#im glad i got to tell them while they're still here

[feligayzed]

your p.ai.nter and your surface au are making me ILL (positive) im a huge huge fan ...

UM! if youd allow me to ask can you tell me all about surface au .... i need to know everything about them so i can be MORE ILL ABOUT THEM!!

HIHIHI!!! AUGH I finally have time to sit down and yap, I've been thinking about this ask all day SKJSJCJ AAAA FIRST AND FOREMOST I'm so glad you're enjoying it and it's making you deathly ill!!!! Good!!! Suffer!!! Along with me and the five other mentally unbalanced watercolor heathens here 🙂‍↕️ /silly

So!! Originally I thought it up just as an excuse to draw human(ish) Seb kissing and cuddling a robot in dire need of it, but then I Thought some more and it transformed into a hurt/comfort/healing au?? The healing being from the shared trauma they endured back at the Blacksite (working through it via various measures and expanding their relationship as a whole), while simultaneously learning how to function in a modern world they are very much unfamiliar with

The general premise is Sebastian gains most of his human form back, with Painter to help assist him in recovery, like physical therapy and reintroducing him to society XD Sebastian having a difficult time processing emotions now that he's free and it all has time to sink in, etc etc~ The same goes for Painter, however, and they're just gonna have to work it out together cuz they got BAGGAGE no therapist is qualified for. Our dear Painter has their fair share of shit too, such as the sapiency debate most people have an aversion to (because how could an object process thoughts and emotions in a meaningful way?? Unheard of! /sar)

And the rest is just domestic silliness because they're allowed some happiness 😁 and because I'm under the firm belief Sebastian would become a house wife if someone let him /hj

But that's basically it!! One big fat drawing prompt really (⁠.⁠ ⁠❛⁠ ⁠ᴗ⁠ ⁠❛⁠.⁠) I commend you for making it through this whole yap sesh fr 🙏 if you're still interested just let me know and if I have sudden Thoughts I'm more than happy to drop them unannounced 💥💥💥 DOODLES FROM MY SHITFIC AS A TREAT‼️

[ajcrowlor]

i wasn't planning to, but i came out to my nonni today

not in any specific vocabulary, but i told them that me and Nadia are together

they've seen Nadia a bunch over the last 8 years, they know she's my friend, and they know we're living together, but i was upset about something unrelated and so i told them "we're together, and we have been for 8 years and im sorry i haven't told"

and my 102-year-old nonna and 99-year-old simply said "okay", my nonna specifically saying "i accept you" to me and Nadia

my grandparents are a hundred year old catholic italian immigrants that barely speak french, my grandmother doesn't speak english at all, and they simply just said okay, we accept you, Nadia's like a granddaughter to us

im just. really glad i finally told them.

[n3ptoonz]

mk1 hcs: how the earthrealm guys react when you ride them

this broadcast is brought to you by getting inspired from @dirtymortalkombatconfessions tysm for fueling my raunchy mind 🙏🏾 outworld guys here

all the guys here are submissive in these hcs cause i don't see it enough!!! and reader is GN

Smoke

first of all it's his favorite position. nothing he loves more than holding his partner in his arms while they have power over him at the same time

HE. WHIMPERS. A LOT!!!!

CANNOT keep his hands still he's always massaging or caressing some part of your body

begs. he begs. if you stop moving? he will deadass start tearing up and whispering pleas all in your ear

hold his face while you do it. look him in the eyes and give him praise && give him kisses 😔 he's got enough shit from bi han and this the only way he properly relaxes 💔

Raiden

he's not very vocal at first, but he does sigh and grunt a lot

when he's vocal? he's not loud, but curses up a storm. his eyes get all hazy and glossed over too like you gotta tap him back to reality sometimes

he can get handsy but prefers to either keep his hands in place or have them restrained in some way

speaking of which if you do restrain his hands there's a good chance he'll start bucking once he's close and try to pull free. silly goose, we know how to tie knots around here!

if you get really close to his face like holding it or just looking at him he can and will just start mumbling about how good you make him feel/how you're the only one who makes him feel like this

Kung Lao

(turns on self indulgence beam) ahem taps mic is this thing on??

lao is a praise kink BITCH you understand??? and since he's full of himself he for sure will not shy away from whimpering and groaning loud as hell just to hear his own voice

you give him praise and BOOM suddenly it's upturned eyebrows and beads of tears at the corners of his eyes. he will ask you to repeat what you said over and over

once his pride wears out he's a begging mess like smoke. he's super handsy but in the way where he's acting like you're gonna disappear before he nuts. i cracking up at the thought of that

afterwords "did i do good?" or "was i a good boy?" AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHG hey im normal don't give me that look. ALSO PLAY WITH HIS HAIR he's a sucker for it (glad i can say that now he's not bald)(love you mk11 lao i swear)

Kenshi Takahashi

oooo this sensual romantic ass man. sensual romantic ASS man (he likes ass)

he's not a loud guy or it's just rare. his hands aren't gonna go anywhere but your ass though. MAYBE your thighs, but it's always back to ass!

less on whimpering more on grunting but there's occasional cracks in his voice when feels really good. he only full on whimpers if you go fast and gets closer faster from the pace

please for the love of god leave some sort of marks on this man's neck. it drives him CRAZYYYY he'll be cursing like he's never done before especially cause he WILL return the favor

like raiden if you give his face more love especially around his eyes it's up for him you're going to be told how perfect and how good only you can make him feel for the next 72 hours

Johnny Cage

BRAT. he's a brat. Johnny John Carlton Cage is a B R A T

you will have to physically shut him up and that was his mission accomplished. don't let his hands be free either cause he'll keep trying to take control (and keep failing every single time)(again, this was allll part of the plan)

when he's completely helpless at your disposal...bottom bitch alert! whiny whimpering grunting sighing giggling you name it CENTRAL. he the type to whine about being restricted when it was literally his own idea in the first place

he's a praise kink bitch too i mean come on THE johnny cage ik you weren't expecting otherwise. tell him he's a good boy but also call him your bitch oh how he loves it

and by the way... record. everything. he'll watch those tapes back like they're old school vhs memories

Liu Kang

how you got a god to submit to you is beyond anyone's belief. but who cares?! drain that mf (balls)

he absolutely positively loves loves LOVES eye contact. you look him in the eyes long enough it's like your souls are fuckin too (literally that scene with him and titan kitana except you're looking down at him everybodyshutthefuckup)

give him a bunch of kisses pls pls pls he craves it he adores it CARNALLY. very very handsy man there's no part of you that goes untouched.

he's too calm to be loud but he does grunt and will have dragged out moans that result in a higher pitched tone

surprise, even a god could use some praise every now and then!!! he blushes the most whenever you call him perfect or tell him he's doing great even with all that's on his plate on the daily <3

Sub Zero

this stubborn fucker. just pull his hair and give him the same look he gives everybody and he's all yours cause then he'll look like this (i cannot stop referring to this picture)

in the privacy of your shared room (idc if this is ooc this is tumblr god damn it) he's a stuttering mess and cannot keep his hands off your hips and thighs for anything so prepare for those areas to have frostbite

there are times where his hands slide up your back when he's close, and by this time his furrowed brows and sharp gaze are completely gone. he's looking up at you like you've descended just to give him the ride of his life (bc you did obviously)

if he whimpers it's raspy and deep. he generally grunts and groans and a lot of profane language coming from them lips

however comma it's rare he'll shudder and whine like a lil bitch if he can't touch you oooo and he's a bucker too

Scorpion

last but certainly not least this sexy mf. i fully fully believe that he would not hesitate to submit to someone he's in love with (you hahaha)

you don't even need to pull his hair just glide your fingers through it he's set for life. he sighs and just smiles, you're so good to him

he's not very vocal but he certainly whines and has shallower breaths when he's close. when he looks up at you he has to try his hardest not to bust right there cause damnnn you fine as hail

thigh man thigh man thigh man. oh, did i say thigh man? i meant to say HE'S A THIGH MAN. and neck, like kenshi don't even think about getting up off of him without a bunch of marks on his neck and shoulders if ya feelin freekie

if you pull his hair he will cum. and you heard that from me.

ask box is open! <3

[luvyeni]

love your jisung smuts omg

can i request sex with jisung while members are in the dorm too

ALONE TIME; PARK JISUNG

pairings. boyfriend!jisung x fem!reader

wc. 609

warnings. oral (m. receiving), a lil bit of overstimulation, caught?

im glad you like them, i hope you like this💓!

you and jisung sneaking away for some alone time.

—

"baby." jisung whispered into your ear. "hmm." you took your eyes off the screen in front of you, turning to give your boyfriend attention. "let's go into the room."

you and jisung were supposed to be having date in alone at his dorm, jisung had it all planned out; you guys were gonna eat, watch movies on the tv— and of course make out and have sex, but that's not the point.

he really was looking forward to the guys leaving for the day, doing whatever they were supposed to do...but it just had to rain—now here he is, annoyed, watching a movie that haechan picked, everybody spread out in the living room. not to mention you're sitting in lap, and he's horny.

"jisung, they're gonna notice that we're gone." he ran his hands up your sides. "they're not even paying attention, besides we can just tell them we want to spend some alone time, please we don't have to do anything, i just want to be with you alone." jisung knew he was bluffing, but he'd do anything to get to his room.

"fine, but don't make it obvious, i can't take another teasing from chenle and haechan." you two slowly got up, praying to whoever above that they don't turn their heads, making your way into his room.

"you're a liar jisungie." you purred, nails raking down his thigh. "you said we wouldn't do anything, but it only took you 10 minutes." he groaned when you slowly brushed your fingers over his hardening cock. "b..baby please do something." his voice was breathy. "please." you love when he got like this.

you smiled, crawling in between in his legs, pulling his sweats down just enough to pull his cock out. "so big." you kissed his angry tip, his precum coating your lips. "you taste so good." he almost moaned when you licked him off your lips.

"baby please, put it in your mouth." you lick a stripe from the base of his cock to the tip, taking him all the way into your mouth. "oh shit." he groaned, "your mouth feels so fucking good." you took him out of his mouth, jerking him off a bit. "baby they're gonna hear you, you have to be quiet."

you sucked on his tip, taking him back into your mouth, he grabbed your hair, moving your head up and down on his cock, occasionally pushing it down all the way forcing your head down just to hear you gag and struggle to take him down your throat. "fuck baby, i'm gonna cum soon."

you licked the vein on the side of his cock, taking him all the way down your throat again and that sent him off. "fuck! babe im cumming." jisung came down you throat, bucking up into your mouth a few times. you slowly took him out of your mouth, sucking on tip watching him shake a little. "ah-ah babe stop."

"im sorry." your voice was horse, he put himself away, pulling you into his lap. "do you want me to." you shook your head. "i told you, i just want to be next to you." he caressed your cheek, kissing your lips. "let me go get you something to drink." he climbed out of bed, walking out of his bedroom.

they still were staring at the screen when he walked into the kitchen, grabbing some snacks and drinks for you guys, making his way back to his room, but he was stopped by a snicker and he just knew he was caught.

"please keep it down, no one wants to hear when your about to cum."

©️LUVYENI

[just-orbiting-you]

remember who we are dealing with here...

in case anyone had any doubt, tae and jk traveling will never mean the same as it does for jikook. as far as we are aware and from what they talk about, tae invites jungkook on his personal trips. we see this with this hawaii trip posted and the snowboarding trip he talked about in the Spotify promotion video.

at 9:33, jungkook talks about his experience snowboarding with tae and his friends. He says "I wanted to stay and snowboard the next morning. I thought everyone would do that too. But after snowboarding, they all passed out in the accommodation... [While listening to Ditto by NewJeans], they said they were going back home. So they went and I stayed behind."

from the way this story is told by jungkook, they left him behind, despite him voicing that he wanted to keep snowboarding the next morning. didn't offer to stay to keep him company or even tell him about plans prior. he already assuming everyone would be staying another day. i think jungkook does a good job of hiding it here (and he also kinda seems like the guy to not get phased by this sort of stuff) but i think he has the right to be a little disappointed that they didn't want to continue the trip. i'm glad he seemingly made the most of it despite being by himself.

again, the way the hawaii story was told on tae's story claims that tae and his friends were ALREADY WERE IN HAWAII. so the trip was planned and jungkook was not included. then tae has the gall to invite him to this planned trip, asking with hours notice to fly down to see him. still, jungkook is seemingly unphased by tae's behavior but that's ridiculous. yes, jungkook went anyway and seems happy in the photos.

but this proves the point again that jungkook is not the priority for taehyung: only the afterthought. he did not care that jungkook wanted to stay over and still snowboard. he did not care to invite jungkook in the initial hawaii plan. where is the decorum?

in contrast, jungkook planned a whole trip for just him and jimin in 2017. even if the next three trips (that we are aware of) happened in front of a camera, they were still only the two of them. they are each other's priority and seem to have the time of their lives when they were together. ALSO, jungkook got his snowboarding re-do in are you sure?! so im glad he got to experience it again with jimin.

so anyway, i was unhappy with everything tae posted today, but from the way jikookers are talking here, there's no reason to play into taehyung's fan service on his profiles. (yes i am calling it fan service because it honestly seems timed and the only other member he posts like this is jungkook which he must know is his fan-favorite ship. jungkook has only mentioned taehyung a few times in chapter two, only when telling stories or asked about him. i swear no one clings to jungkook more than taehyung nowadays and its fishy).

okay rant done don't feed taehyung's stans, we know they're delusional.

[shradsmanifestt]

hi, im sorry for bothering u right now. ive been asking around for advice everywhere because i really need all the help i could use right now. my anxiety is flaring up like crazy because my results come out tomorrow and im so scared because if i mess this up then my future is ruined. my mental health has been horrible and that has severely affected my grades but in most asian countries they dgaf about that and basically think it's nonexistant for minors so ofc i'm still undiagnosed, and if i were to apply to a uni i wouldnt get any good chances anywhere. if i could just get 3 Bs in my AS levels it would be okay or else i'd have to retake it and it's super costly here.. i don't wanna put my family through that because they'll talk me down, degrade me, destroy my self esteem which i've managed to build back a little. they were like this since when i was the topper and thats what made me burnout. undiagnosed adhd, trauma, depression also contributed to it

im applying the law, but instead of the feeling of success that everyone else gets i feel panicked. the 'feeling' people usually get when they're in the wish fulfilled state, the feeling of accepting it and it being real—im not getting that. i dont see a clear picture when i visualize. every time i try to, i end up breaking down and feeling like a failure... but I'm still trying to go on because why is it that the people who hurt me and practically ruined my life get to live successfully, while i suffer? thats not fair... i promised myself that if i could just get 3 Bs, ill turn my life around and work really hard... but is it over for me? i want to win, im trying to, but im scared

im trying my best to visualize myself getting 3 Bs, reenacting my friends faces when i get the results, praying to God and thanking Him for blessing me and continuing to bless me, but there is this fear still lingering at the back of my mind... i feel like I'm not doing it right. i have like one day left and I'm so nervous. im going over posts, tweets, and every time I feel a little better, it all comes crashing down because of doubts. theres only one thing one my mind right now: 'how am I gonna turn it around in one day?' i know that the 3D does not matter and that everything is done in imagination, but here i feel like its not done in imagination either

right now nothings clicking in my head, whatever i read is getting scrambled in my mind, i feel so lost and empty. could u please tell me what to do in this specific situation? u can be as harsh as you want if that's what's needed to get the point across. im really sorry for the bother and id be really grateful if u could please help out, ive never been this desperate before... my life cant be over before it even started

Hey love,

I get you, I really do but trust me when I say this.

THIS SHIT IS REAL AF. Manifestation is real af. It's as real as the fact that you are a human being. All you have to do is trust yourself that it is already done. If good results is what you want then that is exactly what you'll get. You need to choose to stop having doubts because it is already done. That is the simplest answer I can give you. Persist on what you want.

I am glad to tell you this but I just got test results for a major exam held in my uni today and I got into the 95th percentile just by saying to myself that my super power is aptitude tests and that I already scored great. In my friends group only 3 of us were eligible and I have 70+ more marks then them as well. If I can do it, you can do it. You need to stop doubting yourself. Atleast stop doubting manifestation. Cause at this point you're only gonna manifest your doubts.

I'll give you a scenario - If you're worried about getting bad grades, Trust me when I say this you're gonna manifest exactly that coz you will manifest exactly what you assume. You can choose to stop that right here, RN. Choose to accept that you got great marks. I mean don't even like aim for B's go for A's. I don't care even if you left the paper blank coz if you assume you're the topper, that is exactly what's gonna happen.

If you do get bad marks and I'm gonna be harsh here - You're the only reason why! You're gonna manifest exactly what you assume to be true even if it's good or bad. Your sc mind don't differentiate btw what's good for you or what's bad for you. It only knows what you feed it.

You got this, TRUST ME

Love, Shrads.

[nyan-koii]

Hii! Do you have any recs of sebschumi fics or content on tumblr? Or like literally anything; pictures, interviews? I'm new to this duo and I'm lacking the content. :(

HI ANON !! SO SORRY FOR THE LATE REPLY I HOPE YOU'RE DOING WELL 💖

Thank you so so much for this question. I genuinely squealed and teared up when i saw this. Im happy theyre getting more acknowledgement and that you're willing to learn more about them !! For starters, they dont have much contents at all and most of them are quite difficult to find but i've gathered some of them that will help you to understand why this ship and their bond between one another beats every other seb's pairings 🙏 it's quite a long thread because i want to pull you down into this hole hehehehhehehehe

Tumblr contents

1. @/effervescentdragon post of hero worshipping and yearning

: this emotional heart wrenching web weaving about sebschumi is so incredible as it gives you an insight of how they both work and play out in each other's life from the first time seb saw michael at the karting club and the times when seb reminiscence about his past with michael. This was the last straw that made me realise that sebschumi deserves so so much if not more than sebmark ngl. Everything just hurts and they did it so well with the web weaving!!

2. @/schumi-honey post about germancedes and how michael always chooses seb at the end of the day

: now this one is REALLY REALLY INTERESTING FOR ME BECAUSE michael, being in a team that gave brawn their world champion, jean todt asking him to come back into said team with a potentially wdc teammate who is also half german half finnish but races under the german flag will still find and choose sebastian vettel at the end of the day. If that doesnt sound crazy to you then i'm sorry but you're missing out. The post is incredible as it shows how does michael act with a person, and with sebastian. He changes completely !! Thats true love man.

3. @/andromedasummer post about mary sue seb

: this one gives a view of how sebastian is totally the y/n in his life story and when that moment of truth comes to your realization, you just gotta go like DAMN this kid is lucky af because a wdc michael, the pride of german at that time chooses SEBASTIAN VETTEL to be his successor among all other kids, Michael that said "this 12 year old is making my life difficult! He's so fast," to Gerhard who will later on recruit him under redbull sponsorship. Crazy right? It's like Seb is the chosen one in Michael's life. The one that will continue his legacy (people have been calling and referring him as 'baby schumi') and the one that will eventually become one of his closest friend on and outside the grid. And we also got this from the post which has never left my mind after reading it and never failed to make me cry... they both are so superior and connected with each other... red string of fate type of dynamic is so strong here....

4. Kart Club Kerpen Sebschumi

: this just means a lot to me because michael and seb first met here and to see them karting with each other, laughing and getting so so comfortable around each other's presence shows how much they've grown while indirectly growing up with one another. SEBSCHUMI YOU'RE MY WORLDDDD

5. Pranksters Sebschumi

: It's just so so fun and refreshing to see their dynamics in this one. Michael and seb being menances, partners in crime everytime they're spotted together and how seb will do anything michael asked him to even if it means causing riot in other's life,,, LIKE???? I CANT BELIEVE THESE GAYS OMG but yeah, their dynamics are soooo good i love them so much 💖

6. Recent Seb interview about Michael

: this iirc was during that time where seb did a test with porsche and then we got this interview saying how seb just misses michael which he refers to as a friend.... my heart broke im telling you i cant handle it😞 michael also said that he was glad to found seb in his life and that in his world full of ego, seb is the only one that he feels genuine to be with which michael also labelled their relationship as something special. SHOOT ME ALREADY KILL ME IM IN TEARS RIGHT NOW DAWGGG

Fic recs

Onto the good part now☺ keep in mind that we barely have any fics about them so please if any of you guys have ideas for them, dont be afraid to share it to ao3 <3 because I WILL BE THE PERSON THAT WILL THOROUGHLY ENJOY IT THE MOST LIKE I'LL BE YOUR NO 1 FAN !!! And please dont forget to comment and leave kudos to them 🙏

1. Never have I ever by Tianvette

: theres this unspoken rule created by god tianvette regarding sebschumi and honestly, it really really shaped them both into so much more because like,, that headcanon? That fanon?? It's canon now because ONLY MICHAEL CAN CALL SEBASTIAN AS "BASTI" AND NO ONE ELSE GETS TO CALL HIM THAT 🙏 so thank you to this fic for making them more special than ever.

2. Im sorry by @/n-ico-ando

: OKAY OKAY OKAY THIS IS ACTUALLY THE FIC THAT MADE ME GOT INTO OLD F1 FANDOM, SEBASTIAN VETTEL AND SEBSCHUMI ITS JUST SO GOOD OKAY?!?!? JUST READ IT AND YOU'LL GET WHAT I MEAN I LOVE THIS FIC WITH MY WHOLE LIFE IT CHANGED ME TO A BETTER PERSON AURGGHGHSHAJSA VERY VERY NORMAL WITH THIS ONE,, I SWEAR.... MY BIBLE MY CAUSE OF EUPHORIA

3. I'm gonna take mind of you with me by @/likethegardensofbabylonn

: this fic is ongoing but GOSH GOSH GOSH OH GOD THE WAY I SCREAMED WHEN I FIRST READ IT. The settings took place with seb remembering his memories with michael before and after the accident so yeah, if you need a good heartbreaking and gut wrenching story about angsty sebschumi, this is the one because it's just so perfect with seb's thoughts his internal conflicts and how the author makes a great interpretations on seb's character. This fic feels so close to me because of how true and close the whole settings and narrations sound like with my thoughts so yes, it's something you should invest your time and think of everytime someone said sebschumi.

4. Use me Use me (cause i ain't no average groupie) by @/horn-knee-demons-anonymous

: I HAVE NO WORDS FOR THIS FIC EXCEPT THAT HOW BRILLIANT AND ALLURING THE STORY IS. I've always wanted a seb harem fic with sebschumi as the endgame considering of the drought ive been facing so when this fic came, it's as if god has heard my prayers because truly this fic alongside with the author herself, my guiding moonlight and the stars of my night, are just god given with how much they changed the trajectory of my life and im so glad i met her and able to read her works. The worldbuilding, the consistency in every single characters, the dynamics, their interactions and every single wordings here leaves you wanting for more and makes you feel like you're on the edge of your seat! It's like "am i allowed to be reading this for free!?!?" But really, this is a masterpiece so please give them all of your love and be there while it's still ongoing <3

5. Hurts by Molly_lovers1

: as a fan of dead dove with a huge favouritism of age gap and underage characters, i was super happy when i first read this fic mainly because of the struggle, the push and pull dynamics between sebschumi and their guilt ridden thoughts as well as their burning desire that makes this feels so so good yet vile to be reading. It's that kind of fic where i jerked off to every night while thinking about it lolll BUT IM SO SO SO NORMAL ABOUT IT.

6. How to treat a guest by yours truly

: shameless self promo but i was trying to spread my sebschumika agenda here☺💖 i hope you get the vision too hehe !!

Videos

The complete compilations of all known sebschumi sources can be found here though it doesnt cover much of the roc contents but still!! This one is a really really good guide for them both 🥰

Michael Schumacher and Sebastian Vettel Compilation

And ROC 2007 cuts of sebastian vettel because this was their first race together as a teammate, michael had just retired and he brought a newly fresh boy as his team to compete against all the other drivers. If that's not love and bias then i dont know what to say because oh god, this does so much to me as a person who worships sebschumi everyday.

Roc 2007 Sebastian Vettel Cuts

Articles

I cant put pictures anymore so this is all for now !! I hope by the end of this post, everyone will become and realize the true power of sebschumi 🥰🙏🔥🔥

[reyreadersblog]

Okay so, this is my first fic..in a while (after my wattpad phase) and might be really bad...but well, enjoy.

| Tags:@jkriordanverse @reminiscentreader @sophiesonlinediary @f4iry-bell @lxvebelle @tornqdowarnings

(If i forgot you im so sorry)

GAMEMASTER'S DUTY

(This is technically a scenerio where Lyra has a stalker in the game, so if that kind of things disturb you be aware)

~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~

Lyra's pov:

"I speak without a voice,

Reveal without a choice,

In my silence, histories rejoice"

I said the riddle out loud and sighed.

"Mabye an ancient ruin?"

I always found riddles stupid and useless, it's just a jumble of meaningless words. Even though i was never an 'Enigmatologist", i've always been good at solving them.

But i didn't have a strengh to solve it now. Not in the library, at 2 a.m.

I came here hoping i'd find something, a connection, about my father, instead i found a book full with these damned riddles. I was stupid to think i'd find anything in here in the first place. This library is huge, filled with books. Who thought there would be a library on the "Hawthorne island".

I close the book and checked my phone, no massage from them, from a stalker i've had ever since the game began. They've been sending me threats and pictures of me. At first i thought it was a spam-account or a bot and tried to ignore it.

But after that one time, when they sent me a massage saying "i know you killed him", i think i might know who they are, who he is.

"What are doing here ms. Kane?" Said a voice behind me, i turned around and i saw him. A person i wasn't really glad to see, Grayson Devenport Hawthorne. He was leaning against the library door frame, his silver eyes staring at me. His hair was wet, he wasn't wearing suit and a few buttons of his shirt were...undone.

And so what Lyra?

"Mr. Hawthorne..." i cleared my throat "i just.." i was usually really good at lying and gaslighting people but why was i stuterring now?

"I couldn't sleep and this library has a very good aura, so i came here" i took the book in front of me in my hands and started flipping through it's pages "besides here are some very intersting book" i said

"You're holding book upside-down, ms. Kane" he said in a low voice.

Right. shit.

I put the book down, then i looked at him and asked:

"And what brings you here mr. Hawthorne?"

He seemed..surprised by my question. He entered the room.

"I went swimming, i saw lights coming from this room and came here to check since the lights should be turned off in every room by 12 p.m."

"Oh.." i said

"Is something bothering you ms. Kane?" He said with a bit worry in his voice.

"What makes you think that?" I returned him question

"That you're in the library, at 2 a.m. going through german books?!"

they're german?? I was so caught up i didn't even notice

"This one's english" i pointed at the riddles book

Grayson came closer, beside me, and looked at it.

"An ancient ruin" he said

"What?" I asked

"The answer to this riddle is an ancient ruin" Grayson said.

I looked back at the riddle. I knew i guessed it right.

I nod at him. He closed the book and held in his hand.

"This was the first ever book of riddles i was supposed to finish in a day" he said strongly.

"In a day?" I couldn't hold back my surprise

"Yes, well i guess you can say my grandfather was..diligent"

At the mention of his grandfather my blood boiled and i looked away.

He noticed it too.

"You still haven't answered my question" he said demandly.

What question? Oh, that.

Fuck you.

I shouldn't tell him. I don't need his protection. If i wanted to figure out who it was i could easly do it with my hacking skills.

And then suddenly, i got a massage on my phone, i checked it and it was him.

A picture of me standing in a library before Grayson came in.

A shiver went down my spine.

"I have a stalker" i confessed to him.

He looked more confused than surprised.

"A stalker? Ms. Kane i assure you John Oren has the best security system around this island to make players feel sa-"

I cut him off and showed him the picture of me.

Grayson stared at the picture, he looked even more confused and frustreted right now. Then he looked deep in my eyes, like he was looking for an explanation.

I could've drown in those silvery gray eyes.

"I know who he might be, when my father...shot himself...there was this one detective who became obssesed with the case, he divorced her wife, left his job and started working on the case , he staked me and my family and not a long after he broke into my house and started threatening me, screaming "you did this, you killed him", he was arrested and i've never heard of him..unti the game."

I could not describe expression on his face, was he thinking about the first part of the story?

"Until the game...? Lyra why didn't you say it earlier?"

I was surprised, not by the fact that he raised his voice a little, but the fact that he called me by my first name.

I sighed.

"I'm not worried about myself Gray-"

"I AM" he yelled.

There was pure shock on my face, i never thought i'd see him angry.

Grayson took a deep breath in, then he brushed a hand in his hair, went closer to the desk and leaned on it.

"As a gamemaster, it is one of my duties to make sure players are safe, and you are not, i'll announce this problem to Oren, he'll tell our security team but you may need to have a bodyguard at your room for a while, until this problem is solved"

Then he comes closer to me, he stands right in front of me.

"I need to make sure you're safe ms. Kane." He says, softly.

He is taller than me so i have to look up at him, i smile and nod.

"Understood." I say

He smiles, for the first time, ever since i've met he, he smiles.

"I should really go back to my room" i say.

"You should"

I never needed anyone's protection, all my life i've done nothing than protect myself, because others wouldn't.

But holy shit, it felt good to felt protected by someone.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

DO NOT LAUGH.

[sunnyfoxsstuff]

Hey Hope y'all alright >:) i dont rlly have anythin to Say so imma hop onto writing hehehe

Chapter 2: New day, New body

The Sun rised up shi qingxuan hadnt even Seen the hour's pass by he decided to stay a little bit longer thinking how nice and relaxing the environnement around him, not long After he sadly Heard yelling's and arguing's from a far annoyed he of course got up and walked in the direction of the noise

"why are you two yelling for in such early hour's?!" He say's obviously annoyed and quickly remembering that he is a soul that no one Can see him yet, however one of the two man looks at shi qingxuan crossing his arm's and rolling his eye's continuing with "he started it why shouldnt i argue?"

Suddenly hearing a reply made him look down at his hand's and here was hand's, his hand's they were pale almost white, he couldnt believe it he changed while star gazing and didnt even felt it, without a moment to think about it the other man stared at him while both of the two were glaring at eachother's and started fighting again

With that said shi qingxuan didnt want to stay here either and deal with these two anger ball's "well i dont really Care who started what the Sun has barely rised up and you're already yelling right in the morning can't you think 'bout the other's sleeping potentially around here?"

With that said he walked away back in the direction of puqi shrine visibly happy and smiling finally having his New form even if he didnt know how he got it to manifest

After a little while of walking he remembered ghost's have ashes which is their weakest spot knowing he himself was now one of them he guessed he had ashes too he just didnt know where yet, so he searched in the most obvious place on him he could think of, his pocket and ofc for sure there it was, in the form of a water wave mixed with a air breeze it almost had the shape of a ring but not enough for him to put it on his finger and even if he could he wasnt suicidal

Now with his new body and ashes in one of his pockets of his old clothes he continued his way over to puqi shrine, After an hour he finally made it over,

from a far he could see two familiar silhouette's walking over to puqi shrine too so he made a run for it and grabbed both of their shoulder's with a cheerfull greeting "hey mu qing! Feng xing! What are you guy's doing here? It's been a while!", surprised they both look back to see the former windmaster they could tell something about him was..different they just couldnt put their hand's on it, even so they answered back

FX:"hi shi qingxuan, what are you doing here? Last Time we Heard new's of you from xie lian he said you were badly sick." Staring at him with his arm's crossed

MQ:"yeah! And your injuries. They're healed?" Looking at his used to be sprained ankle with a judging look

"ah- ahah-" laughed and smiled after a bit nervous not really knowing what to say but still stayed straight looking at both of them "well yeah but i thought i could Come visit xie lian, beside's im not feeling ill anymore and well my injuries are doing ok even if the sprained ankle do still hurt a bit"

With that said it did not make any of the two stop their stares as they just knew something wasnt adding up

MQ:"your suspicious." Glaring kind of menacingly

FX:"yeah. Last time you took atleast 3 day's to get to the royal capital from here, but you dont look exhausted, or even-" stopping suddenly hearing a door open

All 3 of them looked at the door seeing xie lian stand in the doorway looking at them confused and walking down the stair's

XL:"uh- hey guy's? What are you all doing here?" Confused looking at them when he suddenly see's a familiar figure he haven't Seen in two whole week's and went over greeting his friend "qingxuan! Why are you here ?! Arent you sick still? Im glad you came but if you're sick i would rather have known you stayed at the capital, you really looked awfull back there throwing up anything you'd digest to even have a high fiever !" He say's a bit on a strict ton grabbing shi qingxuan's face looking for any ill sign and even putting his hand on shi qingxuan's forehead

Shi qingxuan grab's xie lian's hand wrist and pull's it away from his forehead smiling brightly waving his hand up and down "pfft-! This illness naaaaa! i beated it up! Im all good I just thought i could Come visit you my friend, and i dont look awfull!" Putting his fist against his thighs with a pouting look

XL:"well- i mean- if you want i got fresh clothe's you could take a bath and change up" hesitating to Say any more word's not wanting to upset his Friend on his look

SQX:"ooo! Really? I could? I do haven't showered ever since i left here, sure! But i'll repay you!" Smiling and confident

With that said xie lian brought all three of them inside boiling some tea and giving the clothes to shi qingxuan which he imediatly went over to the shower,

XL:"and dont worry you Can take your Time!" He said yelling a bit

Confused mu qing and feng xing looked at xie lian with a raised eye brow

FX:"so? You look like you Saw something"

MQ:"yeah! Spill the tea your highness!"

XL:"Can you please lower your voice? Gosh, and yes i did, when i looked at shi qingxuan's face up close something wasnt right he look too pale and not to mention his ear's they're a bit point just like hua cheng's ear's but smaller" he say's obviously concerned about shi qingxuan fidgeting with his finger's, he didnt wanted to be right about his theory, he did not want to know that his friend died back there out of his illness, an illness he didnt even helped even though he could've went back there visit daily.

Imma stop there as my creativity is running out for now but i love what i wrote and i Hope you all did too! Soon chapter 3 potentially either he xuan's point of view or continuing on shi qingxuan's point of view and seeing hua cheng with his gege ! ;)

[mellarkably]

ur so right abt the way that scene between ben and devi was shot because every single moment when we see devi making out with someone (or about to have s*x) is so driven by her “horny side” only, for paxton and des she just wanted to have s*x and get over with it and with ethan she just was on her horny and active rush which is good but the ben/devi scene, yes it was framed with a sense of urgency between them but also so much care and love. the lighting, the touches, the hands, smiling at each other and just everything about it was beautiful.

and call me crazy but i am happy the show didn’t do the typical “devi only has s*x with ben” narrative because i was about sure they wouldn’t have her have s*x with ethan and they did and was surprised because most shows don’t do that. ben and devi lost their virginity together and that’s already special but they didn’t have devi pondering around waiting for ben. she got to experience a little bit of fun and discover her preferences and be comfortable with it (and maybe ben did so too with margot) and then they get to make love to each other and know what it means and the differences in that and now they can start a relationship when there’s some level of experience and they can just explore what they both want.

some shows tend to do the opposite for “romanticism” so i am glad they did not.

OH ANON HOW I LOVE YOU FOR THIS BECAUSE CAN. WE. TALK ABOUT IT!

i already predicted a while ago that the show would have ben and devi make love again but this time it would be much more natural and easy for them:

i agree with you. i think it was important to show benvi's first time as being awkward, and having it pale in comparison to her next time with ethan, who is far more experienced. it allowed devi to have fun (and im assuming its almost certain ben also had sex with margot) while embodying the whole, fun time NOT a long time thing. im sure they both learned a lot about their preferences like you said during those respective relationships.

but going back to what i loved most about 410's sex redo - how it was the ONLY sex scene in the show that wasn't shot like a high school steamy fling type of deal.

of course, there's that big damn kiss that's been building up for four years with more steam needed to be released than pati's rice cooker, BUT, the lighting. the song, the actors' natural chemistry. the tone itself already feels so much more serious than any other romantic scene in the show.

i honestly thought it would end here, so imagine my surprise when they continued - and i think this second part is what sets it apart from all the other intimate scenes in the show.

henna shot. i fucking died. ive talked enough about this on twitter and im sure other people are talking about this but it is just so symbolic for devi as an individual, her relationship with her culture and how she doesn't have to separate that from her romantic endeavours because she is desirable as she is! s1 devi would faint! she absolutely would!

and now this shot, which is what the tags you're referring to were about, has me still going cuckoo bananas like. pulling away to smile at each other. they're literally in fucking love. this is love. this is not the show trying to gain an audience using steamy scenes, or devi being horny - not that there is anything wrong with that either - but she is so visibly content and comfortable and happy and you can see it in her smile. both of their smiles in fact.

that small moment is what makes this scene for me.

anyway sorry for the huge rant. if you couldn't tell already i really love this scene! it was very well done.

[theferal-possum]

hey so nobody knows this blog but i got out of control while telling my friend about a writing a prompt i thought of and so now im giving it to you fire emoji (below the clip)

au where lance had his schoolbag for some reason (he doesnt know why he grabbed it, he likes to think it was the universe letting him have things from home to remind him that yes, he will make it back) and as they reach the edge of the solar system, his bag starts to ring, his familiar ringtone playing throughout the lion.

he's not quite sure why he decided to go on a hunt to find a charger to get it's battery up, maybe fate playing with the strings a bit to get it to happen, he's not sure.

it's what the paladins have deemed as "night-time," around 9pm back on earth. he was nearly asleep but is now clambering for his bag, worn from the years he's spent using it in space. he rips the phone from it, staring in disbelief that he was able to get a signal from all the way out here.

the words are clear on his screen, though his eyes are blurring them, tears threatening to fall.

MAMÁ

his hands are shaky as he clicks the accept button. the heart threatening to beat out of his chest the only thing assuring him that it isnt a dream.

it's quiet for a moment, before his mother's quiet words ring through his ears.

"..mijo?"

she sounds as if she's aged 10 years in only 5, but her voice was still heavy with that slight spanish accent, worn from years of english, that used to scold him and tell lance how much she loves him. but it's everything he's missed. and he can't helps the way his voice breaks when he says,

"mamá. oh mamá we're coming home."

----

lance doesn't know why, after the call with his mother ends, he calls keith. sure they're friends now but he hasn't been sure if theyre that close yet.

but he does anyways.

it only rings for a second, the image of keith appearing on his screen. pajamas on, and kosmo laying their head in his lap, with his comm pad held lazily in one hand. the screen lit up with one of the crosswords allura had given them to help with their altean.

"hey man, what's up? you alright? you look like you've been crying."

he leans forward in the chair, much to kosmos dislike, his eyes squinting and brow furrowed in concern.

lance suddenly feels concious of how he looks, eyes red and puffy, but just wipes at his eyes, looking at the side of his controls rather than the screen.

"yeah, it's just uh. i got a call from my mom, from my old phone. and i just, i don't know."

keith sits up fully in his seat, although knocking kosmo's head off fully, and clicks his comm pad off and setting it onto the floor.

"dude, really?! i'm surprised you got signal all the way out here. but i'm glad for you! how was she doing?"

keith looks genuinely happy for him, not something lance often had the privilege to see.

"she's uhm."

he takes a moment to steel himself. taking a deep breath as he reminds himself that he won't have to talk about only memories of her the next day. it won't hurt to talk about her.

"she's doing good, she was uh. really happy to hear from me. says she called me every week just to see if i would maybe pick up."

and lance's heart can't help but break, as he thinks about his mamá, face creased with worry, sat with her phone in hand, hoping her son would pick up. hoping that he would come back. that he would come home.

"she uh, only starting calling once or twice per month after the first year, so i guess i got lucky. it was really nice to hear her voice again. i almost forgot."

(his face falls, as he thinks of the countless nights that he'd try. try to hard to remember what she sounded like. how she rolled her r's, how she sounded as she yelled at him to do his chores faster, how she said i love you. he could never get it just right.)

"it's funny honestly, i used to hope for the day that i wouldn't have to hear it as much. i'd mock her voice from behind my door after an argument. but now i can't even imagine that. i guess, you don't know how much you'd miss something until you lose it.

and i know it seems silly to miss her this much considering we were gone only 2 years. but for her it was five. and at some points i wasn't–"

his voice begins to crack, his hand gripping the edge of his seat so hard that his fingers were white. the tears in his eyes threatening to fall.

"–i wasn't sure if i'd ever see her again. if i'd be able to tell her that i was coming home."

lance gives a watery laugh, rubbing his hand on the back of his head as he realises that he just dumped that all on keith.

“sorry that was, kind of a ramble.”

he finally looks back up at the screen, tears pricking the back of his eyes as he tries not to cry again. keith is staring at seemingly nothing just behind the screen, face drawn up in an expression lance can't decipher. thoughtfulness? he's not quite sure. but he doesn't have time to figure it out before keith speaks again, his gaze falling down to the floor as he starts to fidget with the string on his sweatpants.

"i understand what you mean. and im not trying to make this about me but, after spending two years on a space whale, i learned theres a lot of things you don't realise you'll miss."

he looks up, his face almost determined as he looks at lance directly now.

"but hey, you'll get to see her tomorrow, you won't have to miss her for much longer."

lance nods, smiling as a warmth spreading through his chest. he feels a renewed hope for the next day. he was going to go home.

(little note but the idea that theres a big group that surrounds the lions after they land, which the paladins get lost in immediately

and so lance is desperately searching through the crowd trying to find his family, before seeing keith waving and pointing almost frantically, but a smile on his face.

and as the crowd moves his mamá comes into view, standing next to keith

she calls out to lance, and he immediately runs over, engulfing her in a hug that lasts, definitely more than 20 seconds, and once he pulls away she starts tearfully rambling about how much she missed him, how she always knew in her heart that he'd come back, etc. etc.

but after a moment wipes the tears from her eyes and cheerfully exclaims that she was struggling to find him before keith had helped her, saying how nice he is, mother stuff yk

and keith is looking away blushing slightly from the compliments, and lance just looks at him and thanks him with such a genuine tone that keith cant help but smile fondly at him)

[animeniacss]

Seoksoo - imperfect - Part 1 - Chapter 20 - I Love You

Synopsis: Lee Seokmin likes a lot of things: karaoke, stuffed animals, his friends, his family (when they're not at each other's throats), and when things go according to plan. It's perfect that way. That is...until Joshua Hong, the Education Department TA, stumbles into his view one day and suddenly Seokmin has to start facing the fact that maybe not everything in life will be perfect...but with Joshua, that might just be ok.

Tags: College!AU, ActingMajor!Seokmin, Teacher!Joshua, Romance, Angst, Fluff, Mutual Pining, Misunderstandings, Side GyuCheol, Side JunHao, Side Verkwan, Other Idol appearances, Anxiety/Panic Attacks, Domestic Violence (not between the main couple), Joshua is a dork 90% of the time, (More Tags will be Added as needed)

Length: approx. 6.9k words

Chapter 20 - I Love You

   “I’m so glad we’re done with finals!” Mingyu groaned in relief, tossing his backpack on the other side of the apartment. Seokmin and Seungkwan followed behind, Seungkwan following Mingyu’s action, but not as violently. Seokmin simply tossed his bag at his feet. “Christmas break, here I come!”

         “I still need to finish Christmas shopping.” Seungcheol spoke, scrolling through the internet for things he could hopefully still order in time to wrap for the holidays. Mingyu rolled his eyes.

         “Seokmin, is everything ready for this weekend?” Seokmin nodded.

         “Yeah. I got one of the bigger rooms so everyone can fit!”

         Seungcheol smiled. “Can you tell Mingyu to throw me nice parties like this for my birthday?” He teased, earning a playful shove from his boyfriend.

         “I’ll be able to afford nice parties when you finally stop keeping me from my dream job of being a stripper.” When Seungcheol whipped his head around, Mingyu smirked, leaning over the back of the couch on his elbows.

         “You said we were done with that conversation!” Seungkwan and Seokmin shared a glance as the duo bickered, Seokmin unable to hide his amused grin while Seungkwan’s face resembled something closer to slight disgust.

         “Anyway.” Seungkwan turned to Seokmin. “Is Joshua-hyung excited?”

         “I hope so.” Seokmin scratched the back of his neck. “I just want it to be nice. It must be hard to not have family around for your birthday.” Seungkwan nodded, nestling closer to his friend, almost as if he was about to share a personal secret just for the two of them.

“Are you going to do it?”

         Seokmin needed a second to register what he was just asked. “Sorry. What?”

         “Tell him how you feel.” Oh. “Before the break starts and you don’t see him for like…three weeks.” Seungkwan was right. With Seokmin being home for Christmas and picking up extra hours when he came back, who knew when he would see Joshua over the break. This night together might just be his last chance. Seokmin’s cheeks turned redder the closer Seungkwan leaned against him. “What was it you said? “It’s in the books! I’ll confess if I get the lead!” or something?” The younger grinned, a mischievous glint in the smile. “I’m only trying to keep you honest, Hyung.” 

         “Ah. Well…” he was at a loss for words, Seungkwan cementing his unannounced victory with a proud hum. Seokmin only offered a little chuckle. “I know what I’m going to do…”

         That was a lie, but Seungkwan thankfully didn’t press him for any further information.

⚔🦌⚔🦌⚔🦌⚔🦌⚔(im)perfect🦌⚔🦌⚔🦌⚔🦌⚔🦌

           “You’re not putting me in a blindfold, Seokmin.” Joshua seemed pretty adamant as the duo stood outside of Seokmin’s apartment. The younger frowned, holding up the black handkerchief.

         “What? Why?”

         “Many reasons. One: we aren’t at the karaoke bar yet. Two: I’ll get motion sick on the car ride. Two and a half: I’m driving. Three: I already know where we’re going. Four: I’m not into that.” Seokmin blushed at the last reason. Defeated, he stuffed the handkerchief in his pocket. “Sorry.” Joshua smiled. “Ready to go?”

         Seokmin nodded, and the duo made their way to the car.  Seokmin sank into the passenger’s seat, looking up at the sky as Joshua set the car into reverse and pulled from the parking space. The sky was cloudy today, tones of gray bunched together overhead. “I heard it’s supposed to snow tonight.”       

         “That’d be nice.” Joshua hummed. “I’d love some snow for Christmas. It doesn’t snow often in Los Angeles. The weather’s too warm.”

         Seokmin caught Joshua leaning forward against the steering wheel a bit, peering out the window when they slowed to a stop. “Well, then I’m sure it’ll snow this year.”

         Joshua smiled. “I hope so.” He continued following the GPS to the karaoke bar, while Seokmin was getting messages from his friends as they arrived. Jeonghan and Nayeon went to pick up the cake, Mingyu and Seungcheol arrived to secure the room, and Seungkwan and Hansol were setting up the decorations. Seokmin had left his birthday gift in the apartment, as a back-up to keep Joshua with him a few extra minutes, in case he didn’t say anything while they were out. “I’m really excited for this.” Joshua admitted. “I can’t remember the last time I really had a birthday party.”

         “You don’t?” Joshua shook his head.

         “I mean, I had friends over in high school. My parents always took me on a trip over Christmas break. But I think I stopped having birthday parties when I was maybe 12 or 13.” He shrugged. “We just stopped planning them. So, I’m excited.”

         “I hope I made it a good one, then.” Seokmin leaned back in his seat. Joshua chuckled.

         “Trust me, whatever you have set up will be great!”

         Most of the group had already arrived by the time Seokmin and Joshua found a parking spot. Heading inside, the first thing he saw was Seungkwan perched on one of the chairs, sipping his iced coffee and scrolling through his phone. When he heard the door open, he smiled. “Finally! We were waiting!” He hurried up to the duo. “Everything is set – you said he’d been blindfolded!”

         “You told everyone you were blindfolding me?” Joshua smirked when Seokmin looked away, face blooming red in  embarrassment. He stuck his hand out. “Give me the blindfold.”

         “No, forget it, you’ll be surprised anyway.” Seokmin said simply. Joshua chuckled under his breath, reaching out to take the others hand in his own before Seungkwan motioned them down the hall. Seokmin thanked the worker at the front desk, and the trio entered the room.

         With Seokmin picking up a few extra hours at the store, and dipping a bit into his summer savings, he was able to book one of the bigger, nicer rooms in the karaoke bar. The lights were dimmed a bit, a slight blue hue transforming it into an underwater wonderland. Mingyu and Seungcheol were stringing up the last of the balloons on the far corner, while Vernon and Nayeon were laying out the snacks. Jeonghan was resting on the couch behind Nayeon, leaning forward and guiding verbally, almost dictating where everything should be placed until Nayeon nudged him and he giggled. Junhui and Minghao were already skimming through the book of songs, Minghao showing a visible look of confusion at whatever it was Junhui was suggesting.

         “Wow.” Joshua smiled. “This is so cool!” Seokmin immediately felt a sense of pride, any worry of Joshua’s reaction melting away within seconds. With newfound confidence, he headed to greet Jeonghan, the duo sharing a quick hello. Seokmin saw Nayeon hop up and hurry over.

         “My friends are on their way. Thank you for saying they could come.”

         Seokmin grinned. “Of course! The room holds a lot of people. Besides, Jihyo and Dahyun are my friends, too. I’m glad they were able to come.” Nayeon gripped Seokmin’s hands happily, finally leaning in.

         “Joshua looks so happy! I think this is going to go so well, Seokmin.” She was beaming; the positive energy radiating onto Seokmin immediately. “You two are so cute!”

         “Oh, come on!” Seokmin gasped. A sudden pat on his shoulder, and he turned to see Seungkwan. He was already passing him a microphone.

         “Are we going to stand around looking hot or are we going to sing?” He asked. Seokmin took the microphone and, with a flash of an eager grin, the boys headed to the Ipad that allowed them to choose their songs.

⚔🦌⚔🦌⚔🦌⚔🦌⚔(im)perfect🦌⚔🦌⚔🦌⚔🦌⚔🦌

         It didn’t take long for the room to unfold into complete chaos. Seokmin had taken a step back a few songs in for Chaeyoung and Dahyun to have a turn. The duo was singing a Taylor Swift song at the top of their lungs, encouraged by all of their friends cheering and screaming the lyrics along with them. Seokmin was watching from the couch, waving a glow stick prop alongside Vernon. He felt a nudge to his leg, turning to see Joshua lean over to him with one of the song menus.

         “What are you going to sing?” His voice was low as he leaned in close, sending a shiver up Seokmin’s spine. Lovestruck eyes darted from Joshua’s lips to his hands, then up to his eyes, then his lips, followed by his toned chest and those lips, and-.

         “Uh, I don’t know.” Seokmin turned back to the performance in front of him. “I haven’t picked yet.” Joshua looked over at him and Seokmin could have sworn he saw an amused smirk on the other’s fucking lips. Chaeyoung and Dahyun’s song came to an end, and the room erupted into applause as the score flashed on the screen.       

         “80?!” Chaeyoung’s eyes widened. “No way! This thing’s rigged!” Dahyun laughed behind her hand.

         “It’s not a Taylor Swift fan!” Dahyun pointed to the screen. Slightly annoyed, the duo turned to the couch, offering up the microphones. “Who wants to go next?”

         Seungkwan stood up, grinning at Seokmin. He took microphones and immediately handed one off. “I think it’s time. Shall we?” he asked. The glint in his eyes immediately translated to Seokmin. Maybe it was because they had been roommates for two years, or that they were the ones most likely to frequent karaoke bars together, but the hive mind was working, and Seokmin shot up like a bullet.

         “We have to!” He said. A chuckle behind him, and he turned to see Joshua popping a few potato chips in his mouth. 

         “What are you singing?” he hummed.

         Seungkwan spoke up for both of them. “Candy in My Ear by Baek Ji Young and Taecyeon!” Joshua hummed, his face indicating he hadn’t heard of the song before.

         “It’s our go to karaoke song.” Seokmin added. Joshua nodded, leaning back in his seat.

         “Taecyeon is so beautiful.” Nayeon sighed to herself.

         “Tell me about it.” Jeonghan said, the couple high-fiving in their shared attraction to the idol. Seokmin and Seungkwan pulled the song up as Mingyu passed over a comically large pair of sunglasses to Seokmin.

         “You’ll need these.” He grinned. Seokmin took the orange glasses, putting them on. He heard the snap of a camera, turning his head to see Joshua holding his phone. He was grinning.

         “You look so cute!” He called. He had grabbed a glow stick from the table, holding it up with Vernon, Junhui, and Minghao in support of the duo. Seokmin blushed, turning back to the large TV as the song began. The second the first few notes began, Seungkwan looked at Seokmin with confident eyes.

         “Choreography?”

         “I’d be offended if we didn’t.” Seokmin grinned. Almost immediately following Seungkwan’s very high-pitched ‘La La La’s, Taecyeon’s verse started up and Seokmin put the microphone to his mouth to sing. The room broke into a mix of laughter and cheers almost immediately, and Seokmin’s entire body swelled with a rush of adrenaline. He was in his element right now, everything felt great. He watched Seungkwan approach him dramatically, and without missing a beat, pressed himself up against Seokmin so they could dramatically step in time together and share one microphone to sing.

         Saranghae (Saranghae)

         I love you (I love you)

         Seokmin saw Seungkwan shoot him a suggestive glance, and he laughed behind the microphone for a second. Then, the youngers eyes shot a glance at the couch, and following it meant Seokmin was staring directly at Joshua. He was grinning behind his hand, one leg crossed over the other as he watched the performance in front of him. Seokmin looked back to his singing partner as the second verse approached and Seungkwan prepared to dramatically press up against Seokmin one more time.

         Maybe it was the adrenaline, or the fact that it was dim in the room. Maybe it was Seungkwan’s constant motioning over to Joshua without any of the audience noticing. Maybe it was because Seokmin had the most confidence when he was singing with no constructs. Nobody was judging him right now, or ranking him for a role. He could just perform. Maybe it was all of those things, or maybe it was none of them, but when Seungkwan got close, for the next verse, he felt a surge of confidence hit him in the chest.

         Saranghae (Saranghae)

         I love you (I love you)

         When Seokmin uttered the echo in his verse, he turned to the audience, shooting a finger heart in Joshua’s direction. The older one’s eyes widened, going slack jawed as Junhui and Seungcheol began shoving him and screaming, as if he were just perceived by his favorite idol. Even in the dim lights, Seokmin saw his cheeks burn pink. A gummy smile broke on Vernon’s face as he leaned into Mingyu, body shaking in a fit of laughter. Seokmin’s cheeks immediately turned red, focus redirecting back to the screen in front of him. Not before he caught the stunned grin on Seungkwan’s face. The rest of the song was performed as expected, with choreography and dramatic singing. However, when the song ended and the room erupted into applause, Seokmin covered his face. Seungkwan hurried up to him and shook his shoulders.

         “That was so fucking smart!” There was glee in Seungkwan’s voice. “That was so cute!”

         “I cannot believe I did that! I think I blacked out.” Seokmin whispered. “Is he staring?”

         “Oh, hell yeah. He looks lovestruck!” Seungkwan whispered. “Look at you go!” Seokmin put the microphone on the table, the duo turning towards their score as it flashed. “100!” Seungkwan grinned, turning back to Seokmin. “As usual!” 

Seokmin looked at the score and the cheering female model beside it. Maybe he was overthinking, but her repeated thumbs up motion felt directed at him. But not for the performance. He needed to sit down. Turning to the couch, he was stunned at what he saw.

Chaeyoung and Mina were cuddled on the couch beside Sana, whose legs were outstretched over Jihyo’s lap. Tzuyu was cross legged beside them. Nayeon had pulled her own legs up to her side as she leaned into Jeonghan, who literally just put two bowls of chips beside him. Mingyu and Seungcheol -broad as they are - had no problem taking up a lot of space on the couch. Seungkwan sat beside Vernon, nestled close with the others’ arm draped behind him. Junhui and Minghao were shuffling to claim the far corner of the couch. That only left Seokmin with two spots…..

Both beside Joshua. 

Mentally cursing his friends, he plopped himself down on the couch, and Joshua immediately leaned against him. He looked over and saw the older grinning.

         “You did great!” He said. “That was really good!” Maybe it was because he was already overstimulated with what he just did, but he could have sworn Joshua had hearts in his eyes, staring at Seokmin with endless fondness.

         “You think so?” Joshua nodded. “Thank you…” Despite his heart running a million miles a minute, he couldn’t help but smile as the next song got started.

“Oh, and you still have the glasses on.” Joshua pushed the orange glasses up Seokmin’s nose a bit. Seokmin laughed shyly. “Take a photo.” He grabbed his phone, pulling it out and opening up his camera to focus on himself. He snapped a quick picture of himself in the glasses. Almost immediately, Joshua leaned his head in, holding up his glow stick and smiling. Seokmin chuckled a bit, snapping a few pictures of the both of them as well.  Joshua chuckled. “I like that one. Send it to me.” Seokmin nodded.

As the song played, Joshua handed him one of the props on the table, and set one of the bowls of chips between them. When Seokmin opened his mouth to question, Joshua put his finger to his own lips. “These are my favorite chips. I’m only going to share them with people who tell me they love me in song.”

The low, borderline flirtatious tone Joshua used when he leaned in close made Seokmin almost internally combust, and he immediately turned his gaze back to the girls as they began singing because if he looked at Joshua any longer, he might just give a full Shakespearean confession right then and there in front of everyone.

⚔🦌⚔🦌⚔🦌⚔🦌⚔(im)perfect🦌⚔🦌⚔🦌⚔🦌⚔🦌

         The rest of the night continued in the same fashion: a microphone rotating among the couch so everyone could sing. All different types of genres were thrown around; from well-known pop songs to drama OSTs to western musical artists, the room was buzzing with music and cheers for hours. Seokmin’s throat was scratchy by the time they had to vacate the room, exhausted from all of the singing he did. Luckily, there wasn’t much food left, and most of the garbage was easily discarded as they headed out.

Nayeon’s friend group split from the group once the night came to an end, warm holiday wishes spreading through the crowd with a few hugs. Jihyo and Dahyun squeezed Seokmin just before heading out the front door. “Good luck.” Jihyo whispered to him. Seokmin blushed a bit, nodding his head. He mouthed a little ‘thank you’ when he saw Joshua approaching to say his own farewells to the girls. Seokmin caught Dahyun offer him a supportive thumbs up and a grin. His mind flashed back to that female karaoke model.

The group exited the karaoke bar around midnight just in time for the first specs of snowflakes to flutter down from the thick, gray clouds. Seokmin’s neck craned up to look, the sound of his friends excited murmurs fluttering around him. His first thought was to turn to Joshua, but his attention was grabbed by Seungkwan.

“Aw, no. My gloves have a hole in them.” There was a pout on his friend’s face as he tugged the gloves off and stuck them in his pocket. His friend was not fond of the cold by any means, complaining about the chilly weather since the first leaf fell of a tree in October. Seokmin immediately tugged his off, passing them over. Seungkwan seemed confused for a second, but Seokmin only pushed them closer. 

“Here. I’ll be okay.” Seungkwan glanced at Hansol, the same idea seemingly in his head as his gloves were already half off. “Oh.”

Any tension that may have threatened the trio was melted away almost immediately when Seungkwan reached out and took Seokmin’s gloves, slipping them on his hands. “Thanks, Hyung.” His smile was full of fondness.

“Of course.” Hansol was already slipping his gloves on, seemingly unphased. “Now you two can hold hands.”

“We would’ve done that anyway.” Seungkwan chimed, wasting no time interlocking his newly gloved fingers with Hansol’s. 

With his hands immediately exposed to the chill of the snow, Seokmin watched as a snowflake fell onto his hand, evaporating against the warmth of his skin. Making the rest of his body warm by fixing his scarf and jacket, Seokmin balled his hands together.

         “Ah…hyung!” He turned to Joshua, who was still staring up at the snow as it fell around him. Seokmin fell quiet for a second, the view before him enough to distract from his chilled hands. Straight out of a painting, Joshua’s side profile as he took in the sight of the snow was breath-taking. Wide, doe-eyes watched each snowflake fall around him, enveloping him in a serene and beautiful winter wonderland. When Joshua finally turned to him, Seokmin smiled a bit, taking his arm. “It’s snowing! Like you wanted!”

         “I know.” His smile was equally as big. “Maybe I should be a meteorologist or something. Add it to that growing list of random skills I’ve been accumulating.” Seokmin laughed a bit. Joshua looked down at the hand still wrapped around his arm. “Your gloves.” He pointed out. “Your hands are going to be cold.”

         “I’m okay.” He assured. “Seungkwan’s had a hole in them.”

         “Last time you said you’d be ok, you got sick.” Joshua frowned. A deep groan escaped Mingyu’s throat, interrupting Joshua’s worries.

 “I’m starving. Do you think there’s any street vendors open still?”

         “We just ate non-stop for like four hours.” Vernon stared up at the taller male in shock. Mingyu only laughed a bit.

         “I think there’s a Bungeoppang vendor a few blocks back.” Seungcheol chimed in, grinning when he saw the excited look on Mingyu’s face. The idea of a delicious red-bean fish cake seemed to be agreed upon for most, and they followed Seungcheol’s directions to the vendor.

         The walk was filled with idle chatter mainly about the night of karaoke and how delicious the cake was – Jeonghan cheekily said ‘you’re welcome’ when that came up. As they walked, Seokmin simply listened. Not because he had nothing to say, but because he wanted to. The night thus far had been perfect, and hearing everyone else agree made his heart swell with pride. He rubbed his hands together, feeling the chill of the winter air once again. Everyone else around him were either holding hands like Seungkwan and Vernon, or linked arm and arm like Nayeon and Jeonghan. He looked down at his own hands, stuffing them into the pockets of his jacket.

         A tap on his shoulder, and when he looked over, Joshua was pulling off his glove. He passed it over, and Seokmin furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. “Take it. For that hand.” He motioned to Seokmin’s right hand. Despite still being confused, he slipped the glove on and held his hand up, wiggling his finger. Joshua laughed in amusement, but wasted no time taking his own gloveless hand and interlocking it with Seokmin’s, slipping them into the pocket of his own jacket. Seokmin’s face flushed almost immediately, feeling his hand warm up almost instantly when the pad of Joshua’s thumb swiped over his knuckles.

         “Alright, that was smooth.” Seokmin said shyly. Joshua grinned proudly as Seokmin settled close to his side. The group arrived at the vendor, where an older gentleman eagerly welcomed the large crowd of college students. Seokmin watched from the back as his friends ordered.

         “I’m going to get the chocolate one.” Joshua said. “You?”

         “I don’t know if I’ll be able to finish an entire one.”

“Yeah, me either after all that cake. Want to split one?” Seokmin nodded his head in agreement, watching as Joshua leaned forward to order for the both of them. Seokmin noticed Junhui and Minghao offering sly grins in his direction as they nibbled on their own pastries.

         Their fingers brushed together when half of the pastry was handed over, Seokmin’s skin feeling as though it was on fire despite being exposed to the cold. When he took a bite, the pastry tasted much more delicious than he could have ever imagined, but maybe that was because he was enjoying it with Joshua. The older glanced over at him. “It’s good!” Joshua gasped.

Yes, that was definitely what made it taste particularly delicious.

⚔🦌⚔🦌⚔🦌⚔🦌⚔(im)perfect🦌⚔🦌⚔🦌⚔🦌⚔🦌

         The groups parted for good once returning to the karaoke bar parking lot, saying their final farewells and birthday wishes to Joshua before scattering for the holidays. Seungkwan nudged Seokmin when the two of them were alone. “I’ll go home with Vernon, okay?” he grinned.

         Seokmin couldn’t help but smile back. “I don’t need to know that.” Seungkwan’s grin immediately fell to an unamused glare.

         “Okay, rude. I was going to wish you good luck, but-.” Seokmin laughed a bit, tugging Seungkwan into a friendly side hug that was warmly returned. “But honestly, you don’t even need it. You basically confessed already.”

         “Oh, jeez.” Seokmin bushed as the memory flooded into his brain again. “That was not how I wanted to do it.” Seungkwan laughed in amusement, rubbing his hyung’s shoulder in reassurance.

         “I’m sure the actual one will be just fine too. I don’t think Joshua’s stopped swooning at your finger heart since. He’s begging you to confess without saying it.” Seokmin chuckled as Vernon approached, the duo waving goodbye before heading down the street to try and hail a cab. Jeonghan and Nayeon had the same idea, heading for a little stroll together in the snow before heading home. When Seokmin and Joshua were alone, the older opened the passenger’s seat of the car and smiled.

         “Shall we?” he asked.

         The ride was quiet for the first few minutes. Seokmin had returned his glove to Joshua once the car warmed up. He looked over at the driver, studying his features. “I’m glad you had a good time.”

         “A great time.” Joshua smiled. “We have to do it again! It was really fun.”

         “We should!” 

         “You looked like you were having a blast!” Seokmin felt his cheeks heat up at Joshua’s comment, nodding his head.

         “Yeah, I was.” He said. “I get a bit too much when I do karaoke, I think.”

         “Too much?” Joshua seemed shocked. “No way! You were amazing! It was nice seeing you have so much fun.” Seokmin’s heart skipped a beat then began pounding in his chest, feeling as if his entire body was going to explode if his heart beat didn’t slow down. He sat back in his seat, allowing the car to fall into another comfortable silence. Then, Joshua chuckled and cheekily commented: “I specifically loved your performance of…what was it? Candy in My Ear?”

         Embarrassment came and made Seokmin cover his face. “Please, if you’re going to talk about that one, let me get out of the car and stand in front of it so you can run me over.” Joshua threw his head against the back of his seat to laugh. “I don’t know what came over me. I didn’t want to tell you in that way.”

         The pregnant pause that followed Seokmin’s comment was enough to make him truly register what he just said. When he looked over to Joshua, he had stopped laughing, staring at him.

         “Tell me what?” his voice was soft. Seokmin’s hands dropped to his lap, and he looked out the window. “Seokmin?”

         “You already know…” he said softly, also embarrassed. He began picking at his fingernails, pressing his fingers together. “Everyone says it’s obvious…and I don’t know if I can say it…” He felt the car slow to a stop, and when Seokmin looked up, he realized they were already in front of his apartment. That gave him less time, and he was already striking out with each word that came from his lips. The car shutting off got Seokmin to look at Joshua, and he shifted in his seat.

         “You can try.” He said with an amused smile. “If it’s what I think it is, I’d rather hear it from you instead of a song anyway…”

A nervous tongue swiped shaking lips, and Seokmin wondered if he should just say nothing. Keep his mouth shut. Hold all of these feelings back because it felt much less scary when compared to the alternative. But he couldn’t do that. Eyes cast up to the sky from the window, he watched as the snow fell around them. His eyes landed on the front door of his apartment building. For a second, he wanted to run from the car, into his apartment, slam the door and curl up into a ball until this incessant nausea finally went away: but his feet refused to move. “Sorry.” He finally gasped. “I don’t really know how to…how to say it. It’s stupid.” 

“I’m sure it's not stupid.” He assured. Seokmin saw him lean closer. “What is it?” 

Nervous eyes scanned Joshua’s face as his cheeks heated up. “I just…” His gaze moved from Joshua to the stars in the sky that he could see from inside the car. For a second, he hoped that there would be a new constellation written in the stars to guide him through this. But there was nothing; he had to do this himself. There was nothing that could tell him what or say or how to say it, because nothing and nobody could explain it better than he could right now. Finally, with the words of encouragement from his friends acting as the shove he needed, he locked eyes with Joshua and took one final deep breath.

“I think – no – I don’t think. I-.” a frustrated sigh cut through, but he turned to Joshua and finally uttered: “I love you…” Once the words left his lips, it was like a damn in his mouth broke and he just kept talking. “I love you a lot. I’ve liked you since we met, but I recently realized that I’ve…loved you, you know? Maybe I’m overthinking it, because we’ve never said anything about it. But we do things like hold hands and flirt and…I really like it but I don’t want to overthink things and then be wrong.” He paused, adding: “But then the more I think about it, the more I think of the way you look at me sometimes…like…like…” he looked up to see a familiar expression of fondness on Joshua’s face. “Like that!” Joshua chuckled. “….I just don’t want to mess anything up which is why I’ve been really nervous to say anything because I don’t want you to hate me. I really don’t want you to hate me. But, I think I’m rambling now, and if I keep going I think I'll say something I’ll regret so…yeah. That’s it.”

Silence. The longest silence of Lee Seokmin’s life. He hated it; wanted to disappear into a hole where nobody would find him and hibernate until this entire interaction was long forgotten about. He looked at Joshua as he shifted more in his seat to get a better look at him. Seokmin let out a shaky breath. Joshua ran a hand through his hair, and when he opened his mouth, all he said was a simple: “I love you, too, Seokmin.”

         Seokmin felt his breath catch in his throat. Those five, little words floated into his ears, through his brain, down his spine and wrapped themselves around his heart in an attempt to calm its frantic beating. “…Y-yeah?” Seokmin choked out.

         “I don’t know if I can say it in as many words as you did off the cuff, but yes. I do.”

Seokmin let out a chuckle of disbelief. “Oh, come on. That was nothing but rambling.”

“It was.” Joshua clarified. “But it was adorable rambling; a completely different thing.” His eyebrows furrowed a bit, and Seokmin waited with baited breath for his next comment. “I only have one question for you.”

“O-okay.” Seokmin said shakily. Joshua leaned forward a bit, reaching out and taking his hands. Seokmin could feel the warmth in his touch as he looked to meet Joshua’s gaze. 

“Can I kiss you?”

Seokmin almost fell over. “W-what?”

“Can I…kiss you? You know, like-.” He playfully puckered his lips for a second. Seokmin offered a shy giggle. “I’ve wanted to since like-.”

“Yes.” Seokmin blushed at the eager response that slipped past his lips.

“…Yeah?” Joshua beamed when Seokmin offered a shy nod. Pulling their intertwined hands closer to him tugged Seokmin as close as possible sitting on opposite sides of the car. Finally, finally, after what felt like years of waiting in the span of 4 months, Joshua leaned in and kissed Seokmin.

This was not Seokmin’s first kiss. He kissed a few girls in school plays, and once kissed Mingyu on a dare in high school. Romantically, however, Seokmin had only kissed his previous boyfriend a few times; brief pecks under the stairs before parting ways for class. Those kisses made him feel like he was floating one moment, then confused the next. At the time, though, it felt as though they were everything, all he was ever going to get. All he deserved. 

But this…was an experience. Joshua’s lips were soft despite being exposed to the dry cold for the past few hours. Seokmin’s entire body felt electric, warmth blooming deep in his chest and stomach. He had been wondering what this moment would feel like for so long, anxious overthinking and comparison to that of romance novels. But this was not a scene written on paper for anyone to open and read; this was real. To Lee Seokmin, this was finally happening, and it was real.

It took Seokmin a few nervous seconds to realize he had yet to actually kiss back, leaning into the kiss. He wondered if Joshua could feel how much his hands were shaking, because the grip on them tightened a little bit.

When the duo pulled away, locking eyes, Seokmin felt his heart rate spike. He immediately pulled his hands back, covering his face. Turning his head, tears pricked shaky eyes and his cheeks felt like they were boiling under his hands. “What’s wrong?” Joshua asked softly.

“Nothing.” Seokmin choked out. “My heart’s just pounding a million miles a minute and I’m really happy. That’s all.” Joshua laughed a bit, encouraging Seokmin to peek out from behind his hands.

"Good. I was worried you were crying because the kiss was bad. I haven’t kissed someone in a while.” Seokmin shook his head in reassurance. Joshua reached out, thumbing away some of the tears sitting on Seokmin’s cheeks. “I’m glad they’re happy tears, but you shouldn’t cry.” He chuckled. “Come on, love…” 

When ‘love’ hit his ears, Seokmin let out a panicked noise, avoiding his gaze as his brain shut down. It took him a second to reboot before looking back over. Joshua’s hand stayed on his cheek for a second longer, swiping a few stray tears away before pulling back. “Do uhm…” Seokmin sniffled a bit, turning to face the apartment just outside of the car. “You want to come in for a bit? I can make tea…or coffee…or something.”

“Sure.” Seokmin watched as Joshua’s eyes curled into familiar crescent moons, putting the one hovering above them to shame. The newly proclaimed lovebirds got out of the car, Seokmin needing to make sure that his legs would be able to hold him up as he got to his feet. When Joshua came around the car, he offered his arm to Seokmin with a dopey grin on his face as the duo headed to the apartment.  

The trip up the elevator was quiet, both men standing shoulder to shoulder as Joshua scrolled through something on his phone. The elevator shook a bit on its trip up. Like a hive mind, Seokmin gripped Joshua’s arm to steady him at the same time Joshua reached his hand out to put on the small of Seokmin’s back, both turning to look at each other. “Heh.” Hoping to prevent his cheeks from tinting pink, he looked down at his feet. When the elevator doors opened, Joshua put his phone back in his pocket and led Seokmin out. Seokmin immediately felt Joshua’s hand still ghosting the small of his back, despite the elevator being several paces behind them by now.

Once inside, Seokmin started a pot of coffee while Joshua finished looking through photos on his phone. “What have you been looking at?” Seokmin asked, leaning against the counter for a better look.

“I haven’t posted online in a while, so I’m looking for some pictures from tonight.” He passed the phone between them. “I don’t have too many, though, I was having so much fun I didn’t even realize.” He chuckled.

Seokmin immediately pulled out his phone. “I took a lot!” He scrolled through an entire wall of photos taken from the beginning of the night to the very end; from photos of the decorated room to selfies with everyone in attendance. Joshua immediately pulled up a photo of the two of them, one of Seokmin taking a selfie that Joshua stuck his head in, and then the following photo where they threw up a peace sign.

“Send me those.” He said. “They’re cute. And one with you in the glasses.”

“Okay!” Seokmin smiled. “I’ll send you tons. Can I Airdrop them?” Joshua nodded, looking down at his phone. “I should post something, too…” Seokmin murmured in realization.

With the sound of the coffee pot warming up behind them, both pulled up their Instagram accounts and began selecting some of their favorite photos from the night. Just as Seokmin was about to put a nice, long message about how much fun he had, and how grateful he was for being able to get through finals, Joshua piped up with a question:

“…Can I say that you’re my boyfriend?”

Seokmin’s eyes shot up towards Joshua, who finally seemed to hold a nervous expression in his features. “…Is…are you…are you asking me out?”

Joshua paused for a second, seeming to think about the answer to the question himself. Finally, he nodded. “I mean…..” He said, a smile finally forming on his face. “Yeah, I guess, since I didn’t properly ask in the car. That wouldn’t be very gentlemanly of me, now is it?” 

“You’re very gentlemanly…” Seokmin looked back down at the string of photos he had, ready to post. Almost all of them had Joshua in them, whether it was just the two of them or with a collection of friends. Seokmin wanted Joshua to be there, from now on, he wanted Joshua to always be with him. The sizzle of the coffee pot finally came to an end just as Seokmin nodded and said: “O-okay. I’ll…I’ll put it on too, then.”

The smile on Joshua’s face only widened. “Cool. Then, we can put our phones on silent while our friend groups blow up our phones. I can probably place bets on exactly what each person will say!”

“Heh. Me too.” Seokmin agreed. He edited his caption before setting his phone down on the kitchen counter and turning to pour two cups of coffee. When Joshua set his own phone down, he grinned in amusement, nestling closer to Seokmin and taking his own coffee mug.

“How long until people see the post?”

“Maybe five minutes? Seungcheol-hyung is always up to date with what’s going on.” Seokmin grinned as he took a sip of his drink. “And five minutes might be generous.” Joshua hummed behind his own mug. “Oh!” Seokmin gasped, turning to Joshua in shock. “I almost forgot something! Wait here! No, wait on the couch!” Setting the coffee cup on the counter, Seokmin headed straight into his room.

He emerged a few minutes later with a little bag he had gotten from the far back of his closet, seeing Joshua was sitting on the couch with both coffee cups on the table in front of him.  “I got you something for your birthday.”

Joshua’s eyes went wide. “What? You didn’t have to!”

“Of course, I did!” Seokmin sat at his side, setting the bag at Joshua’s side. “It’s nothing big. It’s part one.”

“Part one?” Joshua smirked, pulling out the sparkling white tissue paper.

“Yeah. Part two is for your actual birthday.” He said. “How else are you supposed to do birthday gifts?” Joshua laughed.

“Guess I can’t argue with that logic.” Joshua peered inside the bag and pulled out a little gift wicker basket wrapped in see-through paper with tons of different things inside. Joshua smiled a bit. “What is it?”

“Well, remember when you came over to study with nothing in your bag?” Joshua nodded. “I know you’ve gotten a few things to put in there but I wanted to get you some more stuff. An emergency kit, I guess.” He laughed nervously as Joshua began unwrapping the basket. “Is it stupid?”

“What? No!” Joshua said. “I love it! I was running low on some stuff anyway.” He pulled all of the stuff out to examine more. Most of it was simple; a few different packs of gums, winter-scented hand sanitizer, flavored lip balm, some cute flare pens - which Joshua said are a teacher’s dream pen - and a little amethyst crystal. Minghao said they ‘help with keeping someone in good health.’

Joshua pulled out a little keychain that was already open from the package. He held it close for a better look. It was a small plush Cinaroll keychain in a teacher’s outfit. “Stop, what?” He gasped in English. “It’s cute!”  

“I thought of you when I was shopping at the mall.” Seokmin said. He reached behind him and pulled out his own keychain, dangling it in between them. It was of Pochacco wearing an overexaggerated Shakespeare-esque outfit. “I got this one for me. They’re part of a set.”

“So, we have matching keychains?!” Joshua looked so excited it made Seokmin laugh. “Oh, perfect!” He turned to his white bag, hooking the keychain right onto the front. “Thank you. This is so awesome!”

Seokmin watched as Joshua squeezed the little plush keychain and took a minute to just admire him in the silence. He was so many things; smart, passionate, beautiful, generous, funny, he could go on for days. All the things that made Seokmin fall head over heels in love with him in the first place. Just thinking about how in love he was - how lucky he was - made him feel like anything was possible. 

“Now, I really want to kiss you again.” He admitted, eyes falling to Seokmin.

He was also so incredibly attractive, and impossible to refuse.

Seokmin didn’t even bat an eye when he practically gasped out: “Okay.” Joshua grinned, setting his gift on the coffee table so he could close the gap between them. He leaned in and immediately planted another kiss on Seokmin’s lips that made December feel like the middle of summertime.

Joshua Hong was his. For now, things felt perfect. 

To Be Continued in Part 2

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[fraudulent-cheese]

I really wanna hear about the skave one(12.)

OH BOYYYY

I'll get this one out of the way immediately. I hate them as a couple.

Ok hate's a little strong? To me, wanting them to be a couple is missing the goddamn point, on top of being an insanely boring outcome and doing the exact thing the ship subverts in canon. No hate to skave shippers, i just dont like this ship as an actual couple.

HOWEVER. As the train wreck they are in canon? Ignoring Lies, Cries and One Big Prize for a second - they rule. Awesome, nearly no notes. I love that they're doomed from the start of their actual romantic advances, that their flaws prevented them from getting in a relationship, hell i'd argue the superficial nature of their crushes is a good thing here since it reinforces both how this relationship wasn't gonna work out AND it feeds into each character's main flaw: a lack of communication.

Neither Dave nor Sky are great at telling the other what they want, and endlessly run on assumssions based on their own expectations and narratives; Sky thinks Dave would understand the competition comes first but Dave isn't doing that, while Dave is convinced Sky wants him bad for half the season and pines very hard after her for multiple challenges. Hell, this lack of communication/ignoring boundaries on Dave's end is set up perfectly by the first actual conversation they have! Sky opens up about her family's history and why she's training for the olympics... And he hasn't listened to a word she said. And then U-turns the conversation to liking her (according to my own recollection, maybe im missremembering). They both have apparent "quirks" related to how they communicate/react to liking someone else that would inhibit good communication for fucks sakes! They were doomed! And i love that! They're both trainwrecks in romance (especially Dave dear god) and it's so, so satisfying to watch it finally grumble by episode 9.

I love how Dave's cockiness is born out of him following the advice Shawn gave him last episode to an extreme, again showing that he's just going off on the assumption on how a "winner" acts. And then! Sky! Tells! Him! Off! Literally my favorite moment of the episode. If reality TV wouldn't let them reconcile i am glad it let Dave pathetically try to get over/get back at Sky while the girl completely brushes him off and really asserts her boundaries. I also like Dave outright eliminating himself afterwards (i dont get why Sky was in the bottom 2 tho...) because like! He would do that! He's only staying here because he's got a crush on the idea of Sky and now it's been destroyed, ofc dude wants out!

...and then the finale happened. Ughhhh why did they do them like thattttt

Look, im still making the tdpi video, but it's been put on the serious backburner since i am in medical school and have very limited access to my computer. But i have an entire paragraph about how i dont like how skave was handled in the finale, i've yapped about it before on here, how it mischaracterises Sky, how the Boyfriend Back Home reveal sucks ass, how Dave's reaction feels like the writters being desperate for an antagonistic force in the finale when Chris is right here, ect... Im not going there again. TLDR, i really dont like it.

Uh if you want more thoughts about them in canon, i'd recommend reading this post by @/leonave since it's really good. Anyways

NOW FOR WHAT I WANTED FOR MY REWRITE.

Now the thing is that i dont think there's much wrong with the start of the season. This applies to the set-up of Sky and Dave's dynamic; Dave crushing on Sky because she helped him makes sense with the way he seems to view her, and the way their crushes feel so artificial (ESPECIALLY on Sky's end) is actually beneficial to the direction i wanted to go with them - namely, that Sky isn't really crushing on Dave and Dave realises how superficial his crush was. And wasn't as intense as he thought it was. Obviously the conversation is a little awkward - Dave still wouldn't take rejection well, but is also trying to be supportive because he does like talking to Sky and also he basically just came on international television by accident and Dave isn't that terrible of a person - and they wouldn't be on good terms for a bit, but they would resolve the conflict and actually become friends afterwards. Eventually. They're still not great at communication and are also dealing with confusing emotions on reality TV.

uhhh idk what else to add to this post so uh. Here's Sky and Dave friendship propaganda with some yuri added ontop lol

[mr-payjay]

You want to talk about doomed payjay sooo badly. I went on a huge rant about it yesterday and im curious to see what you think about it (also thank you for causing the payjay nickel incident that killed me)

YOU BET I DO!!! also im glad my superchat affected so many payjay fans, i find the result of it quite amusing

my favourite kind of doomed payjay is when their mental illnesses intersect... it's also fun to exaggerate them. ive found a lot of people like delusionally jealous oj? whenever i bring it up people get excited. to clarify, it's. pretty much just yanderizing oj LOL! here's some of the issues that can occur with delusional jealousy (disclaimer: i don't believe oj would ever do these. this is just a way i like to explore his character and push his jealousy and possessiveness to extremes for fun! at the very most, oj would fantasize about this, but he'd try to push the thoughts of it away because he'd think it makes him a bad person.)

ive been wanting to draw some of this for funsiessss. make that man go crazy bonkers insane like im monika ddlc turning up The Yandere Dial on yuri

another thing that's fun to explore is paper's need for attention!! my friend is better at explaining and detecting paper's hpd than i am, but i still notice some symptoms and scenarios myself: paper making a big deal about getting possibly eliminated while sitting on the bench, paper dramatically telling oj to go on without him then getting upset when he Does That, paper socializing quite a bit and generally being pretty extroverted, etc. and that can be. fun to think about! mind you i think more about oj's npd and bpd but i, of course, love paper a lot too. my friend suggested this, but paper feeding into oj's obsession (paper is oj's fp to be clear, umm i can give proof if someone wants?) to get attention & fucking things up just so he has to fix it and help him and Observe him is fun to consider. there's also the fact paper is bullied and shunned pretty often both in ii1 (remember apple) and in the hotel (they canonically just. destroy things. and paper has to fix them), and he's often not given attention other than to be useful... which kinda explains paper's eagerness to help in canon! id say it started off with paper trying to help people a lot in ii1, then they got used to it and started to assume he'd help all the time in the hotel, which he just went with because it's The Only Time they give him attention. also is why he canonically likes to cook :) he loves the reception it gets!

i like divorced payjay, but i don't think it would happen realistically. they're together for life. it definitely gets hard sometimes (they're both Suffering in general) but they're never ever Ever going to give up on each other. and that's beautifullll ahh my little Worms

um. i just realized i rambled more about their respective mental illnesses than doomed payjay LOL welllll it causes problems in their relationship ok

if you want you can send me an ask rambling about doomed payjay... id love to see what you were ranting about yesterday!

[hiiroamagisbestfriend]

Helloo!! I saw that requests are open so can I ask for 2wink + Kohaku confession? And can I be 🦋 anon???? Thank you!! <3

Confession Headcanons!

w/ Hinata Aoi, Yuta Aoi, & Kohaku Oukawa x GN! Reader

AAA another anon! of course! glad to have you here ^^ im apologizing in advance if they're kinda ooc 😵‍💫 i had a lot fun writing these though, so thank you!

Warnings: None! Just some fluff and happy misunderstandings!

Hinata Aoi

✩ Hinata I feel, would realize pretty early on in your friendship that he really loves you. The thing is though, he's a prankster at heart, and even the subject of his affection wouldnt be immune to that.

✩ Like, he wouldn't tone them down for you at all. In fact you'd probably be his primary victim after he realizes his feelings for you. Childish, right? He acknowledges this, and Yuta would reprimand him for it quite often, saying how what he's doing could have the opposite effect on you.

✩ But see, this is just his way of showing affection! Seeing your shocked face slowly soften into laughter at whatever it was he did made him feel all fuzzy inside. He could just pop out of a corner to shock you but you'd still eat up something that simple.

✩ There was another perk to this behavior though, and it's that he could always wave off his actions as a prank if you didn't seem to receive it all that well.

✩ Flowers on your desk? Haha! He just wanted to see your reaction! Giving you chocolates? Well, one of them is spicy! A hug from behind? It's just to surprise you! All the common acts of affection that he people would have, he could easily write off as just another silly prank.

✩ But one day, he decided it was finally time to tell you how he really feels. If the result was unsatisfactory, then he'll just backpedal like he always did.

✩ He would never admit it out loud, but he knows exactly why he built up this kind of image. He was afraid. Afraid of you refusing his feelings. Afraid of losing you and the wonderful friendship you two shared.

"What did you call me out for this time, Hinata?" You said, playfully scolding the boy who couldn't seem to meet your gaze. He looked a bit more serious than usual... Or maybe that's what he wanted you to think...? "Uh, Hinata? You o-"

Before you could finish, he finally decided to look at you, and you could see just how flushed pink his face was. "(Y/N)! I really, really like you!" With how genuine he said it, you almost seemed to forget this was the mischievous trickster that messed with you on a daily basis.

Well, the truth is you liked him too. How could you not? He was just such a fun guy to be around. His daily pranks and teasing basically became the status quo for you. But you bit your lip, not sure how to respond to this apparent declaration of love.

When Hinata saw that face of yours riddled with confusion, he was just about ready to bail. Seeing you ruminate on his words for a while formed a pit in his stomach.

"Got ya! Haha! Sorry, (Y/N)! Did that make your heart skip a beat? T'was just a joke!" His delivery was so stinted and forced that you really had no idea what was going on anymore. Though he said it was a joke, you could somehow tell it wasn't.

Hinata was ready to start running in the complete opposite direction, only stopping when he suddenly felt you tug at his clothes. "It's not a joke, is it?"

The slight smirk on your face made Hinata shiver, is this what it feels like to be on the receiving end of these sorts of things? "A-aha! Yep! It's a joke! Why, do you like me or something?" He sounded a bit too desperate towards the end there, but that wasn't important.

"I did. Hinata." His jaw dropped, was this for real? He's so happy he could cry! "Sorry, that was a lie." Well, now he just wants to cry normally! "Cause I actually love you!"

His brain short circuited when you pulled him in for a hug. In just the span of a few seconds you really took him for a ride didn't you? You rascal!

"Is that so? Well, in that case I lied too..." Hinata hugged you back, squeezing you so hard it was like he would never let you go. "I guess I love you too!"

Yuta Aoi

✩ Yuta fell in love slow, but he fell HARD. Unlike his silly brother though, he wouldn't want to do such roundabout things to express his feelings.

✩ Rather, he simply doesn't. Instead of jokingly telling you how he loves you, he just. Chooses not to.

✩ Sure some people see that kind of thing as cowardly, but he just doesn't want to try anything until he's sure. He'd hate nothing more than to do the wrong thing in a situation as complicated as love.

✩ Yuta loved you, but he had no way of confirming if you would feel the same. Sure, you were kind to him and always offered to help him out at all sorts of things, but maybe you were just like that with everyone?

✩ Nothing you did ever made him feel like he was special to you after all, like you wouldn't treat him any differently from any of the other guys around.

✩ So maybe, just maybe, choosing to give up on you while it's still early would be the better choice. He did want to check just one thing before he does though.

✩ Yuta doesn't particularly like doing this, but it's for a good cause, he rationalizes as he styles his hair to look like Hinata's. Putting on some of his clothes as well before adapting the cheerier tone that his brother uses.

✩ This was a needlessly complicated plan, and he was worried if he could even pull it off. Still though, with how many loops he's jumping just to confirm your feelings, seems Yuta is more like his brother than he'd like to admit.

"Oh! Fancy running into you here, (Y/N)!" Yuta called out to you, though it wasn't a coincidence. You smiled and rushed over to him, Yuta's heart squeezing a bit as he felt guilty for what he was about to do. "Are you free right now? There's something I wanted to ask you."

The two of you make conversation as you just aimlessly walk around, no clear destination in mind. "So! What do you think about Yuta?" He suddenly piped up, part of him worried that it was too direct, but he has more important things to deal with right now.

Yuta watched your face scrunch up a bit as you went into thought. "He's nice and friendly, a bit mischievous like his brother, and he has a good eye for sweets." He didn't expect such a logical analysis, though his question was a bit vague.

"Haha! Let me rephrase that. How do you feel about Yuta?" He watched your face scrunch up a bit again, a much more serious expression on your face this time.

"He's a good friend. I like him a lot! He recommended me a good cafe the other day too!" You replied, Yuta's face darkening a bit at the notion of being called friend.

"So, (Y/N). How would you react if I said I love you?" He watched you get shocked for a second before a slight blush tints the tip of your ears. His heart hurt a bit at this sight, did you end up liking his brother of all people? That would just be too sad.

"Then I'd say: I love you too, Yuta!" Huh? That wasn't the response he was expecting at all? You actually liked him back? Wait no, first of all you knew it was him rather than Hinata?

"How could you tell?" Yuta asked straight up, feeling the heat rise to his cheeks.

"Of course I could tell. Yuta is his own person after all?" You said it so matter-of-factly that Yuta was taken aback. For so much of his life, he's always just been Hinata's twin, the other half of 2wink. For someone to actually see him for who he is...? Oh he'd never let you go.

You let out a yelp as he suddenly enveloped you in a tight hug. "I'll confess properly another time." His voice was a bit strained, as if he was holding back tears he didn't know he had. "But for now. Thank you. I love you."

Kohaku Oukawa

✩ Oh Kohaku, the silly ever.

✩ He spent most of his life alone, and what little social interaction he had was online, so suffice to say he didn't understand how he felt for you at all in the beginning.

✩ Why did his heart beat a bit faster whenever you're around? His palms would get a bit sweaty, and he'd find it difficult to meet your eyes.

✩ He didn't attribute these occurences to you at the start, simply thinking that he was just feeling off or some other external factor was causing it.

✩ But when he eventually realized you were the cause of these weird feelings? Hm, he did not know what to do at all. Who could he even turn to at moments like these? The others at Crazy:B would tease him about it, he just knows it. Madara seems like he'd know the answer, but owing him favors wasn't something Kohaku wanted.

✩ So who was left? He didn't really know that many people, much less trust them enough to figure out what was wrong with him.

✩ Because of that, he decided to just start journaling his thoughts on you. Like how he thought your eyes looked very pretty, to how much he wanted to play with your hair. He wrote about how your hands seem like the perfect size to slot his fingers into; and though he hasn't had one, he knows a hug from you would be just perfect.

✩ Something told him that he probably shouldn't show this to other people. He doesn't know why his face heats up ever so slightly whenever he's writing about you either.

✩ It was one late evening with Kohaku laying down on his bed, staring at the ceiling, before realizing something absolutely dreadful. This was love, wasn't it? This definitely fit with the "rabu-i" things Aira would always pester him about.

✩ So that was it huh? He was in love with you. When he realized that, he breathed a sigh of relief. It would have been pretty bad if he was getting sick or something after all. He's truly glad it was just something this simple.

✩ He was about to write down how he feels when he had yet another grim realization that evening. He had left his bag along with the journal inside the practice room he was using earlier that day.

✩ Kohaku made a mad dash from Seisoukan all the way to ES, ignoring literally everyone asking him what on earth he was doing. When he got to ES in record time, he quickly made his way to the practice room, busting the door open to see that his bag was no longer there.

✩ In the ES Lost & Found, you yawned a bit, placing this bag you just found along with the other missing items. It sure is tiring work to be watching over these things, lots of people just love leaving their stuff around everywhere like ES is their home. This is just another part of your job, you surmise.

✩ You let out a shriek when a certain pink haired boy suddenly came crashing into you. The bag and it's contents flying out all over the place.

"Are ya' okay?!" You heard, from somewhere above you. Were you on the floor? Your sense of balance was all wrong and it felt like something heavy on top of you was making it hard to breathe. "'M so sorry!" The same voice cried out before your eyes finally decided to open and see that the boy that ran into you was currently right on top of you.

All of a sudden, a light thud resounds as a journal falls right on top of his head and onto the ground, opening it up to some random page. Kohaku quickly gets off you and grabs the journal, shoving it into his bag.

He helps you get back to your feet, before bowing down to apologize again. You wave him off and tell him it was nothing, much to his surprise. "Why were you in such a rush, though?" You asked, eyeing the bag he was clutching like his life depended on it.

"Ah. Uh. Ya' see... There was somethin' I needed from my bag!" He stammers, whatever it was he needed back he clearly wanted to hide. Still, there were procedures to these sorts of things, you had to confirm that it was really him who owned this stuff after all.

You gave him a form to fill out, telling him that you need to check the contents before you can hand it back to him. His face darkened at your words, the grip on his bag tightened so much his knuckles went white.

You wonder how you can verify if that bag is really his when you remembered he had a journal thing that he stuffed in his bag. "Ah, if you could just show me something there that matches with your handwriting in the form, that should be good enough!" He rummages through his bag before shaking his head. "There was a journal there, right? That'll do just fine!"

Kohaku was shaking his head so much it looked like it could fall off. Your lips formed into a line as you explained how you can't give it back to him like this, even if it really was his stuff.

Kohaku quickly rummaged through his bag again, surely there was something, anything but the journal that could prove his identity?! But just like last time, he came up blank. With a shaky hand, he pulls the journal out and hands it over to you.

He could only watch as you opened it and started reading it to compare his handwriting. He could see the light pink starting to dust your features as you continued to study his journal.

Eventually, after what felt like hours, you handed it back to him. "Yep! I can confirm that it's yours!" You could feel just how hot your face was. Even though you just caught a glimpse of it, you could tell that this boy seemed to have fallen for you.

Well, he was pretty cute, and this is certainly an interesting first meeting. "So, was this your master plan in letting me know your feelings, Kohaku?" Hm, pink is a good color on him, not just on his hair and eyes, but his face too.

Kohaku was cringing so hard, he can't believe this just happened to him. Still, it's not like he can worm his way out of this one can he? Might as well run with it.

"Ahaha... Ya' caught me! I love ya, (Y/N)."

ugh im sorry the kohaku one is so mid i couldnt think of anything at all

[milkflavouredchair]

Im curious, how does Randy interact with everybody else? or how would you describe his personality in this AU? I'm very fond of dinamic changes and I need to know how the "having no friends" affected him

I'm a sucker for AUs I wish I had time to draw them all together YOUR AU ROCKSS

THANKS!! I LOVE TALKING ABOUT IT, AND IM GLAD OTHERS LIKE IT AS WELL!!!

Randy I'd say is still his upbeat self, just a little more... Crazy... And even though he didn't have friends growing up, instead of it making him socially awkward and unable to talk to people, I think it just made him REALLY bad at telling his own and others emotions (think entrapta from She-Ra).

I'd also like to list his interactions with others and what he thinks of them/what they think of him. (Little bit of a long list)

Viceroy - Randy sees Viceroy as a father figure of sorts. Viceroy was the one to pick him up when he was at his lowest, and for that he feels indebted to him (much to Viceroy's displeasure. Because to Viceroy, Randy also feels like his son, and he doesn't want him feeling like he's OBLIGATED to stay with him and work for McFist).

They have a good and strong relationship, and their idea of bonding is building robots to destroy the Ninja while laughing manically + bitching about McFist.

McFist - I already talked about their relationship, but they don't get along swimmingly, especially at first. They ATTEMPT to have a professional relationship, and they manage half the time.

Marci - Marci and Randy get along really well (which pisses McFist off) when they're together, which isn't much actually. Randy mainly visited the McFists when he was young (about 12) and Viceroy dragged him along. Now they really only see eachother sparingly during work hours (they love to chit-chat and catch up though).

Bash - They don't really know much about each other, but they know OF each other. The most they've ever really spoken was when McFist got tired of having to babysit Bash and just left him with Randy for a "playdate". (McFist deeply regretted this later, as Randy had managed to convince Bash to slip Turmeric into all his fancy soaps)

Howard - Howard and Randy are still VERY good friends in my AU. They first met eachother at "Greg's Game Hole" (or more accurately the "Food Hole") where they manage to strike up a conversation. Howard actually manages to find out Randy's homeschooled because of his attitude and weird questions.

After this revelation, Howard starts telling Randy EXTREMELY exaggerated things about what school like. They quickly exchanged numbers and become close friends. (And Viceroy is ECSTATIC that he's made a friend)

Julian - Randy got introduced to Julian through Howard. They both bond quickly because they both aren't really considered "normal" by most peoples standards. They were also both (in a sense) raised by the Internet, and know dumb, niche references Howard does not (he's not too happy to be left out of the joke).

(And because I'm a sucker for juliandy) I think Julian would develop a crush on Randy after some time, but because of Randy's stupid, lizard brain, Julian could literally be like "You're like the sun, your smile is so warm it could warm up even the coldest of hearts, and for that, I love you" and then Randy would say some shit like "Aww, you're my best friend too, Julian!" (He's trying, but his skull is EMPTY)

Julian was also VERY surprised to not only learn that his crushes dad was the one who kept trying to destroy him, but his crush TOO was trying to destroy him. (He gets along with Viceroy for Randy's sake)

Ninja - I feel like he wouldn't really have a hatred towards the ninja, more like "strange fixation" as he describes it (his ass does NOT know how a celebrity crush works).

And his love language is sending out killer robots <3

(ask if you want me to explain his relationship with someone who's not here, I will gladly do so)