name,” He snaps roughly, but falls silent when you don’t even flinch. 

How could he raise his voice at the only person who has gone out of their way to ensure his safety? 

He turns away. He doesn’t apologize, and you don’t ask him to. 

The pair of you don’t say anything for a long moment—Jungkook just makes his way down the sidewalk and you follow along. 

He stops after a moment. He turns himself just enough so you can see his profile. “Fine,” He says, trying to ignore the flutter in his chest when you flash him an appreciative smile. “I’ll let you tag along. But only because I feel bad for snapping at you. I’ve just…” He sighs. “Been going through a lot.” 

You step forward to stand by his side. “We can talk about anything you want to, Jungkook. I’m still your friend.” 

He swallows thickly at your offer, hoping that you don’t notice. If you do, you remain silent. “Don’t ask questions you don’t want to know the answer to.” 

. 

Two days after you join Jungkook’s travels, you seem to decide he is calm enough for a sensitive question. But you’re sneaky about it. You wait until the night, when both of you are curling around a fire—you in your sleeping bag, and Jungkook with his signature leather jacket makeshift pillow underneath his head.  “Why are you so afraid to talk about Taehyung’s death?” 

He flinches at the mention of Taehyung’s name, knowing that snapping and causing a scene would do nothing to stop you from asking the question over and over again. You had given him a few days, but something about your tone tonight tells him that you won’t take no for an answer. 

Jungkook turns his head to look at you. Your eyes are flickering against the fire. “I’ll answer your question if you answer one of mine.” 

You shrug a shoulder. “Sure.” 

He sighs, momentarily stumped. “I’m afraid that if I admit it, or let other people admit it in front of me, it’s true and there’s nothing I can do to bring him back.” 

“I don’t think Taehyung would want you to bring him back, Jungkook. He saved Namjoon that day; he sacrificed himself for a reason—!” 

“Okay, my turn,” Jungkook interrupts, refusing to hear any of it. “Why are you here? Really?” 

You are quiet for a second. “I was sent on a quest to come find you,” You reply after a moment. “The oracle told me about a prophecy where you were in danger. It said you had made a deal with Min Yoongi, said you were considering a soul for a soul trade to get Taehyung back. I was scared for you, Jungkook.” You sit up in your sleeping bag, leaning across the space between the two of you. “My turn. Why don’t you want to believe that Taehyung sacrificed himself to save Namjoon?”

“Because why would he do that?” Jungkook retorts back. “Why would he leave behind everything he cared about? Why would he leave me—?” The words choke in the back of his throat as his heart rams painfully against his chest, the underlying reason for his bitterness surfacing up again. He thought he had smashed his grief down far enough where it would never have to see sunlight again. “It’s nothing. I’m not playing this game anymore.” 

You are quiet, watching as Jungkook curls into himself and turns his back to you. “When are you going to start letting me in?” You whisper. “I didn’t accept that quest for no reason, Jungkook, I came because I care about you. I want to help you.” 

I’ve already let you in, far more than I wanted to, Jungkook thinks to himself instead, wrapping his arms tighter around himself. 

“I know that Taehyung would have never wanted to leave you. He cared about you a lot, and saw you as the little brother he never had. You guys deserved more time. You deserved more time to have the family you never got to have. You wanna know the last thing Taehyung said to me, after introducing us to each other all that time ago? He said that you guys only knew each other for a short time, but you were the strongest person Taehyung had known. I know how much Taehyung wanted to be there for you. But he also had other responsibilities.” Your fingers twitch as if you want to reach over and grab onto Jungkook. “Namjoon had been the leader of the quest, he was the main priority. Taehyung had to make the call. He would never have wanted you to take the guilt for a decision he made on his own.” 

Jungkook hesitates, before rolling onto his back. “Why does Namjoon deserve my forgiveness?” 

Finally, he spares a glance at you. You’re still looking at him, gaze sharp over the fire. It distracts Jungkook momentarily, as his mind thinks about how different you are from fire. Fire can be harsh, blunt, unforgiving, and relentless. Like him. 

But you are like the sun—bright, warm, longing. You refuse to give up on him. 

“Because it’s the right thing to do,” You whisper. “Because everyone deserves a second chance.” 

He stares at you. He doesn’t know what longing dances behind his eyes, but you seem to know, because you avert your gaze and grumble something about going to sleep. 

He watches you turn to your side, and he wonders. 

. 

Jungkook has tried to summon Taehyung a grand total of ten times in the weeks prior to his run in with you. Each time is met with failure, because it seems like Taehyung does not want to be summoned which is disappointing and disheartening. To be honest, it makes Jungkook less and less enthusiastic to keep attempting something he cannot guarantee. 

But as you stand next to him over an empty pit the pair of you have spent the last thirty minutes digging up, you take your hand in his. You smile at him, nodding. “It’ll work this time.” 

So Jungkook pours in the Mountain Dew and dumps out the bag of chips he’s acquired into the hole. As he repeats the same cantation he’s said for the past ten times, the food starts bubbling as spirits from the Underworld fight to get a taste of the offering. 

“Show me Taehyung!” Jungkook calls out, although he sounds worried and unsure. 

At once, a spirit with a bright light, brighter than the others around it, shines through. It slides to the front to drink from the food at the bottom of the pit. The figure morphs and forms into Kim Taehyung. 

Despite everything, despite the long hours that Jungkook has committed to summoning Taehyung, the sight of his friend does not fill him with joy. It fills his eyes with tears. 

You notice, you always do. You squeeze his hand, but you also let go of him. “I’ll leave you two.” 

So Taehyung talks. He talks and talks, about his quest, about his sacrifice, about Namjoon, about forgiveness. 

This is something Jungkook has wanted for weeks. Yet, the longer Taehyung talks, the deeper he can feel the rifts of frustration. 

Frustration at Namjoon, for whom everyone is telling Jungkook to forgive. 

Frustration at Taehyung, for leaving him drowning in the sorrows of his own nightmares. For leaving him, even when he wasn’t ready to be left. 

Frustration at you, for always caring about him, even when he’s sure he doesn’t even care about himself anymore. 

When Jungkook releases Taehyung back to the Underworld, he feels like a hollow shell. He simply stands there, in front of the pit that brought forth his best friend. His mind is whirling with questions, with a curiosity. 

You approach him slowly. “Jungkook…” 

“You should go back,” He mutters. 

You actually look shocked at this now. “What?” 

He turns on his heel to address you properly. “Go back to camp.” He doesn’t mean to sound so harsh, but the words come out like a snap. He tries to reprimand the situation when your face falls just a fraction. “Go back to camp,” He tries again, a little softer this time. He keeps his gaze on you, even when you look up to stare at him. “It’ll be okay. I just need a little bit of time.” 

At this, you nod slowly. You try for a smile. “Come back home, okay?” 

He thinks he knows what you mean, but you disappear before he can ask you. 

. 

He returns to Camp Half Blood after a few days, with his leather jacket and black iron sword. The campers that guard the border part for him like the Red Sea—with the exception of one camper. He’s an older camper, who even in the dark shines brighter than the moon overhead. It’s a son of Apollo quality. It belongs to Jung Hoseok, a camper Jungkook met when he first arrived at camp. Hoseok is like sunshine—he’s always bright and cheerful with a positive disposition. 

Today, despite still having that glint in his eyes, the boy wears a much more solemn expression. Almost as if he’s seen everything that Jungkook has gone through. Or, at the very least, has heard about it. “Hey Jungkook…” Hoseok greets. He doesn’t leave much room for conversation, because he gestures past the archway entrance, down the hill, towards the Big House—the main meeting place for campers, the central point of Camp Half Blood. “She’s waiting for you.” 

He doesn’t need a list of camp names to know who Hoseok is talking about. Jungkook just mumbles his thanks, trying not to draw too much attention to the flush against his cheeks as he follows the pathway down into camp. It’s late, so the grounds are devoid of people, making it easier for Jungkook to step onto the porch of the Big House. 

You’re on the porch, pacing back and forth with your thumb in between your teeth and you look nervous. You’re mumbling something underneath your breath. 

But your ears are just as good as your eyes, because as soon as Jungkook steps on the wood, you’re whirling around to face him. “Jungkook!” You exclaim, approaching him with tentative steps. “Y-You came back.” 

He levels you with a look, feeling a bashfulness overcome him. “You asked me to,” He says. There’s a slight pause. “I told you I needed time to think, and I have. You were right. Everyone deserves a second chance. It wasn’t fair of me to go after Namjoon the way I did.” 

You nod, giving him a small smile. “I’m glad you’re feeling better.” 

Jungkook continues to stare at you, feeling a fondness overcoming him. “Thanks,” He finally settles with. “For, you know, finding me. For not giving up on me.” He looks down, scratching the back of his neck. “I should probably go find Namjoon and apologize.” 

You wave away his concern. “Namjoon is asleep.” You angle your head towards the oceanside that surrounds the camp. “Want to take a walk with me?” 

So you lead him through the camp, past the cabins of campers, past the archery set, past all that, to finally the beach located along the outskirts of the camp. It’s home to many boat races, surfing adventures, and firework displays. Currently, it’s devoid of activity. Right now there is merely a wooden pier that stretches out into the ocean, one that you and Jungkook walk down before you settle down at the edge. 

You pat the spot next to you, and Jungkook sits down. Since you don’t say anything, he allows himself to stare out at the horizon, and the movement of the ocean. When you still don’t say anything, Jungkook dares himself to look at you. The moonlight is cascading across your features. You look like home. You feel like home. 

You look at him suddenly, and knit your eyebrows. “Do I have something on my face?” 

“Oh, uh, no…” He trails off, forcing himself to look away from you. Should he tell you? Not tell you, but… “Hey Y/N,” Jungkook speaks before he can think otherwise. 

You look at him. “Yes?” 

Jungkook straightens his back a little. “I-I think I should tell you… I didn’t come back just for Namjoon. Actually, I came back to tell you that I, uh, well, I missed you—I mean, hanging out with you—I wanted to be a better person because of you—I mean, not just because of you, but—!” 

You start to smile at that, before you do something unexpected. You lean over and kiss his cheek. 

He feels like his body has just been shocked, the sensation dancing up and down his spine. “W-What was that for?” He’s trying to sound confused, but his nerves immediately start getting the best of him. 

Your smile is still present, but it’s a kind smile that touches your eyes and assures him of his choice to return. “I’ve seen the way you look at me when you think I don’t notice. You still wear your emotions in your eyes. That’s one that hasn’t changed over the past year.” 

He scoffs, but his face feels hot and he’s sure the effect he’s trying to go for is lost anyways. 

[amazingphanisnotonfire-imagines]

Betty//tell me something nice, like flowers and blue skies

Request: Can I request a Reader/Betty with the song I Wanna Be Your Girlfriend by Girl In Red, maybe reader pines over Betty how she pines over Archie

hey! before i ramble trigger warning: i don’t really know how to describe it, so there’s like a nightmare bit and people aren’t really nice about the reader being gay, so if that upsets you don’t read. anyway! it’s loving women hours (when is it not?) as i’m writing this its october, so it’s officially girl in red season! happy holidays gays! 

Betty Cooper, Archie Andrews and Y/n L/l/n. The three musketeers of Riverdale. Wherever one of them went, the other two followed. 

You have lived next door to each other, since before any of you were even born. Your moms went to baby classes together, your dads let you play in the back yard while the three of them enjoyed a beer. There was never a day that at least two of you weren’t together. 

Every birthday party was spent showing presents off and eating far too much cake. And every weekend sleepover was spent giggling way into the night and eating junk food, only to be told off by one of your moms. You would plan countless pranks that Polly would always be on the receiving end of, and then when the three of you were inevitably grounded for ruining another thing of hers, you’d hang out of your bedroom windows to wave at each other. 

As the three of you grew older, your parents thought you would grow apart. All three of you developed new interests and personalities, but despite everything you stuck together. Promising to go through High School by each others side. 

But then disaster struck. Hormones got the better of one of you and suddenly Betty was pining over Archie. Which was bad news for all three of you. 

Because while Archie was all Betty wanted, he wanted everybody but her. He even tried it on with you once, it ended awfully and you both vowed never to speak of it ever again. 

You don’t know how many hours you’ve spent sat on her bed while she watched Archie from her bedroom window, despite you telling her how creepy it is. 

At first it was kind of boring. You just watched her, watch him and then you’d listen to her mope, tell her he’ll realize soon and then go home. But then it stopped being boring and something shifted. You found it more hurtful? 

Like whenever she would talk about him in that lovestruck tone, it felt like your something twisting your lungs. You found yourself stuttering over your words when she talked to you. Your cheeks would heat up whenever she was in close proximity of you, and if she touched you, even if it was just a light graze of her fingers over your own, your mind would go blank and busy all at once. 

You found yourself sneaking glances at her whenever she wasn’t looking, or trying your hardest to make her laugh, even if it meant making yourself look like an idiot. She was the last thing you thought of when you went to sleep, the first thing you thought of when you woke up and she was every other thought in between. 

The littlest of interactions between you had you overthinking. What did that smile mean? Why did she ask just you to hang out and not Archie too? Is she trying to tell you something? Was that goodbye wave just a goodbye wave or was it something else? And that goodnight text? Was there a tone to it? 

It was only when she rang you at 2am to ask you what you thought Archie meant by ‘I’ll see you tomorrow’, did you realize. 

You’d fallen for your very straight best friend. 

fuck

Nobody knew you were into girls. Not even you were aware of it until her. 

Until she made you look forward to going to school because that meant you’d get to see her. Until she made you feel like the most important girl in the world when she smiled at you. Until she made butterflies swarm in your stomach whenever she so much as looked at you. 

But she always talked to Archie before you first thing in the morning. She always smiled brighter at Archie, and she always looked away far too soon. 

Even if had beed years since she’s first fallen for him and she’s dated Jughead in between. You could tell there was still something there between them. 

Just look at me the same

Riverdale is a small town, people talk and people judge. So for now, you’ll stay in the very comfy closet your in. 

You’re graduating soon so you just have to keep in a secret for another four months. That’s totally do-able. 

But then again you and Betty have applied for the same college’s so who knows what going to happen then. Maybe you’ll find a girl there that you’ll fall for. 

But there’s nobody like Betty Cooper.  

There never was and there never will be. 

She’s the only good thing to come out of this place. Even after everything she’s been through, they’re usually things you’ve also been dragged into by either her or Archie, but she always comes out the other side stronger. 

She’s a force to be reckoned with. 

She’s wonderful. 

If you tell people that you were into woman, then there’s a chance that Betty might find out you like her and you definitely don’t want that. 

So you’ll continue secretly pining and looking way too much into things. 

You’ll continue to listen to her talk about Archie or Jughead or whoever she likes this week, in exactly the same way you think about her. 

You’ll lie next to her at Friday night sleepovers and try to keep your breathing normal as she cuddles into the side of you. You’ll stop yourself brushing hair from her face, from stroking her arm gently and from pressing gentle kisses to her head. 

You stop yourself from doing all of those things and just lie there. Letting the darkness envelop you as she snores softly beside you. And when you eventually fall asleep she’s there too, but something’s off. 

She’s looking at you all wrong. Everybody is. They’re looking at you like you’ve done something wrong. Archie and Betty stand hand in hand, and they glare at you. The world around you twists and warps, you try and get closer to them, to ask whats wrong but they just keep jumping further and further away. And then she tells you, she knows. She knows everything, about the way you feel, how you think of her and she’s looking at you like you’re a stranger. They all are and the world becomes tighter around you and its getting harder and harder to breath an-

“Y/n?!” 

You eyes snap open and you sit upright, gasping for breath.

Betty stares at you, eyes full of panic as she moves to sit in front of you. She flicks the lamp on as she moves and the room is flooded in a soft orange glow. The duvet bunches around you and she moves it down to allow you to breathe and cool down.

“Breathe. You’re okay. It’s okay. I’m here.” She says, her voice firm but soothing. Her hands rest on your shoulders and you force yourself to nod, and slowly start to breathe properly. “Are you okay?” She asks, her voice now a lot less panicked and a wave of embarrassment rolls over you. 

“Yeah.” You shrug. “Just a bad dream.”

“Do you want to talk about it?” She lies back down and you follow apprehensively. 

“No thanks.” You mumble and move your pillow. 

In times like this its good that you have shared trauma. It means if you get bad dreams about your best friend finding out you like her, thats not the first thing she assumes. 

She probably thinks its got to do with the Gargoyle King, or that night you were hunted through the woods. Or when you went to Lodge’s Lodge and got robbed. Veronica had insisted that it was couple’s only but Betty had fought for you to come. Saying that if her and Archie were both away you’d be alone. Plus, the three of you come as package. You want one, you get all of them. 

You shuffle backwards towards the wall, trying to put as much space between the two of you as you possibly can. She doesn’t seem to get your hint and just moves closer to you, slinging her arm over your waist and you feel goosebumps rise over your skin. 

Your eyes flutter shut but the dark and distorted world you were previously trapped in plays behind your eyes like a really bad horror movie and so they snap open again. 

You hold in a gasp once you notice how close she is to your, your foreheads barely touching, her blonde hair sprawled out on the pillow and the ends tickle your face. 

“You okay?” She mumbles and opens an eyelid to look at you. 

“I just don’t think I can sleep right now.” You reply causing her to frown and look at you properly. She props her head up with her head and her hair falls around her face as she angles her head to look at you properly. 

You want to kiss her. 

She’s right there so you could. She’s lying in front of you and she’s giving you a look you’ve never seen directed at you before. 

You could just lean up and kiss her. You wonder if it will feel like how you’ve imagined. If her lips are as soft as they look and if you’ll still be able to feel them long after you’ve stopped. If the feeling will engrain itself into your memory, becoming impossible to forget. If her hands will hold your own or if they’ll settle on your cheek or in your hair. Will she be cautious as she kisses you or will it be the most sure she’s ever felt about something? 

You want to kiss her until you lose your breath. 

You want to get lost in her and for her to get lost in you. Until this is the only thing either of you know. 

“Tell me something nice.” 

“Like Archie’s hair today. Because it was really nice. I think he spent a little longer on it today but it was worth it. It looked very soft...very ginger.” 

“No.” You laugh. 

She’s gone back to Archie for this week and even if it does hurt, its a little comforting. It reminds you of when she first went on like this, you were unaware of your feelings then. You were just hanging out with your friend while she pined for your other one. There was no feelings to mess it up, at least not on your end.

Now you’re almost three years into this and there’s been more complicated emotions and plot twists than a teen drama. More moping than a Smiths song. 

The internet is obsessed with the mutual pining trope, it’s romanticized beyond belief. And in a way you’re in one, the only problem is she’s pining for the wrong person, maybe so are you. 

“Like flowers and blue skies.” You add after a few seconds of silence and a soft smile settles on her face. 

“Okay. Come here.” She stretches her arms out towards you and you reluctantly shuffle towards her. 

She squeezes you tightly before lying back down properly, her arms are wrapped around you and her chin rests on your head. You feel the steady beat of her heart and you hope she can’t feel your erratic one. 

“Can you remember last Christmas?” She asks and you hum in agreement. “It was Christmas day, me, you and Archie got together in Archie’s backyard to do our annual present swap. It was freezing, but the sky was the bluest it had been for months. There wasn’t a cloud in sight and the sun was brighter than the previous summers.” 

“It had been snowing.” You reply. “And we threw snowballs at Archie.” 

“Yeah.” She laughs. “Archie threw one back, but it was more ice than snow and it hit me right on the nose.” 

“I thought he’d broken your nose with the amount of blood.” You laugh. 

“You took me home and made sure I was okay.”

“Of course I did.” You mumble, your voice sleepy. “I’d do anything for you.” You add, your voice muffled by a yawn. 

“What?” She asks but you shake your head. 

“Nothing.” You reply. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen your mom so confused.” 

“So would you be if your kid and her friend were stood on the porch, one of them with blood pouring out of their nose and the other with blue lips almost the same shade as the sky.” 

“Fair enough.” You laugh. “Hey, what are you getting for Archie for Christmas this year?” 

“I dunno.” She shrugs. “What about you?” 

“I dunno, thats why I was asking you.” You reply and the two of you giggle quietly. “What do you want for Christmas?” 

“A boyfriend.” 

“Gross.” You mumble and she looks at you annoyed. 

“What do you mean gross?” 

“I mean...gross.” 

“Shut up. You’ll understand when you get a boyfriend.” 

“I highly doubt thats gonna happen.” You mutter making her frown and move to look at you. 

“Don’t think like that.” She cups your cheeks in her hands and you feel your face heating up under the intensity of her stare. “You are so pretty. You’re the prettiest girl I know. Any boy would be lucky to have you.” 

“Yeah, okay.” You snort and she sends you a look but decides not to say anything. 

“Do you like anybody at the minute?” She asks, her chin resting back on your head and your breath hitches as you try and figure out the best way around this. It’s too late though, she heard you and now she’s staring at you wide-eyed with a bright grin on her face. “Oh my God. You do. You so like someone.” 

“No, I er. No I don’-” 

“Who is it. You have to tell me. I tell you everybody that I like.” 

“I know.” You mumble making her glare at you. 

“Please. I won’t tell anyone. I promise. Do I know them?” 

“No.” You shake your head. 

“Okay, So I know them.” 

“But I just said you didn’t.”

“I know. But I can tell when you’re lying. We’ve been friends for 18 years, I know all your tells.” She says. 

A lump sits in your throat and you try your hardest to swallow it. 

fuck

“So I know them?” 

“No.” You sigh and lie down properly. “There’s no point in trying to guess because I’m not gonna tell you.” 

“Why not?” She pouts and flops beside you, crossing her arms over her chest. 

“Because. Plus, there’s no point in telling anyone because they don’t like me back.” 

“How do you know? Have you asked them?” 

“No, bu-” 

“So how do you know?” 

“Because I’m really not their type.” You say. It’s more to yourself than to her but neither of you seem to get the hint. 

“You never know.” She argues. 

“Believe me I do. So can we just drop this and go to sleep.” You snap. 

Her happy expression disappears as she looks at her hands and you feel your chest tighten. 

“Yeah sorry.” She whispers. 

“No, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have snapped.” 

“Its fine.” She shakes her head and turns to look at you.“I shouldn’t have pushed it. But before I drop it forever, for the record, whoever it is is an idiot for not liking you.” She says sincerely and you send her a small smile. 

The two of you stare at each other for a few seconds, and your sure her gaze drops to your lips for a split second. But then you hear a bang on the bedroom door followed by her mom telling you to go to sleep and the moment, whatever it was, is gone. She drops your gaze and turns around, pulling the blanket all the way up to her chin. 

You watch her turn, continuing to stare at her back before you sigh and face the other way. 

You’re both stuck in the same place but you want to follow different paths. 

You both know what its like to be a friend but want something more. The different is that she’s more likely to get what she wants. A boy can start to like his best friend, but you can’t turn a straight girl gay.

That knowledge weighs you down over the weekend. You, Betty, Archie, Jughead and Veronica hang out at Pops on Saturday. And even though you and Betty were the first one’s there, you somehow end up stuck on the end, forced to borrow a chair from someone else’s table. 

Betty and Archie sit next to each other and laugh over inside jokes and their shared dislike of one of the new kids. Veronica and Jughead sit beside each other in an awkward silence. Every ten minutes one of them will try and desperately think of something that have in common but it never works. 

And you?

You sit on the end with nothing to do and no one to talk to. So you leave early, muttering a small goodbye before rushing out of the diner. Veronica and Jughead mumble a small goodbye, and an hour later they come up with an excuse as to why they also need to leave. 

But Betty and Archie don’t notice. They don’t notice you’ve gone until Jughead says goodbye an hour later. 

They stay for a bit longer talking about stories from when they were younger, their plans for the rest of the weekend and whether they’ve done the homework for Miss Fireworth. 

But something is missing. They both feel it, Betty more than Archie. 

It settles in her bones, a feeling of loneliness. It’s only when Archie starts talking about if she thinks if Veronica would give him another chance does she realize it. 

Of course! How could she have not seen it before It’s obvious. It was right in front of her this whole time and she’s only not just realized. 

“Archie, I’ve got to go.” She says quickly, grabbing her bag and shuffling past him. 

She feels terrible, all of these years you’ve been feeling like this and she’s been so oblivious. So inconsiderate. She’s the worst. But she’s going to make it right, she’s going to try her best to anyway. 

“Okay.” He calls after her, she’s already out of the door by the time he replies and he watches her walk quickly out of the parking lot. 

It takes her ten minutes to walk to your house and as soon as she runs up the steps of the porch she’s knocking loudly on the door. She moves from foot to foot, the excitement rising as she waits for you to answer the door. 

The door swings open and your brows furrow once you see who it is. But before you have the chance to ask why she’s here, she’s already speaking. 

“You like Archie?”

“What? No!” You exclaim and she raises an eyebrow. 

“Its okay if you do. I actually think you guys would be really cute together.” She reassures you and you stop yourself from rolling your eyes. 

“I don’t like Archie.” You repeat but she’s having none of it, waving her arm around before continuing to talk. 

“But you do though. I understand now. All of these years I’ve been pining over him and you also liked him. And you listened to me and comforted me like the great friend you are and I just let you. I didn’t even think that you could like him. But it makes so much sense now.” 

“Does it?” 

“Yes.” She huffs. “I’m sorry I was an idiot.” 

“Its okay?” 

“So you do like him? How long for?” She wonders, shrugging her jacket off as she walks past you. 

You know you shouldn’t. You know this is going to end badly for everyone involved, but you do it anyway. You play along, at least if she thinks you like Archie, she won’t suspect herself. 

“About three years.” You shrug and she stares at you in shock. 

“That long?” She says. 

“Yep.”

“How do you know you aren’t his type?” She wonders, remembering the conversation you had last night. 

“I just do. I mean, look at his track record, and then look at me. Nothing alike.” 

“Thats good though!” She replies. “Nobody wants to date someone exactly the same as their ex.” 

You are very different to her ex’s, that is true. 

“Not this different though.” You shrug. “Its fine though. I’m used to it. Now, do you want to watch a movie tonight?” You ask, sitting down on the sofa. 

“Yeah, sure.” She replies, not really sure what to do. She sits beside you and looks around the living room, hoping the right words to say will find her. There’s something else to this, she knows there is. She just can’t quite figure out what it is. “Y/n?” She asks and reaches out to hold your hand. Her touch is gentle, almost cautious and you’re dreading whatever is going to come out of her mouth next. “Are you sure thats it?” 

“What do you mean?” You ask, dropping her hand. Hurt flashes through her eyes and she pulls her hand back, placing it on her thigh. 

The feeling of her hand went from light to heavy awfully quickly, and you want to touch her, but not like this. Not in this situation. She’s looking at you. 

When she looks at you usually, it’s gives you a feeling you can’t describe. But the way she’s looking at you now makes you want to shrink. 

“Do you like Archie?” She repeats.

“No.” You breathe and she sighs. 

You can see her trying to figure it out. Trying to put the pieces of the puzzle together and you know she’s going to work it out. You stare at her with bated breath and watches as she stares at the blank television. 

“I er, I’ve got a few things to do so, I’ll see you later.” You try but she just continues to look ahead. 

The walls close in on you, it’s only a matter of time. She’s going to figure it out and she’s going to hate you and everything is going to be ruined. 

“I’m sorry.” You cry quietly and she looks at you confused. 

She’s beside you in an instant, wrapping her arms around you and your bury your head in her chest. 

“I’m really, really sorry. I didn’t meant to and I wasn’t gonna tell you. I didn’t want to ruin anything between us because you’re my best friend and I don’t want to lose you.” 

“Do you like me?” She asks, her voice remaining calm as she moves away to look at you. 

“Yeah.” You mumble and stare at the grey fabric of the sofa. “I’m sorry.” Your force yourself to look at her. 

She wipes the palms of her hands on her jeans, takes a deep breath and closes her eyes. You stare at her in confusion, wondering what she’s doing and why she hasn’t shouted at you and left yet. But then her hands cup your cheeks and she leans in, kissing you softly. 

It’s slow at first, both of you unsure of what’s happening. But it doesn’t make any less perfect. It doesn’t stop your cheeks from heating up, or your heartbeat from going haywire and it doesn’t stop all cohesive thoughts from falling out of your head. 

She pulls away quickly, and both of you looked at each other shocked. 

“I’m sorry.” She says quickly and stands. 

“No, no. It’s fine.” You reply, copying her movements. You follow her to the door, despite your entire body screaming at you to not let her leave. You don’t think you can handle watching her walk away. 

You’ve wanted that kiss for three years. You’d built it up in your head so much, but now its happened and she’s running away and this is nothing like you thought it would be. 

The kiss was perfect. 

This is a nightmare. 

“Y/n. I’m sorry.” She says, finally looking at you. 

She’s holding on to her bag so tightly her knuckles have turned white, she glances at the door behind her and points awkwardly at it. 

“I’ve got to go.” 

“Yeah, okay.” She turns around and you will yourself not to cry. She can’t see you cry, not over her anyway.

“Bye.” She says quickly and walks through the front door. 

“Bye.” You reply, closing the door before she even has a chance to turn around. 

A shaky breath escapes your lips and you can’t stop the tears anymore. They keep coming, running down your face like sad little waterfalls. Your hands shake, your head hurts and your chest tightens. 

You’ve just watched your best friend and the woman you’re in love with run away after kissing you. 

Nothing is going to fix this. 

Well one thing will. 

“Y/n.” Betty is shouting outside, banging on the door louder than she ever has and you quickly swing the door open, revealing her tear stained face. “I’m so sorry.” She apologizes. 

Within seconds she’s stepped over the threshold, her arms hold you waist and pulls you tight to her. She kisses you desperately and messily, with teeth clashing and tears mixing together.  

But she doesn’t want it any other way. 

And neither do you. 

“Y/n?” She asks between kisses and you nod in reply. “I don’t want to be your friend.” 

“Okay.” You pull away to look at her. 

Her hands are still wrapped around you, but yours drops from from her cheeks, now worried that all of this has been some sort of trick.

“I wanna be your girlfriend.”