#made up words lmao. so i just picked a random one and he gave me a weird look like are you SURE you want that one? and i was like uh fuck

[gudakko]

wait right i did have another dream

[wh0reforcoriolanussnow]

On Set Shenanigans || Tom Blyth x actress!reader

GIFS by me :) cred if use!!

Summary: just a bunch of random scenarios on set I thought of while I was in the shower lmao 🤣

Warnings: noneee

Wc: 1,553

A/n: sorta all over the place sorry lmao

Divider by @pommecita

“If you could describe Y/n and Tom in one word, what would you say?” Rachel purses her lips, side eyeing the two of you who were watching her with silly grins. “Y/n and Tom are,” Rachel hums, tapping her chin as she breaks out into a chuckle.

“Goofy.” You and Tom turn to each other and just break into laughter. “They are seriously the most goofiest people I have met in my entire life! There is never a dull moment on set when these two around,” Rachel shakes her head as she smiles at the two of you who blow kisses her way.

“Tom and Y/n, there’s a behind the scenes video circulating around of the two of you in costume, dancing to Low by Flo Rida,” “Oh my god,” You drop your head on Tom’s shoulder as the two of you couldn’t help wipe the grin off your faces.

“Yes, there is,” Tom laughs as they put up said video. “If you guys haven’t see it, here it is,” Dressed in his peacekeeper outfit, white singlet with his dog tag out, and you in your outfit, you and Tom were dancing along to your favourite song to dance to, Low by Flo Rida.

Rachel was recording the video during your break and was dying of laughter. The camera was shaking the entire time because of it. You and Tom loved goofing around and dancing.

You could say it was your love language. You grab Tom’s peacekeeper hat and plop out on your head slightly wonky as you move along to the song, acting as if you were at a club in Berlin and not on set. The way you and Tom danced and moved to the music just made so much sense.

“She turned around and gave that big booty a smack,” Tom spun around as you slap his ass causing an eruption of laughter from everyone who was watching.

You and Tom were trying to hold your composure but that failed miserably as you grab Tom’s arms to stabilise yourself but turned out he had no sense of stability at that moment as the two of you fall to the ground. A light scream leaving your lips as you fall on top of Tom.

And then the camera focused on the ground as Rachel had leaned over, hands on thighs as she laughed out loud. If anyone didn’t know the context of that clip, they probably would have thought that you two were drunk but truth was you were quite sober.

The crowd on set burst out into laughter as you cover your face in slight embarrassment, Tom laughing along with the host as he pats your head.

~

“What do you usually do when you’re not filming on set?” Tom gives you a look as you bite back a laugh. “I think everyone knows this but, film tiktoks” The crowd breaks into laughter as they knew what you were talking about.

“Yeah Y/n is always filming tiktok and forcing me to do them with her,” Tom grips your thigh, shaking it lightly as you roll your eyes. “No I do not, you always want to be in them!” You argue with him. “Why don’t we watch a few of them here?” Kelly Clarkson recommended as you squeeze Tom’s arm with a smile.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CQrdGn8AYiD/?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA== The first tiktok was of you, Tom, Rachel, and Josh in your trailer. You had the idea in your head for a while now and showed them all. “Please don’t drop me babe,” You say to Tom as you set up the camera, “I would never,” You hear him say followed by giggle.

You expected to land in Tom’s arms. Not the floor. You let out a yelp as Tom slaps his hand over his mouth. The three of them laughing their asses off while you landed on yours with a loud thud. “It’s not funny you idiot,” You slap his arm as he picks you up, apologising to you by peppering your face with kisses.

You had to admit it was pretty funny rewatching the tiktok. “You weren’t supposed to catch my feet!” You say in between laughs as you post the tiktok.

~

“This one, captioned name a better duo, I’ll wait has gone quite viral with over 10 million views,” Kelly exclaims as you cross your legs at your knees nodding your head as the video plays on the screen. https://vt.tiktok.com/ZSNVsM6kw/

“Tom,” You tap your boyfriend’s shoulder as he hums. You had just finished filming a scene together and had abit of time before you were up again. You were both in your mentor outfits, Tom having his blonde locks today.

“I wanna film this tiktok, come be in it?” You urge him as he looks up from his phone seeing a glint of playfulness in your eyes as he lets out a sigh.

Tom secretly loved making tiktoks with you, especially since he wasn’t on it and found the stuff you make him do were interesting and funny. You had hundreds of random tiktoks that you filmed on set saved into your drafts, half of them were of you and Tom.

Your hair stylist helped film the tiktok as the two of you did it out in the open, a bunch of the filming team watching with curiosity and laughing as they walk by. Other cast members such as Josh, Hunter and a bunch of the mentor actors walked by ended up being in the background of it.

You and Tom moved along to the beat, literally just vibing to the music. You wrote on the tiktok “the funniest duo on set>>>” and you weren’t lying.

~

“We are here with the cast of the Hunger Games Prequel, the ballad of songbirds and snakes!” The crowd cheered as you, Tom, Josh, and Rachel smiles. “From what I’ve seen, you guys are actually TikTok sensations!” An eruption of laughter followed.

“This TikTok here specifically,” https://vt.tiktok.com/ZSNqguTEY/ you all turn your head to watch the TikTok play on screen as you all start to laugh. “Tom, where were you while this was happening,” The host looks at Tom whose eyes were trained on the ground, a grin forming on his lips.

“I’m actually there in the tiktok, on the bed. Trying to sleep.” He deadpans as you giggle, leaning your head on his shoulder as you grip his arm. “Yeah this was after we came back from partying in Berlin, obviously for some of us, our night didn’t end yet,” Tom chuckles as everyone bursts out in laughter.

“Let’s do that tiktok!” You squeal the second you enter the room. Opening up tiktok, you find the video and show Josh, Hunter, Rachel, and Tom it. Tom’s arms were thrown around your shoulders, his head resting on your head due to the height difference.

“I think I’m going to go to bed,” He yawns, kissing your cheek before you all bid him goodnight. Tom couldn’t even get 5 minutes of peacefulness as the four of you spill into the bedroom and set up your phone. He lets out a quiet groan at the noise and flashing of lights as he digs his head deep into his pillow.

~

“Babeee,” You call out as you step into the hair and makeup trailer. He was sitting on a chair, fully dressed in his peacekeeper outfit, hair free from his wig.

He looked more presentable compared to you and Rachel who still had hair rollers on and were still in your robes. You had seen a new trend going around tiktok where you would stare at a guy with Justin Timberlake’s mirrors playing in the background, and you wanted to do it with Tom https://vt.tiktok.com/ZSNqnRSNJ/

One side of his lips turns up as he looks up at you, “I’m filming a tiktok and I want you to be in it,” You say with puppy eyes although you know he wouldn’t refuse. You even got his hair and makeup artists, Stacey and Jade to be in on it too.

You pull up a chair beside Tom as you set up the camera. “Wait what am I supposed to do?” He asks, “Nothing, just sit there,” You innocently smile at him as he gives you a suspicious look but nods nonetheless, complying with whatever you were up to.

He honestly just expected to be on camera while you were doing something, but he did not expect to be stared down at by his girlfriend and hair and makeup artists. You stare intensely at Tom, trying your hardest to not laugh or look away.

Staring at your boyfriend has always not been an easy task, especially since he holds such intense eye contact. And his pretty blue eyes did not help at all. Tom tries not to laugh either as he gazes at you before his eyes flicker towards Stacey and Jade then back to you. “What’s going on,” He finally says as his body shakes from laughing.

The TikTok ends and you let out a small laugh, looking over the TikTok. You throw your head back in laughter at Tom’s face when you all look back to stare at him, honestly was priceless.

[lululandd]

run devil run;

pairing: simon ‘ghost’ riley x gn!reader

word count: 662

warnings: angst? ish? ghost is a coward (again)

note: yall need to be nicer when asking for part 2’s, im glad yall like my stuff enough to want a continuation but damn dont just order me around lmao

summary: its just you two in a bookstore and he mistakes you for an employee.

Simon walked into the bookstore with the intention of getting The Hobbit™ to prank Soap on his birthday. He walked around the fiction aisle for ten minutes when he realised he had zoned out and wasted his time. His mind had decided it wanted to be somewhere else for the time being and so he looked for an employee instead.

He spotted you at the bargain bin, checking the back covers before placing them back in a neat row inside the bin. Walking closer, he heard you mutter to yourself how expensive these bargain books still are and assumed that you weren’t an employee. 

The front desk looked empty when he came in, and after a quick peek he saw it was still unoccupied. Maybe his assumption was wrong and you were an employee after all.

“I’m looking for The Hobbit.” He addressed you as he came closer.

He watches as you dig deep in the pile, tilting your head sideways from time to time while prodding around as you try and search for the book he was looking for. A few moments later you triumphantly hold it up and hand it to him.

“Thanks. You man the register too?”

Blinking slowly at him, he vaguely registered in the back of his mind that the woman sitting by the bargain bin might not be an employee, and just a random civilian that just wants to buy some cheap books. 

Fuck.

“I’m not an employee–” “Sorry I didn’t mean to–”

A smile involuntarily pulled at the corners of his mouth, “You looking for any specific books?” He asked as he pointed to the pile in front of you.

You hesitantly shake your head, “No, not really, no.”

He decided to be chatty today. He hasn’t heard any other noises in the bookstore, so it was still just you and him. There’s no point waiting alone when his mind runs around, it might go somewhere dark and he would like to avoid that.  “Why are you arranging the bin then?”

Simon Riley thanked his past self for wearing a mask because the incredulous look you gave him definitely made him grin from ear to ear. It’s so cute how you’re not shy with your facial expressions. He would love to play poker with you.

“Uh… No reason..?” Your tone lilted at the end, as if you’re unsure of your answer but he senses it’s because you want him to fuck off, kindly.

“Pick a few, they’re on me.”

As he hoped, your expression brightened, “For real?”

He nodded. At the same time, he heard someone come in and walked towards the cash register. 

You chose a book from the neat pile and handed it to him.

“I did say a few.” He insisted.

You shook your head, “No! One is more than enough, thank you so much.”

“I’m picking ‘em at random if you keep being stubborn.” 

His inner boy giggled at how you panic and quickly scan the pile once more. Grabbing two more, you half shoved it into his hands. “Here. Thankyou again.”

“One more.”

“I will run out of this store if I really have to take one more.”

He couldn’t help but bark out a laugh as he walked towards the front. Placing the books down on the counter, he asked the cashier “You got a habit of just leaving the store unmanned?”

“Sorry, had an emergency. Thanks for waiting.”

“All right.” He assures the man, before pointing at your books. “These are separate.” 

From his peripherals he can see you anxiously wait—shifting your weight from one foot to the other—and it threatens to pull sore memories of Tommy to the surface of his mind. If he stayed longer he knew he wouldn't be able to suppress the resurfacing thoughts of his brother so he took the book he was supposed to get for soap, threw cash on the table and walked out without looking back.

part ii.

[spoopyblues214]

IKEA

A ficlet about a dream I had where I went to ikea with the disaster twins. Second person, you decide if it's platonic or romantic I don't know lmao

Also to the ask I got, requests are open! Yours will be next and to anyone else who's interested just send an ask

Word count: 610

°•.•°

You walked through the entrance with the two turtles, only for Leo to take your hand and pull you along. Apparently, you hadn't been walking fast enough for the slider. In turn you grabbed onto Donnie's arm, making him fumble his phone before holding it with just his free hand and giving you the other one to hold. When Leo slowed, he swung your hands back and forth, which you gladly attributed to. Donnie rubbed circles and lines onto the back of your hand as the two of you walked, but he didn't look up from his phone.

Every now and then Leo would break away and come back to show a silly trinket or make a pun on the swedish name for an item, which had you smiling and rolling your eyes. Donnie didn't gain any interest until the displays turned into example rooms, which is where he began to split off and mumble to himself about the decor. You'd follow, stand next to him and rock on your heels unless you felt like picking up a smaller thing to inspect in the fake bedrooms. Once you got to the display kitchens, Donnie got this strange look in his eye, and you couldn't decipher it until he spoke.

"Shelldon's been struggling processing things lately, though I'm sure you wouldn't know anything about that."

I had to try very hard to keep from smiling, before replying, "I'm not the one keeping him from recharging his energy at night, working on hundreds of unfinished projects."

He failed at hiding his smirk about the fact that you were in on the joke, but still continued, "oh, I'M the one keeping him from recharging? Maybe if you didn't get him sucked in to all those video games-"

"You're upset with me for rewarding good behavior? Don, when I'm not around he's miserable," the argument had been started, and the fake anger providing entertainment from passersby was rewarding.

It was especially fun for the two of you to walk the tightrope that the little drone could be an actual kid. Leonardo had come by with wooden birds on metal wire legs only to almost drop them at the shouting match the two of you had gotten into. Though, after his jaw un-dropped, he was losing his shit, trying not to laugh and fighting an uphill battle whenever someone passed by and made faces at the two of you arguing. He made damn sure to take pictures to laugh at later. The two of you came to the conclusion that Donnie would stop keeping Shelldon operating even if he was still working on something after twelve am. You would have to stop pampering him for every little thing, even if you were the only one who did so for the little drone.

You took both your turtles hands and led them to the cafeteria, where Donnie had just the meatballs, you had yours with gravy, and Leo had his with the lingonberry sauce. When Leo was done he kept stealing your mashed potatoes, so Donnie gave you his after you ran out. After lunch you all made for the exit, Leo still appearing with random items that caught his interest, though he stopped with the puns. You were easily distracted as Donnie went and paid for something.

Once out the door, the slider teleported all of you back to the layer, where you were scooped up by Raph for a movie night. Later that night you found a stuffed turtle on you bed that looked a little derpy, the tag labeled "BLÅVINGAD." How the twins had managed to sneak it past you was a mystery.

[irregularcollapse]

One of the ones I had picked out you already answered but here's two more if you want to 😇: 💖🤩

Yes of course my dear!! These are interesting and I'm quite blabby atm

💖 What made you start writing?

i write because i love stories, and i know what stories make me feel, so i want to give that to other people. i write because i have things i want to say about love, and it's the best soapbox i have. i write because i love words and what they can do. i write because i love people, and i want to know people better, and i think that writing is the most i can give. i don't know if i fully understand the concept of love languages, but i think that if writing stories were a love language then that would be mine.

i started writing CaPri fic because i reread the books early last year (i first read them 2013-14ish) and they were fun. i hadn't been able to write anything in a few years; i was very ill, and then i got a hodgkin's lymphoma diagnosis, and then i had chemo, and then. then what?

the thing they don't really tell you about cancer recovery is that the all clear is not the all clear, because your body and brain still remember and it can hit you at the most random times in the most random places. i couldn't make my brain do what it was supposed to do: i couldn't focus on reading; i couldn't work my imagination; i couldn't write. i thought that nothing could be as bad as cancer, but actually, worse than cancer was the knowledge that i had lost stories. i thought i'd never get them back, and it would always be this reminder that i may have recovered physically but my biggest joy was gone, so what was the point?

on a whim, i reread CaPri. i was also taking a lot of baths at the time, due to chronic pain (physical recovery didn't last long, it seems). while in the bath, i'd watch Outlander, because i'd seen it before and it was sort of trashy and crazy and overblown. sidenote, when i first saw it, i gave up halfway through the third season bc it just got too absurd for me. anyway, i was taking Outlander baths, and then i also managed to finish a CaPri reread within a couple of days. it's a little bit funny that they are really not long books lmao but anyway

an idea sort of spawned, and then it sprouted, and then it grew. i was not expecting to be able to sustain it, but i always say that you should take inspiration where it comes and do what you can with it. so i did what i could with it. and i took the story where i wanted to take it. and i wrote about love: finding love, of course, a mythological and life-altering love, but more than that, learning to love yourself and reach the fullness of what you know you are capable of. it's more of a personal story than it may seem, and not even because i project onto Laurent all that much (i actually think i connect a bit more to Damen's insecurities, but i digress). because Laurent's story of self-actualisation was actually happening in real-time for me, as i was writing: while he was gaining his strength and finding his purpose and falling in love, i was also strengthening my writing; i was creatively purposeful once more; writing loved me back again. and like Laurent, i'm going to hold onto it with everything i have. i won't let it be taken away again.

🤩 Who is your favorite character to write?

DAMEN. I love to write him from Laurent's POV; I love to get inside his head as well. His dry humour is especially fun for me, but I also think there is such meat in his anxieties and insecurities, and everything that weighs on him. I think people find it easier to recognise the peeling of Laurent's layers, and that for some reason they don't see Damen's so much: to show that happening in EIAT, the vulnerability he gradually allows that shows the building trust he has in Laurent, was one of the most intimate things for me. I'm absolutely loving the chance to do it again from his own perspective in ASTTE. It is once again a story about learning to love oneself, which means something quite different for Damen than it does for Laurent. I'm so keen to share it with everyone!

Thanks for these questions again <3 I appreciate you so much!

(Questions from this ask game!!)

[lemonisntreal]

Do you have a Tone Deaf version of Clay Calloway?

(Perfectly fine if you don't. I was just curious, plus I love all your redesigns) 🦁🎸

SORRY THIS TOOK FUCKING FOREVER LMAO [been sitting in my inbox since FEBRUARY THIRTEENTH, HOLY SHIT :D]. YEAH, here he is :pppp a solid draft for you

Lowkey [highkey] gave up on the clothing wrinkles on the arms, but I still like how it turned out I think. I don't have much on him in terms of rewrite, but I do have some, so I'll dump it all here under the cut.

I swear I love asks, please feel free to say/ask whatever, I'm just horrible at answering in a reasonable time-frame because I always want to make it this beautiful masterpiece and end up turning all of them into full-on posts- or, at least I want to ~_~

Headcanonssss-

Ash gave him that button off her jacket [probably needs to be resized I'm realizing lol] [also I totally adopted this headcanon from someone elses post- might've been yours. Whoever came up with it I love it <3]

Born during the reformation that happened after the war- basically, nobody was really fighting anymore during this time, but some big people in power were still being stupid [aka: not letting their prisoners go]

So that would be somewhere around 1947? Which would put his age at 61 in my universe [which is in 2008- the times are pretty much random, nothing really lines up irl. Ignore how they use tech and other things that shouldn't have been invented yet lol]

He grew up when the Skunk Dolls were new and popular and stuff. And he loved them- so much that the band actually kinda inspired his music career

[Skunk Dolls also made loads of protest songs btw. War stuff]

Takes a ridiculous amount of care with his mane, and if he lets you touch it, that's a true sign of trust

So the Piglets always like to play with it, and Ash has given him braids a few times

He's had that scruffy red jacket since his early days

I should draw patches on it-

Ash probably'll give him a quill or two to put in it too with all the patches and repair stitches

He wears a lot of plaid, I just didn't wanna draw it <3

Rough and torn up clothes too

Everything he owns has some sort of smudge or tear in it from motorbiking and/or just being himself <3

His ears are pierced in almost every way imaginable, and when Ash found out, she went CRAZY

Cue her getting him to try on a bunch of stuff

He likes wrought iron jewelry and has never been a fan of anything with gemstones in it

Buster is terrified of him, but Clay is just kinda a blunt person and it doesn't mix well with Buster sometimes. They get along eventually tho. There was also some really bad timing with the circumstances of how they even met in the first place too lol-

Johnny is also. Super terrified.

Buster and him are like "Ahhh.... that guy scares the living daylights out of me." "Ohh, thank god it's not just me-"

He has a strange out-of-pocket interest in astrology.

And in herbology and plants in general, but he picked that up from Ruby. Astrology was all his, and it is the one thing he will "nerd out" over

Also the kind of guy to make fun of you for nerding out too

Making fun of people is his love language

So is giving people food

He's not great with his words and can find it hard to express love by just telling someone. Back to the bluntness thing, you can often find him accidentally offending someone and he doesn't even realize it

The troupe very quickly learned this and it's more of an endearing trait of his to them [and to most people who know him]

REALLY good cook. Fantastic, in fact. Probably one of the best chefs out of any of the characters.

Learned the hard way that enlisting Buster's help in the kitchen is a bad idea. Also Ash isn't great either, but he actually tries to teach her some of his recipes. And she's quickly improving

Buster was just being an idiot and forgot you shouldn't microwave tinfoil

Clay travels a lot, but spends most of his time in Calatonia [he technically still lives at his and Ruby's house, but he's super scared of accidentally closing himself off again, so he only visits to check up on the flowers and maintain the property pretty much]

He's like Ash's second [and very cool] dad. Which- also intimidates Buster quite a bit :D

I feel like their dynamic could be a sitcom. Clay is Ash's awesome dad and Buster is Ash's lame [endearing] and oddly unhinged and anxious dad who feels like he has to be as cool as Clay [and always fails heehee]

Clay is more entertained by Buster's ridiculous criminal record than horrified and I don't know if that's worrying or just a classic Calloway W

He's a very nonchalant person

Ruby's death is the only time I can really think he had a legitimate emotional break that wasn't just him being snappy [which is also pretty rare]

Clay's also like an uncle to the Piglets

He's kinda just taken up the role of "super awesome miscellaneous family member" for everyone at this point

He's back performing again after Sing 2- just not frequently or putting out any new songs [on his own at least- he might do a collaboration or two with Ash]

[wakanai]

Happy Birthday to My Beloved Blorbo, Oda Sakunosuke! 🎉

AAAAAAA

he's so beautiful I can't-

(long post ahead)

this is the guy who

used to be an assassin at age 14

quit his job after reading a book and meeting its author (asagiri behavior btw - the 'left his job cause he wanted to write' part lol)

saw an injured dazai and brought him in his house (lit the equivalent of seeing a random injured criminal and knowingly bringing him into your house lol)

wrapped dazai in a blanket, trapped him in his house until he recovered safely

reacted to dazai's unhinged behavior and threats with an 'oh okay' attitude (unironically btw. he's really just like that TT)

was strong enough to be mistaken for a WHOLE organization

no one even had clues that it was him TT

made dazai embarrassed

“Of course, you would be wary of the switch. So, I had to distract you by conversation.”

“So, the games and the flow of conversation till now, were both according to your plan, you mean?”

“Hehe. Saying important things as a camouflage to get what you want. That is the basis of the negotiation technique.”

I ask as I organize the cards, “Which is camouflage of which?”

Dazai's expression turns blank for a second, as if he has been caught off guard. But it is only for a moment. He turns his head to the side to hide his expression and smiles. If I am not wrong, there is an embarrassed expression on his face. It is under the dark lighting of the bar, so I might have been mistaken though.

-- The Day I Picked Up Dazai (TDIPUD) (translation by @popopretty; you can find it in her tags i think)

^^ LOL. Oda 'I might have been mistaken' Sakunosuke (this is the guy who understood Dazai the most)

had a conversation with Shibusawa in Dead Apple and wasn't killed - in fact, Shibasawa even wanted to talk to him again if he had the chance (Oda TT he's got that 'I attract mentally unstable people and fix them' rizz lmao. Fyodor, take down notes).

did not expect Dazai to ask for a second meeting:

Dazai’s wounds have already crossed the most critical time. Just leave them like that and they will heal on their owns. My role here is over. So is our relationship.

Dazai nods and takes the cards from me. Then in a casual tone, he says those words.

“When are we meeting next?”

I stop what I am doing and look at Dazai.

-- TDIPUD

(Oda really said 'no' to attachment issues SAJDIAFJ. he's the kind of wonderful guy you meet once online and feel sad cause you can't find them again TT)

was the lowest ranking member in the mafia (and he slayed it too. did the jobs no one else wanted ugh)

despite the typical black-suit-shades look that low ranking mafiosos wore, Oda wore a BRIGHT COLORED, beige cream coat (do yall realize how much this must have made him stand out?? in a pool full of black - he stood out. Also the fact that mafiosos wear black so that blood isn't visible when it stains -- but Oda DECIDED TO STOP killing people hence why he didn't need to wear black. UgH such an icon ✨.)

survived the Dragon Heads Conflict (obviously 🙄)

adopted 5 orphans from that conflict

supported them financially, visited them on weekends, left them under the care of the curry-shop owner, connected w them!!!

managed a few shops for the mafia (reread Dark Era if you missed this detail; p. 94)

listener friend; listened to Dazai's antics and took them seriously (I bet he's the type who never forgets any minor detail their friend tells him)

joined in Dazai's chaos and hugged and tickled Ango (sibling behavior lol. Oda's just as chaotic - only difference is he does it with a straight face 😭 if Oda was in the ADA, Kunikida would grow white hair LOL. Imagine the chaos he and Dazai would bring TT - plus Dazai would be 10x happier. friendly reminder that Dazai gave Ango and Oda drugged food and when he offered to cook again, Oda's response was 'If it keeps you from getting tired, then it might be pretty useful before a hard day's work' like BRUH elfeofk.)

this isn't noticeable at first but despite always seeing himself as less than Dazai cause of their rank, Oda literally called Dazai by his name in front of the other mafia members (and no - he didn't even consciously think about it 😭). Imagine being a random mafioso and suddenly you see the lowest ranking member call an executive informally. like??? Oda's co-workers would call Dazai 'Dazai-san' while Oda be out there speaking casually like 'hey dude.' It's funny cause Oda is dense so he prob didn't even think of 'Office Codes' (yk the typical social rules where if ur friends w ur boss u call them formally at work? yea. Oda does not care LOL.)

He has good intuition

[Then I looked myself in my room and cycled through my thoughts [...] I listened only to my heartbeat as I observed the emotions bubbling up from within me like foam. I had a feeling something would happen[...]it was the small tinge everyone gets before something's about to happen. But realistically, there was virtually nothing I could do about it until it actually occurred and slapped me in the face. The world isn't kind. You have to be tough.] << relatable.

He sassed Mori HELP 😂😭

"At any rate, you just got here. You did not see a thing. Understand?"

"Yes, sir." I nodded in agreement. [...] "I only just arrived. Thank you for taking a break from undressing a young girl and chasing her around the room for me. So what was it you needed me for?"

The boss pinched his brows together for a few moments to think before nodding as if he had made up his mind. -- The Dark Era

He can see into the future

this is honestly a cool ability with so much potential. I'm going to promote this post by @raaanpo because why not. it's cool. :)

Such a caring friend (he gave Ango the benefit of the doubt, was crushed at the betrayal, and the way he thinks about dazai i cant- TT)

I already knew what Dazai was trying to say and what his intentions were and yet I had no choice but to scrutinize his every word to find some sort of silver lining.

"Maybe Ango really was lying but he's an informant who deals with top-secret information on the Mafia. It's only natural he'd have a secret meeting or two. You can't blame him for that"

-- p.46, Dark Era (DE)

**

"Hey Dazai" [...] "Is there any possibility that someone framed Ango and is pulling the strings from behind the scenes?" -- p.61, DE

**

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Ango turn his back to me before leaving with the Special Forces. [...] My tongue numb, I called out to Ango as he left, but even I didn't know what I was saying. An indescribable feeling of loneliness was the only thing filling my heart...as if I were floating at the end of the universe. Even that was swallowed by darkness. My consciousness faded to black. -- p.90, DE

**

"Dazai, stop" I begged in a hushed tone. [...]

"Dazai!" I screamed. I felt as though we were thousands of miles apart. [...]

"Sorry to shock you like that" (&lt;< dazai's the one speaking here btw) [...]

Had our ranks or relations been any different, I probably would have punched him right then. (note: this reminds me of when Fukuzawa slapped Ranpo TT) However, I am me and there was nothing I could do to him.

After returning my gun to its holster, I turned my back to Dazai and began walking away. With every step I took, I felt as if the ground were going to collapse, creating a bottomless hole that I would fall through for an eternity. Dazai's expression as he placed his finger on his forehead and approached the enemy-- that of a child about to burse into tears--remained burned into my eyes. -- chap 1, DE

^^ it's giving friend-who-knows-you're-depressed-but-waits-for-you-to-tell-them energy like 😭😭bruh Oda knew. he knew dazai was depressed but he didn't push him about it. he just listened to any of dazai's ramblings and was there for him. ugh. Oda TT

also oda and ango :")

Ango looked at us and continued, "If there ever comes a time when the Division and the Mafia no longer exist...if we're ever freed from the confines of our work...do you think we can drink here again like this?"

"Don't say any more, Ango" a voice said nearby. It was my voice. "Just don't." [...]

I figured that was probably the last time I would ever see him.

(I still maintain the belief that Oda only said this because he knew the tensions were high and Dazai literally just threatened to torture and kill Ango moments ago. That last line hurts, man.)

Insecure king

(despite being a powerful ex assassin and supporting 5 kids - my goodness does Oda have insecurity issues :") )

These are just some scenes of Oda not realizing what a king he is 😭

This was Dazai though; he was probably just talking out of his ass. A man in his twenties isn't going to be much of a balm for anyone's soul. -- p.17, DE

(help why does this sound so funny 😂)

I nodded. Dazai was always right and I was always doing the wrong thing. -- p.40, DE

"Maybe I should recruit them.." Dazai smirked while wiping his sweat. "I heard all about it, Odasaku. You're raising five kids, huh? And not only that, they're orphans from the Dragon Head's Conflict."

Even if I'd tried to hide it, Dazai would've been able to figure it out with just half a day's worth of research. -- p.56, DE

(says the guy who managed to hide the painting without anyone knowing. Ngl Dazai was kind of being a dick here TT).

Even if I took Ango's side there, nothing would change. (note: oda sweetie, you're starting to act like Dazai TT.) There was no way to break out of Dazai's trap around the bar's perimeter and the children would be killed if I betrayed the Mafia. --p.119, DE

^^ see what I'm talking about? tensions were high. it's not like Oda hated Ango. He just didn't want to escalate the situation. And plus, Oda's never been a false-hope type of guy. So when he rejected Ango's wish, it doesn't mean he hates him or doesn't want to be friends anymore. he's just protecting himself from getting his hopes up and being realistic. On another note, I think being in the Mafia def affected Oda negatively. He was much more confident in TDIPD. :(

Lost king

After getting into the car, I recklessly hightailed it to the office. I don't really remember much about what happened along the way; I might've driven down the three-lane highway in the wrong direction two or three times. -- chap 1, DE

If someone were to peer inside my mind at that moment, they would've witnessed something akin to a massive volcanic eruption. Countless question marks would have been blasting out of the crater, blanketing the sky in its entirety. And yet, the only visible reaction I had was a twitch of a finger. -- p.18, DE

I ended up standing in front of the son and introducing myself. As “the person who killed your father.” There was no word that could describe how angry the son was. He had all the rights to be angry. [...] He was hitting me, throwing stuff at me, and attacking me with all sorts of insults. I could easily dodge all of his attacks, but there was no way to avoid the insults.

When he became exhausted from all the rampage and finally sat down, I explained to him about the killing. After that, he demanded a compensation. For his father’s life, and for the rental fee of that book I took without permission. -- TDIPD

(bruh. Oda's wildin 😭 pulled up at the front door and said 'yeah I killed your father' like DJFWEIJF. If Oda became an author, he would def be openly weird like the author of chainsaw man and he'd be the type to share life lore w his fans despite it being illegal😭:

'Oda! I'm a big fan! I have a question. Did you ever kill a person? Why is your writing so good at capturing that stuff?'

I'm willing to bet good money he would actually answer that question honestly.

RBF king

I was sure I looked even grumpier than usual [...] I wasn't actually in a bad mood though. It was merely a problem of balance because my hands were full [...]. You'd need a little training to carry these with a smile. -- p.121, DE

('you'd need a little training to carry these with a smile.' << it's giving uncle vibes 😭)

Writer's block king

"Because there's only one story I want to write, and it's in here." I tapped my temple. "Unfortunately, I don't have the necessary tools or skills to bring this story to life. I feel like a lost mountaineer standing before the tallest, most sacred mountain in the world with just a single, tiny ax" -- BEAST LN

(Oda stop being so relatable...)

Was a good mentor to Akutagawa in BEAST LN (lit trained him, was okay w his antics, and was willing to go against the Mafia for him. Dazai who? Akutagawa was WAY more stable with Oda as his mentor 😭)

"How are you earning enough to take care of them?" (<< Aku asking)

"That's a secret." Oda let out a faint, almost inaudible laugh.

**

What I needed to do now, however, was worry about the new recruit, since he was a hundred times more messed up in the head than me.

**

Dazai walked over with a faint, indecipherable smile. "I've been training Atsushi for four and a half years, yet you beat him. It's hard to believe..." (uhm duh. that's cause he was trained by Oda 🙄💅who doesn't abuse his students unlike y-)

**

"Akutagawa, it was actually Oda who obtained this video," said Tanizaki who was seated. "Even with Ranpo's Super Deduction and Oda's extraordinary skill, Flawless [...], it took them three whole days to sneak into the secret facility and steal the footage. That just shows you how extremely dangerous the mission was and how hard it was to get this information."

That was when it hit Akutagawa. He had just recently been asked to watch over the orphans for three days while Oda was out of town on business.

ugH. KING behavior 😩👑

He's read the Bible

"John 12:24. You're surprisingly well read, Sakunosuke." --p.144, DE

^^ imagine if he and Fyodor had a conversation. that would be p. interesting.

was kind to the curry shop owner (ill elaborate later cause im so sleepy rn)

--- and so much more. I actually have a whole fanfic in my head of Oda TT (and that Oda is a lot different from the one in canon but is based off of him. yeah...I like Oda if u couldn't alr tell.😭)

I urge yall to please read Dark Era and The Day I Picked Up Dazai. It captures his character way more than the anime.

To end this post, I want to give tribute to the IRL! Oda Sakunosuke cause that's who the bsd character is based from and Oct 26 is his actual birthday 😸

About the Real Oda:

List of some of his works:

Thank youu 🥳

I hope this post encourages more oda love lol. he's such a king. 💅

tagging @carbonateds-oda because I need someone to share my unhinged Oda thoughts too 😭😩

(feel free to ignore btw or lmk if it bothers u. i feel like ive been too interactive lately TT)

anywy, happy birthday odasaku! 🥳🥳👑

[sableflynn]

@whumblr @littleperilstories ok so the other week my friends and I went to a haunted house where we signed a waiver that allowed the actors to touch/grab us, and it was AMAZING. some highlights:

As soon as we got in the line, an actor dressed in bloody rags got right in my face and asked if I signed the waiver. I said yes and he immediately began strangling me. Then he gave me hand sanitizer.

Lady in line behind us got put in a coffin, and then they closed the lid and jumped/stomped all over it, then picked it up and walked off with her still in it. Husband was standing by like 🧍‍♂️anyway

she came back later lolol she was fine

inside the haunted house, at one point they shoved my friend in a tiny closet and made us solve an anagram to get him out. gave us five seconds and screamed the countdown at us while we frantically tried to unscramble the word (it was "scary")

one room had a butcher-type guy with a bunch of cages and fake dead bodies hanging around. we go in and he immediately grabs me and shoves me into a cage, then takes my friends and sends them on without me (!!!)

he took another girl from a different group, had us both put ours hands through rope loops (so it was like we were tied to the wall), splashed water on us, and then finally let us go

so now I have to go through the rest of the house with this random girl I don't know

one of the last rooms was pitch black, and this guy dressed in all black snuck up behind me and wrapped his arms around me. held me in place, caressed my face with one hand while he shushed me and cooed about how I'd been through so much, poor thing. literal intimate whumper shit lmao. I'm in his arms like 😳

the other girl sees this happening and sneaks around the corner to keep going. so the guy holding me is like 😏 aw, did your friend abandon you? and she immediately comes back like 👀👀 and he let go of me to grab her and make her dance with him

we finally got out and my two friends I had gone with were just standing there waiting for me and it was the most emotional reunion ever

10/10 AMAZING haunted house, highly recommend if you ever have the chance for that sort of thing. a whump fan's dream

[its-a-hil]

ok. random question. literally from the random question generator at randomwordgenerator dot cahm: What's your go-to funny story now, but was horrendous at that moment?

(i think it gave me a question i already know but eh shoot)

hm.

alright i think this is actually more of the reverse than the forward direction, but sure

when i was in middle school, i was such a horrible procrastinator (note: i am still one of those) that i often wrote rough drafts of essays during lunch

(the one year in middle school i didnt do this was when i had english 1st period. tbh i wish my schedule had worked out like that all 3 years, but alas)

but i got so comfortable just throwing out words with a pencil that i kept doing it and now i almost never edit anything bc i need to write it all in one go or it's wrong

but final drafts still had to be typed & printed, so it was only my rough drafts that were like this

fast forward to high school, and rough drafts became less of a thing

my compulsion to procrastinate did not.

oh also relevant here is that i was emotionally incapable of asking for an extension or submitting online after class or anything

so.

senior year of high school. we had an essay to write on Twelfth Night, where we had to pick a word that was repeated a few times and discuss its effect on the story

i picked 'fancy' and used it to argue the absolute bullshit point that it meant the whole thing was a dream, because i had no other ideas and my brain refused to set aside time to do something more reasonable

except.

i did not begin writing until lunch of that day.

i did not have access to the computer lab i had planned to write the essay in.

i pleaded with a friend to lend me his laptop, on which i did the most frantic writing of my life. i dont remember if i ate any food during that lunch period.

(according to my diary i also said something shitty to that friend even as he was doing me a massive favor, which. god.)

looking at the document now (ty google drive), it seems that i didnt actually finish the essay, just wrote notes on the different uses of the word

im not sure if it was just a rough draft or notes kind of thing that was due, or if i lucked out and the essay was extended or something? unclear

but what is clear is that i wrote 440 words in just over an hour, and that's not counting the quotes i had to transcribe (which also made up over 400 words)

the following night i turned it into an actual 750ish word essay in also about an hour, bc. yeah. (i still didn't write an intro until i printed it out during study hall the next day lmao)

so anyway the essay was shit, the teacher was genuinely confused and pulled me aside after the class where she handed the essays back

note: she was also the theater teacher & that semester i was doing the play afterschool, and i think she knew i was better than what i handed in

:/

in my defense i was fairly depressed that couple of months, partially due to an responsibility that i did not realize i could easily say no to. the only consequence that refusing that responsibility would have had is that i would have hated myself less and possibly liked engineering more

oh also looking at my diary apparently that was also the week that i taught precalc bc the teacher's partner was suddenly out for paternity leave and i had an essentially free period during the precalc class

so yeah that's probably the third most interesting week of my senior after the week that we had the play performances and the week i was out in the hospital when my lungs spontaneously collapsed

the funniest part of that story is that it took me another 3ish years to realize that i wanted to be a teacher, and another 2 years after that to act on that desire. lmao

anyway bc im sure you freaks want to see it, im putting the essay under the cut

Actual essay:

Twelfth Night is one of Shakespeare’s most fantastical plays. Even without the use of magic, the supposedly realistic events are completely improbable. There is evidence that the play was intended to be a fantasy, and throughout the play, the word “fancy” is used to suggest to the audience that the events of the play are little more than a fanciful construction of Orsino’s mind. 

Orsino speaks four of the six instances of “fancy” or “fantasy.” Two of these instances come in his first monologue, right at the beginning of the play. He claims that “so full of shapes is fancy that it alone is high fantastical” (1.1.14-15). As Adams says, in this passage Orsino claims “that his own imagination is so fertile that it is supremely capricious and whimsical.” (Adams 58). It is odd that the play would start with this double mention of fancy, especially when the word is not mentioned again until the end of Act two. It is even stranger that the plot concludes with Orsino making Viola/Cesario his “fancy’s queen” (5.1.415). Although Feste finishes the play with his final song, this line is the last spoken by any other character, and is a natural conclusion to the play nonetheless. There must be a reason why the play both begins and ends with a word only used six times throughout. This is the most direct clue that the play does not merely describe events in Shakespeare’s mind, but instead describes events in Orsino’s mind. 

More clues can be found by examining the other uses of fancy in the play. Sebastian remarks “Let fancy still my sense in Lethe steep” after encountering a smitten, and unfamiliar Olivia (4.1.65). This line comes in one of the more fantastical scenes in the play, where Sebastian enters Illyria and is mistaken by everyone for Cesario. Sebastian can only conclude “this is a dream,” and calls upon fancy - imagination - to keep him from waking up. Sebastian addresses fancy as a powerful being, that has the ability to manipulate the world he sees. If the play does take place in Orsino’s imagination, fancy would have this power. Another thing to note about Sebastian’s mention of fancy is that it is in reference to Olivia. Her love for him, and reproach of the men who were dueling him, is the only reason he would want to continue living in this dream.

Olivia is a common subject of fancy, as used in its alternate definition of love. Malvolio, just before seeing Maria’s letter, thinks aloud that “should [Olivia] fancy, it should be one of my complexion” (2.5.24-25). Almost all references to fancy are directly related to Olivia. In fact, every major male character, except her uncle, is in love with Olivia. It is difficult for Orsino to conceive of a character who is not enamored when in the presence of the beautiful lady Olivia.  To him, when Olivia enters, “heaven walks on earth” (5.1.99). 

Regarding the rest of Malvolio’s scene, it is no less strange than Sebastian’s. The dour puritan begins with a statement of love for his lady, and then follows the insane directions of a letter that apparently describes her love for him, while the pranksters hide and watch in a nearby bush. Orsino’s mentions of “fancy” also take place in strange scenes. Without touching on the chaotic mess that is 5.1, 1.1 regards a Duke, who has been laid low grieving over his unrequited love for Olivia. She, in turn, decides not to admit any suitors until she has spent seven entire years mourning her dead brother. This scene feels almost surreal, setting the stage for the play that is to follow. Since almost every instance of the word fancy comes during a surreal scene, it can be inferred that the word is an indicator - a message to the audience that this play is a fantasy in the mind of Orsino.

There is one more use of “fancy,” however. During the argument between Orsino and Viola, Orsino speaks of men’s fancies as “more longing, wavering… than women’s are” (2.4.41-42). Twelfth Night is certainly long, spanning three months in Illyria, and the play constantly wavers from uplifting to demeaning, from reasonable to insane. The play as a whole fits so well with Orsino’s description of his “fancies” that one must wonder why that particular description was used. Interpreting Twelfth Night as a fancy conjured up by Orsino’s stricken mind makes a good deal more sense than attempting to reconcile the events with the real world. 

Work Cited:Adams, B. (1978). Orsino and the Spirit of Love: Text, Syntax, and Sense In Twelfth Night, I. i. 1-15. Shakespeare Quarterly,29(1), 52-59. doi:10.2307/2869169

The notes i wrote during the lunch period:

The first appearance of the word comes during Orsino’s monologue. The grief-stricken man describes his lovesickness by referring to his imagining of fantasies involving Olivia. Fancy is “full of shapes” to hear him tell it, filled with all kinds of images (1.1.14). This implies an interesting idea of the plot; it may be nothing more than a lovesick dream conjured by Orsino’s mind. After all, the plot is as “high fantastical” as something a distressed lover might imagine. (1.1.15). 

Malvolio’s mention of fancy is also about love and imagining it. He talks about “her [Olivia’s] fancy,” but the context of the scene and the rest of his dialogue imply that he is the one who fancies Olivia (2.5.24).. Malvolio claims that Olivia has said she would fancy “one of my complexion,” indicating that Malvolio has, through confirmation bias and imagination, convinced himself that Olivia was in love with him even before reading Maria’s letter (2.5.25). The fact that Malvolio, the outwardly stalwart Puritan, is as fanciful and in love as Orsino is a strong device for making fun of the Puritans as Shakespeare was wont to do. 

Sebastian has his reference to fancy when he meets Olivia and finds that he is the object of her fancy. 

[Discussing of the other two quotes]

In Twelfth Night, characters mention fancy when in fantastical scenes. Orsino had neglected his duties as a Duke to be lovesick over Olivia, Malvolio convinced himself that Olivia was in love with him moments before happening upon a letter regarding Olivia’s love, Sebastian came to a foreign city and found that a woman he had never seen was madly in love with him, and the final scene is perhaps the most fanciful of them all. Everything comes together in a hilarious, satisfying, and utterly unrealistic way. The use of the word fancy indicates that a scene either was or will be fanciful. This implies that Shakespeare is breaking the fourth wall, drawing attention to works of the imagination when the audience may be considering the play as imagination. In that way, Shakespeare implies that this comedy, however nice it may seem, is just a lovesick fantasy in the mind of Duke Orsino. 

Note also that almost every mention of the word is in reference to Olivia. The only exception is when Orsino calls Viola his “fancy’s queen,” but Orsino could just be (Inception-style) trying to prove to himself that he can love another. That is why the timeline does not make sense; Orsino needed to believe that his mind was not so changeable, that he would need three months with another woman to move past his love for Olivia. 

Quotes:

1.1.14-15:

Orsino: “So full of shapes is fancy 

That it alone is high fantastical.”

Context: These lines conclude Orsino’s opening monologue about his lovesickness and passion for Olivia. The monologue is discordant throughout, and this line sounds very arrogant, that nobody but a lover could have an extreme imagination.

This quote illustrates Orsino’s arrogance about his position (which is expanded upon in his later argument with Viola) and tells the audience that Orsino has spent some time cooped up in his mansion thinking of Olivia. 

2.5.23-25

Malvolio: “I have heard herself come

thus near, that, should she fancy, it should be one

of my complexion.“

Context: This comes just before Malvolio finds Maria’s letter, when he is fancying that Olivia might be in love with him. He has almost convinced himself of her love even before he sees Maria’s letter, which would be a strange coincidence if Twelfth Night was not a comedy. 

This quote describes Malvolio’s desperation to be loved by Olivia. He uses a few choice words and actions of Olivia as a justification for her love, indicating confirmation bias and lack of perspective. 

4.1.63-66

Sebastian: “What relish is in this? how runs the stream?

Or I am mad, or else this is a dream:

Let fancy still my sense in Lethe steep;

If it be thus to dream, still let me sleep!”

Context: This comes just after Sebastian enters Illyria and finds a beautiful woman suddenly wish to marry him. It is so illogical that he believes he must be dreaming, and he wishes for fancy to keep him from waking up. 

This quote tells us that Sebastian is wondrous at his entrance to Illyria. He forgets about Antonio as soon as strange men wish to duel and a strange beautiful woman claims to be in love with him. Sebastian is far more relaxed than most people would be in this context, especially if they could not find Antonio, the only person he was close with for the past three months.

5.1.412-415

Orsino: “Cesario, come;

For so you shall be, while you are a man;

But when in other habits you are seen,

Orsino's mistress and his fancy's queen.”

Context: This is the last line spoken by any character except Feste. It comes after Orsino learns of Viola’s true identity and gives up his love for Olivia. 

This quote implies that Orsino still thinks of Viola as Cesario, at least while she is in men’s clothing. 

[sonicrainicorn]

No Way Home

Words: 10,093 Desc.: Daniel messes up a spell (Kevin is shocked -- aghast, even) and pulls in four different Daniels from across the multiverse into his living room. Now the issue is putting them all back. TW: minor panic/anxiety attacks

(lmao two of these Dans are from fics I haven’t published yet so there’s some massive spoilers in here. I just found this concept too entertaining to leave it waiting)

///

“What is it that you’re planning to do exactly?”

Daniel lifted his eyes from the page to look at Kevin’s quizzical expression. He did have to admit his ingredients were... unorthodox. A piece of a mushroom from a fairy ring Sean collected, water from a very specific lake in California bottled under the full moon, a raw cut of azurite, and a lot of other seemingly random crap.

“I’m trying to look into my timeline,” he answered.

“Divination? I can do that for you without all this junk.” He waved his hand in the general direction of the coffee table.

“I’m aware.” He turned back to the spell book. “But I’m trying to do something a little more complicated.”

“More complicated than that one time?”

“A bit more, yeah.”

Kevin leaned over the back of the couch. “Don’t leave me in suspense -- what is it?”

“I want to look through possible timelines. What sort of choices I could have made that could have led to something different. Things like that.”

Kevin frowned, his eyes scanning Daniel’s face for some hidden answer. He opened his mouth, then closed it. He gave a small smile. “Yeah, that does sound pretty complicated.” He pushed himself away. “Well have fun. Don’t forget to call your local divination expert for help if you need it. That’s me, by the way.”

Daniel scoffed. “Yeah, I know. You bring it up as often as you can.” He shooed Kevin away with his hand. “Now, come on, I gotta focus.”

Kevin said nothing, leaving Daniel alone.

Daniel studied the words and steps carefully. Not only was this a branch of magic he didn’t often use, but it was also a style he was unfamiliar with. Traditional French, according to the book. Traditional magic styles were always fascinating to study, but putting them into practice was a bit more complex. And Daniel knew firsthand that one wrong step could lead to unforeseen consequences. So he had to get it right. He didn’t want to find out what could happen if he fucked up a timeline spell.

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. No time like the present.

Moving to sit cross-legged on the floor, he propped up the book on the coffee table so he could still refer to it. To start, he filled a small plastic tub with the lake water and set a wooden bowl on top. Next, he reached up and pulled out a strand of hair. He couldn’t help but flinch a little, but he dropped it in the bowl without issue. And then he made his first mistake.

As he grabbed the mushroom piece, it slipped out of his fingers and rolled onto the floor. Cursing under his breath, he leaned over to search for it. He picked it up, noticing it had who-knew-what sticking to it from falling under the couch. He dusted it off and blew on it. But he had no way of knowing he did anything wrong. The true nature of fairy ring mushrooms was a secret the fae kept tight. Not even a half-fae like Sean was allowed to know the full details.

Fairy ring mushrooms on their own weren’t magical. They were a conduit like so many witches’ wands. A dormant element of nature to use magic through. But Daniel wasn’t a witch. He had magic at his fingertips -- something rare and dangerous and powerful -- that oftentimes ended up exploding wands doing mundane spells. And as such, the fae didn’t want people like Daniel to understand their mushrooms’ true nature. Because the mushrooms remembered. Something as simple as a breath could trap magic inside. For a witch, this did nothing. But for a sorcerer -- for Daniel -- it meant the mushroom was alive.

He dropped it into the bowl.

Referring back to the book, he followed the next steps with meticulous detail. Yet, he made a second mistake.

He lit a match and dropped it into the bowl. The dried-up plants caught fire in an instant, which meant the last step he had to do was drop in the azurite. But he hesitated. Just for a moment, but it was a moment too long. The spell book warned against stopping during this stage. Once the fire was lit, the spell needed to be completed as fast as possible.

Fearing the consequences of not finishing the ritual at all, he dropped the azurite into the bowl. The bowl crashed to the bottom of the tub and thick white smoke billowed out, engulfing the room. Oddly, it smelled like cinnamon.

As Daniel coughed and waved the smoke away from his face, he heard other people coughing as well. Thinking it was the other lads, he started coming up with the best explanation to justify the mess, but all his words shriveled up and died the moment the smoke cleared.

He saw himself. Well, four of them.

They stood on the other side of the coffee table with similar expressions of shock and confusion. Daniel wasn't sure how to feel about knowing what he looked like when he made that face, so instead he focused on their other aspects.

The first one wore a purple sweater with the sleeves rolled up. His jeans had grass stains on the knees with a hole accompanying the right side. Faint paint stains popped out in random spots. He looked the most tired out of all of them.

The second one mirrored Daniel the most. Thin glasses perched on his nose. He had a light blue hoodie with an embroidered patch over his heart. Headphones sat on top of his head and he had something clutched in his hand. He wasn’t wearing shoes.

The third one held himself like he wanted to fade into the background unnoticed. He also had on a hoodie, but this one was light gray and much too big for him. A colorful scarf wrapped around his neck and a bright red beanie hid his waves. The snow on top of his boots was starting to melt.

The fourth and final one had to be the most bizarre. His hair was the longest of the group and much wilder, but that was tame in comparison to the rest of him. With a cloak draped over his left side, he looked plucked from a completely different time. His face differed the most as well. He had a few fading scars running in different directions along his cheeks and nose. It would have been hard to call him a Daniel if it wasn’t for the wide blue eyes and sharp jawline.

After a long time of no one saying anything, the one in the headphones exclaimed, “what the fuck is happening?”

Uh oh.

“I was in the middle of shopping,” the one in the purple sweater put his hands to his temples like a terrible headache appeared, “and now I’m standing in a living room with four other people that look like me.”

“What sort of magic is this?” The one in the cloak eyed Daniel curiously. His accent was slightly off from the others.

“Magic?” the first two echoed, perplexed.

The one in gray didn’t say anything, but he looked right at Daniel like he knew the answer already. It was a little unnerving.

“Okay!” Daniel stood up. “I have to admit, this is really fucking weird -- even by my standards -- so how ‘bout we all just, just chill for a second.” He could feel his anxiety spiking and for fuck’s sake he didn’t need that right now. If he got too stressed it would make everyone panic more and then he would panic more and it would make a bigger mess of things. Not for the first time, he cursed Kevin for giving him this damn ailment.

Purple Sweater crossed his arms and glared at him, yet his mouth remained shut.

“Chill?!” Headphones waved his hands around manically. Daniel could see he held onto a Switch controller with white knuckles. “How are we supposed to be chill about any of this?”

“I don’t understand what that means,” Cloak said with a furrowed brow.

“It means ‘relax’,” Gray explained softly.

“Ah. Then I agree with that one.” He pointed at Headphones. “I don’t understand how we’re meant to be ‘chill’ about appearing in this... place.” He looked around with a small frown.

Daniel wasn’t sure if he should take that as an offense to his interior decorating.

“Well, he can’t tell us what’s going on if we don’t stop yelling at him,” Purple Sweater said calmly. He gave a pointed look to Headphones, who grumbled and shoved his hands in his hoodie pocket, keeping his mouth shut. Then he looked at Daniel and Daniel felt like he was disappointing his dad all over again. “Why did you bring us here?”

“It was an accident. I only wanted to look into my timeline but I guess I... messed up.” He scrunched his face. Understatement of the century.

“Yeah, no shit,” Headphones griped.

“Language,” Purple Sweater chided. Then seemed confused about why he even bothered. “Sorry, that -- that’s just a habit.”

Headphones looked at him weirdly.

“The magic in this place feels off.” Cloak frowned further as he continued to scrutinize the room. “It’s not... I don’t feel the same presence like at home. How can you have such powerful magic if it isn’t in the world around you?”

“It’s more prominent here,” Gray chimed in. Quiet. As if he didn't want to be heard at all. “Magic in my world is rare but completely mundane.”

“Your world?” Purple Sweater noted curiously.

“Why the hell do you guys keep talking about magic?” Headphones pushed down his headphones and grabbed at his hair.

“It’s how I brought you all here.” Daniel sighed like it was obvious.

“But magic isn’t real!”

“How else would you explain this, then?” He threw his arms out to emphasize their situation.

Headphones shook his head and shut his eyes tight. “I don’t know! This can’t be real! None of this is happening! I’m -- I’m dreaming or something. I fell asleep before I went live and now chat is waiting for me.” He started lightly tugging on his hair. “I just have to wake up and start the stream. This’ll just be a weird crazy thing we talk about.”

Daniel chucked a couch pillow at his face. “Stop it! You’re not dreaming.”

A loud crash startled them all. They turned to see Kevin staring at them with wide eyes, his hand floating mid-air. Pieces of a mug scattered across the ground.

“Kevin!” Four Daniels shouted in surprised relief. One of them muttered it like a guilty confession.

Kevin continued to gape at them until he was snapped out of it by Daniel awkwardly fixing his hair. “Dan, can I, uh, can I talk to you for a second?”

The Daniels glanced at each other.

“My -- My Dan.” He shook his head and pointed at Daniel, giving him one of his rare serious looks. “You. Get over here.”

Daniel hesitated but complied anyway. He stepped over the ceramic pieces, making a mental note to tell Kevin to clean it up with a broom rather than magic it away.

“The rest of you... Dans... just, uh, just sit wherever.” He grabbed Daniel’s arm and dragged him into the nearest empty room. Unfortunately, that happened to be the bathroom. “Dan, what the fuck --?”

“I know!” Daniel dragged his hands down his face. “I fucked up. I don’t know what I did to bring them all here.”

“What even are they?”

He tapped his bottom lip. “At first I thought they were different me’s from across my timeline, but then there was that weird one with the long hair. And two of them don’t even have magic. So I think... I think they might be from different universes.”

Kevin stared at him like he was crazy, but it was a look that only lasted a moment. He groaned and ran his hands through his hair. “Dude, how do you mess up a spell that bad?”

“I don’t know!” He whined, sounding far too much like a child for his liking. “Please help me fix it. I don’t know what to do and if I tell them that they'll get mad at me and then I'll freak out, and you know what happens when I freak out --"

"Stop." Kevin put his hands on Daniel's shoulders. “I'll help." He frowned. "Jeez, you must be in really deep shit if you’re asking me for help.”

He shrugged. “You are the local divination expert after all.”

“Oh, no. We’re way past divination at this point. And flattery will get you nowhere.” He grinned. “But I wouldn’t mind hearing it anyway.”

Daniel rolled his eyes.

They walked out to see all the Daniels sitting far apart as they avoided looking at one another.

Kevin clapped his hands to get their attention. “Okay, Dans, so here’s the thing -- you don’t want to be here, and we don’t want you here so we’re going to do whatever we can to get you guys back.” Ever since The Incident, he had gotten better at taking charge.

“How long will that take?” Gray asked quietly.

“Uh, what spell did you use, Dan?” He motioned to the book on the table. Kevin scooped it up and skimmed the page. He didn’t look too confident anymore. “Okay, um, maybe a few days?”

"What?!” The four Dans yelled at the same time.

“Days?!” Purple Sweater shot up from his spot on the couch. Up until this point, he had been the most calm and collected of the bunch so it shocked Daniel to see him so livid. “I can’t wait days -- I have a daughter to get back to!”

Headphones’ head snapped to him with wide eyes.

“I was hiking down to meet my friends,” Gray said, for the first time speaking above a murmur. “What’re they gonna do when I never meet up with them?”

“And I was in the middle of rebuilding a library.” Cloak crossed his arms with a scowl. Daniel caught sight of a flash of silver. “Imbuing books with magic isn’t shit you can just stop.” 

 Kevin held up a hand placatingly. “It takes time to deconstruct a spell, and this one is super complicated. We’ve never worked with anything like this before.”

“Then why the fuck did you even attempt it?” Purple Sweater snapped.

Daniel took a deep breath and counted.

Kevin took a step forward so the attention would be on him. “Look, you’re all Dan -- you should know better than me how he thinks. Are you telling me none of you have taken a dumb risk before?” 

 They fell silent.

“We just need to find out what went wrong and go from there.” 

“How do we do that?” Cloak raised a brow. 

Kevin tapped the book cover. “Well... you have magic, too, right? Maybe you can help.” He sat on the armrest of the chair and handed the book over.

Daniel and Gray shuffled closer as well.

As Cloak unfurled his arms to take the book, everyone in the room sucked in a breath. “Huh?” He glanced at them all in confusion before seeming to click the ideas in place. “Oh.” He chuckled, not at all bothered as he held up his left arm. It was pure metal. “I lost it a while ago. Doesn’t bother me much anymore, but I guess it’s probably weird for different me's.”

“How’d you lose it?” Gray asked, voice nothing but a whisper. 

Cloak cleared his throat, eyes firmly on the spell book. “So what’s a France?”

As the three Daniels and Kevin poured over the book, the remaining two Daniels were left to themselves. Magic wasn’t real in their worlds so they wouldn’t be much help. Purple Sweater sat back down on the couch with a sigh. Headphones sat stiffly at the other end of the couch. 

He tried to pay attention to what was being said in case it was important, but every other word flew over his head. Besides, if he was being honest, he was more interested in the other Daniel on the couch.

“So,” he started. The other Daniel cocked his head at him, “you have a daughter?” 

He smiled. “I do.”

He scooted a little closer. “Do you have a picture?”

Instead of bringing out a phone as Headphones expected, he pulled out his wallet. He took out a little photograph and handed it over.

Headphones found himself smiling down at the picture. A little girl with dark hair pulled into pigtails grinned back at him. Her smile was so big he could barely see her bright blue eyes. She was sitting cross-legged in the grass. Green stained her exposed knees and even her socks. She had on overalls shorts with a pink striped shirt underneath. Her hands were stretched out towards him as if she wanted to catch the camera. Or maybe she wanted who was behind it.

“She looks a lot like you,” he said and handed the photo back. He hoped his hand trembling wasn’t too obvious. “What’s her name?”

“Elizabeth.” He stared at the photo in adoration. “But we just call her Cupcake.”

Headphones swallowed down a shaky breath. His fingers brushed the edges of the patch on his chest tentatively. “Who... who’s the mother?”

Purple Sweater scowled as he put the photo away. “Doesn’t matter.” He placed the wallet back in his pocket.

Sensing he struck a nerve, he apologized softly.

Purple Sweater didn’t say anything for a moment. Then he looked at him as if he solved a puzzle. “I’m --” his lips quirked up in a sad smile -- “I’m not your future. We’re from two different worlds. Whatever you’re hoping you’ll get... I’m not it.”

Headphones' eyes darted to the floor and he retreated into his hoodie. He should have known an alternate version of himself would be able to read his true intentions. “This is some real Multiverse of Madness shit,” he grumbled. As if making a shitty joke would make him feel better.

Purple Sweater gave him a confused face.

One of the other Daniels cried out in annoyance. They turned to see Cloak with his hands buried in his face. “I don’t understand your magic,” he whined. “Why does it have so many rules?”

“Well, how does it work in your world?” Daniel crossed his arms and looked at him like an annoyed older brother. 

“You just ask for it!” He threw his hands out in front of him and colorful flower petals exploded from his palms. His irises flashed gold. “It’s a far superior system.”

Daniel scoffed in offense. “Superior --?”

“If your magic works here, why can’t you magic everyone back to their own universes?” Kevin asked before Daniel could get all huffy.

Cloak suddenly became very shy. “I’m strong, but I don’t know if I’m that strong. I don’t know if it’ll reach into universes that don’t have magic at all.”

“Oh, so now whose magic system is superior?” Daniel smirked. 

Cloak glared at him.

“Don’t you guys have internet here?” Headphones asked. “Can’t you look up what to do on some bullshit magic website?”

“That’s not really how this works.” Kevin frowned.

“What’s an intern-net?” Cloak furrowed his brows. 

“No, you know what?” Daniel took out his phone and tossed it to Headphones, who almost didn’t catch it. “Why don’t you try to look something up and see how well that works out for you.”

Headphones scowled. As he looked down at the phone he muttered, “God, am I really this annoying?”

Kevin chuckled. “Now you know what it feels like to be everyone else.”

Purple Sweater peered at the phone curiously. “What is that?”

“A phone?” Headphones glanced at him in confusion. It was a normal Samsung. The exact same model and color as his own. He turned it on and nearly laughed. Of course their lock screens were almost identical things.

“That’s not like any phone I’ve ever seen.” He continued to look at it like its mere existence made no sense. 

“What? What does your phone look like?”

Purple Sweater fished something out of his pocket, revealing an old flip phone.

Headphones stared at it with wide eyes. “Oh my God.” he hadn’t seen one of those since he was a kid. “What year is it for you?”

“Uh, 2005. Why? What year is it for you?” 

 “2022.” 

They looked each other up and down, suddenly way more uncomfortable than they had been before. It was one thing to be pulled into another universe. Having one of your alternate universe selves (one that appeared normal by comparison) be from a different time was another.

“Umm.” Headphones shifted in his seat. He waved the phone at him with an awkward smile. “Wanna know how it works?”

While the two Daniels were distracted by that, the other Daniels and Kevin were still stumped on what to do.

“What about you?” Kevin asked Gray. “Could your magic do it?”

Gray fiddled with his beanie. He had to take it off along with his scarf since it got far too hot for him. He even had to roll up his sleeves. “I don’t really have magic like that. All I can do is See into the future.”

Kevin grinned. “That’s great! You can See how we get out of this and tell us what to do.”

“Not... not really.” He kept his eyes on his beanie. “I’m cursed. No one ever believes what I say.” 

There was an uncomfortable beat where no one said anything. The Daniels on the couch laughed together. It sounded the same.

“Do you believe yourself?” Cloak questioned gently. 

He nodded.

“Well... maybe you could tell us?” He motioned to himself and Daniel. “We’re technically you.” 

He looked hesitant. “I-I don’t know. Would that work?” He messed with his beanie some more. “I don’t really like looking into my own future.”

“That sounds like a good loophole if I ever heard one.” Daniel shrugged. 

“It’s up to you,” Kevin added. 

He looked around at everyone. “I guess there’s no harm in trying.” He took a deep breath and closed his eyes. It didn’t take long for him to wince. He rubbed the center of his forehead with his finger, but it didn’t do anything to dissuade his pinched expression. “Th-there’s --” he gasped sharply, his eyes blowing wide -- “there’s... there’s...” his breathing quickened.

Kevin was at his side in a flash. Apparently, it didn’t matter the Daniel, his mother-hen instincts were ready to go at any sign of distress. “Hey, I’m right here. What happened?”

Gray clutched the front of Kevin’s shirt like a lifeline. It sounded like he was choking. “T-too, too many. There’s too many.” 

“Breathe. It’s okay.” With little deliberation, he placed his hands on Gray’s arms. If these Daniels thought similarly, they probably responded to anxiety similarly as well. And if there was one thing Kevin was quick to learn, it was that Daniel relied on touch to help him feel better. He would have preferred to wrap him in a tight hug, but he didn’t want to make him feel like he couldn’t breathe. “What’s too many? What did you See?”

“Futures. M-my future. His. Ours.” He shut his eyes and gasped for air. “E-every, every Daniel in here. I-I See them all. They’re all -- they’re all mixing together in my head.” 

“Okay. You’re okay. Let’s just focus on something easier. How ‘bout mine? Can you tell me my future?” 

Gray opened his eyes and looked into Kevin’s. His breathing began to slow and his grip loosened little by little. “Once you ask Daniel that thing you want to,” he mumbled. His eyes glanced over to Daniel, “everything will turn out fine.” 

Kevin snorted, a half smile on his face. “I don’t know about that.” then he frowned. “Sorry.”

Gray shook his head. “I’m used to it.” but he sounded sad. He noticed Purple Sweater staring at them. His expression seemed almost pained with longing. He recalled a future -- a brief flash in his mind -- with Kevin, Anna, and a little girl. A tight-knit family with a chance he’d never see them again. He took a step back. “I’m sorry about that.”

“It’s alright. Happens to the best of us.” He gave him a small smile.

Daniel sighed. “Now what do we do?”

“I... may have an idea,” Cloak interjected hesitantly. “I just thought of it. I don’t know if it’ll work.”

“I think at this point anything is worth a shot,” Purple Sweater said. 

Everyone else seemed to be in agreeance. 

Cloak sighed. “Okay.” He scanned the page once more before standing up. He waved a hand over the coffee table and all the ingredients appeared. Purple Sweater and Headphones somehow appeared weary and impressed at the same time. Cloak grabbed the azurite with both hands, clasping it tightly. His eyes shined gold. When he opened his hands, the azurite shimmered with that same gold color. “Do the ritual the same way you did it before.” He handed the azurite to Daniel. “This should be able to reverse the effects. I hope.”

Daniel stared at the gold streaks swirling around the deep blue of the azurite. Then he looked up at Kevin, who gave him an encouraging smile. Then he looked at the Daniels. They were staring at him expectantly. Well, if anything was worth a shot...

He sat on the floor and repeated the steps. It was hard to ignore all the eyes watching his every move. Not that he could blame them for being so intense about it. Their fate rested on his shoulders. No pressure or anything. 

Much like before, when he dropped the azurite in, smoke billowed out of the container, except this time gold glistened within it like flakes of glitter.

“Did it work?” Kevin asked as he waved away the smoke. 

He looked around and only saw one Daniel.

~~~

A shiver ran down his spine as his feet connected with the ground. He stumbled forward but managed to keep himself from crashing onto the... hardwood... floor...

Wait a minute.

His apartment had hardwood floors, but it wasn’t this color. He lifted his eyes and horror hovered over his shoulders, threatening to sink its claws into him at any moment. The foyer he stood in was foreign to him. The front door didn’t match his apartment’s at all, and the neighboring key hook had a set of car keys hanging on it. He didn’t know how to drive and he certainly didn’t live with anyone who knew how to.

The horror slashed down his back when he heard the quick padding of feet behind him.

“Daddy!”

His entire body stiffened. Several daunting things became evident all at once. The first, and most prominent, one being this was not his universe. How would he get back without the help of any other Daniels? God, he would much prefer to be back with all of them in that weird place than wherever he was now. He’d rather live there forever than be trapped here with... with...

He slowly turned around. A little girl with dark hair and bright blue eyes smiled up at him.

She launched herself at him. “Where are the snacks?” she peeked up with a mischievous smile.

“I-I, uh --” 

Her smile turned into a curious frown. “When did you start wearing glasses?” she frowned further and reached into his hoodie pocket before he could be affronted by her audacity. “What’s this?” she pulled out the Switch controller, giving it a scrutinizing once over.

He resisted the urge to yank it out of her hands and instead gently pried it away from her. He had a feeling the other Dan wouldn’t be too happy if he upset his daughter. “I-it’s, uh, it’s something for later.” he shoved it back into his pocket with a nervous smile. He hoped that he wasn’t messing up time-space by being here with things that shouldn’t exist yet. If all his years of watching Doctor Who was anything to go by, it wasn’t that big a deal, but he wasn’t too sure about it now.

Her eyes lit up. “Is it a game?”

“It’s -- yes. It’s a game.” Jesus Christ, he had no idea how to talk to children. He couldn’t comprehend how he was a dad in this universe. He thought about being a dad one day, but faced with the reality of it, he was feeling all sorts of anxieties and fears he didn’t know were possible.

“I wanna play!” she bounced on the balls of her feet.

“Uh, not yet.” he stepped around her to start a search for a secluded spot in the house. “It’s... it’s a surprise. For later. Much later.” 

She pouted, dragging her feet as she trailed after him. “Aw, but I wanna play now.”

“J-just, uh, just give it some time, dear.”

This gave her pause. “You don’t call me that,” she said matter-of-factly. “Only Gramma calls me that.”

Oh, shit. He only said it because that’s what his mom called him and his brother. Of course he would let it continue to be her thing. That sounded like something he would do.

She looked him over again. “Why do you look funny?”

“I...” he had half a mind to make a bad joke but realized that would probably be the worst thing he could do. Instead, he panicked about what would be the best thing to do. He couldn’t say he wasn’t her dad; that would lead to more confusion. “I will answer that... in just a second.” he started trailing down the hall to what he hoped was the bathroom. Unfortunately, Cupcake continued to follow him. 

To make matters worse, as soon as he approached the door, it swung open. He yelped in surprise. “Kevin?!”

Kevin stared back at him with wide eyes. “Dan?” he looked him up and down. “When did you get back? Where’s Anna?”

“Anna?” why was he supposed to know where Anna was? 

That appeared to be the worst response he could have made. Kevin frowned. “Are you feeling alright?”

“Ask him why he’s wearing funny things.” Cupcake pointed up at him as she peered around his body to give Kevin a serious pout. 

Kevin looked him up and down again. “Yeah, that was going to be my next question.”

He noticed two doors to his left. He hoped one of them was his bedroom in this universe. “It’s -- this is hard to explain.” he started inching to the closest door. “Just give me a minute.” He shut the door in their faces. He felt a little bad about it.

“Is Daddy okay?” Cupcake whispered.

“I’m sure he’s fine,” Kevin answered, sounding like a plain lie to Dan. “Let’s go call Anna.”

Dan sighed and thumped his head lightly against the door. How the hell was he going to explain this? God, he just wanted to go home. He couldn’t be a dad! He especially couldn’t be Cupcake’s dad. He didn’t know her favorite food or her bedtime routine or what movies she liked to watch.

She wasn’t his daughter.

And her real dad was in some other universe trapped the same way he was. He couldn’t imagine what he was feeling. Thinking he’d see his daughter again only to wind up in another alien place. No one won in this scenario, and he was starting to feel worse about it by the second.

Sighing again, he pushed himself away from the door and looked around the room. It appeared he made the right choice. This room was set up in an eerily similar way to his own bedroom back at home. There were differences here and there, but he could still tell this was his bedroom. If this wasn’t at the bottom of his list of Weird Things That Happened Today, he’d find more care to be creeped out by it.

He noticed some pictures on the dresser across from him and decided to take a closer look. At home, this dresser was smaller and had a lot more random crap stacked on top of it. There was still random crap on this one, but he didn’t care about that as much.

He picked up one of the frames. It was of this universe’s Dan, Anna, and Kevin. They looked young -- still teenagers. It was hard to discern their location, but there was a rocky cliffside in the back, and wispy green plants moved in a captured breeze at their feet. Dan was at the front, leaning against a railing, looking toward the camera with a crooked grin. He had a hand up to stop his hair from flying in his face. Anna sat on top of the railing beside him. She leaned forward so the camera could see her sticking her tongue out. She didn’t seem to mind her hair being in the way. Kevin stood as if he was prepared to jump over the rail, but stopped only to take the picture. He had his typical faux innocent smile.

The next photo was of a baby. This one appeared to be done by a professional. The background was a soft peach color. Fine, dark hair poked around a white floral headband. Her eyes seemed brighter and bluer than they did in person. She gave the camera a wide, toothless smile.

The other photo was also of Cupcake. About toddler age this time, wearing a t-shirt with a cute animal on it. She had her hand out to a sheep eating out of her palm. She watched it with an excited beam.

He set down the frame. Frowning, he took a step back. Then immediately hissed out a curse and jumped away. As he rubbed his foot, he looked down at the floor and saw a lone Lego piece. Near the bed sat a tipped-over tub of Legos. Even with the annoyance of stepping on a damn piece, he couldn’t help but smile. He knelt beside the tub and noticed a lot of things happening at once. 

There were dolls sitting on crudely constructed chairs, and different structures made of mismatched bricks. He noticed a few Lego figures assembled into horrific monsters. That was definitely something he’d do. He frowned.

They were playing together.

He could see it happening. The tub of Legos was kept under the bed -- a secret at first to keep Cupcake out of them and stop her from making a mess. But she figured it out. Then, perhaps today, she dumped them onto the floor and insisted Dan play with her. She brought her dolls to have them interact with their new Lego world. Dan showed her how to make abominations, which she promptly built a jail for.

It seemed like fun. And even despite the horrible reality of being here, he smiled a little at the thought. A father and daughter enjoying each other’s company. As if nothing else in the world mattered besides the havoc they created.

Then he frowned again.

He was hit with the stark realization that the only way he’d get to experience this was if he stole it from someone else. He could only have a sweet, domestic life if he replaced this other Dan. 

And, for a moment, it was tempting. Why wouldn't it be? It all seemed so uncomplicated. So easy. But he knew deep down he couldn’t ever live with that. He would rather have this be an unattainable dream than rob someone else of it.

He had to find a way back. This little girl needed her dad. Her real dad. Not someone who entertained the idea of being one.

He stood up, determined but also lost. He didn’t know how to get back, exactly, but he wouldn’t stop until he found a way. It couldn’t be that hard, could it? Maybe he needed to retrace his steps from before this whole thing happened. Except he noticed a few glaring problems with that almost immediately.

He was in 2005. Twitch wouldn’t be around for at least another six years. And as he looked around, he could see this Dan had no intentions of becoming a streamer. There wasn’t even a computer in here.

Dan thought back to 2005. It was almost twenty years ago by now. Jesus Christ, he was getting old. Gah! That wasn’t the point! Focus, Daniel, focus.

Okay. 2005. If there was a computer, it would be somewhere everyone could access it. However, it would also be where Kevin and Cupcake were. Dan wasn’t sure he was ready to talk to them yet, so leaving this room was a big no-no.

What else could he do? What happened the exact moment he was transported into another universe? He sat at his computer, he started setting up the stream, and then... he was looking at himself in a completely different room.

That wasn’t very helpful. Would he really have to wait six years to retrace his steps the right way? Six years was a long time -- it was an especially long time for a father to be without his daughter. He would miss so much by then.

No, there had to be another way. There had to be. He couldn’t be stuck here! There had to be something he was missing or something he needed to say or do or... or...

He stood there in silence for a moment that felt like an eternity, half expecting -- hoping -- to get dropped into the right universe. But nothing happened.

He heard Cupcake and Kevin whispering right outside the door.

~~~

He took a breath so deep it hurt his chest.

His lungs filled with smoke, but by the time he exhaled, it was already gone. 

He found himself looking into the surprised faces of Daniel and Kevin in a rather familiar living room.

He patted his pockets and found his phone and his Switch controller. He could feel headphones over his ears. He brought up a trembling hand to his chest. There was an embroidered patch beneath his fingertips.

Oh.

Before any of the other Daniels could say anything, the Daniel sitting beside Kevin disappeared in a jarringly cartoonish poof! only to be replaced with a toddler in clothes far too big for him.

Once again, before anyone could react, the toddler screamed, “fuck!” as loud as he could, startling everyone. He buried his face in his little hands.

“Whoops!” Kevin hurried in and scooped him up. “Don’t worry about this -- happens all the time.” He flashed the rest of the Daniels a nervous smile as he began to back out of the room. “Just give us a second.” then he ran down the hall.

A long, heavy silence stifled the room.

“I didn’t think today could get any weirder,” Cloak mumbled under his breath.

Purple Sweater opened his mouth to comment but closed it when he caught Headphones sitting down out of the corner of his eye. He looked way more exhausted than the first time they saw each other. His shoulders were more hunched and a tight frown stayed on his face as his eyes gazed at nothing in particular. “Are you feeling okay?”

His eyes flicked up then immediately turned in another direction. “I’m fine.”

Purple Sweater frowned. Now he understood why Kevin and Anna always tried so hard to help him. He kept quiet for a moment. The other two Daniels started their own conversation. “I’m pretty sure I was in your universe.” Headphones said nothing. “I found myself sitting in front of this crazy-looking computer with a bunch of different things happening. I don’t understand how you can read what all those people say.”

The corner of his mouth twitched up. “You get used to it.”

“I turned it off, I think.” He wasn’t sure which monitor he needed to pay attention to. They all had something on their screens, but he was pretty sure he shut down the stream at least. “I don’t think I’ve ever felt more like a dad than I did fumbling around with your computer.” 

He laughed lightly, but the smile didn’t stay there for long.

That didn’t work. He needed to come up with something else. “I liked your Lego collection. I haven’t seen any of those sets before.”

At last, Headphones looked up at him.

Across the living room, the Daniels there were having a similar conversation. “Are the animals in your house supposed to be there?” Cloak asked with a bit of genuine concern. He had never seen anything like it before. He heard of people keeping cats and canines, though they tended to stay outside. But this man had a whole menagerie in his tiny cabin. He even had a rat. Who willingly kept rats in their house?

Gray smiled, the first time he had done so. “Yeah. They’re my pets.”

“Even the sheep?” 

His smile widened. “She’s spoiled. She gets offended if I leave her outside for too long.” His smile shrunk a bit. “Are they doing okay?”

“I believe so. The cat didn’t seem to like me very much.”

“Yeah, he’s not a big fan of Daniels.” 

 “A big... fan?”

Gray couldn’t help but chuckle at Cloak’s confused expression. “It’s just a saying. He doesn’t like me very much, either.”

“Ah.” These people had such weird words and phrases.

“So I guess I was in your universe,” Gray said after a moment. He returned to his meek posture and tone. “Your friends told me what happened. I’m sorry about your library.” 

The library. Burnt to a crisp and destroyed along with most of The Castle. Even now his heart ached thinking about it. He spent his entire childhood in that library. Against his will, mind you, but that didn’t mean he wanted to see it destroyed. “Oh, it’s alright.” he tried to smile. “Hard for things to stay gone when you have magic.”

Just then, Daniel -- back to an adult -- and Kevin returned to the room. Daniel’s entire face was red down to his neck. He held up a finger to stop anyone from speaking. “We are not going to talk about it. No one is going to ask me any questions about it. We’re just going to ignore it and pretend it didn’t happen.”

The other Daniels acquiesced.

Daniel smoothed out his shirt and sighed. Then the calm was broken. “How the hell did you guys get back here?!”

“I retraced my steps,” all four Daniels answered at the same time. 

“None of us were in the right universe,” Purple Sweater explained. 

“But you were gone for, like, thirty seconds. There’s no way any of you are that fast.”

“What?” Cloak’s brows pinched together. “It was at least twenty minutes.”

“A few days for me,” Gray added. 

“I had to wait until morning.” Purple Sweater frowned. 

Daniel looked at Headphones, expecting him to follow the trend. When their eyes met, it was like looking at a completely different person.

“Six years,” he said, voice hollow. 

“What?” Purple Sweater stared at him with huge eyes. 

“I had to wait until it was 2011,” he didn’t look up at anyone, “once Twitch went live I made my account and wound up back here.” 

“You went back in time?” Kevin asked.

“He’s from 2005.” He motioned vaguely to Purple Sweater who was starting to look like the world was falling apart around him. 

“Does that mean,” he started softly, “if I go back now, I would I have missed six years of my daughter’s life?”

Kevin gave Daniel a worried glance.

Daniel tried not to start panicking. This complicated things. “No, no, it’s fine. I’ll... Okay, uh, I’ll just send you all back to right before you fell into this universe. It might take a little bit of extra time to figure it out but it could work. It’ll be like nothing ever happened.”

Headphones looked up at him. “Like nothing ever happened?” His expression changed to one people rarely saw on any Daniels’ face. Fury. “I spent six years raising a daughter that wasn’t my own, and you expect me to act like it didn’t happen?”

“W-well...” 

“I just lived a life I never thought I could have and... dammit, I liked it!” He tore off his headphones. “I liked teaching little kids how to write. I liked having a daughter. I liked living with my friends and being one big family. And you’re telling me I have to go back to my lonely apartment and -- and just forget about it?” His face was wild and desperate. Like he was fighting a losing battle.

Daniel opened his mouth, but he couldn’t find anything to say. Was there anything even to say? He could promise to fix it, but would any of them believe him? He messed everything up in the first place. And then things went wrong a second time. It didn’t matter what he said. It would sound like an empty promise. He closed his mouth.

Headphones huffed and stood up. He marched toward the front door without a word.

“Hey --” Kevin started, but Daniel put a hand on his arm. 

“He’s not going anywhere.” 

Once the door slammed shut, a tense silence fell over them. Purple Sweater quietly excused himself and followed Headphones.

He found him standing on the front porch, his arms resting on top of the banister. He stared down at the headphones in his hands like they were trying to start a fight.

“Hey,” he greeted softly.

“Hi,” he muttered. 

Purple Sweater propped his arms against the banister and looked out into the front lawn. It was small. Kind of overrun. Tall bushes on either side separated them from the neighbors. They were in their own little world out here.

“When I found out I was going to be stuck there,” Headphones started, “I hid all my stuff in the bottom of a drawer."

“Smart,” was all he could think to say.

Headphones sighed. “I’m sorry. I’m talking like I’m the only one affected here.” he put his headphones around his neck. “I’m just... a little jealous, I guess. Your life was so simple. I appreciate my life don’t get me wrong -- I love that I get to play games for a living and I’m very thankful for what I have -- but seeing your universe...” he sighed again. “It just makes me feel like I missed out.” 

A breeze rolled past before Purple Sweater decided to say anything. “My life wasn’t always that simple, you know.” his eyes stayed on the silent street as he recalled his messy past. “I tried to get married too young, I had a kid too soon, and my fiancée left me because she got tired of pretending to love me. I barely saw Cupcake for the first four years of her life. I was always working. Then I got my head out of my ass and asked for help. Anna and Kevin started living with me, I went back to school, and that’s where you picked everything up.” 

He smiled at Headphones as best as he could. “Basically, what I’m trying to say is, you can still have that life. Mine only seems so perfect because you didn’t see what I went through to get it.”

“I guess you’re right.” He looked down guiltily. “It was just easier to pretend to be you for a little bit.” 

Purple Sweater recalled the quiet apartment he found himself in. He hadn’t known quiet since before Cupcake was born. It turned out he didn’t miss it as much as he thought he did. “What’s stopping you from having one of your friends move in?”

“They have their own lives. I don’t want to get in the way of that.”

“You never know. One of them might be willing.”

Headphones didn’t respond. He brushed his hair back as another breeze went by. He tilted his head to look at Purple Sweater with new consideration. “Did you ever think about trying to get married again?”

Purple Sweater laughed. The type of shocked chuckle one does at a surprise. “Man, if I had a nickel for every time someone asked me that...” He shook his head. “I never wanted to get married in the first place. I like the way things are now. Why ruin a good thing?”

Wow. Headphones wished he could be this confident and secure about any of his decisions. “Your daughter is really lucky to have you.”

His smile turned small and brittle. “How is she?” 

“She’s doing well. She started playing football and she’s really good at it. Like really good -- that’s not me being biased or anything --” they both chuckled -- “but she’s already decided she wants to be a veterinarian. She started getting into wildlife conservation by the time I was getting ready to leave.” He could have gone on for a while longer -- now he understood why parents talked about their kids so much -- but he saw the look on Purple Sweater’s face. It would have been cruel to keep going. “I, uh, I tried my best to act like you but I think she could always tell there was something off.” 

“She’s too observant for her own good.” it almost sounded like he didn’t believe him.

Just then, a strong sensation raked down their backs, cutting their conversation short. They looked at each other.

“I think I’ve seen Into the Spider-Verse enough times to know that wasn’t a good thing,” Headphones said. 

Purple Sweater stepped away from the banister. “Come on.” He opened the door.

Inside, the other two Daniels appeared to have felt the same thing. Cloak’s metal arm was on the floor.

He bent down cautiously to pick it up. “I’m losing connection to my magic.” He pulled it underneath his cloak and his eyes burned gold.

“Me too,” Gray muttered, his own eyes closed. He started to play with the end of his scarf so hard it looked like he began to unravel it. “I-it’s like something just snapped inside of me.” He opened his eyes. “I can’t See the future.” 

Cloak blinked and the gold vanished from his eyes. He wiggled his metal fingers around experimentally. Rather than the fluid movement they were more than capable of before, they were frigid and clumsy. “Ugh, I can’t believe this is happening to me again.” He dropped his arm with a scowl. “We need to get home.”

“We still don’t know how to do that,” Kevin piped up. 

“It doesn’t seem like we have much time to figure it out.” Headphones crossed his arms.

“What happens to us if we run out of time?” Gray asked.

No one responded right away. All eyes were on Daniel once again. He took a breath and started counting. “I don’t know, but we’re not going to run out of time. We almost had it right -- we just have to figure out what to tweak.”

“How do we figure that out?” Kevin asked. “We just keep sending them away until we find the right combination?” 

“No!” Purple Sweater and Headphones shouted in alarm. 

Daniel held up his hands in defense. “That’s not what I’m suggesting! I’m just saying there must have been something we missed. Something small.” 

“Like... our hair?”

Everyone turned to look at Gray. He flipped the spell book around and pointed to one of the lines of ingredients. “When you did the spell again you only used your hair. But what if you need hair from all of us?”

“It can’t be that easy, can it?” Cloak looked at Daniel with disbelief. He hated this magic system so much. 

“It might be.” Daniel took the book and looked it over again. “Decoding magic is complex. The closer you get to the right answer, the smaller the changes are going to be.”

“We’re technically hacking the system because of you.” Kevin grinned. “There’s usually a lot more failed attempts than this.” 

He didn’t know what that meant, but he’d take it as a compliment.

Headphones groaned and rubbed his eyes. “Please don’t talk about failure right now. I don’t want to think about how much universe hopping I could have done.”

“Well, if things go right, this last hop will be to your homes.” He looked at Cloak. “Do you think you could get us those ingredients again?”

Cloak rubbed his forearm awkwardly. “You don’t have any extras laying around?”

“Believe it or not, we don’t have dirt from a primeval forest collected under a blood moon tucked away in a drawer somewhere.” 

He pouted. “Okay, I get it.” He walked up to the coffee table. He put his hands on it and closed his eyes. “I ask to bring back what was used.” Nothing happened. “I ask for what we need.” Tiny sparks of gold swirled over the table but nothing appeared. He sighed harshly and shook out his hands, glaring down at the emptiness.

“Hey,” Kevin said gently, “it’s okay. We’ll find something else.” 

“No, I can do this.” He placed his hands back on the table. He squeezed his eyes shut. “Phexas, if you can still hear me, please help. I need these things to get back home. I ask you to help me. Please help me.” 

Daniel, starting to feel a little bad, opened his mouth to tell Cloak to stop, but as soon as he did so, everything they needed laid neatly out across the table in a bright flash.

Cloak took a step back, panting as if he ran a marathon. “Holy goddess above, that’s the hardest thing I’ve ever done.” he collapsed into the nearest armchair. “And I’ve fought a giant beast made of pure magic once.”

Purple Sweater blinked at him owlishly. “You did what?” 

“Let’s see if this works.” Daniel sat down in front of the coffee table.

As Daniel prepared to redo the spell once again, Kevin looked at the other Daniels. They seemed nervous. “I would say it’s been fun,” he started, “but I think this was more stressful than having to take care of toddler you.”

“Hey -- watch it. I said we weren’t going to talk about it.” Daniel began to crush the aspen leaves.

“But it’s true. I had to literally fight your fears, I had to rescue you from your crazy boss -- worst of all, I had to act like a parent. Do you know how hard that is?” 

Purple Sweater giggled behind his hand.

“And I would say this was harder than all of that. I never thought I’d live to see the day when you mess up something more than I did.” 

Daniel glared at him as he dropped the mushroom piece into the bowl.

Kevin grinned back. “This can stay between us, though, don’t worry. I won’t tell anyone.” He caught sight of Gray giving him a peculiar look. Upon close inspection, it seemed something close to... adoration? “What?”

Gray smiled. “You don’t change much in any universe, do you?”

He paused for a moment to process that. He looked around at these four different Daniels from four different universes. They looked and talked to him like they knew who he was. Like they knew what to expect. In every universe, Daniel and Kevin knew each other. No matter how much things changed, the thing that stayed the same was their friendship.

“Okay, final step.” Daniel held the matchbox. “Hopefully, this’ll be the last we see of each other.” 

“If it’s not,” Headphones pointed at him, “I know you don’t fear death, and I’m not afraid to kill you.” 

Despite the threat, Daniel smiled. “Noted.” he lit a match. “Here goes nothing.” He completed the spell a third time. And much like the first two times, smoke billowed out of the container. It smelled like fresh, clean air.

Daniel and Kevin waited in taut silence in an empty room. They were afraid to celebrate too early again. A minute passed. And then another. Daniel allowed himself to breathe when five minutes passed and no other Daniel reappeared.

“I think you did it,” Kevin said a little cautiously. 

“I think I did.” He leaned against the couch. God, he wanted to sleep for two days straight again. What a horrible fucking mistake. 

Kevin sat on the couch once it was beyond clear that the chaos was well and truly over. His leg bumped into Daniel’s arm.

Daniel looked at it, then up at him. “So you had something you wanted to ask me?”

Kevin stared at him for a long time. It was probably the most thoughtful and serious Daniel had ever seen him. He took a small breath, his mouth parting to speak --

The door swung open so hard and so fast that it smacked off the wall behind it. Sean shoved his way forward, holding several grocery bags with each arm as he yelled obscenities over his shoulder. Daithi yelled right back at him, holding significantly fewer bags.

“Get up, you lazy assholes,” Brian stuck his head through the doorway, “we share the suffering in this household.” 

Daniel rolled his eyes.

Kevin grinned and stood up. He knew how to make this worse.

~~~

Dan blinked.

Wasn’t he just inside?

He was... what was he doing?

He breathed in the cool, crisp air. Oh, right! He just walked outside. He was supposed to see a movie with everyone today. He pulled his beanie further down his head and continued his trek down the mountain.

“There you are,” Spiff greeted once he got to the bottom. Mango looked up from her phone to give him a smile. “I was starting to think you got lost.”

Dan smiled. “Lost in thought, maybe.”

“Well, come on. If we’re late then Kiwo is never going to trust me to pick you up again.” He motioned with his hand for them to hurry up.

“I’m surprised she even trusted you in the first place,” Mango quipped.

“It’s because I’m responsible.”

Dan snorted. He didn’t believe that for a second, but Kiwo would have both their heads if they stayed here and argued about it. “Yeah, okay, let’s go.”

~~~

Wait, what?

The book in Dan’s hands slowly returned to ash as his concentration broke. He watched it fall between his fingers, where it got lost in all the other mess.

Damn. He must have started drifting off. Combing through ash and charcoal to recreate burnt books was hard. His brain was tired.

Kevin poked his head through the doorway with a large grin. “Hey, how’s --” the grin flopped into a frown. “Are you okay?”

“Huh? Oh, yeah.” He looked around at all the ash he was sitting in. He was able to recreate the science part of the library (which had the most books and shelves intact) but he still had a long way to go. 

“Looks like you need a break.” Kevin’s smile returned. “Come on. Sean made lunch.” 

“Sean made lunch?” Dan’s smile grew at Kevin’s excited nod. “I have to see this.” 

He hopped to his feet and raced Kevin down the hall. 

~~~

“Dan?” 

 A box of mac and cheese slipped out of Dan’s hand and crashed into the cart. “Whoa, shit,” he hissed, startled. When did he pick that up?

“Swear jar,” Anna said without missing a beat. 

Dan tried not to roll his eyes. “We’re not even home.”

“The swear jar must always be honored.” She gently elbowed him in the side. “Are you back on Earth now?”

“Yeah, sorry.” He brushed his hair back and took in the scene around him. They were in the pasta aisle, and the cart was getting fuller than they intended. It was meant to be a short trip to the store, but the longer they spent in there the more stuff they picked out. “I was having a really intense daydream, I guess.” 

“I could tell.” she began to push the cart down the aisle. “But we have to get going. I don’t want your daughter to eat Kevin because we didn’t bring her snacks in time.”

Dan laughed. That didn’t seem like such a bad thing, in his opinion.

~~~

Dan stared down at the controller in his hand. It felt odd for a moment -- like he was meant to be doing something else. Wasn't he doing something else? He shook his head to clear it of all thoughts. No, that didn’t make sense. He must have nodded off or something. How unprofessional.

“Hey, guys, how’s it going? Can everyone hear me okay?”

What a strange, little dream.

[karamell-sweetz]

Yoooooo! Any favorite Rui headcanons of things that weren't explicitly stated in-game?

hello hello hello thank you for the ask!!

i have loads and loads of rui hcs, probably so many that i can't actually list them, but here's some from the top of my head:

he has a corner in his room filled with platypus plushies. he says he's not collecting them (and he's not, nene and mizuki just keep giving him platypus plushies for his birthday and stuff) but he's accumulated quite a large number of them. eventually he starts naming them. one of them is named 'cornelius the 37th'. don't ask how i came up with that because idk either lmao

again with the platypus plushies, sometimes he takes one and puts it on his lap when he's working on robots/a new show. when he gets in a tough spot he picks it up and squishes it. usually after a few minutes an idea pops into his brain. healing plappus.

and ANOTHER ONE ABOUT THE PLAPPUS. emu accidentally gave him an otter plushie and he said "oh its okay! the platypus family can just adopt them :)" (its because of rui that i have an unbridled love for the platypus now. doesn't help that i'm australian)

i think he's a bit cuddly! (this one is me projecting) sometimes he'll come up behind his friends and just. hug them from behind and if possible rest his head on their shoulder/head. most of his friends (tsukasa, nene, mizuki) find it weird but cute. emu loves it!

(adding onto that last one. neck nuzzles. always.)

okay this next one is MAINLY the fault of @/ticklish-n-stuff (and also you. somewhat. dw that's a good thing!!) but. HE'S TICKLISH. SO TICKLISH. ticklish hands. ticklish tummy. ticklish sides of the neck. ticklish everything.

and also he can't take what he can dish out. not just in the tickle way but in like EVERYTHING. imagine with me bro: tsukasa deciding to tease him to get back at him and he. he LOOKS like he's chill about it (usual cat smile. usual 'fufufu~' laugh) but on the inside he is quaking. he goes back home that day and just lies down on the floor and starts blushing and squealing and replaying tsukasa's words in his head over and over again. it's a cycle

also relating to the above: if he gets a random gift from someone (e.g. toya giving him a share of his claw machine haul after hearing he has a platypus plushie collection) he will simply shut down. "oh... t-thank you... hehe..." as his face slowly colours. he also squeals over this sort of thing when he gets home.

girls find him cute/hot but he's really not interested. not interested as in he flings his arms around tsukasa and cuddles him at every possible moment. imagine if in-universe there's some sort of wxs fanclub online and there's an entire corner just for rui. it's funny to think about. imagine if they like him because he doesn't look like he's interested. like "*twirls hair* well you see rui is just soooooo cute/hot like have you seen him?? hes super nice but also he gives off this totally disinterested vibe which is like. sooooooo hawt. and also he's soooooooooo pretty like what's he doing here? he should be like a model or somethinggggggg"

also after kami sports fes and when people have warmed up to him more, he probably gets a lot of chocolates for valentines/white day mainly because he's pretty. but also because he's nice!

NO FASHION SENSE. mizuki and nene have to physically drag him out to the mall in order for him to get some actually good clothes.

he likes to be warm. once i read this fic about him being a "freeze baby" and honestly i thought that fit so well and then it stuck so here we are. oftentimes he can be found rolled into a blanket burrito on the floor of his room, or with a blanket draped around him if he's working on robots. he also finds tsukasa to be very warm!

he and mizuki listening to vocaloid on the rooftop. (just think about it... tying in the miku thing...) i have a feeling they might have liked neru and n-buna. both of them still like to listen to the playlist they made together when they feel out of it, makes them feel better.

as self-proclaimed chairwoman of the rui fanclub i cannot let these disappoint. hope this fuels your (our?) love for him even more!

[kimchokejin]

so heather (@wistfulocean) made the mistake of asking my top 5 bts songs of all time and i went a little crazy i think......who would have thought

i decided i literally can’t just pick a top 5 like...i’m incapable. how do you even compare all of these songs that are all so different? like it was hard enough for just those 34 title tracks the other week...so i’m doing 4 lists. group b-sides, unit songs, vocal line solos, and rap line solos. and i’m gonna be more chill on the whole only sound matters thing lol because there are a lot of reasons why i’m attached to some of these songs. i’ll try to explain them but it won’t always be sound related. the only rules i’m using are 1.) the song must be on spotify and 2.) BTS or a member of BTS must be the main artist.

okay...okay...let’s go!

i’m gonna start with unit songs because those were actually easiest to pick?

1. dimple

look i was really truly...choosing between this song and #2 is basically impossible, i would say they’re tied but i’m giving this #1 because it’s the only vocal line song on here lol. but also it’s everything to me, PERFECT pop song, super catchy AND quality, like it sounds amazing and yet it’s about kim namjoon’s very own dimples. like sometimes i forget what it’s about and then it gets to the bridge and i realize they’re being this dramatic about fucking dimples and i start laughing i just can’t believe it. that continues to be a theme here i love songs that make me laugh. although i do understand them being that dramatic about namjoon’s dimples like have you SEEN them? but anyway the BEST thing about this song, and i’m not sure if i have the words to explain this properly, is all the SOUNDS going on all the time. and they’re all on like entirely different rhythms, it doesn’t seem like any of them go together or with the vocals but then they DO. like it’s incredible to me whoever produced this i love you. matthew tishler (i’m SCREAMING actually this guy writes for like disney channel shows idk how to feel about that) and crash cove. i love you both. and you gave us such a satisfying voluptuous bass line. perfect song. strong power. thank you.

2. UGH! 🤬

the feeling i get when i hear the first few notes of UGH! is simply unmatched. like it doesn’t matter what i was doing or how chill i was before then, now it is time to thrash. when rap line says LET’S GO!!! it is time to fucking go okay??? i am always thrown off by the gunshots though, especially at the end. like what’s the point of those my friends

we’re doing notes for this one she deserves it but this is mostly misheard lyrics the romanization does not convey what i hear or feel in my heart

LET’S GOOOOOOOO

yeah mmm

dungdungdung dongnebugi dwae DUNG DUNG DUNG

those beats in namjoon’s verse idk what they’re called but they sound very old school

doing that one random high pitched word thing that i LOVE

ugh (OH!) ugh (OH!)

gah! gah!

btw i do watch the one concert performance in my head it just can’t be helped

hobi’s part is the best part surprise surprise

it’s the way he brings the energy down and starts out so casually and quietly but he builds it back up so perfectly like THAT is how you DO IT

WUH! WUH! WUH! WUH!

and then he brings it back down again! but it’s so SMOOTH. he’s magical

gah! gah!

and then HOBI doing that one random high pitched word thing that i LOVE sounding like a CHICKEN

scoot!

yawa! yawa! (i imagine this with the spongebob imagination rainbow hand movement. you know the one)

IHOP! IHOP! IHOP! IHOP! IHOP IHOP EATIN AT IHOP!

(ultimate favorite misheard lyric ofc it’s a product placement lmao)

like this song is so funny too but i just don’t have time to laugh about it because i gotta RAGE

ugh (OH!) ugh (OH!)

okay i KNOW you guys don’t have experience with automatic weapons yet

anyway

3. All Night (with Juice WRLD) 😜

i was actually going to have another top 5 list with collabs but i thought that would be excessive and this is also a unit song so i’m just putting it here. this song is one my ultimate faves because of the...i don’t even know if i can call it bass it’s more of like a rumble? like it kind of reminds me of a sound they would use in an EDM or dubstep song but like, super chilled out. and you know how the sound you hear is just your tiny little ear bones rattling in your eardrum? i feel like this sound rattles all of them in such a satisfying way like one of those coway massage chairs. like when you have a part of your body that you just KNOW you have to stretch but no matter how much you do it it feels the same but then one day you FINALLY bend it the right way and it stops? is that just a me thing? that is this song for me i gotta feel it in me ear bones every once in a while to be satisfied. and then on TOP of that the synth just reminds me of like, simply having a wonderful christmastime? not at all a similar song but i get a kind of wintery comforting feeling from that. ummm. i never really thought much about the lyrics until now, looks like namgi are talking about their love for their work lol but like...this is a sexy vibe...namjoon saying “come to my studio, magic happens” “seat-belts are fastened” “we keep ridin’ the whole night hold on tight” in THAT voice over THAT instrumental...he knows what he’s doing. i cannot be held responsible for my thoughts about this. and since there’s no performance or mv or anything to play in my head for this song i have NO choice but to imagine sitting on a basement couch with the artist made mikrokosmos mood lamp by jungkook on getting high with namgi and mayhaps we are eating ramen. before we move on VERY quickly i gotta shout out Juice WRLD for “need an ARMY, marching for your love, i’m a sergeant” because that is hiLARIOUS and “if it’s not your name comin’ up on my phone i won’t pick up the call” as someone who also HATES talking on the phone unless i’m super close to a person. like his whole verse is sweet and his voice is so interesting it’s got like a whininess to it that i wouldn’t expect to fit into the song but it does. i should listen to more of his stuff maybe

4. Stay

the PRODUCTION on this thing oh wow wow wow. again not that i know anything about production. but like, to put this in perspective, i’m not really into EDM or club music or whatever i’m supposed to call this. i wasn’t really into that era of pop music or most of the bts songs with that kind of sound but THIS. SONG. it’s really just the way it builds so smoothly from something so simple and ebbs and flows, it is PERFECT. i will definitely be following that producer (arston) and hoping he does more for bts one day. thank you for finishing out the be album with a bang what do you mean there’s another track on the be album. and then on TOP of that, such a sweet song, great vocals from jinkook, and namjoon’s iconic line “we connect to 7g!” i’ve made peace with the fact that they didn’t sing that part during ptd i can only assume the power of the crowd screaming that line would have been dangerous. power would’ve gone out concert over. cell towers fall down now none of us are connecting to 7g. boo

5. BTS Cypher 4

okay so the thing about cypher 4 is it’s all about “i love myself” right but when this comes on i am not myself...i am in the bts rap line. i am on the wings tour cypher 4 stage, i am wearing hobi’s velvety purple jacket and red sunglasses and the DEMONS haters cannot touch me. this was the first cypher i loved <3

notes for cypher 4?? notes for cypher 4 !!!

also nothing like the feeling of the opening notes to cypher 4 but it’s not rage it’s...unbreakable confidence

truly wish i could punch each and every person who’s ever called namjoon ugly in the face disrespectfully get fucked <3

errything errything errything!

dude this is such a good verse

but you! know my! name!

i love the echoey shouts in the chorus

HOBI’S PART. I LOVE THIS GUY

AHHHHH YOU WANNA BE MY LIFE???

du du du du du du!

no-kay no-kay no-kay!

...ah!...ah!...ah!...ah!...wuh!...wuh!...i love my RUUUUuuuUUUUuuule

CHUUUUUUU

wait hobi’s been into kaws since 2016 omg

this is one of my favorite yoongi raps ever

i’m SO high!

oh my ultimate favorite random high pitched words let it OUT bby

i know (i know!) i know (i know!) i know myself! ya player haters you should love yourself BRRP!

honorable mention to cypher 3 every time i listen it’s always better than i remembered it is JAM PACKED and they shouted “you can’t control my shit!” to the government and unnies call hobi beep beep ig? and based on the information we have available on yoongi’s tongue i can only assume its operated by boston dynamics

moving on

i’ll do...vocal line solos next that’s another easy one

1. Serendipity 💗

no one’s surprised right lol. watching him dance during the performance of this song made me a jimin bias. namjoon’s lyrics are beautiful. and i think the sound just really captures the feeling of infatuation (?) so perfectly. it’s ethereal, and i love! jimin’s!! voice!!! god!!!!! like if i ever hear another song like this ever again i’m gonna drop dead the penicillin won’t help me this time

2. Inner Child

ahhh i’m gonna cry...i love this song so much because i read a really good analysis article on it one time, this might be it but i’m not 100% sure i never remember anything. wait i’m reading it now and i’m crying that’s definitely it. oh and this one too that gets kinda technical with how the production and the meaning work together and the PSYCHOLOGY of it all??? gonna let those articles do the talking but this song is v imp*rtant to me

3. My Time

i remember i didn’t love this song at first, it had to grow on me. him saying “finna find my time” over and over again did not help lmao. but his voice sounds really good and the instrumental is very satisfying. i learned what it was about early on but never really looked at the lyrics since so i forgot how much english was in this song? i guess i’m just appreciating the sound i really don’t care what he’s saying lol but it’s super meaningful! i hope he’s catching up on whatever youth he can these days

4. Sweet Night ⛵

tae has REALLY good osts...i loved it’s definitely you and christmas tree but this song is just...especially relatable for me. it’s the longing and the pining and the fear of expressing your feelings and the wondering if you deserve love from certain people and the not knowing what you have til you lose it. that’s MY thing actually he stole it. and aside from that it’s just a gorgeous song, i love the harmonies, this song would have fit in very well with my vast collection of 2010s sad acoustic music

5. Super Tuna 🐟

yup. one minute and eight seconds of pure trot excellence featuring horrible homemade t shirts and dog toys from target that made me (and tiktok maybe?) a jin bias. what can i say i like the songs that go hard. like it’s so fast i don’t even dance to this song it’s more like a head/fist shake marching wringing out a towel thing. also the way he enunciates everything? the force with which he says palttakpalttak?? what else can that mouth do???

honorable mentions to singularity lie and most of jin’s serious solos they are beautiful.

this is too long already. i’m not even drunk this time. okay rap line solos next. these were hard and the order would probably change on any given day but we’re gonna stick with this for now

1. Change

i can’t help but love this song for the message. i am probably biased because it’s in english so i understand the message well but like, these LYRICS. i don’t really have a comment about the sound it just sounds good and i’m happy about that. thank you namjoon, thank you wale

surprise notes i didn’t think i had anything

wait the intro sounds like some kind of comedy tv show/DCOM background music. like a scene where a character is snooping lol

no it’s definitely me i’m the insane baby

don’t ask me what i eat all day that’s a personal question

nothing’s real wale. nothing.

the BEATS

✨hated by alt-rights! and racist police!✨

yeah for a second i was doubting the #1 spot but no it deserves it

now we’re underwater

no but this BRIDGE

i see progress via my daughter’s eyes 😭 shut up that’s BEAUTIFUL

i believe that real friends love you to no limit! (yeah) i believe that real change lies in the mirror! [britney voice]....yeah

2. HANGSANG 🐶

j-hope said bts forever 🥲 yeah i’m gonna be emotional about hangsang i’m a pisces. but like seriously on top of it being fun, and funny, and going SO fucking hard, i love the devotion to his band <3 i do question his use of the word “thug” though...

this one gets notes it’s too good

he might be saying dawg as in friend too but i’m choosing to believe he’s just really obsessed with mickey <3

SMASH ON THE STREET SMASH ON THE STREET AY

EVERY DAY I’M SO TURNED UP WITH MY BOYS! EVERY DAY I’M SO TURNED UP WITH MY DOG! YAH!

eh! uh!

2018 update: hobi is still obsessed with kaws

walking walking walking...

talking talking talking...

HANGSANG, HANGSANG, TURN UP!!!

TURN MY SWAG NOW I’M BALLIN ON THAT WORLDWIDE

all the fake ass?

nado nado nado nado!

haters better COP out. credit card chops like karate chop CHOP

BTS ROCK BOTTOM YEAH THAT’S MY TEAM!

you’re gonna WHAT hoseok?

okay i forgot about the gunshots in this one like he’s actually talking about shooting people too...hope world is truly full of surprises?

3. The Last

i’m sorry the old min yoongi can’t come to the phone right now. why? oh...cause he’s dead! this is one of those songs that’s less of a song and more of an experience. it’s not like a daechwita or a tony montana where you can just play it for funsies and background music. he’s telling you a villain origin story. he’s giving you EVERYTHING. you gotta pay attention. follow him on this journey and don’t let go of his hand. you gotta stick with him to the last second. okay i’ll stop. i think the lyrics speak for themselves, i don’t really have anything to add there. but overall i just love how the song is like a stream of consciousness and starts and stops a lot like he’s building the suspense! and the guiTAR man i sure do love a rap rock combo. and the breathing. i love breathing. would love to do it someday

4. Intro: What Am I to You?

literally. the MOST. underrated namjoon solo AND bts album intro of all time. every time i see people talking about namjoon solos no one mentions this one and it is so very disappointing. sure, maybe not the best idea to start with that j.cole line but when you get PAST that...i mean he really does take you higher tbh it feels like you’re taking off in an airplane the trippy visualizer got it right. and the VIOLINS i love when instruments travel across genres. and the lyrics definitely have a dark and wild theme but i don’t think its war of hormone bad... he’s ~romantically~ frustrated not sexually lol. okay and then finally i love that he’s like shouting by the end i love the passion and energy especially knowing the following years were pretty hard on him and that kinda goes away with his reflection solo and mono

sorry i have notes for this rap line does this to me

also the school bell (skool luv affair?) and all the voices at the beginning i love things like that in songs

baby you should know you change all of my negatives to positives!

i’ll be KISSIN ya all the TIME girl!

he literally called himself a pokemon 💀 i love this man

the violins!!! or maybe another string instrument idk i didn’t do orchestra

well babe what kind of questions are you asking??

sorry i wanna scream at him lol give UP she’s obviously not interested in/ready for a relationship

edgelord but also he is pleading he is desperate there is vulnerability he is so EMO my BABY BOY

and then the anger 😈

5. Intro: Boy Meets Evil

not *quite* as underrated as what am i to you but we still don’t talk about it enough. i don’t think we ever could. i do see flashes of the mv for this in my head when i’m listening but he says and moves so much in just 2 minutes i literally can’t even process it when it’s happening i’m just staring like 😮 i can’t believe it. i’m sorry he went too hard it counts this time. and again the PRODUCTION. i have to say the beginning sounds like...video game music? you’re in a castle-like lair but it’s before the evil people know you’re there to stop them so they tell you secrets and stuff thinking you’re normal to bad. then that’s some good bass right there. i might have a bass problem actually. and i do like the wubby wooby noises (i really don’t know what that’s called i hope you understand) and the vocal effects. he’s just always doing such fun stuff with his voice. it’s not just an instrument to him it’s a toy! he’s a playful fella even when he’s evil. best boy best villain

honorable mentions to airplane seesaw tony montana give it to me and what do you think?

okay finally we have reached...the group b sides...and literally nothing is hitting the same for me rn so i’m making this list just based on what makes me the happiest which means we have also entered the 🔇NO TASTE ZONE🙅‍♀️ #notastetuesday #iwrotethisontuesday #idkwhenimgonnapostit

1. Converse High, Whalien 52

this isn’t a tie or anything these are my babygirls they’re twins actually and they can’t be separated sorry ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ this is my EXACT bts comfort genre okay? very nostalgic, sounds REALLY good, but the lyrics...there are a lot of bts songs with funny cringey lyrics but there is just...something special about these two. they’re very important to me because it shows these boys were willing to sing about ANYTHING. no limits. they weren’t too proud! they left their egos at the door! that is dedication to the craft if i’ve ever seen it.

oh you KNOW i’m doing notes for these suckers

Converse High 👟

yeah...(wassup)...yeah [chuckles] oh yeah...yeah

con! verse! high!

written by quentin tarantino

namjoon i love you you GET IT. fuck a designer brand if i pay more than $50 for a pair of shoes it is with tears in my eyes

hobi said gay rights <3

petition for hobi to do his sound effects for all the hollywood movies

hobi sweetie we can tell namjoon i have two feet hands 😘

soaked into??? lmao

why not converse lows? too much ankle? too slutty?

please help me this is about shoes...it’s about SHOES

fun fact: yoongi hates converse

yoongi being the fashion police in this song is actually the biggest plot twist in history

fun fact: yoongi likes basketball

i can take my own shoes off actually thank you very much...

this song is weirder with all the feet stuff recently sorry

conver-sigh

Whalien 52 🐳

fun fact: namjoon loves whales

yeah

the most lonely creature in the world

(i’m a whale)

do you wanna know my story?

(yeah)

i never told this to anybody

oh FUCK that!

yoongi pls

lonely lonely lonely whale!

also if you tell me you’ve listened to this song and never tried and failed to hit the whale note in the chorus i’m not gonna trust anything you tell me ever again

(that’s gotta be pitch shifted right...right???)

no more! no more baby! no more! no moooore!

so catchy

these lyrics are so fucking emo i can’t believe

believe in my hertz 💀

namjoon has so much passion!!!

i’m a whalien

i love this so much you don’t even understand i love bts i fucking LOVE bts

where’s the grammy???

2. Miss Right, 24/7=Heaven

oh i know....i know i know i know i know i know. MORE twins?! i was surprised too when i found out. again, these songs sound SO good and nostalgic, but dear lord their lyrics...in a different way than converse high and whalien. again i just love them because they make me laugh

Miss Right 💋

yo

yo girl

i wanna

i wanna tell you this

that you’re my

miss RIGHT

you’re my miss right miss right if i lose you it’s miss right miss right (ALL RIGHT)

you’re my miss right miss right girl you want my kiss right miss right (ALL RIGHT)

poetry

your sexy mind and your sexy body

(and your sexy brain)

namjoon has very specific taste i know what i’m wearing to the comeback concert

MAKES ME WANNA PARTY ON YOUR BODY

want you to be really really real for me

like your mom?

sHe’S nOt LiKe OtHeR gIrLs HELP

YES YOU’RE MY ONLY GIRL

boy with luv: the prequel

new pickup line: wanna...walk together?

sorry this is what yoongi’s verse makes me think of

no makeup on i love that sh-

praise kink?

i think age matters i also think it matters if your child is “hidden” like...where are they.........

SOMEONE HOLD YOONGI’S HAND GODDAMMIT

oh don’t make me think of yoongi as a father wtf??? 😭

Bees? you like jeju jazz?

yo

i told you many qualifications about my miss right

but

why you’re my miss right is

you are

just YOU

like cringey lyrics aside though this is actually so sweet? 

she was written by a man but at least the man was kim namjoon

24/7=Heaven

SHOO BI DOO BOP BOP BAHAAA!

wait these lyrics are so cute actually

sunday sunday sunday monster truck sunday watch the percolator jump over seventeen and a half cars

[aggressive] CAUSE I’M YOUR BOYFRIEND HMM HMM

all night girl...i think about you all night girrrrrl

darling!

new pickup line: if time was a share named you, i’d invest in it

i saw someone say hobi is most likely to do matching couple outfits i think this is proof of that

i don’t wanna say no more! feel like i don’t wanna say more!

3. Your eyes tell 👁️‍🗨️

okay i do have one serious one...these japanese songs man...so GORGEOUS. the vocals in this one are just INSANE and it’s just really fun to sing. and the lyrics 🥺

4. So 4 more/2nd Grade 🎓

this song is...it’s BAD. it’s objectively bad i admit it. they went into the recording booth for this and the producer was like “okay guys for this song you gotta get into the mindset of a second grader” and they really took that to heart. it turns out bts were really annoying second graders. but as someone who identifies as annoying this song only makes me stronger. and my GOD does this song go hard and it’s so fucking funny and the gunshots just don’t bother me as much because i cannot take anything in this song seriously.

notes

oh god this instrumental is insane

oh so they do mention trigger pulling i guess the gunshots are thematic...but at what cost...

STILL EVERY DAY bang it bang it! B̵̨̯̭̬̯̄͒͆͘ͅͅA̡̱̲̣̣̔̒̀͗ͤ̍͜Ṉ̢̱̜̮̹ͥͬͧ̀͛͛G̡̦̳̯̰̠͓͕̀ͥ͐̓ I̞̻̫̞̱̥̘͐͐̏ͮ̇T̲̓́̂̈̐̈̒̂͆͝ͅ B̴̳̟̭̹͍͙̩̐ͮ̐͢Ą̴̷̢̲̹̼̟̪͗̄̔N̪̭̻͚̻͚̎ͣ͂ͦ͛̚Ğ̺̳̥̙̫͊̅̊̚͢͜ Į̴̤̰̻̰ͨ̐̇̏̉͆T̵̷̡͕̮̉̀ͤ̍̌̃͛

burn the stage

like they aren’t singing they’re...i really don’t know what to call it i think they have to invent a new word...they’re like cats fighting or something

me too namjoon i may be short but my heart is tall <3

ahhh shit

[student voice] will there be a test?

me 🤝 namjoon “i do as i like for now, please leave me alone”

work it out! work it out!

burn it up! burn it up!

so many gunshots 🤦‍♀️

fun fact: yoongi is a little brat

TURN UP

this is the start of a new age 💀

what was your thing in second grade yoongi’s was thinking he’s hot shit mine was making paper dinosaur finger puppets ✌️

ummm i promise i love this song lol

5. Hip Hop...Lover...

okay so what i love about THIS song aside from how funny it is is that it’s literally “what i learned at hip hop school is...” because if i remember correctly they were recording this album while they were in LA for american hustle life and it’s like...this is them saying that they really know and appreciate the genre they’re making music in, the history and culture behind it, the artists who came before them, etc. like yeah it’s dramatic and cringey but it was really cool of them to actually do that because i don’t think a ton of hip hop/hip hop inspired artists whose lived experience was far removed from the roots of hip hop do that to my knowledge? idk if that makes sense. but on top of that, the song does sound good! super catchy melody AND you get to laugh

notes

people wonder why we love this h i p h o p...shit...

it was a NEW WORLD

people keep ASKING baby WHY you love that hip hop SHIT

IT’S CAUSE IT’S HIP HOP

me 🤝 namjoon “i was like an old lady”

[teenagers trying way too hard to be sexy voice] i’ll be down for your rap...i’ll be down for your rhythm...

yeah i love this HIP! HOP!

rap dance and singing skills

hope world est. 2014

oh namjoon trying too hard to be sexy too lmao

the drama! the passion! you’re gonna love the arts in philadelphia hip hop

honorable mention to dionysus paradise crystal snow paldogangsan where you from and hold me tight

okay this post was once again ridiculous and if you’ve gotten this far i do feel like i have to give you an all up top 5...so i’ll pick 5 but don’t you DARE ask me to put them in order

dimple

UGH!

Serendipity

Miss Right (but she misses her twin dearly </3)

Boy in Luv

please ignore that boy in luv was #3 on my singles list a couple weeks ago new month new me i’m constantly changing ever evolving growth mindset you know how it is

so to conclude:

my favorite bts songs will make me laugh or make me cry or i just need it in my earholes. if i ever find a song that does all 3 at the same time i’ll let you know

i’ve been told some newer fans don’t really listen to the older bts songs and i just gotta say they’re REALLY missing out

i love my silly little kpop boys <3

oh right i was going to make this a tag game...i’ve never really started a tag game before idk what to do haha. obviously you do NOT have to go as crazy as i did nor would i recommend it BUT if you’d like to give your top 5 bts songs or do lists for the subcategories like i did i will tag @wistfulocean @jiminsproof and @joon-rkive no pressure though just payback bby!!!

anyone else can play too ofc! VERY interested in what other people’s faves are because i refuse to believe the polls they did in that one run episode are accurate

[plural-culture-is]

When the question first arose about alterhumanity, when I was just studying this topic, I was lucky enough to stumble upon many blogs of various systems of different origins. At that time, my opinion was exactly: "No, I'm not a system." Now - I'm starting to think about it as much as I can every day.

Like. At some point, I made a second account for a "fictional personality" who automatically already had a first name, last name, history, where she lives, what interests she has, personal damn life, and so on. I don't even remember how well I wrote for her, but, for example, if I can recall my personal conversations with someone, then reading messages from her to others, I literally don't remember anything. She usually talked to my friends, solving problems when I disappear from the network, during particularly severe breakdowns, and helped in conflicts. And we only once caught a statement from an ex-friend that she was a fake, and then others ran into her, saying arguments against her statement lol. So... we are pretty different.

The second was my desire to create something in the form of a thoughtform that I could see, feel, hear, because I lacked something in my life. I forced myself to think that he was here, he was nearby, and I still do this if I want to "feel" him, and I don't control his appearance outside of my mind.

The third one appeared spontaneously, just appeared and gave away huge positive and such alien vibes for some word and since then it became their name? It's terribly confusing here.

The one who made everyone think I had a DID is more complicated I think. In the first year of my college, I was under the constant abuse of my former friend. At a particularly strange moment, when in the class I was overthinking again, I HEARD someone else's voice telling me something to comfort me. That time I got scared, and then silence lol

The moment we broke off relations with this "friend" I lost absolutely all memory of what happened. According to my partner, as well as by the saved remnants of messages and posts in my account - It was just an incredible outburst of wrath at everyone who was there then. And the partner still says that she did not recognize me that time at all.

And now random blurring with some characters' personalities has begun to appear I guess, though they might have present, and I just don’t remember. Like, If something can make me pick up some phrases or pieces of behavior from my favorite characters (like Echolalia), it happens quite often for a short time and I can control it. This blur changes absolutely everything in my Self - even the damn way of walking.

If i am a system, than i can't communicate others, and maybe can’t switch? because... we still live in a stressful environment, so...

And it's been two years since i started questioning, and there was more questions that answers lmao. Though i still relate much to plural experiences and especially to DID/OSDD systems. What a nightmare xp

so I’m assuming you’re asking us if we think you’re a system? Because yeah it sounds like it! So if you have periods where you don’t remember doing things and it was like others did it, then you might have switched at that point and you might have DID. And the blurring wouldn’t be switching, it would just be co-fronting. Yes, what you described as echolalia is experienced by singlets too, but that blur isn’t. It’s also possible the blurring is switching, just not the kind of switching that is most often talked about. Monoconscious systems experience “becoming” whoever is fronting instead of feeling like you’re leaving the front and letting someone else fully take control. And it sounds like that might be happening because you say the blur changes everything about your Self, but I’m assuming it still feels like you’re still there, you’re just someone else. And plurality is a spectrum, so you don’t have to have just one or the other way of switching, you could have both, or have something in between, or anything else. But from the sounds of it, you are plural, and you don’t have to figure out which way you’re plural, though you can if you want to of course. Also it’s valid to have no communication between headmates, but if that’s something you want, you could look through our #communication tag or ask other systems how they learnt to communicate.

[the-pjo-analyst]

Chapter 9 - I Am Offered a Quest

Theme of the day: Responsibility

HOW BOUT THAT NEW BOOK ANNOUNCEMENT HUH

I find it kinda wack that some people are like this new pjo book is a MONEY GRAB like Riordan himself didn't basically say exactly that in the announcement 😂 The sole purpose is to promote the show. Like so what. He can TAKE MY MONEY. LET'S GOOO 🤙🏾

I find it absolutely hilarious that after saving the world twice and also being praetor for a hot sec, New Rome is still like no exceptions lmao. I hope after these quests he finally gets some rest 🙏🏾

Now onto Percy’s very first quest!

The chapter starts out with Percy getting some new responsibilities: now that he’s claimed, he gets his own cabin by himself and automatically becomes head counselor, so he can pick his own activities and call lights out whenever he wants, among other responsibilities. Which normally would be great! But in exchange he’s ostracized once more bc of being the son of Poseidon. He finally found a new home within the camp and in cabin 11 yet he’s lost it all. And also now that he’s claimed, Percy is officially offered a quest, which is a HUGE responsibility in itself without considering the fact that he’s going to the underworld to find Zeus’s symbol of power. The kid’s got a lot on his plate lol.

I swear I pick these themes at random and yet so often find the words in the chapters lmao. This time it’s how the gods aren’t held responsible for the actions of a hero. Which is a little wild when heroes are enlisted by gods to do their bidding. This is another issue that comes up throughout the series, because so often do demigods and mortals get punished for the actions of the gods. I mean take Hera and Zeus for example: Hera takes her anger on the women Zeus seduces/rapes and their subsequent children instead of the man himself for being unfaithful. The gods not being held responsible also extends to their children too, how they’re barely in their children’s lives if at all. I mentioned last post that Poseidon is stated to be using Percy for his own benefit when he hasn’t really made any contact with Percy before (I just thought it was at the end of the book! Not the next chapter ahaha) and Percy is justifiably resentful and angry, but he’s also a little happy that Poseidon needs him. The range of emotions that Percy go through at this time is so real though. Because whether or not their birth parent is in their life or not and how they feel about them, often children will still want to be accepted by them. For now, it seems Percy is postponing his judgment.

I don’t think I’ve ever touched upon Percy’s relationship with his step-father but now seems like a good time for it. Since this is a middle school level series, any domestic abuse is heavily sanitized. There’s only small moments like Gabe immediately taking whatever money Percy has for gambling, his neglect of Percy in general, the fact Percy can easily recognize an alcoholic, stuff like that. Gabe obviously doesn’t take much responsibility for Percy despite being the only father figure he’s ever known so far. It’s hard to say whether Sally and Percy suffered any physically abuse, it can certainly be assumed or hc’ed, but idk I’d like to believe that Sally would draw that line when finding someone who could hide Percy’s demigod presence. Maybe that’s just wishful thinking. I really hate that news article though. It’s not surprising that Gabe would throw Percy under the bus, but I can’t believe the journalist would jump onto that and blame a child for a freak accident and his mom’s disappearance. Ugh.

The prophecy vision Percy has of Gabe at his gambling table gave me a thought. The only other time in the pjo series that Percy is present for a prophecy being given is in the Titan’s Curse when the Oracle visits Zoe Nightshade and shows her Artemis in chains. So maybe the visions have to do with the person’s fears or traumas? Gabe and his gambling buddies would certainly fall into one of those. But also like... why give those kinds of visions. What’s their purpose? It’s no wonder some go insane when visiting the Oracle.

The original trio has been brought together! Reading those final few pages of the chapter was so nostalgic 🥹 Like when Grover’s like I won’t let you down and then Percy’s just SO relieved he not only doesn’t have to face this quest alone, but he gets to have his best friend with him makes me SO SOFT. And ofc we can’t forget Annabeth’s very grand entrance and iconic line if you’re going to save the world I’m the best person to keep you from messing up. Like this is such a perfect moment to end an episode. I will go feral when it happens.

Small things:

Percy’s dream is interesting bc it’s basically the same as the one he had at Montauk, but this time the eagle and horse are replaced with the gods themselves, he’s in a clearer location, and the evil voice Kronos actually speaks 👀

The prophecy line you shall be betrayed by one who calls you a friend is really fascinating bc it’s not one you call friend. Like this is someone that  genuinely likes and cares about you but betrays you anyway and I will analyze that later

I wonder if the Oracle had moved to see Percy when he arrived bc she sensed that he specifically would fulfill the Great Prophecy or if it was just bc he was a Big Three child and could fulfill it, and thus end her curse

We get the first uses of Seaweed Brain and Wise Girl! <3

Previous: Chapter 8 - We Capture a Flag

Next: Chapter 10 - I Ruin a Perfectly Good Bus

[ruvviks]

18, 31, 33, 42 for vitali/vincent the beloveds <3

THANK YOU i'm going insane over them today istg my brain is so so full with thoughts. OOF

for housekeeping reasons: this pairing is romantic!

18) what are their dates like? how long do/did they date? do they ever feel the need to take a break from each other?

answered here! to add some more to it: whenever they're on a date, vitali mostly takes lead because as to be expected he's a gentleman :) vincent loves it because well what can i say. passenger seat princess in every sense of the word LMFAO plus he LOVES the attention vitali gives him during dates <3

31) do they finish each other’s sentences? pick up any phrases or habits from each other? know when the other is hiding something?

vincent and vitali are the kind of people who end up saying an entire sentence at the same time. like. three times in the same conversation LMFAO they're tuned into each other very well which is a little confusing for others sometimes when overhearing one of their conversations because half of it is in their heads LMAO vincent will say "you know, the thing" and vitali knows what he's talking about. that's half the conversation right there

i've talked about this before, but vitali picks up a lot of habits from vincent. vincent allows himself to be gentle and vulnerable, something vitali thought he kind of wasn't allowed to do (gender reasons), but now that vincent has shown him that he IS allowed to do that he starts doing stuff like that as well :) so buy flowers for himself or for others, say "i love you", give people hugs, etc etc

they both also know when the other is hiding something, vitali because he's better at reading vincent than vincent is at lying and at the same time vincent can very easily tell vitali is hiding something because vitali will just. refuse to talk. or he's like visibly sweating LMFAO

33) what kind of presents do they get each other? do they only do it on special occasions?

oh now THIS is a good question oh my god. holy fuck. so vitali LOVES giving vincent stuff he's. hogh. i mean. it makes sense because he's rich and generous as hell so like he can buy vincent whatever he wants and he DOES THAT!!!! though he also knows vincent is easily flustered so he doesn't like. overdo it <3 he mostly just gets vincent the things he heard vincent talk about at some point, though will occasionally try to come up with something himself as well. he takes this very very seriously and often worries vincent won't like it but jokes on him vincent loves Everything vitali gets him ;w; <3

vincent gives vitali The most random shit. i am not kidding. a running gag i have at this point with friends is...the milk... pre-heist vincent saw milk in the grocery store and it made him think of vitali so he bought it. and gave it to vitali. and vitali thanked him and drank the milk. and he's lactose intolerant. but now vincent buys him milk sometimes. good job everyone

as random as vincent's gifts might be (literally just goes "yea i bought this because it made me think of you. no i cannot explain") vitali loves all of them, ESPECIALLY because of the "it made me think of you" part even when it's like. impossible to try and figure out WHY vincent thought of vitali. he's just. he's just very happy that vincent thinks about him ;w;; this is fine

42) do they let each other get away with things that would normally bother them?

answered here!

pairing asks!

[mirahuyooo]

Love Quarrels | jhs

Love Quarrels

—Couples fight. It's unavoidable and normal even—but will you and your husband get over it?

Word Count: 4,919 words

Pairing: Jung Hoseok x Reader

Content/s: ANGST, fLUFf, romance, established relationship, mention of arranged marriage, fIGHTING, Hoseok is one stubborn bich but he simps for youu 🥺💘💞💖💗, (S/N) means sister’s name (if you don't have one, just pick a random girl name or something lmAO), Mafia AU

[masterlist] 

A/N: MY WRITING IS GETTING LONGER AND LONGER I’M KIND OF CONCERNED??? anYWAYS, this was inspired by a dream i had a couple of months back but i spiced it up a bit for y'all (bc it lacked substance and stuff lmAO) HHWHAHAHSH trust me, my dream was boring compared to this LMAOOO hope you guys enjoy!!! ((also, the gif i used is from pinterest LOOK  AT THAT COLLARBONE AAAA))

Couples fight. It's unavoidable and normal even. 

Only an absolute fool would enter a relationship and hope it to be all sunshine and rainbows dancing around with Cupid. In fact, a couple's ability to overcome the obstacle standing in their way to happily ever after is what measures how great their love is for one another. It meant changing one's faults for the better in order to meet in the middle for a compromise. It meant understanding, healing, and development. 

However, fighting isn't an enemy so easy to defeat—even for the strongest of soldiers. 

It can turn sour, bitter, and salty all at once. Things not really meant could be said, just to hurt one another in the heat of the moment. Screaming so many things till throats go raw, but not hearing a single thing of what the other has said. Hearts aching but so furious all the same. 

It's ugly—there's no better way to put it. 

Which was why, when you and Hoseok had the first big fight of your relationship, the ugliness of it had led you to walk out the door in the middle of the night with a small suitcase in hand. 

This was not how it was supposed to go. You two were supposed to have a nice dinner and talk about your plans tomorrow. How did it all go south so fast?

"I can't deal with this anymore, Hoseok!" you cried, palm slamming against the wooden surface of the table. It stung, but you were too overwhelmed with frustration to care. "You're not home anymore! Who's to say the next time I see you won't be in a body bag, huh?! In a casket?!"

Were you wrong to worry about such things? Why does he not care about this?

Hoseok looked terrifying—all the usual love and affection in his face and tone were gone. "If you're so tired of me then leave!"  he bellows, "I don't give a shit about what you do!" 

The cracks in your heart go deeper. "Fine," you find yourself whimpering in defeat. You pushed yourself up from your seat and walked out the dining room, too exhausted to reason out that it wasn't him you were tired of. It was his job. 

You had heard him sigh in frustration and curse under his breath then, but he had made no move to stop you—and so, you didn't bother to. In fact, he had been by the door, watching you pack as you silenced your sobs as best as you could. His pride didn't make him stop you then and there, even though his crestfallen eyes told you he really wanted to. 

In the end, the clock struck 11 PM, and you were ready to leave with a hotel reservation and an early flight waiting for you out the door. "Let's talk when you're ready to," you had told him before leaving, your soft heart relenting to the love of your life. 

It wasn't necessarily an official break—neither of you had properly spoken since your voices gave out from all the shouting—but you consider it to be one that you both needed and one you decided to make for yourself. You were tired and hurting—both physically and mentally.  

And so, here you are now, on a plane from Seoul and on your way to your sister's house in Jeju.

Outside the window of the private jet your sister had gotten you for the flight, the sun rises over the horizon amidst an array of oranges and blues. It was about 6 AM now—30 or so minutes into your flight—and all you managed was a three hour nap in your hotel room after so much crying. 

You knew well how pathetic you looked right now—such a hot mess that even your white blouse, black slacks, and black heels look couldn't make you seem put-together as well as you had hoped. Your (h/c) hair was a bit unkempt in the ponytail you had put it in, and you were obviously hiding puffy and tired eyes behind those big black glasses. Still, you hoped that other people would be intimidated enough to mind their own business. 

"Let me know when you land soon, alright?" Your sister's voice on the other side of a line was a comfort you were grasping onto. You had called her sobbing a few hours ago, taking advantage of the little reunion at Jeju she had offered you a few months ago. It was fortunate that she’s used to getting up early, otherwise you would’ve been stuck in that hotel—in Seoul.  

Flying to Jeju, you were definitely taking the extra mile here, but you had no one else you trusted more than your sister. "Yeah," you clear your throat after it comes out wrangled. "Thanks again for letting me stay over."

"No problem, sweetie," she assures you, voice dripping with pity that it irked you deep inside. "It's been so long since we saw each other, anyway. So, it's absolutely fine, (Y/N)."

It was true. You haven’t seen your older sister in person at all since you were married off to Hoseok last year. The last you’ve seen of her was through the tinted windows of the limousine as it left the venue, an apologetic smile etched on her face as she waved along with the others. 

“(Y/N)?”

You snapped back from your reverie, hearing your sister calling out your name in worry. “Yeah?” you awkwardly reply, holding back a sigh at your own reckless daydreaming. 

A second or two passed before your sister continued again. “Are you…” she paused, “okay?” 

You let out a groan in embarrassment. At the same time, your petty side grumbled an answer in your head. I called you crying. Obviously, I’m not okay. 

“I’m sorry,” you mumbled instead, “I... I got distracted. What were you saying?” 

Some clutter in the background interrupts (S/N) for a moment, but she returns to you soon enough. “I was just about to say that I have to go now,” she says, tone a little apologetic, “Haebyul and I will pick you up when you land, so let us know, alright?”

"Okay," you weakly muse. “See you.”

The call ends, leaving you alone to your thoughts once again.

Your family is a little more than well-off—the average person can’t call up an immediate private jet to Jeju at the crack of dawn, after all—but that has always come with a price. Your father’s connections, as it had turned out, were rooted deeper than you thought—deeper as in underground deeper. 

You were fifteen when you saw the guns glinting inside your father and his fellow business associates’ jackets. Later that night, you come to realize why your mother left. 

You were sixteen when you were kidnapped for ransom by some small gang that your father’s men were so easy to wipe out. The echoes of bullets ricocheting off concrete and through flesh haunting your dreams from years on end.

You were seventeen when you broke down after training. Body tired and bruised, you decided then and there that you don’t want a life like this. 

You were eighteen when you talked your father into sending you abroad to study for college, just so you could be far from the violent scene you’ve been born into.

A part of you was glad that your father let you be for the rest of your college life. You know for a fact that underneath all of that stone-cold heart was a father that loved his daughters, and you were grateful for it, but the mafia still came first. You realized this when, at twenty-four, you were walking down the aisle to a man you barely know.  

Jung Hoseok is handsome, but intimidating—that was your first impression of him when you came to that fateful ball. You had come home then for a little vacation, coaxed into coming by your older sister. Leaving the crowded ballroom for the balcony, you had come across him there by accident. Out of courtesy, you started some idle talk between the two of you, and he responded, much to your shock really. In the end though, you could never forget the eyes that barely left yours for the rest of the dinner. 

Never did you expect that man to become your husband. What made it all funny was the fact that your older sister was the one who was originally set by your father to marry into the Jungs. She would’ve been in your place, had it not been for the farmer’s daughter in Jeju that she got smitten with. As much as you were happy for your sister, however, you were the one left to honor the promise between families. 

In the blink of an eye, the carefully cultivated and private life you built outside your family’s violent one was gone. You were forced to quit your job, and move back to Seoul one month before the wedding. Hoseok and your father both expressed their apologies for having dragged you into this mess, but the wedding was never called off either. 

Everything was a blur after that. 

As much as his expressionless face had features chiseled by the gods, however, you came to like the smile on Hoseok’s face whenever you two were alone. You weren’t sure just how many out there would believe you if you told them that one of Seoul’s biggest players in the underground likes to dance, hums little tunes to himself, and is deathly afraid of bugs, but then again, there were things that only you, his wife, were allowed to see. 

Hoseok was caring, you discovered—sometimes, a little too caring that it becomes overprotective—and that he often finds comfort in touch. You soon came to know how to take care of him just as much as he came to take care of you.  

Perhaps it was this vulnerability and rawness to each other that made you fall in the first place. You didn’t know when or where, but you started to look at Hoseok more than just a friend you were sharing a house (and a marriage) with. At some point, he did too.  

It was a blessing, your father once said, that you managed to find love in something usually so heartless.  

But love didn’t cancel out the rest of the accursed things.

In your home, Hoseok may have been your husband—your Hobi—but as soon as he walks out the door, he was Jung Hoseok, a man so feared and so hated. Every day was a gamble, and every day you’re reminded of why you hated this kind of life in the first place. You don’t get to know if he’s alive or safe until he comes back home to show you himself. You don’t get to live normally, always having to look over your shoulder and not trusting anyone else. 

You don’t like it, but you love Hoseok, so you put up with it. Up until how long, you don’t know, but you were definitely buckling in at this moment. 

Fingers playing with the heart-shaped locket of your necklace, you were tearing down yet again at the memory of him. You love Hoseok with all of your heart, but some couples win against the fight and some lose to it. It worries you thinking about which yours will land on. 

Fate was funny—at least you think it thinks it’s funny, because you sure as hell don’t.

Glaring down at the plate of strawberries Haebyul puts on the table, you fumed as your brain instantly remembers Hoseok. He liked strawberries. You vividly remember the ‘berry, berry, strawberry’ in your head from that time he brought you some strawberries as breakfast in bed afte—

“What did the strawberries ever do to you?”

You knock out of your stupor to your sister and her girlfriend staring at you in confusion with the beginning of a laugh clear on your sister's face. “Sorry,” you stammer, flustered by your own actions. “I just remembered something.”

Damn it, (Y/N). Forget about him for a second, will you?

Fortunately—and embarrassingly—the two women seemed to understand your plights, moving on from the moment with ease. “Alright,” your sister prompts, “since you're here then, where do you want to go? To the beach, Sunrise Peak or what?”

As much as you appreciate your sister and her girlfriend's efforts, you shrug, not really having anything in mind to do here when you spontaneously went here on a whim. You weren't in the mood to exactly go anywhere at the moment, but you relent, not wanting to be rude. “Do you guys have any suggestions?” you ask. 

Haebyul hums for a moment, racking her brain for ideas, before suddenly lighting up. “There’s a teddy bear museum,” she beams, “You’ll love it there! We could check it out later if you’d like!”  

So will, Hoseo—god damn it!

“That sounds great,” you forcibly grinned, giving yourself a mental slap. Stabbing a strawberry with a fork, you stuff it into your mouth. The juice explodes flavors onto your tongue, reminding you of moments all too nostalgic. You nearly groan in embarrassment and frustration of yourself. 

Why can't you just eat a strawberry, (Y/N)?

---

The museum turned out to be a delight—the teddy bears were fun and amusing, each part of the exhibit more excitable and adorable than the last. Try as you might, you were reminded of the teddy bear you have at home in spite of your very best effort to maintain the 'forget about Jung Hoseok' agenda. 

The teddy bear you have was white, soft, and fairly large with red heart-shaped paws and a red ribbon tied around its neck like a bow. It wasn't dramatically large, but it was big enough for you to cuddle into bed whenever Hoseok wasn't around—just as he had intended when he gave it to you in the first place. Sleeping in a bed with a stuffed toy was childish, yes, but you cherished everything Hoseok gave you. It was unfortunate, however, that you seemed to recently cuddle more with Mr. Fluffles than your own husband. 

It was hilarious how fast your nostalgic mood turns from sweet and smiley to sour and upset at the thought of Jung Hoseok. It's one of his many skills, you supposed. 

As you force yourself out of memory lane, there past your sister and her girlfriend checking their phones, were two men discussing amongst themselves. The two of them seemed to be average tourists, but they seemed to be having such a serious conversation in the middle of a teddy bear museum.

Now, you weren’t one to be so unnecessarily paranoid, but even if you chose to avoid such a path, you did still grow up in a mafia household yourself, and in such a life, you know well to utilize your instincts. Your instincts, right now, were telling you that those two men have been following you three around since you set foot into the local area. You caught sight of those green windbreakers once or twice, but, just to be safe and sure, you go to your sister. 

“I’m going to the bathroom, okay?” you lie, but it was enough to convince your sister, who only gave you an absent-minded nod and hum.

While the two men were still busy amongst themselves, you quickly slipped through other people, taking off your jacket to make sure they would recognize your silhouette. You had practically circled the hall to sneak at them from behind, pretentiously looking at the teddy bears you’ve already looked and cooed at. 

As expected, once the men realized you were gone from your sister’s side, they began almost frantically looking around. 

You trained your eyes on a site that showed teddy bears in mini New York, but your ears were directed towards them. "She disappeared," you hear the smaller man curse under his breath. As he brought his phone to his ear, you instantly knew you were right all along. "Report it to Mr. Jung imme—"

"Where is he?"

Hearing ‘Mr. Jung’ in the sentence, you instantly asked before you could stop yourself. It was embarrassing—almost as embarrassing as the two men jumping at your sudden presence, hands reaching for something hidden beneath their jacket. 

Upon seeing you there, nonchalantly standing with the denim jacket they identified you with now slung in your arm, there was a flash of relief and panic in their eyes. "What do you mean, miss?" the tall one cleared his throat as the shorter of the two straightened up. 

You know now where you recognized these men from. They were the rookies you saw last month when you came to visit Hoseok. "I saw you two before," you tell them, showing you weren’t at all convinced of their act. "Where's Jung Hoseok, your boss?"

The two noticed the cold look in your eyes, and, for a moment, thought that you were much scarier than their boss. They both bow—respectfully and apologetically—to you. "We—" one of them hesitates to speak up, "we can't tell you that information, ma'am..."

A part of you—your heart, really—was leaping with joy. If Hoseok sent them after all, then does that mean he had them check up on you while you were away? Does that mean he still does give a shit about you?

‘Why didn’t he come himself then?’ said the bitter part of yourself, instantly shattering your hope. ‘If he missed me as much as I missed him, then why didn’t he come instead?’

To be honest with yourself, you really do want Hoseok with you right now. How could you not? He’s your husband and, as much as you were upset with him after the fight, you would obviously want your husband with you on this special day. 

You want Hoseok with you. 

You wanted him to be with you on that flight to Jeju for a vacation from the reality of your brutal lives, sleeping on his shoulder instead of giving yourself a stiff neck leaning over nothing. 

You wanted him to be with you on that breakfast with Haebyul and your sister, sharing stories and giggles in between succulent strawberry bites. 

You wanted him to be with you on your way to the Teddy Bear Museum, walking side by side, hands intertwined as you both pointed out at the exhibits with grins on your faces. 

You want Hoseok with you—but he isn’t. 

He may care, but it wasn't enough to talk the mess out with you. "Then, please,” you grit through your teeth, “tell him to come talk to me instead of having his men follow me around and spy on me."

With that, you leave the henchmen to themselves, returning to your sister, who gives you a strange look. "Who were they?" she asked. 

You held back a sigh. "No one."

Time passed, your sister mentioning that you three were going to drive to this fancy restaurant for dinner after your time at the Teddy Bear Museum ended. You had initially protested against it, but she insisted, leaving no room for argument, especially since she was the one driving the car in the first place. 

It took nearly an hour but you arrived at the restaurant. Through the big windows, you see red cushions with gold linings surrounding round tables. It was fancy and a tad bit romantic for your current bitter conquest, but you get out of the car nonetheless. 

You soon notice something strange, however. Exiting your sister's car gave you more access into looking at the restaurant. There's no one inside. 

Looking around more made you feel suspicious enough that you decided to cave into questioning. "Why are there no people?" You ask your older sister, who gives you a mere shrug. 

"It's your birthday, sweetie," she simply grins as she hands her keys to the valet.

Your jaw drops at her nonchalance. Is that why she's been on the phone a lot earlier?

Your eyebrows furrowed together. "Why would you—"

Words caught up in your throat like an absolute car wreck, you gawk at what you see over your sister's shoulder. Behind you three was a man in a suit pacing around by the restaurant foyer and talking heatedly to the phone he had pressed against his ear. He turns and you get a good look at his face, proving your shock correct. 

Jung Hoseok. 

You had a hunch that he may have been scolding the two henchmen you caught trailing you at the museum and that made you feel bad a little. 

Panicking, you focus your attention on your sister to pretend you hadn't at all seen your husband just a few meters away, but the only sight you see on her face was a shit-eating grin. Haebyul, herself, was trying to hide a giggle. "You did not," you gasped in terror, gratitude, and irritation all together. 

The grins on Haebyul and (S/N)'s faces don't relent. "I did," she answers proudly, her girlfriend nodding along excitedly. 

Is this why she's been on the phone a lot earlier?

(S/N) gives you a quick encouraging kiss on the cheek before linking arms with Haebyul. "It'll be fine," she tells you, "he missed you just as much as you did." 

With that, they barely give you another second, already walking towards the restaurant. You stood there in the middle of the walk way, frozen and debating with yourself. 

If he had conspired with your sister to come all this way, then he did care enough to pull a stunt like this. 

But what took him so long? It's been 19 hours. You could've gone one that whole museum tour together!

You look back at the foyer where Hoseok stood. He was still there—only now, he was staring at you. Gone were the furrowed brows and intimidating scowl on his face. His stare was warm and soft, filled with the same longing you had for him. 

For a moment, however, he stops, bowing to your sister and Haebyul in greeting as they approach the restaurant doors, before gesturing towards the empty tables with a charming smile—the one that often fooled people into thinking him harmless. So, he must've been the one to take control over the whole restaurant bit, considering the fact that your sister may have been the one tasked to distract you. 

You tear your eyes from him for a moment, looking up at the sky painted blues, purples, and oranges by the setting sun. Your eyes were stinging. Oh God. You do not want to cry right now. 

It doesn't help you to look back at your husband, only to see him now walking towards you with a bouquet of roses in his hands. It's safe to say you were emotional and panicking. 

Where the hell did he get the roses? 

What should I say?

Jung Hoseok, one of the most feared mafiosos in Seoul, fidgets before you just a good feet away. "Jagi, I—"

"What took you so long?" You find yourself asking the question that's been simmering—boiling and burning—in your head for the past 10 hours you've been in Jeju. You meant for the words to come out cold and indifferent, but all they were was a mess of raw emotions—an almost whimper. 

Hoseok softens further with guilt. "I took care of something," he tells you, "but I'm here now, and..."

Your husband shyly offers you the bouquet, which you gingerly took from his possession, touches lingering around one another. Doing nothing but look down at the pretty red petals, you were able to avoid looking into your husband's eyes for a moment. Maybe then he wouldn't see you so close to crying. 

Hoseok sighs before you, unsure of what to say or where to start. "I want to say I'm sorry, jagi," he admits, "I know it doesn't make things better. I hurt you, and I let you leave, because I was too prideful and stubborn."

A part of you—the petty, bitter one—wanted to scoff, but, deciding enough hurt has been tossed around, you take a deep breath and look up at him again. “You’re not mad at me anymore?” you softly ask.  

Your husband’s brows knit together, his head furiously shaking in disagreement. “I was never mad at you in the first place, jagi,” he tells you, a sigh so full of regret and frustration leaving his lips. It didn’t seem like it, you thought, but you give him a moment to compose and explain himself. 

"We were dealing with a particularly hard mission," Hoseok tells you, "and I was so upset that I couldn't go home at the right time at all. It was almost your birthday, too! I didn’t have time to plan or do anything. I haven't talked to you, touched you, or kissed you as much as I used to, and I got so angry with myself that night that I took out all the bottled up emotions I had on you when all you did was worry about me and my wellbeing."

It was then your husband gained the courage to seize your hands in his, the bouquet left to be tucked in your arm. Hoseok doesn’t look you in the eyes, but with the way his lips quivered and his nose sniffled, you knew why. “I’m so sorry, (Y/N),” he says in a voice so soft—so vulnerable—that any ice in your heart effectively melts away. Jung Hoseok rarely apologizes, but when he does he means it sincerely and does everything he can to make up for it.

Stepping forth, you wrap your arms around his middle, your head now tucked beneath his chin as he holds you tighter and closer to him. You wanted this—your Hobi back with you, back to love you and let you love him. 

Still, you couldn’t exactly just forget your fears so easily. You wanted something greater than just this—wanted the near impossible. "Let's just run away from all of this, Hobi, please," you quietly murmur into his blazer.  

Your husband gives you a gentle squeeze. "You and I both know it's not as easy as that, jagi," he tells you, breath tickling your ear. "The boys and I have enemies. Your family has enemies. We'll have to constantly look over our shoulders."

You knew well that the most likely case of you and Hoseok escaping the mafia scene would be getting hunted down by rivals and bastards with grudges, which was why you were very frustrated with having such a life—for loving such a man that only cemented your fate into that life further. 

"But I'll make sure that doesn't happen, okay?" you husband suddenly whispers, his lips now just over your forehead. He gives it a gentle kiss. "Just give me time."

Your eyes widened, slightly pulling away to look into his eyes—to see if he truly meant it. Hoseok, of course, meant it with his entire being. (He also can’t lie that well—don’t tell anyone that) 

Really? The look on your face asks this, and your husband smiles—so lovingly, so sweet that it makes you brutally soft. “Just give me time,” he tenderly repeats, eyes so filled with promise and determination that it makes you cling into hope. 

Tears blurring your eyes, you stood on the tip of your toes just to capture his lips with yours. The kiss burns in all the right places of your heart—passion and love blended into one as you and your husband melt into it so easily. You were stuck in your own moment—you own paradise—and you didn’t want to be anywhere else. 

You may have gotten yourself into deep trouble loving a man like Jung Hoseok—might’ve gotten yourself into a deeper pit than the one you’ve tried to escape before—but it is in the most sacredly intimate moments like this that you’re reminded why you had let yourself fall this far—why you fell so helplessly to the clutches of Cupid in the first place. Jung Hoseok may have been a monster—may have been the Devil himself—but when he loved, he loved with his whole being, loved you so much he would repent and turn his back against the world.  

“I love you,” he murmurs against your lips, pressing another soft kiss.

You laugh breathlessly. “I love you, too.”

Hoseok grins with you, before giving you one last kiss. “I managed to convince Namjoon for a few days off,” he beams, excitement so contagious it makes your cheeks hurt from so much smiling. A few days may not be enough, but you both gratefully take what you were given and make the most of it.  

"If you come with me now," he then says as he pulls away from your embrace and gestures to the restaurant. "I can show you what really took me so long to get here, hm?"

You take his inviting hand with a smile, so happy to be able to spend the last hours of your birthday—and just a few more days—with your husband. 

“Lead the way, Mr Jung.”

Hoseok chuckles a little, intertwining your hands together securely. “This way, Mrs. Jung.”

P.S. I made a moODBOARD FOR THIS ! ! ! {CLICK FOR HQ!}

again, i hoped you liked and enjoyed this!