#me after sb: i would kill god for you. i love you more than life itself

[smolwritingchick]

The Bangtan Gal Chapter 64- Sweet 18

Chapter Summary: BTS attend the Melon Music Awards. Jennie turns 18. An uninvited guest visits Jennie as all hell breaks loose

Words: 10,000+

Author's Note: Fluff! And protective Yoongi and Jungkook! There is some angst in this near the end regarding diet and weight. Kindly let me know if I need to be more specific for angst warnings to make sure no one is uncomfortable! :)

----- “Oh dear, the guys are at it again, huh?” Hayoon asked, taking a seat next to Jennie with the rest of the GFriend members. 

They all decided to have breakfast together and catch up on what was going on in their lives. Jen had just informed them about the chaos that happened and she still was feeling some type of way.

“Yes! Oh my God! They threw up on my Nikes! Nikes! Of all things. I wouldn’t have cared if it was something else but my Nikes!? I was irate.” Jen exclaimed.

“And I’m sure some of those pairs are limited edition and can’t be replaced huh?” Sowon asked “Loving my fashion and all, I understand how you feel.”

“A few were limited edition. And now they’re ruined. And one pair, my mom went through hell and back to get it for me because of the high demand! The one pair was the Nike Dunk Low Pro SB Paris and they’re impossible to find now and they threw up on them! I was one out of the 200 people to get them jawns! My mom told me that I wouldn’t be getting anything else for a couple of years after she bought those expensive shoes for me. Like y’all do not understand. I love my Nike sneakers. Those were some of the rarest sneakers out there! Now it’s ruined...”

“Listening to all that makes me upset. I wouldn’t want any of my items to get ruined like that. And something so rare, too? They better do something for you.” Sowon shook her head.

“They are just like I remembered. I wonder what they’re up to right now.” SinB pondered.

“Probably recovering from their headaches. I didn’t think they’d get that drunk. Sometimes you can’t leave those boys alone by themselves.” Jen said. “I love them. But I want to kill them.”

“Let’s just stay positive. Don’t worry. I know it’s upsetting but watch you get even better pairs than that.” Yuji responded. “Remember, always move forward.”

Jen sighed and nodded. “Yeah...I guess.”

“Jennie, we heard about Bangtan’s contract with Puma! We’re so happy for you.” Eunha beamed.

“Thanks...”

“Uh oh, you don’t seem so happy about Puma.” Yerin chimed in.

“It’s because she still wants to endorse for Nike.” Umji giggled.

Jen thought back to the day she found out about Puma.

-------

Jennie had walked into Bang PD’s office, meeting the members as they all sat around. She heard about a contract for a big brand and assumed that maybe, just maybe it would finally be the opportunity she had been praying about for years. Endorsing for Nike.

The members shot worried glances at her, tensed and anxious to see her reaction to what Bang PD had to say. 

Noticing, Jen called them out, “Okay don’t stare at me and not expect me to ask what is wrong.”

“Nothing, nothing.” Hobi shrugged.

“You sure? You good?” she looked around.

“Yeah, we’re great,” Jin added.

“Uh huh. Okay,” she responded, not convinced.

“Jennie, I’m glad you can join us. I called you all in here because we have a contract for you to sign, to endorse a big brand.” Bang PD mentioned.

“Oh my God...is it-is it Nike?” she covered her mouth as she felt her eyes begin to water.

“Uh...not quite.” he responded with an apologetic smile.

“Not quite...?” Jen felt her life get sucked out of her as soon as he said that. “Okay well, who are we endorsing?” she blinked the tears away, trying not to hide her disappointment.

“Puma!” he presented the contracts.

Staring at the contract, she started laughing. “Wait, wait, wait, Puma?” she pointed at the stack of papers.

“Yes!” Bang PD happily grinned.

“Puma?”

“Yes, Puma.”

“What about Nike?”

“Here we go...” Yoongi murmured while the members shifted uncomfortably.

“Uh, I have to water my plant. I’ll see you.” Jimin quickly got up.

“Sit down,” Jen ordered in a harsh tone. Jimin shrieked and quickly went back to his seat. “So, what about Nike? What is going on with Nike? Why not Nike? Nike is like, better! Nike is like, the best brand ever. Nike is my life.”

“I’m sorry, Jennie. They have not reached out to any of us for endorsements.” Bang PD explained.

“So, we’re not endorsing Nike?”

“No, we are not endorsing Nike.”

“And we’re endorsing Puma?”

“Yes, if you sign the contract.”

“No Nike?”

“No Nike, Jennie. I’m sorry.”

'Are you-are you kidding me?' She asked herself this, wondering why Nike wouldn’t let her endorse them. Was it because she wasn’t an athlete? Should she switch her profession to tennis to get an endorsement? Volleyball? Even running? 

“You’ll love it. Puma is a great brand.”

“Oh my God, Puma? PUMA!? No Nike? After I have been trying my hardest to get noticed by this damn company, they still won’t holler at me! I don’t understand why the world is against me and Nike.” she buried her face in her hands. She sighed and signed the contract. “All right, Puma it is. Let’s do this. Thank you. Maybe Nike will see how badass I look in the Puma merch and give me a call."

Bang PD laughed, while Namjoon explained, “ She’s grateful for this, don’t worry. It’ll just take some time but she’ll love Puma.”

“As expected. I knew she was going to react like this."

---------

“My mom always tells me that good things happen to those who wait and to just leave it up to God, so I’ll continue to just wait on it,“ Jen responded. “My time will come. Maybe it’s not my time yet to endorse Nike because there is a bigger opportunity out there waiting. I’ll probably look back at this and laugh.”

The next day, in a better mood thanks to the new pairs of Nikes from the members, Jen went to school, wearing one of the pairs. They were forgiven, for now until they mess up again.

“Class, for today, we have a special guest coming in to teach you a short routine.” the dance teacher announced. “Please show her the same respect as you give me and give her your undivided attention. Please welcome, Jennie.”

Walking in with a duffle bag, Jennie waved and bowed to everyone. An overwhelming sound of gasps, fanboying and fangirling filled the room because a BTS member would be dancing with them.

“Thank you for having me.” she beamed. “Are we ready to have some fun?”

“Yes!” she heard the overwhelming response which brought a smile to her face.

“Okay, let’s stretch.”

After stretching, some eager fans in the class asked her if they could take a photo with her. 

“Let’s get this dance down first. And after that, I’ll take a photo with you. This dance needs to be your top priority, okay?”

Once she demonstrated the dance while playing My Style by The Black Eyed Peas, the students watched, astonished, and intimidated at how fluid the dance was. Seeing their facial expressions through the mirror, she turned around after finishing and smiled in reassurance.

“I know it looks complex, but we will go through this step by step, taking all the time we need. Don’t panic, you will get through this and get it right. Now let’s get started.”

The freshmen truly appreciated how patient she was with them. She was a part of Big Hit, their choreography was always powerful and outstanding. Learning from her would benefit them in the long run.

“Make sure that every move connects. Don’t rush it.” she helped one student.

“Like this?” the student did the move again.

“It looks like you’re so eager to go to the next step that you don’t finish the previous move.”

“Ugh, I’m never going to get this.”

“Hey, it’s fine. I was like this too when I first started dancing. It’s okay. Let’s not think about speed. Let’s take it slow first and then increase our speed. Take your time.”

After a few more tries, the student got it right.

Once finishing teaching everyone the dance, Jen danced with them twice and then sat out to watch them perform. Her heart was filled with joy to see her finished product look so nicely done by the students.

“Yes! Great job everyone! You have worked hard!” she applauded and as promised, took photos with them.

-------

The Melon Music Awards approached fast as the members got ready for the event. With Jennie, the stylists were taking care of her hair and makeup after adjusting her long pink dress. Looking at herself in the mirror, she was in awe at the person staring back at her.

“WOW! I dunno how you stylists do it. You always know how to make me look good.” she spun around and checked out the dress. “I love this. This is so amazing, thank you.”

They all met up with the rest of the members who already had their attire for the red carpet.

“Okay, Jennie is all set. Are we ready to depart?” one stylist called out.

Jungkook turned his head in the direction of the stylist and noticed Jen’s dress. His eyes widened with his mouth agape. Blushing, he soon adjusted himself when he heard some of the staff members giggling at his reaction.

Jen noticed that each member had something pink on them to match with her. Jungkook and Jimin had pink ties, Jin and Yoongi had pink handkerchiefs, Taehyung had a pink bowtie and Namjoon and Hobi wore pink watches.

Jin turned around after getting his jacket adjusted and widened his eyes. “Oh no. No. Why this dress?”

“We thought this was the best one for Jennie.” some stylists tried to explain to him.

“Ahhhhh! Why are you growing up so fast for me?!” he complained, placing his hands on Jen’s shoulders as she laughed. “You were just sixteen! Look at how high the slit is! It’s showing so much leg! And is that a leg chain!? This is too sexy!”

“Keep a close distance with us. Heads will be turning to stare at you in that dress.” Namjoon added with a soft laugh.

Jen spun around to show off the dress. “Come on, you have to admit I look pretty awesome in this, thanks to the stylists.”

“Yes, you look beautiful. Just, growing into a beautiful young lady right before my eyes...I can’t handle it.” Jin began to tear up. 

Taehyung and Jimin started laughing at his overdramatic whining.

“Oh, my God...calm down,” Yoongi called out. “Stop whining. She looks great. The dress suits her anyway.”

Arriving at the event in a van, while it was raining, the security guards had umbrellas up to make sure none of the idols were wet from the weather. Jen was in the van with Jimin, Taehyung, and Yoongi, behind the van that had Jin, Jungkook, Rapmon, and Hobi. As soon as the door opened, Jin walked out first, commencing the ‘Car Door Guy’ nickname, as the fans began screaming.

Jen was the last one out of the van, getting help from Jimin and Yoongi, to make sure her dress was fine. After meeting up with the rest of the members, they walked down the red carpet, waving and smiling at the fans.

Her dress caught a lot of attention from everyone, including the leg chain on her exposed leg. She had wanted to start wearing more body jewelry and thankfully the stylists allowed her to. It would be a nice trend to start. As they stood to take photos while MCs, Seo Yuri and Heo Young Ji from KARA, talked about Bangtan, the members waved while the cameras kept flashing. Rapmon then talked on behalf of the group for a quick interview. Afterward, they were guided by security to head backstage.

Many idols were dressed in various suits and dresses in different colors and lengths. They all looked stunning to Jennie as she walked by, bowing to various people.

“Jennie! You look amazing!” Hayoon rushed up to her for a hug.

“Girl! So, do you too! Nice legs. I love the white on you.”

“Really? Thank you!”

When Jen saw G-Dragon, she had to hug him and catch up on everything that had been happening. She told him that she wasn’t nervous and was pumped for tonight. He had given her some advice on ways to relax when it came to performing on stage. She was always amazed at how YG Artists seemed so chill at award shows and all casual.

When taking her seat with the rest of the members, sitting between Rapmon and Yoongi, she regarded that GFriend was sitting behind Bangtan and Big Bang was sitting in front. When G-Dragon turned around, he met Jen’s gaze and they waved at each other.

“Ooh! Okay!” Jen grinned as she saw Wonho jump out on stage with a smirk on his face. 

The camera caught her numerous times jamming to Monsta X’s performance as fans called her a huge stan of theirs.

And as soon as they began to perform Hero, she got hyped and started singing along, “What, what, what, okay man, let’s go!”

As the performance went on, a camera showed Rapmon, Jen, Yoongi, and Jin. Jen and Yoongi were already lip-syncing along, so they immediately looked at the camera, getting even more hyper together. 

Best New Artist Award was up next and GFriend was up against some other girl groups. Jennie had her fingers crossed, obviously hoping that her friends would get this award. They deserved it. Everyone watched on, anticipating the results and before they knew it, GFriend appeared on the screen.

“Yasssss!” Jennie happily clapped. 

She turned around and stood up to applaud as she saw the members looking shocked and thrilled. GFriend began walking to the stage, bowing to everyone while Jen continued to cheer. 

“That is my best friend! My best friend! Yes, Hayoon! Yes! Strut!”

Hearing her cheer, Hayoon quickly ran up to hug her, tightly. 

“I can’t believe we won!” Hayoon exclaimed.

“I am so proud of you! Now get up there, this is your moment!” she let her go and watched her catch up with the other members.

Watching their acceptance speech, Jen had begun tearing up. They worked so hard for this. She was so proud. And then watching GFriend perform, Jennie couldn’t stop smiling. There were so many fancams of her jamming out to IKON’s performance as some fans wondered what it would be like to party with Jen because she was so lively during award shows while a majority of the idols just sat there, nodding to the beat.

Backstage, the members strolled to their dressing room to get changed for their performance. On her way to the dressing room, she bumped into Monsta X. 

“Yo! Your performance was friggin lit! Like wow! I‘m blown away. Amazing job, guys! Gotta go, bye!” she quickly told them before she had to rush to the dressing room. They had thanked her and told her they hoped to see her around to formally meet. 

Jen wasn’t feeling the outfit for the performance but it is what it is. She did think it was cool they were using LED gloves. She felt like Iron Man. Before they went on stage, they did last minute rehearsals. When they performed, everything went great and Jen loved the remix version of I Need U. The dance break, especially her facial expressions, showed more emotion this time for the song.

“It’s over! It’s over! Woo!” J-Hope yelled on camera as they walked backstage. 

Their performance went well after they prepared hard for it. Now they got to get back to their seats to enjoy the rest of the show. Throughout the show, the camera would focus on various idols. When the camera focused on Jennie yet again, she looked up at the screen to see herself. She smiled softly and turned to the camera, giving it a small wave. Fans were screaming loudly as soon as she popped up on the screen, cheering for Bangtan.

Later, they won Best Dance Performance which overwhelmed the members with joy. 

“GO JENNIE!” Hayoon yelled out of nowhere before shyly sitting back down after getting surprised stares.

She was so quiet, it amused and caught everyone off-guard to see her like this as she was so supportive of Jennie. Her sudden yell startled Jennie herself, and she let out a laugh, rushing over to give Hayoon a big hug.

“I love you!” she smiled and turned back to walk on stage, meeting with the rest of the group for their acceptance speech.

Once Bangtan was backstage, they celebrated on camera for a Bangtan Bomb. 

“Look what we wooooooon!” Jen presented the award with Jimin as everyone started yelling in cheers before dancing around.

“We suffered so much and finally won the dance award. Teacher Sung Deuk worked so hard and finally, we got it!” Jimin cheered.

The show was exciting with great performances and cheers from the fandoms of each idol. Big Bang’s performance was her favorite throughout the entire show as she sang along with Taehyung. Not caring who was watching, she had to stand up and start dancing. Taehyung immediately joined her in the fun.

--------

18 years old. 

Jennie was finally 18!

Crazy how time flies.

In the morning, she woke up early, in a bright mood to record herself dancing to 50 Cent’s In Da Club.

Go, go, go, go go, go,

Go, shawty

It’s your birthday

We gon’ party like it’s yo birthday

She posted the video on Twitter with the caption, ‘WOOOO! 18! Let’s go! Love you all! Thanks for the birthday wishes!’

She was overwhelmed with joy at the support from the fans. From their birthday wishes, amazing fanart, and even Tumblr posts, she was grateful. Fans even trended #HappySmartieDay to celebrate.

‘Thank you for being such an amazing black woman in K-Pop. Although we all can be tired of some of the BS over there, thank you for representing us and staying your natural, beautiful self.’

‘So down to earth and has grown so much as a performer. I am so proud of you, happy birthday queen!’

‘Happy birthday to the baddest bitch in K-Pop! Have a blessed day Jennie! LOVE YOU!’

‘You always look so healthy. Continue to eat well!’

‘Thank you for existing, without you, my confidence wouldn’t be as high because your representation of us colored girls, makes me feel amazing’

‘You show me that it doesn’t matter how you look, you can still do anything’ 

‘You don’t understand how much I love this girl! She makes me appreciate myself and my skin color’

Taehyung tweeted an embarrassing photo of Jennie sticking her tongue out with a face mask, ‘Happy Birthday Ennie! Love youuuuu! Please don’t hurt me’

“Oh my God...” Jen muttered as she looked at the photo of herself. “I’m going to kill him.”

She replied, ‘Oh HELL no! You screenshotted me while we were on facetime!? #YouAreDead’ 

J-hope tweeted two videos of her performing the Milly Rock and her teaching BTS the dance and then them performing and laughing. ‘#JenMillyRocksOnAnyBlock she does this dance the best. I can’t keep up, kekeke. Don’t challenge Munchkin to a Milly Rock dance off’

Jin tweeted a video of her teaching him the lean back dance, ‘Thanks for helping me learn this dance. I think I do it better than you, now.’

Namjoon tweeted a photo of her posing like he would for KimDaily. ‘Happy birthday, Jennie. You do KimDaily photos pretty well. Remember this? Giving me a run for my money.’

Jungkook tweeted a short video of them performing a dance cover of Wonder Girl’s Rewind. ‘Happy birthday to my one and only golden best friend. She’s irreplaceable. Thanks for asking me to cover this with you.’

Yoongi had tweeted a photo of her asleep in his studio after a rap lesson. ‘I’m proud of you smartie. #HappySmartieDay #SmartieIsTheBest #ImAMasterofTagsNow’

Big Hit even released her dancing to Electric Lady with some of her idol friends while she was in her Janelle Monae costume. She had a blast filming for it. 

“AHHHHHHHH!”

Turning in alarm, she was attacked by silly strings in all directions as she tried to block her face. Laughter filled the room as she confirmed it was the guys.

“Happy birthday, Jennie!” she heard them shout.

She felt herself get thrown over someone’s shoulder and spun around as they began singing and dancing around. Meanwhile, Jimin had recorded the entire thing, laughing in the background, hoping to post the video later on Twitter. Jen realized she was over Namjoon’s shoulder and began laughing after he set her down.

“Thanks, guys!”

“I made your favorite blueberry pancakes. Pancake mix straight from America. Come on!” Jin dragged her out of the room.

Walking into Big Hit’s building, she received many greetings as the staff wished her a happy birthday.

Even from Bang PD and he tweeted two photos. One was the first photo they took together before debut, looking young, and then the other was a recent photo as he expressed how proud he was to have a young lady like her become Miss Bangtan in BTS. His words made her feel really good about herself and she even visited his office to thank him for everything. Thanking him for allowing her a spot in the company. She felt so loved. This company was such a big family. She had also taken the time to thank each of the staff members for everything they have done for her from her trainee days until now.

Whenever it was makeup, clothes, helping her mic, dropping her off someplace, everything she appreciated. And they were touched by her kind words.

When inside her studio, she noticed Yoongi was waiting for her, sitting at her desk with a large pink box in his hands. Turning around, he smiled softly and presented it to her.

“Happy birthday, Smartie.”

“Ahaha, you remembered.” she looked at the Hello Kitty box. “I don’t want to cry today.” she chuckled and began to read his cute birthday note as he took a page out of her book.

“Sorry, but I have a birthday rap made for you. To my annoying Nike loving Smartie,” he responded and began to rap for her.

After he finished, she pulled him in for an embrace. “Thank you for this.”

Before she knew it, the members came inside with a big cake, filled with candles while they were all recorded for a Bangtan Bomb.

“Thanks, guys. Yo, this cake looks so good. Hang on a sec, I have the perfect song.” she put on Cut It and started bumping to the beat. “Cut it, cut it, cut it, cut it, cut it! This cake looks way too good, we need to cut it! This cake looks way too good, we need to cut it!”

“You’re so corny. Cut the cake already, I want to eat a slice.” Yoongi exclaimed as the members laughed.

“Hey! She gets first dibs.” Jin called out

“Take as much time as you want,” Hobi giggled

“Can I have the strawberries on the cake?” Taehyung started reaching for one.

“ARMY got something for you.” Jungkook presented her with a big box.

“The heck is this? ARMY didn’t have to do this,” she said, looking at the box in amazement.

ARMY raised money to buy her a custom made purple electric guitar with each of the members’ names engraved on it and other encouraging messages. She hadn’t talked about wanting an electric guitar for a long time but the fact that ARMY remembered, and they did something like for her, made her cry as she wiped her tears. As if the birthday bus advertisement wasn’t enough, this took the cake.

Jen sniffed, “I don’t understand what I did to deserve such loving fans. Thank you ARMY, you’re the best.”

-------

A few days later, Namjoon and Jennie were in Namjoon’s studio, patiently waiting for Angelina to arrive. She was just a few minutes away from arriving at the Big Hit building, and Jen noticed Namjoon trying to remain calm.

“You are freaking out.” she teased.

“I-I’m not.”

“Sure. Just make sure you don’t freeze when you meet her in person.”

“Why would I freeze?”

‘He is so going to freeze.’ she thought.

Before they knew it, Jennie found Angelina at the building. “FINALLY!” Jennie shouted and jumped on top of her, making them both fall down.

“Ahh! You got heavier!” Angelina laughed. “I missed you!”

“Missed you more! I am so happy you’ll be staying for a while.” Jen got up and helped her up. “Come on, let me introduce you to the guys. Let’s go. We have a lot to talk about.” She beckoned her to follow her.

Once they made it to where the members were, Jennie decided to introduce her to Namjoon first. She had a feeling Angelina really wanted to see him, so she decided to fulfill her wishes. And like Jennie predicted, he froze. 

He stood there, stunned in his studio.

“Hi.” Angelina softly greeted. “Wow, you look cuter in person, good Lord.”

“H-hi. You look even more beautiful in person.” he stumbled over his words

Jen snorted. He was smitten and it was adorable to see him like this. Namjoon was about to go for a handshake but then decided to hug her.

‘Aw...’ Jen smiled.

Jennie had told Angelina about what was going on in Bangtan and the three of them had a long conversation about everything. Miss Bangtan began to feel mischievous and decided to tease Namjoon.

“Oh! Angelina, you got to hear Expensive Girl. It’s funny as hell. I could not stop laughing when I first heard it. He singlehandedly killed ARMY with this song."

Namjoon widened his eyes. “Nah, nah, we don’t need to listen to that. Let’s talk about something else.”

“Ignore him. I have it right on my phone.”

“Woman, don’t do it. Do not do it!” he warned while Angelina started giggling.

“What? What? Let her listen! Her mind is as dirty as yours so she’ll love the song regardless.”

“Ah...why me?” he whined as she played it loud for them all to hear. 

Namjoon was mentally preparing to make sure to tease the hell out of Jennie whenever she and Jungkook started dating because there was no way she was getting away with this. With Jen, she had to control her laughter as the song played. Namjoon felt his face warm up and glanced at Angelina who looked amused but into the song.

Once the torture was over, Angelina said, “You’re really cute, you know that? I like the song.” 

Namjoon stared at her in surprise. “Y-you do?”

“Yeah. I really do.”

“Well, I gotta go, so, I’ll see you two later. Namjoon can introduce you to the rest of the members.” Jen stood up.

“Wait you’re leaving?” Namjoon asked in alarm. 

He was so nervous, he didn’t want Jen to leave, yet. He felt like he’d say something wrong in English or something. Truth be told, Angelina was also nervous. Her best friend was leaving her alone with Namjoon and she lost count of how many times her heart raced or how flushed she felt.

“Bye!” she left the studio. 

She wanted to give them some alone time. They deserved it. Turning around, she saw Jungkook and smiled.

“Hyung froze, huh?”

“At first glance. It was hilarious.”

“Did Hyung ask her out, yet?”

“They’re working on it. I’m just happy that she’s happy. I haven’t seen her like that in a while.”

Throughout the rest of the day, Jen spent time practicing choreography with Hobi and then stayed in her studio. Angelina walked inside and sat with her.

“What?” Angelina glanced away after being stared at.

“You’re glowing,” Jen confirmed.

“What you mean?”

“You’re smiling so widely, it’s cute.”

“Hush.”

“So...”

“What? Stop staring!”

“I want the tea, sis.”

She chuckled nervously. “Well...we’re gonna have a little studio date soon.”

Jennie fist pumped. “All right! Namjoon is a sweetheart and a gentleman. I know you will have a great time. I’m just happy to see you happy. I really hope that maybe you two can date. Despite him being an idol and you being in America as a rapper, I’m sure it will all work out.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.”

“Thank you. I really like him. Are you sure you’re cool with me dating your leader?”

“Um, that’s not my decision. Do whatever you want. If that is what Namjoon wants, then I will support him. You two look so happy with each other, I highly encourage you two to date.” 

“Okay. I’ll keep you posted on how things go.”

“Good.”

“Ooh girl, I have some very exciting news to tell you.”

“What happened?”

“Guess who I will be collaborating with, pretty soon?”

“Who?

“The Weeknd!”

“Ahhhhh! What!? Holy shit, are you for real?!”

“Yes!”

“That’s huge! You’re going to blow up even more after this!”

“Ah, you really think so? This is such a dream come true, collaborating with my favorite artists. It’s such a blessing. There is just so much stuff I want to do. I hope I can do it.”

“You can and you will. I’ll be right there to support you. I’ll always have your back. No matter what.”

“This is why I love you.”

------

Finally, after a year hiatus, Jennie had her singing exhibit again. She underestimated the number of people who wanted to attend. It was much bigger and she’ll have to think about bigger venues or even other areas to have it since it was such a high demand.

But although a lot of BTS fans came, she really wanted those who simply love to sing and want to sing or learn to sing. That was her goal when she first started the event back during her Amity days. She’ll have to make a future announcement about that. Despite a large number of people, things remained under control and she stayed until she met every single person and bonded over their passion for singing.

Once the event ended, she stayed to clean up with the staff members and Sejin stayed with her until she was ready to go back to the dorm.

“Wait, please, I know it’s over but can I please see her?” a desperate male voice called out.

Jen stopped cleaning up and saw a black male, who looked exhausted.

“Hey, you can let him in,” she reassured the security.

The boy sighed out of relief and walked in. “This was not how I wanted to meet you. I’m a hot mess, right now. I had no time to prepare, I’m sweaty, I’m tired, but I’m here.”

“Why were you in such a rush? And where are my manners, hi!”

“Hi!” he laughed. “I had to stay late for a college class due to a big project. It was so frustrating. I really wanted to be here on time. I never was able to attend any of your events.”

“Hey, education comes first. Sit down, chill with me.”

“A-are you serious?”

“Yeah. Yoongi can wait a little bit.”

“Ah, that’s right, you’re still learning how to rap from him?”

“Yep, loving every session with him.”

“Oh well, I don’t want to hold you up.”

“Nah, it’s fine. Come on and Yoongi is probably working on music, anyway.”

They sat down and Jen smiled. The guy was shocked that he didn’t feel nervous around her. It was like talking to an old friend.

“Thank you. I can’t believe I’m sitting with THE Miss Bangtan. You always slay my life when you’re on stage!”

“Aw, thank you. How was your project? What was it for?”

“An art project. I believe I passed.”

“Good. I’m thrilled to hear that. What’s your major?”

“Art. I’m studying abroad for all of my college years.”

“Wow! What do you want to do with that?

“A lot of things actually. One thing I’d love to do is be a graphic designer.”

“Wow, keep doing what you’re doing. You have my full support.”

“I will. I also sing too. I’m doing both.”

“Sing for me.”

He sang a few notes of Oui by Jeremih, which blew her away. She enthusiastically complimented him on his skills.

“Really? That means so much coming from you.” he grinned. “Hey, do you want to go to college when you graduate SOPA?”

“Most definitely. I’d like to go to a college in America but I’m not sure yet since I’m here in Korea, as a member of BTS. We’ll see.”

“Do you have any idea what you want to do?”

“To be honest, I have no idea what I want my major to be or what I want to do in college. But I still have time. You said you’re an artist, can I see what you have drawn?”

“Yeah, of course!” he showed her some of his work from his portfolio in his school bag.

“Damn, this is phenomenal! Very aesthetic!”

“I also have an art show coming up.”

“You do? When? Where?”

“This Saturday evening.” he showed her the location.

“I’m free that day. I’d like to come if you don’t mind.”

“W-what? Are you for real?”

“Yeah, why not? I just love supporting anyone that’s black. Everyone wants to bring us down but we will continue to do what we can to prosper. And with what you’re doing, I don’t see a lot of black artists that often, even though I know there are a lot of talented ones out there that should get a lot of recognition. You have a gift. Heck, I might just buy something from you. Can I get your Instagram?”

“Deadass?”

“Deadass, let’s keep in touch by DMing each other. I want to see how your journey progresses.”

“Yo, you are like...pure girlfriend material. I love you so much. Your support is everything. Whoever is the man you date, will remain grounded and able because of your constant support. Don’t ever change, Jennie. Thank you for this.”

“You are very welcome.”

Afterward, they took a selfie and he posted it on his social media with the caption, ‘It was a blessing to come here late. Thank you for everything!’

Once Jen arrived back in her dorm, she was exhausted from the event and then from her rap lessons with Yoongi. All she wanted to do was sleep. Heading to her room, she saw Angelina on her bed, not looking too happy. She heard her sniffing, and she realized that she had been crying.

“Whoa, whoa, what’s wrong with you?” Jennie quickly rushed over to her as Angelina wiped her tears.

“It’s the collab...”

“What about the collab?”

“I’m not collabing with him, anymore.”

“What do you mean you’re not doing the collab with him, anymore?”

“I don’t know! Apparently, it got scrapped and there’s some dirt on me for being problematic. There are rumors that I’m not the best person to work with. It’s all bullshit.”

“Are you serious...?” Jen frowned.

“Look, I know I have a little bit of a mouth, but I’ve matured. Like damn, I love The Weeknd. I busted my butt to get that collab and now it’s gone...it’s so unfair man, I worked so hard to earn that spot...they're going to give the spot to someone else but I'm not sure who...”

Jennie pulled her in for a hug. A lot of questions were on her mind. She thought about who would want to ruin something like that for Angelina and who got the spot instead.

‘This just doesn’t make any sense...’ Jen thought to herself. 

How could they confirm their collab and then change their mind so suddenly?

-----

Saturday rolled around quickly as she attended the boy’s art show. His paintings were stunning and he even surprised her with a drawing of BTS for Big Hit to hang in one of their studios. She was glad she came and took a bunch of photos, posting them on her Twitter, asking ARMY to support his work.

Yoongi had also tagged along with her, admiring the work that the college students put out. The boy’s parents even came to Seoul to see their son, and Jennie happily introduced herself, telling them how talented their son was.

“This is for you. To support all your artistic needs and other opportunities.” Jen presented him with a gift basket. 

Along with it was an envelope that had a nice sum of cash for him to help with his future. While she and Yoongi signed the back of his artwork for him, writing some encouraging messages, some artists were fans of BTS and asked for photos.

Once Yoongi excused himself to use the bathroom, Jennie continued to look at the other artwork.

“Wow! This looks amazing. This is yours?”

She heard a familiar voice.

It couldn’t be...

Not here of all places...

Not now...

Jennie feared for the worst and slowly turned around to see Hailey talking to one of the artists, who seemed starstruck because she was an Amity fan. Jen had remembered that Amity would be having their world tour in Seoul, and it looked like they were already here. At least Hailey was. But it didn’t make any sense.

Why was she here? She had no business here whatsoever.

Jen frowned as she watched Hailey have her manager film her giving the girl a big sum of cash to help with school. The girl began to get emotional and kept thanking her for everything. Taking a selfie, Hailey immediately posted it on social media as her fans would comment on how much of a ‘generous queen’ she was and that she was an ‘amazing leader’.

Once everyone left to go to the other room for some refreshments and other activities, Hailey and Jen were left alone in the room. Jen’s eyes closed in dissatisfaction as she heard the dreaded voice of the person she wanted to avoid forever. 

This was not the time nor place for any of this.

“Quitter! Long time no see!” Hailey beamed, watching her open her eyes, looking at her unamused. “I missed you! Wow, your hair looks nice. Did you gain a little weight, too? I guess that Korean food is making you a little thick. Nice. You look wonderful. How’s BTS? I heard about your little comeback that’s coming up. Let’s see if you’ll finally get an award this time. And let us see if the song is actually good. The others...eh...not so much. I bet those first wins for I Need U were pity awards.”

Jennie clenched her jaw, continuing to look annoyed by her presence.

‘Not worth it...bite your tongue.’ she told herself.

Just why of all places did she have to come here and pull that half-assed publicity stunt during her moment with a fan?

“I get it, I get it.” Hailey chuckled, understanding her reaction. “You are so happy to see me that you’re speechless!”

Jen slowly shook her head in disappointment. “Why do you always feel the need to one-up me...? Everyone? You never let anyone have their time to shine or have their moment. You always make it about you. Always...”

“Whatever do you mean?”

“Everything I do, you try your darndest to do it extra.”

“Where are your receipts?”

“I learned Korean because I love the culture and wanted to communicate with everyone if I ever got the opportunity to come to Seoul and be a K-Pop idol. And now I’m here, blessed. But with you, you learned it out of spite to get back at me. You said it was a waste of time and that you hated it, years ago.”

“Okay, and?”

“My songs in my notebook which you took? I wrote what I was feeling. What was on my mind. And then Songstress changed it into unmeaningful lyrics for a single.”

“We made the songs better.”

“And then here at this art show. What I did with my fan was from the heart, not for attention. I don’t need the media to know when I give someone money or whatever. I just do it from the heart. You, on the other hand, do it for publicity, posting everything on social media, lying to the public about who you really are.”

“Do I now?”

“You’re fake and you’re a phony.”

“Ouch....”

“It won’t be too long before everyone knows what Songstress is doing to screw Angelina and me over to make you guys look better. They won’t let it go, huh? That we left? That we found a better home to showcase our talent with music? That we are more successful without the company? That we’re happy? Even if you guys are more popular now, Amity is not how it used to be. It’s not a group. It’s just Hailey and the backups.”

“Wow! I can just feel the animosity you have towards me and I just want to know if you’re going to do something about it. Because Angelina retaliated over the years. Got on my bad side and now she’s in the state that she’s in, losing that collab with The Weeknd and now Trinity has it.”

Jennie quickly got in her face, narrowing her eyes. She had a feeling Songstress had something to do with it. How heartbroken her best friend was when she found out she lost that collab with him is an image that will never leave her head.

“Good, good. Get angrier," Hailey provoked. "I’m just waiting for you to snap too, that’s all. Your mind is just a ticking time bomb. I’m just patiently waiting. You know, I really like it when you guys get so pressed when it comes to me. Angelina always has my name in her mouth. You, you’re better. You never talk about me like she does but the fact that when you look at me and you get so mad, even a little intimidated, just makes this entire scenario more entertaining.”

Jen scoffed and shook her head. “I knew it. I knew there was a pattern. First, her losing out on winning an award at the MTV Video Music Awards when you knew Angelina was getting higher votes than the other nominees and you knew damn well she deserved it. And now losing the song to collaborate with The Weeknd. Suddenly Trinity has it now. Did Songstress pay to decrease her votes or something for the award? What did you guys do?”

“Who knows, maybe she has a lot of enemies. Or the competition is just too much and she’s not as good as she thinks she is. Maybe Trinity was a better fit for the collab.”

“Un-believable...you and Songstress have got to be the shadiest people ever.”

“And are you planning on doing something? Do you want to end up like Angelina? I mean, after showing how problematic she is, I’m sure everyone was pretty convinced to not work with her, anymore. I’d try to stay on my good side if I were you. And hey, don’t get mad at me. It’s just business.”

“No. It’s just spiteful. You’re garbage.”

“Yeah, Angelina tells me that all the time.” she shrugged. “Oh, and before I forget...your belated birthday gift. A VIP pass to see how great we are.” Hailey presented a ticket to Amity’s upcoming concert in Seoul.

“Not interested.”

“That’s a VIP ticket, you know there are a lot of people that would kill for a VIP ticket to an Amity concert. But why am I not surprised? You were always ungrateful.”

“Do me a favor and stay away from me.”

“Wow, I came all the way here and you gonna treat your old leader like this?”

Something told Jennie that the Lord was testing her and she could only hope that she had the strength to not do anything she would regret in the future during Amity’s stay in Korea.

“I am not joking. Stay away from me. Leave Angelina alone and back off of anyone from Big Hit. I don’t care if it’s a stylist, stay away. I am not in the mood, I am in a good place and I am not letting you fuck it up.”

“Ma’am, yes ma’am! Just tell Angelina that Trinity will let her know how the collab goes! See you around, quitter.”

Once Jennie watched her walk away, she took her phone out of her pocket and ended the voice recording, saving it. Something told her to record and she was glad that she listened to her gut feeling. She was going to do whatever she could to get that collab back to Angelina and clear her name from all those lies Songstress said. She didn’t deserve any of this and Jen couldn’t stand back and watch it happen anymore.

It was time to clap back. She had enough of Amity’s foolery and it was going to end very soon.

As Hailey walked out of the room, she noticed Yoongi and called him out. 

“Well! If it isn’t boyfriend number six!”

“I thought you were leaving.” Jen met up with Yoongi, narrowing her eyes at her.

“I was but you didn’t tell me boyfriend number six was here. Suga, was it? Allow me to introduce myself. I’m Hailey.”

Yoongi ignored her. “Jennifer.”

Every time Yoongi said her full name, she knew he was dead serious.

“Yeah?” she asked, watching him turn his head to her.

“Is this the person that’s been causing you trouble over the years...?”

Hailey scoffed. “Me? First of all, she is the one that’s been causing-“

“Was I talking to you?” Yoongi bluntly interrupted.

“I don’t appreciate that attitude you’re giving me. But the music that you make for BTS is a failure, so...I can see why you’re so bitter.”

“We didn’t ask about your music. We know your music is a disappointment.”

“Excuse me-“

“You’re excused. I can literally see the shit coming out of your mouth from all these lies you’ve said. You lost a dime. Took Jennifer for granted and now you try so hard to ruin the success that she has because you know that she is better than you. She is better than you as a person and better than you as a performer. She earned everything. You were handed everything and you keep coming back, popping up where you are irrelevant to whatever is going on. This stunt won’t make your phony ass relevant.”

“Are you friggin kidding me? I was not handed everything and how dare you say to my face that this ignorant stupid bitch is better than me!?”

Jen was about to open up her mouth, bothered that she name called her but halted once Yoongi raised his hand, signaling her to stop.

“A stupid bitch? If I remember correctly, I’m looking at one, right now. And the woman standing next to me is nowhere near what you described. So if I were you, I’d choose my words wisely.”

Jen let out a chuckle at his comment. He wasn’t wrong, that’s for sure, and Hailey’s agape reaction made it even funnier.

“You really going to insult me of all people like this?”

“I’m not insulting you, I’m just describing how pathetic you are. Are you done embarrassing yourself? If so, you can get the fuck out of here. And I highly suggest you leave Jennifer alone. Don’t piss me off.” he said in a harsh tone. 

A tone that surprised Jennie. She had never seen Yoongi like this before. Hailey was so stunned, that she couldn’t even say anything as she felt intimidated by him and took a step back. 

“S-so you have little boyfriend fight your battles for you?” she turned her attention to Jennie.

“Nah, Jennifer can handle herself pretty well. I just want you to shut the fuck up. So, why are you still standing here, looking stupid? Get the fuck out of here and go back to your group. And if I see you around Jennifer again or cause her any more problems, we will have a problem. So, think wisely.” 

Flustered and angry, Hailey stormed out while they watched her leave.

"Wow...thank you," Jen said.

"Always...let's get out of here." he grabbed her hand and walked her out of the building.

--------

“I knew it was that bitch! I’m gonna fuck her up!” Angelina yelled, pacing around the studio after Jennie played the recording for everyone. 

Her sudden outburst scared a few of the members, who had no idea what she was yelling in English.

“No, Ang!” Jen exclaimed.

“What do you mean no!? You gonna let this bitch do this to me!?” she snapped. “I am going to kill her-“

“Do not let her have that power over you.” she snapped back. “I know it’s difficult, I want to hit her as much as you do but we cannot go that route. It is not worth it. I need you to listen to me because I have a plan and I want this to work. But you need to calm down for this to go well, okay? I got you, I always got you.”

She exhaled and sat back down, meanwhile, Jen had translated everything that was going on to the members and they were not too happy about the situation.

“It’s time to clap back,” Jen announced. “I want to end this once and for all.”

"Yeah, this needs to end. How much you want to bet that they turned on Layla?" Angelina asked.

“No need, I already know they did. First me, then you, now her. She got dragged into being one of her goons and now it seems like she’s opening her eyes and wants a way out just like us. Well, hopefully, that’ll end very soon.”

“She is such a manipulator, thank God you recorded her. But no really, thank you for recording her. I don’t know what I would do if you didn’t. I just might get that collab back because of you. If I do, I need to pay you back, big time.”

“Don’t. I don’t want to be repaid. I really don’t care about getting anything back from you. It’s no need. You’re my best friend, I always got your back. And besides, I’ve been trying to think of a way to end this mess and this recording will do the trick.”

“I can make a big video of the audio on my YouTube channel. But maybe she’s hiding more secrets. If there is a way that we can video record her for even more proof, that’ll be even better.”

“We’ll think about that. In the meantime, I want some frozen yogurt. Let’s hang, my treat.” 

“You really not gonna let a girl pay anything while she’s here, huh?”

“Nope.”

----

Since BTS were performing some more concerts, they stayed in a hotel in Seoul. And ironically, Amity stayed at the same hotel after finishing up their tour dates there. Since they were done, they had a few more days to stay in the country and decided to check out everything. But from Amity’s Instagram page, it seemed to just be Trinity and Hailey hanging out, with Layla nowhere to be found.

Meanwhile, Hailey, Trinity, and Layla were shopping in Seoul. Mostly just Trinity and Hailey as Layla dragged herself along, disinterested. She felt left out of everything ever since she had questioned why they were still trying to dwell on the drama with Jennie and Angelina. Layla began to question the way she’s been acting over the years and felt like things weren’t right.

She felt like a follower and as soon as she began to not do what Hailey wanted her to do, that’s when she saw a change in her friendships with her and Trinity. She began to feel exactly how Angelina and Jen felt.

She honestly felt miserable and was planning on leaving the group after the tour was over. She was over everything. The final straw was when Hailey had wanted to give the Weeknd collab to her but it was actually for Angelina. And once Layla had said no, Hailey had given it to Trinity instead.

She was over the manipulation. Hurting others for her personal gain. This was not who she was and she didn’t want to be a part of this type of lifestyle, anymore. If only she could bump into Jennie and apologize for everything. But she probably doesn’t want anything to do with her and will blow her off as soon as she sees her. Sorry, wouldn’t even be enough anyway.

“Uh, I actually don’t feel like shopping. I just want to go check out one of the museums, can you come with me?” Layla asked.

“Seriously? Absolutely not.” Trinity rolled her eyes.

“Really? I always do everything you guys want to do. For once, just take an interest in what I want to do.” she frowned.

“Shop for once, not stand and look at paintings or whatever. I don’t feel like going to no boring museum.” Hailey added.

“Wow.” Layla shook her head. “Of course, you guys don’t. But when it comes to what you want to do, you’re all energetic. You’re fake for that.”

“After all Songstress has done for you? After all, I’ve done for you, you want to call me fake?” Hailey called her out. “If it wasn’t for me, you wouldn’t be here today, so I’d watch what I say. You want to end up like Jen and Angelina? But I'm the bad guy, right? Blame me for everything if it makes you feel better,"

Layla walked past them, outside the store. All this gaslighting had to stop. She had to leave as soon as this tour was over. She couldn’t take much more of this type of treatment. Trying to guilt trip her and all.

“She is annoying as hell,” Trinity murmured.

“Well, it’s Layla, what do you expect?” Hailey turned and saw Jimin, Jin, and Taehyung walking inside the store with masks on. “Oh, what do you know? Boyfriends number seven, three and two are here.”

-----

With Layla, on her way to the museum, she made a quick stop at a coffee shop. Getting her drink and muffin, she noticed a familiar figure and decided to approach them.

“...Rap Monster...?” she timidly called out. Once he turned around, it was him. “I’m uh, I’m Layla. A member of Amity. I’m sorry for disturbing you but I uh...I really need to tell Jennie something. I know she probably wants nothing to do with me but please when you see her, just tell her that I have something to give her. Please.”

Back at the hotel, Hailey with her shopping bags made her way inside the elevator. Her plan for the rest of the day was to go to a spa, but once she saw a hooded and masked Jungkook walk in, it automatically felt like Christmas for her as she constantly kept bumping into the BTS members.

She already ruined Jin's, Jimin's, and Taehyung’s day, so why not cause more chaos before she leaves Seoul?

“Well, if it isn’t boyfriend number one...Jungkook, right? I’m Hailey. But I guess Jen already talked about me so I’m sure you know who I am.”

Jungkook was shooked and didn’t respond. How could he? He pretended to ignore her like he had headphones in his ears. He was also bothered by her presence.

“So, you’re the one in love with her, right? Maybe I should tell her for you,” she pondered, causing him to immediately turn his head, tensing up. “Wow, that certainly caught your attention. But honestly? What difference does it make? She’s going to say no. Doesn’t her family want her to date within her race? Do you honestly think she’ll date a Korean guy like you? Come on, you’re cute but that’s not the ideal type she wants.”

That, unfortunately, bothered Jungkook as he felt himself getting angry at her presence.

Hailey, however, appeared satisfied with his reaction and assumed he was feeling discouraged. She wanted to see if she could spark an argument between Jen and Jungkook if she got into his head enough. He seemed to easily become jealous so perhaps she could use that in her favor.

“I mean, you never know, she just might be dating Kevin on the low. Ever thought about that? You know all those times she goes to America, do you think she goes to see him?” she faked a concerned voice. “Man, it must hurt. Having the girl you like kissing another guy? Knowing that you were too late? They're probably sleeping with each other. That must sting to the core.”

Although he was upset, Jungkook continued to ignore her. Jen said it countless times that they were friends and he trusted her word. He knew what was going on here. Hailey was trying to get in his head by telling lies. 

She laughed, “Whatever, I really don’t care about your dumb puppy love. Although, I have to ask, why are you forcing yourself to wait for someone like her? Don’t you see all those other girls that are head over heels for you? But you choose Jennie of all people? I think you’re too loyal to someone that’s extremely oblivious to your feelings. Don’t waste your time. She’ll only hurt you in the end. Being in the friend zone is not a pleasant place to be. Date someone a little older, too. It’ll save you a lot of time and heartache. I’m sure there are a lot of other women that’ll be a better candidate than her. She is not worth it-"

Getting angry, Jungkook shot her a glare which made her stop rambling and take a step back. She was not expecting that kind of reaction as her stomach dropped.

"Enough," he spoke in a stern voice, startling her. "You do not know anything about what we have. It's in your best interest to stop talking bad about her. Especially in front of me. She is worth everything and someone like you can never compare. I am going to tell you this, one time...Stay away from her and leave her alone,"

Once the stop on his floor came, he stormed off, leaving her taken aback.

-------

Jennie could not understand how one person could cause so much chaos in one day. It began to stress her out as she went to comfort the members. She should’ve known better as her body tensed up when she found out that Hailey had bumped into Jimin, Jin, and Taehyung. Hailey even made Jimin cry when she spoke about his weight.

Of all things...and as hard as Jen tried to boost Jimin’s confidence, it was like all the positive things she said to him over the years were nowhere compared to the comments Hailey had told him, today. And what irritated her, even more, was that Hailey was still around the members when Jen and even Yoongi had told her to stay away from everyone in Big Hit.

“She fuckin’ lucky she didn’t see me, today.” Yoongi spat, pacing around angrily. “She is fucking lucky...if I were you, Jennifer, I’d beat the shit out of her, tonight. I can’t put my hands on her but you can. Just do me one fucking favor and give her one clean hit to the face.”

“Violence is not the answer,” Namjoon warned.

“Fuck that!” he snapped. “Clearly words aren’t enough, Namjoon!”

“Maybe after this video, Angelina creates, it will be,” he added. 

During his encounter with Layla, she had agreed to let him video record her spilling all sorts of tea about Hailey to add to what Jen recorded.

“Doesn’t matter, it’s not enough.” Yoongi turned to Jen. “What are you going to do? It’s your call. Years of frustration, end this shit tonight.”

Jennie exhaled while she had Jimin in her arms, holding him tightly after comforting him and stopping him from crying. It took a while to even get him to eat dinner as he questioned his weight. She hoped and prayed it wouldn’t trigger him to begin an unhealthy diet to try to lose weight. Sometimes she felt like all this drama was her fault. This was just between her and Hailey. But then Hailey wanted to get the members involved, stressing them out.

“Although we spoke to Big Hit about what is going on...just...look...just don’t hit her first. If she hits you, you have every right to defend yourself.” Namjoon asserted. “But use it as a last resort.”

“Use it as a first resort,” Yoongi growled

Moments later, Angelina had finished with the YouTube video to expose Hailey & Songstress and posted it on her channel. Now it wouldn’t be too long before the entire world finds out the shadiness. But to Jen, it wasn’t enough and Angelina had agreed.

“There you are, where you been?” Hobi called out, seeing Jungkook walk in.

The Golden Maknae was still agitated about his encounter earlier today. Jennie had noticed Jungkook looking fidgety and decided to call him out on it instead of leaving the situation alone. And for the most part, she was glad that she did, realizing that he had probably been approached by Hailey.

“What did she say?” she demanded, causing him to widen his eyes.

“How did you know?” 

“Because you’re not the only member she approached. And it’s your body language,” she responded and translated what was going on to Angelina.

Angelina scoffed and shook her head. “Of course, she did. As if the first confrontation wasn’t enough. Wasn’t Suga’s diss enough for her to not associate herself with Bangtan? She must want to be embarrassed again.”

“I’m sure she just sees Jungkook as an easy target like she did with Jimin.” Jennie sighed.

“She’s just trying to get under your skin.”

“I know...it worked,” Jennie admitted.

“What do you want to do?”

“Let’s go to her room."

“And pay her a visit? Count me in!”

Jennie turned back to Jungkook, “Did she bother you or make you uncomfortable in any way?” 

Miss Bangtan waited for his answer. Watching him slowly nod in response, she nodded a couple of times, clenching her jaw.

First coming unannounced at the art show. 

Then making Jimin cry. 

Then making Jin and Taehyung uncomfortable. 

And now making Jungkook uncomfortable. 

No more of this.

“I swear,” Angelina complained, “She’s like an annoying fly that you want to kill so badly.” 

Jennie closed her eyes and inhaled and exhaled deeply, trying to keep her emotions in check. She opened her eyes, released Jimin and went to grab her sneakers, putting them on. She then puts her hair in a high bun.

“We’ll be back,” Jen announced.

“Good. Thank you. Ruin her fucking life, tonight.” Yoongi grumbled as she started walking to the door.

Jungkook stopped her by grabbing her hand, “Are you sure about this?” he asked

"Jungkook, if someone messes with you or anyone in Bangtan, I have a problem with them," Jennie said, standing in front of him. "I specifically told her to stay away from every one of you. To not bother any of you or give anybody in Bangtan or Big Hit a hard time. But what does she do? Bother you guys and I don’t appreciate that. Clearly, she didn’t get the message so... she and I are going to have a little chat. Stay here. I'll be back," she smiled and began to walk past him with Angelina to the door. 

“Munchkin,” Hobi called out, causing her to turn around to face him.

“Yeah?”

“Right hook, left hook then right, again.”

“I’ll keep that into consideration.” she nodded and left the room with Angelina.

[s1llydr3amscape]

🐰🩸, 😈❓, 🎂🫂, 🍬

sorry for multiple, i am curious!! (feel free to not answer any of em if you dont feel like it!)

🩸🐰 :

EXPLODES EXPLODES EXPLODES SPINS INTO THE SKY!!!!

Vanessa wahhh!!!!! Sometimes I feel like if put to much off myself Into her because that's what usually happens when I love a character too much. I feel like another reason Vanessa doesn't usually ask for help is because whenever she did ask for it it just ended fricking her over.

Like growing up 4 me asking for help is either a life or death sentence. Like idk probably culture shit but asking for help Is a sign of weakness and if you can't immediately do something you're a failure. Your value is how useful you are and probably why Vanessa is reluctantly obeying Glitchtrap like that shit is ingrained with you. It doesn't go away! Even after she gets to be free from their control asking for help is still to hard for her.

Vanessa after sb probably overwokrs herself because now she has things to worry about and also like mouths to feed. She has to be useful she has to. Why else would she be allowed to live and like thankfully she learns it's OK to rely on others. She learns it's ok to ask for help it's not a burden.

😈❓️ :

Imma be real Im kinda me with willy that much but that's because being autistic abt vanessa and during her early days and ppl kept shipping him w her left and right left me very very bitter. But like I do like how most ppl write him and how much off a freak he is!!!! I think he did it for immortality honestly. Sometimes, I feel like he preferred robots over humans because he wanted to be a robot. Like no hunger, no pain, no tired that kinda jazz. Also why he likes wearing the springbonnie suit a lot!!!

Also hearing summaries abt the book willy it's like damn bro wtf 😭 Gaslighting ur own kids and giving children heart attacks with the nightmare gas?!?! In this au tho I want him to care abt his kids in his own fucked up way.

So what happened was when he became Springtrap he was ecstatic yay I'm my fursona forever now but also AFGHGHH THE SPRINGLOCKS.

Also like im so glad in the graphic novel they made him bald when he was experimenting with remnant!!! LIKE YEAH BRO DECAY DECAY DECAY!!!!! Also probably why he killed more kids than adults is because he probably thought younger people would make his immortality last longer.

🎂🫂:

I like to think they did. Why because I love bittersweet endings a lot. Charlie thinking she could save them by giving them another chance at life. Yet they remained trapped in those dingy suits forced to stay there and do the same things over and over and over again. I'm sure some of them were bitter with what she did.

They're all kids after all sometimes they just see the black and white and not the grey off it all. But before their tension they were probably the closest friends ever. I think they all drew alot and even made characters roleplaying with eachother!! Projecting hehehe my irls and I would draw and self insert eachother into different media. I think they'd do the same!

🍬 :

Im in a Elizabeth mood. Sorry i love ffps a lot!!

I never really focus on the human characters in my aus besides Vanessa because I feel like I can't write ppl that well. Like idk how to describe it It's like I feel like seeing others work of the human characters is freaking more peak to me. Also just like not feeling like a person sometimes and just going oh yeah these are human activities!!!! Also i think cuz like when I joined fnaf when it first came out I liked the animal characters more like we can attach any headcanon we wanted because well heheh they barely had any personality traits

I do write them in my more serious au and me just hyper analysing the game they're from and anything that could be related to em especially with the afton kids specifically Elizabeth my fave out of em because ughhh this poor girl like I haven't read the silver eyes trilogy sadly but from the summaries. God this poor girl just gets taken over by the robot AI and its like ughhh 😭😭😭 and apparently William told Baby to kill herself LIKE WHAT WHATS GOING ON IN THOSE BOOKS? I love father daughter dynamics.

FFPS Just hurts more because she's like this is a gift you've given us before getting cut off by Henry but it hurts more becayse she's trying to be a good daughter and follow in his father footsteps!!! William doesn't even acknowledge it at all in the game. No lines nothing he's just it's like he's avoiding her embarrassed by his own mistake about letting his own creation kill his own kid again. Leaving her to rot in the basement and letting Micheal go in his place instead like why did you do that why why why she likes to play pretend.

In the end maybe she pretended to much that her father loved her so much and that's why she has to be good. He must've left her down there because she went to visit baby without his permission like ughhh 😭😭😭😭 The fact she got kicked out of Ennard too like she's still bossy and in charge and I just love that cuz we got a sick ass fnaf design. But also since the funtimes have their own AI maybe being trapped down there for so long with her believing her fantasies and trusting her to go into Micheal before being ejected out from him. They ended up hating her because they wanted to kill and kidnap kids cuz off what Willy wrote in their AI

So she's just left alone again after having the people she spent her entire childhood with leave her because unlike people they're not like her. And just wahhh her and Charlie 😭😭😭😭 I could go on about that (ended up liking em cuz of some fanart) like they know eachohter right both the daughters of their fathers who work together. Like in FFPS they hate eachother. Projecting again but my parents used to love shit talking my friends parents so I wonder if it ever happened.

Do they hate eachother too?? Is it passed down?? Are they friends here did they both realise they both went a different path in life. One bringing life the other bringing death. Do they ever get to reconcile in the fire realising that in another life they could've been friends or even more.

Like HUHHHH THAT FANART KILLED ME 😭😭😭😭 also I think k the main reason I got so attached to Vanessa is cuz off how they both lowkey parallel eachother. Like Liz dynamic with Willy and Nessie dynamic with Glitchy.

[b0mb-yx]

shout out 2 my pet isopod small blocker you singlehandedly make me so happy and every day i check on u and see u’ve crunched a hole thru another dead leaf i smile

[criminalmutantsins]

Top 10 Favorite Young Justice Characters

10. Jaime Reyes/Blue Beetle

Starting off the list is Blue Beetle. Young Justice introduced me to him, and I was hooked. He’s probably the most mellow and calming voice. His arc and relationship with Bart (friendship or not) were my favorite aspects of S2. They bounced off each other in every scene. I was very disappointed when Jaime and Bart were sidelined so much, and hope S4 changes this (particularly with Bart).

Jaime in the number 10 spot since he doesn’t really have much of a memorable personality. Still love him to bits though.

        9. Will Harper/Red Arrow

Funny enough, I did not like Will. He was an asshole in S1; S2 kind of changed my mind about him but not enough since he didn’t appear as much. What really changed my mind was the episode “Private Security” (S3 Ep.4). I started looking back into Will’s storylines and, I have to admit, his is probably one of the best character development.

The first season had him unwillingly living a lie and betraying the people he cared for. In season 2 he was so consumed into finding the original Roy for five years, not even caring or focusing about his own life. I felt really bad for Will because he was probably going through an identity crisis and thought he couldn’t live his life without finding Arsenal. Probably felt guilty.

Seeing him living his own life and being happy with his daughter was so heartwarming. I smiled every time Will appeared in the latest season (totally ignoring the Will x Artemis fiasco), especially with Lian. I’m very proud of him.

I feel bad for putting him so low, yet I adore the next characters more.

 8. Garfield Logan/Beast Boy

I have been a massive Beast Boy fan since Teen Titans so you probably can imagine how excited to see him. His origin story was unique and his brother-sister bond with M’gann was very sweet. It was pretty weird seeing how much younger Gar was than Dick, but I got used to it. I was bummed that Gar wasn’t in S2 as much; however, S3 truly made up for it. 

After watching Beast Boy being a great leader in S5 of Teen Titans, I wanted a leader-like and more mature version of him. Young Justice truly delivered with Gar being the leader of the Outsiders. It’s nice to see him treated with respect rather than as a joke because that was my biggest gripe with Teen Titans. Though it was weird seeing him not crack a joke at all.

Gar’s story with his mom was heartbreaking to see. I literally cried seeing his reaction to revisiting his trauma in S2 and S3; I just wanted to hug and tell him how awesome he is. My only complaint with Gar in S3 was that the Outsiders weren’t established until near the end of the season.

His voice actor being Greg Cipes also gives him extra points (He’s a chill guy and radiates BB energy).

 7. Dick Grayson/Nightwing/ Robin I 

Sorry to all the hardcore Nightwing fans.

I love Dick (don’t get any ideas), but he doesn’t get enough development in the spotlight. One of the things I really wanted to see from him is his growth as a main leader, and his journey to becoming Nightwing. I was really bummed when these happened between the first two seasons.

To be honest, I don’t have as much to say about him other than straightforward qualities I enjoy about him.

1.His Voice (it’s so soothing)

2.His Personality (very charismatic)

3.Very Handsome (Probably in the top 3 my most handsome YJ Men list)

I put him higher than the others since he made a lot of contribution to the story and his new words (gotta love that aster!)

6. Megan Morse/M’gann M’orzz/Miss Martian 

If I made this list during S1, M’gann would have probably been in my top 3 (maybe even No. 1), but S2 didn’t give her any brownie points.

I really liked S1 Miss Martian because of her kind heart, awkward girl next door personality. Her trouble fitting in the beginning reminded me of when I was going through a time in high school; seeing her having trouble as well helped me feel not so lonely. M’gann powers were (still are) my favorite since I am a big fan of mind-like powers. I would feel so powerful. Watching her identity crisis(?) arc was great too. I’ve had trouble feeling comfortable in my own skin as well as my social anxiety (I’m a mess) and I could understand how scared Megan was of her friends’ thoughts on her true form. 

Oh boy. Season 2 basically ruined her. Learning what she would do to enemies was terrifying to see and left me wondering what happened to Miss Martian that made her step this far. What she almost did to Superboy was almost unforgivable. You do not try to manipulate with your boyfriend’s mind when you guys have an argument! Shame on you M’gann. If Superboy hadn’t forgiven you then I wouldn’t have either.

Good thing S3 somewhat redeemed her. Her kind heart was noticeable again and she refused to do that mind trick again (thank god). Very excited for the Superboy and Miss Martian wedding! Please creators, I beg of you to not skip over it. I want to cry my eyes out in happiness!

 5. Kaldur’ahm/Aquaman/Aqualad 

Now we’re in the top 5 with Aqualad (*ahem* Aquaman) starting it off.

Creating Kaldur was the best decision the creators ever did. I love him with all my heart!

He added diversity to the original team and was a great leader. S1 was not his breakout season, though the second season definitely was.

Kladur played the villain so well that he deserves an automatic Oscar. I never doubted that he was with the heroes, but he didn’t disappoint. My favorite part about Aqualad’s performance was when he rose from the ocean slowly like a cliché villain (he made it work), and the line he said right after he “killed” Artemis; it sent me chills. Love it! 

Pretty disappointed that he didn’t appear as much in S3. Very happy that he is a part of the LGBTQ+ community and is in a happy relationship. I’m a part of the community and loved that there was finally some representation in one of my favorite shows. Even so, I have to criticize how rushed and sidelined it was. I hope Kaldur and Wyynde’s relationship gets development.

 4. Kon-El/Conner Kent/Superboy

Like Will, I did not like Superboy at first. Mainly angry and volatile characters were never really my cup of tea. I do understand why he was upset and felt bad for him; I just handle anger the direct opposite as him. My love for Conner started growing around the end of S1. He was very sweet towards Miss Martian (bless him for not caring about her appearance) and his anger was in control.

Season 2 pretty much switched my opinions on him and M’gann. It was awful what M’gann almost did to him. That scene with him being so sad that what she did ruined that special bond they had almost made me cry. I wanted to give him a hug. He grew so much too since I don’t think he would have handled the whole M’gann drama as well in S1. A lot of furniture would’ve been broken.

I gotta admit something. I almost put Conner near the bottom (maybe no. 7). A comment in a poll in Amino changed my mind. I wrote a poll asking other fans who did they prefer SB or MM. At that point I said SB, though I didn’t think much of it. Someone (specifically yjfangirl) responded “Superboy has the best development in the show.” This had me thinking about how far SB has gone. In the beginning, Conner was an angry guy who felt alone and rejected by the person who he was meant to emulate. Now he is happier and living for himself rather than to be the next Superman. He’s getting married people! A little detail I noticed when rewatching S3 was Superboy mentioning to new characters that they weren’t obligated to be a hero because of their abilities. I adored this! The main reason why Superboy was created to be Superman if the original ever died, and another one of Luthor’s puppets. But he strayed from that pressuring path and is doing his own thing. Conner doesn’t want other people to feel like he did. What an absolute pure soul.

Also, yjfangirl, first I want to say Hi (*waves*)! Then say thanks for writing that comment. It made me really think about the bigger picture with SB and my love for him as grown exponentially. You probably didn’t mean to do that, but I still want to thank you. 😊

 3.Wally West/Kid Flash

We’re in the elites now.

I don’t know how to explain it, I just love Wally. He makes me laugh, and his character growth was great. At first, Wally was this cocky flirt who didn’t take the hero work as seriously. That changed in “Cold-hearted,” one of my favorite episodes in the series. This was when I really started seeing more of Wally than being this dumb flirt. It was great seeing him actually caring about helping people since I believed for a long time that he wanted to be a superhero to just have powers rather than actually protect others. The regret in his eyes when he thought his impulsive behavior killed Perdita helped me see who he really was- this somewhat arrogant speedster who had a kind heart. Episodes that can make me change my perspective on characters are truly special.

I was very upset that he wasn’t in S2 a lot. I understand why since he gave up the life, but I was still bummed. Seeing him being so loving and protective towards Artemis was amazing. Spitfire is my favorite ship and I will not give up on them. All I want is a happy ending! The penultimate episode of S3 was a hint that it will happen. Watching the S2 finale was heartbreaking, I cried watching him disappear, his love for Artemis being the last things he said. Artemis’ reaction did not(I just wanted to hug her). 

I have more to say, though I’m leaving it for another post. 😉

 2.Bart Allen/Kid Flash II/Impulse

Picking between Bart and Wally for second place was tough. Took me a while to decide; I’ll talk about it later on.

The moment Bart made his appearance, I absolutely adored him. He is amazing and I live for his hyper, fun attitude. His arc and relationship with Jaime were my favorite aspects of S2. What can I say, their chemistry is great to see.

That scene when he was meeting the Flash family was so adorable. His excitement was infectious and spoiling his dad and aunt’s births was hilarious! I watch it occasionally whenever I need a good laugh or reason to smile.

Unlike most time travelers- at least the ones I’ve seen- Bart was very involved with what was going on and befriended his biggest enemy- evil and weirdly huge future Blue Beetle. He was pretty careful about disclosing very important information and took things very seriously. You never know if disclosing everything was the thing that brought the world to chaos.

What I found interesting was his choice on how to interact with everyone. He seemed pretty gloomy in the future, but decided to portray this cheerful, devil-may-care attitude to be more likable. I understood (still kind of do). I had terrible mental health issues and I pretended to be happy in front of loved ones because I thought they wouldn’t care about me anymore. Bart got some brownie points for that.

I was dissatisfied when his role was greatly reduced. I wanted the creators to go further with Bart by revealing his past and how it affected him. He was pretty much comedy relief. You couldn’t imagine how disappointed I was, especially with it involving my second favorite character. Season 4 better change that.

I know that you shouldn’t assume a character’s sexuality, yet I really hope Bart is gay. There needs to be more clear representation and Bart can be one of them. I’m also a Bluepulse and Bartuado shipper (fine with either one as long as Bart’s bond with each of them stays strong).

Anyway, I mentioned that I would explain why I chose Bart for 2nd place over Wally. It mostly stems from wishful thinking. I really want S4 to have Bart as a main character since I believe the future will be strong plot point in the season. Development could surely happen such as Bart opening up more about what he went through. Let all those feelings go.

I’m going to write an article on my hopes for S4 when a release date is announced. Bart and Wally will most definitely be talked about.

 …..

We are finally near the end!

And my No. 1 favorite character is…

Drumroll please!

…

..

.

1.Artemis Crock/Tigress/Artemis

That’s right people!

Artemis Crock, original member of the Team and daughter of villains!

She is such an inspiration to anyone who wants to go their own past without their parents’ support.

It’s hard to describe how much I love Artemis. She’s brave, strong-willed, and a kind person. It’s crazy how great of a person she is after all the terrible things that happened to her. I look up to her because I don’t have a healthy relationship with my parents (verbal and mental abuse) and there are times I don’t feel strong enough to stand on my own. I want to carry the amount of strength Artemis has as my own.

After all that happened in S2, it was amazing to see Artemis come back to the team and train the new generation. It must have been hard to walk away from a safe, comfortable life for a chaotic, dangerous life. I admire that in everyone, but I hold more respect for Artemis since “the life” “killed” Wally. I wanted to hug her so bad.

She’s also one of the kindest people in the show, the events in S3 being the best example. When Zatanna was crying about her dad, Artemis was there to comfort her. It was so sweet! Roy and her also took in Halo and Terra like they were a part of the family; the archer treated them like the best big sister. That rainstorm scene was heartwarming to the core.

Wouldn’t Artemis be an amazing mother? Lian and her have a strong bond like a mother and daughter; I loved it, and Lian is in good hands with Roy and Artemis. Though Jade deserves a chance to be a mother. Artemis also seemed to enjoy taking care of those kids in that S1 episode. Wally too. You guys know what I’m guys insinuating. 😉

Get ready for some fanfics on that someday.

My favorite Artemis-centered episode was the second to last episode of S3. I was waiting for this episode centering around Artemis missing Wally and learning to move on. It was great yet heartbreaking. Nothing bad happened. That Will and Artemis kiss never happened. Everyone makes a mistake. No matter how terrible it was.

Anyway, seeing Artemis and Wally living their lives and having a baby gave me life, even if it was fake. It was a vision of the future. I will believe this until there is confirmation that Wally will not come back.

Did anyone else cry when Artemis was so desperate to, but Wally wouldn’t let that happen (the real Wally would do that)? They are a great example of a healthy relationship with all the love and support they have for each other. I want that.

[violetfaust]

I'm interested in hearing more about why you think Margot should've been Rumbelle's daughter. Sounds interesting, but what would that mean for her enchanted forest life? I think her being Robin Hood's daughter would've been fine if not for Zelena

Okay, Nonny, since you sent this a few days before Mother's Day, I'm gonna finally take the opportunity to try to sum up and speed-run the Belle's Daughter Margot feelings that have haunted me for THREE YEARS. Buckle in; this will be more than you or anyone asked for.

Disclaimer 1: It's been, well, three years, so my memory of Curious Archer and their story is not perfect; could be off on some details here. And Disclaimer 2: I really loved Tiera Skovbye as Robin/Margot; she did a lot with not much screen time, and she and Rose had fabulous chemistry. So although she was well cast as Robin Sr.'s kid, Tiera would be perfectly believable as a Rumbelle daughter, too--maybe give her some low-lights and call it a day. We keep Tiera as Margot in this rewrite. Okay: onward.

(Since one of the few things that would have to change about Robin if she were Rumbelle’s daughter is her name, I’ll just mostly use her Hyperion Heights name “Margot” throughout this post for simplicity.)

First and foremost, the foundation of everything: Margot is so like Belle! She is so like her. They have the same love of adventure, a similar sense of humor. She took Alice on a date to a bookstore. Most of all, she has Belle’s ability to see past “the mask of the monster” to a person’s heart. There was a great scene where Tilly explained that she didn’t want Margot to see her “bad days” because she thought it would be “too much,” and Margot said words to the effect that she was there for the bad as well as the good.

Obviously, people don't have to grow up to be exactly like their parents (Belle and Rumple sure didn't)...BUT. In fiction, one of the fun parts of next-gen stories is for the audience to see how their favorites' personalities are passed down. It's just more fun to see a Henry who has parts of Regina/Emma/Neal than one who doesn't; it's fun to see Lucy resemble little Henry. And it would be fun to see Margot be like her parents (she is very like Robin Sr; not so much Zee). Seeing a character who has so many of Belle's traits becomes just more...fun...when she learned them FROM Belle.

The family feud Rumple/Hook angle turns Alice and Margot’s relationship up another roman tic notch. A classic trope! It’s about reconciliation and love remaking and erasing those old grudges. Which is even more important when we’re supposed to believe that the evidence of Rumple’s final redemption is his saving Rook.

On a more macro level: the entire claim that OUAT is "a show about hope" COLLAPSES because it ends with the annihilation of the Stiltskin family. Rumple, Belle, and Neal are all dead; Henry doesn’t acknowledge them as his family; and Gideon is a friendless and forgotten orphan in another world. I did my rants about this three years ago, but long story short: the show’s not about hope unless it’s hopeful for EVERYONE. And having at least one of Rumbelle’s children alive and happy at the end (with her True Love and friends and acknowledged as part of the family) would fix that. My objection has never been that Rumple (and even Belle) die, but the way it happened.

And of course, Rumbelle needed to have at least one other child because Kitsowitz managed to deny them even one single shared happy moment surrounding Belle’s pregnancy with Gideon and his birth. Even if the audience didn’t get to see it (and we could have gotten a glimpse in Beauty), we deserved to know it happened.

Finally: Zelena did not belong in S7, period. I know it was fun for her fans! (Although apparently there weren't enough of them to positively affect the ratings, meow.) I do know! But it was bad storytelling. She served no point in the larger season arc, and the serial witch killer plot that was invented to serve her was one of the worst and most stupid things Kitsowitz came up with in seven years, and ate up time that could/should have gone to develop other characters. (Driz and Ana come immediately to mind, instead of having them shunted off to another universe, but also Henry/Cinda/Lucy and of course Rumple since his plot was coming to a close.) Zelena didn’t even get any significant growth herself, or develop her relationships with Regina or Robin. She still didn’t express regret for the horrible things she did to characters we love (Rumple, Neal, and Robin Sr.); the only result of all that screentime was to give an unrepentant rapist a love story with a person--we barely see and have zero investment in. And even that was ultimately negated at the end of the season, because in the finale Zee’s back in Storybrooke sans Boo Bear.

So, all that said: what would have to change about Margot’s, and Curious Archer’s, FTL storyline to give us Margot Gold?

Her name—but actually very little else. (And frankly it would have been more respectful to have Belle name her daughter after Robin Sr., who was actually her friend, than for Zee to name her kid after the man she raped, manipulated, and ultimately got killed—but that ship had sailed.)

Belle and Rumple could have given their daughter any number of fairytale names after people they know, aka fresh take on a Disney character. My favorite possibilities are Aurora (and then Curious Archer could have been Curious Beauty, and done a riff on the Sleeping Beauty story as part of their FTL backstory, with a built-in TLK) and Merlin (very pretty for a girl, I’ve always thought).

But the character herself would have been very much the same: she could be Rumbelle’s jock daughter, trained in archery and swordsmanship by family friends (Merida/Mulan/Charming), but always feeling out of place in her family of scholars/sorcerers/nerds.

I am SO sorry for the length of this--there's even more under this cut!

Robin/Margot felt insecure about trying to live up to her father’s name; Rory/Merlin/Margot could have similar anxieties trying to live down her father’s Dark One rep. There could even be a similar story where she was born with magic (like Robin was) but loses it or chooses to give it up—something that would estrange her further from her family. Or, if she was Merlin, she could keep her magic but be reluctant to use it, and part of Curious Archer’s Hyperion Heights arc would be both Margot and Tilly discovering and accepting their magic. (Sapphic sorceresses for the win.)

Now, one of the cutest things about Alice/Robin’s FTL dynamic was Robin being a girl from the Land Without Magic finding her feet in an enchanted forest, with Alice’s help. But it would only take a little finessing of S7 Rumbelle’s story to get that for Rory as well. (Of course, any decent story would have a LOT of finessing of Rumbelle’s plot so that Belle didn’t die and put Rumple on a suicide mission, but again—assuming the ship has sailed…)

Say that Rory is five to six years younger than Gideon. The Rumbelle family spend a dozen years or so traveling the realms, but then Rumbelle decide that they want Gideon and Rory to be comfortable in the LWoM with their extended Charming family, so they settle back into the Pink Palace so the kids can get a LWoM education. They still take occasional journeys, often Rumbelle going to save some hapless souls, but Rory grows up primarily in SB with very few, vague memories of all the fascinating places they visited when she was a small child. This feeds her hunger for adventure along with some envy of Gideon for having so many more fairytale experiences—another thing that makes her feel like a misfit in her family. So, presto, when she moves to FTL she and Alice have pretty much the same meeting/adventures.

One of the key notes of Rumple and Alice/Tilly's relationship, showing his growth and making it so special, was how he chose to set her free of being the Guardian or whatever, allowing her to be free and get what he never had, the chance to grow old with the woman she loves. And that would be weakened if Rumple knew that by choosing Alice's happiness over his own, he was also choosing his own daughter's happiness (because we know Rumple picks his kids over himself ever time). But--he doesn't have to know WHO Alice's True Love is when he makes that choice. He could just know that there is someone, or simply realize that Alice deserves her freedom for her own sake. (Rumple's daughter also getting happiness would be a side benefit that he didn't learn about till later, and have the added perk of Rumple actually getting a narrative reward for doing something good. Which almost NEVER happened! Bonus.)

Finally: I do understand that Robin's presence on the canvas was important to fans of Robin Sr.--getting to know he's remembered and having someone carry on his legacy. Of course I get it--Rumbelle and their family not having that is my biggest complaint (of so so many).

But we don't need a grown-up Robin Jr. to be Robin's legacy. Let her stay a cute background kid with perennially baby Prince Neal. There's already a character, one we're invested in, to carry on for the Hoods: Roland. And again, it would be satisfying for the audience to learn that a five-year-old orphan wasn't shunted off from what family he had left (Regina and Henry) into another universe and never heard from again. If Kitsowitz didn't waste time with Zelena, they wouldn't have needed the idiotic Jack-is-Hansel-the-serial-killer twist, and we could have have had Roland filling the role of Henry's best friend/little brother (and therefore Lucy's fake HH dad--God, that plot was bad all the way back in season 1; why Kitsowitz why?). We'd see Roland onscreen, part of the family, at the end of the show, perhaps with his own True Love (Drizella, maybe, or better yet Gideon) and happy future.

So, that's it: the combination of Margot Stiltskin-Gold and Roland Hood tightens and heightens the storytelling throughout S7, closes some plot holes, and actually fulfills some of the show's stated themes. Who knew!

Anyone else want three years of OUAT theory vomit? 😋 Shoot me an ask!

(I actually have another one, god help us all, but I might save it till Father's Day...)

[opbackgrounds]

I'm not sure under which catagory this will fit but can you give your opinion on the relationship between Doffy and Roci? More specifically whether or not Doffy really loved Roci; and if he did, did Roci wrong Doffy as a brother? In my mind Cora-san did nothing wrong and it's mainly Doffy's fault that they ended up where they were; but i'm curious Thank you ❤

First things first, no I don’t think Cora did anything wrong, and, no, I don’t believe Cora was right saying that Doffy was inherently evil. 

Secondly, this ask made me reread Law’s flashback for the first time since it was initially released, so while things are fresh in my mind I’m hardly an expert. My friends tell me that frees me to make an unbiased analysis, but I fully admit my stance on this isn’t 100% settled. I might change my mind on somethings later on, and that’s okay. 

With that out of the way, let’s talk about feelings, and how they betray us.

I find Doflamingo difficult to write about because there’s so much about him that remains ambiguous even after the conclusion of his arc. One Piece villains don’t tend to be super complicated by themselves as much as how they interact in a complicated world. 

Take Crocodile. What drives his actions during the Alabasta saga are simple: He wants military might after a failed attempt at the New World. The details of his backstory and the nature of his failure are fuzzy, but the basic motivation is pretty cut and dry.

Not so for Doflamingo. There are some hints that he wants to become the Pirate King, but for a decade he’s carved for himself a comfortable role in the underworld maintaining the status quo among the Four Emperors, gaining wealth and prestige on the slave market dealing black market weapons. Maybe all he wants is to laugh while watching the world burn. Who knows, not me. 

What makes analyzing Doffy and Cora difficult specifically is that Cora is a liar. Seriously, I don’t think there’s a major character in that entire flashback that he’s not dishonest with. So you get moments like this

Mixed with moments like this 

Making it difficult at times to know where exactly Cora stands. I mean, if he truly believed Doflamingo was born a monster, that there wasn’t a scrap of decency in his body, would he really have hesitated to shoot, even knowing he was about to be killed?

There is a lot of ambiguity in the characters of Cora and Doffy. To paraphrase Shrek, they’re like onions, with lots of layers to dig through. At the end of the day I think there are multiple valid interpretations that stay true to the text, and unless Oda decides to go Word of God in an SBS or something it’s going to stay that way. 

For what my two cents are worth, I don’t think even Cora knows how he feels about Doffy. On the one hand, he’s made it his life’s work to limit the destruction Doflamingo can wreck on the rest of the world, but on the other, he’s fighting against his blood brother. Cora I think was right when he said that he and the other executives understood Doflamingo better than anyone else in the world 

Because remember, Cora was there. He saw Doffy kill their father in cold blood. He heard his brother vow revenge even as the rest of the family begged for mercy from the enraged mob who nailed them to a wall. He’s seen the rage Doflamingo is capable of and the lengths he’ll go to in order to get back at those he thinks have wronged him. 

Oda has always struck an interesting balance been Nature and Nurture within the series. I’ll touch on it more when I write on the Celestial Dragons as a whole, but you can’t really look at the environment Doffy grew up in and say that he had any chance and becoming anyone else that he did. 

Cora and his parents were, at best, outliers within the culture of Mariejois. You know that the family had slaves before they decided to live like normal people because as a child Doffy asks if they can buy more. You get the implication that Homing never had the strength of will to correct his son’s misbehavior, nor did he have any idea of what he was getting his family into (his idea of a “comfortable life” is a giant freaking mansion) and after his death Trebol and the rest fed Doffy’s worst traits, molding Doflamingo just as much as an adult Doflamingo molded the children left in his care

So while Doflamingo always had a strong will and a mean streak, neither did he ever have a character like Sengoku to set him on the straight and narrow. You can’t tell me that if during the Void Century the Donquiote family decided to stay and rule Dressrosa and the Nefertiti family abandoned Alabasta for Mariejois that eight hundred years later that’s not at least a chance that Vivi ends up as a super villain with a god complex while Doffy is ruling as a good, wise king. 

So in wrapping this up, I think the relationship between the brothers is messy and complicated. For as much as Doflamingo spouts how much he values his blood brother during the first half of the flashback, he was pretty damn quick to assume that Cora had betrayed them after he ran off with Law (and to be fair, he was right). I think there was always a part of Doflamingo that doubted his brother, because he disappeared for eight years, and because of the supposed “weakness” Cora showed when they were children. I think there’s some truth to the statement that Doffy values the four other executives more than Cora

Putting a very twisted spin on the found family trope that One Piece puts so much emphasis on. I think Doflamingo expected Cora to betray him because he’d been betrayed by his “own kind” so many times before: By his father, and then by the Celestial Dragons as a whole, who I think people tend to forget tried to kill him when they found out he had learned their big secret

(As an aside, I love Oda’s attention to detail—the silhouette of the armor is exactly the same as what we see at Mariejois itself)

At the same time, I think Doffy was genuinely disappointed when his suspicions about Cora were correct. Doflamingo gave his brother everything, including a seat at his right hand, only for Cora to throw it back in his face. Doflamingo had planned for Cora to eat the Op-Op Fruit and give up his life to give him immortality, but Cora refused to be controlled. 

And if there’s anything Doffy hates, it’s not being in control. 

For his part, I think Cora told himself often enough that his brother was a monster that he mostly believed it. Whether or not it’s true or not doesn’t really matter, because Cora believed his brother was beyond saving. The fallen god had become a devil that needed to be put down for the sake of the world. 

And yet he couldn’t pull the trigger. 

It’s unfortunate for him that Doffy didn’t have those second thoughts. 

[kosei-on]

(the sb anon again) was hesitant to send another... here's the prompt that i wasn't able to fit in the last msg set in the archieverse shadow always had a secret admiration for blues' wayward attitude but chose to abide to his given orders after blues' betrayal, shadow's longing to be free like him begins to surface ahhh i'm sorry if i went overboard and got into specifics, you could also take your own liberties! have a nice day! ヽ(；▽；)ノ

I had to look up what broodish meant in ur the last message, but I agree with it. I end up writing a lot about what characters are thinking because my mind is always just;;; Running... I’m not a huge ShadowBlues fan (I only really ship TempoBlues and since I ship BassRock- BluesBass has become my enemy)  And I feel super inspired by ur message!!! It isn’t perfect for how you asked, but I hope, that you liked it anon!!!

But y’all, send me all the rare pairs!!! I’m so happy to have enthusiastic peeps here, send me everything that is N O T I N C E S T.

____ Shadow has always thought Breakman, Protoman- whatever stupid identity he obsessed over at the moment was a strange conundrum. His past was ruled by dictatorship and orders. To not abide by Terra’s rules, to not believe in Ra Moon and worship him like the deity he was, the great and malevolent ruler, meant death. If he could be honest to himself, he didn’t miss Ra Moon too much. But why he didn’t he wasn’t sure. He should miss him, the last part of his past, he was supposed to help him rule the earth and yet he failed and while it felt horrible, the pain had faded and he was lost and yet not, he still had orders to follow.  Dr. Wily was almost as strange to him as Breakman. He didn’t have much experience with humans, but he was fascinating in ways different from the creation of Dr. Light. It was hard to put into words, words were so fleeting and temporary. So easy to twist and misconstrue. They are held to loose definitions that are interpreted in different ways. Easy to replace with words that mean practically the same thing- actions are much louder. When someone hands you something without asking if you wanted, it spoke to how they thought of you. 

Protoman understood this. Wily did not. Why use 10 words when a 100 would do? He understood he hated Dr. light by the way he wanted him dead, he didn’t need a lecture.  Protoman, Breakman, he understood this. When he wanted to take him back to Dr. Wily, Shadowman deliberately wanted to provoke him into a fight. Just to feel his strength. He could tell, in a brief battle, the tide was turned to him, however, he wasn’t sure about a longer battle. It worried him. He could feel his faith in Wily waning, and if he were to flip, and he couldn’t manage him... 

Well, that’s what happened. It frightened him almost, the poison in his words as he spat to Wily. Unbeknownst to him though, Wily had made precautions to ensure he didn’t flip. Of course, such methods were against his moral standings, but he already knew Wily was not a fair or honest man. So he tried to not let it bother him. In the days leading up to the incident, Dr. Wily was flipping through a dictionary, angrily muttering to himself as he paged through the bounded pages.  “I suppose you wouldn’t know the definition of ‘Susurrus’ would you?” Shadowman stared.  “Chrissake, I can’t use the internet in case someone cracks my identity- God- how did anyone live without the internet?! Oh, finally, here we go, ‘whispering, murmuring, or rustling.’ Why wouldn’t you just say murmuring?!” he threw the science journal against the wall, Shadow didn’t flinch as it banged against his head and fell with a thump.  “These fancy types always use the long and complicated word when the lamens term would work better. It’s monotonous.” Shadow didn’t listen to the rest of his rant. The dictionary had opened to a word, and one stuck out to him.  wan·der·lust/ˈwändərˌləst/ noun: a strong desire to travel. "a man consumed by wanderlust"

He thought of Protoman. He was gone and hadn’t come back. But Wily was so sure of himself he didn’t ask him to leave. Well, that was fine. He had a perfectly fine time entertaining himself. But the word, “Wan-der-lust. Wanderlust. Wanderlust.” toiled around his head. Had he ever had a strong desire to travel? 

That was months ago. Megaman defeated Cossack's robots, and while he knew Wily was alive he had only heard rumors, like whispers of the wind. When he found him, gave him sort of a signal he would return, but for now he was a: vag·a·bond/ˈvaɡəˌbänd/ noun: a person who wanders from place to place without a home or job.

Living the life of wandering mindlessly. Sometimes he stayed in one place for several days, tucked for several days in a tree. Survival wasn’t much of a problem, he didn’t run on the energy canisters the robots of this miserable planet did. He was fine running the way he was, or so he told himself. But his enemy was boredom, and he fought it in an intense struggle. So much so he was most entertained having dreams. He once dreamt he had won a race, and spent the money on buying a ninja house and a red scarf.  The red scarf stuck to him. His silhouette was dark in the full moon as he stood over the house... It was a scene more suited to Protoman... He did betray Wily after all. He was angry at first, mostly at Wily for being so insistent and sure of himself, unable to accept he could have been wrong. But he supposed that it wouldn't matter, and he should be over it now. He had nothing to do now that he was alone. Without his master's orders, until there was a signal, there was a sign, he had to wait. He was growing tired of it.  

Protoman’s words echoed through his head, the last time he saw him. “I might be a coward, I might have betrayed Wily but at least I am beginning to understand who I am! Who are you? Who is Shadowman? All you do is follow orders! if you were without them what would you do?” Oh, he HATED him. Loathed him, of course, he wouldn’t understand.  Actions spoke louder than words, but those words cut deep. He couldn’t begin to understand his line of reasoning. The one who changed names and identities like the phases of the moon- which, tonight was a lovely crescent- understood himself better than someone who was told who he was from the very day he was made. it was ridiculous. 

...Although... He had time to think. He asked himself, when had he ever felt wanderlust. It was that longing in his chest when he stared at the stars, the miles sprawling in front of him. He had seen himself had bright they shined, and how endless space was. Insignificant, but together in an army, he was part of something bigger. That claimed planets and conquered galaxies. 

But he was just a speck. All this time, he wanted to be more than a speck. He tried to hard, but, he was a- “Goddamn fool!” Or was he? The thoughts contradicted and ran away in his head. he did not miss Wily. Not in the slightest.  But he did miss Ra Moon. As much as he said he didn’t miss him as much as he should, Ra Moon was a scary but dominating presence. You could feel how insignificant you were to him, and that was beautiful because when you were beside him, you were part of a being that was just so much more. 

“I want to be free,” he said in a susurrus. 

It felt right. For once words spoke louder than actions. And he would have sat there in the grass surrounded by a limited amount of trees if his instincts had not overridden that. He stood on his feet, shuriken glinting in the moonlight and he stared where the leaves of the tree rustled. 

Protoman stood there, and the silhouette was not perfected, but his visor shined, and scarf rustled perfectly with the wind.  “...Shadowman, put that way, it’s too nice of a night to fight,” he scoffed like he had offended him. Shadowman was so shocked by this he let out a slight “huh” sound. Begrudgingly, he did put it away and crossed his arms. 

“...It was a nice night.” 

“Right. So... Shouldn’t you be with Wily?” “A nice night like this would be better spent without company.” “Yeah? Well... I’m going to assume that means you don’t know where he is.”

“Do you have any idea?” Protoman shook his head and dropped down from the trees. “No. I want to though, so I can kill him,” he added “That’s impossible.” “Hmmm... Maybe.” What does that mean?  “Well, I took your advice. It’s wonderful, being bored all day with nothing to do.”

“You didn’t take my advice then. Who is Shadowman?” “...” the fact that Shadowman didn’t have anything that wasn’t abstract after 30 seconds spoke a lot. Protoman crossed his arms, giving off a smug aura.  “Well. Fine, who is this ‘Protoman?’“ “...Someone who wants to go home but can’t.”  Shadowman stared at the stars for another moment. “...If that is how you define yourself, I suppose we have that in common.” “Really... Huh.” they both gazed at the stars for a long while.  “...If you’re bored, you could come with me.” Shadowman's eyes shifted to him, and then shifted back forward.  Another moment, where words spoke louder than actions. A vagabond to offer company on their wanderlust was not something he expected. He nodded.

[show-me-your-rocks]

I grew up in what I thought was a normal house and maybe it was. But after self exploration and my wife and some shows helping me to see how I’ve been broken over the years, I’m seeing what I experienced probably wasn’t normal. I’m journaling as a form of free therapy.

My first memory was from daycare when I was 3. I remember watching Rugrats, one of my favorite shows when I was little, and another kid came up from behind me and pushed me over. I fell forward. This seems like a good analogy for my life. I’m standing there minding my own business and an external force comes and messes that up. That’s probably normal to think you did nothing wrong when you actually did do something wrong and you just don’t know what it was yet.

I grew up with my mom and dad, older brother, and a house full of plants and animals. My mom and dad met in college and were at least in love at first. By the time I can remember anything about them, all I can remember is hatred for each other. That’s probably normal. They did sleep in the same bed when I was young but then I remember my dad moving to the couch and then eventually another room because of his snoring, from what I could gather. I rarely remember them either saying they loved each other or kissing. My mom would tell me she loved me all the time and my dad would do it if prompted. My mom would also tell me all the time that she was divorcing my dad as soon as I graduated high school. I was around 7 when I first remember her saying this to me. Imagine hearing almost all your life that your parents hated each other and that your mom wanted to leave. I can imagine a lot of parents have the same feelings for each other as mine did but it felt kinda crazy that my mom would dump this on a first grader. I didn’t know what to do with it. As far as I remember I just said ok like it was normal. What else do you say to that?

My dad was there but not really. I was supposed to be a girl and so was my older brother actually. Can you imagine not feeling wanted but the guy is there everyday to give you that vibe? I was nothing like him in his eyes. I don’t look like him (thank god) but I’m tall and built like him. I got his damn crazy eyebrows which are a painful reminder we’re related. I was into cars and it took me a while to get into football which was one of his passions. We didn’t watch them together. I hated him almost my whole life and I felt the same from him. He saw me as a competitor for my mom’s attention and acted like a child. Other family members saw this like my wonderful great aunt who was basically my grandmother.

She was the only one who I saw frequently and gave me that kind of love. She was such a wonderful and loving figure in my life and always made me feel like I was so special and a joy to be around. It was never a chore to drive the couple hours to go see her a few times a year. She died a few years ago on Mother’s Day of all days. It took me a long time to delete the last voicemail I had from her which was her calling me to wish me happy birthday.

My brother was almost a decade older than me and was the troublesome older child. He paved the way for me to not get in trouble but I was also nothing like him growing up so my mom saw no reason to put the same kind of rules on me that they needed with him. At times he served this kind of hybrid brother and dad taking me to football and baseball games. We always had kind of a weird relationship and I remember my mom telling me that some psychologist said that we were essentially only children. I don’t know where she heard that but she doesn’t strike me as the kind of person to take her kids to therapy.

So to recapture all that’s happened so far. I have a dad who doesn’t really want me and makes it pretty well known and he also competes with his own son for attention, a mom who dumps too much on her own son and is a bit much with the attention at times, and a brother who doesn’t even really register as a brother, but sometimes as a father.

Put that together with someone who was tall and big and I never really grew up defending myself, so guess what I don’t do? Yup, I let people walk all over me and use a lot of patience even though my wife says I shouldn’t because people don’t deserve it. Imagine that episode of SpongeBob where Plankton teaches him to stand up for himself. I’m SB and my wife is Plankton. Another kid’s show character I identify with is Steven Universe. In SU Future there’s an episode where he tells the gems they think he’s some great person who got better and he’s only gotten worse and he’s a fraud and a monster. I cried because of how real that felt to me. My wife thinks I’m like him because he’s wonderful and does nice things for people all the time and I see the comparison in that I’m silly and don’t think things through and mess things up and make things worse trying to fix them.

I feel like such an imposter all the time. I’m a husband, father, and I have a PhD. None of these feel real to me and though I hear from others, especially my wife, that I’m great, I’m not. She says I’m a great husband but I fuck up all the time and I try to do better but I’m a shit listener and it infuriates her. Simple things I just cannot do it seems. As a dad I do stuff for my daughter. I change diapers all the time and do bath time by myself sometimes. But I feel like I’m not there enough for her in other ways when she needs me. I’m really good at doing the stupid stuff that doesn’t matter a whole lot but I feel like if I’m called up to the plate I strike out. I have a PhD but I barely have any publications and do so little I feel like a failure. I just got hired to this big director job doing some cool things in a few months and I pulled the wool over there eyes. I have some good ideas but they’ll see I am a fraud soon and I worry what will happen then.

These kinds of thoughts lead me to suicidal thoughts. They mainly stem from the fact I don’t love myself. My wife and I watch RuPauls Dragrace and the end of the show always ends with RuPaul asking if you can’t love yourself how in the hell you gonna love somebody else and I don’t love myself but I love my wife and daughter and our pets so much. I remember driving home from work once and I was at a red light and I had a thought for how to deal with some students and I thought hey that’s a good idea, it might work. Then I thought no it won’t, it’s a stupid idea and you’re an idiot. Then I thought what is it like to love yourself and I cried. I’ve also had the thought of killing myself so I can get rid of my own debt and my wife and daughter can live off the insurance money. She doesn’t want me to and I get that but it seemed like a good idea for a time. Now it’s not so much of a pay out and not as worth it. Sometimes I’ll be driving along and I just get the urge to drive off the road and crash into a tree. Don’t know if that’s normal or not.

I didn’t mention my mom, dad, or brother in that list of people I love so much and that’s also the reason I didn’t say family. They were toxic and I cut them off for my daughter’s sake but I’m seeing some benefits myself. Right after my daughter was born my parents invited themselves (this was a point of contention) to come see her. I didn’t really want them to come but they did. We got into a fight because my daughter was weeks old and we weren’t leaving the house but for essentials. They wanted to take my car out (they flew in) and go get food even though I told them we weren’t leaving the house and I got food for them. They didn’t care about seeing my daughter at all and complained that I was helping her and my wife who had a rough recovery and they didn’t come all the way down to not see me. (?!?!) That blew up and they said they wanted nothing to do with my daughter and it would be a cold day in hell before they came to see me again. It was okay for me because I only ever talked to them on the phone on Sundays and I dreaded that call. It was freeing once we were sure they were gone. They flew out two days after the fight when they found a hotel and left. My wife almost had a nervous breakdown from dealing with them and the stress of a new baby so I was relieved when she ate for the first time in four days.

My brother was kind of caught in the middle and I felt bad for him but he took their side so I ended our relationship too. I have essentially no blood relatives who want to talk to me. That’s fine. Family isn’t just blood to me. I have some amazing best friends who take their places. One who is also a new father and I’ve know for over 15 years is a brother to me. Another who I’ve known for over 5 years and is another brother to me. Although I did only learn he was gay a few years ago. He hid it because he’s afraid of people knowing and holding that against him for jobs. Even though it’s academia and PhDs who are more liberal, it’s the south and it scares him. I feel so bad for him. He’s such an amazing guy and I love his fiancé. It’s funny because my wife said she could leave me for him if I treated her bad because he does love her but guess what, that plan won’t work. I might also kinda look like his fiancé but that’s beside the point. Surround yourself with people who make your life easier, not harder.

[djgamek1ng]

PLD LEVEL 80 STORY RAGE [FFXIV] RANT

So it has been a while since ShB came out. I’ve gotten all my tanks to level 80, did all of the job quests and oh boy I have some stuff to talk about. Since this is a rant post as you can see by the title, I’m just gonna put this out there: I’m gonna be swearing in this post. I’m probably gonna be swearing a lot. If you don’t like that or don’t like anger/negativity in general, you should probably skip this post (aka, don’t click “Read more”) even though I will be raising some more legitimate criticisms and how to improve one of the tank’s stories... no shuddup, the title totally doesn’t give it away.

Also, on another note, I will be posting my impressions of each of the tanks later. Hopefully somewhere this weekend, but no promises. I have a lot to talk about and I wanna cover it well.

Also also, spoiler warning. I will probably spoil some stuff though I will try to be vague about it.

Okay, let’s start with some positivity first. Some happiness if you will and so we shall start with what in my opinion is undoubtably the best level 80 story of the tanks: Dark Knight. All of the 80 job quests are really short, but still give a decent story. I hope next expac we do get a bit more, even if they decide to just go with the one job quest route again.

Anyway, DRK’s level 80 story quest... holy fuck. I was not prepared. This only re-affirms it for me: the DRK story has no right to be only just a job quest story. It honestly feels like it should be part of the MSQ. So TL;DR for this quest: you go to Sidurgu to check in on him and Rielle. Sidurgu hands you a letter from an unknown sender. You go to find out who the letter is from through a slightly long fetch quest, though you do get to re-meet people from the DRK quest of the previous expacs. Eventually you come by the person who send it, the person that ridiculed you for ruining the wares he asked you to return to him. He feels sorry about it and wanted to thank you (which is what the letter was about btw) and tells you the story of how life went for him after that (not well until recently). He hands you a flower to give to someone, though it is more suiting for a funeral or a farewell. You go off to be brooding and there appears your darkside. You exchange some words with them and then return back to Sidurgu. This honestly felt really powerful and in fact, was the second time I had to wipe away a tear or two from my face this expansion. I have done it no justice and I implore you to at least look it up on YouTube, but preferably you do it yourself. Even though it was just 1 pretty short quest, this was hands down the best tank job story this expac. Even the entirety of the GNB story doesn’t come close.

Onwards to second place: WAR. The WAR story this time around was pretty nice. Not as deep or feeling provoking, but just... nice.

TL;DR: Curious Gorge can’t take it anymore and wants to know if Dorgono (the female Auri WAR from the SB story) loves him the same way he does with her. He wants to travel to the Far East. Coincidentally, Dorgono and her dad come to Eorzea. Drogono’s dad, Luvsan, wants to repay us for helping Dorgono control her inner beast. He repays us by making a medicine (which is a placebo) which allows Broken Mountain to train as a WAR once more. Afterwards, Luvsan returns to the Azim Steppe but leaves Dorgono behind to train more (and fall in love, which was his first intent in Eorzea to begin with). Oh and Curious Gorge freaks out and thinks that the WoL and Dorgono are in love with each other because they smiled at each other. Dorgono knocks some sense into him, since she isn’t in love with us but someone else (no points if you guess right).

And that was WAR’s story. Simple, funny, effective and heartwarming. I actually really liked it and it was my favorite tank job story before I leveled DRK. Overal, pretty good! GNB. Well, probably the 2nd weakest tank job story but even then, this is honestly pretty good. I will only summarize the 80 story to the others. TL;DR: after having trained under the last Gunbreaker out there, Radovan, and having saved the First, you return to him. You tell him your story, especially about another Gunbreaker being out there named Thancred. He’s confused since he doesn’t know Thancred and he didn’t train him. You go on a fetch quest on a trail for someone that looks a lot like Radovan and uses the same kind of weapon. It turns out, Radovan isn’t the last Gunbreaker out there as others of his home place have survived and the trail we picked up was of Rostik, another Gunbreaker. After it, you return back to Mor Dhona and are happy to know that the art of Gunbreaking isn’t about to be lost. Again, like the DRK story, I didn’t do it much justice and with the context of the 60-70 GNB quests it becomes a lot more interesting. Still very nice. I would personally say it is a bit weaker than WAR, but that is because I have grown to care about the people in the WAR quest for longer. PLD... UGH. TL;D-FUCKING-R; You go to Jenlyns. Jenlyns is worried about Mylla, the head of the gladiator guild. You got to Mylla. She is worried about Aldis, the wandering bum. Speaking of him, he walks inside the gladiators guild to show of his samurai skills. He challenges you to a duel. You get ready to fight and he sees how much strong you have become. You say it is because of you have things to protect. The duel ends with Aldis giving up before it began. You and Mylla go back to the gladiator guild. Aldis steps in and asks if he can stay. Mylla goes all tsundere (ugh) and allows him to stay. You fuck off and do literally anything else.

UGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. WHY. THERE WAS ONE REALLY COOL THING. ALDIS SEEING HOW STRONG YOU GOT BY SEEING AN AURA AROUND YOU. THIS HAS SO MUCH POTENTIAL BUT NOOOOOOOOOOO. FUCK THAT, WE NEED TO HAVE THIS ROMANCE PLOT BETWEEN TWO CHARACTERS OF THE FUCKING GLADIATOR STORYLINE. YEAH, THAT IS SO MUCH BETTER. NO NEED TO EXPLAIN HOW THE PLD POWERS ARE EVEN A THING OUTSIDE OF TRAINING (WHICH LITERALLY EVERY FUCKING JOB HAS TO DO BTW), NO NEED TO SHOW US THAT WE SAVE PEOPLE AND DO ALL THIS KNIGHTLY/PALADINY SHIT OUTSIDE OF THE GODDAMN MSQ. NOOOOOOOO, THAT WOULD MAKE FOR AN ACTUAL GOOD FUCKING STORY LINE INSTEAD OF THIS BULLSHIT. GOD FUCKING DAMMIIIIIIT! AAAAAAAAAAAAAA- *insert static screen here* sigh As you can no doubt tell by everything that I just typed, I am slightly upset at the PLD story. It had one really neat thing going for it, something that could make it feel more like a Paladin/Knight story (need I remind you, in JP PLD is called Knight). Instead however, anything interesting gets brushed aside because “well, the MSQ covers it already. Nevermind that the fucking WAR, DRK and GNB stories do show us protecting stuff in their respective quests”. Hell, wanna know the biggest slap in the face? We got a really good PLD story. It just wasn’t part of the PLD story. Instead it was inside of the tank role quests where we got to see more of Branden (the PLD inside the Warriors of Darkness group) and his past. It was amazing and honestly heartbreaking, since it didn’t have a great ending for Branden but he still did what he had to do. The biggest problem for me since SB is that the PLD story has just become a continuation of the Gladiator storyline and I’m happy for the people that really like Aldis and Mylla, but I’m so fucking bored of those two. At least with Curious Gorge and Dorgono you know that the two are actually in love with each other and that they will finally be able to be together, even if for now it is only to train together. With Mylla and Aldis... Aldis just does not give off that he has any interest in Mylla while Mylla is obviously in love with him but doesn’t want to admit it since “oooh, let’s have a tsundere character”. SERIOUSLY. DO ANYTHING WITH THEM. Aldis comes to the conclusion to ask if he can stay with the gladiator’s guild because of us admitting that we have something to protect now (WHICH BTW, IT ISN’T STATED EXPLICITLY WHAT WE HAVE TO PROTECT NOW AND HAS TO BE GAINED OUT OF THE FUCKING MSQ) and that is why we became that strong. Okay, so how would I rank them? DRK >>> WAR => GNB (WAR overal was better, but GNB is pretty close to it) >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> PLD. 

Now, since I don’t want to be only negative, how about some ways to improve the PLD story? Honestly, it is very simple: make it similar to the DRK one, only with a brighter, more optimistic tone compared to the DRK’s more somber and pessimistic tone. Think of Superman and Batman: one is about needing to save the world while being a beacon of hope for the world, the other is about dragging the world back from the brink and being pessimistic/realistic about everything. An example: let’s say someone important to the job story dies in a battle. The PLD would mourn them, but still continue to fight the good fight and rally their (potentially) allies. The DRK would mourn them and instead go fucking nuts on whoever killed their ally. Either would be able to go for vengeance, but it wouldn’t be on the PLD’s to-do list while it becomes the only thing on the DRK’s to-do list.

That’s just my idea on it though. Could obviously be better written than I could ever do, but it would work honestly. Anyway, I think I’ll wrap it up here. I’m glad that 3 out of the 4 tank stories was good, but I’m really pissed of at that 1 out of the 4 that isn’t good. Thank you for reading. Sorry for the swearing, but I had to get it off my chest.

[etlivnheart]

( cody fern, demi male, he/him, fire emblem: three houses ) * &. i know it must be scary for you, dimitri alexandre blaiddyd, after not surviving the takeover. to turn into someone like dimitri a. baker, a twenty-four year-old housekeeper at cozy corner inn & cafe, right here in castle town. just remember that you are as chivalrous as you are misguided, and to be wary, be safe, be true to who you are : heroic through and through. ( back on my bullshit ) 

           alright folks I hope y’all are ready to STRAP YOURSELVES IN bc hoooooooly hell do I have a lot to say abt this kid. he was the muse I originally planned to bring in alongside Zelda when CT first opened for apps bt then I,,, had seconds thots and picked up A Thot sooo. back to square one and I can tELL ALREADY I’ve made a good decision. More under the cut pls but beware of FE3H Blue Lions spoilers !!

⁠— BEFORE CASTLE TOWN

Alright so I’m gonna say this now : Dimitri’s general backstory is no walk in the park , and for some , it may be triggering. I’m going to warn you that this bit will contain some content relating to mental illness ( not named specifically in-game but most prominently ptsd & depression ) , violence/war , and ( parental ) death.

So Dimitri is the crown prince of the Holy Kingdom of Faerghus - a wintry kingdom in Northern Fodlan. When you meet him , he’s a student at Garreg Mach Monastery’s Officers Academy & the head of his homeland’s respective house , the Blue Lions.

And at first glance - Dimitri is a fucking sweetheart and he’s diligent , kind , maybe a little cautious especially around fragile objects and there’s always some... allusions that there’s way more to him than this Disney Prince air he seems to carry.

Yeah... there is.

So Dimitri. His parents ( father & stepmother ) died in an incident known as the Tragedy of Duscur where Faerghus’ king and queen were killed , many people died ( including the elder brother of Dimitri’s childhood friend , Felix ) , and the people of Duscur were blamed for it. Ever since , Dimitri’s trauma & survivor’s guilt has only been left to fester and settle to the point where he believes he won’t be able to be at peace until he fulfills revenge for those who passed - to the point where he claims he can also see the ghosts of the dead , ushering him to avenge them.

This tends to manifest in a side of Dimitri that makes him a fierce warrior on the battlefield. But this doesn’t really show full force until the timeskip rolls around , Byleth disappears , and Dimitri’s lost his final crutch and it’s pretty much at this point where his life takes a major turn for the worse - yeah this kid can’t catch a break.

He becomes more and more obsessed with the idea of revenge now that there’s a clear enemy in sight and he constantly is scared of failing his lost loved ones if he can’t succeed in taking her down. He’s been on his own with no-one to hang onto since he thinks his best buddy - who he saved from Duscur - is dead and so many people think he’s dead and once he’s found he’s not the same as in the beginning. He’s now tenfold sucked into that one objective until someone else he loves is lost and normally you think that would only make it worse. But it doesn’t. Since now Byleth’s there.

Byleth’s assistance and compassion teaches him that he can also live for the living and himself rather than focus on only those he lost - and that is what they’d want for him, too. So throughout the rest of the game he reverts back to how he was similarly in the beginning of the game - less aggressive & impulsive and more careful & considerate ( and back to being your typical sweetie ) and he realizes his actions during that period were wrong and he’s willing to atone rather than wallow in his own negativity - and it’s through help him others that he begins to walk a better path and gets his own happy ending in the story ; he learns to forgive and to give chances, even though sometimes those chances are tossed back in his face.

DIMITRI, AS A CHARACTER,,, REALLY MEANS THE WORLD TO ME ( as sb who has ptsd & depression myself ) and his development in my opinion ( since now I’m closing in on all four routes ) is probably the most drastic & in depth of the three lords. 

He does have some issues that he recognizes & comes to terms with seeking help with once he realizes that he’s deserving of it - since Dimitri’s whole thing is that he doesn’t think he’s deserving of anyone’s kindness or love or help or compassion thanks to his own grief & guilt. 

He will give you the shirt off his back and he’s definitely not someone who enjoys being seen on a higher level than others and he’s so human in the sense that he’s one of the only people in Faerghus who refuses to believe Duscur was orchestrated by the Duscurian people. He saves Dedue - who devotes his entire life to him - but only wishes for Dedue to see him as a friend. He just wants a friend.

Some facts !

I forget what the exact word for it is but Dimitri can’t taste anything except... cheese?? Is that it?? Is that where the cheese thing come from?? Yeah basically he can’t taste anything.

He possesses the Crest of Blaiddyd which enhances his strength to superhuman levels to the point where, when he was only eight years old, he snapped a sword clean in half on accident.

Again I will say he’s a major sweetie & I highly recommend at least reading through some of his supports since my god all of them are... so good. I fucking love Dimitri.

Also he’s bi because I fucking said so and it’s a CRIME you can’t s-rank him as both masculine & feminine Byleth.

⁠— BEFORE CASTLE TOWN

SOOOOO Mitya here is a housekeeper at Cozy Corner Inn. He didn’t survive the takeover - but his memories are returning at a quicker pace than that of my other character who didn’t survive, Zelda, as Dimitri’s already beginning to see glimpses of his past throughout dreams

...well, mainly nightmares unfortunately : ( but you get the drill

He has a lot of really awful nightmares but once in a while he dreams of this dark-haired person with a smile that no-one else has and it puts him... at ease whenever he wakes up

I also imagine he routinely volunteers at local shelters or centres or the like just because it’s very In-Character for him to do so

I DON’T HAVE,,, A LOT OF WHAT HIS LIFE IS LIKE IN CT AS OF RN but even tho his eye is never explained in-game he thinks in CT the scar he got over it was from a cat ahsushauhshs

love tht

ANYWAY YEAH IM GONNA WORK ON SAM’S INTRO SOOOOOOOOON but we’ll see if exhaustion doesn’t hit me first

pls gimme byleth i’ll cry

[quiviktories]

               ( demigirl ) haven’t seen QUINN-VIKTORIA “QUIVI” NIKOLAYEVNA around in a while. the ADELINE RUDOLPH lookalike has been known to be (+) DILIGENT & (+) GENTLE, but SHE can also be (-) INTIMIDATING & (-) STONE-FACED. The 23 year old is a JUNIOR majoring in AMERICAN SIGN LANGUAGE. I believe they’re living in FIDELIS but I popped by earlier and no one answered the door. 

                         okie dokes y’all I’m rly sad my muse for Link n Eden just lightning mcdied but as an apology ( to myself ) I’m bringing perhaps my OLDEST OC to Lockwood !! ( I’ve had Cyrus for three years , Quivi’s existed for five. ) But she’s actually a more fantasy-oriented OC so it was fun modernizing her up for Lockwood !! So more abt my battle princess under the cut. // like to plot after reading the intro

              TWs: Violence, death, emotional abuse, mentions of mental illness ( ocd ), ptsd

BASICS / HISTORY

Most important facts abt Quivi are she’s 6′3, has a six-pack, and can drive. Also bi bc I can’t write straight OCs with my bisexual ass.

OKAY OKAY ALSO RLY IMPORTANT FACT : She’s selectively mute , so Quivi will either be communicating through written words or sign 90% of the time. There’s two reasons for this :

Quivi’s first language is not English ; if you can’t tell already , she’s Russian , and she’s still learning English. She’s more of a visual than auditory person so writing English is easier for her than speaking , and she’s honestly very insecure about it , so she chooses not to speak partially because of that. She learned sign very easily and is more comfortable with it than speaking.

The other reason . . . is bc of her past but I’ll b getting to that. 

So she was adopted. Quivi doesn’t know where her biological parents are from , but as a baby , she was taken in by a Russian businessman named Nikolay Andreyevich and . . . she had the same birthday as his biological child , Lukas. Exactly. Birthday was April 8th 1996 ( tech as of rn Quivi’s 22 but I just put 23 bc it’s easy ) , so even though Quivi and her brother weren’t blood , they were always referred to as twins.

Now their father was a bit of an asshole , to say the least. You know how sometimes parents often pit children against each other ?? Well , you might expect me to say he did that to the kids to try and see who could run the company.

He didn’t !!

No instead he decided which one was going to lead ahead of time and treated the other one like dirt 

So yeah Quivi was the one who was treated like dirt

This was because Lukas was going to be the heir, and Quivi was going to be his bodyguard. So Lukas was spoiled rotten and Quivi was trained extensively and given brutal criticism so she’d come out tough as nails and only focus on being the perfect soldier / bodyguard.

She was taught to keep her emotions inside , never to express herself , and to always be silent. And she’d be verbally berated and chastised if she failed to comply with either - she had to be a stealthy , emotionless machine. And . . . yeah. That’s the second reason for her selective mutism. 

So yeah , that was her life up until she turned eighteen. Because at that age, their father died, and now it was just her and Lukas.

And he treated her exactly like their father did. He was a spoiled brat and believed Quivi was there to simply act as his bodyguard. And yeah , she obeyed him. But Lukas didn’t have his heart set on being a businessman , no - he wanted to be famous. And he ended up climbing his way to become an Instagram influencer and even bought his way into getting a record deal so he could put out bad Youtuber music.

...Quivi hates his stuff. To this day

Quivi was eventually cast to the side to the point where her brother wouldn’t even acknowledge her as his bodyguard. He acted like she wasn’t even there. And Quivi hated the way he treated other people - when they turned twenty , he got a woman pregnant and never bothered to see her again. And Quivi ended up finding her and helping her take care of the child when she was born.

And that was around the point Quivi decided her brother was a fucking dickhead and stood up to him , cutting him out of her life. And she focused on making a life for herself , and used what she got of their father’s inheritance ( because their mother insisted both twins get something ) and paid to go to Lockwood. 

PERSONALITY / CHARACTER

Quivi is the epitome of someone who looks rly scary and intimidating but oh my god is she not. She’s very gentle , very polite - always uses formalities and puts others before herself. Holds the door for twelve people before going inside herself.

But also , she can fucking fight like there’s no tomorrow. She was trained for years , and she probably knows a few ways to kill a man. Was trained with a few weapons just in case , and definitely is a master of self-defense.

She has OCD and as well PTSD from her childhood. I will very rarely mention this in threads , but it’s important to note. ( I have both , as well. )

She never really had nice / fun things as a kid , so she has a lot of catching up to do. The little things make her so happy , like McFlurries , bad pop music , the cliche Shakespeare stories everyone reads , etc. 

But , again - she was never encouraged to show emotion. So she comes off as very neutral because of this reason - but trust me she feels a whole lot and when she does smile it’s a sight from Heaven.

She’s a sporty person !! She’s into fencing , but that sport’s not offered at Lockwood , so she’s also on the gymastics team. Even has a varsity jacket for it.

Also in Theatre ( the club ) !! Not as an actress , however. She’s on the set crew. But she wants to be an actress in it someday , or even do some sign translations for the audience.

Tatiana was a stranger to her. But the stranger you know everything and nothing about , because you hear about her all the time from everyone else. So yes , in a curious manner did Quivi pick her name - but you know that feeling you get when you wonder if you were the deciding vote in that shit ?? Quivi wonders that ( obviously , she wasn’t , but she gets that feeling every time someone brings up Tatiana and the Watershed )

God I love her she’s my gentle giant bby and again I’ve had her for . . . five years n tbh like Cyrus a good portion of her character was originally made to Vent my own stuff out so. She means a lot 2 me.

Hope y’all love her.

WANTED PLOTS / CONNECTIONS

sb in Theatre who wants to get Quivi onto the stage tbh that was the First thing I thought of 

sb who Quivi can teach Russian or ASL !! Also others who know ASL would b great bc that’s Quivi’s preferred method of communication

Someone who Quivi can trust with actually talking to ?? They’d have to be really close , though , because Quivi only speaks to the people that she trusts

A nerd who Quivi befriends and just. Listens to them talk about the stuff they’re interested in. Bc honestly learning and listening is what she likes to do - not like Ami who fuckin CAN’T STOP WON’T STOP with the studying but. Quivi’s literally been deprived of so much. She likes to learn what she doesn’t know.

Sb who sorta thinks Quivi is all SUPER FUCKIN SCARY AND PROBABLY A BITCH bc of the RBF but when they actually meet her,,, they think she’s so sweet

Lowkey a fuckboi or sb who could flirt w/ her n she just. Turns em down. Stone-faced. Might kick them and make ‘em fall or smth idk Quivi’s that person who tells u to go chop a guy’s dick off when he says one rude thing 2 u

Literally okay in my personal headworld / lores it’s a part of Quivi’s culture to settle things like minor disagreements with a duel to the death and it was a running gag on earth that Quivi would see ppl get in2 like. Twitter fights. N comment “challenge them to a duel to the death” n everyone else was like QUIVI NO

she’s... kinda like Diana. like, Wonder Woman Diana.

I call her Wonder Woman a lot

Bt this is Watershed so it’s very different from that!! Lowkey tho I’m proud of the world I created for her like I literally made a whole language + alphabet for her world 

[mysageukinbio]

K-Drama Women’s Week - Day 3

Anti-Heroine: A character who is there just to f*** ish up, but who you still find her compelling: the femme fatales, the ex-girlfriends, the bad moms, the evil second lead ladies

I’ve chosen Kim Hyeon Ju’s portrayal of Jo Yam Jeon in Cruel Palace: War of the Flowers (JTBC, 2013)!

This is gonna be long, so let me just state the runners up before I begin:

Jeong Nan Jeong from Ladies in the Palace (SBS, 2001)

Jang Ok Jeong from Jang Hee Bin (KBS, 2002)

Seolyoung from the King and I (SBS, 2007) -  I was one key away from choosing to talk about her because she best fits the “ f*** ish up“ angle but i’m sorry okay I can’t not talk about Yam Jeon

Yang Dal Hee from Sister is Alive (SBS, 2017)

Also, spoiler!!!! alert!!!!! I’m spoiling the shit out of this drama here DON’T STOP ME

“I will make them all kneel before me!”

Anti-heroines!! I love anti-heroines because they’re the ones whose feelings I can empathize with the most *concerned cricket noises in the background*. I can feel everything they’re feeling; desperation, anger, resentment, the whole lot of emotions so often shunned by heroes. Whether it’s paying back an injustice done to them by a person or society, having a dream they pursued in a non-orthodox way, or, as the prompt so deftly put it,  just to f*** ish up, anti-heroines have my support 100%, although most times, their actions and intentions certainly do not (oxymoron??).

God bless the day I found this drama. Was it from the moment Yam Jeon killed a Machurian soldier in the first episode, or when she killed her commoner boyfriend after getting pregnant with his child? It was at one of these moments that I realized that I was going to be talking about this drama, and more importantly, Jo Yam Jeon, for years. I’m surprised I haven’t rewatched it yet. Can you believe that there was once a conceivable moment where I could have easily skipped starting this drama?

Jo Yam Jeon is probably the most unapologetic character I have ever seen in a kdrama ever. She has only twice felt guilty for her actions, lives for the drama, and before all else, places priority on overturning her fate as a concubine’s daughter, in order to take First Place. And she absolutely takes that place, (even if she never became the Queen) in the Joseon Palace, and in the audience’s hearts.

Never lacking in charisma, wildly creative in her schemes, exercising a degree of boldness never seen in any battlefield, Yam Jeon puts everything on the line 5 times an episode, to the point where for those who didn’t watch weekly as I did, it can get pretty draining. But!! In my opinion, she did a beautiful job at fucking shit up as payment for how the world fucked her up, effectively making herself equivalent to the Queen without even needing the seal, the title or even the death of the current Queen!

Of course, there are her much less acceptable deeds, all done in the name of power and survival:

Murdering her boyfriend (even though he didn’t actually die)

Throwing away her daughter

Poisoning a pregnant woman while also poisoning herself (while pregnant, I think?) to throw off suspicion

Beating a court lady to death with a stick (the writer likes this plot device a lot because it’s in 4 of his shows that I’ve seen so far)

Ripping apart the Royal Family

Changing the mixture for Crown Princess Kang’s poison so that she’d have a much longer, more drawn out death

Ordering the First Grandson’s strangling

Having his brothers slashed

Keeping the King high on opium while changing residences every night so nobody would know where she was

Unfortunately, she didn’t attain all her goals, but she got her most important one, according to her quote in Episode 39:

“Living a lowly life as a concubine’s daughter, and living the life of the King’s concubine, no better a fate than that of dogs or pigs - just how are they different?! Even if I have one day left, I will spend it challenging this world! Ha! You say this is the Queen’s seat? Alright then, has it been sewed in gold somewhere here? It seems not! Then, I’m asking if the wretch in Gyeongdeok Palace* had it written on her forehead when she was born! Answer me!”

*the wretch in Gyeongdeok Palace: Queen Jangryeol

I expected a tragic death, and I got one - it also happened to be the most epic death which puts a lot of action movies to shame asddfdsgdfhf

I highly recommend watching her in Cruel Palace. Kim Hyeon Ju has never had a better role, and Jo Yam Jeon’s character is formidable and admirable onscreen. 

[junker-town]

7 winners and 5 losers from Day 1 of the NFL Draft

Isaiah Simmons, Jeff Okudah, and Jedrick Wills Jr. heard their names during Round 1 of the 2020 NFL Draft.

Things went great for the Dolphins, Tom Brady, and Ohio State. Not everyone was so lucky, though

The first round of the first-ever teleconferenced NFL Draft is over. Tragically, it was short on unmuted phone lines, random dog interruptions, and pick-disrupting technical difficulties. In fact, it was pretty much just a normal draft, only without Roger Goodell getting pummeled by 300-pound defensive tackles and their excessive hugs.

While the true results of this year’s opening day at the draft won’t be understood for more than a decade, the first 32 picks were able to earn knee-jerk reactions. The Dolphins got to see their rebuild take root with a QB-OT combination that will hopefully carry them into the future. Across the division, Bill Belichick played his cards so close to his vest he opted out of Thursday entirely.

The Packers got a new quarterback to play behind one they still owe more than $120 million. The Jaguars killed the trade leverage of one of their few remaining stars. The city of Columbus, Ohio, got to see a whole bunch of former residents make the leap to football’s biggest stage.

Who were Thursday night’s biggest winners and losers? We’ve got a few ideas, some of which won’t be completely proven wrong over the next five years.

Winner: Tua Tagovailoa and the Miami Dolphins

Tua Tagovailoa was the smart choice. Though it looked like the Dolphins may trade up for an offensive lineman or opt for Justin Herbert, those pre-draft rumors turned out to be a smokescreen. Miami has its franchise quarterback, and it’s the guy who lit up the SEC over three sometimes-healthy years.

The same guy who looks good in a suit, even in his family’s swank-ass living room:

Tua's suit pic.twitter.com/cJspF4DxGY

— SB Nation (@SBNation) April 24, 2020

The Dolphins were able to get their cornerstone tackle 13 picks later. Austin Jackson isn’t just a great pass blocker, he’s a tremendous human being who put off his dreams in order to save his sister’s life. He’s a raw talent, but he’s got the potential to be an All-Pro with the right development.

That wasn’t all! They turned the 26th pick — one acquired from the Texans in exchange for Laremy Tunsil and Kenny Stills — into the 30th pick and a fourth-rounder through a deal with the Packers. That pick turned out to be speedster corner Noah Igbinoghene, who will team up with Byron Jones and Xavien Howard in one of the NFL’s most terrifying secondaries.

The Dolphins needed A LOT of talent to speed up their turnaround. They got three possible future stars and the chance to add more all in the course of a few hours Thursday.

Loser: Patriots fans

New England was set to make only its second draft pick inside the top 23 since 2012 after flopping out of the Wild Card Round of the playoffs. But instead of selecting a potential quarterback of the future, Bill Belichick decided to defer to Friday. He shipped the Patriots’ first-round pick to the Chargers for their 37th and 71st overall selections.

The move recharges the team’s Day 2 draft pool and gives the Patriots more low-cost ammunition to refill a roster that’s been picked apart in free agency. Per Adam Schefter, Belichick is confident the player he wanted at No. 23 will be available at No. 37, which would effectively give the club a free third-rounder.

That’s good! But if you’re a Pats fan who came into Thursday night waiting for some semblance of local sports news or a glimpse into the team’s future, well ... at least you got to see Belichick’s wicker collection:

Bill Belichick’s draft room, via ABC pic.twitter.com/Sw0FKOJqkS

— Jeff Howe (@jeffphowe) April 24, 2020

Winner: Ohio State

Joe Burrow. Chase Young. Jeff Okudah. What do the top three picks in this year’s draft have in common? They all, at one point, played for Ohio State.

Consider for a second the Buckeyes’ 2017 roster. It not only had Burrow, Young, and Okudah, but also another first-round pick in this class, Damon Arnette, and several first-round picks from other years, including Nick Bosa, Dwayne Haskins, Billy Price, and Denzel Ward. And probable future first-round picks like Shaun Wade and Wyatt Davis. And way more NFL players (Jerome Baker, Sam Hubbard, Terry McLaurin, etc) than that.

It’s no wonder OSU alums are already coming up with a new nickname for the program, when DBU no longer does it justice:

Nah we might as well just say NFL U ! I’m sayin that from now on Sunday Night Intros ! Lol https://t.co/fcqxFZM8OE

— Bradley Roby (@BradRoby_1) April 24, 2020

Round 1 ended up being a pretty good recruiting tool for Ohio State head coach Ryan Day:

If either one of my Kids decide to chose Football for their Career I’m definitely sending them to OHIO STATE!!!

— Kendrick Perkins (@KendrickPerkins) April 24, 2020

Not that he needs much help these days.

Loser: Yannick Ngakoue

The Jaguars pass rusher is very publicly angling to get out of Jacksonville. While he was given the franchise tag by the team back in March, Ngakoue has taken to Twitter to express his desire for a trade. He’s even got into public spats with Jaguars executive Tony Khan about it.

Just trade me . I don’t need the speech

— Yannick Ngakoue (@YannickNgakoue) April 20, 2020

However, the first round of the draft was nothing but bad news for Ngakoue. It showed there continues to be no worthwhile trade market for his services — something Jaguars GM Dave Caldwell confirmed later in the night — and the team added another pass rusher to the mix by picking K’Lavon Chaisson.

Ngakoue is backed into a corner now. He can follow the Le’Veon Bell path and sit out the entire 2020 season, but that’d cost him the $17.8 million he’d make from the franchise tag. The Jaguars could trade Ngakoue, but they certainly don’t have to either. With Chaisson and Josh Allen on the roster, Jacksonville can feel OK with whatever route it chooses.

Even though the Jaguars already had most of the leverage, picking Chaisson gave them just a little bit more. Ngakoue’s chances at getting out of Duval any time soon looker slimmer than ever.

Winner: Kliff Kingsbury

The Arizona Cardinals needed a little bit of help all over their defense. So they got a player who can do a little bit of everything. Isaiah Simmons was projected to go as high as the No. 3 pick, but his brief slide down the draft board paired him up with an innovative head coach who’ll be receptive to his freewheeling, play-almost-anywhere skills.

And we do mean play almost anywhere:

good god pic.twitter.com/tD1OkganXw

— Christian D'Andrea (@TrainIsland) April 24, 2020

Even better news for Kingsbury is that he can scheme up plays for Simmons, all from the comfort of his Parasite home:

what does Cardinals coach Kliff Kingsbury look like he does for a living pic.twitter.com/ODEl8ic3dX

— SB Nation (@SBNation) April 24, 2020

Loser: The Panthers’ draft reasoning

Simmons, the Clemson linebacker/safety/corner/etc, was still on the board when the defense-needy Panthers made their selection at No. 7 overall. The fact they chose Auburn defensive tackle Derrick Brown over him wasn’t especially eye-opening on its own, considering what a talent Brown is.

Carolina’s reported reasoning behind the pick, however, was:

The Panthers liked Clemson LB Isaiah Simmons a lot at No. 7 and he was the best pure athlete on the board, but they felt he was a better fit for a veteran team because of his ability to play so many positions. So they went with Auburn DT Derrick Brown,... https://t.co/Wfu6yhMSgv

— David Newton (@DNewtonespn) April 24, 2020

Ah. So Simmons was too athletic and versatile for the Panthers. Got it.

Winner: Tom Brady

Brady’s week started with the addition of a recently un-retired Rob Gronkowski. Then the Buccaneers reiterated their commitment to keeping their new QB happy by trading up one spot to pick up a tackle who could be the best blocker to emerge from this year’s rookie crop.

Tampa Bay gave up a fourth-round pick to move from No. 14 to No. 13 and select Iowa hoss Tristan Wirfs, the reigning Big Ten Offensive Lineman of the Year. Wirfs was widely regarded as a top-10 pick this spring, but his slight fall made him too tempting for the Bucs to pass up. Now he’ll go from protecting Nate Stanley to keeping a six-time Super Bowl winner upright.

Loser: Aaron Rodgers

Coming into the 2020 draft, Rodgers was eager to point out how cool it would be for his Packers to add some receiving help in a draft loaded with wideout talent.

Aaron Rodgers on @PatMcAfeeShow: "We haven't picked a skill player in the first round in 15 years, so that would be kind of cool." Rodgers says whoever the pick is, he'll track down his phone number and welcome him to the team tonight — if the Packers don't trade out.

— Matt Schneidman (@mattschneidman) April 24, 2020

It looked like Green Bay was going to fulfill those expectations when it traded up to No. 26. Then the franchise selected ... Utah State quarterback Jordan Love. Instead of getting a first-round wide receiver or tight end to lighten Davante Adams’ load, Rodgers got the player who the Packers will groom to be his successor.

We’re sure he’s fine with that.

Winner (mostly): Javon Kinlaw

Kinlaw has big shoes to fill. His landing spot at No. 14 was made possible by the Niners’ willingness to ship DeForest Buckner — another first-round pass-rushing interior lineman, who has 19.5 sacks in just the past two years — to the Colts.

But Kinlaw is also capable of becoming an All-Pro for the 49ers. He was a wrecking ball in the middle of the field for South Carolina and should start immediately in the NFL. The presence of pass rushers like Nick Bosa, Arik Armstead, and Dee Ford should limit the number of double teams he sees as a rookie.

On that note, here’s Kinlaw’s dad impersonating every QB who has to face the 49ers’ defensive line this coming season:

Javon Kinlaw's dad's reaction to his son getting drafted pic.twitter.com/f6amsidFbj

— ESPN (@espn) April 24, 2020

Loser: The trade market

There was a lot of handwringing about the effect a fully virtual NFL Draft could have on teams’ ability to trade. The league even considered adding an extra time option if GMs were working on finalizing a trade. Maybe that’s why John Lynch of the 49ers had three phones at his draft day set up.

Teams worked ahead of time to make sure that they could get trades done.

More than ever, teams will try to work out trades before the NFL Draft begins just in case. To that point: The #Lions have been engaged with multiple teams on potentially trading out of the No. 3 spot, sources say. Things have heated up over the last 24 hours.

— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) April 23, 2020

So why was there just one trade in the first 20 picks and none in the top 10? There weren’t any technical difficulties that kept deals from happening. It seems like teams were content to patiently wait for the prospects they coveted to slide their way — which is fine, but kinda boring.

Winner: Mock drafts

Well, it wasn’t the most wronger year after all. Despite warnings that mock drafters were way off this year, they weren’t at all. It was actually one of the most accurate first rounds for mocks in a while.

Five of the first six selections were the most popular choice in mock drafts. The only exception was the Giants taking Andrew Thomas instead of a different offensive tackle. While there were a few relative surprises — like cornerback Damon Arnette to the Raiders with the 19th pick and linebacker Jordyn Brooks sneaking into the first round to the Seahawks at 27th overall — no pick came completely out of left field.

Even those two picks by the Raiders and Seahawks addressed needs that were expected to be priorities. It’s time to give the draft prognosticators a round of applause for their 2020 performance.

Winner: The Browns’ Super Bowl chances

There was little doubt the Browns would draft a tackle in the first round. It was just a matter of which one. Still, it was a little surprising they took Jedrick Wills, who’s only played right tackle, when they just signed Jack Conklin in free agency.

Wherever he lines up, though, Wills is ready to play right away, which is what Cleveland (and Baker Mayfield) needs most of all. And that has former Browns stalwart Joe Thomas pumped as hell:

@JWills73 @Browns #NFLDraft2020 #NFLDraft #Super Bowl https://t.co/EOhgAkO4pJ pic.twitter.com/FbJe1HELRe

— Joe Thomas (@joethomas73) April 24, 2020

That’s it, we’re ready to believe this is the Browns’ year.

[lumosinlove]

The Kitchens

part xi

The sky brightened, the sky darkened, but Sirius never truly felt awake. Time slipped away in different shades, yielding days, then weeks. It was like he had become addicted to a narcotic for the sole purpose of it being ripped away, banned from his veins. And he needed it. God, did he need it. He needed Remus. He couldn’t remember living without Remus—had it really been his entire life? Had he really only met him a few months ago?

Was he really gone?

Nearly every day since Remus had walked away from him at the beach, Sirius went down to the kitchens everyday, peering longingly from behind corners, watching him work. He was not the flushed, smiling picture Sirius had seen the day he found out about the wedding. There was no laughter filtering through the sounds of the crackling fire, in fact, the warm lighting of the flames didn’t match anything about his demeanor at all. His face was shadowed, skin pale despite the heat. His fingers worked as on autopilot, with none of the passion Sirius had so often seen there. Briefly, Sirius pictured walking forward, right in front of Mrs. Potter and everyone, and taking Remus by the waist. He pictured kissing the sun right back into his skin. He could feel himself doing it. He could feel Remus’ laugh against his skin, his hands on his neck, fingers warm from the fire.

Sneaking up on me again, Black?

Unable to watch anymore, he stumbled his way to the lake. He fell into what he imagined to be the imprints of Remus’ knees, the position of grief he had found him in that night. He put his fingers into the sand, letting the grit of it cut under his nails, and looked out over the water. It was perfectly placid. There was no wind, no darting fish making ripples. Completely calm. 
Sirius didn’t want to feel relief in how miserable Remus looked. He never wanted Remus to look miserable. But, still, it was a comfort, knowing he was not the only one who couldn’t breathe. In thinking this, he couldn’t decide if it was strange or to be expected that here, on the shore, he could breathe the easiest. It was the source of heartbreak. It was also the last place Remus had held him. Bittersweet. Wasn’t that what their relationship had always been? Right now it felt more bitter.

“Sirius.”

Sirius’ body showed no other sign of surprise other than perhaps his eyes becoming a bit more focused. He hadn’t heard Regulus approach, he’d barely even heard him call his name. Regulus’ sword clinked at his hip as he sat down, perfectly polished boots looking odd with the sand on them. He grabbed a handful of it, watching it slip through his fingers,

“Thought I’d find you out here.”

Sirius didn’t blink, just stared. He felt like his body was unresponsive, even to his own brain telling him to look at Regulus, to get off the stinging sandy shards, to breathe a little deeper, “Did you?”

“Well, you’ve invited me enough times.”

“Well, you’ve never accepted.”

Regulus let out a little huff that might have been a laugh, “Fair enough. Anyhow, it’s also where you use to go after mother-“

“I remember.” Sirius said a little harder, ending the conversation.

“Yes.” Regulus said after a few moments, softly, “Yes, I know you do.” Then a little more strong, “I only meant that you come out here to hide from things.”

This time Sirius did round on him, narrowing his eyes, “And you come out here to what? Find me? Save me?”

Regulus met his gaze, “They were going to kill you.”

“Death is not the worst fate.” Sirius growled.

“It is for the people you leave behind.” Regulus’ mouth formed around the words like he hadn’t meant for them to come so easily.

Sirius blinked at that, his mind, for a moment, awakening again. Looking at his little brother, he suddenly saw a much younger version of Regulus: under the protection of no one but Sirius, keeping close at parties, at dinner. Running out to the lake after him despite Sirius’ protests and pressing cool water to his stinging cheeks. His chest suddenly ached so painfully that he had to arch forward, fold in on himself, as if keeping his ribcage from pressing in on him too tightly.

“Reg…“

Regulus’ cool mask was suddenly gone, perhaps broken at the nickname. His eyebrows uncharacteristically drew together, dark eyes lightening with worry, “No, you have to listen to me, Sirius. I’m not so little anymore, I know what I’m doing. If they killed you, do you really think they would have let me ascend into power? No. The answer is no. You’re right about them, and even mother knows it deep down.” He shook his head, “So, if it makes you feel better… Just… think of it like I was saving the kingdom. Not you. But, even then…” He trailed off, seeming to rally his nerve. His voice came out almost a whisper, “Even then, you must know it was. For you, I mean.”

Sirius looked at him, feeling more beaten to a pulp by Regulus’ words than he ever had by his mother’s fist. What had he even done for Regulus, really, to deserve everything that, as he now saw, Regulus was trying to do for him? Let him follow him around? Take all of the rotten attention of their mother when, really, it had only been set on him anyway? He’d done nothing. He should say thank you. He should say anything, really. Regulus just looked back at him, eyes calm and patient, but not exactly waiting, not for words he knew might not come. The sun was low in the sky now and Sirius finally looked away, squinting into it, letting it create a throbbing behind his eyes, “I’m… realizing that.”

It was the best he could do.

It wasn’t.

Regulus sighed, very lightly, “I just…” The soft sound came again, “I hope you’ll be happy, Sirius.”

Sirius made a noise this time, only not so soft, “Not likely.”

“No,” Sirius turned back to his brother at the firm hand on his shoulder. His eyes were still calm, but blazing, “No, you could be. Right?” Sirius didn’t understand the question, “You know that. You could be.”

“What makes you think that?” Sirius snapped. Regulus was getting dangerously close to the truth: Sirius could be happy. Could have been happy. He’d had his chance.

“What makes you think otherwise?” Regulus said back, maddeningly calm.

“Because I was born into this life-”

“And he was born into his.” Sirius’ blood ran cold. Regulus pressed on, insistent, “Yet, here you both are.”

Sirius swallowed. He knew how his face must look bur Regulus was making no moves to reassure him. His eyes were as steady as ever. He could feel his heartbeat in his throat and he tried to clear it away, “How-“ He tried again, “How did…”

“I knew you had someone. You already knew that.” Regulus let his hand drop, the band around his finger with the small RB flashing delicately, “Then I saw your ring on his hand at dinner, I… I figured it was him you ran after when the brought up the wedding-”

“God…” Sirius pressed his hands to his face but Regulus pulled them away, gripping his wrists.

“Sirius, it isn’t a problem. Not to me-“

“How can you say that?” Sirius looked at him, eyes stinging painfully, “It’s nothing but a problem. God, it’s one thing to fall in love with a girl you can’t have because at least that’s normal, but I-“ His voice broke, “I had to go and…” Sirius closed his eyes, voice trailing off. He clenched his teeth, dipping his head.

“How can you say that? Jesus, look at me.” Sirius found his brother’s eyes again only, this time, he didn’t look so young. He looked older, and pained. Regulus wet his lips before speaking, starting a few different times, desperate for Sirius to understand, “Do you… Do you know that you’re the only person I care about? You’re it. The only fucking person. I don’t really know why right now. We haven’t exactly been brotherly. But you are. And I’ve seen you so unhappy for so long until- this summer, you- you weren’t. I mean- you were more fucking snide than ever but you were grinning and I hadn’t… exactly realized how much I… missed that.” His words came slower, like he was fighting his way through them, coming to an understanding as he spoke.

Sirius fingers closed around Regulus’ wrist as well, gripping tight. Regulus’ face crumbled, just a little,

“I’m only trying to say that… how can love, happiness be abnormal? No matter who it’s with, it’s happiness and you have to fucking chase it. It doesn’t come around that often, not for real.” He shook his head, “Sirius, anyone who knows you knows you don’t want this life. You’ve never wanted this life. You hate everything about it all the way down to sitting up straight at dinner, so…” Regulus shook his head, smiling a little although his voice was thick. Sirius thought he hadn’t seen his brother smile in too, too long, “So, fuck birth. Fuck blood. Chase the happiness.”

“Reg..” Sirius voice was thick too, a rasp, “He’s… He’s all I want.”

“Then do it. For me.” Regulus swallowed, “Do it for you. Do it for me.”

Regulus would give him every reason in the book, as long as Sirius took one and ran with it. He prayed that he would.

~

Remus splayed his fingers over the soft leather in the early morning darkness of his room. He was kneeled on the splintering floor by his old trunk, holding Sirius’ slippers to his chest, the ring between his fingertips. The soft SB flashed at him, like a taunt. He could almost hate the small inanimate object. For being there, for reminding him so painfully of what he no longer had. Almost. If only he didn’t love it so much. He shifted, sitting back with his knees to his chest, and slipped the soft shoes on. He closed his eyes.

He hated how thankful he was for these small things. They were like direct links to his memory, triggers, key words that jumpstarted feelings and emotions and longing all at once. He felt the slippers and he felt their first kiss, the healing salve on his fingertips, Sirius’ warm hands on his ankles. When he ran his fingers over the ring, entirely different things were renewed. Sirius’ body against his own, them laughing softly until the early morning, Sirius’ tears against his skin, the bread basket slipping through his fingers. The beginning and end of a relationship. Remus dropped the ring, and went back to stroking the tops of the slippers over his feet. He found he preferred beginnings. He had to get up. He had to make the bread, the eggs. Sirius’ eggs. Who knew cooking, something he’d always loved, could be so cruel?

There was a knock at his door, making him jump.

“Remus?”

James’ voice came muffled through the thin wood.

“Just a minute!” He knew his voice came out too loud, a little strained, as he scrambled to shut the slippers and ring back in his trunk, not bothering to cover them with books this time. It was only James but these things felt they belonged to him, and to his eyes only, “Yeah, come in.”

James opened the door, poking his head in first and offering a rather sad smile, “Hello.” He sing-songed the word a little, definitely trying to deduce Remus’ mental state, and maybe defuse it, “Alright?”

Remus swiped his apron from the hook by his dresser, tying it behind his back, “Yeah, alright. You?”

James hummed, “Yeah, I’m good. I’m- I’m great. Happy Saturday! Good. Nice, lovely, Saturday.” James nodded all the while, swinging back and forth on his heels, and giving Remus an exaggerated smile.

Remus sighed, “I’m fine, James.”

“Me too! That’s so…” He rubbed the back of his neck, “So coincidental.. Not that that… matters. Okay. I’m just gonna…”

“Stop?” Remus supplied.

“Precisely. Exactly. Yes. Definitely.”

“James.”

James sighed, smile dropping. He held his hands up in surrender, “I’m sorry, I’m nervous!”

Remus raised an eyebrow, “Nervous?”

James sighed, falling onto Remus’ bed, “Yes. God, I feel like I’m carrying fucking lead in my pocket. Sirius asked me to- God, do I look like I’m sweating?” He took out a slip of neatly folded parchment from his pocket, fiddling with it, “Jesus, Sirius is right, I never should be in the King’s Guard.”

Remus’ heart, at the first sight of the slip of paper, had jumped to his throat, “James, what is-“

James blew the hair off his forehead, looking bewilderedly at the ceiling, “I mean, honestly, I think I’d fucking pass out-“

“Jesus fucking Christ, give me that.” He all but ripped the note from James’ hands, unfolding it, already holding his breath.

The stables. Monday. Midnight.

He flipped it over and gripped the bed post with the amount of relief filling his chest.

Who said anything about goodbye?

~

Sirius had been restless the entire day. He knew Remus had work, but ever since the second James had told him Remus’ response to the note, he’d thought maybe Remus would ditch. For him, for this. Just one day. He knew he wouldn’t. He sort of loved him for it, even if it made him crazy.

He felt like he had watched the sky darken shade by shade, eyes shifting between the sky and the bookshelf. He’d taken dinner in his room but he had left his tray untouched, too consumed, too relieved.

He was going to say sorry first. He was going to apologize for not telling him, for letting him leave in the first place. He had never said it, after all. Not really. Then he was going to tell him he loved him. Because he did, so, so much. Then he was going to hold him. Then, he would tell him their plan.

When Remus walked through the bookcase, Sirius forgot all of this.

He was kissing Remus before he took another breath. His hands pulled him into the room and were under his shirt in a second, desperately taking in his warm skin. Remus was just as eager, his fingers threading through Sirius’ hair and pulling, deepening the kiss. Sirius’ palms made their way to Remus’ arse and he lifted, guiding Remus’ legs around his waist and pressing him against the bedpost for more leverage. They kissed and kissed, taking long inhales of oxygen through their nose for as long as they could, until even that proved too little. They broke apart, breathing heavily into each other, lips brushing with each breath.

“Hello.” Sirius mumbled, dragging his lips over Remus’ skin to press a sloppy kiss to Remus’ jaw.

He felt Remus’ cheek dimple when he smiled, and he nudged the soft indent with his nose, “Hello…”

“I have,” Sirius pressed another kiss, “So many things to say to you.” And another, “I just can’t quite remember what, right now.”

Remus guides their mouths back together, hands on Sirius’ cheeks, “I should probably make you say them.” He let his head fall back against the post, letting a breathy moan out as Sirius started trailing his jaw and neck with his tongue, “But I-fuck-I don’t feel like fucking talking, I-“ Remus let out a breath, blinking his eyes open and hand coming to thread through Sirius’ hair at the back of his head. He tried to glance downward towards Sirius, startled by his sudden slowing of movement, of kisses. What had been nearly biting a moment ago was now less frequent and soft, soft presses. He could feel Sirius’ forehead against his shoulder and the heaving of his chest, “Hey..” He slid his hand to Sirius’ cheek, trying to coax him into looking at him, “Hey, what happened down there? Love-“

“‘m fine.” His voice was muffled by Remus’ skin, but he did in fact, sound find, “‘m just… I thought…” He sighed, breath warming Remus’ shoulder, and pressed his nose right to Remus’ neck, inhaling shakily, “Just hopelessly happy to be… here again.”

Remus’ heart contracted rather painfully at that, and he was suddenly very aware that Sirius was holding him, against him, speaking to him. The thought made him breathe shakily too. He dipped his head down, nosing against Sirius’ cheek and temple until he was able to press their cheeks together, faces hidden in each other’s necks. They stayed there, hugging, re-memorizing each other, until Sirius pressed Remus more closely to him, then laid him softly down on the bed. He smiled a little when he tried to get up and Remus didn’t let go.

“Was just gonna budge you up. Can’t have our feet dangling off.”

“We can if it means I can still feel you.”

Sirius laughed and, in one quick motion, ducked from within Remus’ arms and grabbed his hips, throwing him playfully against the pillows and launching himself after him, sealing the attack with a hard, long, kiss.

He laid against him, forearms only supporting a bit of his weight, “How’s that?”

Remus hummed and then turned Sirius onto his side, situating himself until they were face to face, sharing a pillow. He tangled their still shoed feet together and laced their fingers between them, “Good.”

Sirius was content to lay that way forever, with Remus’ thumb stroking his knuckles and his eyes looking softly at him, his brows slightly furrowed.

Sirius released one of his hands to smooth it, “You’re thinking awfully hard.”

Remus smiled a little, “You did delivery me a note that suggested not too subtly a forbidden get away.” Sirius rolled his eyes a little and looped his arms around Remus’ waist, pulling their chests almost together, “But…” Sirius nudged their noses together as way of telling him to go on. Remus wet his lips before continuing, “What did happen? To make you do this. Send the note, what… what changed?”

For a few moments, Sirius did nothing more than take a rather large breath, “I… Well, first, nothing changed. Re, I never didn’t want to be with you.” He hesitated, “You… You know that, right?”

Remus nodded mutely, pressing a kiss to Sirius’ fingers.

“I just realized-“ Sirius laughed a little, more to himself than anyone, “I was helped to realize that I… Well, I don’t have to be unhappy, do I? I can be the happiest person in the entire world if I want.” He reached out, palm to Remus’ jaw, thumb trailing over the high of his cheekbone, “I just have to go for it.”

Remus felt the worry in his chest ease at this, but only a little. The doubt was still there, gnawing at his chest. He leaned into Sirius’ palm, biting his lip.

Sirius turned his head a little, “That… That wasn’t what you wanted to hear-“

“No.” Remus said quickly, “No, that was… perfect. I never thought I’d hear that.”

Sirius pulled Remus towards him more insistently, “Then what? Anything, Re. I’ll give you… get you, help you with anything. You know that-”

“What if I don’t make you happy.” Remus whispered it, looking down, focusing his eyes on Sirius’ chest, the fine silk of his shirt, “What if I’m…”

“No.” It was all Sirius said, simply and hard. He shook his head again, raising Remus’ eyes to his own, “No. That-“ He kept shaking his head, like Remus had just said the most outrageous thing in the world, “It isn’t even possible. Not to me. Not now, not ever.”

“Sirius-“
 “Now, I’m not saying we’re always going to get along. I’m a prick and you like to call me out on it which does get annoying sometimes.” They both let out slightly watery laughs and Sirius pressed a quick kiss to Remus’ mouth, “But listen to me. Re… God, this isn’t even about what I’m leaving behind. It isn’t even that I’m happier because I’m choosing a life with you over my life here. Yes, it is better. By mountains it is better, but… I could have the most glorious life in the world,” His voice had lowered, and Remus suddenly felt as though the world had stopped to listen to Sirius, “and I’d still choose you.” Sirius passed his fingers through the fringe that curled thickly over Remus’ forehead, “Do you know why?”

Remus could do nothing but stare mutely. He didn’t. He felt frozen, in a trance, like his chest was about to burst. Because he knew what was coming. He knew what was coming and he would sooner die than not respond this time. He shook his head.

And Sirius smiled, “Well. Then I do have one more thing to say, don’t I?” Then his face grew more serious, “And I… I rather hope you do too.”

“I do.” Remus breathed.

He heard the way Sirius’ breath hitch, and suddenly Sirius was rolling on top of him, bracketing him in, and Remus could feel nothing but his warmth.

This time Remus’ eyes stayed firmly locked with Sirius’. He didn’t want to see him say it. He wanted to see him feel it. And they were blue, and grey, and worried, and happy, and so chock full of the unsaid words that Remus could almost see it spill over onto the rest of his face, into the set of his mouth and the grip of his palms.

“I love you.” Sirius just breathed it, voice trembling under its weight, “Remus…”

“I love you.” Remus said it too softly, then again too loudly, “I love you.” Suddenly he felt like he had so many to make up for, so much to to make up for, and he couldn’t stop saying it. He held Sirius’ neck, his cheeks, his shoulders, and said it again, and again, “I love you.”

And then they were kissing and laughing into each other’s mouths, or maybe crying, and Remus said it some more, this time mixed it with Sirius’. And the words held other words; I believe you. I trust you. You’re enough. You’re everything.

And soon, they didn’t even have to say it to know it was there.

“Sirius…” Remus said into his neck, kissing the taught skin there, the pulse point. I love you.

And Sirius just laughed, a sound of pure relief. And suddenly Remus was being held so tightly he couldn’t even kiss anymore, just laugh too. 
“Oh, god, I have to tell you-“ Sirius gasped, laughing and kissing Remus again, cheeks hot and flushed.

“‘bout?”

“Our new life.” I love you.

A sort of thrill went up Remus’ spine at the word our. I love you.

Sirius hooked their ankles together. His eyes were bright and excited, palms warm against Remus’ cheeks, “Listen. I have a cousin. In France, her name is Andromeda. She and her husband, they’re like us, they— well, let’s just say my family didn’t approve of their match. Of him. So, she lives in France now, in a comfortable home. She escaped. We can too, we can stay with them until we get our feet under us somehow. I have money of my own saved, not too much but-“

“I do too.” Remus cut in, then, a little shyly, “Really not too much but…”

Sirius kissed him, again, and again, before he gasped, trying to talk and breathe and kiss at the same time, “Remus. Re, the people there, they’re… more open.” He shrugged one shoulder, “Some of them, at least. I… God, ‘m out of breath.” He laughed.

Remus laughed a little too, soothing his hands through his hair, content to just watch the way Sirius’ eyes were lit up, “The point is, we can be together. Maybe not always in the open, but-“

And this time, Remus was the one to kiss him, lips hard and needing, neck craning off the sheets. He panted into his mouth, hands gripping his hair,

“Now you listen.” He said, “I could spend my life only kissing you behind closed doors. Just so long as you are there to kiss.”

And they held each other, shedding clothes, pressing close, and knowing that a new life, their life, was only a few days away.

(A/N: One more chapter left I think! Sadly, I’m not sure I’ll be able to work on this fic again for about two weeks. My best friend is coming to visit and I haven’t seen her in a year! But I hope you all love this, and I’m sorry for the delay but I’ll try to have it up asap! <3 Thanks everyone for reading!)

[violetfaust]

raisedbyanother replied to your post “emospritelet: I really wish I could enjoy looking forward to ep 7x04...”

Yeah. Pretty much everything people say makes me more nervous than reassured about the episode. GM and AS being in it, the actors and writers using words like feels, moving, touching…I hope that doesn’t translate into Belle getting a tear-jerking death scene after raising Gideon to adulthood or something along these lines. Fingers crossed the rumor of Disney not allowing A&E to kill off Disney Princesses are true after all.

So ever since the spoiler that the ep would be about Belle’s life before and after SB, I’ve thought we were getting this:

The prologue from Up, aka what’s been called the best five minutes Pixar ever made. (And also if you ever need to work up tears within a few minutes, this should be your go-to.)

And since the spoiler/clue from Ausiello about “time” I’m guessing that Belle (and possibly even Gideon) dies of old age or some other reason, and Rumple’s quest this season is to change the past to bring them back, leading him somehow to cast the HH curse. It would be typical that after giving Rook/Willy Rumple’s sympathetic motivation from the early seasons (finding his lost child), they would give Rumple Emma’s selfish codependent asshole, I mean epic love story from S5 about endangering everyone to get one’s love back. Except that I’m very sure that all those who were crooning and creaming about how beautiful Emma’s love was won’t think the same about Rumple, and that it won’t end with some god breaking all the rules and poof!ing Belle back into existence. Adam implied that by the end of the season we will see why CY back in SB never noticed that Henry and Regina disappeared for twelve years, and a closed time loop would explain that--but I think we all know that it will somehow backfire on Rumple.

But I will enjoy my tearjerker and deal in much the same way I have with Neal’s death--there are plenty of canonical shenanigans to work around it. As soon as Bobby leaves the show I’m going to headcanon that Gideon finds some way to bring both his parents and brother back so they can all have their happy endings.

That is the great thing about having such a brilliant fandom--no matter what happens we will find ten thousand ways to fix it.

Of course maybe we’re all wrong and the big twist at the end of Beauty will be Weaver going home to his little bungalow that we’ve never seen and being greeted by Belle and child Gideon who ask if he’s gotten anyone to wake up yet. And then the rest of the season we get an Emilie cameo every four or five eps just to let us know that Belle and Gid are still there behind the scenes helping Rumple try to save everyone.

[miriolemillion]

Thoughts on chapter 152

Phewie! This chapter was probably very emotional to all of us, especially us Mirio and Big Three fans! I’ve just finished reading the new chapter and I myself, am all jittery and just sjdsdjksdk WOW this chapter is A LOT to digest. Feelings? What ARE THOSE. MIRIO. Mirio. A mirio chapter. The third one in a row which makes me go WOW but also kinda anxiously screaming and just. THIS MIGHT BE TOO PLOT INVOLVING TO MY TASTE but also I rly want that to happen and I’m thirsty for Mirio content so GIMME.

First of all I want to say that this chapter didn’t get to me to the fullest until I got to the flashback scenes, but I wanna try and calm myself and stay consistent with my commentary and hold my horses ahah. Before the chapter, there were three things I had in mind:

1st) something WILL happen to Mirio. (even if all the deathflags in his tag made me go eh, I still believed sth will happen.) And if it’s not death, it’s probably gonna be that he will lose his quirk, due to the last scene in ch 151 with the bullets.

2) It (the sth that happens) will be plotrelevant. We saw it coming. There was so much going up to that arc, and so much was relevant to Mirio, to introducing him, making him sb that Midoriya looks up to, sb who COULD have been like all might, kinda was, could have been what midoriya probably will be, sb who had a hard time but tries even harder. This all made it clear that the arc will have sth abt Mirio which will get the story going and have a greater impact on the storyline.

3) whatever WILL happen, I probably won’t like it due to my habit of picking favourites and not getting genuinely warm with the main-main cast (I’m so sorry, the third years caught my heart, even more than once...)

TL:DR - I analyze what Horikoshi is probably trying to do with Mirio’s character and why the stuff is happening that happened, while being extremely disappointed on how it was carried out. Also I don’t want Mirio to lose his quirk bc I think it’s so... unnecessary. Cheers.

(disclaimer: I’m trying to be critical while still enjoying Horikoshi’s work! Also I love Midoriya just a -- eh-- heads up...)

ALSO I WROTE THIS AT THE END OF THE DAY COMPLETELY EXHAUSTED PLS DONT MIND GRAMMAR OR ORTHOGRAPHIC MISTAKES THANKS

There was the whole debate going on, will Mirio die, will he live but “lose” something veery important to him, will he be able to save Eri but get harmed severely... So when I first saw the first few panels my first thought was “oh god he will def get shot and probably lose his quirk”. And that’s probably what would be the “big plottwist” that gets the story going and I DO NOT KNOW HOW TO FEEL ABOUT THIS.

For one thing, I would absolutely love to get more “angst” for Mirio going, I love when my favourite boys experience some sort of pain and grow from it, but on the other hand he already had to go through so much to get where he was and become this strong so it feels a little unnecessary to make him lose his quirk completely. We already have All Might for that kind of storyline and there are plenty of other characters whose quirks could probably called “useless” but they prove that wrong. Not to forget that the whole point of boku no hero is that someone who is /quirkless/ can actually find a way to get one and become a hero this way... so yeah... this is why I conclude: A Midoriya/Mirio thing.

The whole point of Mirio “Lemillion” Togata existing in bnha is most likely to make Midoriya stand out as the pro hero to be as Mirio himself loses his quirk and experiences pain that way and I don’t like it one. damn. bit. People would probably disagree and I want to disagree myself but when I think back to earlier chapters when Mirio was just introduced, suddenly there is this whole new stuff about All Might and how Mirio was actually supposed to be his successor and there was a lot of drama (Midoriya even cried bc it was too much stress with all the stuff going on and the internship and then he wasn’t even meant to be the one? Well congrats Midoriya now Mirio doesn’t have one anyway...). It definitely was on Midoriya’s mind a lot and it was clear that there was supposed to be some kind of mentorship between the senpai and kouhai, both kind of successors of All Might.

We already had All Might losing his quirk dramatically, what even is the point?

The point is that Mirio is probably here to show that one can be a hero despite not having a quirk. And I would laugh my salty laugh if he manages what Midoriya couldn’t: become a hero without your favourite hero maigcally appearning from the sky and handing you his dna to become the protagonist of a super hero story. (oh wow my salt level is rising with writing this oops...)

Don’t get me wrong I love Midoriya with all my heart, I love his relationship with Mirio and that he finally has somebody to ask questions and hang out with a third year senpai. In fact I think it’s lovely. I’m just questioning whether it was really necessary to put Mirio in this position for dramatic effect. And what will Mirio do about it?

We don’t know the extent of Eri’s powers nor do we know if her qirk even fully manifested. She’s still a child, her quirk could be weak, her quirk could be something entirely different, or later in life she could even be able to grant quirks or give them back, however you want to see it. I would definitely love to see that, give Mirio his angsty arc where he overcomes his frustration and sadness and then Eri appears and helps him recover. If anyone would deserve it than Mirio.

Even more so after reading this chapter, and noticing all these panels of the flashback scenes (and GOD am I weak for childhood flasbacks aaaa MIRIO’S FATHER DJSDKJSD and the miritama childhood panel absolutely KILLED ME), it opened my eyes just how bad Mirio thinks of himself. How low of an opinion he has on himself. It was shocking because you get introduced to Tamaki and think “yeah, he feels so bad about himself, good that there is his buddy mirio to cheer him up”... JUST THAT IT’S ACTUALLY THE OTHER WAY ROUND. Tamaki might have felt inspired from Mirio to strive even harder bc of his hard-working attitude but boy does Mirio need all the cheering up from his friend.

I mean just LOOK AT THEM SOBS. This was actually my favourite part of the new chapter, that we get to see more of the Big Three’s origins and how they came to be friends. I always thought that Mirio and Tamaki were practically always a duo from point one since they started at UA and gradually Nejire appeared in their lives, but no, it’s actually Tamaki that stood out more in the beginning and so did Nejire.

It was actually so heart-warming for me to see Nejire talk to Tamaki first and be interested in his quirk. Mirio looks so adorable as he stands in the back, not rly sure what to do with himself, even if it’s also a little sad bc that was before they were the big three so he must have dealt with his own amount of self-doubts. Poor boy, but he’s not giving up!!

This is something very positive I find about bnha manga, the energy spent on showing characters back stories and interpersonal growth, even for villains and side characters. You don’t find that in every shonen manga and it’s a pleasant surprise (I’m talking abt beyond main cast-flashbacks here!).

And when Sir compliments him and tries to encourage him, he looked so happy and excited I honestly nearly cried.

So yeah, in my mind it’s still unlikely that Mirio will lose his quirk forever and never be abe to use it his whole life, but there is definitely something that happened to him that can’t return to the way it was before. The scene with Tamaki waking from his unconsciousness to worry about Mirio is kind of a proof to that. He worries about his friend, his gut feeling tells him that sth happened. And Miro himself was thinking about Tamaki and other people that are important to him.

About the last two panels, I honestly to god am very disappinted that for once, Mirio doesn’t get to end his angst chapter himself, but no Midoriya had to steal that spotlight from him. Because the oh so mighty protagonist appears, and saves his poor quirkless senpai from the hands of the villain and/or death. Like really. We really didn’t need that. What we wanted, at least after all that, was a Mirio that stood to the end, presevered, standing and not losing his hope, grasping Eri into his arms and carrying her to safetly (preferrably outside where he could be tended to too bc damn did you see those wounds...)

Alright those were my two hundred) coins, I am a salty Mirio fan who is curious about what turn his storyline will take.