#maybe the show gets better. or mayb the detective genre is just not for me

[hiddenbeks]

obsessed with doing this quiz for my ocs. i think its very important that we all know that celyn is 86% j*ghead

[potatomountain]

CIY- CH 15

Chapter Fifteen

📍Pairing: detective ateez ot8 x detective afab reader

📍Summary: "Captain oh Captain"

📍WC: 3.1k

📍AU: detective/mafia

📍Genre: action, dark themes, poly romance, smut

📍Warning(s): 17+ rating, suggestive📍Nets: @pirateeznet | @mirohs-aurora-society

📍Beta readers (and sole motivation): @flurrys-creativity , @candypop1611 , @yourfatherlucifer , @yessa-vie and edited by the amazing: @daemour

masterlist | Previous | Next

You were more than a little disappointed that San wasn’t there the next day, but confused over your mixed feelings over Mingi and Yunho’s absence. But as that one day turned into a week, you were getting concerned.

No it wasn’t because you wanted to invite San back to your place, or confront the two giants on what they did in the bathroom, hoping to have some answers to your own feelings, but because you were genuinely worried.

Seonghwa didn’t help with your nerves one bit, spending a good amount of time with him over the week, as well as a forced training session with Jongho. Your ass still hurt from the number of times he happily knocked your ass on the mat. It was only thanks to Seonghwa’s presence that he wasn’t a total ass, actually listening to the Vice-Captain and keeping his comments mild. The unnerving part was the way Seonghwa seemed on edge.

Something Jongho had commented on when he had forgotten your presence.

So by the next Saturday you were on edge all over again, the release San had given you felt wasted. Of course admiring how pretty Seonghwa was in a blank tank, showing off the neck tattoos you had spotted peeking from the collar of his turtlenecks and button up, did not help there. Or the fact you spotted a hint of ink peeking out of the back of Jongho’s shirt, a deadly combination with how thick the man was.

If you were pissed off enough you might have suggested a hate fuck. With his strength you were sure it would’ve left you bruised up and sore in all the right ways.

You might have been a little too excited when Wooyoung popped his head around the corner to startle you at your desk. “There’s my favorite Goddess. Miss me?”

Laughing, you smiled, “Can’t say that I have. Haven’t seen your handsome face around enough.”

“Oh but I am handsome-” He stood up straight and called back loudly “hear that?! She thinks I’m handsome. Beat that fuckers!” His attention was back on you as soon as you started laughing louder. “Mm San was right, that's a pretty sound.”

You couldn’t help but get a bit flustered, realizing San talked about you. “Is he here?”

“Unfortunately he got booted to bedrest back at our apartment. So my company better be enough.”

“You can’t hog her to yourself.” Hongjoong called, stepping around Wooyoung and looking you over. “I hope Seonghwa kept you busy.”

Rolling your eyes, you replied “Not enough. Sparring with the asshat who has some vendetta against me wasn’t much fun. Is it just San that’s not back?”

“Are you that eager to see him?” Wooyoung actually pouted, taking a step closer to you and setting his hands on your thighs. “Come on, get to know me a bit, Goddess. We can make it a physical activity.”

It definitely crossed your mind to take him up on that offer, after what you let San do to you, the images he encouraged in your mind, all it would take is a simple yes.

The two of them could tell you were seriously thinking about it, Wooyoung’s smirk widening as he ran his hands up your thighs more. Hongjoong watched curiously, taking a step to the side to get a better view. “Well?”

With a sigh, you shook your head. “Maybe another time.” Patting both of his hands you peeled them off you and pushed him back in the same motion that you stood up. “Do I get to hear about where everyone has been the last week or am I excluded for that?”

You weren’t happy at all as their expression fell just enough to know the answer to that. “Not entirely. There was an increase of Green Viper activity, so Wooyoung needed San for that. We had to deal with some altercations between them and the Red Wolves. It’s mostly paperwork the rest of us need to fill out.” Hongjoong tried to mend but you knew differently, you still didn’t have enough trust to know.

It irked you, but you understood. You didn’t trust all of them fully either, in fact the only one you could confidently say would have your back in a fight was San. Some of them were questionable, would definitely like your back in their bed, but otherwise you were still an outsider of sorts. “Can I leave then? I’m still a bit bruised up from Jongho’s stupid ass.”

“Aww, you don’t want to be around me?” Wooyoung pouted, reaching for you again but you pushed past just as Hongjoong pulled him away. “When do I get to work with her Captain?”

Hongjoong offered you a friendly smile, still trying to ease the tension that had formed between the three of you. “That’s something we can talk about. It’ll take a few days, so if you can take those days to rest. We’ll give you a call to come in and brief you but let us get it all set up.”

“Yeah sure, whatever.” You started grabbing your things, pissed off. A week you sat around and worried about them and they got back just to send you off and have you swindle your thumbs at home? Seriously?

“Firecracker…” Hongjoong followed you to the door, grabbing your hand and stopping you. “Don’t be upset, it’s not on purpose and it’s not because of what you think.”

You ripped your arm out of his, glancing over your shoulder just to glare at him. “Sure it isn’t. I know I haven’t earned my place yet, but it’s been over a month Captain.”

“I know I know. But you have. It’s just, we have to rework some things after this incident and figure out where best to put you. Not to keep you out of our way but where you would be the most useful. Where you do make a difference and shine the most.” He reached up, cupping your cheek and turning you more towards him. “I believe you’ll do wonders here Firecracker, but integrating you into the work we have built up over years is going to take some time. Alright?”

It was a wonder how he said just what you needed to hear, and you could believe him too. The man, while neutral about your presence so far, has provided you with ample opportunity to prove yourself. And when you did, he acknowledged your skills.

Relaxing a bit more, you leaned into his hand, looking up at him. “Alright Captain.” You mumbled, pulling away and clearing your throat when you realized how soft you just were. It felt good to be acknowledged for your work, especially from Hongjoong, Captain of the unit you were having a hard time with.

He was most certainly not looking at you as if you were just a member of his unit though, not like a Captain should. It threw you off, glancing back at Wooyoung and waving. “Next time handsome, maybe you can convince me of getting to know you better that way.”

You left before either could reply.

The short walk home was ample time to actually think over the interaction. You found yourself comparing Hongjoong to Chan, knowing where Hongjoong was teasing or lenient, Chan was not. Chan looked out for you, showed his concern for you but always as Captain of the unit. It was always the unit over you.

Hongjoong hadn’t done any of that. He had concern for the unit, sure, but he was giving you a chance, eager to see you prove yourself. And the way he had comforted and reassured you, the way he touched you… that wasn’t what you were used to.

You weren’t sure what to make of it, but arriving at your apartment building and seeing your previous Captain there was some shitty timing. Did you just manifest him with your thoughts? You wish you could manifest him away.

He stood up straighter when you approached, relief on his features as he called out your name.

“Did I not make myself clear last time? I don't want to talk to you or see you or anything.” You pushed past him, putting in the code and moving inside.

“What if I say this is about Felix?” He followed after you, which truly aggravated you a bit. He was usually respectful, even when upset, so this was out of character for him.

Huffing you ignored him as best you can as you climbed up the stairs. Why the fuck was he following you? “Then Felix can talk to me about it himself. You aren’t his fucking parent Christopher.”

He called out your name again, still not leaving you alone, reaching out to grab your wrist instead. “Can we please just talk?”

“No! And I don’t know why you insist we do! You hurt me Chan, you know you did.” You snarled out, ripping your hand out of his grip as you moved up the stairs faster.

At first he didn’t follow you, but as you turned up the landing towards the next flight of stairs, you saw him skipping steps to catch up. “And I want to make it up to you!”

“Why?” You turned on your heel quickly once you reached the top of the stairs, glaring up at him. “I’m not a part of your unit anymore Chan! I’m nothing to you.”

He looked taken aback, stuttering over his breath over something to say but you could see the hurt in his eyes. It had your ire spiking, after all he wasn’t the one who paid for his decision.

Scoffing, you turned to head to your door, with every intent of locking him out and calling the security at the front. You hadn’t seen him at the desk so you assumed he was making his rounds. You wanted Chan gone, especially before the tears that burned behind your eyes fell.

He wasn’t making it easy, stopping you again by moving in front of you. “Please listen to me.”

“No.” You sidestepped.

He blocked you. “Dammit, please.”

“I don’t want to, Chan! You had plenty of time to explain yourself!” To the other side.

He was there to block you again, grabbing your biceps to hold you still, pleading out your name. “I thought you would understand!”

You stiffened, glaring up at him. You remembered clearly how the last conversation you had with him before he handed you the transfer form- the tension between you two in your kitchen: you in his shirt while he was shirtless sporting a hickey you were sure you had given him the night before. The reminder had your chest tight. “I do understand Chan. You chose the unit over me. You couldn’t have me around after what I did. Didn’t have the fucking balls to turned me down after I confessed?”

“No! Fuck that isn’t it at all! This got so fucked up I’m sorry” he pleaded with you.

But you were having none of it, struggling in his grip. “Stop trying to save your ass. You rejected me, in probably the shittiest fucking way asshat.”

“I’m not I just- please I just want to explain myself to you. You can hate me all you want after I just… it wasn’t because of your confession. I promise, please-” He held you still as you tried to push past him again, the tears brimming your eyes.

“You’re not giving me a damn choice so just out with it already! Criticize my work, tell me how I’m too emotional and I get too invested. How I cost you something stupid because I gave a fuck about you as a man!” You yelled, your own emotions clouding your judgment even now, which frustrated you as it proved what you were saying.

“None of that is true dammit! I didn’t give you the transfer because of your confession! I turned you down at the time because you were drunk and I wanted you to be sober when I told you I loved you.” He raised his voice, a tremble in his tone. “I love you trouble. I wanted a real relationship with you and I didn’t think I could have that if we were in the unit together. I was already being pressured about your behavior and I just thought it was a small price to pay, okay?”

You gawked at him, completely thrown off by his sudden confession. He was sincere, you could see that, but you were as far from elated to hear about his feelings as you could be. “A broken heart is a small price to pay when you aren’t the one who paid it! You are the one who gives a damn about separating work from pleasure. Your morals cost me everything I cared about Chan!” You pushed at him, the tears beginning to flow freely down your cheeks. “It’s too fucking late, I’m done with you! Just leave me alone, I’m not a part of your unit anymore and I’m not someone you have to care about. You love me? Then suffer while I live without you.”

His devastation was obvious on his features, pain in his eyes, but you didn’t feel the least built guilty. If he had you transferred out just so he could pursue you romantically without having to sacrifice anything- you didn’t feel a least bit guilty. “I loved you Christopher BangChan. Past tense. I don’t anymore. You hurt me in a way I never ever thought you could. I don’t need you any more. Don’t want you anymore.” You sobbed out, pulling away.

You never saw it coming, never heard the door or his footsteps, just that when Chan pleaded your name again, a fist connected to his jaw. Now facing a tall and familiar back.

“Do you intend to make her cry even more? Beat it fucker, you heard her loud and clear.” Mingi snarled at him, standing protectively before you.

Under any other circumstances, you would have been miffed that he came to your defense. He had been a dick to you since the beginning, making him untrustworthy, or at least you had said he was. So why were you trusting him now? Finding comfort in his heroics?

Were you just that done with Chan that any assistance was welcome? Even from Mingi?

“This isn’t your business.” Chan hissed, but you could tell from the tremble in his tone he was pissed. Pissed and hurt.

“It damn well is when it’s my girl you’re touching and making her cry.” Mingi reached behind him, placing his hand on your hip protectively. You leaned into the touch, gripping the back of his shirt. “Head to your apartment Buttercup, I’ll be there in a moment.” He softened his tone considerably, the deep rumble reverberating down your spine.

This was a battle you were happy to hand over. “Make it quick.” You added for Chan’s benefit before rushing around to your apartment. You didn’t look at Chan, didn’t want to meet his questioning gaze that you could feel.

The second your door was shut you could hear harsh muttering in Mingi’s deep voice. You couldn’t make out what was said, but you didn’t want to know. Taking a deep breath you wiped away the tears and started getting comfortable in your apartment, asking questions you didn’t have a chance to ask a second ago.

How did he find your apartment? Why had he brought up Felix? What really happened the night you confessed?

Why had Mingi come to your defense… better yet why were you happy he did?

Setting your suit jacket on top of your bag you sighed, feeling worn out and dejected. You couldn’t help but think of Hongjoong again, how he had reassured you earlier. He said things you wished Chan would’ve said. He encouraged you to grow, and instead of asking you to change to fit into the unit, it sounded like he was changing things so that you would fit them.

How hard would it have been for Chan to admit his feelings before? Talk it over with you like an adult. His love didn’t mean he had to play favorites. It didn’t mean he couldn’t be your boss. Why did he expect you to change to fit him?

You were crying again when you turned at the sound of the door, Mingi bowing his head in apology. “I’m sorry about that Buttercup.” He froze when he lifted his head, spotting the tears in your eyes. He strode over easily with his long legs, brow furrowed in concern. “Fuck I should’ve kicked him in the balls. Or aimed for the eyes for permanent damage.” He grumbled to himself, whipping your tears away while you gawked up at him.

“Mingi?” Slowly you grabbed his hands, breath hitching when his gaze met yours. You couldn’t see an ounce of hatred or distaste, or anything other than care for you and anger on your behalf.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t realize how painful this had been for you. I just thought you pissed your boss off I didn’t know-” He swallowed hard, suddenly bashful as he averted his eyes. His ears were tinged with color, tongue running over his thick lips like they were dry.

“Why does it matter? Why come to my figurative rescue. I don’t want to be some damsel in-”

He interrupted you, “That’s not it! I couldn’t stand to hear it anymore. The pain in your tone and how he was treating you. The fucker chose his career, his good morals, over you? How fucking stupid could he be. You’re a damn fine detective, and you hold your own plenty well.” He dropped his hands, even more flustered after his compliments.

You lifted a brow, heart racing in your chest. This bashful side of him was unexpected, but cute. “You sound like you like me, Mingi. Were all those insults your flirting?” You teased in an attempt to lighten the mood.

“I uh… maybe?” You weren’t expecting that, at all. But he was towering over you and flustered, looking almost innocent with his pleading boba eyes. “Would you reject me if I did like you? If I did want you?”

You licked your lips slowly, his eyes following the movement. Considering the thoughts you had of him lately, was rejection even an option.

In answer you brought his hands to your hips, looking up at him as you stepped closer. “Depends on how well you convince me that you do want me.”

He was confused at first, catching on as your arms wrapped around his neck. “Gladly” was all he rumbled before his lips were on yours.

Taglist (form): @mingsolo | @wowie-hockey | @crispybaguettes | @tiny-apocalypse

| @philijack | @lelaleleb | @isiloiale | @vannabanana1995  | @piratequeen-queenofgames

| @starstruckforyou | @minheeskitten | @amphiroxx  | @cloudysannie | @sugarnspice630

| @sanhwalvr | @plutoneu |  @sousydive |  @fatalt | @iwishiwasrichasfuck

| @bitchwhytho | @st4rhwa | @thesafecafe | @alextheweeb7 | @ddaeing

Taglist will be continued in a reblog!!

[mothandpidgeon]

The Outlaws (Outlaw!Joel Miller x f!reader) - Chapter 2

Moth's Masterlist // follow @mothandpidgeon-updates and turn on notifications to stay updated with my fics!

SERIES MASTERLIST

pairing: Outlaw!Joel Miller x f!reader

rating: T (eventual E 18+ MDNI)

wc: 1.7k

summary: Wanted for murder with a bounty on your head, your only hope of escaping the Pinkerton detectives is an outlaw named Joel Miller and his sidekick Ellie. But Joel has other plans for you.

tags: old west au, enemies to lovers, grumpy Joel, handcuffed together, period/genre/canon typical violence, alcohol, morally grey characters, reader has backstory, no use of y/n

authors note: Posting this today in honor of act ii. Yeehaw. As always, thank you @ezrasbirdie for the beta and support in this (you really need to tell me to stfu about these two) and in life.

Joel once took Sarah to see PT Barnum’s Greatest Show on Earth. Each ticket cost him two quarters. She pulled him by the hand past the tents with Tom Thumb and the giantess, straight to the exhibition of wild animals. There were all sorts of exotic animals in the menagerie– giraffes, elephants, snakes. You remind him of the tiger. Beautiful and cunning. Fierce. Dangerous unless it’s kept under lock and key. 

Which is why he’s grateful he kept these old shackles in his saddle bag. 

You’re in a friendlier mood once camp is set up and a rabbit is roasted on a spit. He knows it’s a rouse, that you’re still spitting mad and hoping to slit his throat in the night. On that train, you were the demure damsel in need of a rescue. Soon as he put that cuff on your wrist, you turned into a fire breathing dragon. 

You can be as mad as you’d like. You’re no match for his strength or his revolver. 

They sit around the fire, Joel and Ellie propped against their saddles. It’s a cool evening, a steady breeze blows off the river. The stars paint the purple sky and the cave is illuminated with the orange glow of a fire. There’s plenty to celebrate. Though, even when they score a good amount of money, gold pieces, and get away without a scratch, Joel never feels much satisfaction. Despite his personal quandary, it would be a beautiful night, really, if Joel weren’t sitting there waiting for you to do something foolish. 

He can tell you’re meditating on some new escape plan, knows better than to look at you too long. A girl like you, pretty and with that sharp mouth, is the type that knows how to use her womanly wiles. You’re desperate enough to try just about anything and he’s not giving you the chance. 

You must think he’s stupid enough to fall for it too. He reluctantly passes you his flask and, after you drink, you wipe your wet lips with a seductive  finger. 

Ellie’s being a real chatterbox, recounting each moment of the robbery as if she’s writing her own nickel weekly and peppering you with questions. He’s not surprised she’s taken a liking to you. There aren’t too many of the female persuasion out here. Maybe she can see some of Tess in you. He doesn’t. Tess was always calm and controlled. And when she was angry, she never fucking spit at him. In fact, he resents you for making him think about Tess at all. 

“Ten thousand dollar bounty, huh?” Ellie asks you. “What’d you do?”

Joel’s seen more than a few people running from the law but none of them look like you. You’re no Annie Oakley. 

“My sweetheart was fooling around with my sister so I killed em both,” you say. 

“Really?” Ellie asks. 

“No,” you say. 

“What was it really?” she tries again. 

“Leave it,” Joel says. 

He’d be just as cagey about his past. Outlaws don’t live by any code but if they did, questions like that would be frowned upon. 

Ellie grumbles at him. 

“I’ve got ten on me too,” she tells you. 

“Your daddy must be proud,” you say, looking to Joel. 

They respond in unison— “He’s not my Pa,” and a “I ain’t her daddy.” 

You do a lousy job suppressing a smile. 

“So this is the infamous Miller gang? Ain’t much of a gang if you ask me,” you say. 

Joel grinds his molars. 

“We used to be a proper one. Most of ‘em are in prison now. And then we lost Tess to a bout with fever. And Tommy left,” Ellie recounts. 

“Who’s Tommy?” 

“Nobody,” Joel says same time as Ellie tells you, “His brother.”

You look Joel up and down. 

“That’s enough yakking for tonight,” he says. “I’m turning in. C’mon.” He pulls the chain. 

Ellie laughs. “I should warn you. He snores something awful.”

You scoff. “Is this some kind of ploy so you can wake up on top of me?” you protest. 

Joel’s patience is wearing thin. He’s got half a mind to turn you loose and let the wolves deal with you. 

“You can quit the belly aching, missy. I ain’t taking that thing off til you’re with the sheriff in Jackson.”

“You’ll wear him down eventually,” Ellie encourages. 

“Ellie, go to sleep,” Joel orders. 

She rolls her eyes. 

“What if I got to use the privy?” you ask. 

“Hope you like company,” Joel says. 

You huff. 

“You at least going to give me a blanket? Cold out here,” you say. 

Joel’s only got one in his bed roll, a beautiful Pawnee blanket he bought off a trader from Kansas woven with geometric patterns. He knows it would be gentlemanly to let you sleep with it but you’re no lady. 

He sighs as he hands it over. You wrap it around your shoulders with a self-satisfied look on your face. 

“Anything else I can do for you, missy?” he says with mock cordiality. 

“You can stop calling me missy,” you say. 

“G’night, missy,” he says. 

It’s not your best plan. But just because it’s simple doesn’t mean it won’t work. 

First step, you wait for Ellie and Joel to fall asleep. The girl takes a while. She’s got a dime novel with a cowboy on the cover that she flips through as the flames die down. You watch her through your cracked eyelids, pretending to have already drifted off yourself. 

It’s hard to tell if Joel’s out. He uses his saddle as a pillow and you’ve positioned yourself on the other side of it, your arm outstretched so you don’t have to be too close to him. 

He murmurs to himself. You strain to catch what he’s saying. At first, there are words you can understand. The name Sarah passes his lips. But then you hear him make a sound you can only describe as a whimper. 

It gives you pause. You’ve never been a nurturing type but it pulls at your heart strings, almost makes you want to put your arms around him. You imagine a hurt puppy inside that big, snarling dog of a man.

His sharp silhouette is highlighted in the amber glow of the campfire. It’s a shame he’s such a mean son of a bitch because he really is easy on the eyes. Then he rolls over. His unexpected motion nearly twists your connected arm out of its socket and you bite your tongue to keep from swearing. That bastard has you chained up like a dog. You do all you can to control your temper, swearing soundlessly. You can’t afford to wake him. 

You wait a long while, listening to him grunt and snore. Once you’re sure he’s good and asleep, you move. 

It’s a process. You begin by flexing your wrist. An innocent gesture that could be explained by sleepy twitches. He doesn’t stir. 

Eventually you feel bold enough to inch towards him, pulling the chain carefully along the ground. You crawl on your belly until you’re in front of him, then you dare to lift your hands up. 

The chain clinks against the buzz of the night insects and you swear it’s so loud you hear it echo off the mountains. You hold your breath, wide eyed, every muscle in your body taught. 

Joel doesn’t wake. He might be pretending but his chest still rises and falls slowly. Either he’s a hard sleeper or he’s deaf. Might be a little of both. You’re always tired after the rush of a big score. 

Ellie hasn’t woken up. Her eyes are closed, mouth hangs open. Down for the count.

You flex your fingers before you begin the next step, lick your lips and take a steadying breath. 

You’ve picked pockets before. Never tried it on a sleeping man, though. You keep your touch light, delicate, unbuttoning his waistcoat with one hand. It falls open for you and you can’t help but smile. 

The key to the handcuffs is tucked in the inner pocket. You saw him put it there. All you have to do is lift it out, unlock the cuff, and you’re a free woman. What you’re going to do after that, all alone in the middle of god only knows where, you’re not sure. But that’s not of material importance until you have that key. 

Your teeth dig into your bottom lip and you move slower than molasses in January, easing your first two fingers into the little pocket. Your fingertip connects with metal and your heart jumps. Pinching the ringed end, you hold on and pull. It’s awfully heavy. 

Because it’s not the key at all. You’ve fished a pocket watch out of Joel’s vest. Damn it. It’s a dainty little thing— fine gold with intricate scrollwork engraved on the back. The face is all busted up and it doesn’t seem to be ticking. Most importantly, though it’s not a key. You need that goddamn key if you want to get— 

The unmistakable click of a gun being cocked makes you freeze. Joel’s awake, dark eyes shining in anger. You’ve had guns pointed at you on a number of occasions but still it makes your blood run cold. 

“The hell are you doing?” he asks. 

“You’re dreaming,” you tell him. 

He doesn’t think that’s cute. The scowl on his face just deepens. 

“Alright,” you say, raising your hands in surrender.

You put the watch back in place and crawl back to your spot. 

“Gimme the damn blanket,” Joel growls. 

You toss it to him, cowed. But what did you expect? This had never been a very good plan.

Once you hear the hammer of Joel’s gun go back into place, you breathe a sigh of relief. It’s quiet for a while as Joel gets under his blanket and you know he’s laying there waiting for you to fall asleep. 

You try to settle down, wrapping your arms around yourself. The night air bites at you now that you’ve lost your blanket privileges.

“Sarah a sweetheart of yours?” you ask him. 

His head snaps your way so fast you think his neck might break. 

“You was talking to her in your sleep,” you explain. 

“Say that name again and I’ll wring your neck,” he says. 

He sounded like he meant it before but you feel like he’s looking forward to putting a bullet in you. You shiver. You’re smart enough not to say another word. 

---

Chapter 3

I'd love to hear from you! Comments and reblogs appreciated. My asks are always open!

[jae-bummer]

You Found Me

Request: Hey can I get Han or Bang Chan for soulmate AU? Thanks

Prompt:

14) Soulmate AU

Whenever your soulmate sings, you can hear their voice singing in your head.

Pairing: Stray Kids Han x Reader

Genre: Fluff

.

"All the problems and lot of things," you sang quietly to yourself. Plopping another t-shirt onto the clean laundry pile, you picked up a pair of socks. "Make me fool nal geopjaengiro mandeureotji."

"Dude," your roommate, Sam coughed, looking up from her own laundry. "Did you just switch languages mid-sentence?"

Blinking up at her, you paused for a moment, trying to block the lyrics scrolling through your mind. "Uh yeah, I think so."

"You think so?" she asked, quirking a brow.

Shaking your head in an attempt to clear the brain fog, you dropped the remaining laundry you were holding. "I'm pretty sure they're Korean?"

"The words? The singer?"

"The soulmate," you nodded.

It had been nearly a month since you had first heard the voice. Normally when a young adult reported that they were hearing voices that weren't their own, it was cause for concern. In this instance, it had been seen as completely normal.

You had finally synced with your soulmate. And man, he was intent on singing.

"Is it always in Korean?" Sam asked.

"Not always," you hummed. "Sometimes it's in English. Occasionally it's babbling nonsense."

Your roommate could only lift her brows in response.

"Don't get me wrong!" you gasped. "It's a great voice. Just a lot of...eh...weird self-expression."

"Have you been trying to figure out who it is?"

"I've been keeping a journal," you nodded. "Songs I've heard and when I hear them."

"Excellent," she whispered, rubbing her hands together. "Get me the journal and my phone. Your girl got some googling to do."

.

"I can buy myself flowers," Han sang, pulling his bag over his shoulder. "Write my name in the saaaand."

"Didn't know what a big Miley fan you were, Hannie," Chan laughed, packing his own bag as the two of them were leaving the studio.

"My soulmate is," Han sighed. "And they've apparently really been going through it."

"Any idea who the lucky guy or gal is?"

"Well, it's not any of you," Han muttered. "So at least there's that."

"I know, Lee Know didn't talk for a week when he found out," Chan grinned.

Han rolled his eyes before laughing. "He sang loudly AT me for days. He just couldn't believe it."

"You guys are soulmates," Chan shrugged. "I guess it's just in a different way."

"Apparently," Han grumbled. "But I don't even know where to start. I've thought about buying a corkboard and red string."

"Conspiracies and detective work aside," Chan sighed. "I think it may be up to them to find you."

"But what if I'm being too discreet!" Han gasped.

"Not a word I would associate with you, mate."

"What makes you think I'm so easily found?" Han grumbled as they finally started to leave the building. "I'm mysterious!"

"Also not a word I would use, but we've literally been on tour for months."

"So maybe we're forced to sing a certain set of songs in a certain order every couple of days! That doesn't mean anything!" Han said, throwing his arms in the air.

"Do you even listen to yourself when you speak?" Chan laughed.

"How do I ever expect them to find me?" Han whined, completely disregarding his older member.

"Something tells me they will," Chan nodded. "And you'll likely be shocked and act like this conversation never happened."

..

"I've got him!" Sam gasped. "Well...kind of."

"What do you mean kind of?" you moaned, flopping on the couch beside them.

"Technically I've got eight options, but it's looking a lot better than almost 8 billion."

"How in the world did you narrow it down to eight options?" you muttered.

"Well," she began. "I took the list of songs you had been writing down, and I assume you noticed, there's a pattern."

"The same twenty or so songs showing up every day for like three months, yeah," you said, shaking your head. "They're going through something."

"Or they're performing concerts."

"I'm sorry, what?" you asked, lifting your brows.

"Stray Kids. Homie is a member of Stray Kids," Sam smiled matter-of-factly.

Of course, you knew who Stray Kids were. At this point they were 80% of the music that was floating around in your head. You had just assumed your soulmate was a superfan and had inadvertently made you one as well.

You narrowed your eyes, incapable of believing them. "How do you know it's not just a really dedicated person who's been following them to each tour date?"

"Across three continents?" your roommate lifted her brows. "Multiple cities that are hours and hours away from each other?"

"I meaaan," you hummed. "Wealthy people do exist in this world."

"Yeah," Sam nodded. "But the much more logical thought is-"

"That my soulmate is a Korean idol?" you coughed. "Do you realize how ridiculous you sound?"

"Well," she grinned again, tapping at their phone excitedly. "I guess there's only one way to find out."

...

Han leaned over the table, attempting to make eye contact with Chan for what had to have been the tenth time. Finally growing impatient with the older member, he started to smack the table.

All seven of his other members instantly turned in his direction, various expressions of curiosity and irritation on their faces.

"They're here," he nearly shrieked.

"Well, that sounded ominous," Felix muttered, turning back to the album he was signing.

"Who's where?" Chan asked, shaking his head. He looked apologetically up at the fan waiting to speak with him.

"My soulmate," Han whispered in a total non-whisper.

Chan furrowed his brows. "How do you know?"

"Every single song they've played during the signing," Han continued. "I've heard it."

"Uhhh..."Chan trailed, his face totally blank. "Yeah, we all have."

"No!" Han gasped, frustrated. "I mean, I've heard it with my own ears, but I've heard it without my ears too."

"Han, look-"

"I hear their voice," Han finally finished. "My own brain and then their voice. It's all very complicated."

Chan smirked. "Didn't I say they would find you?"

"I don't know how," Han muttered.

Rolling his eyes, Chan turned back to face the fan waiting for him.

....

You took a deep breath as you stepped onto the stage. You would be ushered into a seat directly across from every Stray Kids member momentarily, and this thought alone made you feel queasy.

When Sam had prepared a full trip to Korea with tickets for a fan sign event, you had hoped to go in with a better plan than what you two had agreed on. Awkwardly singing in front of every member was the only way she felt like you could narrow down the candidates. After five different heated discussions about it, you finally conceded to her points. Now was the time to suck it up and do the damn thing.

Taking a step forward, a staff member directed you to your first member, Bang Chan. You tried to keep your fluttering heart under control as you took your seat. It was difficult not to daydream about each boy when you had no idea which one would be yours. Smiling shyly at him, you prepared yourself for what you figured would be an inevitable let down.

"Hi, I'm Y/N," you smiled. "Nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you too!" Chan grinned easily. He began to sign your album before looking up again.

You felt your heart skip a beat as his eyes met yours, but there was nothing beyond that. No spark, no lights, no birds singing Ave Maria.

Swallowing loudly, you launched into what still sounded like a terrible plan.

"Why do I keep getting attracted...jaseok gachi kkeullyeoga," you sang. "I cannot explain this reaction."

"Case 143?" Chan grinned, flipping to the page you had marked in your album. "Stuck in your head today?"

"Yes," you said breathlessly. "Has it been stuck in yours?"

Furrowing his brows, Chan shook his head. "I've actually had a new song we've been working on in my head most of the morning."

"Right," you said, gracefully accepting defeat. "You guys are working on a new album, right?"

"You didn't hear it from me," he smiled.

Nodding politely through the rest of the conversation, you tried to enjoy it as much as you could. You now knew that Chan wasn't your soulmate and that was okay. He was still a wonderful person that was more than worth talking to.

Up next was Felix. Settling into your seat, you could feel your heart begin to soften all over again. Felix was gorgeous and the instant wink he gave you was enough to halt your breathing. This had to be the worst otome game ever.

"I'm Y/N," you nodded. "It's nice to meet you."

"And you!" Felix hummed, busy signing your album. "How are you today?"

"I'm doing very well, thank you," you answered, already prepared to rip off the band aid. "I've had one of your songs stuck in my head all morning."

"Oh yeah? Which one?"

"Why do I keep getting attracted...jaseok gachi kkeullyeoga," you sang a little more confidently. "I cannot explain this reaction."

Felix looked up. His expression was amused but held no sign of recognition. You took a deep sigh before nodding to yourself. At this point, it was almost a relief to get this part over with.

"One, four, three," a voice to the left of Felix sounded both in front of you and independently in your head. "I love you."

Looking over with wide eyes, you made instant eye contact with the singer. Han. You felt like the wind had been knocked out of you and judging by his expression, he had felt the same.

"Oh, come on," Felix joked. "You'll have them in front of you in a minute. Don't steal my time with Y/N."

Han, obviously not listening, stood for a moment before sitting back down again. His eyes remained on yours as he reached across the table and took your hands. Slowly pulling you toward the empty seat in front of him, you thought you would burst into tears. The stupid plan had really worked.

"Yah!" Felix gasped, directing a glare at Han. Out of your periphery, you could see Chan smack his arm and shake his head. The leader had easily picked up on what was happening.

"You found me," Han said slowly, lifting his hand to touch your cheek, but halted his fingers from actually making contact. His handsome face was full of a wonder that set your head spinning. He acted like you were a mirage in front of him, something that was too good to be true.

"It took me awhile to figure out where to look," you admitted. It was suddenly difficult to catch your breath. Glancing to Han's still extended hand, you chose to lift your own and lace your fingers together.

Han looked to your entwined hands as if it was a new and exciting discovery. What a novel idea, to hold hands so easily with someone you're meant to be with forever. "Because I'm so mysterious right? And discreet?"

You grinned, feeling a warmth flood your face. "I wouldn't say that, no."

Han grinned as well, completely entranced. "I've heard your voice for weeks, but it sounds so amazing in person."

"Sorry," you said with a wince. "I know I'm not the best singer."

"Neither am I," he laughed.

"Yeah right!"

"Seriously! I would take hearing your voice over mine any day."

"Well," you said quietly. "Now I guess you're stuck hearing it."

"Not stuck," he said, shaking his head vehemently. "Stuck means I don't want to be here. But right now? There is no place I would rather be."

[mitsua]

in headcannon format, can you do Lucifer, Satan, and Belphegor with an MC who’s always really cold towards them but also have a soft spot for children? Like if Belphegor asks for a favor they’ll bluntly say that he should do it on his own but if Luke even looks at a plush they’ll buy it in a heartbeat and be so happy and gentle towards him

They don’t hate the brothers, they just. Really like taking care of kids and refuse to do the same for adults

Hello!! First of all, I'm so sorry for the delay.

This request sounds pretty interesting to me and I just had to try my best and make their headcanons a little more longer! Hope it's what you looked for <3

With an MC who's cold towards them but have a soft spot for children

Warnings: bratty behaviour from Belphegor, slightly cold reader I suppose?

Series: Obey me! SWD? Genre: littleee to no angst, mostly fluff

Words' count: 1.13k MC's. . . GN!

Since the beginning he could see you could stand your ground whenever you wanted to, if not, 'how you could have helped him and his brother's with that whole ordeal back on the attic incident days?'

He got to know you were a though and brave human. Then how is it that you're all smiles and cute laugh while spending time with Luke the chihuahua?

After he's seen that behaviour of yours towards no one but Luke, it gets difficult to act indifferently when he gets you to stand in front of him looking as serious as ever.

But that's it, you've never done anything cute or smile towards him really, so? It should mean nothing, if that chihuahua got a better joke that really made you laugh well, then that's that, yes.

He comes up with a plan.

He tries to recreate a similar occassion as the one you gladly offered help to Luke when you saw him baking at the HoL by himself just for fun. He wrecks his library a mess and sighs loudly and frustratedly to see if you'd offer help too. You do out of politeness though, but as his pride gets in the way and brushes it off as 'something that he'll get done in no time', you don't budge further and immediately retire. This freaks him out, he thought you'd pry a little more—but then again, he's only seen you do something for someone when it involved Luke, as he's never got the opportunity to watch you with other looking children—so maybe he should even be grateful you offered to help once.

He tries to pay no mind to those thoughts of you being kind towards other creatures and or people, but at least he now knows—if you ever offert to help again, he'll fight strongly to say 'yes'.

He'll try his best to slowly but surely try and get more reactions out of you, mostly because of his love for you, but his pride may get in the way more than one time again...

He respects you, mostly because you were the one who helped him through his inner battle about his hatred towards Lucifer and his very own self.

He's also researched about common human boundaries and came across a page that read about how they may change when your relation with the person goes further and you develop trust and fondness towards them.

Then he makes his job as a detective and tries to set up (not really 'cause they're mostly usual activities to do in the HoL) some scenarios to try and get a reaction from you that might mean you're relation has gotten stronger and maybe get you to smile like the time he sneaked a peek when Luke came to the house and saw you all giggly. The best reaction he got out of you was when he showed you a book about little demon creatures and the steps to take proper care of them. Your lips curled upwards a little and he saw tenderness in your eyes.

He understood, you liked children the best. Something he can't say he does too, but acknowledges some people do like more kids than others.

He gets frustrated often even after his discovery trying to get you to open up to him or even to get you to laugh about anything at all. He gets he's not the funniest out of his brothers, but he feels the necessity to, since a growing love has been looming over too long now in his heart—and the thought that he's done nothing more than given you his pact after all you did for him and his brothers haunts him.

Later then, he might settle to watch you enjoy your time from affar with Luke or even trying to blend with you two with the excuse of trying to learn more recipes.

For him you were reliable, you helped him get with his family after all he did, except—always with a stoic face.

That surely weirded him out at first because he remembered humans used to be smiling all the time he spent with Lilith in their world.

After a while he forgot his first impressions of you and moved along. Until one day he feels extremely tired to do a chore Lucifer tasked him to and asked if you could do it instead.

You were not new to his tricks and how he'd get his way to not repay you—and you had no interest in gaining another thing to do either, so you disagreed and told him to do it himself, 'as a demon he surely had many other ways to get what he wanted'. Of course this got him in a worst mood and grumpily went to run the errand.

Later on, after that messy event, he found himself observing you a little more. He noticed your behaviour towards his brothers and if you ever got the opportunity—towards any adult too.

'Why?' more possibly was his first question. Then he watched you take Luke around your city on a free weekend you agreed to gave Simeon, Luke and himself a tour around. Surprisingly, Simeon and Belphegor spent more time together walking behind Luke and you, who seemed to be having the time of your lives. He really didn't want to make a fuss about it but after you bought a plushie Luke had eyed a second too long without second thoughts, he started ranting about his observations to Simeon, who—to his not amusement—had been thinking the same. 'So you liked children the most? Why? They're little brats that don't know how to behave and whine too much. Hmm, why does he feel he's heard some of this being directed towards him in the past? But even if that was true, if he did behave like a child sometimes why wouldn't you treat him the same as you treat Luke?' Once your trip is over, watch out 'cause he'll definitely be way more troublesome and start asking snarkily why don't you treat him like you treat children after he asks for a favor and you decline. Of course you wouldn't mind, but at some time you'll grow tired of it and better explain yourself for him to stop being so annoying.

When you finish your explanation, he'll stop his rude behaviour and instead start to pout.

Don't worry, even if he has to put up with some nuisances to see you act so kind and smile just like you do, he'll eat up any remark or joke about it to enjoy the moment with you, and who knows, maybe even might end up liking children just like you too? After all, you taught him how to love humans once again.

All writings' rights reserved © 2024 Mitsua. (Credit to the respective owners of the base idea, pictures and tagged characters.) ⌇ my navigation!

[whoiwanttoday]

Last night, Joe Bob Briggs showed Cemetery Man, a movie I had seen many times before because it was one of those obscure cult classics here in the states, the kind that a certain type of nerd gravitates to and it means when I worked at a record store a guy there LOVED this movie. Like maybe his favorite movie. I think it's sorta fun but a mess and while it has the same issue as a lot of Italian genre work it somehow works better then a lot of them, so I like it but don't love it. I think I first saw this around 2000 and I had preconceived notions as someone who had seen many an Italian movie from the 70's. Which is they were painfully glamorous and about people who lived lives that felt strikingly sophisticated and cosmopolitan and were full of the most beautiful women in the world. They also didn't make sense, were frustrating in their lack of plot, and the acting wasn't great and the dubbing was ridiculous. All most all of those things are what most people think about these movies and for some people it's why they are great and for others, like me, it's why they are frustrating. A lot of it is the nature of the Italian film industry (RIP, it barely exists now whereas once upon a time it was one of the most important centers of film in the world). It made it's money by mastering dubbing and most Italian movies were shot where actors spoke in their native language because there was never going to be a non dubbed version. That means if you have say, a Finnish actress across from an English actor and an Italian actor playing a side character, in that scene the Finnish actress will speak Finnish, the English Actor will speak English, and the Italian actor will speak Italian, cause it's all going to get dubbed later so who cares. Not shockingly, this doesn't exactly lead to the best acting all the time. Over the top acting, sometimes really fun performances? Sure. Great acting? Not as often.

And why are they beautiful? Because Italian cinema is pretty misogynistic. This isn't a "Felini hates women" thing (but Christ, Felini hated women) it's the more that a woman's value was in her looks and good god did Italy just find the most beautiful women to put in their movies. Such as Anna Falchi, who I think Cemetery Man was her first lead role and you know what, she did a good job, so I am not going to slag on her acting or anything. But she was there because she is so fucking hot and looks even better naked than she does in clothing and that's a rare thing. For her career up until this movie she was largely a model and an actress who played, "The hot girl" in movies. Not as a lead but like if you are going to have a letter delivered to your stalwart police detective in a Giallo, why not have a hot girl in a short skirt and knee high boots deliver it? Those were what she played. This is all a long way of saying I have always been a genius because as a kid I figured out this is what they were doing AND from the first moment I saw Cemetery Man I said, "Jesus, she's hot". Guys, I was right then and I am right now. Today I want to fuck Anna Falchi.

[koiir]

TALK THAT TALK

Drabbles based on lyrics from twices “talk that talk”

𓈒࣪ 𐐪𐑂 ─ Pairings; Scaramouche, heizou, Alhaitham x gn!reader

𓈒࣪ 𐐪𐑂 ─ Genre/content; fluff, angst + comfort on Alhaithams, not proofread

“A to Z, you are quite sweet But I wanna skip the more important thing”

He hates this, Scaramouche hates it so much how you can’t seem to take a hint as he has tried to get you to notice these small things. You say you aren’t oblivious, but he begs to differ. How do you not notice it? Notice the way he treats you unlike he does with others?

He feels like his head is about to explode as he watches you chat away with another classmate. Stupid. You’re so stupid for not noticing the glances your classmate is giving you…you really are oblivious.

He’s trying to not make it obvious, yet he friends notice the way he eyes daggers at the classmate. They can only snicker seeing Scaramouche so worked up after only calling you a “friend” and nothing more. But they all know his true feelings, they just wonder if he will do anything.

They believe the indigo haired will just watch, yet his next movements leave them to raise an eyebrow.

He can’t deal with this, Scaramouche thinks to himself. He can’t let that classmate of yours who clearly is into you take what he has been longing for. The male makes his way up to you, completely dismissing the classmate.

“Scara?” He feels his heart beating and wants to smirk at the classmate at how easily he has gotten your attention, your eyes now glued on Scaramouche.

“Cmon, i gotta show you something.” He doesn’t even bother to wait for your response before grabbing your wrist. This is new, Scaramouche has never dared to make physical contact like this before. Maybe it’s a part of him that is possessive and wants to make it obvious. Especially to that classmate.

Here’s his chance, Scaramouche can finally get to the finish line of this. To the important part. With you two out of the classroom, the halls are empty as he stands in front of you. He keeps quiet but he knows you have your questions, he blushed looking away from you.

“I like you.”

He sees the way your eyes widen as your mouth is now agape, clearly not having this in mind. You didn’t expect a confession, much less for Scaramouche. He liked you?

“W-what?” You seem to be in a trance as you stare at him, but it’s anything but that as your mind races with thoughts. How? Why? You start to think back about your time being friends with Scaramouche and seeing if you could find any evidence of these feelings.

“Gosh [name] you’re so…stupid. You seriously didn’t know that I liked you?” “No! Absolutely not!”

He sighs out, but he grins as he sees you getting so worked up about not knowing this…and how he keeps insulting you for not realizing it.

“You actually like me?” He knows you have slight doubts, not expecting someone like him to have these types of feelings since he’s also so…. Himself.

“I’m not gonna say it twice, I actually like you idiot.” He wishes you could have been smarter…but it doesn’t change the fact that his heart beats for you and only you. Scaramouche doesn’t know why but he’s feeling rather bold, he pulls you in for a hug. You didn’t expect this….you didn’t even think he would have done something like this.

Baby, you know the answer, yes or yes / Don’t wanna waste time with the push-and-pull

It’s not exactly push and pull, most likely one sided with how heizou try’s to woo you. How long has it been since he’s…been like this for you? Ah, doesn’t really matter—cause it’s clear as day that heizou will never give up.

It feels like a lifetime with him working by your side, he almost views you as a beacon of hope whenever he has you on the same case as him. Yet he can’t deny that you are definitely the better the detective, yet maybe not with this…cause it seems you don’t bat an eye at his tactics as you wave him goodbye. Your grin making his face light up as he only wants more of this.

“Man alive… won’t you ever let that attitude go [name]?” You have your back turned away from heizou, as you roll your eyes. He actually asked you out…yet he played it off as a “catch up day” since you two have been so caught up in work. But with the way he wrapped an arm around you, it was obvious heizou wanted a date. From you.

“No, I probably won’t ever…” you want to say more, but you can’t voice out what you’re thinking in this moment. You don’t exactly know what to feel as you want to shut him down, but you know that isn’t what you truly want. You’re never doubt your thoughts or feelings, so why now?

“Won’t you say anything [name]? Don’t leave me hanging!” Heizou seems to resemble a lost puppy as he looks at you wishing for you to turn around. You know you should, maybe that would help give you your answer. You turn to see him and see the glint in his eyes, you feel your heart pound seeing him like this.

“I… i don’t know.” “What do you mean you don’t know?!”

He’s a little surprised at your answer, since he thought you would give an actual answer instead of an “I don’t know.” He feels a new idea pop into his mind, one that is bound to make you say yes.

“Well….” Heizou backs away from you, at teasing grin making a way onto his face. “You have two choices…” why is he making this so suspenseful? You feel yourself start to become more nervous, but not in that bad way—almost as if you’re awaiting for his next words as you become more giddy. But of course you don’t show it.

“Yes…or yes?” Huh? Oh. He’s asking about the date…you have two choices…yes or yes….

It was such a cliché thing for him to say, not giving you a choice to say “no.” Maybe that’s what you needed, cause you felt like you had the answer you needed. Definitely not because you didn’t want to admit you wanted to go on a date with him…

“So that’s your move heizou?” You now share a grin as you let your facade wash away as you start to feel true to yourself.

“Well to answer your question….yes.” You see the way his grin grows larger yet more pure as he feels himself filled with joy by your answer. It seems his tactic worked as you gave him the choice he had been wanting for so long.

Talk that talk, just one word / Talk that talk, l-o-v-e

He doesn’t know what to do, Alhaitham try’s to think of what to with this situation. It started with you two enjoying the company of the other, it felt almost perfect. To good to be true. And when those three words fell out of your lips, he felt himself become blank. Everything stopping as he took in what you had told him.

“I love you.”

Now as he sits with the emptiness of the library, Alhaitham wonders why the hell he kept quiet. How he had a battle of doubt with his feelings, he just needed the time to think about this. It’s not because it was early to say those words, but he thought if he should say it back. Is he capable of your love?

He feels stupid, so stupid for not talking it out with you. Cause now he has left you to avoid him and he knows he only has himself to blame. Alhaitham knows the answer, he wishes he could have known this earlier. When you spilled your heart to him.

It feels like time has gone slower, he doesn’t bat an eye at anyone as he thinks of the way back to you. And thankfully he is able to find you, your back facing him as alhaitham watches the way your gaze is fixated on the clear view of flowers.

He feels his stiff body now become more relaxed seeing you so peaceful, but h his heart breaks as he watches you notice his presence. It’s evident your hurt as you see him, and Alhaitham wants nothing but to fix that.

You stay still as he walks closer, he just hopes you don’t shut him down.

“Why are you here? Aren’t you busy?” He would expect you to be irritated, but your tone is soft. It’s almost as if you’re nervous to see him especially after what happened.

“I love you [name] and I’m sorry I couldn’t say it when you told me.” He feels like he should say more, he had almost all day to figure out the right words, yet love is difficult. Especially when trying to find the right words.

He knows you find peace whenever he holds you, so he hopes it can help you understand how he truly feels. As he pulls you in for the hug he hears you mumble. You mumble about how you’re sorry, and how you should have waited.

“Don’t say that, you should never hide how you feel. I was stupid for not telling you that I felt the same, I…I just was shocked that you loved me.”

Alhaitham almost felt doubt when he heard you tell him those words, why would you love him? But he should have know that you were honest, you always had done everything for him. Yet he didn’t believe you in that moment, and that is what hurts him most.

You don’t say anything as you feel his heartbeat against you, you have a natural instinct to hold him closer. You know how Alhaitham would get, and you knew he would do anything in his power to replace your pain with joy.

“…i love you okay?” You want to make sure he knows this, because you never want him to doubt your love for him.

“Please remember that.”

And he will. Alhaitham makes that promise to you and himself to always trust your word, because he knows you wouldn’t ever lie to him about.

A/n; wish I added more characters but I wanted to get something done so might do a part two…

[silent-sanctum]

During sdc Kakyoin notices that reader and Jotaro like each other but they’re too oblivious to realize it, so he acts as a wingman.

Hello dear anon! Sorry it took a while to fulfill this request but hey, your request has been written ^^. Oh just to add in a lil something, I've written another request that's similar to yours, so maybe you'd like to check it out as well! Hope you enjoy~~

Playing Cupid - Jotaro x Reader

word count: 2k+

Kakyoin wasn’t the type to be invested in romance. The genre didn’t pique genuine interest from him due to the majority having a plot that involved someone getting paired with someone else and nothing else.

But just because he isn’t one to indulge in romantic content doesn’t mean he’s completely naïve to real-life chemistry. Most especially if the main characters so happens to be two of his close friends- one being a closed-off punk and the other an outspoken gal.

The second you stepped into the scene with utmost confidence and a flustered Jotaro in tow, he could detect the invisible spark between the two, with how the both of you would bounce off of each other’s energy seamlessly without the presence of friction. It’s as if all the bickering, subtle touches, and subconscious choice to stick together came naturally.

And Kakyoin would have enjoyed watching these two people get together... if it weren’t for the obvious hesitation present between you two.

From the delinquent’s part, he could understand. Jotaro wasn’t one to be expressive or open to anyone about his emotions. Everyone had to see the miniscule changes to his face, body language, and gestures in order to know him better on a deeper level, and no one could do that better than you and your keen observation skills towards people.

However, Kakyoin was more confused when it came to your part. You never seem to hesitate when you want something in mind. You often butted heads with numerous Stand users, constantly spoke out to the older adults of the group when you had something to say during the mission, had no issue with dealing conflict between parties as an assertive peacemaker.

But he couldn’t figure out why you couldn’t blurt out a simple confession when it was clear as day that you had feelings for the young Joestar.

It’s not like Jotaro would decline your approaches when he didn’t mind whenever you engaged with him in every opportunity you had. Kakyoin could tell from the way he would look away with a natural blush on his cheeks, the rare smiles he’d show, and the efforts he placed to be around you when he wasn’t the type to do that with others.

You two were into each other but both of you were two idiots that were too oblivious to see that.

So Kakyoin had to put things into course the best his single ass could do.

In certain situations when he found himself in the middle of you two, he’d offer up some excuse to leave you two alone or even suggesting the pair be together during area explorations, in hopes some extra bonding could get you two somewhere.

Alas no progress has been made and he started devising.

The first plan he had in mind was to get either you or Jotaro to think of the other, fueling each other to the point of letting out their inner sentiments. He wasn’t the best at the initiating conversations like you or Polnareff, but he did improve ever since he joined the gang.

He deployed his idea to action and...

“So I’ve noticed you’ve been sticking by Jotaro’s side more often than before. Mind telling me what’s all that about?”

You widened your eyes and flushed a faint pink. “Ah it’s nothing. I just find it more familiar when I’m with him, since you know, he’s the first guy I became friends with among all of us here.”

“I see, but you know what else I’ve noticed?” Kakyoin placed a finger under his chin with a thoughtful expression. “He’s been extra attentive to you lately.”

“O-Oh? You think so? But maybe that’s just because I’m a girl. You know how he is with the non-annoying females...”

“I don’t think so. He wouldn’t waste his time looking after the wellbeing of someone he doesn’t deeply care for. Hell, he’s been doubling his gestures for your happiness and security during the one time you were gloomy.”

You let out an antsy laugh, turning away from his gaze. “Er- He might just be doing those things since I’m his first long-lasting friend and all- Oh! Would you look at that!” You abruptly stood, faking a look to your watch. “It’s about time I meet up with Pol and Avdol!”

---

“Hey Jojo,” Kakyoin said as he sat on the chair adjacent to the relaxing teenager. Everyone else was out exploring the new area, leaving him the opportunity to talk. “Up for a chat?”

Jotaro let out one approving grunt and he took that response as a “yes”.

“Take this with a grain of salt, but you’ve been unusually close to Y/N these days,” he said that prompted the other to look at him with a pointed glare. “I mean I don’t blame you. She’s a delight to be with and I frankly would say I’m impressed by how you’re spending time with her-”

“What are you up to Kakyoin?” Jotaro cut him off, arms crossed.

“Well you see... I’m curious why the always-reserved-and-no-time-for-bullshit Jotaro Kujo is often hanging out with a girl who’s the polar opposite of him.”

“It’s none of your business,” the delinquent said with no hesitation. Another inquiry was about to slip past him when the other stood, tipping his hat over his face before walking off.

Though Kakyoin could still see that faint red in his cheeks that appered every time you were brought up.

He wasn’t sure if Plan A worked well. The main reason why he doubted it was because the two of you still remained the same as before, albeit with a hint of bashfulness now mixed in.

At this point, it became lowkey frustrating to see you two pining for each other without acting on it, but at the same time, found it lovely to watch you be lovey dovey towards the raven-haired, with the latter softening his demeanor at your every interaction.

Desperate moments called for desperate measures. Plan B arose and this time, he had help.

The guy looked like the type who would indulge in the concept of love. It might be because he came from a place known for romance, or maybe it was naturally ingrained in his system. He did know his ways on how to appeal to the female locals with a semblance of suave.

It would come to no surprise if he had an idea on how to pair you together.

“Pol, I need your help in something.”

The Frenchman busied himself with styling his silver hair up, but he glanced at the cherry-haired student with a smile. “What might that be?”

“You know Jotaro and Y/N? They’re kinda... into each other-”

“And it’s annoying that they’re not together yet! Oh my god, finally someone who shares the same feelings I have!” Polnareff dropped his comb to turn to Kakyoin.

“Right? That’s why I need your help.” He placed both hands on the adult’s shoulders. “They’re driving me crazy.”

“Say no more friend. I will do the best that I can.”

Plan B was put into action which ended up in Polnareff doing most of the work with Kakyoin in the side helping out with the minor mishaps.

The adult did what he did when Plan A was still a thing- had a long chat with both parties... but with extra steps. Unlike his straightforward approach of simply chatting, Pol’s tactics involved getting the person in a preferred activity where he and they could hang out in. Only then when they’re eased into it will he initiate the chat.

Kakyoin couldn’t tell the difference between their approaches but he trusted the older and hopefully wiser person in the room.

But Pol did what he did by taking you on a casual date on a nearby cafe, treating you with food and drinks before having the “friend talk”, while he offered the delinquent quality time for smoking around the corner, only for him to somehow transition into the topic of teenage crushes. Kakyoin helped in convincing them to go with him as part of his contribution.

By the end of the day (or rather the week), not much had changed similar to his efforts of trying to get them to confess, but the Frenchman had assured the bright-haired student to “give it time” and it’ll all fall into place.

Kakyoin didn’t know what he meant by that but he knew better to doubt a hopeless romantic.

Weeks passed and by this time, they just defeated another enemy Stand user and they thought they’d give themselves a small break on a small island where Avdol stayed, waiting for the submarine Mr. Joestar acquired that will transport them to Egypt.

Night came and the crew had just finished supper and now off doing whatever they felt like doing during the resting period. The cherry-haired stood by Polnareff the entire time, discussing matters about the updates of the latter’s plan. According to him:

“If my idea goes through, expect him to enter into pondering mode sometime within tonight. Then, we approach him and offer him ‘the advice’”

“Polnareff, you’ve been saying the exact same thing for the past few days.”

“I know, I know! But hear me out! This night is a moment where all of us are resting. Because there’s nothing much to do, Jotaro has no other choice but to retreat into his head and think, and what else is there to think about other than all of my chat about Y/N?”

“His mother's life?”

“W-Well that too, but also the success of his possible love life.”

Kakyoin would have given up with his so-called advice and perhaps even his whole plan of pairing you two... if it weren't for the envisioned scene happening before their eyes- you sat beside him the whole time until you excused yourself and left, leaving Jotaro still in his spot hunched over and deep in thought.

The Frenchman nudged his side and with a wink, he cocked his head towards the delinquent’s direction, muttering “advice time”.

So they did exactly that with Kakyoin being the one to open up first followed by the adult. In the end, you returned and led the poor confused guy into the forest.

Both Kakyoin and Polnareff were left speechless on their seats as they realized that all this time, they were too hyperfocused on Jotaro’s response that they didn’t consider how you would respond to the whole chat Pol stirred up.

After all, you were the more expressive between the both of you. It made sense and the cherry-haired teen didn’t know why he forgot about that minor tidbit about you.

“Do you think they’ll finally figure it out?”

“I really hope so. I’m getting tired of them just walking circles around each other.”

Few minutes passed and they hadn’t returned from their private talk. Polnareff had retreated to slumber land but Kakyoin stayed awake with his curiosity getting the best of him.

He crept through the bushes, toeing over fallen leaves and twigs to not cause any noise. To his knowledge, there was only one scenic spot in Avdol's place and he was willing to bet that you discovered the area as well.

With the path in mind, the teen continued trekking forward until he could see a break in the line of trees.

He reached his destination with admirable stealth and hid himself behind one of the wider trunks. With caution, Kakyoin leaned over slowly to get the glimpse of success.

On the gentle incline of the clearing, he found you peacefully napping with your body blanketed with his black gakuran, laying across the delinquent’s lap and your head situated on his shoulder, while the latter smiled to himself with a new glow to his face as had his eyes closed and his arm placed behind you to support your weight.

And to that, Kakyoin could finally put his goal to rest and actually allow himself to rest as well.

Guess playing cupid with the Frenchman was something he could again in the future.

[the-roo-too]

Can I request a Sullyoon fic where it’s a fake dating au where they both start dating to get the two people they like to be jealous for the reader and Sullyoon to simultaneously fall for each other while fake dating

real you -> bandmate! seol yoona

-haewon keeps choking, kyujin gets to play a detective, it seems you and sullyoon are causing quite the commotion at nmixx dorm.

warnings: fake dating 🧀, reader has a crush on bae (same), sullyoon prefers lily over y/n at first (…also same), kyujin is the actual smart one

genre: fluff; crack; social media?

notes: sorry for the long wait 😺 hope you like it bestie 🫶 | this is kinda the first official request 🤭🤭

⊱ ━━━━.⋅ εïз ⋅.━━━━ ⊰

“hello nswers!” your leader greeted the live cheerfully (or as cheerfully as haewon gets). the rest of you clapped along, smiling to the camera as some displayed the comment section on their phones. sullyoon, who was sitting next to you, had one device on her lap.

“what are they saying, unnie?” you asked the older girl in a hushed tone. she smiled in response, showing you the chat which consisted mostly of the nswers sending their greetings.

the seating arrangement was jiwoo, bae, kyujin, you, sullyoon, lily, haewon. jinsol- much to your dismay- wasn’t sitting next to you, but you tried not to seem bummed out on camera. it would seem suspicious, and it’s not like anyone knew about your small crush on your band mate.

you couldn’t even try to interact with bae, as she was occupied with the two youngest, the trio goofing around. they were clearly having fun so you decided to leave the younger girls alone.

you turned your head to look at the three unnies you had on your left. lily and haewon were quite busy (the leader was making fun of lily’s accent), which left sullyoon to entertain you.

to be honest, you never really interacted much with her. despite being of similar age, the two of you didn’t have much topics to talk about besides work related stuff. maybe this fairly busy live was your sign to make better friends with the other girl?

a shiver went down your back. you glared at the window, which jiwoo insisted needed to stay opened. she said something about fresh air, but now you were becoming fresh ice cube.

“you okay, y/n-ah?” you met sullyoon’s eyes and shook your head sideways with a small pout.

“i’m cold, unnie.” you whined as a giggle escaped her lips.

“come here, you little baby.” the older girl draped a arm over your shoulder, hogging you a bit closer.

„just don’t close the window!” you threw a playfully glare at jiwoo.

“yeah, fresh air. i remember.”

⊱ ━━━━.⋅ εïз ⋅.━━━━ ⊰

“ah, you guys were so cute today! yoona why aren’t you babying me like that too~!” jiwoo fake cried after the live has ended. she was pouting at pointing at the couple comments that nswers left in the chat. most of them pointed out your little interaction with sullyoon and how ‘cute’ it was.

“i’m just less annoying than you, jiwoo.” you stuck your tongue at the younger girl.

“yah! unnie, she’s bullying me!”

“i don’t know which side to pick.” jiwoo looked ridiculously at haewon, who just shrugged her shoulders with a awkward smile.

“y/nnie? your phone keeps buzzing.” taking a glance in yoona’s direction, you could see your phone in her hand, the screen lighting up every couple seconds. the older girl passed you the device as you clicked on the notification banner.

“oh god, it’s the manager.” you said with a worried look on your face. “he says he has some news?”

everyone in the room turned to look at you, some with equally surprised looks, others almost pitying.

“what does it say exactly?” asked sullyoon, leaning closer to you to take a look at the screen.

“he wants to talk with you and me before he goes back to the ceo.”

“text him back, see what’s going on.”

you looked hesitantly at sullyoon. a awkward silence enveloped the room.

“is everything fine, y/n?” finally your leader spoke up.

“yeah, everything’s good.” you felt yoona look at you weirdly, but she didn’t speak a word. at the same time, bae finally stopped focusing on the two youngest members and directed her attention to the two of you. a small lightbulb appeared above your head. you glanced at the messages and back at sullyoon. “it’s great even.”

⊱ ━━━━.⋅ εïз ⋅.━━━━ ⊰

“oh god.” that’s the first thing sullyoon said after the group went to get ready for nighttime, leaving you alone.

you just finished talking with the manager on your phone. he called shortly after the exchange of the texts.

“yeah. unnie, manager said the rest shouldn’t know it’s a fake relationship.”

“but they know us! not to be rude, but outside of being band mates, you aren’t the person i interact with the most.” you sighed, nodding your head. out of everyone in nmixx, yoona definitely wasn’t your closest friend.

“we could make it like love at first sight thingy?” thinking about it again, you cringed. “this sounds wrong.”

“it’s the best option we have, i guess. so what’s the story?”

“let’s say we interacted now, i guess we got closer during the live. there was a spark, boom. the statement should be released somewhere around the comeback so we have roughly one week to make a believable lie.” sullyoon nodded along, taking in your speech. she then looked you in the eyes, her face suddenly serious.

“before anything starts, i need to clarify one thing with you, y/n. there is someone among the group that i’m interested in. i don’t know if that makes our situation awkward.” a look of surprise flashed on her face when you visibly brightened at her news.

“no unnie, it makes everything easier!i like bae, you like someone, no hard feelings. we can try to keep this thing for some time, maybe they’ll react somehow, we break it up after the promotions and everything falls in place.”

“okay, i like that plan. it’s a deal?” you took sullyoon’s outstretched hand in yours, shaking it lightly.

“deal.”

⊱ ━━━━.⋅ εïз ⋅.━━━━ ⊰

you were tying your shoes as yoona got you a matching jacket. the older girl thought that a ‘date’ between the two of you should happen, but the public shouldn’t know yet. so here you were, at 6 am getting ready to leave the dorm in hopes of finding some caffe before the people start coming for breakfast.

just as you were about to leave the dorm, the sound of quiet footsteps made you abruptly stop in your tracks.

“yoona? and y/n? where are you going at-?” haewon had to squint to see the clock in the dimly lit room. “5:10? should we get ready for practice? i thought we had a day off…”

“we’re going out for a coffee, unnie. we should be back before 7!” said yoona. your leader gave her a skeptical glance, then you, then she looked back at the clock.

“next time i see jyp i’ll ask him for a raise. you’re my new main arguments. kyujin burning the oven last week is the second strongest point.” with that, haewon turned on her foot and left back to her room, leaving you and sullyoon in a fit of giggles.

“let’s go, unnie?”

“mhm. i think i know a place.”

⊱ ━━━━.⋅ εïз ⋅.━━━━ ⊰

“haewon unnie texted me. she says we should go back, i promised bae breakfast and lily is complaining about some singing.” yoona seemed to perk up at the mention of the aussie singer.

“finish that coffee then, y/n.”

“okay, unnie.” you downed the rest of the drink and stood up. before you could take out your card to go pay, sullyoon was already speed walking towards the counter. she caught your gaze just as she paid for the drinks, sticking out her tongue lightly in a playful manner.

when she came back to collect her jacked, you pouted at her. “i wanted to pay, unnie~!”

she laughed at your whining.

“next time you can try to race me.”

“there’s a next time?”

“yeah, they have great drinks here.” with that, you also threw on your jacket and the both of you left the cozy caffe. it was around 6:30, yet it was very chilly outside.

“i should have worn something warmer…” suddenly, something very side covered your eyes. when you moved it out of sight, sullyoon appeared to be without her hat.

“can’t have you getting sick on me, y/nnie. haewon would kill me.” she laughed, taking your hand. as you walked the way back to the dorm trying not to be spotted, you noticed how pleasantly soft the older girl’s hands were.

⊱ ━━━━.⋅ εïз ⋅.━━━━ ⊰

the week passed with you two going on little outings. they were supposed to be pretend dates, to make the situation seem more believable for both your members and the public.

much to your disappointment, after bae nagged you for breakfast, she never had another problem with you going out with sullyoon. on the contrary- most members seemed really happy to see the two of you become closer. most, except for kyujin.

don’t get me wrong, she was happy for her unnies. but still, you could swear she side eyed you both when no one else was looking.

“so, how’s it going for you two, y/n unnie?” she asked during one breakfast. it was a peaceful day, and you didn’t expect the maknae to become suspicious before the news come out.

nervously, you glanced at sullyoon. “in what sense?”

“i just noticed you and yoona unnie got closer after the last live. it’s very cute!” your poor leader choked on the water she was drinking. while she suffered and fought for breath (started barking like a dog), you laughed awkwardly.

“i guess. it’s really fun to hang out with yoona unnie!”

“i know. does that mean you’re dating?” haewon, who was given another glass of water, choked yet again. with a frown on her face and a wet shirt, she looked up at the maknae.

“yah, kyujin. you’re doing the laundry this weekend.”

this time sullyoon spoke up. she played her part, reaching for your hand ever so subtly, but making sure bae sitting next to her could notice the move.

“no, kyujinnie. we’re just friends now.” she threw you a warm glance, which you were sure the maknae noticed.

“okie dokie~ whatever you say, unnies!”

⊱ ━━━━.⋅ εïз ⋅.━━━━ ⊰

march 20 finally arrived. the release of the album and the news about you dating sullyoon. since the mv was already up, you only had to wait. your last ‘date’ the previous day was the confirmation dispatch needed. if your ceo was correct, the article should be up in a couple minutes.

“haewon unnie is flooding my phone again.” you said, showing the device to sullyoon. the two of you were seated on your bed, while the rest had schedules. if it wasn’t for that, the whole group would probably bother you the moment the news came out.

“the group chat is going wild too. kyujin is sending some weird memes?” sullyoon showed you her phone, the messages flying by so fast you could barely read them.

“should we reply to them, unnie?”

“we’ll see each other in a second during the dance practice recording, i don’t think we should bother now.” the older girl had a point. your manager should arrive in a couple minutes to take you to the studio.

“okay then.” a notification appeared on your phone, showing that your ride was already there.

“let’s go?” yoona stretched her arm towards you to help you get up from the bed. she squeezed your hand gently before the two of you went to meet the manager.

⊱ ━━━━.⋅ εïз ⋅.━━━━ ⊰

“i feel betrayed.” haewon had her arms crossed over her chest as you and sullyoon arrived at the dance studio. there was a small smile on her face, but you could tell she was trying to be intimidating.

a chorus of ‘same’ followed after haewon’s words, making you laugh.

“sorry guys! nobody was supposed to find out, if it makes you feel better.” you looked at sullyoon. as you spoke, she paid you all her attention. the rest rarely did that.

“y/nnie is right. we just weren’t as cautious yesterday as we should’ve been…”

your group talked some more, before the recording could being. what surprised you was that although the girls complained about finding out from dispatch, they were all happy for you.

to some extent, you felt bad about the whole situation.

during the water break, you looked around the room. it was weird. not in the sense that anyone was behaving weirdly. no, it was about you. about how surprised you were when bae stayed unbothered about the news. about how you were even more surprised to notice that you too didn’t care.

you glanced at the girl in question. she was laughing at something kyujin said.

‘i’ve liked bae for some time now…’

your gaze then fell to yoona, who was taking pictures to post later on instagram. she caught your eyes and smiled brightly.

like a switch flipped, you suddenly realised something.

‘but i think i like sullyoon more.’

⊱ ━━━━.⋅ εïз ⋅.━━━━ ⊰

nighttime is the best time to think. sadly, it wasn’t technically nighttime yet. most of the group were already back in their respective rooms. jiwoo just left, making it only you, yoona and haewon in the living room.

the leader looked at you. “as much as i made a fuss… i hope you both know i’m proud of you. this country isn’t the most accepting so coming out must’ve taken a lot of courage.” she nodded to herself after the little speech.

“thank you, unnie. it means a lot.”

“i’ll get going now. someone has to wake up the dorm tomorrow because i don’t trust you all won’t be late on your own. goodnight girls!” haewon went to hug sullyoon. she then came to you and delivered a soft kiss to your forehead.

“unnie!”

“goodnight kiss is mandatory for everyone under 19.” saying that, the leader left.

your eyes fell to yoona. she seemed quiet all of a sudden.

“is something wrong?”

“i don’t think i can do this anymore.”

“okay.” you nodded your head. then, a sudden realisation went over you. “wait, what?”

“this whole ‘fake dating’ thing.”

“i don’t understand unnie.” sullyoon looked at you with a unreadable face.

“i screwed this up!” she let out a frustrated sight. you felt something break inside you. she couldn’t even bear fake dating you, how could you think she could like you back.

“i-i don’t think i’m following, unnie…”

“what is there to follow? i fucked up! this- this whole thing is real for me, you know! the hand holding, the ski ship and now haewon unnie! i never felt that jealous of her and lily but with you-“ a smile overcame your face. maybe you worried too much.

“unnie?”

“what!”

“please, just shut up and kiss me.”

“I KNEW IT!” both you and sullyoon jumped up at the sound of someone shouting. you whipped your head, your gaze falling on kyujin. she wore her pyjamas and was holding a glass of water in her hand.

“kyujin?”

“i heard you a week ago, unnies! fake dating blah blah, you were meant to be! oh my god i should become a cupid i’m so good at this-!”

“kyujin?”

“yes, unnie?”

“go to sleep before i call haewon.”

⊱ ━━━━.⋅ εïз ⋅.━━━━ ⊰

[imsoveryveryconfusedatlife]

Tag Game: Writeblr Interview

Thanks @tildeathiwillwrite for the tag here!

I hesitate to tag as many people as this is one of those things where there’s no point in doing it twice but tagging:

@xenon-writes-sometimes, @rumeysawrites, @rivenantiqnerd, @leahnardo-da-veggie, @kaylinalexanderbooks, and an open tag!

This is going to be a long post so I’m adding a break here

Short stories, novels, or poems?

I cannot stand most poetry. Maybe it’s because I’m still in school and have to analyse it but I can’t deal with how abstract it can be. I want to write more short stories but my one and only WIP is probably gonna be closer to a novel, if and when I finish it.

What genre do you prefer reading?

Fantasy, especially high fantasy. Murder mysteries and detective stories in general are a close second. Most other genres are reserved for spin offs or fan fiction.

Are you a planner or a write as I go kind of person?

I make a plan that I then actively ignore my OCs force me to not use

What music do you listen to while writing?

Most of the time I listen to the one Reddit podcast I’ve listened to every episode of because I can zone out and I don’t miss anything important. This one is a bit of a bad habit because it distracts me, but EPIC the musical is my current hyperfixation and I listen to that constantly as well.

Favorite books/movies?

Because I have the reading comprehension of an 11 year old we have Murder Most Unladylike (I would die for this series), its spin off the Ministry of Unladylike Activity, The Hunger Games but only really the first book, How to train your dragon but only really the Netflix show and the first movie (the books are great but I haven’t read them in 7 or 8 years and because they’re so different from the movies I’m not sure if I’d like them anymore)

Any current WIPs?

Gold, Greed and Gods which is a vaguely Victorian fantasy about the main cast trying to find a cult before it engulfs the world in literal chaos. And also magical shenanigans and timeline fuckery

Create a character description of yourself:

Honestly I’d rather not. Sorry!

Do you like incorporating actual people you know into your writing?

No it kinda weirds me out. The closest I’ll get is asking my one irl mutual about their experiences with stuff that I (as a someone who is cishet and perisex) do not understand

Are you kill happy with your characters?

I’m not the biggest fan of angst so no. If anyone was gonna die you aren’t allowed to get attached to them so I don’t get attached them hence why the only dead characters in my WIP die before or very soon after it begins. That isn’t to say my characters aren’t affected, but I can only imagine any potential readers will be neither here or there about those characters.

Coffee or Tea while writing?

I don’t really like hot drinks but I hate the smell of coffee so tea?

Slow or fast writer?

A secret third thing which is I wrote 5000 words in 3 hours yesterday so for atleast the next week I won’t be able to string a sentence together

If you were in a fantasy world, what would you be?

A healer would be fun? I wanna be a doctor so I guess that’s close enough. I cannot imagine I’d survive very long without my glasses/ contacts in any case.

Most fav book cliche:

Not really a book cliche but horny bard memes will never not be funny. I also love juxtaposition between characters, if done tastefully, eg. Ray of sunshine is best friends/ dating the grumpiest character alive. I also just love ray of sunshine characters in general. Also, calm/ happy go lucky/ mentor figure characters who have really high body counts and it’s just kind of an open secret are really fun.

Least favorite cliche:

A lot of romance tropes are tied for last place: miscommunication, any reference or idea that firsts=better (virginity, first loves, one true love etc.), not like other girls

Also love triangles. The only good love triangles are the ones that end in polycules. No exceptions (/hj)

I probably just have a problem with like most romance stories

Favorite scene to write?

I love when characters reference unique worldbuilding things that I actually had to think about. Similarly, if I feel I’m doing them well, exposition dumps can be fun.

Reason for writing?

Because blirbos in my head yearn for freedom

On a more serious note, I’ve gotta do something healthy with all this escapism and maladaptive daydreaming.

—

Questions:

Short stories, novels, or poems?

What genre do you prefer reading?

Are you a planner or a write as I go kind of person?

What music do you listen to while writing?

Favorite books/movies?

Any current WIPs?

Create a character description of yourself:

Do you like incorporating actual people you know into your writing?

Are you kill happy with your characters?

Coffee or Tea while writing?

Slow or fast writer?

If you were in a fantasy world, what would you be?

Most fav book cliche:

Least favorite cliche:

Favorite scene to write?

Reason for writing?

—

Thanks again for the tag!

[olderthannetfic]

This might be a somewhat controversial opinion/rant, but as a black queer woman (i really id myself as being more genderqueer, but since i'm afab there are just things about womanhood growing up that has just stuck with me as formative experiences.), I find it really difficult to build community with queer men, even in fandom. I've tried to have friendships with transmen, but so many just feel the need to ramp up misogyny to 1000 to validate themselves as men, and then with gay men, some will say the most out-of-pocket, misogynistic things but because they're not attracted to women, it's somehow okay, I guess. But lately, there's been this trend among queer men of saying and doing misogynistic things but justifying it by stating they're talking about white, cishet women. But the thing is, there's nothing in what they said that can be specifically applied to only white women. It's a target to all women (I refuse to play the oppression olympics of who has it worse). And now I see other queer women in fandom saying the same things to each other. I typically stay in anime/manga and danmei fanbases because that's where a lot of my interests are now, and I don't have to deal with USAian nonsense as much. But now that 7 Seas has unfortunately decided to translate more danmei into English that's changed. A queer male fan of a popular series has been unfollowed en masse by danmei fans for saying wildly misogynistic things about the author. Everyone all week has been scrambling to figure out where this came from. "He only ever said these things about cishet white women," but you guys... he was always talking about us the whole time. Now, I just don't know. Now I see why men aren't generally welcomed in or are common within romance-genre circles. It's just really frustrating to see the same thing over and over again. I'll add on that the only genuinely cool queer men in fandom I've met have come from yuri circles. The ones who try to talk about BL are, from my experiences, generally misogynistic, toxic, and feel as though everything should center around them because they're men and in BL the characters are men, as well. But when other women don't want to form community with them, they scream about 'homophobia' and 'fetishizing gay men.' No, you're just an annoying, awful person to be around, and the queer male yuri fans didn't want to deal with you either. Has anyone else, or you specifically, dealt with this? Is there a way to become friends with more queer men in BL spaces who aren't... like That? Or are there specific things/patterns to look for as far as who to avoid?

--

God, so much of this sounds so familiar.

I've known a sad number of trans dudes who overcompensate in dickhead ways. A lot of them do calm down a few years into presenting publicly as male, but it's infuriating to see that crap even if it's temporary.

I will say that two of my close circle of offline friends are trans men, including one who came out during the time we've all been friends. The defensive tomfoolery is in no way inevitable. Both of these dudes are nonwhite and have experience in various other geeky and queer spaces beyond BL (gaming, drag queens, etc.). Maybe that broader perspective helped, or maybe they're just nicer and more mature people than a lot of the little jerkfaces I run across online.

TBH, I often have better luck in offline meetups because to show up at all, people have to be a little more comfortable with getting along with others and behaving themselves. It's also sometimes easier to detect the people you want to back away from slowly when you can see how they treat people in person.

One of my neighbors is a cis gay guy. White, able bodied, middle class, yadda yadda. Exactly the demographic you'd expect to be the worst in certain spaces. He and his partner have lots of queer friends, and plenty of them aren't fellow cis gay guys, which is basically my litmus test for non-annoying cis gay guys offline. (Toxic cis gay dude culture is its own kettle of fish with a different set of issues than defensive trans boy culture, but I've encountered it plenty too.)

This neighbor is interested in geikomi and was delighted to find out I'm a fellow nerd and eager for all my nonfiction book recs about queer Japanese stuff. We don't necessarily overlap in our manga tastes, but there's still a lot we do share. When I ramble on about how AFAB queer people and/or bisexuals study history that's presented as cis gay men's history because that's all we have for most historical periods, he's like "Yeah, that makes total sense!" and not "Mine and not yours!"

I think the key here is that this is a dude who is secure in his identity, who's getting both his media and queer community needs met, and who's in his 40s, so he has some god damn perspective and doesn't need to pretend BL is aimed at him.

A lot of the little jerkfaces make me think "Did your preschool teacher not teach you how to share your toys?"

--

To be honest, there seem to be plenty of dudes hanging around my tumblr. A few cis. Many trans. But they're not going to bring it up incessantly in some defensive "you know I'm not a cootie-having girl, right?" way because who does that?

It comes up when there's a discussion about trans shit or BL as #ownvoices or whatever. (And, in general, any dude worth hanging out with will not think BL as an industry is, or should be, anything of the sort—even if he's expressing his own sense of queerness by writing some.)

On the flipside, I have seen some pretty extreme "no boys allowed" clubhouse nonsense in fandom. It's less common than it was, and past shitty dudes have often been the inspiration, but it can still be a bit much. The nicer class of fandom dude is often pretty hesitant in certain spaces because he's expecting to be met with hostility and is trying to figure out how to participate without tromping all over everyone. (TBH, the guys worrying about this are rarely the problem, but you know how it is.)

I've had dudes send me private messages being like "this thing you said seems kind of stereotypical and anti-man", but in the adult capable of conversation way, not in the tantruming 5-year-old way. And we had a conversation, and they stuck around.

I think having a very clear "It's not #ownvoices, fuck off" stance deters a lot of the more pestilential set. Being equally clear that everyone is welcome and that male yuri fans and female BL fans are pretty equivalent makes the guys worth knowing come out of the woodwork.

In 99% of spaces, I do not give a fuck if some man has his precious feelings hurt by a double standard or default suspicion of men... But fandom is a little unusual because of the demographics and relative power here being so different from in most spaces.

I've definitely seen some people who think women liking BL are fine because we care about characters' personalities, while male fans are all predators or all write f/f that is just fetishy porn or m/m that sounds like Nifty.org and not other fanfic or whatever.

And, yeah, I'll shut down the dumbasses crying in my inbox because I made a joke about Nifty and "coke can dicks" (the kind of guys who have clearly never read m/m that's aimed at dudes outside of fandom spaces), but at the same time, we should extend a little benefit of the doubt to our fellow fandom members of whatever gender. There are usually plenty of men facepalming right along with me at these inexperienced young fools who cannot bear to share.

I think you're just running into the problem that the loud people whose identities you know are often using those identities to browbeat other fans on social media.

--

There are fewer men in BL spaces than women or nonbinary people, so one will typically end up knowing fewer men.

Honestly, I think you find the reasonable people and get rid of the unreasonable ones in the same way regardless of gender: Gatekeeping bullshit is a red flag. Very Online understandings of oppression are a red flag. Enthusiastic and clueless blanket endorsement of own voices as a concept is a red flag. Lots of talking about "fetishization" or even "appropriation" in a very online way is a massive red flag. Monetizing fanfic or seeing other pro authors as competition instead of peers is another. (Professional jealousy and fear about earning potential are behind a lot of bad behavior.)

A lot of it is down to whether you're willing to make yourself a target by publicly telling annoying people to fuck off.

If others can tell what you stand for, they can figure out if they want to hang out with you. Most people keep their heads down a lot of the time, so it can be hard to even hear of them, let alone know if they're your sort of person.

--

tl;dr – Be nice to nice men. Tell shitty men to take a hike. Making friends with men is really as simple as that.

There are larger issues here with what kinds of queer spaces exist and whom they prioritize and with toxic understandings of what representation even means and what should be demanded of whose art. But as you say, a lot of women are also promoting toxic-ass understandings of these things.

The bottom line is that we must resist social media clout-driven understandings of justice. The loudest assholes in the room are rarely worth listening to.

[jinhogae]

AL'S DRAMA RECS VOL.1: these recs will solely focus on the writing of the shows, which to me comes down to two things: how well does the plot accomplish what it set out to do in the beginning? and how compelling are the characters written, no matter if their character arc means they become better or worse through the story or even remain who they are? my favourite dramas usually succeed in giving us a satisfying answer to both questions and these are the ones you will see on this list!

★★★★★ dramas (aka the greatest hits):

SECRET FOREST / STRANGER (2017-2021): the pinnacle of all dramas. follows the duo of no-nonsense prosecutor hwang si-mok (the acting star turn of he century by cho seung-woo) and police detective han yeo-jin (the ever-exceptional bae doo-na) investigating a murder case that blows open several scandals in the prosecution. season 2 follows several cases leading to an internal investigation on police bribery. it just does not get better than this and i fear it won't ever will. this drama has the understated styling of nordic noir, the classic shenanigans of an unlikely leading kdrama duo, and one of the tightest scripts ever seen in any tv show ever. | genre: thriller, melodrama, crime procedural

MY LIBERATION NOTES (2022): following the yeom family's three siblings living in the small town of sanpo on the outskirts of seoul, and the stranger moving into the house next door to theirs, this story navigates questions of sibling-hood and family, the purpose of life, as well as the sacrifices we make for the relationships in our life as well as our own happiness. this show earned its hype from the central love story between mr. gu and yeom mi-jeong (son seok-ku and kim ji-won acting the house down) but every one of the three main storylines is well-paced, gives the main actors moments to shine and grow, and ties neatly into the overarching plot to render you either moved or comforted, or even both. | genre: slice of life, melodrama

VINCENZO (2020): at this point are there still followers on this blog who haven't at least seen me talk about vincenzo? the writing of this show is maybe the peak of genre-blending done in kdrama, a culmination of years refining this skill to sharp perfection in a biting black comedy. vincenzo cassano (song joong-ki), consiglieri of a mafia clan he got adopted into, goes back to south korea to recover a frankly unholy amount of gold and fights a gigantic conglomerate (babel) to get there. if you watch past episode four, you will finish this drama, because everything ensuing from then on is just one iconic story beat after another. | genre: black comedy / satire, crime, romance

HOSPITAL PLAYLIST (2020-2022): a medical drama beyond reproach. this show is on this list for the way it wrote its characters and achieved the most satisfying character arcs in any kdrama, maybe, ever. a group of five friends in their fourties all working at the same hospital and navigating their professional and private lives, this drama doesn't shy away from eclectic backstories (and the leads all playing music together in a band) as well as truly heart-tearing moments of friendship and romance. never have i seen character growth done as well as i have seen it in the characters of yang seok-hyeong and kim-jun-wan. | genre: medical, slice of life, rom-com

D.P. / DESERTER PURSUIT (2021-2023): d.p. to me is a no-notes kind of show. it depicts the work of the military police pursuing army deserters through freshly enlisted ahn jun-ho (jung hae-in playing years below his age and leagues above many his actual age) who ends up empathizing and working to help and save the deserters he and his team partner han ho-yeol (an exceptional koo kyo-hwan) are meant to bring back to the army instead of incriminating them further. d.p. is much better for its tone, its writing and the risks it takes in its no-nonsense approach than some of the drivel revered solely for being more flashy and showy in this genre. | genre: military drama, action

★★★★☆ dramas (aka near-perfection):

PRISON PLAYBOOK (2017): the perfect prototype of the bromance as romance formula and one of the best found family dramas that really focuses on that. star baseball player kim je-hyuk (park hae-soo in his career-defining role) loses his career and lands in prison after he assaults the ex-boyfriend of his younger sister to protect her. the show centers on je-hyuk's time in prison, where he reunites with his childhood best-friend-now-prison-guard lee jun-ho (a supreme jung kyung-ho) and assimilates himself with the people he meets in his cell. this show hits all the beats so well from a stellar supporting cast to a great comeback kid narrative for je-hyuk from his time in prison to being released. glaring flaw: the age-gap / childhood friends romance, the conclusion of hanyang's story arc, who gets the short end of the stick while being the one out gay character in the show. | genre: black comedy, found family, slice of life

GOBLIN: THE LONELY AND GREAT GOD (2017): the defining kdrama for many. it may be the one drama that really delivers in answering its plot's defining question twice over and then some. goblin kim shin (gong yoo), cursed to immortality, gets his life upended once a grim reaper (lee dong-wook as wang yeo, a performance never to be seen or repeated again since) and the young woman (kim go-eun as ji eun-tak) who turns out to be his fated bride enter his life. an immortal man resigned on life finds purpose while knowing he will fatally die once the woman he falls in love with cures him of his curse. glaring flaw: the age gap romance between eun-tak and kim shin. could she have not been in college at least? | genre: melodrama, romance, fantasy

CRASH LANDING ON YOU (2019): the romance drama that could, and did. based on a real life incident, ceo yoon se-ri (son ye-jin, an acting veteran near beyond reproach imo) accidentally crash lands in north korea after a paragliding flight gone wrong. there she meets active duty soldier captain ri jeong-hyeok (hyun bin, thank you for your service) and has to stay with him and his military company. the fated love story starts there, but neither of them know they have met before, and already changed the courses of each other's lives before doing so again. minor flaw: is this drama romanticising the military? or is depicting of that on screen just that and nothing more? that is up to you to decide. | genre: melodrama, romance

HOMETOWN CHA CHA CHA (2021): the series remake of a korean rom-com film of the early aughts, this remains my favourite romance drama over all. dentist yoon hye-jin (shin min-a blessing our screens) moves to rural gongjin, a seaside village where nothing happens at all, after her professional life in seoul goes up in flames. it's not all sunshine in gongjin either as ye-jin meets hong du-sik (kim seon-ho),a handyman who is called chief hong by everyone and fixes all the big and small fires in the village. the two start as enemies that eventually fall in love. the romance is well-handled and paced and the second lead (lee sang-yi) is the best i have ever seen in a show, especially because of the arc written for him. minor flaw: the plot is not as tight as the respective character arcs, so sometimes sacrifices are made for the sake of a more emotional scenes. | genre: rom-com, slice of life

THE GLORY (2022): when you put the revenge in revenge drama, this is what you can get. song hye-ko returns to small screen brilliance in an incomparable performance as moon dong-eun, a woman who decides to infiltrate the lives of her school bullies and take them down one by one. this show delivers on plot even more than on characters, following through on every step of moon dong-eun's revenge without shying away from how gruesome or painful that path of vengeance can be. dong-eun gets help from plastic surgeon joo yeo-jeong (a delightful lee do-hyun), and the main cast is rounded out by lim ji-yeon and jung sung-il as dong-eun's grown up tormentor and her reluctant husband respectively. minor flaw: the show does spend a big chunk of its time on the group of school bullies and their interpersonal relations, which sometimes takes time away from the main plot. | genre: psychological thriller, revenge drama

♡ more specific genre watches (beware: usually crime):

LIFE (2018): written by the writers of secret forest, life is another thriller with understated direction and a more sombre tone. i would have put it in the greatest hits category, but watching it with other people made me realise how niche it actually is in genre. a corporate hospital thriller, the show revolves around the newly-minted ceo of sangkook university hospital, gu seung-hyo (a once again flawless cho seung-woo) and a dedicated ER doctor (lee dong-wook, stellar as ever) who depict the two sides of the patient care vs. profit conflict in the hospital. i can't even say more about the show because every other plot point is basically a spoiler. sharply directed and written, this is one of the best genre pieces i have ever watched, and is mildly reminiscent of hbo prestige television of the decade before. | genre: medical drama, corporate thriller

THE WORST OF EVIL (2023): are you even surprised? this was the drama of 2023 for me, one of the most stellar scripts i have seen. the worst of evil is very firmly a noir show and you have to treat what you are watching as such. it is heavily entrenched into its genre tropes and arcs, even more than most crime shows i have seen, and that can be off-putting for people unfamiliar with the genre, but if you are up for it, you will not be disappointed. opportune violent crime detective park jun-mo (ji chang wook, korea's finest new gen action actor) infiltrates a drug ring lead by jung gi-cheol ( fantastic and emotional tour de force by wi ha joon) and the lines begin to blur when neither of them knows if what they bargained for is actually what they want. the show lets its main plot dictate the pace, focusing on park jun-mo's descent into crime, and it is all the more better for it. | genre: noir, crime thriller, action

BEYOND EVIL (2020): the story about dejected and grieving small-town detective lee dong-sik (baeksang-awarded veteran actor shin ha-kyun) being partnered with elite detective and spinster seoulite han joo-won (child actor prodigy turned actor to watch du jour) has made its waves online for its very apparent gay subtext, but to reduce beyond evil to this would be a crime in itself. following lee dong-sik and han joo-won as they are tasked to solve a reoccurring serial killer case, the framing plot then fans open the age-old wound of dong-sik losing his twin sister and being blamed for her disappearance with joo-won having taken an obsessive fascination with the case. the two crime cases are exceptionally interwoven and the stories of the people in the small town of manyang, and how they all somehow tie back to dong-sik, is the perfect example of turning the small centrepiece of a plot into the binding force of every thread. | genre: procedural, psychological thriller

OUR BELOVED SUMMER (2021): i put this into the genre-piece category because obl is majorly focused on its main trope. romantic dramas can easily be trite to me, as this obvious list of crime shows doesn't tell you, but our beloved summer is one of the few that did everything right. it plays out the best trope ever done - exes to lovers - and does not back down from embracing the whole shebang to the nth degree. high school / college sweethearts choi woong (known beloved actor on ye-xiu tumblr dot com, choi woo-shik) and kook yeun-soo (the ever great kim da-mi) have to unite to replicate, or rather continue, the viral high school documentary they filmed years ago. the show shimmies its way from one moment of reconnection to another, culminating in the best kdrama kiss to ever be put to screen, and concludes in one of the most satisfying and, yes, romantic endings ever. the things a show can do when it just sticks to its main narrative, huh. | genre: rom-com, coming of age

[winterwhisperz-blog]

hi hi!! hope you’re doing well :]

i was wondering if you could just do some general Mhin hcs? nothing in particular i just haven’t seen much written about them and bby needs some more love

thank you and have a wonderful day/night :]

YES OMG, tysm for this ask because I love Mhin so much—definitely think they deserve more attention—WHICH I SHALL DO MY BEST TO PROVIDE (also ty I hope you have a wonderful day/night too :D)

Again, hopefully these haven’t been done before—my memory sucks and I consume a lot of media so I might accidentally repeat stuff I’ve seen 💔

ALR LES GO

Warnings: None I think

General Mhin Headcanons

Plays the piano- OKAY HEAR ME OUT-

Imagine Mhin playing the piano, maybe because music helps them express their emotions better-maybe I’m just projecting but Mhin seems to have a harder time expressing how they feel through words(twins??) so they turn to music.

And maybe they also play music because it calms them down, and helps them stay grounded. Also it just paints such a pretty picture and I JUST LOVE IT SO MUCH

LIKE IMAGINE THEM PLAYING FOR U

Okay I’ll move on because I’ll probably become feral if I think about this too much

Ahem ahem

Had two pet cats—named Nyxia (meaning night sky EEEEEE) and Estella (star- or divine strength)

Like maybe they’ve always fed strays, and one time they even adopted two that followed them home.

One, probably Estella, was white and fluffy—and Nyxia was all black and silky.

Mhin is a cat parent, and now all cats flock to them

NOW SPEAKING OF STARS

Mhin LOVES STARS—and is interested in astrology

Before they became a hunter or before everything went downhill for them, it would’ve been rlly cute if Mhin was studying astrology and was RLLY getting into it

Like they’re such a nerd for the night sky and space and constellations and it’s SO CUTE because they’ll talk about this stuff for HOURS if people would let ‘em

I would let them 😇

Alr Alr Alr next one—

Unlike fellow Touchstarved LI—Mhin can cook.

Like they don’t usually have time to cook something extravagant—but when they do—Omg their meals are TOP TIER

They know how to spice things JUST right, and make the best desserts (though be careful—these are packed with sugar and sometimes are overly sweet)

They also cook special animal-safe food for the cats. Cute lil fish treats.

AWWWWWWWW

Okie this one is inspired by the Love Quiz thing and Mhin’s results.

Loves Spooky stories and exploring said spooky places—they have a weird love for the genre and ghost hunting too

They also come up with the best spooky stories and they tell them with the most deadpan expressions so no one ever knows if they’re true or not 💀

OKAY OKAY OKAY OKAY SO

Definitely the type of person that would randomly hand you a pretty rock that reminded them of you. (Without saying it did- you just get a random rock and look at them like “Thanks? 😳” ) you return the favor by handing them random mushrooms and snails

They do this for anyone they like. Kuras has a nice little collection of rocks in a secret drawer

Though they love cats and cats love them— BIRDS, are another story

Birds and Mhin don’t get along (A slight hint at their monster form but also because CROWS KEEP STEALING THEIR PRETTY ROCKS)

Perfect person to explore with, THEY LOVE EXPLORING. And since they can slide into the shadows and waltz around without being detected most of the time—they know a LOT of places, and definitely more secret exits and entrances(they’ll show you them at some point)

EEEEEEEEEEE

ALR, WE ARE DONE

Tysm again for the ask !! Mhin is just— GAHHHHHH

I think they’re my second favorite LI, RLLY EXCITED FOR THEIR ROUTE OMG

They are just such a nerd but can also kick ur butt and I just think that’s cool.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed those! And have a wonderful day, listen to a playlist full of your favorite songs, do things that make you happy, and get a bunch of fun compliments! (When the Sun’s missing from the sky, flowers turn to you instead !! 🫶 hehe, there I helped with that one- OKAY BYE NOW LOVE U)

[watching-pictures-move]

Put On Your Raincoats | Blue Ice (Marshak, 1985)

This is another film in the Film Noir genre that I watched because it’s Noirvember, the month in which we watch films in the Film Noir genre, but I have to lean less heavily on technicalities because this is a lot closer to the real deal in that there’s a genuine private detective element, plenty of sinister characters and even a femme fatale. As far as the protagonist goes, Herschel Savage ranks below my favourite porno private dicks, lacking the streetwise swagger of Wade Nichols in Punk Rock and sarcastic charm of Ras Kean in Expose Me, Lovely. But he has a nice reactive quality to his performance, looking convincingly weary and dumbfounded to the insanity around him. The fact that he isn’t especially forceful as a presence works in his favour here.

As far as sinister characters go, this one has Nazis as the villains so it does pretty well in that department. You get Helga Sven doing a pretty good knockoff Ilsa routine, and some non-pornographic help from the likes of Reggie Nalder’s pockmarked face and Richard Bulik’s teeth gnashing. And as far as the femme fatale goes, you get Jacqueline Lorians playing varying degrees of mysterious and sympathetic to keep you guessing. A lot of the narrative potency of the movie depends on her specific allure, and I must say that the movie cheats to make me like her by putting her in a cape, although it undoes some of that goodwill by cutting to newsreel footage of Hitler. This is directed by Philip Marshak, who also directed Dracula Sucks, and while both movies have similar levels of production values, this hangs together much better as a genre-inflected porno. There’s some pretty nice style here, particularly in the later sections when we get some frosty and hazy lighting, as well as the blue phantasmagoria of the conclusion when the movie goes off the deep end. It definitely delivers on the title, is what I’m saying.

And as a porno, while this is shot on film, the visual style feels informed by the SOV productions that were taking over. I’m thinking in particular of the scene between Herschel Savage and Danielle in a sauna, where the handheld camerawork has a looseness and fluidity that feels closer to something you’d get with a video camera, not to mention the use of dissolves. And as far as the sex goes, I will put it delicately that the Boingoingoing factor is quite strong with this one. The Nazisploitation element lends itself to certain exploitative framings, but for the most part it eases off the sexual assault, and the particular dynamics of these scenes, with male and female characters teaming up on another female character, on top of the fluid visual approach, make them feel more, uh, dynamic than these things often can be. It’s a credit to the strength of the first of these scenes that the cutaways to Reggie Nalder reaction shots don’t undo its power. It probably helps that Helga Sven is rather forceful in these scenes, although I did find it weird that the one act of explicit sexual torture she performs is giving a handjob and blowjob to Paul Thomas, who for some reason is covered in bloody scars. Maybe all the really bad stuff happened offscreen, but it wouldn’t have killed the movie to throw in some whipping.

The only bad sex scene here is the one where Savage’s sex worker roommate Shanna McCullough is raped by Ron Jeremy. There are the obvious reasons why it’s unpleasant (rape and Ron Jeremy are two terrible flavours that go terribly together, although the movie at least acknowledges how off putting Jeremy is as a presence). But even on a narrative level if feels totally superfluous. If you wanted to throw in a rape scene, there are more organic ways to do it in a thriller (and indeed, the movie has a similar such incident later, even if it doesn’t actually show the rape). There’s an interesting character moment after the scene concludes (which includes not just the rape but attempted karate by Ron Jeremy; this is not the first Ron Jeremy karate scene I’ve witnessed), but I think the movie would have been better off without it.

[etherealbelphie]

Hard To Tell (Ft. Yellow, Red and Duck)

Warnings: Implied child abuse/neglect, hunger, gaslighting (I think), swearing, crying, anxiety.

Fandom: DHMIS

Length: 0.5K words

Genre: Angst, hurt, fluff, comfort

Summary: Sometimes, Yellow couldn't tell if he was hungry or lonely.

A/N: You know what? Frick you *turns surreal horror puppet show into found family trope*. I was debating posting this, because I'm worried this might absolutely suck, and also this is outside the usual fandom, but here it is anyway. Also, please let me know if I've missed any warnings!

-Ethereal (✿◡‿◡)

Story below, please don’t claim as your own!

Sometimes it was hard to tell if he was hungry or lonely.

Though Yellow thought he knew the difference, it wasn’t often he felt one or the other. Usually, it was both at the same time, after his dad had been gone for days and his stomach had started to hurt.

Yellow wasn’t very smart. After all, that was what everyone told him.

He was wrong about painting a picture of a clown. He was wrong about the colour green. He was wrong about everything.

So when the little baby pigeon told him he was just lonely, Yellow believed him.

The teachers were always right, because when teachers were wrong, they screamed until everyone believed they were right.

Yellow didn’t want anyone to scream, so he went along with the pigeon to the place full of love.

By the time he’d woken up, though, he didn’t feel any better.

His stomach still hurt, and on top of that, the empty feeing in his chest was starting to settle in.

Red helped him down from the tree, and the three of them began the walk back to their funny little house on the funny little hill.

Yellow’s stomach growled, and he winced.

This caught Red’s attention. “You alright, mate?”

Yellow frowned. He didn’t know. He didn’t know anything. He was just going to get everything wrong again, and-!

“Ah, hey. None of that.” Red’s voice, like always, was monotone, but the slightest amount of concern was detectable.

He crouched down to lower the comical distance and swiped at Yellow’s cheek. He was crying.

“I-I’m sorry!” Yellow blurted, though he wasn’t even sure what he was apologizing for.

“Hey, you’re alright. Just take a breath.” Red exaggerated his breathing for Yellow to copy.

Yellow followed suit, exhaling slowly.

Then his stomach growled again. Yellow frowned, wrapping his arms around his middle.

“Are you hungry?” Red didn’t wait for a response, glancing at the sky. “Shit, it’s almost dark out. You didn’t eat during lunch. Of course you are.”

Red cursed more severely under his breath, prompting a shove from Duck.

“Language!” He scolded, then shifted uncomfortably. “Though…I suppose it’s my fault, too. I shouldn’t have upset you, I’m sorry.”

Yellow hesitated. Duck was a grown-up; he didn’t have to apologize to him.

He was about to say so, but Red unintentionally cut him off. “I’m sorry too. We should’ve saved you something to eat.”

Yellow paused again. Grown-ups didn’t apologize to kids. That’s not how it worked.

Or maybe…he’d been wrong about that too?

Without prompting, Red scooped him up. “Come on, we’ll get home faster this way. We’ll have your favorite for dinner, alright?”

“Spaghetti!” Yellow exclaimed. He still didn’t fully understand what he was feeling, but maybe that was okay. Red and Duck always seemed to know.

And for now, that was good enough.

[marcianoliterati]

books reviews - june 2023,part I

I read a lot this month so on page 13 I decided to post in parts.

this includes:

A lesson in murder , by Verity Bright

A mistletoe moment , by Natasha West

A lesson in murder by Verity Bright

4 stars

(solid, entertaining, would read more)

is book 7 in the Lady Eleanor Swift mysteries. I haven’t read any of the previous ones but this one was free and sounded fun. These books generally don’t care if you read them in order anyway. I got this on stuff your kindle day, i was browsing around and it seemed interesting enough. 

Lady Eleanor is invited to her old school for a speech, and ends up staying to solve a murder, and to help as a boarding house mistress.it’s set in England in 1921. 

Lady Eleanour has recently inherited her family’s state after the death of her uncle, who was the one to ship her off to boarding school at the age of 9 after the death of her parents, and the school often felt like a stifling prison to her, but she survived and is not much a proper lady, despite the school’s best efforts. 

It is mentioned she has done some remarkable things on top of murder solving, like cycling by herself around the world. 

I’m not entirely sure what she means by “around the world” as europeans and other first-worlders tend to have rather skewed ways about things like that, but that is certainly an achievement, a woman cycling by herself in the 1920’s was quite a scandal.

It is labelled a ‘cozy mystery’ which seems to be a popular tag nowadays, though what exactly that means is vague. It encompasses a lot. It generally features little violence, with amateur detectives. 

Yes, like agatha christie, she is considered somewhat of a pioneer i understand.

Maybe it’s just the ones I’m drawn to, but a lot of them seem to include their characters living in small towns and getting around on bikes.

They can be a bit of a mixed bag, sometimes too wholesome, too interested in describing  the everyday world and it takes forever to even get to the murder part. Generally if nothing has happened at 25% i DNF unless i actually find the characters compelling, which is rarely the case.

Others are better and know to present the murder first, and then we see  a bit of the world until it is discovered.

This one presents the murder pretty much immediately, which i appreciated.

And it makes the victim known to the detective, something quite unusual, but it helps, giving her good justification to stay, to help, to decided to stay and help at the boarding house. Adding the personal angle helps here, which isn’t always the case.

It did remind me a bit of one of my favourite christies, a cat among the pigeons, which is technically a poirot story, but he doesn’t show up until about 75% , which is quite the risk but agatha christie knew what she was doing. 

It also takes place in a boarding school for posh english young ladies, and it has the girls trying to work it all out, it’s really well done.

I really enjoyed it, and if i find more books free or in Kindle Unlimited i’d certainly give them a chance.

I enjoyed the boarding school setting, thought it wasn’t too expanded on, but it was fun. Clashing of views,gossip,drama.

The main characters are Lady Eleanor, her butler who apparently accompanies everywhere, and  a cop they appear to have befriended. 

What I found most interesting, is that the MC, Lady Eleanor, is very much a walking portrait of ADHD. 

She has a lot of energy, is very curious, bad at staying still, chicken scrawl handwriting, disorganised, often engages in dangerous behaviour, had behavioural issues in school and so on.

And a decent number of the plucky girl detective genre have similar traits, such as being nosy, active, and incapable of staying put, though not as strong as here, it does make me wonder where does it come from?

Is there a particular example authors are copying? And from there more people copying these copies until it became an archetype?

Cause i do feel like i see this archetype often, though i dont know if there is particular example

Some of it makes sense, like the characters having money, so they dont have to work so they can spend their time investigating, and them being nosy and curious is necessary so they’ll want to find out more. And wandering around which serves to lead them to places and ovearhear things.

Kind of a chicken and egg situation.

It was a fairly entertaining and easy to read book, it flows well, it is decently paced, and does a decent job in the world building, especially about Lady Eleanor’s personal history, and her history with the school.

She is there to investigate a murder, but she also gets a chance to look into her own past, her family history, and her experiences at school, where she was very nervous to return.

The culprit is surprising, though i worry a bit about like,class issues i guess. And it has a heartwarming development as sort of epilogue. 

For fans of cozy mystery,boarding school stories, and apparently how adhd can solve mysteries, when we’re not too busy looking for the glasses sitting in our heads that is.

A mistletoe Moment by Natasha West

2 stars

(bit of a letdown, passable entertainment, a bit like fast food. Would not read again)

I’ve read several of her books, and I’m a big fan, they’re always entertaining, and idk, credible. A lot of romance feels performative, like this is a and this is b and now theyre in love, and i dont care cause it all seems so fake.

Which is why i like her stories, cause generally i do buy it, I can believe it, get involved,get invested.

This one however, felt a bit flat. It is a novella though, more of a one-shot, and it is fun, but it all feels a bit too quick, a bit underdeveloped. Entertaining, but also kind of shallow.

It takes place around christmas, starting at a party, where our main characters hit it off, but theyre separated and spend the rest of the novel, trying to find each other.

One of them was working the party while the other goes there for a work party. Neither is too happy, but it’s not a ‘you inspired me to change my life’ type of deal it is too quick for it. 

And it all feels a bit too contrived, the girl who just lost her phone and apparently doesnt have a cloud back up so the phone has nothing in it? Like i get oh i dont want a phone contract i dont wanna be tied down, but you can have a google backup on pay as you go as well?

Like, surely there were better solutions than running around the city? 

It all feels rather silly, and it kills my suspension of disbelief.

And this in story, i didn’t particularly like either of the MCs so i also have problems caring about what happens to them, i really only finished it cause it was very short.