#if i tag everyone i will probably die plus these are just eyes

[vani-candy]

i doodled a bunch of eyeballs

[whocaresstillthelouvre]

Tide

Pairing: Frankie Morales x Female Reader Rating: Explicit. 18+ (Minors DNI) Summary: Frankie Morales is capable of almost anything... except not cumming in his jeans when he thinks about you, the pretty clerk at the grocery store he always buys his giant jugs of laundry detergent at. Warnings: Smut thoughts, Frankie's POV and internal monologue, premature ejaculation, so much cum talk, addiction recovery, laundry detergent, this is so ridiculous but I also tried to make it super sweet. Words: 1,200

A/N: I'd probably classify this as a crack fic... but with heart. This is SOOOOO indulgent and ridiculous. I don't know what @luxurychristmaspudding unlocked in me but this is what's released. I know this is my *4th* story in a week, but I couldn't help myself. Also, shout out to the JM Discord and all of the tenants who join in the luxuriousness of this level of depravity.

Masterlist

🚁👖🤍Frankie🤍👖🚁

It keeps happening to Frankie over and over and over again. Recovery has been a challenge, abstaining from all of his previous vices means he’s no longer numbing his mind… and body. 

Nobody should ever cum during a prescription commercial and yet… he does. The swimsuit hugged the woman’s curves a little too close, plus she had the same color hair as you. His mind couldn’t help floating to thinking about you in a swimsuit.

Aye dios mio, get a hold of yourself man.

He’s too embarrassed to bring it up to his doctor. The notion of ever mentioning it to the Delta Force boys terrifies him, although he knows deep down they’d lend a sympathetic ear. They’ve killed, fought wars, and climbed out of the lowest points of their lives together… but the thought of letting his secret out? Awful. He shudders at the thought of telling his fellow Narcotics Anonymous attendees: “Hi, my name is Frankie, I’m an addict and I can’t stop cumming in my pants.”

He tries to think of the worst things, mental images that should scar even the scariest of humans, thoughts about death, rotting produce, weird looking insects, and yet, it still happens.

___

“Hi, how’d you find everything today?”

He blinks towards your tag though he’s already memorized your name, it repeats through his mind whenever he climaxes… he wonders to himself how your sweet voice would sound repeating his name. 

Uh oh, quick, think of a bee sting, everyone’s going to die, burnt pizza. 

He shakes his head, the thoughts of you wrapped around him flying out of his head with each subtle knock. 

“Sir, are you okay?”

Fuuuuuuck, you really had to call me sir, didn’t you?

“Y-yeah, sorry, long day. My name’s Frankie by the way.”

Focus, don’t look at how her hand wraps around the shampoo bottle, soldier. 

“Hi Frankie, nice to finally have a name to the face.”

Of course you say his name in the sweetest way. He presses his fingers into the flesh of his palm as hard as he can withstand, he prays you don’t see the way his nostrils flare.

Be strong.

He’s been captivated ever since he first saw you working in the mom and pop market across the street from his apartment. You’re always friendly and smiling, he swears he feels your eyes on him every time he leaves yet he’s too scared to look back and confirm for himself. He wishes he knew how to small talk and somehow step over the threshold of this case of shyness he has with you. 

Why bother? I’ll just end up disappointing you, never leaving you fulfilled. 

He’s so ashamed. 

“That’s a big bottle of detergent, you must do a lot of laundry. You have kids?” 

“I do… a four year old, but she lives with her mom,” he answers, lifting the giant jug into his cart, his cock twitches when he feels your eyes on his biceps. 

Stay cool, you can do this, you’ve literally overcome worse… and cummed over less.

He wonders if you notice just how much laundry soap he buys… he’s confident that you have no clue you're the only reason why his washing machine is constantly working overtime. 

“Oh, I love that age,” you mindlessly muse scanning a cereal box. “Is she as cute as her dad?”

His spine turns to jelly… he feels the phantom getting closer. 

Trash compactors, mom and dad’s divorce, elephant seals.

“Everyone says she has my eyes.”

“Then she must be,” you wink.

Not a wink, not a wink, not a goddamn wiiiiink. 

He quickly pulls his head down, sticking his card in the chip reader, resisting the urge to think of his now aching cock pushing into you. 

STOP. STOP. STOP THINKING FRANKIE.

Focusing on the pin pad breaks his spiral. Relief spreads through his tense body knowing this run in will be over soon, he can go home in peace, his pants surviving this moment.

Your fingers brush against his hand when you hand him the receipt, his favorite part of buying groceries. He’ll stand in your checkout lane no matter the size of the line for the split second of skin to skin contact. It’s all he can afford to let himself have, any more would surely stain his jeans. 

___

“Hey Frankie!” 

He turns at your voice, his breath hitching when you walk over to him while removing your name tag.

“Want to go next door and grab a drink?”

“I’d love to… but I, uh,” he lifts his hat nervously tussling his hair, “I’m in recovery.” 

“Oh,” your voice and face falter, “I’m sorry, um–”

Don’t let this moment pass, you can do it.

“I know a really good ice cream place, a few blocks down, I can meet you there?” 

Ice cream means licking. Frankie, you're an idiot.

“Oh, um, that sounds amazing but I don’t drive.”

“I can take you… if you’d like.” 

“Yeah?” your smile grows wider. “That sounds amazing.”

“I just need to drop these off, and then I’ll meet you outside in twenty?”

“Awesome!” You squeeze his hand wrapped around the cart handle. “I’ll see you soon.” 

Your touch scorches his skin, he blinks watching your ass sway while walking through the doors to the backroom. 

1-2-3, a gush of hot liquid releases against his jeans, his knuckles turn white as they clutch the cart handle.

Jesus Christ.

Frankie picks up his bags, holding them close to his crotch and leaves the grocery store. He better hurry. Thank god he just bought more detergent. 

___

In hindsight, he’s thankful for his little grocery store indiscretion. He’s carefree and relaxed as he falls even harder for you over chocolate sundaes. You ask for extra rainbow sprinkles and laugh at all of his jokes. 

This must be what it’s like to live normally.

___

“That’s me,” you point to a small bungalow unbuckling your seatbelt. “Thanks for the ice cream Frankie."

“This was really fun,” he turns towards you, shocked at how close you’re leaning towards him. 

Kiss her. No, wait, don’t kiss her. Yeah, definitely don’t kiss her. 

“It was,” you lick your lips and lean even closer. 

He can smell you now, you smell divine. Like ice cream and floral perfume. 

You place a soft kiss against his lips and pull away.

Frankie’s body tenses, a pathetic whimper escapes his mouth, he spurts against the cotton of his briefs. Doe eyes rounded with embarrassment stare at you.

“Sorry,” whispers out of his downturned lips. 

“Oh,” your face fails at hiding a smile, “Frankie, it’s okay. Really.”

His head knocks against the headrest, face frozen in a grimace, his eyes squeezed shut. 

“Frankie,” your hand clasps his chin forcing him to look at you. “Honestly, it’s okay. It’s actually… kinda hot.”

Right then and there he knows he’ll never shop at another grocery store again. 

[a-daydreamers-stories]

Hey! This is an AU I thought would be fun and thanks to my friend @sherriesherbet I decided to write it! I'm not an expert in COD or UFC, so things will be wrong, sorry. This will be multiple parts, not sure how many yet. Hope you enjoy it!

The reader is a plus-size reader, this will be an 18 + story, minors do not interact

Never done this fandom before so if you'd like to be tagged for future parts let me know

Chapter warnings: Violence? Nothing really specifically mentioned yet

Chapter 1

Reader’s POV

“Please come with me! I won these two amazing tickets and my bud that was supposed to go is sick.” My brother whined out as he looked at me with big puppy dog eyes. I sighed and instantly regretted letting him into my apartment, it was my night off and I had been looking forward to lounging in my pjs as I ate takeout and watched sitcoms. 

“Don’t you have any other friends to take?” 

“No! Everyone else is busy or out of town since its last notice.”

“And you assumed I wasn’t busy?” I raised an eyebrow at him, he turned to look around my living room and then to the pjs I was already wearing. 

“You are?” 

“Yes I am,” I huffed at him and folded my arms over my chest as I snuggled deeper into the couch. “Now fuck off, I’m not going.” 

“Please! I have no one else, I’ll get you dinner too! Anything that you want just please come with me…” He begged even going so far as to get on his knees and hold his hands together. 

“Fine... Fine! I’ll go, what the hell do I even wear to this?” 

“Just go put on jeans and a shirt.”  He jumped up and fist-pumped the air like the dork he was. 

“Whatever you owe me,” I grumbled as I got off the couch, pushing him onto it as I made my way to the bedroom. I quickly showered and changed into jeans and a nice black tank top before putting on my sneakers. Walking out of my bedroom my brother popped up from the couch as I did with a big smile on his face. I couldn’t help but smile back, though I did shake my head at him. 

“Ready?” He asked excitedly. 

“Yeah, I’m ready.” After grabbing my phone and purse, I nodded and gestured for him to head out of my apartment. We left my apartment before I locked it up and headed to him to his car. “So how did you win these tickets?” 

“Radio contest spent a whole day listening to get these and I swear I called like 20 times but then I won! They’re amazing tickets too, fucking front-row seats!”  

“Okay okay calm down before you start hyperventilating.” 

“I’m just so excited!”  

“I can tell, remember to breathe though I don’t want to die because you passed out at the wheel.” 

“Shut up,” He playfully pushed my shoulder as he continued to drive towards the stadium. I couldn’t help but laugh, it was so funny to watch him get so excited like a teenager going to their first concert. We eventually made it into the stadium, parking had been a nightmare situation to try and figure out. He pulled out the tickets and we were guided to our seats, my brother moved into his seat and shot me an excited grin as I sat beside him. 

“Are you going to fangirl when these guys come out?” 

“No!” He narrowed his eyes at me in a playful glare. 

“Uh-huh,” I smirked at him and he rolled his eyes before something behind me caught his eye and he gasped. 

“Oh god…” 

“What?” I asked in confusion before looking in the direction he was looking in, an older man with mutton chops was slowly coming down one of the walkways. Tight black t-shirt molded over his wide shoulders and straining on his biceps and jeans that molded to a very delicious ass. The back of his shirt had the number 141 on it. “Who’s that?” 

“That’s John Price, he’s the head coach for the 141 Academy, his top boys are fighting tonight, and behind him coming out for the first fight is Gaz!” 

“Gaz? What kinda name is Gaz?” I asked as I spotted the handsome bronze man, probably somewhere near my age or my brother’s, coming down the hallway behind him in gold UFC shorts. 

“Well his real name is Kyle Garrick but he goes by Gaz in the ring.” Gaz flashed a smile and waved at the crowd causing a lot of girlish giggling and whistling as he moved to the ring. John patted him on the back and whispered in his ear, Gaz nodded back to him twice before flashing him a bright smile and clapping John’s shoulder. He practically bounced into the ring, full of energy and oozing charm. It was hard to believe someone as pretty as him, fights for a living but then his fight starts and you can see the hardness settling into his features, making him a little sharper and his entire focus is on the fight. 

He and the other man in the ring are similarly built but Gaz is faster and more calculated with his strikes, it doesn’t end in a knockout but Gaz does win the fight in the end. The referee lifts his arm at the end which causes a quick grimace to fall on Gaz’s face before he flashed the crowd a blinding smile, that’s only slightly bloody, which causes the crowd to lose their minds as they erupt into ear-piercing screams. I couldn’t help but clap for the man before he got out of the ring and John patted him on the back with a proud smile, saying something to the fighter. Looking him over before nodding to a different hallway than the one he came out of. 

“He’s sending him to the medic to get looked over, the other guy managed to hit him pretty hard in the ribs.”  My brother explained as Gaz walked away, cheers following him as he went. John moved his sight back to the other hallway and a few minutes later another man appeared from there, this man had a mohawk and was a bit broader than Gaz had been with blue UFC shorts on. 

“Who’s this one?”  I asked my brother. 

“Oh! This is Soap! He’s from Scotland.” 

“Soap? Why the fuck is he called Soap?” 

“Because he’s a slippery motherfucker.” My brother smirked and I snorted at that rolling my eyes. 

“Alright, gotta admit that’s pretty original for a UFC fighter name.”  

Soap stopped in front of John and started talking, it was still too loud to hear him clearly over the crowd but there were bits and pieces of an accent that reached us, John rested his hands on Soap’s shoulders and made the younger man look at him before he started talking to Soap. Soap nodded to him, a smirk on his face, there was a cocky yet capable attitude to him. John squeezed Soap’s shoulders before nodding to him and stepping aside, Soap got into the ring. The man he was facing was slightly taller than Soap and not quite as wide. 

The fight started and it was clear why they called him Soap, even with his wide frame, Soap dodged hits smoothly. He taunted his opponent with a smirk and a cocky joke but while his opponent grew hot-headed, Soap remained cool and calm. Gaz came back in the middle of the fight and stood next to John to watch Soap’s fight. He cheered Soap on from the sidelines till the fight ended and Soap was pronounced the winner, the crowd went nuts for the Scot. 

His lip and was split and he had a black eye forming but overall he was in good shape as he made his way out of the ring. Gaz patted him on the back in congratulations and John rubbed his head affectionately as Soap beamed at the two of them. John pointed towards the Med hallway and Soap shook his head before saying something to John with a lopsided grin on his face. 

There was a hush that settled over the crowd suddenly and I looked at my brother confused, he nodded excitedly towards the hallway the men of the 141 Academy had been coming out of. My breath caught in my throat as I turned to look at the man coming down the walkway, he was an absolute tank of a man in red UFC shorts. Taller than the other two fighters and his biceps were bigger than my head, with crocodile scars covering them and the upper part of his chest. 

“That’s Mace…” My brother whispered in my ear, his voice in awe. 

“His UFC name is Mace or his actual name?” 

“Honestly? No one knows, he only goes by Mace.” My brother shrugged. We watched as Mace made it to the other men by the ring. John nodded toward him and Mace threw him a feral smirk and a nod in return, before getting into the ring. The crowd erupted into loud cheers and screams as he made it into the ring. This fight was the most interesting so far, Mace was a vicious opponent and his opponent couldn’t do more than block the harsh blows that Mace landed. By the end his opponent was a bloody mess that had only managed to land a few good blows, even though they didn’t seem to phase Mace much, it didn’t surprise anyone when the referee lifted his arm as the winner. He got out of the ring and wrapped an arm around Soap’s shoulder, smirking as he talked to him, Gaz, and John. 

“Next is the main event of the night, it’s the last fight!” My brother told me and then pushed my shoulder excitedly as the hallway door opened again. My gaze traveled to the man coming out and my eyes widened as my stomach fluttered, this man was huge too. Just as big if not a little taller than Mace, though his arms were slightly smaller, he was no less intimidating though maybe more so with the look on his face. He had blonde hair, that was short on the sides and slightly longer on the top. He had scars on his face, small ones scattered along his face, a large one going diagonal from his chin to the bottom of his eye, and another larger one going down through his eyebrow on the other side. He had on black UFC shorts but right above where the short ended on his right leg was the design of a skull. 

“That’s Ghost…” 

“Ghost?” 

“Yeah, no one knows what his name is either. They just call him Ghost.”  

“Let me guess because he’s a killer in the ring?” I smirked though I couldn’t take my eyes off the man as he made his way down to the ring. 

“That but he’s also a spooky fucker.” My brother chuckled. Ghost stopped in front of the other fighters and John, who spoke to him for a moment. Ghost just gave John a curt nod before he made his way into the ring. There were no smirks, no waves, he barely acknowledged the crowd gathered to watch him fight, only that his eyes scanned over the stadium while he waited for the fight to start. 

A shuddering breath escaped me as his eyes met mine pausing in his scan, the only thing that came to mind as this god of a man looked at me was to smile at him. His head tilted slightly and I could have sworn I saw a tick of one side of his mouth, almost like he would return it before he looked away towards his opponent. An intense focus settled over his face as he rolled his broad shoulders, waiting for his opponent to strike first.

[oncewhenalongtimeago]

Sorry, but I Think I Lost Your Plot pt 8

Pairing: Onesided!Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III x Modern!Fem!Reader

Words: 1,794

Hiccup learns. Or, well, he tries. And then he doesn’t.

Tags: Time Travel, Reader into Movieverse, the earth is round, the earth is flat, quiet moments pt 2, Changewings

<Previous - Next>

“Chores?”

“Yeah, you know, fetch water, deliver parts and do laundry. Clean carts, a bit of herding on the side, I wash down dragons sometimes for a few extra coins. Plus doing all of my stuff,” You picked at the sleeves of your tunic then decided better of it.

“Your stuff.” Hiccup stated.

“Laundry, clean out the hay in the barn, cook, repair the shed, which is really nasty by the way, I hate it, something’s always wrong. Like that.”

“That’s… A lot. And you’re not getting paid? For all of it?”

“Yeah. I am, I mean. I get food and board. Coin, I only get that sometimes. The stables get kind of chilly in the winter, otherwise it’s alright.”

Hiccup looked at you oddly, “No, no, it really is not. You live… in the stables.”

Most Vikings even across clans would take the time to hunker down together during the winter, especially during the devastating season even if they hadn’t yet gotten to the point where everyone had to be ushered into the Great Hall together. You knew at least that much, which was maybe why it came across as odd to Hiccup.

“I mean, yeah? I don't see you getting paid for working in the forge.” You shrugged.

“I guess, well, point, but also I get to build what I want with whatever I want. Which can get kind of… expensive.” You nodded. That made sense enough.

“Well, I guess it is what it is. I can’t really be picky, you know.”

You were both sitting on the hill in front of his house. He’d caught you in between jobs somehow. You always seemed to be busy.

There were a few Vikings below putting effort into rebuilding 

“This is really comfy,” You sighed. While making a delivery for the Chief, Hiccup had come by and the two of you had stumbled into each other, getting whatever he had in his arms spilled all over onto your shirt and sizzled a bit.

It probably had something to do with the cleanup going on. You were just glad you cleaned up fast enough to avoid getting burned.

“It’s my favorite,” He said.

“Really?” You sat with your knees up to your nose, arms wrapped around your trousers, which were salvageable, though your skirt was not. Your arms were donned in red fabric of a familiar shade, which was extremely comfortable despite its scratchy exterior.

“You gave it to me, so…” Hiccup shrugged his shoulders oddly. He avoided looking in your eyes as he spoke.

“That’s awfully flattering.” You said kindly. You could tell why it was. Or maybe you were just extra thankful to be in something dry. Whatever Hiccup had been carrying was very sticky and hard to scrub off, which you had a ball doing, hidden away behind a curtain in their home with a small wash bin and rag. 

You spent the whole time in a rush hoping that Stoick wouldn’t come back early and catch you in the nude, or something, despite the irrationality of it. That would be incredibly embarrassing.

“I’m sure,” Hiccup nodded his assent fiddly, before he gestured with his hands, laughing awkwardly, then staring down at his own knees, “But, you know. So, what brings you up here?” 

You yawned, resting your hand over your mouth, “Well… Package for the Chief, mostly. Also, I wanted to say thank you.”

“Thank you?”

“For helping me out, earlier. I would have died, you know.”

There was some drama earlier, a Dragon attack that had something to do with lucky stones, which you didn’t have a lot of time for. 

You paused running, probably not a very smart move, as you spotted a small group on the other side of the clearing standing far enough apart for you to watch and ogle as someone who you thought was Tuffnut pet the base of a fire tower.

“Oh, well,” Hiccup said, scratching his neck, “It was nothing.”

Hiccup was the one who got you out of the way in time. To not die. You owed him another favor, you guessed. You sighed.

In the time it took for either of you to come up with something new to say, Toothless came and lumbered in from the back. You’d seen him wander off there earlier. He probably spent a lot of time out when he wasn’t stuck like glue to Hiccup’s side. Berk was going through a very rare and treasured heat spell, which the dragons were very much taking advantage of.

“What do you think about?” Hiccup asked, leaning backwards.

You blinked at him, and at the set of bandages peeking out from under his green tunic.

“Not much. What I’m going to do later, what’s for dinner. I think about home sometimes. And… The world is round,” It was a bit random. Admittedly, You usually avoided talking about future your-world things, but you had gotten into a tizzy over a few things earlier with one of the Vikings by the fields. Maybe you were feeling a little peckish about it still.

“What?”

“Yeah.”

“But…”Hiccup raised his eyebrow, squinting quizzically, “The world isn’t round.”

This world, apparently, did not operate on cartoon physics. It would have been a really cruel joke on you if it had, you thought, You double checked. It was just the people. So there was no reason as to why they shouldn’t be able to get it.

“You’re kidding, right? Come on, Toothless.” 

Toothless deadpanned at him, turning around to walk away, his tail ending up smacking Hiccup in the head and arms as he made an effort to protect his face.

“Oh, wow, great, thanks, Bud.”

Hiccup squinted, and waved his arms at his dragon, mock brushing him away.

“See? He agrees.” You grinned.

Hiccup turned to look at you, “That’s my best friend, if you would believe it.”

“Are you sure about that?” You sniped, “Because I’m not so sure about that.”

“I can tell.” He deadpanned, shrugging playfully.

You shook your head. There were more important things to be talking about. Like…

“I don’t understand how you guys fly around all the time and you still don’t know the earth is round,” You snickered.

“It’s not,” He insisted, “Flying wouldn’t change that.”

“It would!” You insisted, “It’s all about perspective.”

You shook your head as one of a pair of vikings down below dropped a large log from his shoulder, causing it to roll off and back towards the other houses.

“You’re up in the air, or somewhere up high, really, and you see that the horizon line is round.” You’d been up to Gothi's enough to be sure, “It’s like when you look really close at a ball or something. And the ball is spinning a lot. It’s physics. Science.”

“What kind of science? The Thorston kind? I find it hard to believe, if that’s the case.”

At some point, you realized that, despite it all, he didn’t actually know a lot about you. Where you came from, what your family was like, if you had one. What you liked to do. You really did have to explain.

You wrinkled your nose at his sarcasm, ignoring it as you decided to go on, “The world is really heavy. Like I said, it also spins. Like when you sit on something soft and it sinks. It works like that for both the top and bottom. It’s Gravity.” You used the English word for it.

There was a thump on the roof above you as a flock of Terrors landed by your feet. Probably one from the group. They tended to spin out of control often, especially if it was breezy out.

“It’s common knowledge where I come from,” You said, 

“Is it?” Hiccup squinted, as if he was seeing you in a whole new light. A whole new, mental light, “Well, I don’t know about the whole round thing, but- What next, are you going to tell me that the sun revolves around Midgard?”

“Also yes,” You interjected, with a vendetta, gesturing with both hands, “Why do you guys always lead with that? Is it really that crazy of an idea? Seriously.”

You glowered at him, “I think you all are busted in the head. Or the lightning scrambled your brain, or something, because I have no idea how you’re seeing this.” 

“What? No,” Hiccup said, “No, I’m perfectly healthy.”

“Yeah,” You snorted, “You guys lack what I would call common sense.”

There was a loud rumbling from back inside the Haddock House. It was definitely Toothless. At least someone had your back. It probably didn’t help that the only ones who agreed with you were the twins.

Hiccup turned back to shoot a nasty look at Toothless, probably forgetting about his bandages. And the burnt skin under.

“I probably owe you another favor, don’t I?” You winced as he jerked back around, cursing. It was kind of silly, and kind of nerve-wracking watching his scrawny shoulders curl in over his stomach. 

“Nah,” Hiccup looked up from his knees and feet, resting on the steps to his home, to you, and then back, trying to hide his wheezing, “This one’s… on the house.”

Your hands hovered over his bak unsurely, worried if you tried to help you might agitate his burns more. You would probably take a trip up to Gothi later and ask if she had anything more to use to help.

“And, well, We’re Vikings.” Hiccup grimaced, “And, hey, I have some common sense, too.”

You stayed silent, giving Hiccup a moment as he gathered himself. You hoped he hadn’t any acid left in his skin. You felt awful about it.

Hiccup sat up steadily, and you made sure to scoot back and give him space as he did. He kept an unhandy smile on his face, the corner of his mouth twitching, eyebrows pushing up as you attempted to make sure he was alright.

Your face fell, molding into something more confused, as he mouth a question under his breath.

“Why did you leave?”

“What?”

“Sorry, I’ve just… Been wondering. What brought you to Berk?” Hiccup brought a shaky hand back up to his neck.

You felt your eyes unfocus a bit.

You guessed it was probably the natural progression of things. You wondered whether you were supposed to come up with something, or just not. You decided on something more square in the middle.

“I don’t know,” You huffed, a little lost, “One day I just started walking and ended up here.”

Hiccup looked at you skeptically, though not without sympathy. You were on an island surrounded by all water, but still. You stood up straight, puffing out your chest.

“Take it metaphorically, if you don’t believe me.”

[sparrow-ceiling]

OK SO CAN WE TALK ABOUT CHARLIE'S WEAPONS AND HER FINAL BATTLE DESIGN

ik i already made a whole post abt everyone's final battle designs (if you want to see it check under my hazbinposting tag, its literally just me gushing), BUT I wanted to make a new one for Charlie because UGH

OK. So her costume stays fairly the same throughout the battle, the cute little dress with the heart on the front, which is so real of her. I mentioned this in the other post also but I thought it was really cute how Charlie usually wears pants, and Vaggie usually wears a skirt, but it switches for the battle. Idk if that has any like. Metaphorical meaning but i think it's cute.

For the weapons, we start out the battle and we see Charlie with her shield. Which yes is a very Charlie thing to have: she's a very protective character, all she wants to do is keep her people safe.

But if you LOOK AT THE shield. GOD, look at the shield. First of all, it's so pretty. Everything in this show is so aesthetically pleasing guys. BUT. There are literally FOUR visual motifs on this shield, plus colors (which are mostly just the normal color palette, but also relate to her and her father). SHIELD MOTIFS. It has (1), the wings. She's angelic & she's powerful (since Angels are kind of a symbol of power and heirarchy.) She has angelic blood from her dad, it doesn't seem like she has actual wings, but she definitely does hav the power that is associated with those wings. The wings also might be a nod to Vaggie's wings.

The shield also (2), looks like an apple. It has the little leaf in the back, and the core in the middle. Lucifer DEFINITELY also has a lot of apple imagery, so that's something she gets from her dad, to, another nod to where her power comes from. We also have (3), the snake. This might be a bit of a stretch but I'm pretty sure that part around the core of the apple that goes down into a point is a snake, which is also associated with Lucifer. Most of the motifs on the shield are a nod to her dad, to her power and where she gets it from. Also beyond physical power, she gets emotional power from her dad. She looks up to him, idolizes him, and she gets confidence from her connection with him.

The fourth and probably-not-final thing that the sheild has is its shape. This was honestly the fist thing I noticed about the shield, and you can really see it well in the above image: the shield is in the shape of a heart. As a Stranger Things fan, of course I am partial to heart shields. Just like Mike, Charlie is the heart of her party. She's the strength, she's where the love and the joy and the connection comes from. Sir Pentious, for example, only gets heart motifs in his design once he gets his heaven redesign, but Charlie has heart motifs in her design from the minute she steps on the battlefield. Look at her dress. That heart, that love, is a part of her. Love is so intrinsic to her personality and to her character that she can defy hell which honestly. She's so real for that (Also can we talk about how she looks at Vaggie in these pictures. I would die for her.)

So Charlie's heart/wings/apple/snake shield is not only a show of power because of her connection with Lucifer (with snake and apple) and her angelic blood (with the wings), but it's also an expression of her personality (with the heart and the fact that it is a shield in the first place). Her character development kind of comes to a peak here: she's learned to be confident in herself while still being that kind, loving, wonderful, dreamy Charlie, and the shield emphasizes that so well.

BUT WAIT. This isn't just a Charlie's-shield-appreciation-post (although it could be.) She literally gets THREE outfits in one episode (standard, the one with the shield, and the post-magical-girl-transformation one)

After Pentious dies and she tranforms, her appearance and her weapon change. Her physical changes are her horns, the inverted, glowing eyes, the tail (with the little heart on it!!), and her hair coming untied (so magical girl of her, but also look at the shape language! She becomes angrier more violent, and instead of that typical, soft, round bubble ponytail, her let-down hair is full of angles, especially in the picture below). We've seen her demon form a couple of times previously in the series I believe, and it happens when she experiences severe emotion and/or wants to show her power, both of which are happening right now (Honestly I love how it shows how much she loves Pentious. She's so sweet and I love her. He means so much to her.) HOWEVER, her physical appareance isn't the only thing that changes after her magical girl transformation. She also has (surprise, surprise), a new weapon!!!!

The trident doesn't have as many strong motifs in it as the shield did, but it's still fuckin. Crazy. So first and second of all we have the apple and the snake, which repeat from the shield, and still represent Charlie's power that she gets from her dad. The third thing about the trident is color scheme: The shield was red, gold, and white, will the trident introduces another color to the mix: black. I dunno what to say about this, but it's interesting to note. Something something her emotions get darker? There's probably a way to read into it but idk. lmk if anyone has thoughts on it.

Although there is the addition of the heart on Charlie's tail, this stage of her design also loses the heart on her weapon. Similar to the addition of black, this probably represents the darker turn in her design and emotion, and the darker turn in the battle. She's not completely out for love (haha see what I did there) anymore, she's also out for revenge (as an extension of love, but what she's really feeling and fighting from right now is anger, as opposed to the joy/hope/love from the start of the battle).

Anyway, the fifth and final thing about the trident is that it's no longer a defense weapon, like the shield was, it's now an attack weapon (also a very similar on to Vaggie's, which could be another nod to her). We also notice this in her demeanor! As opposed to the repeated sorries from before her tranformation, Charlie is now unapologetically violent. She charges right into the battle with Adam. She's no longer just trying to defend to protect (shield) her people, now she's going with the whole best-defense-is-a-good-offense ideology. She's on the offense in order to protect her people.

That's why I enjoy Charlie's character design and weapons in this episode so much. There are so many layers to it and UGH. THANK YOU for listening to me ramble, and lmk if you have any more thoughts on this because I would LOVE to hear them! As you can see I am totally normal about this show.

[front-facing-pokemon]

I just found this blog so I'm jumping aboard the plushie bandwagon.

First we got Absol. (i feel like maybe i should've taken a closer-up picture but it's the face sooo)

Then a Wooloo

And, saving best for last, this Leafeon plush I own... of which I swear on my life is official merch.

I also have some more eeveelutions (plus an eevee and a few more) but: 1. I didn't want to send too many. 2. Eeveelutions are more popular so I wanted to give some other people the chance to submit their own. 3. I don't know where my Pikachu and Snivy plushies are cuz I own too many stuffed animals.

Only reason I submitted Leafeon was so I could show off this ~masterpiece~ of a plushie I own. And it's face isn't the only thing wrong with it too lol. Also I just noticed I accidentally had one of the ears hanging back but I'm too lazy to go take another photo but i hope this amuses you nonetheless.

ALRIGHT THERE'S BEEN A LOT OF YOU AS I'VE BEEN OUT WITH MY FAMILY FOR CHRISTMAS HUH

let's start with these guys. beautiful. wonderful. i do not believe that that leafeon is official merch. this statement is baffling to me. welcome to the front-facing pokémon family. i love the eyes on that absol and wooloo is one of my faves. i was rather obsessed with it when it first came out and have a whole wooloo tag on my main blog because of it. though i guess i cleared that whole thing out recently so i don't anymore

let's get the nose ratings out of the way:

↑ this is a lie. 10/10 chespin

it's very wide and also 10/10 you're being too harsh. merry day to you too

circular face indeed. did i already post this one? if i did you can have it again

clodsire be upon ye. clodsire fans this is your treat until gen 9

this is a trend now. i think tumblr just crunched this image to hell for some reason so here's what the text says:

"Felt like joining the others for front facing pokeplushies [images] I have more pokemon but its early morning and these are the plushies that are easy to access"

i have not but i imagine "a moment" has long passed by now. my apologies but apparently today was an important day or something? idk

YEAH it's super unbelievably fucked up. i think i kinda remember the circumstance being a bit dire so everyone else was more worried about either 1. protagonist getting stomped on brutally or 2. saving the world from kyurem / the bittercold. i was totally under the impression that he was dead in that moment but i guess the characters may have known that he would just come back? i seem to vaguely remember partner being surprised that he came back and being like "but we watched you die :OOO" but maybe i'm misremembering that. i do create a lot of pmd lore on my own time so i have a hard time telling the difference between canon and fanon sometimes

two a day makes the world go round! this blog started when i started college, paused for 80% of my college career and now has started back up and i just graduated college a week ago. i would say "how time flies" but it has been a very, very long year

i've said it before and i'll say it again: gen 6 is my favorite gen, so you'll be seeing lots of favor for this gen from me in the tags i'm sure. maybe gen 6 is my excuse to start doing other things here. like that stream i keep talking about

if they put meloetta as a little obscure puzzle thang in sv, i'm sure they'll do something for genesect. i hope. at least for keldeo probably. genesect i'm not sure is very popular, unfortunately, outside of the tumblr crowd. if the general public's opinion on genesect is favorable, then maybe

okay and then i tried to scroll down further in my screenshots for more asks and saw the wobbly will smith in a hospital bed Gimme a Hug, Man that i copied from the "i get a little bit genghis kanghis" post so that's it. to everyone who christmases: merry it. it is today. although it's basically over by now so! merry boxing day for tomorrow if i don't say anything tomorrow. but i probably will. now i'm gonna go queue up today's 'mons because i haven't done it yet today. see you all in a few weeks when those post

[gnashingwailing]

Kept notes on a reread I was doing of The Art of Love and War because I am so obsessed with the gay little borrower darkfic... sharing with u @fireflywritesgt

it falls apart at ch12 because that is where i consistently turn into a puddle under my covers kicking my legs and making sounds only audible to shrimps.

I HOPE THIS IS A SMALL TOKEN OF APPRECIATION FOR HOW GUD THIS FIC IS, SINCERELY... LIKE I SAID PUTTING THIS IN SOMEBODY'S INBOX IS PROBABLY A WAR CRIME. SO.

There is soooo muuuuch I want to saaaay. I did a reread and excuse my being verbose but.

Ch10 where Harry reads about how tinies don’t ask for things and prefer to do favors for them — how extra insulting that makes his message in Ch1!! “Just ask” no wonder Joe was so pissed!!

ALSO him feeling “dirty, somehow” about accepting chocolate that didn’t kill him… was he having a little bit of feelings for “the kind man” and it got transmuted into self-loathing… 😭 oh internalized homophobia tag we’re really in it now…

Re: ch2 I would kill for Joe’s pov of this… I’m also so fascinated to pick up the detail that Joe apparently talked to himself regularly, for Harry to hear him through the radiator pipes… one assumes Joe doesn’t have guests. Poor guy! He’s really smart! He likes talking! The assistant job is perfect for himmmm.

Re: ch3, i wonder how much Captain Calloway’s “if you die it’s your own damn fault” has influenced Joe’s life ethos of fucking around and finding out (btw… Harry would be sooo horrified to know Joe had been poisoned 3 times and still tried that chocolate 😭 yet another fun! anecdote of his) … im also kinda curious about Gutters. What’s that guy’s deal. And OF. COURSE. How Captain got all his injuries. It’s also so very sad he feels this tension with the guys, what they’d do to him if they knew more about who he really was. I love this as a metaphor for homophobia…

Ch5 I’m still fixated on the giants who are guarding the place. Hundreds of tinies going there every day… you’d think there’d be snatchers all over the place 👀 and the other great worldbuilding… lab tinies… “they were corralling everyone everywhere and the women and kids went one way…” GOD. also them building tiny capitalism plus tiny race science is just 😭😭😭 noooo… the way Harry reinforces their shared dignity and humanity by showing genuine interest in Joe’s art.. ouuuugh it hits every time.

ALSO I WAS SO SUSPICIOUS OF HILL WHEN I FIRST READ CH6 BUT NOW THST I KNOW HE IS A BONA FIDE WIFEGUY ALL IS REDEEMED. I AM so curious as to why he keeps tiny town schematics in his office if he dislikes it…

Ch7 profoundly funny to me how Hill is like “miniature is the academic term” and Joe is like what. Tinies.

I really appreciate how Harry started off having some uh. Idk. Colonizer savior complex stuff + noble savage ideas about Joe? Like “oh it’s in mother nature’s hands whether he survives then… I see…” as if the tinies social constructs about Pets are some immutable fact of nature instead of. A social construct !! It’s really well-done, how you show him gradually understanding that he needs to listen to Joe, not assume he knows what’s best for him just because he read a 50yr old anthropology book!! It makes me love Harry all the more that he managed to grow through it out of fondness for Joe 🥺

AND OF COURSE. THE G/T GOODNESS. My god. I loooooove that Joe is so creeped out by giants that he has to keep his eyes closed to stomach it… just feels. Hmm. Realistic?? It would be so overwhelming. I love that his trust gets rewarded with the doctor not hurting him…

The rapport they establish being based on talking to one another… it’s just suuuuch a perfect central theme for this story… Joe being able to tame Harry’s anger by reminding him of Joe’s own humanity. “Please don’t do that, doc. This is mean. You’re being mean.” And “you’re treating me like I’m not even… not even…” UGH. RENT FREE IN MY HEAD, WARREN. “Maybe he could do it; maybe he could sit in the same room as a giant for five minutes. He would only have to do it once, and then he would never have to do it again, he reasoned.” Bitch u thought… get loved and cared for idiot…

Joe asking him “why not”, echoing Harry’s words that stuck with him…

And then him being sooo pissed at the phone it’s just absolutely amazing stuff. Wagging his finger at it/Dr Hill lmaooo. I was hootin and hollerin when I realized this foreshadows him being the assistant!!! He can talk on the phone just fine!!!!

His legs threatening to give way from the prospect of Harry seeing him at ground level after he escapes using the phone receiver… ouuugh. It’s SO GOOD. He’s come such a long way…

“Touching every wooden beam he passed for good luck” is INCREDIBLY cute mental imagery.., he’s happy… poor guy has awful luck tho so Harry is just pissed 😭 HIM NEARLY DESTROYING THE PLATES BECSUSE HARRY SCARED HIM SO BAD HAD ME FEELING.. SOME KIND OF WAY…

Ch8 also has the first mention of Joe’s books… I’m sooo curious where he got these.. did he perhaps make them…? 👀 YEAH HARRY SHOULD FEEL LIKE A MONSTER THO. YOU TERRORIZED A LIL MOVIE STAR!!! HE ONLY BROKE A FEW THINGS… Making him hide under his covers like he saw a monster… 😭

I love their first god awful handshake lmao. Incredible subversion of the usual g/t first meetings… Joe’s just like OK 👋 NOW GET THAT THANG OUTTA HERE

And then Joe going “I know about that!” Joe protested, his voice growing stronger. “It’s up to me, doc. If it happens, it happens and it’ll be my own damn fault.” … something tells me when Harry finally comes to understand Joe’s recklessness with his own life and what feelings about its worth may be underpinning that, he will be so sad 😔

Joe losing his toes to frostbite… realizing that could very likely be from when he was kidnapped and enslaved with O’Grady… uuuugh he’s so brave to want to connect with anybody at all let alone with Harry!!

Ch9 professor wifeguy moments… yesss… I love that he wants to hang out with another tiny too 😭 Joe is making friends!! I can’t wait to find out about Lorraine and what “other place” she knows about!!! Lmfao I can tell she’s going to be incredible just from the little bit Joe hears of her. I wonder too if she’s been marked… aahhh I’m so excited to learn more about these two. How interesting of a parallel, too, that Harry noted Dr Hill might also be a former soldier… something-something folks unable to fully integrate into society finding and building community with each other…

Also PROFOUNDLY interested to note on a reread that the tiny town on his wall says “a SAFE place to be” and the one in Riverdale said “a CIVILIZED place to be” 😬 a damn prison indeed… I also really wonder just HOW the tinies are paying their rent(?) to stay there, if they’re all as disdainful of “borrowing” as a career as O’Grady seems to be…

MAY I JUST NOTE that Joe stimming around is sooo charming to me. He’s kickin’ his legs. He’s pacing back and forth. He’s doing something like that in the walls when Harry was first listening to him. I LOVE HIM.. aND I love how this chapter we see him going from “that tall bastard (derogatory)” to “that tall bastard (amused)”

AND POOR JOE ON THE MOST CURSED FIELD TRIP IMAGINABLE. There is much to love here but I absolutely adore this imagery: “Joe buried himself in the curtain as the doctor, dressed to the nines in his work clothes and vaguely resembling a horse in a brown suit, sidled over to him and towered there and seethed.” HE’S TERRIFIED 😭 and Joe learns that other people value his wellbeing more than he does… wow Joe no need to ponder that any further until Ch15!!!

There’s SO much incredible prose in this chapter… the haaaaands oh my god the hands. The tinies are on the order of 2-3 inches tall, right? You really get a vivid sense of how big and dangerous everything is to them… absolutely A+ stuff.

This part also slays me everytime I think about it: “Joe was hidden inside [the pocket], and the thought of how unhinged his dear neighbour must look to his fellow giants as he walked and talked gave him no small amount of delight.” HE WOUUUULD.

The mystery of just what Joe created as a boy… what he can’t find it in himself to articulate… why he can hardly fathom talking about himself and his inner world to anyone …

PART 10… the difference in the way Joe confronts Harry here vs with the assistant in part 16 is somehow heartbreaking to me. I think the anger must just be displacement for how he’s really feeling (worried, uncomfortable…) and he’s more able to show his feelings to Harry with the assistants than he is now… but Joeeeee. I don’t ever want him to feel hopeless with Harry, like he just has to accept whatever he wants 😭 I love him in this chapter… Arms crossed, eyes narrowed… red faced… clawing at the air as he ranted Jdhdhdj GOD HE’S SO ICONIC: ““Nope. Not gonna happen! Veto!” Joe leapt up from the box, strode all the way to the edge of the table, and jabbed a finger at him. “I don’t know what kind of sick, twisted doctor things you intend to do to people but whatever it is, it’s not happening in my house!”” I guess I want him to still be comfortable with yelling veto at Harry lmao!!

And then Joe being like WHO GIVES A SHIT ABOUT YOU SAVING ME THE OTHER DAY. THAT MEANS NOTHING TO ME, A WILD AND INDEPENDENT TINY WHO HAD IT ALL UNDER CONTROL, AT ALL.

ALSO: the way he words this, I have a strong suspicion he does not know the word “patients”?! “”Let’s make a deal in exchange for patients. Give me something in exchange for patients.” Joe stammered. “You do that and I won’t make any trouble.””

Harry thinking of Joe as “the little bastard” in counterpoint to Joe’s “the tall bastard” really makes me smile too, hahahah.

AND THE FURTHER G/T TROPE INVERSION… just because he was willing to get in the giant’s hands one time doesn’t mean he’s suddenly fine with it!! I love how pissed they are at each other over this misunderstanding lmfao. He’s 👏 a 👏 wild 👏 tiny 👏 ‼️

And it’s so meaningful to me that the two of them bond more over sharing art with one another… Harry wants to introduce Joe to an amazing piano player… and Joe is so happy!!! The idea for a Charlie Chaplin bit with a rich miniature woman is SO inspired btw, I was as delighted as Joe was 😭 Harry being like “oh shit wait is this offensive” and then Joe just being like “THIS FUCKS SO HARD LMAO IT REALLY DO BE LIKE THAT”

And then the tragic aftermath… Harry NOTICING that he didn’t even know that he was doing anything wrong by bringing Joe there, it just FELT so dreadfully taboo (enough that Hill, who is MARRIED TO A TINY, also seems like he’s been caught doing something wrong when Harry first meets him)…. and then of course society reinforces that fear in a terrible way. Only a shared humanity regarding love of art saves poor Joe.. how lucky he’s gotten enough exposure to be able to speak in the presence of giants. You have to ponder how many tinies just as wonderfully complex as him have died for not having that skill. It’s so very sad!!! THE IMAGERY OF HIM ON THE LAMP LIKE IT’S A STREETCORNER JUST TWISTED THE KNIFE. Your writing really is so excellent, the way you can carry us through so many different emotions… Joe my belovedddd. I’m simply obsessed with the implications of him NAMING HARRY. WHAT IS /THAT/?? And the way that the narration in the story from this point on swaps to using Harry as his name… it speaks VOLUMES without you needing to elaborate on it at all. Joe has changed him! He’s becoming someone he likes better than Herman! A day we had good luck… Harry is good luck… Luck as a concept very different from what giants think of… I am absolutely enamored with how clearly he has a whole other world, another culture, that Harry can only guess at and be grateful to be included in.

JOE GETTING A NICE BATH AND A COMFORTABLE BED IN THIS CHAPTER IS JUST SO WHOLESOME (even if it will torment his Calvinist sensibilities later…) I am also so charmed to imagine how Joe must have woken up and been like “what the FUCK did I do last night. Where the HELL am I 🤨”

And then in Ch11 he’s like I WILL PROCEED NOT TO THINK OF THAT AT ALL. <- clueless

Ch11 is one of my favorites I think… we really get a good glimpse into how much heavy-duty rationalizing Joe is doing LMAO. “Taking food is fine, because I’m just using this tall bastard.” “It’s fine if I have leisure time.” “It’s fine if I like Harry and his company and I miss him when he’s gone and I want to give him a name.” “AS LONG AS I DON’T GET COMFORTABLE ALL OF THIS IS FINE.” This line is such a banger lol: “Joe Piccoli was many things as he went to sleep that night, but he was not a pet, and he was not comfortable.” And then the mouse!!! That Joe decides to draw rather than kill!!! Look at his needs being met!!!!!

IT ALSO ABSOLUTELY FUCKIN KILLED ME WHEN I REALIZED IN THIS CHAPTER THAT THE BOYS HAVE JUST. FULLY LEFT THAT FLOORBOARD OFF LMFAO??? THAT’S HIS SKYLIGHT NOW…

And then. Good god. The arm scene… it’s just. Soooo. 👌👌👌👌 I’m so … 😵‍💫💖❤️‍🔥…

“I’m a wild tiny!” “You’re going to be a dead tiny if that gets infected.” Their dynamic is so fucking funny. AND THE TENDERNESS OF HARRY TOUCHING JOE… Joe being so overwhelmed not exactly with fear but HMMM I WONDER WHAT EMOTION AND WHY HE MIGHT FEEL SO OVERWHELMED HE STILL NEEDS TO CLOSE HIS EYES AND PRETEND HE’S HIDDEN UNDER THE FLOOR AGAIN… 🤔🤔🤔 whyever would the touch of this kind giant make his hair stand on end and make him contemplate the reverence he’s being touched with and leave his cheeks burning… it is a mystery

And then Joe being so afraid the mouse would be hurt because in contrast to the kindness he’s been shown, he still has this long history of awful experiences with giants.. this part in particular made my heart hurt:

“Don’t kill the mouse, Harry, please don’t kill it. It’s just like me. It hasn’t done anything to you.” Joe begged.

Followed by him remembering that this is /Harry, his friend, who he knows/:

“The words hit Joe like the breaking of a spell, and he stood in the kitchen windowsill feeling downright foolish. Of course Harry wouldn’t kill the mouse, Joe realized - of course he wouldn’t do that.”

OUGH. This story is SO delicious I’m beyond obsessed…

The two of them having a much less Charged encounter after Joe has resolved some of his internal conflicts, at least for the moment… chatting away like they’re two normal friends while Harry touches him… 😵‍💫😵‍💫😵‍💫 I LOVE THESE TWO SO MUCH‼️

Their motorcycle shenanigans… Harry showing Joe his precious Contraption and Joe absolutely hating it omg it was so peak 😭 PLAYING “WHO’S-MORE-BORING CHICKEN”… the way Joe is like “I would rather Die than have to listen to this guy talk about how he’s more exciting than me. Absolutely not.”

I also very much appreciate the foreshadowing of the street car on this re-read…

AND may I say I really love that they went on a little nature trip together!!! I have thought often of the potential of a g/t story set outdoors, where the normal sized person and the tiny are both made small by how all-encompassing the wilderness is. Something to do with camping or backpacking! Maybe something I want to write one day! This gave me a delightful taste of that.

AND ANYWAY THE ACCEPTING OF COMFORT EVEN AS IT FLIES IN THE FACE OF EVERYTHING HE’S BEEN TAUGHT TO ROMANTICIZE AND VALUE… ouuuughhh GET LOVED IDIOT!! GET SEEN AND KNOWN AND TAKEN CARE OF!!!

And then ch12… Harry’s realization that Joe won’t ever bring up anything if it’s just for his own benefit. Which by the way, on a re-read I can appreciate how cleverly you’ve set this up, if I didn’t write that clearly enough before! There’s something cultural there but also, I think, something uniquely Joe that Harry maybe can’t fully see yet. Harry’s watch from his parents breaking down at the same moment he’s trying to change his relationship with Joe, the new most important person in his life (at least I presume! He doesn’t seem to have other close friends/family) … very very good. This sentence is so evocative. Simultaneously funny and sad: “With the way Joe’s eyes shifted from side to side one would think the doctor had suggested they go rob a bank.” It’s very good angst realizing how much Harry is asking of Joe without him even knowing it…

BTW this part is so delightful. They’re so interested in each other!!! “When his footsteps announced his arrival, he could see the tiny’s movements through the missing floorboards as his neighbour crossed the floor and climbed back up to the windowsill above the counter.” <- guy who absolutely has NOT been gotten

“Joe smiling. A rare sight indeed.” JUST…. My heaaaart ‼️‼️

Also hilarious how Joe and now Harry have both had “mmm I do NOT like the way this guy is smiling right now” moments 🤣

GOD tho, Joe’s opening up about getting snatched… much like Harry, it made me feel absolutely beside myself.

^^^ AS YOU CAN SEE. I'VE FULLY FALLEN APART.

[so-long-soldier-writes]

Nightmares

kai parker x reader

summary: after three straight days of kai having nightmares, you can't take the cries anymore and need to intervene.

≪ originally published on ao3: 3/04/23 ≫

tags: emotional hurt / comfort, alcohol (bc when is damon not drinking), childhood trauma, mentions of abuse

word count: 1.4k

“You guys, I’m kinda worried about him,” you mutter, setting down your glass of whiskey. 

“Oh, he’ll be fine. Just give it another ten minutes, he’ll shut up.”

Another whine carries throughout the house. It pangs your heart to hear, but you also don’t know what to do to stop it. 

“Better shut up sooner,” Elena eyes her boyfriend, annoyed, “I can��t hear myself think.”

“I’m gonna go talk to him,” you start to stand up, but then Bonnie puts a hand on your knee.

“Girl, don’t. If he finds you in his room, he’ll probably snap your neck. And you’re human. Damon’s right, just give him a couple more minutes. He always stops eventually.”

You guys’ conversation is interrupted by the sound of the wooden doors closing quietly. 

“Sorry to disturb,” Jo announces her presence with a small wave. Alaric’s standing behind her, smiling a little. “Mind if we join you?”

Damon raises his glass, “just drinking, come on over!”

“Yeah, I figured,” the now-human joins the group, “could use some drinks and company.”

As they get comfortable, another cry rings out from upstairs.

“Oh my god, who is that? Is everything okay?” Rightfully so, Jo looks alarmed. 

Damon, however, just rolls his eyes. “That’s Kai. He’s been doing that for three straight days. But like I told Y/N here, give him ten minutes and he’ll shut up.”

“I still can’t believe you’re having him stay here.”

“Yes, Rick, I can’t either. But we need to keep an eye on the sociopathic weasel, and keeping him here is the best way to do that. Plus, he doesn’t have anywhere else to go, and while I don’t care, I don’t want him to start angry-killing because he feels confused. So until he figures his shit out, we’re stuck with him.”

“Ugh,” is all the man answers.

“Very big ugh,” agrees his girlfriend. “So what’s the noise? What’s his problem?”

“Nightmares? Irritating us? I have no idea.”

“If you guys would let me go check on him, I could solve that question.”

“No, Y/N, you are not going up there,” Damon looks you straight in the eye. “What if it is nightmares? Bonnie’s right, he’ll snap you in two.”

“Only if I startle him.”

“You put wayyyy too much faith in someone who’s tried to kill everyone in here.”

“He’s never tried to kill me.”

“You’re missing the point.”

Another few cries. You can’t take it anymore. 

“If I need help, I’ll call out. I need to at least try to calm him down.”

“Your funeral,” Damon seems to give up on convincing you. 

As you wander up the stairs, you hear them talking. 

“What does he even have nightmares for? He’s probably the cause of most people’s nightmares.”

“He caused mine for twenty-two years.”

“I just wish he’d shut up.”

“Y/N is going to die.”

“I should’ve killed him when I had the chance.”

You roll your eyes at all of them, resting your hand on the knob of Kai’s door. You make sure to be extremely quiet as you turn it so as not to startle him. Then, ever so gently, you sit on the unoccupied side of his bed, giving you enough distance to reach him, but also to jump out of the way. 

“Kai,” you whisper, “you okay?”

He doesn’t budge. 

“Hey. I’m not gonna hurt you, I just want to make sure you’re okay.”

Suddenly, you become startled when he jolts in his sleep, letting out a terrified whine. Without much thought, you reach out to steady his shoulder, and his eyes snap wide open. 

Fear, anger, confusion; these are the emotions painted on his face as he realizes you’re beside him. They happen one after another, seconds after each other, until he’s left confused with your presence. 

“Hey, it’s okay. I’m just checking on you. Want to make sure you’re okay.”

“What happened?” He whispers, throat cracking. 

“Nothing, baby, nothing happened.” You hand him a water sitting on the nightstand. “But we heard you crying, and I needed to check on you.”

“Heard me crying? How loud? I didn’t mean to.”

The vulnerable side is something new. He must be too tired to hide it. 

“It’s okay, sweet. I mean, the house echoes, so we could hear it downstairs, but don’t worry about it.”

“Why did you check on me? How did you convince Damon to let you come up here alone?”

You can’t help but giggle at the truth in that question. “Told him I was going to see you and there’s nothing he could do about it.”

He laughs, for a minute, until his face grows serious again. “But why do you care?”

“Because I care about you, Kai. If you’re upset, I want to make sure you’re okay.”

“Why?”

“Do I need a reason?”

“I don’t know, I just… not used to people caring.”

“Well I do.”

It’s quiet for a moment. Then, Kai takes a risk. 

“My dad.”

“Hm?”

“The nightmare, it was about my dad.”

You turn your body towards him, hoping the gesture shows him that you’re giving all your attention to his words. 

“I, uh, wasn’t the child he ever wanted. I mean, of course, he wanted children - otherwise, he wouldn’t have had eight of them. But I was the disappointment; the abomination. Could never live up to his standards; could never fulfill my coven duties.”

You swallow hard, nodding for him to continue. 

“Only being able to siphon magic led to some… memorable punishments when I was a kid. I hadn’t meant to hurt her, but when I tried to borrow some from my sister, boy was he angry. That was the day I learned there’s a spell for an invisible punch to the gut. And when I was twelve, and had by then learned how to manipulate the magic he’d use to punish me, I learned what a real punch to the gut felt like. Of course, there’s so many great ones that play on repeat in my head, but these two are just top tier… fatherly love.”

Your heart was already splintered by his cries, but hearing his story shatters it completely.

“Kai…,” you impulsively reach a hand up to his face to stroke his cheek.

He flinches hard as you do so, and you draw back. 

“I’m sorry. I’m not going to hurt you. You trust me?”

“Considering I just overshared about my family, yeah. Can I trust you?”

“Of course, sweet.” You raise your hand again, and this time, he doesn’t move. You draw your thumb along his cheek and jawline, looking into his eyes softly. “You’re okay now. He can’t hurt you. I won’t let him. And he’s all the way across the country, too. You’re safe.”

“I don’t know why I told you all that,” he admits.

“Maybe it’s because you know I won’t tell. I won’t tell, and I won’t treat you differently because of it. I’m serious, Kai, you can trust me.”

“I do. Thank you. And thanks for waking me up, too. It was just… replaying in my head, over and over.”

“Drink some more water. Maybe play music? Distract yourself. Or do you have a fan?”

“Uh, I don’t know. But, um…” he hesitates to ask.

“What’s up?”

“Can you… maybe… stay with me? I feel less scared when you’re with me.”

“Of course, Kai.” 

He lifts the blanket up and around you, then gives you a soft smile. You can’t help but press a kiss to his hand as you feel yourself start to drift into sleep.

“Goodnight.”

“Goodnight, Y/N.”

◇◇◇◇

“Heyyyy! Brought the bourbon this time. Everyone up for drinks?” Rick saunters into the living room of the boarding house. Jo’s right behind him. 

“Yes, please! And thank you,” Damon sighs in relief at the sight of alcohol. 

The two join the group. Jo looks around, cocking her head in confusion, “where’s Y/N?”

“Oh, yeah, that one. She’s with Kai.”

“With Kai?!” Rick’s eyebrows furrow in confusion.

“Yep. For five consecutive nights now, she’s been sleeping with Kai.”

“What?!”

“Actually sleeping, too,” Elena butts in, “I’ve checked. They’re dead asleep. Close, but clothed.”

“And Kai has not made one annoying sound since,” Damon finishes. 

“So, she didn’t die?”

“Nope! She’s - dare I say - bonding with the weasel. But hey, as long as she’s still kicking, and he’s not baby-crying, I guess it’s fine. That’s what I like to call - a problem for another time!”

“I’ll drink to that, I guess!” Rick pours himself a glass, and everyone else follows suit. 

[pinkyjulien]

Okay now I'm gonna jump on the bandwagon of the prev ask about Valentin's and Mitch's first meeting 👀 how does his story continue with Takemura (if at all?) Does he track Valentin down, and how, or is what follows immediately after being saved and stable again also diverging from canon? (I just love the image of Goro showing up all dusty and exasperated at the nomad's camp like "There you are!! Fucking finally!" XD)

AAAAAHHH FHF Eating you UwU

They DO meet up properly eventually! 👀 (more old screenshots being used to illustrate here hfhf)

After getting his bullet extracted, Val stayed a couple of days at camp; he couldnt really do much in his state, plus the caldos wouldnt just simply let him go like that

Mitch and Scorp were keepin an eye on him, they were responsible of him after all; if Val turned out to be a danger to the clan, they would've finished the job, succeeding where Dex failed

Val eventually woke up, and he was asked a couple of basic, straight forward question by Mitch; his name, where he's from, and what happened. Val didnt lie, but he also didnt mention the whole -arasaka- thing. He might be a gonk, but he's not dumb; saying that his failed gig was an heist on Arasaka, when every radios and tv stations been blasting about Saburo's death for the path days wouldnt be a smart move fhksjgj

It was all over the news- and Dex probably left Night City too (< at that time he wasnt aware Takemura killed him yet. Dex took Goro to the dump, only to find it completly empty. He got popped before he could swear he left him here hfjd)

Infos and Rumors goes around extremely fast in NC, especially between fixers, so Dexter departure/disappearance and Saburos death wasnt a coincidence at all; so was Jackie's and Valentin's potential death. (Jackie being confirmed dead cause he sent his body to his fam, but people had no idea where Val was)

He had to get back to NC, to Viktor, Misty- his friends, the only people he had left over there

That night at camp, Valentin experienced the Johnny Night TM; of course, he freaked out, screaming and talking "to himself" - Ripper wasnt far, knew the screams where coming from the nursery and quickly gave injected him some tranquilizer

In the morning, not sure whatever happened was a dream or not, he asked Mitch and Scorp (not friends yet, but the only guys he knew around) if someone could drive him back to NC- Dakota was still around and since she had to go back to her Garage soon, he could tag along and she'd get one of her guy to drive him to Vik's

During the drive, he explained to Dakota what happened, from the heist, the relic, Jackie- ans the weird dreams he's been getting (she's like a mother figure to him, a trusted friend)

She didnt liked any of that and pressed him to get checked properly asap, hoping this might be a virus that can get easily wiped out

Once at Vik, everyone was happy and relieved to see him alive "and well", but it quickly changed when Viktor took a closer look, obviously

He also mentioned that a guy, kinda sus looking, came in looking for him the day before. Said he could help him if he ever show up. (Takemura is a resourceful guy, I'm pretty sure he could pin down V's main ripperdoc to ask questions- and Viktor, knowing that Jackie did die, would trust Takemura's story and information since it correlate with what Vik knows)

So they make contact and eventually meet up at Tom's Diner like the canon timeline 👁👄👁

Despite all the years its still a ROUGH MAP AND TIMELINE FHJSJF that I really need to properly put down 💀💀 BUT YEAH FHDJ

Thank you friendo for the ask!! 🤗🧡🧡

[kandisheek]

FIC REC WEEK 4 – STUCKONY FAVORITES

Comic Books and Kings by ashes0909

Pairing: Steve/Bucky/Tony Rating: E Words: 10,503 Tags: Childhood Crush, Pining, Possessive Supersoldiers

Summary: Tony Stark read Captain America comics and everyone knew it, but it was only ever about Bucky Barnes.

Reasons why I love it: I love love LOVE when fics take on the whole fanboy Tony angle, and seeing it applied to Tony's obsession with Bucky instead of Steve is really fucking fun. Also Captain Wonderbread as a nickname makes me unreasonably happy. I just want to smoosh these three idiots together, but luckily they get there all on their own. Check this one out, you won't regret it!

journeyman by orphan_account

Pairing: Steve/Bucky/Tony Rating: M Words: 6,165 Tags: Tony & Strange Friendship, Telepathic Bond, Space Travels

Summary: /Old man/Tony thinks, resigned. /This could be my sea. Space, the final frontier./ Steve thinks as hard as he can: come home. /Not like anyone's waiting for me back on earth, anyways./ Steve puts his fist through a wall. [alternately: Tony wanders through space while Steve and Bucky listen to his thoughts]

Reasons why I love it: I came for the Stuckony and was blindsided by how much I loved the parts of the fic where Tony and Strange are bickering their way through space, with some great cameos from the Guardians. That being said, the Stuckony is fucking fantastic, and I hope you give this fic a try, because it's definitely one of my favorites.

1994 by orphan_account

Pairing: Steve/Bucky/Tony Rating: M Words: 6,495 Tags: Fem!Tony, Angst with a Happy Ending, Miscommunication

Summary: Tony goes blonde for a few months. She isn’t nuts about it, but Steve and Bucky really seem to hate it, which is a good selling point. The press are convinced it's the beginning of a mental break. They might not be totally wrong.

Reasons why I love it: Toni's characterization here is top notch. I really love a femme fatale, but her soft spots are what really make this fic so great. The writing style of mystery author is also really cool, almost poetic in some parts of the fic. Getting these small, really poignant timestamps throughout the plot feels really refreshing, and the pacing is great. Definitely read this one if you like Toni being an irresistible temptation to the superserum duo.

Sharing is Caring by SailorChibi

Pairing: Steve/Bucky/Tony Rating: M Words: 3,837 Tags: A/B/O (Alpha Bucky and Steve, Omega Tony), Heat Cycles, Bad Guys Made Them Do It

Summary: When Steve goes into a rut while he and Tony are kidnapped by Hydra, Tony is convinced that what happens between them is going to ruin everything. He's wrong.

Reasons why I love it: I'm a sucker for all things sex pollen, x made them do it, fuck or die shenanigans, and if you are too, then this fic is right up your alley. Add to that the delicious moral dilemma of Tony trying to protect the sanctity of Steve's and Bucky's relationship along with a mutual guilt complex, and you've got an amazing fic right there. Plus, the writing style is fantastic, so that just elevates it to the next level. Definitely give this one a read!

Hide A Heart Of War by RayShippouUchiha

Pairing: Steve/Bucky/Tony Rating: T Words: 13,617 Tags: Flowers, Soul Marks, Pining

Summary: “You’ve got war in your heart boy,” Howard sneers, “don’t ever try and pretend to be anything but what you are.” Tony feels the familiar burn of a flower mark being etched into his skin but he doesn’t look, doesn’t try and check to see what it is. Instead he keeps his eyes on Howard and his hands cupped around his bleeding mouth and nose.

Reasons why I love it: You've probably read this fic already, but Jesus Christ, go and read it again right now because it deserves all the love it can get. The whole concept is godtier, and the choices for which characters have which flower marks are so goddamn brilliant, I just – fucking hell, I love this fic so much. If you by some miracle haven't read this one yet, go and do it now! I promise, there is no better use of your time!

[gamerwoo]

hansol: the lovers playlist

characters: hansol x female reader

genre/warnings: idol au, best friends to strangers, getting over a ‘breakup’, slight angst but it’s not too bad ig, slight comfort???

word count: 1,083

summary: put me on the shelf, discipline myself to let the sparks die out; shattering anything that has reflections of you

tag list: @anissanightyoung @aceofvernons @mythicalamphitrite @caratluvie @juliettechokilo @liemwantstosleep @rubyreduji @ohchangyu @minluvly @honeyylin @miki-chi @heemingyu @noraehey @awkwardnesshabitat @floweryjessy @woozarts @anothershorthuman @shuabby1994 @vernxnsfool​  (if you’d like to be added to the tag list, please fill out this form!!!)

a/n: things in bold italics are song lyrics and things in italics are texts

previous song | next song | back to playlist

You were trying, at least. You were actively trying to feel better; to be better. You made the effort to go out -- at least sometimes -- and you tried to stop feeling sorry for yourself. It came in bursts and it wasn’t all the time, but it was something.

“Whenever you think about him, we should bonk you in the head with one of those hammers,” Eunji had said, half-joking.

All 12 of you decided to just hang out in the living room and switch off playing some video games after your schedules had ended that day. Currently, 4 of your members were battling it out in Mario Kart while the rest of you watched and talked. You were sitting between Ayako -- who was doing her absolute best to catch up from last place -- and Xiulan, with one knee to your chest and the other curled up underneath you while you shouted encouragement at the TV for Ayako’s Yoshi to pass the Shy Guy in front of her.

You felt your phone vibrate on the couch beside you, resting slightly under your leg. You lifted your phone, and when your face unlocked the screen, you almost gasped seeing the name that popped up.

Kim Mingyu: _____, I’m sorry for reaching out so suddenly, but I wanted to see how you were doing

You just stared at the screen for a minute in silence, not knowing what to do. You stared until the screen eventually went black.

“_____?” Xiulan was the one to notice you frozen. Your eyes shot up from your phone to look at her. Her eyebrows furrowed slightly at your expression when she glanced away from the screen to look at you again. “Is everything okay?”

You nodded, maybe a little too quickly, “Yeah, just a weird notification.”

“Who is it?” Mira asked slowly, seeming skeptical of the answer.

“Old friend from school,” you lied smoothly. “I haven’t spoken to them in years, but I guess they...saw I was in a kpop group now.”

Thankfully, they all seemed to buy the lie, so you went back to your phone.

‘You didn't close the door; left a crack open; I couldn't ignore...’

You faintly picked up the song that had started playing -- again, another one of Mira’s playlists -- as you tried to decide if you should text Mingyu back or not.

...But you were weak. Unable to resist knowing anything about what might be going on in Hansol’s life, you replied. Plus, Mingyu was the one to help you through that night, so it was the least you owed him, right? Some sort of response?

“‘The faint possibility of having hope in this insanity...’“ Mira started softly singing, her eyes focused on the screen of the TV.

_____☺: that’s okay. i’m...okay. how’re you?

Kim Mingyu: I actually didn’t expect you to respond...

Kim Mingyu: I’m happy you did though!! 😁

“‘That we still could be...’“

Kim Mingyu: I’ve been alright. Same stuff lol. We all miss you

The group still talked about you? Or was he just being nice?

You didn’t want to tell him you missed them, too. You felt like that would be taking even more steps back than you probably were now. 

“‘But we’re stuck floating in between.’“

_____☺: how is everyone?

That was a decent response, right? It didn’t really seem like you were ignoring his statement since you were asking about them.

Kim Mingyu: All the same lol. Just as annoying and chaotic as ever

Kim Mingyu: But... Hansol was kinda different for a while...

You hated how much that piqued your interest. It also made you feel kind of...happy. Was that sick?

_____☺: different?

Kim Mingyu: He went to talk to you one night, and then he came back and didn’t say much for a while. He wouldn’t tell us what happened but it didn’t seem good...

Kim Mingyu: I’m not trying to get you to tell me, though! Just telling you what happened since you asked. I don’t want you to feel pressured. But we all felt worried for both of you

Kim Mingyu: But he still talks about you sometimes...

‘Oh no...’

And there went your heart, suddenly feeling like it was rising from your stomach just a little bit. It was beating so hard and you hated yourself for it. You felt a little spark of hope that maybe Hansol still cared. That maybe he was feeling a little lonely without you, and Ivory wasn’t enough to fill the gap that you hoped you made.

“‘Our eyes were closed with hearts open wide,’“ Mira was still singing along, “’dismissed every rule to abide by.’“

Kim Mingyu: I don’t know if telling you will make you feel worse or not, so I won’t unless you want me to

Kim Mingyu: I don’t even know if you’ve recovered from what happened

Kim Mingyu: I’m still really sorry, _____...

Blood was pounding in your ears, drowning out the sounds of Mira’s singing, the song itself, and your members laughing and joking together. You had two choices in this situation: ask, or stay in the dark. Asking was what you wanted to do. Your heart wanted you to beg Mingyu if you had to, to tell you what Hansol had said. 

But your brain knew that was bad. You knew it would just make you hurt more. It would make you hold onto that hope when you were trying to let go of everything that had to do with him. You couldn’t let yourself trail along behind him like this.

“Put me on the shelf, discipline myself,’“ Mira suddenly belted the lyrics at full volume, breaking you from your internal battle as your thumbs hovered over the screen, “‘to let the sparks die out; shattering everything that has reflections of youuuu, youuuuuu...’“

You laughed at her, along with the other members who were startled by her suddenly loud singing, or who were giggling and telling her how obnoxious she was.

Finally, you looked back down at your phone, deciding on a reply.

_____☺: don’t worry about it, i’ll be fine

_____☺: i’ve gotta go though. we’re pretty busy!! thanks for reaching out

You put your phone on ‘do not disturb’ before reaching forward and placing it on the coffee table. Then you settled back into the couch to watch the last lap of the race.

And when the final chorus came back around, you sang it just as obnoxiously as Mira was.

[serotoninny]

Hey- hi. My sister and I grew up playing Super Paper Mario constantly. I would absolutely love to hear any and all thoughts you would like to share pls and thank you!!

HELLO! HELLO HI!

wanted to start off by saying Holy Shit!! spm was a video game me and my sister also played growing up!! we never beat it back then but recently she came home and got me hooked on it again and we played it all the way thru. we also did fun little voices for each character I got to be dimentio so that was very fun ^__^ i think Objectively its not a very hard game (which is why we were able to beat it LMAO) but what it lacks there it makes up for in STORY and super strong characters and i adore it so

IF ANYONE!! ANYONE wants to respond to anything ive said in this word soup of a post PLEASE DO!!! in the tags in the comments i just like seeing ppl talk abt whatever the hell about spm. Head canons Theories You name it

this is . a little scattered around. u do not have to read all of this but thank you for giving me an excuse to talk abt spm VVV

first of all themes of love being the answer make me wanna bawl my eyes out and i gotta be real i did tear up at the end of the game when blumiere and timpani have bounding through time ost playing and then walk out of frame. CHEFS KISS. lovely. i like how each chapter the gang goes thru has its own unique little set of townspeople and even thru little bits of dialogue u are left wanting to defeat the chaos heart even more because you dont want any of them to die YK? HEAVENS TO BETSY! THE DIALOGUE OPTIONS FOR RIGHT BEFORE CHAPTER 8 FOR ALL THE PEOPLE IN FLIP/FLOPSIDE?? SHIT HURTED. npc reactions to all the shit going on were so good

one thing i WISH happened tho was. mario and luigi Sibling Love (i mean this platonically i want to specify Just in case there are any weirdos out there) Helps Save The World. i get the whole count bleck mansion part where everyone started sacrificing themselves to save the others which means they care for one another n whatnot which is good great and fantastic However i think it wouldve been COOL to see the whole gang esp the two opposing forces of Mario (prophesized hero color red) and luigi (prophesized Man In Green to contain the chaos heart and destroy the world) contribute to the reformation of the pure heart like some sorta balance between light n dark . BUT ITS FINE i love the game anyway because its probably the longest bowser luigi mario and peach have ever been on the same team

and completely unrelated, the entire premise of luigi being the harbinger of a great world ender is ALWAYS a joy. a fun little recurring gag if you will. like i cant believe this is not the only time he was the vessel for a great evil like what is up with that. every day i think abt that one luigi post abt how he's Doomed By The Narrative TM to be the Evil Twin Brother but he just chooses not to be. never not thinking abt that ever. hes so haunted by like literally everything got separated and brainwashed fought his brother aided in the destruction of the sammer guy world Died went to hell KOed spm satan got revived became GOD then saved the world. and he is some middle aged man in striped socks

MR L. GOD. that fucking guy. hes so lame. i like him so much. his theme goes SO hard in the silliest way imaginable. and i also like how even when he is brainwashed its kinda obvious he still wants mario around (see: brobot, the replacement brother). they fr tapped into luigis need to be useful and used that as is motivation to work for the count. yeowch. mr l to me is just luigi but Lots of parts of him just locked up and forgotten (plus a little minor bit of oh i dont know straight up brain manipulation, nastasia is a force 2 be reckoned with fr) Duno if im making sense here . anyway mr l is so so so hilarious to me because his one liners are so so dumb and i think the gag abt no one recognizing him is FUNNY (EVEN IF i think at least mario SHOULDVE recognized him but WHATEVS).

all of count blecks minions are . SUCH a fun little group. and while dimentio didnt give a fuck about them i still love his dynamic as the court jester whos a little bit of a bitch. the origins of them joining the group are very interesting because ochunks mimi and nastasia had been at their lowest when bleck recruited them and dimentio was like. let me in your emo band. ochunk's warrior code is something i think about a lot. he doesnt got a lot behind the eyes but hes got values he sticks to and i like that a lot in a character. him and mimi do spa days

bleck as a character makes me wanna chew through my walls. in a good way. guys who are slipping and dont want to get back up and bringing everything else down with them are fun and that is all. bonus! he still gets to be Somewhere quiet after the story's over

dimentio has to be my fave of the goons (not counting mr l). not surprising because hes just. so. ...... He is the Way That He Is. his little similes are so stupidly funny for no reason and i think being a Silly Guy and also a Guy With Ulterior Motives are the two funest traits a character can have. His ambiguous past is so interesting like yes bitch hide behind the mask keep cards up your sleeve dont let them know your next move!! something interesting i read somewhere was that. even after luigi the chaos heart and dimentio were separated that there were bits still mixed up between them, linking them not only prophetically but on the atomic level is a headcanon im tucking close into my heart . terrifying as it is super fucking rad !! luigi cannot escape the harbinger of doom allegations

dimentio and luigis entire dynamic is the best thing ever. because dimentio is a goddamn weirdo and luigi is. and i cannot stress this enough. JUST a fucking GUY. luigi is like "ill stop you you ne'er do well!" and dimentio responds with "im killing us both<3ciao!" why does every luigi villain wanna be no children mountain goats with SO BAD. they should keep doing it

god. the way mario is the mc and barely has a role in most of the story other than being The Hero of the Light Prognosticus is both a little annoying and also kinda sick /pos. annoying because mario is one of my faves and i want him to participate in the story more (not really a diss on the writing i just like him) but also kinda sick because . the way everyone in the game talks abt the hero from the prophecy is so. soooooooooooo. god. like everyone in favor of all worlds Not Ending preparing THOUSANDS of CENTURIES in advance just for mario to arrive. Pixls were locked in boxes and hidden away WAITING for him and its like. if he could talk back. i wanna know how he thinks abt all this. because throught the entire story You as the player kinda fuck things up for people in pursuit of the pure hearts. and mario cant rly SAY anything abt it cus its not Really his story, but MAN. what i would give for a little development on his end of the lineup during a few points like 'wilting' king croacus, figuring out squirps is now orphaned because he had to stay alive long enough to help the heros, Luvbis Entire Deal, and figuring out mr l was luigi all along. SIGH

i dont know much about the pixl war, but all of that lore is so cool to look into. ive got like surface level knowledge. even then i only rly care abt the history when im thinking abt the personalities of the pixls themselves. cus like they get their little moment in the spotlight and then they Never speak Again. dottie and cudge and fleep are some of the more memorable ones for me and i wish it was possible to hear more of them. but alas

squirps. :( in my heart. in my heart and soul. bowser takes squirps under his wing. forms an alliance with his kingdom (assuming. squirps takes over from where his mom left off). peach would of course also form an alliance with him. IDK. squirps is the Only One out of every major side character in the game who didnt really get a happy ending. while not everyone NEEDS one i think he deserves one. and in my perfect world he is being guided by two more experienced rulers (bowser isnt doing much in terms of teaching him good diplomacy but he sure as hell is getting him to hang out with kids his age like Jr).

bowser was so funny this whole game. love when evil guys get domesticated a little. thats all about him

PEACH. PRINCESS PEACH. god i love her. the way she was the only person to resist nastasias brainswashing AND her fucking umbrella is the most cracked defense in the World. blowing a kiss to the wind. for peach

ok so i cant think of anything else to say and i havent proofread this. if YOU, dear viewer, love super paper mario i need you to never shut the fuck up ever. there are like 12 of us

[babydeathkid]

Black Star is being called away for an important assassination mission and he stops by the DWMA to say goodbye to Death the Kid before he leaves. DTK is not happy about it.

Here is my first fic ever! I actually posted this on AO3 a few months ago, then kinda lost track of it, and then got a burst of motivation to finish it. So I'll be posting the third and final chapter soon.

Rating: General Audiences; Category: M/M; Fandom: Soul Eater

Relationships: Black Star/Death the Kid

Characters: Death the Kid, Black Star, Liz Thompson, Patty Thompson, Nakatsukasa Tsubaki, Soul Eater Evans, Crona, Maka Albarn

Additional Tags: Aged-Up Character(s), DTK has anxiety, Black Star is a rogue assassin, Mutual Pining, it's in the subtext, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence

1663w.

=====================================

“No.”

Black Star let himself laugh. Kid’s tone was so…haughty.

“Already approved by KAI, Baby D! Not much you can do about it.”

Death the Kid’s shoulders tensed, and he turned his nose up, mouth pressed into a thin line. Kid hated the nickname, especially when there were other people around. This did nothing to stop Black Star from using it. Kid glanced briefly at Tsubaki. She hadn’t said anything since they’d walked in, but then again, she normally stayed silent during their meetings. She just stood, simply observing, with her quiet, knowing smile.

They stood on the main platform of the Death Room – Kid in front of his mirror and Black Star and Tsubaki across from him, just inside the gates. This whole meeting was just a formality, really. An unnecessary, time-consuming formality. They should have left half an hour ago.

They were headed on a mission to the desert, to find a sand kishin that had been terrorizing villages. KAI Intelligence reported that the kishin’s soul wavelengths were basically fucking up the entire ecosystem down there. No rain, no plants, no food. The few people that the kishin left alive were going to die from dehydration or starvation if the demon wasn’t stopped. It was high-priority, high-risk. They needed someone good. Black Star’s name had come up in a meeting, and he’d been contacted the next day. He and Tsubaki had packed immediately and headed to the DWMA to let Kid know he wouldn’t be available for a while. Now here he was, bickering with a pouty Death the Kid over his plans for the next who-knows-how-long.

“I can tell them you can’t do it. That they’ll have to assign someone else.”

“You could if I actually worked for you. But I don’t.” Black Star glared at the reaper.

Kid glared right back. “In their eyes, you do. They’d listen to me.”

“Yeah, they probably would. Go ahead and put that title to good use, rich kid.” Black Star clasped his hands behind his back, effectively flexing his arms and puffing out his chest. Kid’s jaw twitched.

It was a bluff. Technically, Kid had no authority to deny Black Star the mission. He could vote against missions that the Kishin Assassination Initiative proposed, and if they wanted to pull an assassin from the DWMA Corps, he could refuse.

But he couldn’t control Black Star because Black Star wasn’t actually a member of the Corps, even if everyone thought he was. Even if he and Kid acted like it, most of the time. Tsubaki had asked him, once, why he let everyone believe that he worked for the DWMA. He figured they’d feel safer that way. It’d make people uneasy to think of him as a rogue assassin – someone so brash and impulsive and powerful – with no supervision.

Plus, the thought of working for Death the Kid…irked him. It wasn’t often that he found himself on even footing with him these days. When they were just kids sparring in the courtyard or facing off in their basketball games, Black Star had felt so much bigger than him. He’d felt bigger than everyone. Things were different now, but Black Star had spent his entire life proving that he answered only to himself. He didn’t want a boss.

“Don’t call me a rich kid.”

“Why not? That’s what you are.”

“You cannot talk to me this way, Black Star!” Kid shouted, taking half a step closer. His hands were fists at his sides. He’s doing a stellar job at not punching me in the face right now, Black Star thought. I wonder how long that’s gonna last.

Tsubaki, as usual, picked the most annoying times to offer her input. He heard her voice in his head. You’re instigating on purpose. I think you might actually want him to punch you.

He and Kid had gotten closer, so he had to actually turn around to scowl at her. “Tsubaki, can you give us a second? I need to knock some sense into Lord Death real quick.”

“Of course, Black Star. I’ll wait outside,” said with her calm, even tone. She turned to leave and then paused, side-eyeing him. You know you’re the only one who can get away with saying that, right?

Yeah, I know. He smirked back at her, and she left.

When Star faced Kid again, he wasn’t looking at him anymore, but off to the side instead. His expression was pinched and controlled, even though Black Star could see where the back of his neck was flushing red.

Death the Kid, when he was angry, was cold and fierce. Nothing like how he looked now. Black Star had meant for his next words to Kid to burn him. But.

“What’s wrong?”

“Hm. That doesn’t sound very much like knocking sense into me.”

“Kid.”

He sighed, unclenching his fists to adjust his cuff links. “I should have a say in this. I’m…frustrated.”

Black Star let his hands fell back to his sides – it didn’t seem like they were fighting anymore, but he was confused.

“We’ve already been through this.” They’d had this conversation once before, after Kid had offered the spot on the Corps and he’d refused. “You know you don’t have control here, it’s not like-”

Kid flinched hard, and the cuff link he’d been twisting on his right wrist popped off and landed at Star’s feet, startling him out of whatever he was going to say next. He looked at Kid’s face, and Kid was looking at the cuff link on the floor and working the muscle in his jaw furiously, and oh.

As much as Black Star made fun of him for being a control freak, he ought to notice when the guy was actually struggling. It just…didn’t happen that much, anymore. He was caught off guard.

“Hey-”

“Don’t make fun of me.” Kid snapped.

“I’m not- I mean, I won’t.” It was weird how they worked sometimes. When Death the Kid got angry, it fired up Black Star up. But nothing seemed to calm him down as instantly as Kid’s anxiety.

He was standing deathly still, so Black Star squatted and picked up the cuff link.

“Kid?”

“What.”

“Breathe.”

“I’m breathing.”

“You’re not.”

Kid glared daggers as he exaggerated a slow, even breath in and out through his nose.

“Good. You already look more relaxed.” Smugness probably wasn’t the best way to go here, but Kid was being fucking sassy. So. “Give me your wrist.”

“Why?”

“Just do it, would you?”

Kid lifted his arm, which Black Star took, trying to be gentle. He took his time straightening the sleeve and reattaching the link, adjusting it carefully. He let go, asked for the other sleeve, and then he straightened that one out, too. Kid shivered when his fingers brushed the inside of his wrist, over his pulse.

Black Star glanced up. “You good?”

“I- yes. I’m fine.” Kid blinked.

“Okay,” Black Star lifted both of Kid’s forearms in front of him, palms up, showing Kid where he’d creased the sleeves and twisted the links to match. “Better now?”

Kid blinked again. “Yeah. It’s good. Symmetrical.”

“You’re welcome.” Black Star said, grinning.

Kid chuckled a little too, despite himself, which Black Star counted as a win. Their arms were still between them, Star’s palms supporting the back of Kid’s hands. He let his fingers close around his wrists a little, and sucked in a breath.

“Kid, I need to-”

“Yes, I know. You need to go.”

“I’m sorry. This job’s important.”

Kid bit his lip and didn’t meet Black Star’s eyes. “I still don’t like it.”

“Yes, I know, but this is what I do, yeah?”

“I know that.”

“Okay.”

“Okay.”

“I’ll be back before you know it, I promise.”

Kid took a step back and away from Black Star, breaking contact, composed once again. “You better keep your word, Black Star.”

“I’ll miss you, too.” Star’s hands went to his hips as he cocked his head to the side, smiling.

Kid crossed his arms and rolled his eyes. “Because you’re my best assassin, Black Star.”

“Mhmm. I really am.”

“Get out.”

==========

Tsubaki was waiting patiently outside the door.

You two are ridiculous.

“What are you talking about?!” She just giggled, and it infuriated him. “What’s so fucking funny, huh?”

Nothing. It’s just cute.

“Shut the fuck up, Tsubaki.”

==========

The door shut behind Black Star as he left, and Death the Kid turned to his mirror to make a call. It rang twice, and the faces of his two best friends rippled in front of him.

“Liz! It’s the boss!” Patty practically screeched, throwing her hands in the air.

Her sister rolled her eyes. “Yes, Pat, I can see him too.” She turned to Kid. “What can we do for ya, Baby D?”

“Do not call me that.”

“Black Star gets to.”

“Black Star does not get to- Jesus fucking Christ! I’m surrounded by idiots.”

Liz’s eyes widened in surprise at first, but then she smirked and spoke sideways at Patty, “Uh oh, sis. Kid’s using bad words. I think he needs to let off some steam, what do you think?”

“We’re going to go shoot at stuff?!”

Patty looked at Liz, and Liz looked at Kid.

Kid sighed. “Please.”

Patty beamed.

==========

A few hours later, Black Star and Tsubaki had made it to the desert and started tracking the kishin, and Tsubaki wouldn’t stop thinking. Black Star could feel it – the tiny frequency of her thoughts buzzed against his senses. It was fucking distracting.

“What the hell are you thinking about?”

Nothing.

“Then get it together. We have a job to do.”

The buzzing didn’t go away.

“Tsu!” She was quiet for a second before she spoke up again.

You know, you could have informed him of your absence via mirror-message.

“A good assassin handles his affairs in person whenever he can.”

She grinned. You wanted to see him.

“Shut the fuck up, Tsubaki.”

You asked.

=====================================

If you made it this far, thank you! Hope you liked it!

- bdk ♥️

[t-h-i-n-g]

OK so I saw you in teen wolf × reader tag and so I had to request because your writing is so goodddd. anyways so can a ask for a jealous!stiles stilinski x reader kind of? like at first we like stiles but he was so in love with lydia and kinda ignore us for her ( probably s1 or s2 stiles because he was so in love with her at those seasons ) and then we decided to move on and then isaac ( allison who? ) come and slowly we had a friend to lovers with isaac and just sooooo many jealous!stiles and cute and fluffy isaac pls. ending is up to you best girl 3/>

It’s You

a/n: hi! sorry it took a hot minute for me to finish this. side note: i don't write for isaac so there's only really a jealous! stiles x reader going on, i hope that's okay. he's still in this don't worry! enjoy :)

word count: 1.9k

summary: when would stiles realize there's a reason his glaring stares and jealous aura had more to it?

warnings: jealousy, if theres any more let me know!!

teen wolf - masterlist m.masterlist

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

Stiles chewed on the edge of his pencil. Gaze low and his shoulders slumped as he gazed at you from across the room. Lydia sat next to him, messing with some of the test tubes while his attention was elsewhere. She peered over at him from the corner of her eye.

The glumness was practically spilling out of him. Lydia eyed his bouncing leg and hunched over stature. She then looked up to his eyes and followed his gaze. Landing on you and Isaac, a few tables away. Your body shook lightly as a hand covered your mouth. However you then threw your head back, laughter escaping you when Isaac whispered something in your ear. Mr. Harris scolded you both from his spot at his desk. You apologized a few giggles still escaping you.Lydia then looked back to Stiles noting how his body tensed at your response. 

Her brows furrowed, connecting the dots silently in her head. She pursed her lips, officially turning in Stiles' direction and placing her chin in her palm. He didn't notice at first. Rolling her eyes Lydia kicked his shin gently. Stiles jumped in his spot. His head snapping in her direction. Once his had settled down he finally spoke.

"Yeah?" Lydia motioned the various chemicals and beakers in front of them.

"You gonna keep staring at her Romeo or are you going to actually get some work done." Stiles squinted at the glass bottles. Then peered over them to look back at you. Hand on Isaac's head, shoving him away lightly. Once steady again he bumped his shoulder with your making you stumble in your own spot.

Stiles' gaze turned into glare. Lydia watched as his eye line met you and she scoffed, slapping his arm. Once again his head turned to her directions.

"Don't you guys literally sit next to each other, next class? Can't you stare at her then? I'd like to finish up and start the homework early, thanks." Stiles dismissed her claim.

"I don't know what you're talking about," he muttered. Lydia rolled her eyes, almost seeing her brain in the back of her head in the process.

"You reek of jealousy." His head perked up.

"Jealous? Jealous of what? I have nothing to be jealous about? Who are we even talking about?" he rambled. Lydia slapped her hands down on the table in defeat. Contemplating life to herself then deciding either he was going to admit it or she was going to die trying to get him to.

"Just say you're in love with her. It'll make everyone's life easier." Stiles' brows furrowed farther.

"Who?" Lydia gestured in your direction. Stiles watched as her finger landed on you. Instantly his eyes widened into saucers.

"Y/n? No way-"

"Everyone sees how you look at her, Stiles," Lydia cut him off. "It's so obvious. Well apparently obvious to everyone but you and her." Stiles shook his head.

"There's nothing that's obvious. I don't like Y/n. Plus you literally know that I like-"

"Me?" Lydia quirked a brow. "No you don't. Maybe in the past at one point. But for as far as I'm concerned right now with your little pouty mood and constant glaring over in her direction when Isaacs around… It's clear as day who you have feelings for. You just need to wake up and realize it for yourself." 

He bit his lip. Stiles peaked a look in your direction once more. Watching as you practically gave Isaac heart eyes as a smile graced your features. A pit of poison bubbled in his stomach. Remembering all the times he wished you looked at him like that. But those were just in the moment, right? He liked Lydia, and has liked her for years. 

But the confidence in that statement slowly dribbled away when your gaze met his. Eyes shining, smile growing impossibly bigger as you looked over at him. You waved lightly which he gave a small smile in return. You didn't have time to think much about his odd response since Isaac tapped your side. 

You snapped your head back to him. Taking the beakers he was passing to you, his fingers brushing against yours. The poison slowly boiled up while Stiles clenched his jaw at the action. However his attention was caught elsewhere when a throat cleared beside him.

"You were saying?" Lydia asked sarcastically. Stiles sighed in defeat.

"Even if I did like her- which I don't… she obviously has someone else in mind so it's not worth it. And, we've been friends since we were diapers. I'm not gonna ruin what we have over some stupid little crush." 

"What if she wants to ruin it?" Lydia interjected. Trying to not bring up the fact of at the last sleepover you had, you were fawning over Stiles and how you loved his scrawny little body. Her face scrunched up at the memory subconsciously.

He didn't respond.

"Like I said, she obviously wants someone else. It's not worth ruining what we have," he mumbled, finally looking over the different chemicals. Grabbing the instructions from across the table and reading over them. 

Lydia looked over at you one more time. Catching you looking over at the helpless boy beside her, longingly. You caught her eyes and shrunk away at being caught. She bit her lip, containing a smile as you looked at her sheepishly. Isaac turned to you as your attention was elsewhere.

 He followed you line of vision, looked at Stiles then back to you. A teasing smile took over his features as he went to poke fun at you. You squirmed away. Lydia laughed quietly to herself. Stiles eyed her in question.

"What?" He asked. She dismissed his question with the wave of her hand.

"You don't know if she feels the same or not. What's the worse that could happen?"

"She rejects me and ignores me for the rest of out lives." She rolled her eyes once more.

"Do you really think that that's going to ruin everything? After everything you've gone through together? You said it yourself, you've been friends since diapers. If she doesn't feel the same it's not going to break you guys apart or whatever you're worried about. She could feel the same, Stiles. All you have to do is grow a pair to find out." Stiles went to respond but was stopped by the bell. Both of them cleaned up quickly while Harris said that if they didn't finish it was fine. They had tomorrow to finish up. "If you don't try, you won't know," Lydia stated while she picked up her things and took her leave. He paused in his step. A war fighting inside him. Contemplating his next course of action.

"You ready?" You asked, stepping beside him. He looked over to you, scanning over you then nodding. Your brows furrowed at his lack of response. "Are you doing okay today? You've been kinda quiet."

"Yeah I'm good," he responded. Stiles held the door for you as you entered the hallway. You hummed in response, eyeing the boy in your peripheral. His body stiff as he seemed lost in his own thoughts.

"You'd tell me if somethings bothering you right." Stiles looked over to you, taking in your concerned features. His words caught in his throat with your stare.

"There's nothing that'll split us up right?" he blurted out. Your eyes widened lightly.

"Um, yeah. Ill always be here for you Stiles, you know that. Is everything okay-"

"I'm gonna say something that I'll probably regret, but like you said, you'll always be with me right?" He stopped in his place, halting you in your spot as well. Students moved and passed around.

"Always, now what-"

"I think I'm in love with you." His words were jumbled. Your brows shot up to the ceiling, jaw slacking as his heart sunk down into his stomach.

"E-excuse me?" you questioned. His lip trembled slightly as his voice wavered.

"I-I think I'm in l-love with you, Y/n. I think I have for a while-”

“You think?-”

“It's okay if you hate me now. I ruined everything I know but I just had to tell you. I thought maybe there was a chance that you… never mind cause you don't. That's okay-"

"Stiles-"

"I mean we've been friends forever and all of a sudden I want to change it all."

"St-" 

"I'm really sorry about all this. I'm so sorry-" a hand clamped over his mouth.

"Stiles, can you please calm down for a moment?” you all but shouted at him. His eyes were wide as he let a breath out through his nose. Slowly you took away your hand. He anxiously scanned your face trying to find some sort of answer. He spoke once again, voice cracking but it wasn't jumbled.

“I knew you liked Isaac. I know you do, I just…” he trailed off as a rather disapproving expression took over your features. You tilted your head and quirked a brow at him.

“Isaac? Really? You really think I like… Isaac?” His stuttered out his words, confused by your response.

“Y-yeah, I thought with all the giggling you two do, you liked-” your laughter cut him off as you shook your head. 

“Oh gosh, Stiles. Lydia’s right, you are the most clueless man out there. I don't like Isaac, dummy. It’s you Stiles. It’s always been you. You’re the one I like. Have for a while now.” Stiles’ mouth opened and closed like a fish. You let out a breathy chuckle, looking down at your feet. “Ever since 7th grade year when there was that stupid middle school dance. Nobody was doing anything besides shuffling their feet and looking at each other awkwardly. You said you had enough, pulled me up, and took me to the middle of the dance floor and just started busting it down like an absolute dork.” You took a step forward, catching Stiles’ hand in yours. “By the end of the night my stomach hurt from all the laughing and my feet hurt from the amount of jumping we did. But none of it mattered cause at the end of the night when your dad brought me home. You kissed my cheek when I went to leave. I was smiling like an idiot up the driveway the whole time because I realized that I wanted you Stiles. More than a friend or best friend. I wanted you.”

His palms were sweaty as your fingers ran over his knuckles.

“You want me?” His voice was quiet. You took another step forward, your chest almost touching him.

“Mhm, always have, always will.” A smile gradually grew on his face as a breath of relief left him.

“Thank god. If you didn’t it would have been so awkward between us it’s not even funny-”

“You gonna kiss me yet Stilinski? I thought that was already scheduled after the whole ‘forever and always’ thing.” His brows shot up.

“K-kiss? Right now? In the middle of the hallway-” you rolled your eyes playfully before cupping his face in your hands. Giving him enough time to pull away if he wanted to before connecting his lips to yours. A small ‘hmph’ left him, body stiffening while his hands shot up. Slowly Stiles relaxed, bringing them back down to place on your waist. 

A smile grew on your lips as his fingers traced your hips lightly. Pulling away you took in his features. Him smiling like an idiot. You couldn't really talk though as your expression mirrored his.

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

likes and reblogs are appreciated :)

[millenialfanfictionaddiction]

👑 Being Seijoh's Manager 👑

Oikawa Hurts Our Precious Manager

and Iwaizumi's Crush

Iwaizumi Hajime featuring Seijoh x GN reader

Warnings: Swearing, mentions of blood, kithes 😘

AN: This is an Anon request!

🌠 Please Like, Reblog and/or Share to help support my writing 🌠

I would just like everyone to be aware that I am a complete simp for Iwaizumi Hajime, 27, Athletic Trainer ✌🏻

Now that we got that out of that way 🙃

YN you freaking amazing person

How did you ever manage to nab the eye of Seijoh's Ace player

Its probably because you are stunning and literally perfection 💅🏼

Anyways, it's happened and we are all so jealous

You are so incredible sweet and kind

It's not wonder Iwa is attracted to you

Plus you pay attention to him more than Oikawa

It's probably because you regard Iwa as the ACTUAL Captain of Seijoh

Our Kings 💅🏼

Mom's favorite team

However, I do think Iwa struggles to express that he likes you

This man is insecure deep down

Like he's a natural leader but he's also a Gemini so like, it's understandable

You have a few classes with Iwa and you purposely sit next to him

Because you have a crush on him too 😉

You slowly become friends with him

And seriously, he falls more for you everyday

Eventually this man is walking to class with you, having lunch with you

Said lunch often includes 3 tag alongs and multiple appearances from other team members

Actually it's the idea of you first being the teams manager comes up at lunch

"Hey YN have you found a club yet?"- Makki

"No unfortunately, why do you know of anything?"- You, completely oblivious to what door you just opened

Makki and Mattsun look at each other and then at Iwa

Please they 1000% know Iwa is crushing on you

And since they are little shits they will take any opportunity to throw Iwa under the bus 🙃

"I have a great idea! Why don't you become out manager"- Mattsun 😏

Please Iwaizumi chokes in his food

You quickly pat his back and rub it

Hajime Iwaizumi.exe has stop functioning

"Haji are you ok?"- you, concerned

"Yeah I'm fine, just swallowed funny"- Iwa

"That's what she said"- Makki

Please that joke never gets old 🤣

"You guys really need a manager? I mean i thought you'd have a million applicants wjth Oikawa as Captain"- you, probing

"My senses are tingling, did someone mention my name?"- Oikawa now joing you

Pls 😑🙄

"We were just discussing you guys needing a manager"- you

"Well we do YN but unfortunately the manager cannot have a crush on me"- Oikawa, sitting down and winking 😉

"😐 Oh that's not a problem Oikawa I don't like you"- you, looking dead in his eyes

Mattsun and Makki die 💀 literally fall over with laughter

"YN-chan that's rude!"- Oikawa, highly offender

"Shittykawa not everyone likes you!"- Iwaizumi looking for the nearest volleyball

"I'm being honest Oikawa 🤷‍♀️ also I'd be happy to be your manager if you'll have me"- You 🤗

"Sure YN"- Iwa answering first and smiling at you 🙂

You smile back 😊

"Get a room you two"- Makki, rolling his eyes

"You want a volleyball to the head?"- Iwa glaring at Makki

"Chill killer"- Makki 😏

And that's the story of how you became manager

And lived happily ever after 🙌🏻

Just kidding!

You manage Seijoh YN, you think you'll get off that easily 🤣🤣🤣🤣

The first few weeks of practice go well!

The boys all take in instant liking to you

Oikawa is Oikawa but honestky what did you expect 😐

Iwaizumi has made it very clear that if anyone messes with you that he will ensure their time on the Seijoh Team is temporary 🙃

When he's all authoritative 🥵 am I right?

The boys all definitely think your cute but they respect Iwaizumi

Except for one person 😃

Bet you can't guess who 🙄

Please he will flirt with you right up to the line and then back off

Just enough to piss Iwa off but insure he doesn't get a volleyball cannoned at his skull

"Oh YN-Chan let me help you with those heavy waterbottles! You work so hard"- Oikawa

Iwaizumi is glaring 😑

"It's fine Oikawa it's my job" -you giving Oikawa nothing 👏🏻

"YN-chan sit with me on the bus"- Oikawa

"No Im fine with Hajime"- you, sitting next to our favorite boy ☺️

This is literally how Oikawa is

Every 👏🏻 Single 👏🏻 DAY

And boy does it wear on Iwaizumi 😅

One day, the team is playing a scrimmage match against each other

Iwaizumi, Makki, Kunimi and Kindaichi vs Oikawa, Yahaba, Watari and Mattsun

All is going well

You are taking notes on technique and ways you think the boys could improve

The coach stands up, dropping his papers all over the floor

"Here I'll help!"- you being an Angel 😇

"Thank you so much YN"- coach

You start picking the papers up just as our resident cannon takes his turn to serve

You see where this is going and let me tell you it isn't pretty

Oikawa serves 🏐

Makki sees its headed out of bounds and calls it

Just as you stand up

Everyone sees what's going to happen but like it happens too fast

Kindaichi manages a "YN look out-" but it's too late

Volleyball meeting YN's face

You instantly get knocked down, hit right in your nose and mouth

Seriously tho, I've taken a volleyball to the face and it hurts 😬

So imagine that pain with Oikawa's power behind it

Everyone is stunned

Iwa runs 🏃‍♂️ to you

Oikawa 👉🏻😐😳😱 holy shit YN

Everyone else is just like 👉🏻👁👄👁

They honestly can't believe that just happened

Meanwhile you are sitting there, nose bleeding and trying to cover it up

"YN baby are you ok?"- Iwaizumi

Yes he uses a pet name, he's fucking concerned people 👏🏻

Tears are welling in your eyes and the blood is now on your hands and down your arms

"Shit grab me a towel"- Iwa

Yahaba runs and grabs a towel

"Iwaizumi take YN to the nurse now!"- Coach

"Come on YN let's get you up"- Iwa

"It hurts so bad Haji"- you, crying 🥺

"I know baby hold on"- Iwa, full on picking you up and kissing your forehead

Instant medication 🥰

"YN I'm so sorry!"- Oikawa

Please Iwa's stare is literally worse than him throwing a ball at Oiks head 😅

Kindaichi and Yahaba go with as Oikawa is left to wonder his fate

In the nurses office, Iwa sets you on the table and the nurse checks you over

"You have a split lip and bloody nose YN. You'll have a nasty bruise there and it's going to be painful but once I get you stitched up all will be good"- the nurse, smiling

Iwa is sitting next to you when you grab his hand

"It's ok Haji, I'm fine"- You

"I'm going to murder Oikawa"- Iwaizumi planning Oikawa's death in stages

"Haji, Torū didn't mean for that the happen. It was an accident"- You trying to save the teams captain from death and Iwa from prison

"Yeah I guess"- Iwa not convinced

The nurse gets you stitched up and gives you pain killers and an ice pack to help the swelling

You go back to the gym and find Oikawa crying in the middle of the gym

"Omg what happened?"- YN, the dedicated manager running to Oikawa

"Omg YN you aren't dead"- Oikawa, jumping up and hugging you

"What?"- you confused 😕

"We may or may not have convinced Oikawa that he killed you"- Makki and Mattsun 😗 🎶

Please 🙄😅

Iwaizumi is now standing behind you, glaring at his victim

"Iwa I swear I didn't mean to hurt your crush"- Oikawa

Wait ✋️ did he just say-

Oop-

"LOSERKAWA YOU BETTER RUN"- Iwaizumi

You block Iwa from killing Oikawa

"Haji you like me?"- You

Iwaizumi 👉🏻😳😰 umm yes-

You smile and give him a small kiss 💋

Iwaizumi Hajime, 18, Seijoh's Ace player has passed away 🪦

"I really like you too Hajime"- you, blushing

"Wait- you do?"- Iwa 🤨

Why the heck are you questioning it!

"Yeah I really do"- You

Iwaizumi will totally pick you up and spin you around, kissing you again 😍

"I'm glad my plan worked"- Oikawa

You and Iwaizumi look at him 😐

"What plan?"- Mattsun

"My masterplan- to get Iwa-chan and YN-chan together"- Oikawa, really thinking he did something 😏

"Your masterplan was to hit me in the face with a volleyball and almost break my nose just so Haji and I would start dating?"- You confused yet again

"That's exactly right- don't worry you two can thank me later"- Oikawa, walking away

Iwaizumi looks at you "can I?"

"Please do"- You giving the all clear

Iwaizumi runs, grabs a volleyball and chucks it at Oikawa so hard

The man goes flying

Literally he is channeling Hinata in this moment 👇🏻

Minus the sad responses 😅

"IWA-CHAN, YN-CHAN IS THIS HOW YOU THANK ME?"- Oikawa now on the floor

"It could be worse"- you, turning to face iwa and smiling 😊

[tyonfs]

hooked on the feeling

❝ you know, i don’t usually get girls falling all over me like this. ❞

PAIRING ▸ lee taeyong x fem!reader

GENRES ▸ fluff, crack, meet-cute au, strangers to lovers, college au, mutual pining

WARNINGS ▸ profanity, lots of !! fluff !! and ft. giselle and ten being your annoying best friends, making out, minor suggestive content 

SUMMARY ▸ in five minutes, you’re about to ride the disco pang-pang that you’ve been dreading. that’s plenty of time for you to admire the attractive biology major from your university that you wish you can pluck up the courage to talk to. luckily (or unfortunately), you end up falling right into the lap of lee taeyong. 

PLAYLIST ▸ love me like that by sam kim • my treasure by treasure

WORD COUNT ▸ 4612 words

TAG LIST ▸ @leeknowsredeyeliner​ @wownajaemin​ @geniejunn​ @huangberryyy​ @halbae​

AUTHOR’S NOTE ▸ hello !! this is for @notnctu​’s beginnings collab! please check out the other author’s works as well !! note: this is a disco pang-pang if you didn’t know >:) and thank you so much for inviting me to this collab, joyce! i adore you so much and wish you the best. i’m so glad to have met you and make sure you keep in touch every so often !! ♡ 

YOU WERE A NERVOUS WRECK.

Ten and Giselle were so adamant on riding a Disco Pang-Pang ever since they saw a TikTok about it, but you were not interested in potentially falling all over a bunch of strangers. Ten, on the other hand, was ready to see you eat shit. He had an iron grip, and you knew he was going to be recording you and Giselle humiliating yourselves.

Your friends had dragged you all the way to an amusement park just for the ride, but you were able to convince them to put it off until the end. For the entire day, you were trying to convince yourself the ride was harmless, but you had seen far too many TikToks, and you didn’t want to end up being the laughingstock of one. These were rides that you found fun to watch on a screen, but you weren’t very happy about going on one. Plus, you were already feeling queasy from the last few roller coasters, so a ride that spun you around didn’t sound too appealing.

In a measly five minutes, you would be riding the human death trap, clinging on like nothing else mattered and fighting to keep your lunch down. You could hear the ride’s operator shouting over the 1980s playlist he had running. He was sending people hurtling across the floor while laughing at their misery.

Nevertheless, you steeled your nerves. One little ride wasn’t going to take you out. You were determined to hold on for dear life and brave through the experience.

Of course, all this bravado fizzled away once you realized you were going to be part of the next batch of riders.

“Y/N, you look like you’ve seen a ghost,” Giselle pointed out.

“Not yet,” you replied, dazed. “After this, though, I’m gonna be seeing many ghosts.”

“Oh, come on.” Giselle tutted at your behavior. “You’re not gonna die on a harmless amusement park ride. Look, if those high schoolers over there can ride it, then you can too.”

“Giselle, they go to our university,” Ten pointed out.

“Oh shit.”

You narrowed your eyes at the group Giselle pointed out. You recognized one of them immediately as Lee Taeyong, the guy who lived on the third floor of your freshman dorms. Almost every girl had a crush on him back then, and even though it was over a year ago, you vividly remembered your brief interaction with him in the laundry room (consisting of him asking you for a Tide Pod, which you handed over without a word). He was probably the most attractive man you had ever seen, and it didn’t help that he had a charming personality.

On top of that, he won the humanitarian award last year—the icing on the cake.

“He’s really cute,” you blurted out, gaze fixed on the back of Taeyong’s head.

“You can’t even see his face,” Giselle retorted.

“Shut up, Giselle.” You held a hand up, signaling for her to be quiet. “I know what he looks like.”

“That’s Lee Taeyong,” Ten chimed in. “Everyone thinks he’s cute in my department, and he’s really nice too. I don’t think I’ve ever heard a bad thing about him. Plus, he likes dogs.”

“Aw, I love dogs,” Giselle cooed.

“Exactly, Giselle. The guy’s a chick magnet.”

Nice. Lee Taeyong, the very personification of perfection, just kept getting even more perfect.

Giselle turned to you and raised a brow, a small smirk growing on her lips. “Hey, why don’t you go talk to him? Maybe you can sit next to him during the ride.”

Your eyes widened at her comment “Are you crazy? I’ve barely ever had a conversation with him, and you want me to just walk up to him?”

“Well, yeah.”

You shook your head and turned your attention back to the ride. If you were being honest, part of you wanted to strike up a conversation with Taeyong, but you weren’t as bold and impulsive as your desires were. You wondered how things would play out if you did try to talk to him during the five minutes of wait time.

The problem wasn’t talking to Taeyong, though, it was coming up with a conversation that was interesting enough for you to leave a good impression. That, and he was with his friends, so you would have felt awkward if you approached them out of nowhere.

Plus, there was a high possibility that Taeyong didn’t even remember you.

“Alright, everyone, walk in one-by-one!” the employee’s voice boomed over the line. When you saw him checking people’s wristbands and getting closer to your group, you swore your heart dropped into your stomach.

“Ten, I don’t feel so good,” you croaked out, shrinking at the sight of all the people filing into the seats.

Ten laughed. “You know, Spider-Man said that once, and he’s fine! Come on.”

“Yeah, after disintegrating and disappearing from the face of the planet for five years,” you grumbled out.

After confirming that you had a wristband, you let Ten and Giselle drag you to the closest open seats. You weren’t sure if you felt safer being close to the exit, or more anxious because of your irrational fear of the door opening mid-ride.

Taeyong and his friends were sitting across from you—the dictionary definition of calmness across their faces. At Taeyong’s side was Jeong Jaehyun, who was laughing at some joke someone cracked. On his other side was Kim Doyoung, who looked a touch more nervous than his friends, but he kept his composure.

You, on the other hand, could be compared to a chihuahua, shaking and shrinking into your seat. Ten was scrolling through his phone, arm slung along the railing like he had no other care in the world. He had a talent for staying level-headed in stressful situations, although you supposed this wasn’t stress-inducing at all for him. Giselle was swaying side-to-side, practically buzzing with excitement.

Realizing you had the fear response of a four-year-old wasn’t exactly encouraging.

No, you thought, gritting your teeth. I won’t let this over-glorified merry-go-round get the best of me.

The ride began to circle around slowly, rousing a whoop from Giselle and Ten. Laughs heavy with anticipation chorused within the circle, and your face broke into a smile. The ride turned out to be just fine. You had nothing to worry about.

That was, until it started moving faster.

Not only did it spin faster, but one side would lift up and jerk back down. You started to panic when you saw someone lose their grip and slide across the floor. Everyone’s laughter started to grow more enthusiastic, but you were terrified.

“Hold on!” Giselle shouted, a huge grin on her face.

“Let me see, let me see,” the announcer’s voice taunted through the speakers.

Your grip tightened on the bars when you felt your body jolt up, sliding forward in your seat. You had to keep yourself from falling to the ground, but then the announcer seemed to target you.

“Hey, you in the purple shirt,” the announcer called, and your eyes scanned the people around you before you realized that Giselle was wearing purple. “Are you two on a date?” Ten and Giselle looked at each other, bursting into laughter almost immediately, but the announcer continued, “Why’re you letting your friend third wheel? You should find her a partner!”

The ride jerked again, and your legs flailed in a very unflattering way. You were now on the elevated side, barely holding onto the metal bar behind you.

“Come on, let’s find someone to take care of you,” the announcer teased. “You can't be a third wheel around all these couples!”

You looked around. He was right; the majority of the people on the ride were couples. Hands interlocked and bodies pressed together. At this point, they might as well just laugh at your loneliness.

Before you knew it, the ride was jerking up and down, as if the operator had willed its power to shake you free from the railing. Ten and Giselle seemed to have no intention of helping you. In fact, they were encouraging you to let go (something about “finding a cute guy to sit on,” as Giselle put it). You had never had much luck with holding onto things; once, during Tug of War, your hands lost their grip on the rope and you flew back.

This was similar, except you flew forward.

You had your fair share of embarrassing moments. Once, you tried to pet a llama at a petting zoo, and ended up getting spat on. On another occasion, you threw up in front of your entire class when you watched a dissection after eating some questionable sushi.

That couldn’t compare to the amount of humiliation you felt right now, staggering in circles while you tried to regain your balance.

Everyone was definitely laughing at you. You would laugh at yourself. Despite their faces blending into one giant blur, you were sure the amused sounds were all directed toward you.

The announcer, noticing Giselle recording your mess of a show, asked, “You posting that on Instagram? Here, let me get a better shot for you.”

You yelped when the ride lurched forward, and barely had time to process everyone’s laughter as you fell right in between someone’s legs.

“Whoa,” Taeyong said blankly when you gripped the edge of his seat.

“I’m so sorry,” you apologized profusely, struggling to stay upright.

“Come on, help her up,” the announcer encouraged the guy, who was probably mortified. “Are you gonna leave a pretty girl on the ground?”

Your hair was all over your face, but you managed to look up to see who was above you. At the same time, your stomach dropped; it was Lee Taeyong, the one person you didn’t want to humiliate yourself in front of.

His friends were egging him on to help you, but he looked a little dazed. After a long second of just staring at you, Taeyong reached his hand out to you to help you up. You could almost hear Giselle and Ten giggling over the situation, and you were sure they would bombard you with questions after the ride. Nevertheless, you let Taeyong help you up, but you didn’t expect to be seated right on his lap.

You couldn’t even breathe when his arms wrapped around your waist, holding you securely, and you almost didn’t register his words when he asked, “Are you okay?” You turned your head enough for him to see your expression, and you nodded, not trusting yourself to speak. Taeyong, in turn, looked at Doyoung and ordered, “Make some room for her to sit.”

Doyoung scooted over enough for you to slide in between him and Taeyong. You were positive Jaehyun was side-eyeing Doyoung the entire time, like they were silently mocking their best friend for being the target of the ride.

When you held onto the railing behind you, you expected Taeyong to let go, but he kept a firm hold on your waist. Being between two attractive men was bad enough, but now one of them was holding you and making your heart thunder in your chest. It was almost torture.

Help, you mouthed to Giselle and Ten from across the ride, who were clearly not going to be of any assistance.

“Whoa, this guy’s making a move!” the announcer teased, and you covered your face from the sheer embarrassment. “I’ll help you out.”

You paled. No, no, no, nononono—

The ride started bouncing up and down on your end. If you didn’t have Taeyong holding you down, you would be flying out of your seat. When it tilted to the side, you ended up falling against him, as he tried to hold his ground desperately.

“Hugging in public?” the announcer sneered. “Teenagers are so shameless these days.”

Your cheeks burned. Thankfully, the announcer had enough of teasing you and moved on. This didn’t stop the ride from going every which way, though, and you ended up clinging onto Lee Taeyong for dear life.

“You know,” Taeyong spoke, a grin stretching across his face, “I don’t usually get girls falling all over me like this.”

“Ah, well, I don’t usually get guys catching me when I fall,” you breathed out, the corners of your lips tugging up into a smile.

A flush of red crept up Taeyong’s neck when you grabbed onto the front of his shirt as the ride jerked forward again. You would’ve been a stuttering mess if you weren’t scared for your life, but it didn’t help that you kept being thrown against Taeyong.

“Oh!” Doyoung’s eyes snapped wide open like he had been hit with some sudden realization. “You’re the girl who Taeyong—”

“Zip it, Doyoung,” Taeyong mumbled, but he didn’t have to shut him up because now Doyoung was being thrown into the middle.

Your cheeks heated up, and you didn’t have the mind to laugh along with Taeyong and Jaehyun. Mentally, you were clocked out, shaking Kim Doyoung’s metaphysical shoulders in your head and begging him to finish his sentence. You didn’t even think about how Giselle and Ten were documenting your ride experience.

When the ride was over, Taeyong and you finally separated, a touch awkward. His hand flew to rub the back of his neck while you adjusted your clothes. Everyone else was filing out, laughing at the hilarious commentary from the announcer.

“I’ll catch up with you guys in a second,” Taeyong told his friends once he stepped out of the ride, turning to look over at you.

You stilled for a second. When you regained your senses, you said the same to Giselle and Ten, who were snickering like idiots the entire time. You were no expert in romantic situations, but this felt oddly suspicious; no one would ask their friends to leave them alone with a girl if there wasn’t something going on, right?

“Hey,” Taeyong started, a shy smile on his lips, “sorry about Doyoung earlier.”

“Oh,” you recalled, deflating a little. You were still curious to know what he was going to say. “No worries, but what was he talking about?”

“Um…” Taeyong trailed off for a moment. He looked conflicted, like he was debating between saying something or staying quiet. “Well, we saw you and your friends around here earlier in the day. I just said, uh… that you look cute.”

You felt a little dizzy. It wasn’t the dizziness you experienced on the Disco Pang-Pang—no, this was gentler, more lovesick. Whatever it was, you were hooked on the feeling.

Taeyong bit the bullet and asked, “Can I get your number?”

“So?” Giselle pressed you for more information once the three of you went back to your apartment. “What happened next?”

You were in a daze ever since Lee Taeyong had asked for your number. The car ride was a blur, with Ten and Giselle hounding you about how you now had the perfect “how I met your father” story. They were so excited that you could hardly squeeze in the words to tell them they were jumping too far ahead. The only thing that you were hanging onto were the texts that Taeyong was sending you during the drive home, asking you when you were free and what you wanted to do.

Eventually, the both of you decided to watch a movie.

“I just gave him my number, that’s it,” you replied quickly. You were trying to look anywhere but at her because you knew you would grow shy as soon as you saw Giselle’s knowing smirk. “And… we’re gonna hang out next week.”

(Ten scoffed while your best friend squealed. “She means date,” he informed Giselle.)

“A date?” Giselle asked. God, you could hear the smile in her voice. “Jeez, Y/N, you really scored. I did my research and Taeyong’s like the definition of boyfriend material.”

“She’s right,” Ten chimed in, pointing a spoon in your direction. In his other hand, he was holding a cup of yoghurt and trying to swallow down the mouthful he just put in his mouth. “Lee Taeyong got first place in last year’s GQ.”

You frowned. “What’s a GQ?”

“Gentleman’s Quarterly,” Giselle answered. “It’s this whole popularity contest for the guys, and Taeyong always gets nominated.”

That was probably the most ridiculous concept you had ever heard. You couldn’t imagine a bunch of men lining up and being voted for, and you most definitely couldn’t imagine what Taeyong would have to do to win a contest like that. However, what you found more ridiculous was how you jumped at the sound of your phone going off.

Ten raised a brow at you. “Is it Lover Boy?”

The question made something twist in your chest, and you felt a twinge of hope that it was Taeyong. You checked your phone hastily, fingers going so fast that you entered your password incorrectly a few times before you were able to unlock it.

taeyong: i have a midterm next week so i don’t think i can go out then

You deflated. Before you could tell Giselle and Ten about that bad news, however, Taeyong sent another text.

taeyong: how about this friday instead?

you: friday sounds perfect

taeyong: btw i saw the tiktok on my fyp lol

Before you could ask what he meant, it struck you: Ten recording the montage of your humiliating moments from beginning to end. You recalled it so vividly. In the moment, you were more worried about not losing your footing, but the camera lens pointing at you was something you couldn’t forget.

When you opened up TikTok, there it was.

The important detail that Giselle and Ten failed to mention.

Something mind-blowingly horrific. Something that would keep you up at night just because you knew it existed.

“What the hell is this?” you asked them in a sharp tone, holding up your phone to show them Ten’s recent TikTok.

On the screen played an all-too-familiar recording of you falling all over Lee Taeyong on that wretched Disco Pang-Pang. Ten didn’t fail to capture every embarrassing angle he possibly could, even filming the way you were trying to stop bouncing on his lap. You wouldn’t have cared too much about this, but the TikTok had garnered over a thousand likes in so little time.

Giselle let out a low whistle, looking impressed. “That’s a lot of likes.”

“That’s not the point!” you exclaimed. “Taeyong saw this!”

“Then he must’ve seen how good you two look together and decided to ask you out,” Ten replied with a shrug. “You’re welcome.”

You groaned, staring at the TikTok in disbelief. Just while you were wallowing in self-pity, Taeyong sent you another text.

taeyong: you looked adorable in it :)

On second thought, maybe Ten posting that TikTok wasn’t the worst thing ever.

You and Taeyong never usually crossed paths, but maybe the stars had been smiling down on the two of you recently. Occasionally, you would see one of his friends around—Doyoung, Jaehyun, or even Johnny Suh—but never Taeyong himself.

However, the next day, you ran into him at the coffee shop on campus. His hair was a bit frazzled and his glasses were crooked on his nose. You almost laughed at how winded he looked, breath caught in his throat when he saw you.

Yet, he still smiled brightly. “Hey.”

“I didn’t know you wore glasses,” you said while popping your coffee lid on securely to make sure it didn’t spill over.

“Oh, yeah, I usually wear them at school,” Taeyong said. He scrunched his nose a little, trying to get his glasses back on the bridge of his nose without putting his drink and sandwich down. “Otherwise I use contacts.”

“Here, let me help,” you offered, setting your coffee on the table beside you to fix his glasses. You swore Taeyong’s breathing stilled when you adjusted his glasses so that the nose pads sat snug under the bridge.

“Thanks,” Taeyong said, his smile so blinding and his face so close that you panicked and knocked your coffee off the table.

“Oh shit,” you whispered, stepping back from the spillage and groaning out of frustration.

After muttering something along the lines of “sorry, that’s my bad,” Taeyong finally set his drink and snack on the table to get a handful of napkins. He knelt down and started cleaning up the mess you had made, so, instead of standing around uselessly, you knelt down to help him clean up your spill.

“Can I get you another drink?” Taeyong asked, meeting your eyes swiftly.

“No, no,” you insisted. “I already feel bad that you had to help me clean this up. I’m the one who should be repaying you.”

Taeyong grinned. “Consider our date your payment.” He stood up with the coffee-soaked wad of napkins, tossing it into the trash can. “There’s another thing you can do for me, though.”

You raised a brow. “What is it?”

Taeyong smiled knowingly and turned his head a little, side-eyeing you expectantly while he pointed at his cheek. It took you a second to understand what he implied, and your lips parted, speechless. You had never been asked for something like this in such a direct manner, and you had no idea how to react.

So you threw your shyness to the wind and kissed his cheek.

Despite asking for it, Taeyong looked a bit startled. A flush of crimson crept to his cheeks, and soon his face broke into a wide grin. Your gaze turned down to the floor because you knew you would be smiling like an idiot the second you saw his smile. However, with pinched lips, you did end up looking back up at him.

“Can I get you that coffee now?” Taeyong asked, smug.

You nodded, ducking your head when you turned to follow him back to the line. “Yes, please.”

Heart racing, skin tingling, brain faltering, and all you could think about was how you really, really wanted to get to know Lee Taeyong.

When Friday rolled around, you had already met with Taeyong numerous times beforehand.

After your coffee mishap, he invited you to his workplace, which happened to be the animal shelter. You were surprised to find out that he wanted to be a veterinarian, yet it seemed so fitting for him. This was only cemented as you watched him carefully handle the animals and washing them so delicately. When he let you hold some of them, you later realized that it was only so that he could keep his arms around you, and you became a shy, giggling mess.

Later, you found yourself bowling with him, Jaehyun, and Doyoung. Taeyong’s friends were mindful enough to look away whenever you two shared a meaningful look or when Taeyong put his arms around you to help position your body. You discovered that Jaehyun and Doyoung were just as fun to be around, and their dynamic had you clutching your stomach from laughter.

Taeyong would also swing by your classroom whenever you both had a break. It wasn’t often, but seeing him made you smile a little bigger. You found that he was your best pick-me-up, despite the incessant teasing from Giselle and Ten.

Now, you were having your first actual date with Lee Taeyong, and you were a nervous wreck.

Everything was perfect. From his cozy car to his impeccable outfit, the date had started off without a hitch, and that was what worried you. It wasn’t that you were waiting for something to go wrong, but nothing could be flawless, right?

The one thing that caught you off-guard, though, was that Taeyong planned for a drive-in movie.

You had never been to one, so you were a little excited to watch a movie from the comfort of Taeyong’s car. He had parked in an area which didn’t make you feel so hyper-aware of everyone else parked around you. However, when he suggested sitting in the back seat, Guardians of the Galaxy suddenly felt a lot more intimate than it should’ve been.

“Are you cold?” Taeyong asked. “You can have my jacket, if you want.”

“But you’ll be cold,” you fired back, biting back your smile because you knew how this dialogue played out.

Taeyong snickered. “Suit yourself,” he said and turned back to the movie.

Perhaps you miscalculated.

Yet, as the movie played on, one thing led to another, and you were soon tangled up with Taeyong. You both clung to each other and were so wrapped up in each other that you couldn’t tell where you ended and he began. He held you in his arms securely, breathing in sharply when you cuddled closer.

At one point in the movie, the two of you suddenly found each other more interesting than the movie. You were incredibly shy under his gaze, and even more so when you realized Taeyong’s lips kept trailing over the curve of your lips.

Somewhere between a breath and a murmur, he asked, “Can I kiss you?”

You fought down the emerging butterflies in your stomach before nodding, not trusting yourself to form coherent words. The smile that spread across Taeyong’s lips right after was breathtaking, and you were almost hoping to carve it into your memory until you felt his soft lips press against yours.

Taeyong’s hands were rough and calloused, but they held your cheeks like you were the most precious treasure. His hand moved to hold the back of your neck, fingers grazing just under your hair. You couldn’t think straight when you were so lost in the taste of his lips.

He pulled away first, lips still lingering near yours and breath mingling for a moment. His eyes flitted to meet yours for a split second, and then his lips were back on yours again. This time, it was slower but more passionate. Taeyong pulled you impossibly closer, and you wondered if he could hear your heart rattling in your ribcage.

His touch was electrifying every nerve, even more so when he broke from your lips to kiss down to your neck. Your eyes fluttered open when his nipping roused a gasp from you. He was only encouraged by your soft whimpers, sucking and biting a little harsher. You clutched the lapels of his jacket tightly, but Taeyong had pulled away before he could do more than the bruise he left on the side of your neck.

“Sorry,” he apologized sheepishly, running a hand through your hair. “We’ll take it slow.”

You beamed. “I’d like that.”

There were a few things you learned in college. One was to never, ever take an 8 A.M. class. Those were an absolute nightmare and kicked your freshman ass. Another was that time was moving, and it was moving fast. One minute you were stepping into campus for your freshman orientation, and the next you were looking into grad programs to apply to. There was no saying when things would calm down and when life would be one smooth ride ahead.

But this—this was where you felt you needed to be. This was where you wanted to be, and it was a little odd—something sort of like déjà vu—but somehow, you felt like you’ve been here before. The comfort was familiar, like fate was waiting for the stars to align for this one moment. In Taeyong’s arms, things felt easy, like you were reassured that everything was going to be okay.

And it was when Taeyong whispered sweet nothings in your ear, still holding you close to him, when you realized that you were hooked on this feeling for good.