#lifer best friend

[judesstfrancis]

it is actually for real so fucked up that people u were genuine best friends with as a kid are sometimes people u will never see again. and like nothing happened u guys don't hate each other u didn't fight u just gradually stopped talking. but u miss them and u also no longer know them but u still know them better than a lot of people might bc u knew them when u were 10 and 13 and awkward and unfiltered and u remember their birthday and that album they bought u on cd is still in your cd player and u still have that scrap piece of notebook paper they doodled on during english tucked away in a binder somewhere but u can't text them to say hi bc it would be weird. anyway here's to all the friends I had that we forgot to keep in touch I hope u still see things and think of me like I do with u and thanks so much for making me who I am

[chaconnehoonie]

BFFS- S.JY & P.SH

♡ Sunghoon x Fem! reader x Jake

Synopsis: Your best friends show you how real men treat women.

WC: 4.6k

Warnings: Mentions of cheating, threesome, cursing, Jakehoon call reader princess a lot

Smut warnings: Kissing, oral(f&m), handjobs, unprotected sex, double penetration, anal, slight manhandling, squirting, cream pie, reader maybe almost passes out, aftercare(i love)

This is fiction and the scenarios are completely fake and from my brain, none of the characters are like this in real life, MDNI!

A/N: This took me three days to write,, pls bear with me as I figure out my writing style. Jakehoon have me going brain dumb and I rlly needed to write this to get it out of my system, enjoy!

You slouched back in your seat, lolling your head to the side to watch the scenery as big open fields pass by quickly. Sighing in disappointment of your “girls day” gone wrong.

“Okay- what do you mean the Airbnb was cancelled? How do you even cancel one of those?” Sunghoon whines in the front seat while giving Jake directions to the nearest hotel. A real passenger princess, he is.

Jake’s grip on the steering wheel tightens, irritated at the faulty trip plan he had made for the three of you. “I don’t know.” He mutters through gritted teeth. “I wasn’t the one that canceled it. The host did, said something about a family emergency.”

Your eyes grow lazy as the sun sets, watching as the calming twilight takes over the sky. You couldn’t care any less about the Airbnb, just wanting to settle into the nearest bed and relax. So, when Jake finally pulls into the parking lot of the nearest hotel, you’re the first one to hop out of the car.

“Jesus, this place is scary.” You whisper to yourself but Sunghoon picks up on it, wrapping an arm around your shoulder and pulling you closer. “Sorry, Princess. I know this trip was supposed to be for you to relax and let go but we’re on a bit of a delay. The fun can start tomorrow.” He ruffles your hair a bit before you pull away to grab your suitcase. “Don’t even worry about it.”

He takes your suitcase in his hand while also holding his own, forearm flexing under his expensive Tiffany bracelet. “Seriously, Y/N. I’m sorry it’s not going as planned.” Jake is frowning next to you as you walk to the front desk and you shake your head at him. “Please, guys. I know you’re trying your best to make me feel better.”

You turn back to Sunghoon who is now holding your room key, ushering you to the fragile looking stairs that creak under each step. “Room 127.” He mutters out as you turn the corner, nodding his head towards the very end of a long hallway of doors.

Grabbing the key from him to run ahead of them, you open the creaky door to let them in first. “Thanks, Princess.” Jake follows behind Sunghoon through the threshold, kissing your temple in gratitude.

They both huff as they set down the luggage, immediately scanning the room to analyze your living situation. There’s two small beds with a nightstand between, an old CRT TV that probably doesn’t work, a scary painting of a cottage in a forest on the wall next to the bathroom door, and a tiny kitchen with only a small counter, mini fridge, and a table for two.

“Well,” Sunghoon sighs, plopping down onto a bed, “Let’s get comfy.” He smiles and even if this hotel is old and creepy, his grin makes you feel like you’re home. “Thank you, guys.” You’re hit with a sudden sense of sadness and guilt. “I know you guys like trips but this was so last minute because of me and I feel bad for making you guys go through this.”

Jake sits down next to Sunghoon, grabbing one of your hands to lead you to stand in front of them. “Don’t even worry about it. We planned this for you. No best friend of mine is going to get cheated on and then rot in bed for all of eternity.” Sunghoon nods in agreement, taking your other hand in his. “That’s right. We’re for lifers and I’d be an asshole to leave my bestie in the dirt just because she got a little closed off and depressed.”

You squeeze both of their hands, smiling down at their big, loving eyes. “You guys are sweet.” You feel a lump in your throat starting to form, and get suddenly too embarrassed of being emotional to be serious, “But you need to stop with the TikTok slang, I can’t take it seriously.” You joke and they both grin at your attempt to be funny, different from your recently quiet and moody personality.

“Why don’t you go take a shower and when we’re all done washing up, we can put a movie on my laptop, hm?” Sunghoon stands up and Jake follows, leading all three of you to check out the bathroom. As expected, the area is small with just a sink, toilet, and small shower. “Good thing I brought my own soaps.”

Just as you turn to grab your garment bag, a large cockroach is running across the floor and Jake is quick to step on it, hearing the loud splat as it’s squished against the tile. “Wow, I am not sleeping tonight”.

♡.

You mindlessly scroll through social media as your best friends are focused on the horror movie playing on the small screen in front of you, huddled up in a big blanket that’s covering them from head to toe, save for their eyes. All three of you are laying on your stomachs, and you’d feel them jerk and hear small squeals every now and then as they get scared, then teasing each other for being pussies which results in them rolling around on the bed trying to push each other off.

You sigh as you click on a certain story that makes your stomach drop, the video audio blasting as music plays through speakers and your screen flashes bright colorful lights while people dance and grind on each other.

“What are you doing? You’re not even watching the movie!” Jake nudges your side and you nudge him back, pushing him into Sunghoon who is laying next to him. “Yeah, we put this on for you!” Sunghoon joins in on the whining, reaching over Jake to steal your phone. “What are you looking at anyways-” He cuts himself off as he watches the video on your phone, suddenly tapping on the person’s profile. “Your ex? Seriously?”

You sink further into the bed with guilt, avoiding eye contact with the both of them as they stare at you in disbelief. “Why haven’t you blocked him yet?” Jake sounds hurt by this, maybe because you promised him you’d block the man after you left him. “I-I don’t know,” You huff, “I can’t just let go of him like that.” You watch the way Sunghoon’s jaw clenches in anger, then relaxes as he starts speaking again. “Y/N, he cheated on you. He doesn’t love you and you shouldn’t be trying to hold onto him like that anymore.” He doesn’t sound angry, but it’s serious enough to hit you where it hurts, taking a deep breath as tears start blurring your vision.

Before you have time to process it, Jake sits up and pulls you into his lap, sitting you sideways on one of his thighs. “You know he’s not trying to be rude.” He cups your face and wipes the falling tears away with his thumb. “We just want what’s best for you, and that asshole is definitely not the best.” Sunghoon hums in agreement, placing a hand on the back of your head and petting you soothingly.

“Let us show you how a real man treats his girl.” Sunghoon’s voice is low, almost a whisper and you can feel his breath on your neck. “W-what?” You sniffle, wiping any tears left on your cheek. “You heard me, babe. Let us make you feel good.” He pulls you off of Jake’s lap, laying you on the bed and kneels on one side of you as Jake kneels on the other side.

They both watch you with big, hopeful eyes, patiently waiting for your answer. You could moan just from the way they devour you with their gaze, so you decide to nod in agreement instead. Jake immediately leans down to kiss you, pressing his lips gently against yours while his hands hold your face. Sunghoon’s hands trail up your thighs and hips to hold your waist, pushing under your cropped tank top to grip your skin softly.

You moan quietly against Jake’s lips and he smiles at the way you’re easily relaxing into two pairs of hands. Sunghoon shifts lower, getting comfortable between your legs as he massages the flesh of your thighs. You moan into the kiss again, this time parting your lips slightly, but enough for Jake to slip his tongue through. At the first brush of his tongue against yours you stiffen, hands coming up to grip his hair.

Sunghoon softly squeezes your hip, grabbing your attention away from Jake and you pull away from the kiss with a string of saliva connecting your lips, blushing lightly at the vulgar image. Looking down at Sunghoon, he’s dangerously close to your core, with just your pajama bottoms and underwear in the way. “Can I take these off?” He asks softly, as if trying to make you as comfortable as possible. You whisper out a “yes” and Sunghoon smiles before pressing a kiss to your clothed thigh.

You look back up at Jake who is now groping you from over your thin tank top, watching the way your breasts squish under the weight of his palm. Your back arches slightly, pushing your chest closer to him while you pull him down for another kiss. His mouth opens as soon as your lips touch, letting you stick your tongue in and kiss him nasty enough for spit to trail down your chin and onto your neck.

Jake pulls away, kissing down your cheek to your jaw and neck, lapping at the saliva trail and sucking harshly at the joint of your neck and shoulder. Your back arches higher, grinding your hips against nothing as you realize Sunghoon has gotten your lower half completely bare. You pull your hands away from Jake and shoot up, covering yourself and blushing shyly.

“C‘mon, Princess, show me your pretty pussy.” He nips at your thigh, lightly tapping them to encourage you. Hesitantly, you spread your legs open as he stares down, licking his lips and smirking proudly. “That’s my girl.” He lifts off of his stomach to hover above you, knees on either side of you as Jake takes his spot between your legs. They moved so swiftly you almost didn’t realize that it was Sunghoon you were now kissing.

The way his lips move against yours is different than Jake, softer and less messy but just as hungry. He places his hands on your boobs, softly pinching one nipple and rolling it between his fingers. “A-ah” You whimper into his mouth, lightly biting his bottom lip and he whimpers back in response, shooting butterflies straight down to your core. Jake watches as more slick spills out of you, his cock large and heavy straining against his sweats.

He wastes no time, blowing cold air against your cunt and giving you no chance to complain about teasing as he licks a long stripe up your slit and retracts his tongue back into his mouth to hum at the taste. You shudder at the feeling of him softly kissing your clit, poking his tongue out to gently flick it against you as you press your body up and against Sunghoon.

He takes this as an invitation to continue undressing you, lifting your shirt over your head and staring holes into your chest. Before you can cover yourself again, he catches you and pins your arms above your head with one hand, while the other grabs your face, squishing your cheeks hard enough for your lips to plump up. “God, you’re beautiful.” He leans back down, kissing you softly and pulling away with a smack.

Behind him, Jake is sucking and licking every part of you he can, letting mixes of your slick and his saliva run down his chin and smear on his face. He takes your clit between his lips and sucks harshly. “Fuck- Jake, oh my god.” You moan loudly, pulling Sunghoon closer so he can kiss all over your chest, sucking dark purple and red bruises against your skin.

You assume this is what heaven is. Two hot men kissing and sucking on the most sensitive and intimate parts of you, their hands roaming all over your body to squeeze whatever they feel. You almost forgot that they’re your best friends.

Sunghoon pulls you out of your thoughts as he flicks his tongue over your nipple, softly taking it into his mouth and sucking on it desperately. This sends you over the edge, suddenly feeling too close to your orgasm that your thighs start to tingle and your breathing is unsteady. “Holy shit, g-gonna cum.” You barely have time to warn them before your thighs are closing around Jake’s head, one hand in his hair and the other in Sunghoon’s as he drools against your chest.

“That’s it, baby. Let him taste you.” Sunghoon groans into your ear, his length growing impossibly harder as you lose yourself. Jake doesn’t let go of your clit, instead going further and slipping a finger inside of you easily. “Jesus, you’re soaking.” He smiles as more slick spills out of you, wetting the bed and trailing down his forearm.

“Ah! Too much!” You whine as Jake starts curling his finger, never letting your clit leave his mouth. “It’s okay princess, have to get you prepped for us.” He adds another finger, moaning against your heat at the way he easily slips his digits in, curling them up as your hips chase the feeling.

Sunghoon takes your hand that’s in his hair and trails it down his body, landing on his hard-on. You look up at him as his eyebrows are furrowed, lip caught between his teeth as you gently palm him through his pants. “Go on, take it out.” He wiggles his hips cutely and you nod eagerly.

You fumble with his belt, having to stop a few times to moan and grind against Jake’s fingers. You finally loosen it, popping open the button and unzipping so you can tug his pants down his thighs aggressively. “Relax, baby, I’m not going anywhere.” You blush and look back up at him, and he can’t help but cup your face, using his thumb to play with your bottom lip. You stick your tongue out to lick the top of his finger and the sight is overwhelming.

He mutters a quiet “fuck” and stumbles off of the bed, pulling his jeans and boxers down before hopping back onto the bed and kneeling at your side again. You take his length in your hand, going cross eyed at how close it is to your face. He’s huge, and you’re starting to doubt your ability to please him. You inhale deeply, softly stroking him just enough to keep him content as you gather yourself.

You don’t notice the way he smiles down at you, taking in just how sexy you look holding his cock while being stuffed with Jake’s mouth and fingers. He’s never admit, however, how many times he’d jerked off imagining this situation or how many times he planned something like this with Jake.

You lean foward to kiss his bare thigh, leading a trail up to his base and up his shaft, then leaving one final kiss on his tip. He throws his head back at the soft feeling, already sensitive and ready to cum on your pretty face. Jake reaches impossibly deep inside of you and you can’t help the loud moan that escapes, warm breath fanning against Sunghoon’s length. He visibly stiffens before grabbing his cock and swiping it across your lips, coating them with shiny pre-cum.

You stick your tongue out just enough to taste him, but not enough to fit him inside your mouth and he groans at your teasing. The sound is enough to send a shock through your body, bringing you to your second orgasm. “Oh, fuckfuckfuck-“ you’re barely able to moan before Sunghoon quickly slides his cock into your mouth, forcing you to gag and choke through your orgasm.

Quickly pulling off, you take a deep breath before shoving Sunghoon back in your mouth, taking half of him down and jerking off the rest while Jake laps up the mess between your thighs. Your thighs start to shake, closing shut around Jake’s head again, attempting to shove him off of you with your free hand. Of course, he doesn’t let up and just uses his strength to force your thighs back open, this time hooking his arms around them to shove his face back in.

He aims straight for your rim, cleaning the mess that’s still leaking from your cunt. It’s a new sensation, something you haven’t tried out before, although now you’re not opposed to trying it again sometime. Who knows, maybe a second time with your best friend.

You gag loudly as Sunghoon’s hips snap and he shoves himself deeper into your mouth, but he halts when you don’t complain and instead take him deeper, testing how far you can take him until you’re reaching the base and nuzzling your nose against his patch of hair.

You breathe in through your nose to keep yourself there longer, saliva pooling in your mouth and spilling out onto your chin and down Sunghoon’s girth. “Fuck, babe, you’re nasty.” He pulls away suddenly, forcing himself out of your mouth and you get the chance to finally moan, acknowledging Jake and letting him know you haven’t forgotten about him.

How could you forget about him, with the way he laps from your soaking cunt to your rim, eating you out like he’s been starved his whole life. You even catch a glimpse of him rutting his hips against the bed, chasing any friction he can to soothe his aching cock.

“Jake” you rasp out, pulling his head up to look you in the eyes. The way his hair is messy and his eyes are wide and needy is almost enough to make you cum a third time. “You must be hurting…” you nod your head towards him, motioning to his very obvious painful boner. “Let me help.” He wants to reject you, feeling guilty after promising he’ll take care of you, why make you return the favor?

With the way you look at him with pleading eyes, though, he doesn’t hesitate to undo his sweats, pulling them straight down along with his boxers, and then reaches for the hem of his shirt to pull it off. Sunghoon does the same, using his own shirt to wipe the spit from your chin and neck.

Settling on his knees the same way Sunghoon is, he’s already breathing heavy just from imagining you touching him. So, when you take him in your hand and rub your thumb over his slit, he’s letting out a loud whine that has you craving more. You stroke Sunghoon in one hand while leaning towards Jake to take his tip in your mouth. He immediately bucks his hips forward, then pulls all the way back to apologize.

“Oh, shit, I’m sorry- ahh!” You don’t care about his apology, only wanting to hear more of his needy whines as you lick from his base to tip, suckling on the head and looking up to catch his reaction. Just seeing him looking so wrecked just from a few seconds of touching has you moaning around his cock, stroking Sunghoon faster with a tight grip.

Sunghoon thrusts his hips, chasing your fist with every pull and tug, his groans and curses raising in volume each time. Meanwhile Jake’s eyes close tightly, one hand resting on the back of your head while the other holds your cheek, feeling the way it hollows as you take him down your throat. The image is far from unholy. Sitting there, taking one cock down your throat while jerking another.

Feeling bad for Sunghoon, you release Jake but continue stroking him, turning to take Sunghoon in your mouth. “Fuck, just like that. Pretty mouth knows exactly what to do, hm?” His praises make you whine, grinding your own hips down on the bed but missing any possible friction.

Of course, even after two orgasms you crave more. You need more whines and moans from both of them, showing you just how good you make them feel.

You turn back to Jake, taking his cock all the way down your throat, staying there, letting the drool spill from the corners of your mouth as tears do the same from your eyes. He’s choking out a moan, strings of curses falling upon deaf ears as you put your sole focus on getting him to finish. You know exactly what you need to do.

Pulling your head back, you gently lift his cock to stroke it as you turn your neck to lick and suck at his balls. His hips halt, thighs shaking as he grips your hair painfully rough. “God, Fuck- I’m gonna cum.” He cries out, legs continuing to shake as you take him back into your mouth, running your tongue across his slit until he’s filling your mouth with cum.

His whines seem to set something off in Sunghoon, who’s now cursing loudly as he shoots his own ropes of cum across your cheek and down your neck and chest. You don’t know why all it took was Jake to climax for him to finally cum, but maybe you’ll ask him about that another time.

They both stay kneeling, catching their breaths as you fall onto your back against the pillows, legs weak but still sticky between your thighs. “We’re not done, baby.” Jake leans down to peck your lips when he notices your worried look. Falling next to you, he lays down and pulls you on top of him, hands soothing down your sides in a comforting way.

He pulls your face down for another kiss, breaking it to speak lowly in your ear. “Want me to fuck you?” You already know you’re spilling down your thighs again, looking down to watch the way your pussy sits perfectly on his still hard length. You don’t reply, instead grinding down and forward, sliding yourself against him.

“Yeah? Think you can take it?” You’re in a trance from the way he’s speaking to you, holding you, like you’re precious to him. You nod eagerly, sitting up on your knees to rub his tip across your slit, hearing the slick noises of your arousal. Taking a deep breath, you slowly ease him into you, sitting down and wincing at the way he impales you just from a few inches.

Jake’s face is angelic, eyebrows slightly furrowed but his bottom lip is caught between his teeth, turning white at how hard he’s biting. You finally sit all the way down, feeling him twitch inside of you as you slowly rock your hips, falling forward to moan in his neck. His hands tightly grip your waist, holding you still as he pulls out then slides himself back in, throwing his head back in a loud moan.

You thrust yourself down, meeting his own thrusts halfway as he picks up the pace, low skin slapping sounds filling the room. You completely forgot that Sunghoon was behind you, until his hands are palming your butt, and his lips find their place on your back. His gentle kisses up your spine give you chills, clenching down on Jake who whimpers at the sensation.

“Think you can take both of us?” Sunghoon kisses your ear, giving you no time to respond as he stands back up to do something from behind you that you can’t see. “What?” You ask in a small voice, but it’s answered right away when you feel him spit onto the crack of your ass, saliva sliding down and coating your rim.

You try to turn around but Jake pulls you back into a harsh kiss, tongue massaging your own and pulling whines from your throat. He distracts you enough for you to forget about Sunghoon again, while he gently prods his tip at your entrance. “Hoon! What are you- ah!” You’re cut off as he easily slides in, the new sensation knocking your breath out of you.

“Ever take it in the ass, baby?” He leans down to peck your cheek, slowly inching himself in with each thrust. Once he’s fully inside, he pulls back out to the tip just to slam himself back inside. Jake takes this as the green light to also thrust into you again, bucking his hips up at the same pace as Sunghoon.

If you thought you were in heaven earlier, you wouldn’t know what to call this. This act of whatever love or lust this is. Perhaps it was just your friends’ way of declaring their love for you. Or, just trying to prove how a man should treat you, how he should fuck you. You can’t complain though, having both holes filled by big, girthy cocks is something you thought you could only dream of.

And as Jake sensually sucks on your lower lip, and Sunghoon is leaving dark hickeys on your neck, you think you might be in love. With both of them.

One particular thrust from Sunghoon has him throwing you foward and onto Jake’s chest, crying out in pleasure while his grip on your hips is painful. He leans down, keeping one hand on your hip as the other arm is crossing your chest, catching your neck between his forearm and bicep, puling you back up to kneeling with Jake still inside of your cunt.

With your back pressed to Sunghoon’s chest and his length deep inside your ass, you bounce harder, faster, both of them filling you so pleasurably you cry out, tears falling from your eyes as you scream with a horse voice. “Fuck- God, yes! I’m c-cumming!” You go silent with your jaw slack as your orgasm washes over you, every inch of your body tingling as you clench impossibly tight on both of them, with just the sound of light splashing and skin slapping keeping you conscious.

Your eyes are closed but you can feel the way Jake stops thrusting, filling you with his thick warm liquid and Sunghoon soon follows, releasing himself into your hole enough to have it dripping past your rim and back onto himself.

You collapse onto your butt next to Jake, noticing the large wet spot left on the bed covers. “Did…did I do that?” You ask shyly, blushing as Sunghoon nods and kneels next to you, pulling you to lay down with him and spooning you while you wrap one arm around Jake’s abdomen.

You feel like you’ve truly ascended, as if this is the universe’s way of rewarding you for every good deed you’ve committed. Having two warm men holding onto you, kissing you, loving you like you deserve. You’d take this any day, even if it’s with your best friends.

[gameforkings]

seolha is the type of person to caption this with "my bestie" and then ghost you for months with no explanation as to why

[wonderingpanda]

Hey You - Pt.1

Clay x Fem!Reader

My first Trolls fic, hope I did alright. I’ll try to post part 2 as soon as I can.

The sun was setting as Rhonda hurried down a dusty path surrounded by hills. Inside sat Bruce at the drivers seat with Tiny on his stomach holding his mini steering wheel. Y/n stood to their left while Branch stood to the right with his arms crossed as Velvet and Veneers popular song, Watch Me Work, played over the radio.

“Oh my kids love these guys, we’re a total Veneer household.” Bruce happily explained.

“They’re the one’s who have Floyd!” John Dory pointed out from further behind them.

“Ah it’s gonna be hard to seperate the art from the artist.” John Dory rolled his eyes and walked off while Branch and Y/n gave Bruce looks of disbelief. As the song finished, a voice came over the radio.

“That’s Velvet and Veneer’s spicy hot new single, Watch Me Work. Catch them tomorrow night at the Rage Dome where they’ll be receiving the Lifer Award (L-Lifer Award!)” Bruce, Y/n and Branch looked at each other with worry before Bruce turned off the radio.

“Guys, will Floyd even make it through that show?” Branch walked down to where John Dory and Poppy were stood by his clue board.

“Don’t worry, we’re gonna make it. We’ve been looking for clues to find Clay.” Poppy placed a BroZone poster of Clay in his funderdraws up on the clue board.

“Oh I’m sorry, the clue board, you mean my clue board?” A quick moment of silence passed as Poppy and John Dory ignored Branch. “That I made?” Poppy and John Dory continued looking at the board, still not giving Branch any response. “We like the clue board now?”

At the mention of finding Clay, Y/n quickly turned around and headed down to the other three trolls while trying to hide her rising panic.

“Do we really need to find Clay?” Poppy, Branch and John Dory turned to face her, confused as to why she wouldn’t want to find him. “I mean, we’ve already got you three.” Y/n gestured to the present BroZone members. “And it would give us way more time to save Floyd if we just headed to Mount Rageous now.”

“Uh Y/n, are you ok?” Poppy stepped forward, concerned for her close friend.

“Wha, me? I’m fine. I’m not panicked, you’re panicked. Like why would I be so nervous to see Clay again after all these years. It’s not like there was anything terrible that happened between us after the band broke up, what makes you think that?” Poppy stepped back to talk to Branch.

“What’s going on with her?” Branch sighed and crossed his arms again, still looking over at their nervous friend.

“Before the band broke up Y/n and Clay kind of had a thing going on.”

“Oh I knew it! There were rumours those two were together!” Branch reached out his hands, signalling for Poppy to calm down.

“But that night, when everyone left, Clay decided to break up with Y/n on the spot and, as you know, leave forever.”

“Oh” Poppy lowered her hands as her energy dropped after hearing the sad story. “That’s why she doesn’t want to find him.”

“Exactly.” Branch confirmed Poppy’s thoughts.

“It’s a shame really” John Dory cut into the conversation. “They were such a cute couple. I even remember when Clay made us pull that whole song together just to ask her out.”

“Oh don’t act so sympathetic.” Branch turned to face John Dory. “You weren’t even there when they broke up.”

“That doesn’t mean I don’t care.” John Dory tried to defend himself.

“Ok guys, maybe now isn’t the best time for an argument. Let’s all just calm down and- what is he wearing!?” Poppy cut off her previous sentence and pointed at the poster she had stuck up before. Branch noticed what she was referring to.

“Oh, those are just his…”

“Perfect, perfect, perfect.” The music to BroZone’s old song seemed to play out of nowhere as Branch quickly got an idea.

“Funderdraws!” He smashed open a glass case holding Clay’s funderdraws which unavoidably released a disgusting scent along with a bunch of green ghost that flew around yelling ‘Stinky!’. John Dory whacked them away the best he could while Poppy and Y/n held their breaths from the smell. Branch held up the funderdraws proudly.

“John Dory, I have no idea why you saved these it’s incredibly disgusting. But I’m glad you did.” Poppy stood with a dopey smile on her face while Y/n had her arms crossed, not liking where the conversation was going. Meanwhile, John Dory put his hands on his hips in defence.

“What, they’re memorabilia. But I will be good gosh darned if I know how they’re gonna help us find Clay.”

Next thing you know, Rhonda was sniffing the funderdraws dangled in her face at the end of a stick. Branch, standing on her forehead, called out to her.

“Help us Rhonda!” He turned to face Poppy who had her head stuck out the window while keeping a grip on his vest. “She’s got the scent!” The two headed back inside quickly before anything else could happen.

Inside in the background, Y/n helped Branch and Poppy settle back in safely. John Dory came up next to Tiny and Bruce, who now hand one hand on the larger steering wheel, and leaned on the armrest of Bruce’s chair.

“Hey, Tiny, you see that button?” Tiny Diamond’s gaze followed John Dory as he pointed to a button with a swirl pattern and the word hustle above it.

“Uh yeah.”

“That beautiful, shiny button?” John Dory pressed further.

“Oh you mean the button that’s taking every fibre of my being not to press? Yeah I see it.” Tiny Diamond slid off the button as quickly as he had laid atop it. John Dory stepped forward and lowered his voice to a more dramatic tone.

“Press it.”

“Oh heck yeah ooh!” Tiny Diamond jumped off the larger steering that he had a grip on and jumped onto the hustle button causing it to glow and swirl. ‘Hustle Dimension’ began to play as rainbow lights came out of Rhonda. Her eyes lit up and began to glow.

“Let’s hustle daddy!” Rhonda let out a noise before zooming off into the distance, glowing lights trailing behind. She leapt a few times as she ran and jumped into a glowing, star-shaped portal that seemed to have appeared out of nowhere.

In the hustle dimension, everything was different. Everyone was placed into a two-dimensional state and the gravity that existed before was now lost as Rhonda floated about.

“Woah” Branch called out as he stumbled into what was meant to be the space in Rhonda behind the drivers seat. Poppy followed after letting out a loud gasp as she took note of her appearance. Everything then melted away and while they were still within a two-dimensional space everything about it had changed, including the visual style.

Poppy and Branch now found themselves walking down a black and white road, dancing along to the ‘Hustle Dimension’ music. Bruce then bounced next to Poppy on her left with John Dory bouncing to Branch’s right and Y/n bouncing, landing in the middle. They all laughed together before John Dory, Y/n and Bruce flew off with rainbow trails. Poppy grabbed her own hand and spun away with Branch tumbling after her.

They all flew side by side down the black and white road in the rainbow coloured world. Branch and Poppy were on the right, Bruce and Y/n were on the left and John Dory flew in the middle. They all then flew through another star that once again changed the visuals of the reality they were perceiving. Each zoomed down in their respective colours. Branch was blue, Poppy was pink, John Dory was green, Y/n was f/c and Bruce was Purple. They flew next to stars and swirled together, combining to create Hustle Man who loudly called out.

“Hustle!” Hustle Man flew off into the sky before disappearing. Rhonda finally flew out of the star portal that they had first entered and settled back down to run normally on the road once more. Bruce and Tiny Diamond had been placed back where they were but John Dory, Y/n, Poppy and Branch were unfortunately thrown onto the floor, on their backs, in a heap. Poppy quickly stood up shaking her head for a second as the song ended.

“Wow! Too much hustle is a thing.”

“Huh, look at that.” Branch waved his hand around, hallucinating rainbows following it.

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

It was now dark outside. Rhonda nervously ran through a dark forest before stopping in front of a seemingly abandoned building.

“Are we sure this is where Clay lives?” Branch asked as Rhonda opened her door to let everyone step out. Bruce followed behind him with Tiny Diamond in a baby carrier. Tiny decided to reply.

“Are we sure? Our GPS is an armadillo bus sniffing used undies so no, we’re not sure.”

The group continued to walk towards the old building. Bruce spoke as they wandered through the entrance which lead into a bother part of the dark outdoors.

“Eeh. I think this is the place from every true crime podcast I’ve ever listened to.” They continued forwards through the dark, unaware of the ‘golf balls’ rolling around them. The small group of trolls stuck close together until…

“Halt!” Lights switched on revealing a giant clown face with glowing eyes and a giant tongue extending out to them. Rainbow coloured smoke puffed from either side of the clown head as it’s teeth moved while it spoke.

“Who goes there!?”

“Ahhh!” The entire group screamed in fear!

“Agh!” Tiny cried out, quickly climbing out of his carrier and into Bruce’s hair. He poked his head out once before hiding back inside.

“Who dares trespass on these sacred grounds!?” The clown demanded. Branch put on a determined face and began to walk forward strongly. John Dory tried to stop him.

“Branch, what are you doing?” But Branch continued on. He stopped when he was right near the clown head’s tongue, looking up and calling out to it.

“Listen, we don’t want any clown related trouble okay? We’re just here looking for our brother, Clay.”

The clown’s teeth moved down slightly before moving in sync with it’s voice again. “Wait a second, you’re trolls?”

“So what? You’re a clown.” Branch retorted, gesturing to the face in front of him. Unexpectedly, a yellow, golf ball looking thing popped out of the clown’s mouth and rolled towards the group.

“Woah!” Branch stepped back towards the rest of the group as the ball bounced closer to them. The ball then unfurled revealing to be a troll with crazy blonde hair and pink skin. She stood up in a menacing pose for a moment before smiling widely at everyone.

“Oh my gosh, hello! My name is Viva! It is so fantastamazing to see other trolls!” She immediately ran around squeezing John Dory, giving Bruce a big hug, hugging Y/n from the side, spinning Branch around and lifting Poppy up in her own heartfelt hug.

“Hi! Ha!” Viva smiled after quickly setting Poppy down. Poppy slouched froward, feeling slightly drained from Viva’s energetic mood, but stood up properly to hear her speak.

“So fantastamazing is my own personal word it means, um, fantastic and amazing. I used to say amastic but then I was like ‘Mmm, that’s not as good.’”

Poppy immediately tried thinking of her own word to match Viva’s. “Fantasta um awesome.”

“That’s different but that works too! Way to make it your own.” After receiving the complement, Poppy rushed over to Branch’s side.

“Is this how people feel when they meet me?”

“Yes.” Branch replied, just quickly enough to not be cut off by Viva.

“Am I being a lot? Sometimes I can be a lot.”

“Uh I’m not sure we’re in the right place.” Branch mentioned, but Viva easily dismissed his worries.

“Of course you’re in the right place. Any troll is welcome here with us.” Now stood in front of the small group of trolls, Viva clapped her hands and called out. “Okay, Putt-putt trolls, lights on for our new friends” A bunch of trolls had rolled towards Viva and popped out of their golf-ball disguises. Each one was characterised with a vibrant colour, wild hair, and some sort of sweater romper or dress. While most had their hair out, some adorned buckets on their heads while others wore green mossy hats. As Viva finished talking the lights to the putt-putt course switched on, lighting up the whole place in the dark of night. Viva began to tap her feet excitedly, seeing the expressions of wonder coming from each of the new trolls.

“Oh my gosh, are you guys hungry, are you thirsty?”

“Yes!” Tiny cheered, jumping out and back into his baby carrier.

“Fries fries, you guys want fries, I am seeing fries. Bring out the works.” Viva jumped around and gestured to a few Putt-putt trolls who excitedly left to grab the food. “Milkshakes, to celebrate!”

“Coming in hot!” A bright yellow Putt-putt troll called out. Rolling away as a hot dog, fries, banana split, drink and milkshake were placed down around the pop trolls. Viva grabbed onto the straw of the pink milkshake and drank it all in one slurp, wowing the others. She then jumped down and stretched her back.

“Woo that’s better, now I finally have some energy!” Viva ran past Poppy.

“Did you just braid my hair!?” Poppy smiled, noticing the large braid left by Viva who quickly popped back round.

“You’re welcome, it looks so good.”

“I love it!” Poppy smiled brightly as she gripped her hair. Viva then gasped and ran over to Y/n.

“Oh my gosh, your hair is so pretty. How do you get it to sparkle like that?” Y/n laughed and smiled brightly at the compliment.

“Thank you. It’s just naturally like this. The benefits of being a troll, right?”

“Totally.” Viva agreed.

“Wow, these fries are amazing.” Bruce complemented as he lifted up another fry. “They’d really go great with a burger.”

“Aaa!” A blue Putt-putt trolled screamed, leading to a chorus of panic and terror as all the Putt-putt trolls desperately tried to hide.

“What is happening?” Bruce asked.

“Yeah we try not to use that word around here. It’s just that burger sounds a little too much like ah…” Viva leaned towards Bruce and spoke in a hushed tone. “Burgens.” She winced as another chorus of screams were let out.

“We call burgers…” The group looked up to see a mysterious figure walking towards them. “Meat circles.”

“Clay?” Branch smiled.

“Oh no.” Y/n’s face dropped at his arrival.

“Clay, hey what’s up man?” Bruce cheered as he and Clay happily walked to each other.

“Hey, how you been man?” Clay smiled as they initiated their own handshake.

“Clay!” John Dory jumped forward, opening his arms for a hug.

“Hmm, John.” Clay blankly replied, giving him no more than a few seconds of attention.

“Wha?” John Dory’s face dropped at the lack of response he received.

“Spruce.” Clay gave Bruce a fist bump as they finished off hair handshake. “What do you know?”

“Actually I go by Bruce now.”

“Bruce, oh ho someone got fancy. I like it.” Bruce laughed at Clay’s response.

“Look who’s talking, is that a sweater romper?” He questioned.

“What can I say, when you co-run a place you gotta flex the drip.” Clay pulled slightly on the collar of his sweater romper before releasing it.

“Ya, I’m the fun side of the operation and Mr Clay takes care of the boring stuff!” Viva cheered as she slid into the conversation.

“Guilty.” He admitted. The two laughed together until Clay noticed branch. “Woah, baby branch!” He ran over and grabbed Branch’s face. “No way!”

“Actually it’s Big Branch now, or just Branch. Branch is fine.” Branch struggled to speak as his cheeks were squished together.”

“Come here, come here. Yeah.” Clay spoke in a babyish voice as he continued to squish Branch’s cheeks. Only stopping when Branch started to speak again.

“So Clay, this is Poppy.” Branch gestured to Poppy who appeared at his side.

“Hi Clay! So great to finally meet you.” Poppy smiled as she waved and gave Clay a quick hug. “Can you do the Rusty Robot for me?”

“Yeah no, I don’t do that anymore okay?” Clay awkwardly explained.

“Right, kidding. Ha can you imagine? I wouldn’t just ask you to do that after meeting you two seconds ago. Who would do that?” She awkwardly looked at Clay after glancing away for a second.

“Yeah, it’s just that Fun-boy Clay is dead. Serious-boy Clay only does the Well-Oiled Robot.” Clay spoke while demonstrating his new and improved Well-Oiled Robot. “And it is no friki-friki-friki fun.” He stated while ending in a pose, similar to how he would end the Rusty Robot, only with a frown and his hands in the ‘I Love You’ pose.

“I mean, that’s still pretty fun.” Poppy lightheartedly pointed out.

“Ha yeah, same old Clay.” John Dory added.

“Nah, that’s not true.” Clay tried to defend himself. “If I was still fun, would I have chosen the admin building as my bedroom?” Everyone looked over to the admin building, a small wooden shack with nothing but a window, a door, and the capacity to hold barely one troll. “Huh? Huh? Asking the tough questions guys, asking the tough questions.”

“Oh, right.” Poppy nodded.

“Wait, you still haven’t met Y/n!” Tiny smiled brightly.

“No no no.” Bruce looked down at him with worry.

“No no no no no no…” John Dory, Branch and Poppy chimed in, not noticing Clay’s shocked expression.

“Y/n?”

“Oh yeah, you’re other friend. Where did she go?” Viva looked around to try and spot her. Y/n tried to sneak away behind Bruce but was quickly noticed by Tiny.

“Here she is!” He happily exclaimed.”

“Dammit Tiny!” Y/n stomped in frustration.

“Y-Y/n, hey.” Clay awkwardly waved and stepped forward.

“Hi Clay.” The two struggled in finding a comfortable greeting backing out of a fist bump, handshake and high five. After awkwardly trying to move around their hands they tried leaning in for a hug but backed out of that too. Y/n eventually opted to just give Clay two pats on the shoulder as they exchanged awkward toothy smiles.

“Uh anyway.” Clay stepped back, Y/n doing the same. “I can’t believe you all are here. Wait, where’s Floyd?”

“That’s why we’re here. Branch stepped forward. “Floyd’s been taken prisoner in Mount Rageous by superstar singers, Velvet and Veneer.”

“And the only thing powerful enough to free him is the perfect family harmony.” The five adult trolls finished together. Tiny’s face contorted in confusion.

“Okay, either they just made that up or I have not been paying attention.”

“Well why haven’t you just called he authorities?” Clay asked but slowly came the conclusion by himself. “Oh, unless Floyd is being held in an impenetrable diamond prison.”

“Yeah, that.” John Dory confirmed.

“I’m in. I’d also like to volunteer to keep track of our expenses, just cause I think you’re gonna need somebody to be on top of that.” Clay gave the group an almost smug smile.

“Yeah I don’t think you’ll get any pushback on that front.” Bruce spoke up. Branch’s expression turned to a more serious tone.

“Great, but we need to leave for Mount Rageous like now.”

Part 2 coming soon. Have an amazing day/night where you are!✨

[39oa]

(nonsensical hrpf data exercise) degree centrality graphing & other archive insights

intro/prior work

hello 🙇‍♀️ i'm not sure this post will make any kind of sense at all, but i love analyzing ao3 data and i especially find it fascinating in the realm of sports/hrpf because of the amount of player- and team-related attributes that offer dimensionality to fandom analysis when examined in parallel with archive metrics. i've already kind of done hrpf overviews on two separate occasions over the past year or so, but my method of collection differed in each instance and also always gave me new things to chew on and potentially explore, such as expanding on the link between player talent and shippability and whether high-draft picks have more fic written for them on average.

i most recently examined player data based on aggregated relationship counts since 2022, but this was a limited snapshot meant to piece together recent ficdom trends (see top ships since 01/01/22) and not be representative of fandom overall. basically, things i want to visualize/talk about now are:

hockey is so widespread as a sports fandom because there are 32 teams in the league, which when compared to a community like f1 makes it difficult to succinctly summarize primary relationships for. there is no self-contained grid of 20 drivers that remains generally fixed within a season, where every move in/out of that "roster" is highly reported upon and instrumental to fandom makeup, but instead a more amorphous network of malleable rosters featuring high-variance cascading orders of character visibility; in short, the difference between the most and least popular driver in f1 fandom is not the same as the difference between sidney crosby and that one ahl lifer who was called up to your 4th line two months ago because your team is utterly decimated and gunning for bedard.

Still: because rosters are so malleable and trades happen with some amount of frequency, and because hockey is still an "insular" ecosystem in terms of geographic accessibility and junior-age development (for better or worse; mostly for worse, but that's neither here nor there), players intrinsically have a low degree of separation between one another, whether it be as teammates now or as friends growing up in the ohl, ntdp, etc. i therefore wanted to take that a step further and look at it through fic metrics especially: can we use a summary of ficdom's real, tangible output and visualize it through a similar network? (+ where and how does that network differ from player connections in practice?)

back to the impact of draft pick # and assessments of talent relative to popularity, i also wanted to look at the most "successful" ships in ficdom from this network and evaluate the different distributions and impacts of their respective attributes. are certain player positions more popular? which nationalities are the most commonly shipped?

etc. But let's just get into it.

process

getting any kind of information from a 60%-locked fandom on ao3 is a nightmare and introduces a myriad of data-collecting limitations, so i do feel it important to disclaim that what i present in this post functions more in the realm of Approximate Interpretation and Potential Correlation than any actual 100% objective representation of fandom metrics.

a perceived limitation i have with character tagging metrics on ao3 is that they don't exactly reflect shippability; that is, if q.hughes is tagged as a character in a n.hischier/j.hughes fic, it gets attributed to his character tag but doesn't actually say anything about how many Relationship Fics exist for him on a whole. my best solution for this was essentially uncovering most of a player's relationships and summing their individual fic counts to create an approximate # of "relationship fics" for each player. so any kind of shippability graph going forward will use that metric.

i used ao3's relationship tag search and filtered by canonical in the men's hockey rpf fandom and only pulled relationship* fics ("/" instead of "&") with a min. of 20 works. ao3's counts are... Not the most accurate, so my filtering may have fudged some things around or missed a few pairings on the cusp, which again is why all the visuals here are not meant to show Everything in the most exact manner but function more so as a "general overview" of ficdom. although i did doublecheck the ship counts so the numbers themselves are accurate as of time of collection.

(*i excluded wag ships, reader ships, threesomes to make my life easier although i know this affects numbers for certain players, hc/gm ships, and any otherwise non-NHL Player ship. for ex., this eliminated anna kasterova/evgeni malkin, tyler brown/tyler seguin, and kyle dubas/william nylander, just to name a few)

all ship data was collected march 16, 2023.

PART 1. SC87 ship networking

when i first began this exercise i tried graphing ships for all the first-overall picks from 2003-2022 because i wanted to get an overarching sense of their connections. however, doing so made me realize that sidney crosby was by and far the most-connected node in the graph (and basically all hrpf in general) with a degree of 11, and that he was centering one huge component to which only two ships failed to connect (op/kj and slaf/xhekaj). basically:

so then i was like, right! let me instead use sidney crosby as my sole starting node, map out all ships with 20+ works from him specifically, take the players he connects to and map out their corresponding ships (excluding sid) and just keep iterating until i basically reach a final child node. through this, i yielded 112 ships and 98 unique players, with my final connecting node coming 9 degrees of separation away through brady tkachuk ↔ tim stützle/quinn hughes. unfortunately i can't actually host this little code snippet anywhere lol but i also wrote an input to check the pathways between any two players which was kind of fun:

here is the actual network graph with colors from automatically generated clustering, which doesn't really mean much but i thought was one nice way of presenting it. the edge width refers to the sum of fics for each ship and the node size refers to the degree, or number of ships, for each player.

i then also joined my player set with a dataset that included draft year, drafted team, position, etc... and through that color-coded the graph with the team each player was originally drafted to (i always struggle between using current team and draft team because which one matters more is super contextual, but... using draft team made my life easier this time so i hope it's still interesting.) here i only included colors for 13 teams that had 3+ players each:

→ [full-size graph]

we can do a bit more analysis based on this specific sidcros network, like which players are the "most-shipped" or overviewing cross-team shipping tendencies:

but! of course, not ALL big hrpf ships lead back to sc87. using him as a central node essentially just helped me filter out excess "noise" when searching for relationship tags on ao3, because now i could exclude anyone connected to him at all (note: the relationship fics from my set equaled upward of 19,000 works, accounting for 60.4% of the entire men's hockey rpf archive) and hit other significant tags more efficiently.

through this method, i singled out a new set of 76 ships and 134 unique players (notice the significant decrease in overlap), which i then combined with my sid ships to create one massive set of Hockey Ships With Over 20+ Works On Ao3 that i could analyze holistically. no idea if this makes any sense but bear with me:

PART 2. general ship insights

i won't bore people with endlessly listing out ship rankings but here's the previous top chart with the new ships slotted in:

now for some overall player analysis!

first i wanted to look at how attributes like draft round, nationality, and position (F/D/G) are represented in the player set.

the nationality distribution is pretty close to all active nhl players this season, so there aren't major disparities there. however, the vast majority of players 1) were drafted in the first round and 2) are mostly forwards, with the forwards also seemingly reflecting the general philosophy of faster development/higher recent-round representation. we can take this overview a step further and actually examine the fic averages for each characteristic as a proxy for measuring shippability/ficdom popularity.

first, i scatterplotted all players by their draft pick and number of fic to (try and) show the heavy skew toward top picks (inspired by the gar draft pick value curve and other similar plots). this is... well, limited in many ways, and if i had an actually adequately large dataset i could specifically plot averages per distinct pick number and try to present something there, but the problem is that a lot of these later pick numbers only have like one player so there's way too much variance LOL.

but just for the sake of this exercise i excluded j.benn as an outlier and grouped fic averages by round (left below). again, noting the sample sizes, let's just say that first rounders on average seem to have the most fic written about them, even if it's not a particularly shocking insight. we can also try creating a histogram for "shippability" by draft year, binning here for every 2 years, to see which draft years appear to have had the most success (right below). note the peaks around 2005 and 2015, aka the sc87 and cm97 ~Generational Years~ 🤔

i've also been interested in figuring out which positions are commonly preferred—since centers are so often the faces of a franchise and are essentially the most sought-after position, and since goalies occupy a positionally static role/are less oriented toward contact (and the presumed homoeroticness thereof) in the way skaters are, is that reflected in the fic metrics as well? turns out: yes.

some ship analysis

learning more about player data in a vacuum is fun, but we also have all of this relationship data that lets us examine how different characteristics interact with each other, which is meaningful as well! for example, we know that forwards are heavily represented in the dataset, but is center4center the most common combination? or is there love for a franchise center and his beloved winger or the team's dependable 1d?

(fought for my life trying to figure out how to map this properly so please accept a horrible bar chart instead) as it turns out, the most common combination is centers/wingers, followed afterward by centers/centers. i don't know whether this really means much to me because i'd like to dissect the combos even further (is C/C more often 1C 2C or cross-team rivalry 1C shipping? are C/W usually linemates? etc.) but 🤷‍♀️ here's a graph.

i also distributed ships by their nationality combination, displaying to the surprise of no one a heavy preference (a whopping 66.4%!) for north american-exclusive shipping. i also thought stacking by "draft year" (= averaging the draft year between both players for each ship) offered some interesting insight into usa4usa shipping having slightly younger representation. also i do think usa/germany being singlehandedly driven up this chart by one family is remarkable and hilarious LOL.

also in the realm of draft year analysis, i wanted to look at draft year differences and whether fandom preferences seem to lie by way of same-age-ish pairings and In-Class Bicycling so to speak. graphing ships by these differences spanned a range of 20 years, with the oldest "age" (draft) difference being 20 years between zdeno chara and charlie mcavoy. overall, of 175 ships with a drafted player, 60.5% were drafted within 2 years of each other (18.2% in the same draft), and only 5% had a draft difference of 10 or more years.

then, of those 32 ships drafted within the same year, i distributed their counts by year to see which draft classes featured the biggest in-class clusters, leading us again to the Famed Class of 2015:

closing thoughts

i'll stop here :saluting_face: something else i had on the agenda that i don't really know how to adequately explore with this dataset is basically stanley cup champion stuff, e.g. looking at players and ships and fic counts from winning teams and how/whether a sort of "winning bias" has been trending down as of late (see the relative success of ships from teams like phi/ana compared to tbl/stl)—temporal data is so particular and difficult to wrangle with ao3 though so i'll have to let this one percolate a little bit.

finally, another thing (!) that i love examining is captaincy and how it often helps inform shippability; C/A/guyswithletters shipping obviously generously overlaps with being drafted early, high-impact players, some positional stuff like Young Star Center having the role foisted onto him, etc. and many of these aspects are immediately identifiable in top ships like 8771, 1634, 1386... just to name a few obvious ones. unfortch i don't really have the time or space to look at that here but it's something i'm still interested in maybe expanding on, and i also never ended up collecting actual skater *performance* data which would be super fun to eventually get to, e.g. mapping ficdom output to not just background identifiers like draft year/pick but also 1) actual tangible evaluations of player goals/points/(salary?!?)/etc. and 2) some dimension of draft outperformance/underperformance, which is pertinent for scenarios like late-round picks who have defied career expectations (see outlier jbenn having a shit ton of lifetime fic) AND early-round picks whose trajectories have not panned out as expected for whatever reason; often the ~tragic~ frustration of being a bust actually invites more narrative focus and scrutiny, but at the same time ficdom trends have pointed themselves to being attracted to many historic, talented, generational, and so on players, who more often than not are also winners, which potentially posits a need for some sustained line of access/visibility to high-expectation players significantly before they're regarded as "busts" in order to organically grow and generate initial interest that can survive the renewed reality of their situation. but who knows

again, i don't know whether any of this even makes sense or is interesting to literally anyone at all, but i personally enjoyed just dicking around graphing shit and getting to join a ton of tables together for absolutely no reason lol. that's all!

[jenscx]

DAYLIGHT [PROFILES] e-girls

PARK YN [ynpark_ // dvamain101]

a popular streamer known for her good looks and #yolo personality. is basically able to stalk anyone, especially pretty girls. plays way too much league with yena and has a non-existent love life. thinks most youtubers are lame.

MIYAWAKI SAKURA [mksakura // uwuhaii_]

yn’s dumb and dumber duo. her reason in life is overwatch. hard stuck silver but trust, she’ll do better next season. is a no-lifer and even though she’s drop dead gorgeous, she only talks to her gamer friends.

KIM MINJU [minjulol_ // Xx_dawg69_xX]

met yn on a bedwars game and got introduced to the rest of the friend group after. only plays sandbox games like stardew valley and minecraft. tries her best to shoot her shot with youtuber kim chaewon but has never gotten her attention before. the most loser of all losers.

CHOI YENA [top1lolplayer // shuttheduckup]

bitchless, like fr. her one true love is league of legends (says a lot). if she’s not sleeping, she’s playing league. makes fun of minju for getting ignored by chaewon. viewers like yena for having no filter and an explosive personality, which definitely gets yn, sakura and minju into trouble.

[girlfromthecrypt]

𝕊𝕦𝕔𝕙 ℍ𝕒𝕡𝕡𝕪 ℂ𝕒𝕞𝕡𝕖𝕣𝕤

[Interactive fiction, Demo TBA]

𝕋𝕙𝕖 𝕊𝕥𝕠𝕣𝕪

You play as a counselor for the understaffed and underfunded Cloverleaf program. Your job is to organize and oversee a cabin camping holiday for children from troubled homes. Working hard alongside you are your four allies (and potential friends/lovers) Basil Laurier, Anita Merrick and the siblings Flo and Reem Malak.

Unfortunately, the campsite you're tasked with preparing is nothing short of decrepit. Still, you'll make the best of it, right? As you and your colleagues undertake repairs and cleaning efforts (and possibly get to know each other a little better), you keep finding yourself in increasingly unsettling situations.

But surely there's no reason to worry, right?

𝕋𝕙𝕖 𝕃𝕠𝕔𝕒𝕥𝕚𝕠𝕟

Welcome to Camp Solace!

This picturesque cabin campsite is situated in the middle of nowhere, directly next to the beautiful Lake Solace and flanked by acres of woodland, far removed from the bustle of civilization. In fact, it'd take you quite a while to reach the nearest town in case of an emergency. You'd best make sure nothing goes wrong.

Camp Solace was established in the 1980s. In 2022, the site was bought out by the wealthy Laurier family who plan to overturn it to appeal to “a higher class of customers”. But not before offering it to the Cloverleaf program for the season, free of charge. The things people do for their public image…

𝕋𝕙𝕖 ℂ𝕙𝕒𝕣𝕒𝕔𝕥𝕖𝕣𝕤

For the duration of the holiday as well as its lengthy preparations and follow-up work, you will be relying on the support of your four closest colleagues.

Basil Laurier (M, trans, late twenties): The eldest son of the Laurier family. He's volunteering at Cloverleaf. Wealthy, though he tries not to seem it. Van-lifer, nature lover and dedicated spiritualist. Skilled craftsman. Enjoys building things and blowing them up after. Harmonious, cheerful and snarky.

Anita Merrick (F, mid twenties): Student of psychology doing her internship with the Cloverleaf program. Has a bachelor's degree in information technology. Smart, kind and chronically sleep-deprived. Enjoys a good book and fancy coffee. Certified softie. Easily scared (she's in for a bad time, the poor thing).

Reem Malak (F, early thirties): Music teacher, band guitarist and vocalist. Volunteering at Cloverleaf. Flo’s older half-sister. Also plays drums and percussion, sax, piano, bass… and bagpipes. Impulsive, passionate and energetic. Enjoys doing yoga and lifting weights. The cool girl. Very tall.

Flo Malak (M, late twenties): Martial arts teacher who gives classes for both adults and children. Also volunteering at Cloverleaf. Taekwondo, Krav Maga. Silent, kind and not without his quirks. Reem calls him “socially challenged”. Enjoys obscure media and monster movies. Even taller than his sister.

𝕋𝕙𝕖 ℙ𝕝𝕒𝕪𝕖𝕣 ℂ𝕙𝕒𝕣𝕒𝕔𝕥𝕖𝕣

Your player character's age will be kept ambiguous, though it’s implied that you’re in same age range as the romance options (meaning your twenties to thirties). 

Play as M, F or NB; gay, straight, bi, ace or keep your orientation undefined (Note: Such Happy Campers is very character-driven with a focus on romantic love and interpersonal connections).

Customize your looks and vibe; choose your strengths, personality and outfit!

[sketchymangos]

TW: blood/ knife!!

GGY Fanweek 2024

Day 1: Bad Ending

bro killed his bff 4 life, his 4 lifer 4 eva, the bestiee, tony "i like my best friend" becker

@ggyweek2024

Y'ALL OMG ITS FINALLY HEERRREE

im lowkey scared to post this but its whatevv

im never posting angst ever again after this week bro i feel like it came out so bad

characters:

gregory (SB)

[warnersister]

INSTAMAGINE: DANNY RIC DATING AN ELITE RUNNER Pt.2

Daniel Ricciardo x Reader

Daniel Ricciardo x Runner! Reader

For the anon that asked for this😘

Part 1 🔙🔙

youruser

youruser: still can’t believe it. Boston you gave me your worst and I gave you my best. A record holder. Thank you ❤️

📍: Boston Marathon Finish Line

🏷️: bostonmarathon, nnrunningteam

❤️: danielricciardo, redbullracing, bostonmarathon and 23,375,284 others

💬:

danielricciardo: can’t explain how proud of you I am, most nerve wracking two hours of my life but I knew what you are capable of. thinking I might retire and give the WAG life a go❤️

-> youruser: danielricciardo seeing you at the finish line was the best moment of the whole race, couldn’t have finished without you shouting from the sidelines❤️

kipchogeeliud: well done, my friend. All proud of what you accomplished 🙏🧡

-> youruser: kipchogeeliud my mentor, my coach, my friend. 🧡

redbullracing: nah sorry, currently fangirling🤭🥲

maxverstappen1: awesome achievement🔥 racer to racer

-> youruser: maxverstappen1 thanks Max😆, race soon?👀👀

-> user1: maxverstappen1 yn at Danny’s race soon? 🤔

nnrunningteam: we knew. We knew what the ln was capable of and she proved it.

youruser

youruser: here’s to a year of dragging you along❤️

📍: Trails

🏷️: danielricciardo

❤️: danielricciardo, redbullracing, emmajanelbates and 2,647,024 others

💬:

danielricciardo: I’m getting old and you need to learn that hill reps are not a replacement for breakfast🥲

-> michaelitaliano: danielricciardo you are getting fitter mate

-> youruser: danielricciardo we get breakfast before and after stop complaining old man🥰

emmajanelbates: group run soon? 🥰

-> youruser: emmajanelbates ofc

user1: A YEAR????? HOW DID NONE OF US NOTICE?!?!

-> user2: user1 idek

danielricciardo

danielricciardo: a year of carbs, cramps and a Boston Champ🥰 I love you @/youruser❤️❤️

📍: home

🏷️: youruser

❤️: youruser, redbullracing, bostonmarathon and 28,835,288 others

💬:

youruser: you’re only in it for the carbs be fr🥰

-> danielricciardo: youruser shush😘😘😘

-> landonorris: danielricciardo ur girlfriend fed me a milkshake last week, watch ur back

-> danielricciardo: landonorris you started crying and fell off of the pavement when you couldn’t remember your room number, we’ll be fine.

redbullracing: screaming, crying, throwing up🥰

-> youruser: redbullracing me on a long run

F1NEWS

F1NEWS: REDBULL DRIVER, DANIEL RICCIARDO SPOTTED ON THE STREETS OF MONACO WITH ELITE RUNNER GIRLFRIEND, YN LN -> SEEMS SHE HAS ALSO TAKEN THE EYE OF ANOTHER DRIVER👀 LOVE TRIANGLE???

📍: Monaco Grand Prix

🏷️: F1, danielricciardo, youruser

❤️: f1dailys, wagsoff1 and 71,684 others

💬:

user1: who’s the third?? Those two are for-lifer🤨

-> user2: user1 frfr

-> user3: user1 apparently it’s Charles

-> ynrunner: user3 yeah I heard that too but I think our girly has tunnel vision for the Aussie🥰

wagnewsweekly: our fav Brit/Aussie duo😍

dannyswife: nobody is gonna get in the way of their relationship or I’ll throw hands🥊🥊😡

-> riccy3: dannyswife THIS

youruser

youruser: girls track sesh? Yes pls.

📍: Stade Alfred Depège, Bourges France

🏷️: emmajanelbates, sarahall3, em_sisson_, samanthaharrison95… 2 others

❤️: danielricciardo, nnrunningteam, sarahall3 and 897,274 others

💬:

danielricciardo: I was the camera man. Photo credz babe??🙄📸

-> emmajanelbates: danielricciardo ur an honorary girly at this point

-> youruser: danielricciardo ☝️

em_sisson_: danielricciardo I’ve never seen anybody chug a beer mid track session before

-> danielricciardo: em_sisson_ you get used to it

-> sarahall3: danielricciardo it was 9 AM

-> danielricciardo: sarahall3 it’s 5 o’clock somewhere

-> youruser: danielricciardo my alcoholic🥰

-> danielricciardo: youruser I need it to deal with Max🥲🥲💔💔

danielricciardo

danielricciardo: her version of a track sesh vs mine. She’s cute tho so I’ll let it slide I suppose😙❤️ I have to take the bike out for a spin, can’t keep up anymore😅

📍: Stade Alfred Depège, Bourges France

🏷️: youruser

❤️: youruser, maxverstappen1, f1wags and 1,285,924 others

💬:

maxverstappen1: youruser personally I wouldn’t let that slide. Confiscate his bike and make him struggle

-> youruser: maxverstappen1 he takes my speed shoes when I do that🥲

redbullracing: happy wife happy life

-> danielricciardo: redbullracing more like dead husband = happy exhausted wife

-> F1FAN: danielricciardo HE CALLED HER IS WIFE I CAN FHSBTJEJF

-> motorsportwags: F1FAN IM DYING I CANT THEY’RE TOO PERFECT

danielricciardo

danielricciardo: now it’s my turn to shine @/youruser😘

📍: Monte-Carlo Monaco

🏷️: youruser, redbullracing, F1

❤️: F1, youruser, maxverstappen1 and 2,484,025 others

💬:

youruser: + my turn to enjoy the wag life🥰

-> carmenmundt: youruser hmu girl x 😙

-> danny<3: carmenmundt THE WAY THEY ARE ADOPTING YN I ACTUALLY CANT

-> danielricciardo: youruser feel free to retire from running and be a stay at home mum, no objections from me😘😘

-> youruser: danielricciardo a few more years left in me darling not that easy unfortunately xx 😘😘

F1FAN: what do you have to say about the Charles situation?

-> danielricciardo: F1FAN who?

-> user1: danielricciardo THE SHADE NOO

F1

F1: RUNNING LEGEND YN LN WAVING THE CHEQUERED FLAG AT THE MONACO GRAND PRIX TO SEE HER LOVER BOY FINISH IN P1❤️🥇

📍: Monte-Carlo Monaco

🏷️: youruser, danielricciardo

❤️: youruser, danielricciardo, charles_leclerc and 7,834,174 others

💬:

maxverstappen1: bro pushed harder so his girl would be impressed

-> danielricciardo: maxverstappen1 and ur still single?

-> maxverstappen1: danielricciardo hide ur wife😍

F1FAN: love her

-> ynwifer: F1FAN can’t get over those two

charles_leclerc: good to see her there

-> ynrunner: charles_leclerc bro what🤨🥊

-> landonorrisisbae: charles_leclerc side eye

youruser: was an honour❤️☺️

-> danielricciardo: youruser so is waking up next to you daily❤️

-> f1sportz: danielricciardo oh okay bro is MAD whipped I gotchu 😉

youruser

youruser: LETS F*CKING GO DANNY NEVER A DOUBT❤️🔥 + was an honour to be given the opportunity to raise the flag at such a significant event in the race calendar🤍

📍: Monte-Carlo Monaco

🏷️: danielricciardo, redbullracing, F1

❤️: danielricciardo, F1, charles_leclerc and 2,284,294 others

💬:

danielricciardo: my good luck charm🥰🍀

-> youruser: danielricciardo must’ve taken your Boston spirit🥰

-> danielricciardo: youruser didn’t need spirit when my girl is making history❤️

-> youruser: danielricciardo carry on and I’ll marry you now.

-> danielricciardo: youruser don’t tempt me💍💍

-> ynrunningdairy: danielricciardo AHHH YES PLEASE

-> user1: ynrunningdairy I WILL SIMPLY PASS AWAY

danielricciardo: do I get an award?👀👀

-> youruser: danielricciardo trophy not enough? 🤨🥇🏆

-> danielricciardo: youruser👅👅

-> f1newsweek: danielricciardo keep it PG there are children here

-> landonorris: danielricciardo: my pure innocent eyes

charles_leclerc: nice to see you at a Grand Prix

-> youruser: sorry about your DNF Charles. All the best - yn.

-> FormulaDan: youruser NAH SHES SO PROFESSIONAL

-> user1: FormulaDan what a queen. The way she handled that. 🫶🫶

F1FAN: she’s so in love.

-> F1wagz: F1FAN whipped. 🥰🤚

-> youruser: F1FAN ☝️🤭

charles_leclerc

charles_leclerc: there is always a silver lining on dark and cloudy days. ☁️🩶 DNF but still sunny

📍: Monte-Carlo Monaco

🏷️: F1, scuderiaferrari

❤️: F1, pierregasly, scuderiaferrari and 8,274,284 others

💬:

F1: 💔

pierregasly: next year man🙏☝️

-> charles_leclerc: pierregasly 🤞🤞

F1FANATIC: Why is there a picture of yn

FormulaRic: why is there a photo of yn here?

F123: why is DR’s gf here?

F1Wags: what’s going on with you and yn?

F1FAN: @/danielricciardo @/youruser ?????

-> danielricciardo: F1FAN yet I’m the one getting laid tonight… oops. 🤷‍♀️☺️

-> honeybadger3: danielricciardo THE CONFIDENCE THIS MAN HAS IN YN AND HIM

-> danielricciardo: honeybadger3 gonna be with yn the rest of my life not going to let some teenager with a boner get in my head. She’s hot I don’t blame him

-> F1FAN: danielricciardo IM WHEEZING

-> ynrunner: danielricciardo TEENAGER IS AN ABSOLUTE VIOLATION WOAH

read other 789,284 comments

I have to make a part 3 I’m sorry it’s NEEDED😁😭

[leveloneandup]

uswntplayers Thank you Ashlyn Harris for an amazing career, and for being an even more amazing person. Wishing you a beautiful retirement and can’t wait to see what the next chapter Gotham FC brings. Congratulations Ashlyn!

Tobin Heath: What up, Lifer? You're such an easy person to celebrate because you love celebrating others. And still for you, the best is yet to come and I hope that I'm along for the ride, because I know it will be epic. Love you so much.

Midge Purce: I can not wait to see what you're about to do. We all know you're gonna take the world by storm, and you definitely did us. Thank you so much for everything you've done for me, personally. We love you, Ash.

Sydney Leroux: I’ve just loved, like, watching your journey. You are such an amazing friend. You are such a competitor, the ultimate competitor and you brought out the best in me. You brought out the best in the people around you. And the game will not be the same without you.

Christen Press: So proud of you. Thank you for all that you've done for so many of us. What you've sacrificed and given to this team and to the game of football, we will be forever grateful. You've left it better and can't wait to see what you do on the next steps on your journey. Love you.

Megan Rapinoe: You know, whether it's training, games... It's just amazing. Always pushing everybody, always pushing yourself, keeping the standard super high. You know, one of the best teammates I've ever played with. Always bringing that standard, but also bringing the laughs, bringing the fun, bringing that balance that we all know that we need on and off the field. I just love you so much. Congrats on an amazing career and… When's vacation?

Ali Krieger: Congrats, babe! I can't believe this day is actually here now looking back about 12 years ago, when we first met in soccer camp where I guess I really knocked your socks off. Anyway, well, we really came into our own sense then and I feel so lucky to have witnessed so much of your success through the years, both on and off the field. I couldn't be more proud of the player and the woman that you've become. So, to me, you will always be the best wife, the best mom, friend, teammate, and goalkeeper in the world, no matter what. You've given your everything to football over the years, but your greater impact and reach to inspire our community, our fans, our family, your teammates and coaches along the way, will always outweigh the awards and acheivements and championships. You certainly have set a high standard to motivate everyone to just be better everyday and you deserve to be celebrated for that. I have no doubt you'll thrive in your next chapter and I promise to always help shine your light brighter along the way. Congrats again on your incredibly impactful career, you've achieved so much already. And to Sloane, Ocean, Logan, Storm, and I, you are already enough. We are so proud of you. We love you so, so much. Cheers to you, my forever teammate. And tonight, it's Moms' night out, so I'm gonna need us to guzzle those drinks. Alright, let's go party. I love you.

Sloane: Yay! Ali: Yayyy for Mama! Little kisses.

[obxhub]

That’s JJ, my best friend since the third grade. He’s about as local as they come. Latest in a long line of fishing, drinking, smuggling, vendetta-holding, salt-lifers who made their living off the water. Best surfer I know. Just don’t tell him I said that. Mild kleptomaniac and a future tax cheat.

[foreverbase1]

ᏗᎮᏒᎥᏝ ᏕᏖᎧᏒᎩ ❣ Zhang Hao

❥𝐏𝐚𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠: bsf!Zhang Hao x fem!reader

❥𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐂𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭: 5.0k

❥𝐆𝐞𝐧𝐫𝐞: I Want My Beloved To Be Happy, Fluff, Angst

❥𝐖𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬: Prepare some tissues <3

❥𝐒𝐨𝐧𝐠: April Story by APRIL

❥𝐅𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠: ZB1's Hanbin & Ricky, Kep1er's Xiaoting and ILY:1's Ririka

❥𝐒𝐲𝐧𝐨𝐩𝐬𝐢𝐬: While at her best friend's wedding, Reader tells her story to a handsome stranger about the time she fell in love with her best friend. But ultimately chose to let him go, because his heart never belonged to her.

𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐨𝐟𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝, 𝐬𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐲 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐦𝐦𝐚𝐫 𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐬! <𝟑

"𝘼 𝙨𝙩𝙤𝙧𝙮 𝙨𝙤 𝙤𝙡𝙙, 𝙄 𝙙𝙤𝙣'𝙩 𝙠𝙣𝙤𝙬 𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙞𝙩 𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙧𝙩𝙚𝙙"

You stood there with a smile on your face as you watched your best friend, Zhang Hao, marry the love of his life. Although the smile on your face was one of happiness, there was a tiny hint of longing and sadness in your gaze.

Once the vows had been exchanged and the two were official wedded, the guests all congratulated the two on their marriage. You walked up to Zhang Hao and greeted him with a hug, inhaling his cologne as you two embraced each other. Smiling up at him as you moved away, you looked over to his wife, Xiaoting, and smiled at her.

"Congratulations you two, i'm kinda jealous, i hope i'm next to get married" You joked light heartedly with the newlyweds, earning soft laughter from the two. Xiaoting intertwined her arm with Hao's and you couldn't lie and say it didn't hurt just a tiny bit. She smiled at you, nodding her head. 'I'm sure the right one will come by soon Y/N, and when you do get married, can i be a bridesmaid?" Xiaoting giggled, invoking a chuckle from you too.

You put a finger to your lips with a smile gracing your features as you looked at the girl. "I'll think about it" You looked over at Hao, who smiled at you fondly, a smile you loved and knew you could never grow tired of. "Thank you for coming Y/N, it means a lot" He thanked you, you shrugged, slightly pushing his shoulder jokingly. "What kind of best friend would i be if i didn't?" Another round of laughter escaped the three of you before you excused yourself from the couple to get a drink.

Standing by the table with a glass in your hand, your eyes scanned the venue. You looked between each of the guests with a small smile on your lips. Some of the guests you knew, as they were also friends with you. There was Ricky, he was friends with Hao before you even came into the picture and it became an inside joke between you two about how you stole his best friend away from him.

Then there was your friend, Ririka, you became friends with her when you bumped into her on her first day at your school after she had just moved. She was a foreigner and had completely no sense of direction, you bumped into her when she was wandering the school in a panic trying not to be late for her first class. Deciding to help her out, you found out she was in all of your classes and so you decided to stick with her, and that's how your friendship with her bloomed.

You and Ririka always called yourselves "for lifers", cause wherever you were, she was there and wherever she was, you were there. You were stuck to each other like glue and shared the same circle of friends. She was also the only one to ever know about your crush in Zhang Hao and was there to help you through it, you could never truly pay her back for how supportive and helpful she was through it all, you truly appreciated her and were grateful she was your friend.

However, while you knew some of the guests, you also didn't recognize others and you pieced together quickly that these must of been the guests that Xiaoting invited. As you admired how pretty the venue was and let yourself drown into the loud chatter of conversation amongst other guests, a figure would come to stand beside you, a glass delicately placed in his hands too.

Looking over at him, you couldn't help but do a double take, you didn't know the man but to you he looked ethereal, he was handsome and wore a kind smile on his face. He looked at you, lightly chuckling at how you seemed dazed by him. "If you keep staring, people might get the wrong idea" He whispered to you causing you to snap out of your dazed state and laugh slightly, embarrassed at how you let yourself daydream like that.

"Sorry, i didn't mean to stare. I'm Y/N by the way, L/N Y/N." You reached your hand out to him, offering a handshake, which the man gladly took. His hand wrapping with yours as you shook hands, that same smile on his face. "I'm Hanbin. Sung Hanbin." He introduced himself, and you made sure to make a mental note that you'd remember his name. "Are you one of Xiaoting's guests?" You asked him, as you two turned to watch over the venue again.

Hanbin nodded at your words, raising the glass in his hands to take a sip of the liquid inside. "Yeah, i'm guessing you're one of Zhang Hao's guests?" He asked and you nodded with a smile on your face. "Mhm, i'm his best friend and i wouldn't miss his wedding for anything." With a smile on your face, you followed Hanbin's previous actions and raised your glass to your lips, taking a sip of your drink.

Hanbin watched you with curious eyes, wondering if he should ask what he was thinking. He followed your gaze and realized you were looking in Zhang Hao's direction and that was enough for him to ask. "What's your story?" He asked, causing you to look at him with a confused look on your face. "What do you mean?" Hanbin chuckled before smiling down at you. "Everyone has a story, what's yours?" He asked again, this time gesturing towards Zhang Hao with the glass in his hand, you looked in the direction he gestured towards and realized he was gesturing to Zhang Hao.

You cleared your throat, breathing in a little deeper. "If i tell you my story, will you tell me yours?" The question seemed to make Hanbin's smile brighter and he nodded his head again. "Deal." After the word had left his mouth, you took a deep breathe as your eyes trailed back to Zhang Hao. "Where do i even start."

"𝙏𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙖 𝙜𝙞𝙧𝙡, 𝙬𝙝𝙤 𝙘𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙𝙣'𝙩 𝙨𝙖𝙮 𝙖𝙣𝙮𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜"

Your story first started at BASEONE High, you were new to the school at the time, and you had no idea where you were going. Each turn you took in the hallways only led you further and further from your destination, it was like a maze and you had no clue how the students could even navigate this place.

Eventually, you decided to give up and lean against one of the windows, from there you looked at everything one of the teacher's had given you. Your class schedule and a very badly printed copy of the school's layout, sighing to yourself and scratching the top of your head in frustration, you stuffed both back into your bag and began walking in a random direction.

It wasn't long until you bumped into someone, causing you to stumble back and fall flat on your ass. "Ow" You muttered, looking up to come face to face with two very attractive boys. One of them tried to hold in their laughter, while the other looked almost offended. "Watch where you're going next time" One of the two boys said, despite having a pretty face, he had a horrid personality. Well, that's what your first thought was of him.

Standing up, you fixed your skirt and glared up at him. "Sorry, i'm new to the school and i don't exactly know where i'm going" You didn't want to admit that, considering the fact you didn't like this guy at first, but maybe he would be willing to help you. "And that's my problem, how?" He tilted his head mockingly, and this caused anger to bubble up in your chest, just as you were about to blow up at him the other boy stopped you. "Zhang Hao, be nicer. She's new" The second guy stated, and you looked at him for a split second before looking back at the first, whose name you now discovered was "Zhang Hao".

Zhang Hao sighed, before looking at you. "Show me your schedule" He asked, you looked at him before rolling your eyes and reaching back into your bag to once again pull out your schedule and hand it to him. Looking at it, Zhang Hao would hand it back after a couple minutes before walking past you with the other boy in toe, you looked at him in disbelief until he turned and looked you up and down. "You coming? We have the same classes, hurry" He turned around and continued walking, despite your growing hatred for the guy, right now he was your only guide around the school and so you followed him and his friend.

"𝙀𝙫𝙚𝙣 𝙖𝙛𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙩𝙞𝙢𝙚, 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙣 𝙖𝙛𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙨𝙚𝙖𝙨𝙤𝙣. 𝙎𝙝𝙚 𝙝𝙞𝙙 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙪𝙣𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙜𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙝𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙩"

Time passed by quicker than you thought it would, and a year had passed by already. You had become accustomed to the school and no longer needed Zhang Hao to guide you around the school while you followed him like a lost puppy. Although you swore to yourself you would find your own group of friends eventually and would no longer need to see him anymore, that couldn't have been more untrue.

You ended up growing to like Zhang Hao and to your surprise, he grew to like you too and that's how your friendship started. You were invited to be apart of his friend group and now you weren't so lonely at the school anymore. While your first meeting with Zhang Hao wasn't the greatest, you eventually grew to like his personality and found him great to be around. A day never passed where you weren't laughing and having fun with him and you two had become super close in such a short time.

Shortly after a year had passed that you had joined the school, that was when you met Ririka. She had bumped into you when she was rushing down the school hallway in a panic and fell on the floor in a similar fashion you did a year ago when you bumped into Zhang Hao, it was like history was repeating itself. But unlike Zhang Hao, you weren't an asshole to Ririka on your first meeting, instead helping the girl up.

Ririka apologized profusely, tears threatening to spill from her eyes at any minute. It took you 10 minutes just to calm the girl down and get her to speak to you clearly. That was when you learned she was new to the school, and just like you, she found the school to be a maze. Checking her schedule, you realized she was in all your classes and so you decided to befriend the girl so that she wasn't alone in this school.

This was when you learned of Hao's jealousy regarding your friendship with others. You introduced Ririka to your circle of friends and everyone welcomed her warmly, all except Hao. He treated her coldly, sulking and trying to limit interactions with the girl.

You pulled Hao to the side in order to give him a much needed talk about how he should be nicer to Ririka. "Why are you being so rude to Ririka? She's nice" You crossed your arms in front of you and looked up at Hao with slight anger on your eyes, but mainly curiosity. Hao crossed his own arms, looking down at you. "Why are you trying to replace me?" He stated, and that caused you to take a step back in confusion. "What? What do you mean replace you?" Hao sighs, looking over at the table your group of friends and staring at Ririka.

You shake your head, rolling your eyes at the boy next to you. "No one is replacing you Hao, you're one of my closest friends." Although you didn't quite understand his jealousy over Ririka, you reassured him either way just to avoid any tension that could arise from it. "Good" He nodded his head, looking at you with a small and you looked up at him. "You're weird" this earned a chuckle from Hao, who simply pushed you lightly. "But you love me" he replied, walking back towards your group friends, you turned back towards Hao and stuck your tongue out at him. "You wish!"

"𝙃𝙚 𝙡𝙤𝙤𝙠𝙚𝙙 𝙝𝙖𝙥𝙥𝙮, 𝙩𝙤 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙥𝙤𝙞𝙣𝙩 𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙨𝙝𝙚 𝙝𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙙 𝙝𝙞𝙢. 𝘽𝙪𝙩 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙛𝙚𝙚𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙨 𝙠𝙚𝙥𝙩 𝙜𝙧𝙤𝙬𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙗𝙚𝙘𝙖𝙢𝙚 𝙖 𝙨𝙚𝙘𝙧𝙚𝙩 𝙨𝙝𝙚 𝙘𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙𝙣'𝙩 𝙩𝙚𝙡𝙡"

It was only shortly after Ririka's introduction into the group that another new face joined the group, her name was Shen Xiaoting. She became a hit fast within your friend group and everyone adored her. She was kind, she was pretty, she was talented. Who couldn't like her?

But this was also where your story began to become more melancholic. The joke of Hao being jealous of your friendship with Ririka popped up once again when you began to get jealous of Hao's increasing closeness to Xiaoting. You didn't understand why, it wasn't like Hao couldn't be friends with anyone else, he was friends with multiple girls within your group and never once had you felt this way about it.

You just couldn't help it, and you couldn't figure out exactly why you were beginning to get more jealous of their growing friendship each day. Every time you saw them together, laughing with each other and whispering little secrets to each other, it would cause a rising anger in your chest and all you wanted to do was pull Hao away from her.

It wasn't until you eventually told Ririka about how you were feeling, was when you figured it all out. "Riri, i don't understand" You started the conversation, your back laid flat against her bed, Ririka seated on the floor painting her nails. The girl looked up at you from her seat on the floor, a smile on her face. "What don't you get, Y/N?"

You sat up, looking down at your friend. "I don't understand this feeling i get whenever i see Hao and Xiaoting together. Whenever i see them talking and laughing together, whispering secrets to each other or when they post on their social media about hanging out together. It just.....i don't know, i get this weird tightness in my chest."

That was when Ririka froze, she had processed your words and it clicked immediately for the girl, but she realized that it hadn't clicked for you yet. Putting her nail polish away for a moment, she moved to join you on her bed, sitting beside you. She got you to look at her, making sure to not get pink and purple nail polish over your uniform cause it still had her to dry. "Y/N, i don't know any easy way to tell you this, so i'm just gonna be straightforward." She sounded serious and you had rarely ever seen Ririka like this, she was usually sweet, upbeat and cheery. So seeing her serious got you feeling anxious.

Looking at her, you nodded your head, waiting for her to continue. Ririka smiles a small smile, but it wasn't her usual cute and happy smile you were used too, you saw the sadness hidden within it. "I think....you have feelings for Zhang Hao" she said slowly, making sure to give you time to process her words. Once the words finished replaying several times in your head, you laughed, pushing the girl's shoulder lightly. "Funny joke Riri, seriously, come on. You can't be serious. Me? Like Hao?" You laughed awkwardly and in disbelief, although you felt like her words held some semblance of truth.

Ririka stared at you, not knowing what to say next. It was when you looked back in her eyes that was when you realized she was dead serious and you processed her words again, processed the events and your feelings towards Hao and Xiaoting's friendship. And it clicked, your chest tightened and you felt sick to your stomach. "Oh." Is the only word you could get to leave your mouth.

You realized now how every time Hao did something for you, your heart would flutter and you would get butterflies. Whenever he got you the things you liked, sometimes even buying you thinks you never even asked him for, when he would take you out on late midnight walks in the parks together to relax or the "friend dates" you two would go on without your other friends. You cherished every day and night with him and never wanted it to end, and now you were coming to the sad realization that......

𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘣𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘧𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘥.

"𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙜𝙞𝙧𝙡 𝙬𝙝𝙤 𝙡𝙞𝙫𝙚𝙨 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙥𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙡𝙖𝙣𝙙, 𝙨𝙖𝙬 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙨𝙤𝙢𝙚 𝙗𝙤𝙮 𝙛𝙧𝙤𝙢 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙡𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙤𝙛 𝙞𝙘𝙚"

The next day after you figured out your feelings for Hao, you couldn't help but want to throw up every time he smiled in your direction. You couldn't tell him and you swore Ririka to secrecy, how could you ever tell him? You didn't want to ruin your friendship with him, but no matter how hard you tried to distract yourself and forget your feelings, praying they'd just go away. They only grew stronger instead.

But your story isn't a happy one, so there is no fairytale ending waiting for you at the end of this road. As if Cupid had played a sick prank on you, Hao would come to you with a secret, and how could you deny hearing it from him when he had that cute smile and expression on his face looking at you like an excited puppy.

So you let him lead you to a bench outside on the school's campus, situated just under a tree, creating the perfect shade and scenery for the two of you. You wouldn't lie, you enjoyed it, it felt like a romantic getaway for just the two of you and it felt like maybe, just maybe he might like you back too. Maybe he was going to spill all his feelings to you and you two would live happily ever after!.....Right?

But the next words that left his lips shattered any hope you had, and it made your heart stop for a few seconds. "I was thinking of confessing to Xiaoting, can you help me? You're the only one i trust and have told about this, so you better keep it between us two!" He smiled at you, a sense of desperation in his voice. You must have been staring at him for a short while because Hao waved his hand in front of your face, pulling you out of your shocked state. "Y/N, you okay?" He asked, now concerned if you were doing well.

You cleared your throat, flashing a quick fake smile at him and nodding your head. "Sure! I'd love to help you....Hao" your voice trailed off near the end, but you quickly perked up to cover it up and thankfully Hao hadn't realized. His smile grew 10x brighter and it caused your stomach to churn in jealousy, he hugged you tightly, the scent of his familiar cologne invading your senses. You had to use all your strength to hold back your tears as you hugged him back, pulling away and standing up.

"I've gotta go Hao, i forgot that Ririka actually needed me for something!" You smiled, quickly waving at him before you rushed off, leaving Hao seated on the bench in confusion at your quick withdrawal.

Quickly moving to hide behind a corner of the school building just out of Hao's line of sight, you placed your hand to your chest, trying to calm the aching pain your heart was going through. You breathed in deeply, using your other hand to wipe at the few years that had fallen from your eyes. "It's okay Y/N, you're okay" You told yourself, but you knew that was a lie, a lie to find solace in the heartbreak you were feeling.

"����𝙚𝙭𝙩 𝙩𝙤 𝙝𝙞𝙢 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙥𝙧𝙚𝙩𝙩𝙮 𝙜𝙞𝙧𝙡 𝙛𝙧𝙤𝙢 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙬𝙞𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙡𝙖𝙣𝙙, 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙮 𝙬𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙖𝙡𝙬𝙖𝙮𝙨 𝙨𝙢𝙞𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙤𝙜𝙚𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧"

Although hesitant at first, you had made a plan with Hao. Even though a part of you didn't want too, you chose to do it anyway, cause Hao was your best friend and you didn't want to see him upset. The plan was to go like this, you would hang out with Xiaoting over the next few days, taking her to places; a café, the movies, inviting her to sleepovers with you and Ririka at your house and gifting her things to show how much you valued your friendship with her.

It was true you valued your friendship with her, she was your friend just as much as she was Hao's friend. But you couldn't help but feel jealous of her and envy her, you couldn't help but compare yourself to her.

She was pretty, she was popular, she was talented and she had the heart of the boy who had yours without even knowing it. You just couldn't stop yourself from envying her, feeling jealous of her and wanting to be her. But you would never let her know that, cause even though you had a growing dislike for her, she was still your friend and someone you cherished.

So you swallowed your feelings and continued to get closer to Xiaoting, to help out Hao. That's what you told yourself, this was all for Hao, this was all for his happiness.

"𝙎𝙤 𝙨𝙝𝙚 𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙘𝙚𝙛𝙪𝙡𝙡𝙮 𝙝𝙞𝙙 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙝𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙩 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙥𝙧𝙖𝙮𝙚𝙙 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙗𝙚𝙖𝙪𝙩𝙞𝙛𝙪𝙡 𝙥𝙖𝙞𝙧. 𝙁𝙤𝙧 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙞𝙧 𝙝𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙩𝙨 𝙩𝙤 𝙣𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙜𝙚, 𝙨𝙝𝙚 𝙥𝙧𝙖𝙮𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙤 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙠𝙮 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮 𝙙𝙖𝙮, 𝙟𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚 𝙢𝙚"

The plan worked, a little too well for your liking. A part of you wanted the plan to work, after all you wanted to see Hao happy. But another part of you wanted the plan to fail, for Xiaoting to reject Hao, so that there was just a slight chance for you to hopefully hold his heart. But your story doesn't go like that.

After you had grown closer to Xiaoting, a few days after, she would pull you aside after class. "Y/N, i need your help. I want to confess to Zhang Hao, and you're his 𝘣𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘧𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘥, it would be such a big advantage to have someone he's close with help me with this!" She smiled at you, a hopeful glint in her eyes. There it was again, a shot to your heart. Xiaoting reciprocated his feelings and now she was asking you for help.

Of course, why wouldn't she? You're Hao's best friend, you know everything about him, his likes, his dislikes, You knew him like the back of your hand, so of course, why wouldn't Xiaoting want your help?

"Sure Xiaoting, i'd love to help you" You smiled at her, a fake smile, but she wouldn't know that. The girl squealed, pulling you into a hug to show her gratitude to you for helping her. Your arms were glued to your sides, eventually Xiaoting would pull back and wave goodbye to you, leaving the classroom.

You stood there and let yourself process everything, taking a deep breathe, you realized that this was it. You were about to let Hao slip through your fingers and fall into the arms of another. Was this really what you wanted? We're you not comes try and fight for him?.....was there any point to?

"𝙔𝙤𝙪 𝙡𝙤𝙤𝙠 𝙝𝙖𝙥𝙥𝙮, 𝙩𝙤 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙥𝙤𝙞𝙣𝙩 𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙄 𝙝𝙖𝙩𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪. 𝘽𝙪𝙩 𝙄 𝙘𝙖𝙣'𝙩 𝙝𝙚𝙡𝙥 𝙢𝙮 𝙝𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙩, 𝙨𝙤 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚 𝙖 𝙛𝙤𝙤𝙡, 𝙄'𝙢 𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙢𝙮𝙨𝙚𝙡𝙛"

You stood at the same bench where Hao had asked you for help, where he spilled his heart to you about liking Xiaoting. You had left him a letter asking him to meet you here and now you were just awaiting his arrival.

Breathing in slowly, you prepared yourself mentally and emotionally for what was going to happen. "You've got this Y/N, you've got this" you told yourself, you were about to tell Hao that his feelings were reciprocated and that Xiaoting liked him too, you were about to let Hao go.

The sound of footsteps approaching and stopping behind you was the signal that he had arrived, so turning around, you looked up at him and smiled. Hao tried stepping forward and hugging you, your usual greeting with each other, but you took a step back when he took a step forward. A look of confusion and hurt crossed his face, and it made your heart ache, but you couldn't let yourself feel his embrace. Because you didn't know how much in you that you had left before you cracked.

"Zhang Hao" You said, using his name and not his nickname, if you were going to get through this you needed to stop yourself from falling and that started with creating a small line for you to not overstep.

Hao's face contorted in confusion, and a slight look of hurt crossed his face again at this, it pained you to see him like that. Especially since you were the one causing it. But you were already too far in now, so clearing your throat, you continued speaking. "The plan worked, Xiaoting likes you too" You said, your voice almost cracking near the end, but you did it. You told him.

A look of excitement and happiness took it's place on Hao's face, he looked so cute with that expression, like a little kid in a candy store who couldn't wait to try out the sweet treat he had picked out. Looking past him and seeing Xiaoting approaching, you stepped forward, letting yourself feel his touch one last time. You squeezed his hand lightly with both of yours, smiling at him. "Good luck and congrats" and with those words leaving your mouth, you quickly sprinted away in the opposite direction, not giving Hao any time to process or respond to you.

"𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙝𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙩𝙗𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙠𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙛𝙖𝙞𝙧𝙮𝙩𝙖𝙡𝙚 𝙨𝙚𝙚𝙢𝙚𝙙 𝙟𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚 𝙢𝙮 𝙨𝙩𝙤𝙧𝙮, 𝙨𝙤 𝙄 𝙝𝙤𝙥𝙚 𝙨𝙥𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙬𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙚 𝙖𝙜𝙖𝙞𝙣 (𝙄 𝙝𝙤𝙥𝙚). 𝙄'𝙢 𝙖𝙛𝙧𝙖𝙞𝙙 𝙢𝙮 𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙘𝙚𝙛𝙪𝙡𝙡𝙮 𝙝𝙞𝙙𝙙𝙚𝙣 𝙝𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙩 𝙬𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙘𝙝 𝙮𝙤𝙪, 𝙨𝙤 𝙄 𝙖𝙢 𝙞𝙣 𝙥𝙖𝙞𝙣 𝙗𝙮 𝙢𝙮𝙨𝙚𝙡𝙛"

You watched from afar in Ririka's embrace, her arms wrapped around your waist from behind as she rested her head on your shoulder, acting as your pillar of support. You both watched as Hao turned to face Xiaoting, the two smiling at each other and confessing to one another. The two embraced and you could tell that this was just the beginning of their relationship.

Ririka let out a slight hum catching your attention, she smiled at you as she gave your waist a little squeeze for support. "I'm proud of you Y/N, you picked the right choice" As those words left her lips, you let yourself relax into her embrace and let the tears you were holding back fall from your eyes. You swallowed hard, feeling a lump form in your throat. "Xiaoting will take good care of him, i know she will"

Ririka hummed again, in agreement with your words as you felt her grab your hand and begin to lead you away from the sight in front of you. "Come on, Ricky asked me to meet him at the convenience store and i can't keep him waiting any longer" She said, leading you by the hand. You turned your head to look at Hao and Xiaoting's figures one more time, feeling yourself smile a small smile. A real smile. Before turning away from them.

𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘭𝘦𝘵 𝘏𝘢𝘰 𝘨𝘰.

"𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙜𝙞𝙧𝙡 𝙬𝙝𝙤 𝙡𝙞𝙫𝙚𝙨 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙥𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙡𝙖𝙣𝙙, 𝙨𝙖𝙬 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙨𝙤𝙢𝙚 𝙗𝙤𝙮 𝙛𝙧𝙤𝙢 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙡𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙤𝙛 𝙞𝙘𝙚. 𝙉𝙚𝙭𝙩 𝙩𝙤 𝙝𝙞𝙢 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙥𝙧𝙚𝙩𝙩𝙮 𝙜𝙞𝙧𝙡 𝙛𝙧𝙤𝙢 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙬𝙞𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙡𝙖𝙣𝙙, 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙮 𝙬𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙖𝙡𝙬𝙖𝙮𝙨 𝙨𝙢𝙞𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙤𝙜𝙚𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧"

You finished telling your story to Hanbin, surprised you were even telling anyone this, let alone a stranger you had just met, especially when only Ririka knew of this. But you felt an odd sense of safety with Hanbin, you couldn't quite explain it.

Hanbin nodded his head along to your words, listening to the story with his full focus entirely on you. He smiled once you finished speaking, looking at you. "That was a beautiful story" He said, earning a chuckle from you as you took another sip of your drink.

You watched Hao and Xiaoting dance together from afar, with only pure love in their gazes. It reminded you of when you and Ririka watched Hao and Xiaoting confess to each other all those years ago, except now it was Hanbin by your side and not Ririka. The only thing you felt at the sight of your best friend and his wife was....happiness.

Maybe in another timeline it would be you in Xiaoting's spot, you would be the one with Hao and you would be the one getting married to him. Xiaoting would be the one in the seat you currently occupied, but you were content with living in this timeline. Despite the strong feelings you held for Hao years ago, you had managed to push aside the mixed feelings and resentment towards Xiaoting and let Hao go. Cause no matter how much you loved him back then, his heart never belonged to you, it belonged to Xiaoting. She would take care of him and you trusted her with that.

Hearing Hanbin stand up, he moved to stand in front of you and offered a hand out to you. Confused, you looked at him and tilted your head earning a soft chuckle from the man. "Care for a dance, Y/N?" He speaks softly and you felt another smile growing on your face as your heartrate increased. Taking his hand and letting him lead you to where other guests were dancing, you danced with Hanbin to the slow music, letting yourself melt away in his arms.

Watching from afar, Ririka would squeal seeing you dancing with Hanbin. She was happy seeing the sight of her friend before her and she sighed contently. "What are you looking at?" Ricky would ask the girl as he wrapped an arm around her waist, Ririka would point to you and Hanbin, and Ricky would feel a smile grace his face as well. "I'm happy for her, maybe he's her Mr. Right" She smiles brightly, as the two continued to watch you.

Maybe in this timeline you couldn't be with Hao like you originally wanted too, but it seems life has it's ways and maybe, just maybe....Hanbin was the one you were meant to find at the end of your 𝐀𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐥 𝐒𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲 all along.

"𝙎𝙤 𝙨𝙝𝙚 𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙘𝙚𝙛𝙪𝙡𝙡𝙮 𝙝𝙞𝙙 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙝𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙩 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙥𝙧𝙖𝙮𝙚𝙙 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙗𝙚𝙖𝙪𝙩𝙞𝙛𝙪𝙡 𝙥𝙖𝙞𝙧. 𝙁𝙤𝙧 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙞𝙧 𝙝𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙩𝙨 𝙩𝙤 𝙣𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙜𝙚, 𝙨𝙝𝙚 𝙥𝙧𝙖𝙮𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙤 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙠𝙮 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮 𝙙𝙖𝙮, 𝙟𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚 𝙢𝙚"

Thank you for reading <3 this originally wasn't planned, but i started listening to April Story again and just HAD to write a fic based on it. This definitely one of my faves for sure.

[glittter-vamp]

Of ALL the people that you could play about with Joe … Ja’Marr ain’t one of them 😭 Like how STUPID could you be to think that relationship isn’t personal and deeply heartfelt? It’s one of the reasons why you root so hard for them . On and OFF THE FIELD you can see that they were meant to be each others Ying and Yang . A friendship that survives lifetimes cause they always look and radiate to one another . That type of friendship where you can’t imagine life without them and see them by your side at every important moment like Ja’Marr saying he sees Joey as his best man 🥹. "A good friend is a connection to life — a tie to the past, a road to the future, the key to sanity in a totally insane world.

JoeMarr 4 lifers 🤞🏽🫶🏽

[mosswoodmc]

hot take no one will see because I deadass have zero followers: platonic hermits/lifers need more attention. I understand the appeal behind the romantic relationships, but I would LOVE to see some attention given to more buddy-chum-pal type relationships. For example, personally, I believe Impulse and Bdubs deserve more "we're best friends and nothing is going to change that" type of stuff. Like, Impulse would do the whole "feel your forehead when you don't feel well to see if you have a fever" and Bdubs would be like "get away from me I'm fine"

Grian thinks his hair is getting too long and he trusts Scar to give him a quick haircut with shears, as bros do. Jimmy and Tango have a star-gazing spot on the ranch where Tango can name every constellation and Jimmy will point at the sky and say "Those stars look like a penguin without feet." anyway, dumb ramble over <3

[maxphilippa]

The Cursed Trinity.

and the bringers of the curse.

For more context of these AU's, keep on reading: (long post ahead)

These are the three 'dark' AU's that I have but they're midly tame actually.

I'll explain the lore of them briefly:

La Blade's Place AU: So. The AU takes place two or three years after S2 ends, actually, where Mephone4 finally decided to come back instead of finishing S3 first and Knife won against Lightbulb, and tried to confront Taco, but couldn't since she ran away, but definitely left a good crack on her. Knife was the winner of the season and was more than happy to be back with his friends. Though he hasn't done anything "meaningful" with the money yet, he was more than satisfied with winning. Everyone has had their reasons for competing, but Knife's reasons were a secret. He could finally let himself relax and be comfortable for once in his life, and meanwhile he wasn't entirely social, since he had just a very specific group of people he liked to spend time with, he still didn't mind. He saw people reworking their friendships and becoming better at the end.

He met some new contestants and such, from Invitational, and that, but at one point it stopped due to Mephone4 taking a small break. Or so he thinks.

He doesn't... know. No one knows. Invitational is supposed to continue still. Anyway, Knife is pretty happy with his life. He can finally spend time with Mic and Pickle. And even if he didn't win, that sole fact was like a prize to him.

They're pretty chill and just enjoying to be with eachother. Feelings blossom and... They are there. Knife was planning on buying a house for them to live in- though he doesn't mind Hotel OJ, he would have liked that. Maybe even spend their lifes together. He was just very happy with them and as much as he's the jerk, he fell hard.

They're just pretty happy of being together again.

And everything seemed to be so... normal now. Knife saw how Baseball and Suitcase met Clover. They have visits from Tea Kettle and Liferring. Paintbrush and Lightbulb finally being together again. Everyone was happy. And he was happy too, with the people he loved the most. But Taco wasn't doing so good. Taco was already struggling a lot with losing two best friends because of her actions. Let alone the fight she had with Knife, meanwhile she did rough him up a bit on the legs and is the cause of the missing piece of his blade now, he still made the "most of damage" by worsening the crack on her eye. She was still hiding, but using Test Tube's old secret lab as a hidding spot. She was rewiring MePad a lot more to make him much more of an associate rather than a tool. But she wasn't coping well.

Taco felt like she was left out, forgotten, left to rot because of her actions. But why? She also deserved her happy ending! She... she deserved to be happy, like everyone else! Why was Knife able to get what she always wanted? Why was he able to love Pickle and Mic and... not her? Why was he allowed to be happy? Why couldn't she have that? Why was she left alone with no friends, with no one to care about her...? Why was the jerk the one to get all of that? She tried to change, too. But Knife was the only one who got that treatment in the end.

He didn't deserve it. He didn't deserve any of it, she thinks.

Perhaps it's her bitterness showing through, or how much she just hated Knife after their last encounter where he tried to save MePad but failed, perhaps is how much she hates him, perhaps it's how betrayed she feels by both Pickle and Mic, how much she resents the other contestants, how much she hates this fucking show that made a joke out of her, how much she despises it. How much she hates Knife and... herself to an extent.

She think he doesn't deserve it because she wants that. Knife didn't work his ass off for years to get his friends back just to pull them that easily.

And it would get even worse when she found out that they were... you know. Something. She found out since she has been stalki- checking on her two ex-friends, and from the isolation, Taco ends up snapping.

And this leads to the destruction of Hotel OJ, Pickle's death, and Knife going on a hunting mode just to make her pay. A lot more of stuff happens but that's for other posts.

Wired Mic/Rewired Mic AU: An small what if 'Mic wasn't able to save Knife from the fall, leading him to his death, and that makes her realize that what Taco was doing was messed up."

Microphone was shocked over the fact that she saw her friend die thanks to her, and Taco tried to reassure her that it was for the best, but Mic ended up cutting ties with Taco. This hurted Taco but she decided she couldn't let it happen.

So she shots Mic with her gun and that knocks her out. Shortly after, she decides to rewire her in order for her to not leave her side. Meanwhile, Knife was stuck with Lightbulb in the waiting room (where contestants go as they wait for Mephone4 to revive them), and was processing his first death. But he was worried about whatever could happen to Mic and what Taco could do. Once they get regenerated, he's fucking worried and processing everything still, and went to check on Mic, but she was so...

Different.

She wasn't Mic anymore. It's like someone changed her forever.

CIT / Clock Is Ticking AU: To put it shortly, in Burgs's own words when we were developing this AU yesterday, it's basically a swap between Mic and Pickle but Mic gets hurt in second-hand.

But it's actually more complicated than that.

So the main thing with this AU is that:

Pickle ended up reading Taco's letters and made his way back to her. Only to never be seen again.

So it happens shortly after S1 ends + once Hotel OJ is completely done, Pickle was still sensitive and grieving over losing his best friend. So he's not coping well.

Knife notices this and tries to be there with him, and tells him that Taco isn't worth the trouble, and that she made her choice when she did all of that. But Pickle didn't want to believe it. She was his best friend! Someone he loved so very much! She... she didn't mean it. She wouldn't, right? But he decides to listen to Knife and... begins to get closer to him too. And he really finds his company enjoyable. They became good friends, Knife being there whenever he felt down, even if Knife considered himself to not be great at this type of stuff, he was still there for Pickle. But... Pickle didn't feel right even then.

He felt like something was missing. But he was moving on. He felt like he didn't need Taco anymore.

He was okay.

Until the letters came.

He didn't say anything to Knife since he felt like the poor guy was probably tired of his problems and had his own, so he kept them as a secret in the start. He threw them out the first times since he really didn't want to fall for it, but... the longer the time passed... the pain and how much he still missed her took over?

So...

Maybe just one look at them wouldn't hurt, right?

With sweet little lies (that's what Knife says), words of regret and fake hopes, Taco's letters infected his brain. Every single one of them was her apologizing and asking him if they could maybe talk it out. If they could have what they had back then. Pickle couldn't stop thinking about them.

And he kept on getting those again and again. How sorry Taco felt, how she never truly meant it and how she cared about him- how she loved her "best friend".

Pickle...

Pickle started to consider it.

So, without telling Knife anything, he writes an letter and sends it to wherever Taco might be. He says that he's willing to chat things out, but that he's waiting for an response.

And Taco... replies to the letter, actually excited, after months of writing, she got a response. So she replies with a letter that says a place and hour where they could meet.

Pickle receives the letter and... he feels... weird. This isn't what Knife told him to... this isn't what they told him to do. But... would it really hurt anyone? If he just talked things out with her? Knife didn't know her like he did... he tries to make excuses for her, even when Knife told him that he's worth much more than the treatment Taco gave him.

But even then... he still cared for Knife. Knife was his best friend too.

So he spoke to the blade one last time before going to talk to Taco, only for him to never come back again.

The chat was rather emotional,

Since Pickle thanked Knife for everything and hugged him. It didn't surprise Knife since the vegetable was usually a pretty affectionate guy once he got comfortable with someone.

He just wishes that he asked where he was going before Pickle disappeared.

Pickle found Taco in the forest, and she seemed to be just like before. But it was too good to be true, he thinks, so Taco notices that and decides to talk things out with him properly. So far, she was apologizing for basically using him, and for the things she said to him. Pickle felt his heart break at that, since even if he was... slowly healing, he still wanted to hear that coming from her own mouth.

And perhaps she meant it. Or perhaps she did not. Pickle doesn't know, but he wants to believe that she did. Pickle forgives her at the end, and Taco notices that he's in a vulnerable state. And maybe she needed him. Maybe, she noticed how attached she got to him in truth. That's why she was writing letters for months. She wanted him back at all costs.

So Taco offers him to stay with her and run away.

Of course, Pickle is fucking shocked at that, since they only worked out their things recently, and that was... so much to do, actually. He didn't want to leave his friends.

But then again. Taco wouldn't dare to lose him. Not again. Not ever. He was the only friend she truly cared about. So just before Pickle was about to decline, she quickly used an weakness of his in her favor: how naive he was and how he tried to see the good in his friends at all times.

Taco was... his best friend, and she apologized. She could have her reasons to ask him about that.

But.

Convincing someone that you're all that they need and that their friends were only lying to them out of pity isn't exactly something a friend would do, right?

Pickle told himself, "I'm just going to stay for a bit, it'll be okay",

And that bit became days.

And those days became weeks.

And those weeks became months.

And those months...

Became years.

He wasn't like good ol' Pickle anymore ever since that time passed.

Even if Taco truly cared about him in a way, she got him back.

And he's completely loyal to her thanks to her lies and manipulation.

Because no one else could truly ever care about him. Or that's how he felt.

Taco needed someone to win the prize and, who's the best option for that when your best friend is also your associate and alliance member? Someone who you know would never dare to break your loyalty.

Because you're all that they have at the end of the day.

Shoutout to @burgycreeper405-blog for helping me develop these au's too like she's a real homie love u mate you're so cool

[jungkookslipring]

I Will Never Make You Lonely: Ch 5

Summary: When your life is falling apart, your 8 best friends are there to lift you up

TW: mentions of de&th, su!c!de, su!c!de tendencies, su!c!dal ideologies, depress!on, anxiety, crying. If this is in any way triggering I’d steer towards more of my happier works. 

If you or someone you love has thought of or acted on suicide, there is help and there is hope 

Call or text 988

Genre: angst, hurt/comfort, non-idol AU

PSA: this is no way represents the artists. While their birth names are used in this story, this is in no way a reflection of the artist or artists in real life.

AU: mentions of de&th are implied in this chapter, read at your own risk. Swearing. mentions of eating and lack thereof. Reader doesn’t have the biggest appetite but I still wanted to put it as a warning. 

Ch 5 When you woke up the next morning, you found yourself surrounded by sunlight and the sound of birds chirping. You also found Jeongin's head on your shoulder, his messy bedhead evident as he quietly snored. You smiled as he snuggled deeper into your hold, and you let out a small sigh. Glancing at your phone, you noticed that it was already 9:00 am. Suddenly, there was a small knock on the door, followed by Hyunjin's announcement that breakfast was ready. The noise woke Jeongin up, and he lifted his head with his eyes squinted and confused, much like a baby waking up from a nap. Hyunjin smiled and ruffled his hair.

“There’s coffee too, Innie”, you both laughed as he quickly untangled himself from the blankets and sped off into the kitchen. You lay there for a second before Hyunjin spoke up. 

“What’s on your mind?” Hyunjin asks quietly. You shook your head, looking out the window.

“I just feel so guilty,” you whispered. “I know I can’t control it…I just…I don’t know…*sigh* I just don’t know why she had to go, you know?” you stated as you did your best to keep your voice level, throat still sore from last night. Hyunjin nods understandingly. 

“Carter *shaky exhale* Carter had a difficult childhood. After Peyton turned 18, neither of their parents were around. Carter only had her sister and me, so I felt responsible to make sure she had the best life possible and was always happy.,” you say trying to control your trembling lips. Hyunjin nodded and listened intently. 

“Has she always felt this way?” Hyunjin asked hesitantly, not wanting to ask the wrong question. You nodded. 

“Yeah, but she’s never tried you know, at least I don’t think…” you say rubbing your head. “But this time...I guess it was just too much…” you choked out. Hyunjin was at a loss for words. 

“I was too late…I couldn’t save her Hyunjin…and the signs were there! What if…what if I can’t save anyone else?” You ask as Hyunjin shushes you gently, pulling you into his chest. He was not going to let you take the blame for this. He let you have a few minutes before he started speaking.

“Our y/n…you have such a big heart. You’re kind and welcoming to everyone you meet. You’re sensitive when one of us needs a hug, or a shoulder to cry on. We love that you take care of all of us here, but that’s not your job sweetheart. You’re not in charge of everyone else’s happiness. Bearing the weight of someone else’s well-being isn’t your job as a human on earth. It’s not your fault, it’s never your fault, baby,” he said scratching your back. 

“I know she was grateful to have you,” Hyunjin said, kissing your head. You let out a sigh while your arms tighten around Hyunjin’s torso.

“Please…please if you or the boys ever feel anything please please please come talk to me, I can’t go through this again,” you plead desperation coating your words. Hyunjin squeezed you tighter; he knew, they all knew they could come talk to you, but you needed to be reassured.

“Of course, we’d come and talk to you…you’re stuck with us for lifers,” he said cheekily as he pinched your side, effectively getting you to giggle until he gently cupped your face, wiping away the last bit of your tears.

“But remember that your health and well-being come before any of ours,” he whispered looking down at you as you shrugged.

“It’s easier said than done…”. He nods while tucking strands behind your ear.

“I know Y/n, but it’s the truth. I know some of the other guys struggle with that. We want to take care of the ones we love, it comes naturally, so I understand,” he said. 

“Thanks, Hyunjin.” He smiles and gets off the bed, reaching for your hand to pull you up not too long after. As you walked into the kitchen, the sweet aroma of blueberry pancakes and coffee filled the room, making you feel warm and fuzzy inside. But as you looked at some of the boys, you noticed that they had puffy eyes from last night's events. Although they reassured you that everything was okay, it still hurt. Fortunately, it was the weekend, and it seemed like none of them were planning to leave the house. They were all gathered around the TV, some sitting on the floor, others on the couch. When they saw you, they didn't question your puffy eyes, but gave you sympathetic looks. You smiled back at them, trying to lighten the mood. Hyunjin was by your side, with his arm still around you. You both found a spot on the couch and sank into the cushions. Han, who was sitting on the floor next to Minho, turned around and took your hand.

“How are you doing y/n?” he asked quietly. You smiled and rubbed his hand with your thumb. 

“I’ve been better but I’ll be okay,” you said sincerely.

“Y/n?” Jeongin asked in a quiet voice. You made eye contact and hummed in response.

“How did you find out? About Carter?” he asked quietly, also not wanting to ask the wrong thing. You realized everyone knew what determined her passing when he was in his room. 

“Yeah she uh, Peyton found her letter Jeongin-ie,” you said as his eyes softened even more if that was humanly possible. You let out another exhale, and Minho’s hand found its way above your knee, rubbing your skin in comforting motions, silently letting you know that it was okay, to take your time and that they were here for you. Hyunjin squeezed you tighter, kissing the side of your temple while you tried to get rid of the lump in your throat, but the boys didn’t mind, they wanted you to do this on your terms. 

“I’ve always been on edge about her doing something like that…and I wanted to believe it was just an accident, but deep down I guess…I figured it was…I don’t know intentional, but when Peyton confirmed it, it was impossible to deny it, even though I tried,” you explain as your eyes stung with unshed moisture that gathered at the waterline. Now that you were no longer blocking out the reality of it all, you were hurting so much more now. Chris got up from his spot on the floor and moved to the back of the couch, to hug you from behind, seeing that Jeongin got up from his seat and wrapped his arms around your middle. Your hands clutched onto his forearms as they all scooted closer, making one big group hug. They held you for a while until Chris rubbed your arm and asked if you were hungry. Truthfully, you weren’t, but you hadn’t been eating as much as you’d hoped the last month and a half, so you were at least going to try. You sat at the table when one of the guys fixed you up a plate. You were so determined to eat something, but with depression comes nausea, and your vision blurred as you stared at your eggs.

“Dammit,” you grit between your teeth, your hand furiously rubbing at your eyes. Your chair slowly spun around, and you were now facing Changbin.

“Hey y/n it’s okay, it’s okay if you’re not up for eating right now, please don’t beat yourself up over that…” he said pulling you into his arms.

“I’m sorry,” you whispered, feeling so frustrated with yourself. That phone call did it for you and you felt like you couldn’t close the floodgates. You weren’t bawling but crocodile tears were plopping on his shoulder.

“There’s nothing to apologize for, I promise, you did nothing wrong,” he whispered, holding you tighter. “How can we help you bug, what can we do for you?” Changbin asked.

“I don’t know,” you sigh, not knowing what you wanted.

“Would you like to get back in bed?” He asked. He was so patient with you. You nodded weakly.

“Yes please…” you say barely above a whisper. Changbin nodded and helped you down from your chair, supporting your back as you two walked out of the kitchen. After you both reached the room, Changbin closed the door quietly and shut the blinds to make the room pitch dark. He lifted the covers so you could crawl under them and immediately curl up into a ball. Changbin was heartbroken seeing you go through this. He tucked you in bed, ensuring that no part of your body was exposed except for your face. He gently moved some of your hair that was stuck to your face out of the way to make you more comfortable. 

“Changbin?” You ask, struggling to make eye contact. He doesn’t stop his movements as he looks at you, watching your eyes slowly make their way up to his.

“I-I don’t think I’m okay…” Changbin nodded sadly.

“We know y/n… but we want you to know that you don't have to be strong all the time,” he reassured you by wiping at your cheeks. 

“I hate feeling like this though…” you say as you try to keep your new onset of tears at bay. 

“But numbing yourself will only make you feel worse, love,” he argued as gently as possible, and you knew he was right. 

“What is it you’re feeling? I won't push you if you don't want to talk about it, but I can assure you it helps sometimes,” Changbin said kindly. He truly didn't want to push you if you didn't want to say anything, he knew you were hurting enough as it was.

“It’s just once I start I can’t stop;  last night and this morning were concrete evidence of that,” you stated, sounding drained. Changbin nodded, they’ve all had their fair share of masking their emotions, and they’re sure everyone got the same talk from each other at least once. They knew you felt and loved very deeply, so they understood why you wanted to protect yourself from hurting.

“I’m just so sad. I can't even fathom the pain she felt all these years and how it built up until it became too much *sniff* and my heart just really hurts right now. I’m so lost Bin, I’m so lost without her,” you stuttered thickly before hiding your face in your hands, Changbin scooting closer to you, still kneeled on the floor, pulling your head into his chest as he laid his head on top of yours. He cradled your head as if he were protecting you from the world.

“I understand, we all do, y/n, and I’m so so sorry this happened,” he whispered, trying to find the right words in this situation. He said what he felt in his heart. “I know it hurts, but thats why you have us. We are here for you to share your pain, so that it feels more bearable. Please know that we are willing to do anything to help you, even if it means taking your pain away completely. I think I speak on behalf of all of us when I say we wish we could be in your shoes,” he said, eyes softening when fear spread through your body. You pulled away and shook your head rapidly while grabbing a hold of Changbin’s wrist. No, not them. You wouldn’t want any of them going through the nightmare you were in. The idea of them feeling what you were feeling tore you apart. Jeongin bawled into your arms last night stating how scared he was to go through that, you wouldn’t wish this sort of heartbreak on your worst enemy, let alone your best friends. 

“Binnie no…I’m beyond grateful it’s me and not you guys going through this,” you say as crocodile tears start slipping down your face once more. Changbin swallowed the lump in his throat as he caressed your hair. 

“Shh shh shh, but if we were, you would do anything in your power to make sure we weren’t bearing the weight of the world alone, let us do that for you y/n, let us help you,” he practically begged. He was starting to sound a lot like Chris. You couldn't argue with him, not Changbin. All you could do was cry.

“Would you like to be alone?” Changbin asked. You shook your head, cause while you weren’t one to ask for help, there was no point in masking your feelings anymore.

“Can…can you stay, just a little longer, please?” you ask. He gave you one of the kindest smiles you have ever seen, getting under the blankets and pulling you into his arms, your head lying against his chest. He allowed you to cry out your remaining tears on his chest while petting your hair and murmuring words of comfort. He encouraged you to let all your emotions out and let yourself be comforted. You’re not fully positive when you fell asleep, but by the time you opened your eyes, it was already 10 p.m., and Changbin was nowhere to be seen. You assumed he went to the bathroom, and the realization hit you that you had been sleeping most likely for 13 hours straight. You dragged yourself out of bed and stumbled into the hallway in search of an unoccupied bathroom. After finishing your business, you walked into the kitchen to get some water when you noticed the TV was on in the living room. Curiosity got the better of you, and you peeked around the corner to see Seungmin lying on the couch, engrossed in a drama.

“Hi Minnie,” you whisper, doing your best not to startle him. He turned around and his eyes sparked as he sat up.

“Hi y/n, did you sleep okay?” he asked as he patted the space next to him. You plopped yourself next to him and smiled when he lifted the blanket to throw over your legs. 

“I slept so long but I still feel tired. How does that even work?” you chuckled lightly. He gave you a knowing grin, understanding that everything going on has you completely and utterly exhausted. 

“I’m sorry y/n…” Seungmin said sympathetically. As you felt your eyes getting heavy again, Seugmin laid back down on the couch, pulling you along with him. He wrapped his arms around you, and your head rested on his shoulder. You two fell asleep almost instantly. After Changbin finished his shower, he entered the living room to see who was still up. He smiled when he saw two sleeping figures cuddled up on the couch. He pulled the blanket to cover you both up and turned off the TV. You and Seungmin remained in each other's arms, and for that evening, the rest of the week, and maybe the week after, nobody slept alone.

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