#mine: bad buddy

[khaotunq]

nights with nothing but dark in them; you could be my armour then.

[snickerdoodlles]

stardust au for the wip ask game!! its one of my favourite movies and i love your writing, so im very curious to your spin of it

can you believe i tried to scroll back nearly two months of DMs while also messaging jemmo to find this AU's convo before i remembered that i copied it all into the doc sitting in my drive folder?? brilliant, i am not

but okie dokie so!! stardust AU! it's a bit of a hot mess rn ngl--i have a lot of the story's start figured out, but im still working out where it's going to go. as a quick note, my current name claim for Pat and Paa's mother is Nam. anyways, we begin here:

Many would say this story begins in the far past, quite possibly all the way back to when their country’s ancestors decided blood should not be the only consideration when choosing a ruler. They’d tell you all the ways the rules to choosing a new king were refined, the ways people have always tried to lie and cheat their way to the throne. Maybe they’d even tell you how fallen stars are a blessing or a curse, depending on a point of view, for even things as grand as the night heavens are relevant to this tale.

But for Pat, everything began here: his childhood, coloured gold and warm, his sister in their father’s lap and him tucked against his side as he set aside his crown and tells them a story.

we're playing hot and fast with worldbuilding atm, but in this version, the rival prince thing is not between the sons of one king, but rather the ruler chooses a successor that they think will suit the country best from a group of candidates. a lot of candidates do mostly come from noble houses because resources and biases and other such annoyances, but there was that one time the mad king sent out burnt seeds and chose the person who made it grow best

and in Ming's case, he became king because when a star fell almost twenty-five years ago, he was the one who found the star and consumed its heart. the king was impressed by his decisiveness and given that Ming was already a favourable candidate for the throne, a king with a star's protection against harm pushed him to the top

well. one little problem.

Ming never ate a star's heart.

in fact, Paa's been secretly living as his daughter and Pat's little sister ever since she fell and Ming and Nam scooped her up. so when, at the start of this whole story, the assassination attempt against him works, suddenly everyone's questioning just what the hell this guy's been playing at for all these years. if he didn't eat the star's heart over twenty years ago, did someone else take it, or is the star still out there?

the main story begins with Nam waking up Pat and Paa in the middle of the night with the dire warning "your father is dead, you need to leave, now." Pat's already pretty worried, but then his mother also hugs him, fresh tears in her eyes, and says "I'm so sorry, my son, i've failed you. i never should have let your father become king, or let him die like this." Pat tries to ask her what the fuck that's supposed to mean, but then Nam's back to business sneaking him and Paa out of the castle (“who do you, completely and absolutely, would stake your sisters life on it, trust?” “Ink” “good, you have someone. convince her to go with you, Paa’s life depends on it”). she and Korn get the two siblings out of the castle within the hour, Pat and Paa scoop up Ink on their way out, and two days later Pran pops up to smack Pat upside the head because "you need to cover your tracks better idiot!!"

so the four of them are gallivanting across the countryside, where they eventually get scooped up by Chai (Chai's the Captain Shakespeare equivalent in this AU btws). and in amongst their various adventures there, Chai's accidentally going to say that he's glad Ming never killed the star like he planned to in Pat's hearing vicinity, and Pat's "wait, what" startles about 20 years off of Chai's life because fucking shit, he did not ever want Pat to know this

Chai: ah, sorry. I shouldn’t say more Pat: no, please tell me Chai: the man is dead Pat, what good will me telling you things now do? Pat: it’s precisely because he’s dead that I’m asking you. Chai, please. all I ever hear now is how my father was a liar and a cheater. that’s all I ever will hear about him now, I won’t get any truth from listening to rumours from strangers who didn’t know him. but I’ll be dishonouring his memory if what I know is a lie. please (and what goes unsaid by both of them is that Nam is the one he should truly be talking to, but he doesn’t even know if he’ll ever see her alive again)

see, for Pat, he's always known his father had lied about consuming the heart of a star. he and Paa's favourite stories as children always revolved around a trickster lying to protect something smaller and more precious than them, just like their Papa does for Paa. for weeks, Pat's been living with people whispering vile things about his dead father, someone who he dearly loves and respects even when he's gone, and the knowledge that his father was only what the rumours say he was to protect his sister from someone else's greed has been a huge source of strength for him.

but then he learns that that's not the case at all. that Ming could have very well scooped up Paa with the full intention of killing her. Nam was the one who planned to save Paa, the one to come up with the plans to hide Paa's identity. the ruse where Ming claimed to have eaten the star's heart started with Ming, but it's unclear if that was a compromise or him working angles. either way though, it was never the selfless, caring act Pat believed it was. when his mother said she failed him, she meant this--not recognising that Ming's genuine offer to help was also a power grab until it was too late, not until after she and her children were trapped in it. Ming loved his family, all three of them, and he did try to protect and provide for his wife and children. but he never truly considered all possible options, or what might be best for them, not if it meant that he'd have to sacrifice. Ming tried to keep his family safe, but he could’ve done so much more had he given up his pride

it hurts, but it hurts more when he goes to tell Paa. Paa's emotions on their father is a lot more tricky--there's a lot more cognitive dissonance. she was so young and confused when she fell. she recognized that Ming was using her in some capacity, but he was also one of the kind people that helped her and cared for her and swung her up on his shoulders when they walked through the gardens and made her laugh until her belly ached

When Pat tells her, Paa mostly just curls in on herself. "I think, on some level, I always knew that I was a tool for him," she says quietly. "Just like how you were a tool for him as well."

"I wasn't--" Pat begins to protest.

"He loved us," Paa interrupts, not in disagreement. "But I was his way to succeed in this lifetime, then you were there to carry on his legacy." Paa hugs her knees closer. "Even when he thought of us, he was thinking of himself. We couldn't ever be just his kids.

"I knew this Hia. I think I always did." Paa curls in on herself smaller.

"So why does it hurt so much?"

tbd on how this growing monster ends, but there's a loooooot of Jindapat (not you Ming) love in it. i think the only thing i have jotted down for the end is that Pat gets a chance to go to Ming's grave and let out a lot of his feelings about everything. he loves his father, he's so grief stricken that he's dead, and the most selfish thing the man ever did was die and leave the mess to his family to clean up, and Pat deserves to yell at him for that

[[ WIP ask game ]] | [ 1, 2, 3 ]

[loveisactivated]

[beets]

baby, bi bi bi

[shitouttabuck]

ryan guzman on buck coming out to eddie 1 | 2 | 3

[guzhufuren]

A Guide to Some of the Best Queer Asian Shows

new updated guide here

[chickenstrangers]

bad buddy + this post

[seoperior]

#please help pa jindapat

Our Skyy 2 x A Tale of Thousand Stars

[dimpledpran]

6 days for the Our Skyy 2 Bad Buddy Preview and 12 days till PatPran come home! (Non-Crack Version)

[khaotunq]

enneagram series - type 3: pran, bad buddy "Ambitious, competent, and energetic, they can also be status-conscious and highly driven for advancement. They are diplomatic and poised, but can also be overly concerned with their image and what others think of them. They typically have problems with workaholism and competitiveness." [x]

[snickerdoodlles]

i said i was gonna ask about 3 so I am, I simply must know. plus 2 of them are so personal to me they’re basically freebies so yknow 🤷‍♀️

knitter pran thots (bc it’s me so obviously)

soft boi lies (bc that was me! i said that! im legally required to see the fruits of my random rambling)

CODE CRQCKED LIVING LARGE (bc it’s probably the one I have the least clue what it is lol 😂)

one of these days im going to have to hold myself back from telling you about a WIP just so that I can actually surprise you with a totally new idea 🤣

'knitter pran thots' is ofc specifically for u, even though i will probably ask you for help in coming up with a knitting pun for the title lol. its about the shape of Pat and Pran's love and how invested they are right from when they start to date. the starting snippet:

Paa always tells Pat he gets too invested, too quick when it comes to his relationships. Pat's not sure why she bothers—he can’t help it that he loves so quickly, so largely, so loudly—but there are times when he wonders what she might say about him and Pran and the shape of their love. Pran, who’s always been Pat’s largest and longest investment, whose mere presence is its own gravity for Pat.

Pran loves to knit. He likes the way the stitches clear his mind, the way the yarn slips soft over his fingers, the satisfaction of a project borne before his eyes. It’s something he shyly tucks away from others into the hidden corners of his room, his feelings tied to yarn hidden the same as all his others, only recently revealed to Pat during their last movie night. It takes gratuitous application of his puppy eyes and pleading questions, but Pran soon begins to bloom the more he tells Pat about his favorite yarns and tricky patterns. 

Like always, Pat dives in head first and deep. His search history is a dictionary of knitting terms, his online carts are filled with yarns and needles and patterns. Eventually he even finds his ways over to the forum boards, where several aunties and cousins are delighted to aid his quest in learning more about his boyfriend’s favorite hobby.

and then Pat's going to learn about the boyfriend sweater curse. he's not superstitious, per se, just also vvvvvvvv wary of ever being considered Pran's bad luck jinx again :C and Pran's going to gently take his face and be like "the boyfriend curse is only a problem for people in mediocre relationships. the knitter spends a lot of time and money making a mediocre guy a sweater that he doesn't ever appreciate, then the knitter realizes they don't have to settle for someone half-assing a relationship, and a breakup follows because their relationship already had issues that the sweater issue exposed. but i don't have to worry about that, because you're a sticky nuisance i've had my whole life. now, i have three patterns to modify for your stupidly huge shoulders, so stop squirming or i will tie you up 😤"

and Pat's like 🥺 owh, this is our forever 🥰 and everything is soft and happy

soft boy lies is HERE and brb, currently laughing over how i'd left off some of the smuttier WIP titles yet the first 2 asks were about the filthiest WIP on the list ajfhjf (i'll finish a smut fic one of these days I SWEAR, they're just stupidly long orz)

akdfjk you actually know about 'CODE CRQCKED LIVING LARGE', i just have a wonky title!!! it's the fic about bby!Pran & Pat inspired by that time my mom taught me how to forge her signature when i was seven !! the doc has that title because i've actually had this story idea since before episode 6, i just hated the way it was coming out and had finally moved the WIP to the discard pile a few weeks ago. but talking to you about it finally got the wheels turning, so i started a new doc to rewrite the old mess it used to be 😂

gonna try to summarize this idea for ppl outside our DMs, but basically my mom taught me how to sign her signature when i was seven as a 'fuck you' to a teacher that made me cry. so im projecting that experience onto Pran. then Dissaya thinks it'd be hilarious to send her lil bby out to sign for a delivery for her, so Pran and Chai go to inspect a delivery and bby!Pran v carefully inspects a like. hardware delivery or whatever next to a straight-faced Chai before signing Dissaya's name for the order while the big burly delivery guys look on v bemused

but Pat sees Pran doing that and he puffs up because he wants to do Big Important Grownup Stuff too!!!! but Ming doesn't get why Pat's trying to insist on being there for a delivery and after the last time when Pat got underfoot for a lumber delivery and nearly squished, Ming's not going to let him anywhere dangerous. so he sits Pat down in his office to stay there, bby Pat's like 😤 fine, i shall do OTHER Important Grownup Stuff!!!!

and scribbles all over Ming's paperwork because he is the Best Helper

its not until Ming comes back to fetch Pat that Pat stops to think "wait i should've asked first D:" and he and Ming just kinda. stare at each other for a hot minute before Ming suddenly doubles over and starts laughing. like shit, his kid just created a week's worth of work and sleepless nights to fix this mess, but by god is his son the cutest and sweetest kid??? he laughs about it the whole way home and thru trying to explain it to his wife, and the next week he gets Pat his own lil hardhat and clipboard so Pat can follow the store workers around and do Big Important Grownup Stuff. mind you, Pat doesn't actually know what he's supposed to do with this stuff, so he mostly follows a worker around for a little bit drawing dinosaurs or stick figures and giving the doodles to the store workers when their tasks are finished. these doodles are coveted by the workers, he is their favorite kid in the world

still working out the ending, but it's gonna be Pat & Pran post-Singapore return hearing these childhood stories from the senior employees and they're both simultaneously delighted & horrified because on one hand, childhood stories that they didn't previously have full context for, but on the other, "why do you all even still remember this, pls stop giving my boyfriend blackmail fodder 😭"

[[ WIP ask game ]]

[loveisactivated]

Rest your head against me.

[zhoufeis]

I have always had my eyes on you. I just wasn't sure how you felt about me. You are... someone with the smiles I only want to keep for myself. | requested by @baifengxis |

BAD BUDDY (2021) แค่เพื่อนครับเพื่อน

[shitouttabuck]

throw a bone, i’m finally home

buck/eddie | 17.9k | rated e

for @colonoscopys; i love you like a dog 2: christmas boogaloo

The clothes are still heaped over the duvet messily, but the suitcase, the massive cross-country-move-sized suitcase, is open and in the centre of the room, and Buck is sitting sadly inside it. “Oh, Buck,” Eddie says softly, torn between unbearable fondness and an ache that threatens to crack his breastbone. Buck’s endless legs are pretzeled tight, criss-crossed and tucked under him where he’s squeezed himself into the suitcase. He barely fits—he’s curled himself uncomfortably small and his knees are indented by the zipper teeth on either end. He looks at Eddie, bottom lip pink and chewed to hell as he tries very valiantly to hold in a pout. “Eddie, I—” he starts, and then cuts himself off, looking at the clothes on the bed and chewing his lip some more. “Baby,” Eddie says, “do you wanna come with us?”

or, home for the holidays is a person, not a place, and a puppy can be for christmas and forever

read on ao3

[chickenstrangers]

p'aof cinematic universe: gifting clothes as love language

+bonus

[oswlld]

bad buddy (2021) ⪢ our skyy 2 (2023) — anne sexton, a self-portrait in letters