#mostly bc fifteen already has his name on one so i was going to copy it lol

[brokenhardies]

Life on Mars AU Barbie Posters

"Liz Tyler? I'm the Doctor, and I need you to come with me."

Jane had retired after finding out the truth of the Timeless Child. She was living a normal life under a fake name in an apartment on Ruby Road. She spent 3 years getting used to normalcy and she was certain that was what was going to continue to happen for the rest of this life... Until she gets dragged onto the dance floor by a stranger at a nightclub.

"Absolutely not!"

Taglist

@darth-caillic​ @sterling-writes​ @wonderguards​ @reirvival​ @arrthurpendragon​ @foxesandmagic @eddysocs @superspookyjanelle (want to be added or removed? send an ask or a dm!)

[heleizition]

I am just now finding out about your chosen one au and must know more

ok so i decided to copy paste everything i wrote to my friends when talking about it so its gonna be long Oups ... but it's the most complete ill ever be about it !

so this is set in a universe where gods, old and new are very present and usually they have humans serving them, regularly called chosen ones, every century or so. it's considered an honor and every sanctuary and gods have different missions for their chosen ones and it can go from taking care of the temple every week while being allowed to have their own life to go on a mission to erradicate evil. humans usually know that they are destined to be taken in by gods because of marks on their body, specific to the god(s) they'll serve. the mark starts to glow and guide them to where their god is waiting for them once the god decides they want them.

the story is set on an island stuck between two different temples. on the island stands gotham which is a strangely sunny city,  and then you have the deep sea in the bay, and the deep forest north of gotham. if gotham is mysteriously devoid of bad things, its because it's been giving every century a child to the old gods temple in the deep forest. and time is coming, soon, another one will go.

so here you have the wayne family, they mostly have the same backgrounds ? kind of ? cass's parents were mercenaries that went into the deep forest, where no one (haha) in gotham dares going due to fear of breaking the old gods protections, never came back, and left cass on her own in town. bruce adopted her. dick's parents were travelers on a ship that sailed not far from the island and while they did not survive, the gods in the deep see allowed dick to stay alive until he reached the coast. immm not quite sure of what happened to jason's parents yet but uh he's here and alive woo

damian is a bit of a mystery to most people. he was delivered to bruce's doorstep when he was only a few days old. what they dont know is that nine months earlier bruce went into the deep forest himself. 

so added to that is timothy drake. young boy of the drake family, the two parents who dont seem to care for him much. the boy is quiet but full of smiles and affection to give and when jason and cass drag him to the wayne estate after a day out, bruce opens his arms to him. he's a regular at the wayne house and a few days after he turns 11, he stops showing up. bruce's kids cant find him. the drakes dont seem disturbed by their missing son. and bruce knows the drakes by now, know they wouldnt give their affection to someone they knew would disappear, and bruce realises tim is gone, to the old gods in the deep forest. 

so tim, 11, wakes up sweating and his room lit up with a green light that he's never seen before but in dreams and he knows that it's time. he knows that this strange mark spreading across his back, shaped like a dragon, is glowing green. he's being called.

he moves by himself, not thinking, opens the door to his room and the one that leads outside and it's so fitting when he notices that his parents arent even home, that he'd leave without them caring. soon he's reaching the deep forest and for the first time in his life, when looking at the dark depth, he's not scared, and he walks on. 

tim walks and walks and there are eyes looking at him bu the soft green glow reassures him, and he knows where he should walk, and soon he's reaching a temple, strong stone and green plants and a setting sun carved on its floor, and there is a man - a god ? - walking out. and his eyes are glowing green like the mark he knows is glowing in his back, but it feels wrong, and when tim looks around again everything looks so much hostile, 

tim made researches on the deep forest temple, since he knew it was gonna be his future, and he knew that temple was supposed to host old gods who were dying, so why does it feel so wrong ?

tim approaches, despite himself, and waits for the man - god??? - to say anything. there is a hand, wrinkly and uncomfortable and cold, on his cheek, and tim looks up, and he's shivering when the god - he knows hes a god. he knows he is now. - speaks up.

"i am ra's al ghul. you were given to me to serve me. you will obey me in any way i see fit, and you are to never return to your human town." 

tim did make researches before he was taken. he knew that usually the child taken by the deep forest gods could travel to town without punishment. he knew that, with pattern, they were taken early, before they turned fifteen. he knew that he would most likely be lucky, have a mostly free life. he didnt know that a new god in quest of power had taken over, chained some of the old gods inhabiting the temple, killed others, simply for power and magic. he didnt know that he would be chained to a scary and cold temple, with a terrifying and powerful god that could turn him to dust on a whim. 

so thats basically,,, the intro ? the first part ?

so a few months after tim disappeared, it was jasons turn. 

jason, much like tim, had marks on his wrists and arms, long lines following his limbs. they're signs of being of the all caste temple, chosen one for those gods. for the ones in the deep sea. now these humans linked to temple in the sea are a bit different than the kind that tim was supposed to be. the all castes purpose is protection, and while there always is a human chosen for them, they're not always called for their purpose, in fact, no all caste chosen one had been guided to the temple in the deep see in generations.

however, one day, jason woke up, glowing white lines on his arms, told dick that he had to go to the sea, and disappeared for months.

jason doesn't remember going into the sea when he wakes up in the temple, doesnt know how he survived the journey there, but he's there, by the will of the gods, and he's informed of his purpose.

something hover over the island. something bad. it's already there, its root in the islands ground, and it must be killed. that will be jason's purpose. he doesnt know where. he doesnt know when. he knows it will happen.

so they train him. they give him the weapons and magic he will need to defeat the enemy. they want to protect the island and its inhabitant.

several months later, jason leaves again, with new knowledge and strength, and washes up on the beach, and dick finds him, unconscious. he brings him back to the wayne estate, where he tells his tale of sea gods and protection and prophecy where he is the hero.

years pass. its been about nine years since tim disappeared, since jason went to the sea temple for the first time. damian is 16 and damian wants answers from his father. he knows he's from the deep forest. he knows his mother is there. he wants to meet her, he wants to know her. but bruce never talks about her, never says anything about their meeting, like he was commanded not to, and damian decides to go against all beliefs he has grown with and he prepares. he will get in the forest. he will find his mother.

except jason know his little brother and he knows and sees him planning and on the night he leaves, jason is here, not stopping him, but ready to follow him into the forest. he has a feeling. something is there for him too .

so they travel in the forest, they're not really sure how to find damian's mother with how little bruce ever said about her, and they find creatures along the way, some of them recognize damian as one of their kin, which is how they realise damian's mother is either part god or part spirit, and jason as a god's messenger. they do not guide them, but they do not attack them. 

until they walk into a territory they feel they shouldnt have walked into

a small being with wings and claws attacks, telling them to not trespass, it's smaller than jason had been at 14, but it's furious and cold and it strikes right. and when jason finally looks up he's terrified to see that he recognizes the child in front of him. and its wrong, because tim should have been nineteen by now, but he doesnt look older than 15. 

finally the fight draws to a close when jason calls out for tim, a name he musnt have heard a lot, or not recently, not with care and not without an order behind it. tim stops. tim looks. he recognizes the boys in front of them, even if its been nearly ten years. after all they were two of the last humans he ever saw.

"you cant be here. you cant be here if he knows he will kill you and i cant let you die. please you need to go"

im not quite sur how they get tim to follow, or if they get in ra's territory, but they camp in a safe zone with tim, and tim tells them his story

[torture mention, non consensual body modification]

after ra's took him, he tortured him, he experimented on him. after all he was his first ever human tribute, to obey and be controlled at will, a toy for an immortal, and after many games of the new god, he settled on making tim a sentinel for his property, one that will age slowly and wont feel pain, a puppet with no strings but one that is scared of ra's power, enough that it will obey. jason and damian are Angry. something at the back of jason's head tells him that this ra's might have something to do with his own prophecy. 

so after that its more blurry but tim reacts strangely to damian, he's a bit scared of him and he figures out it's bc of his heritage, that he has links to ra's, and he leads them to talia who's half god half spirit and hidden deeper and deeper in the forest, away from her father, and it makes tim leave the territory he's supposed to guard, disobey ras, which makes ra's angy bc tim never disobey, not since the first few times when he was 12/13 and thought he would still get out,,,

so there is a bit of a final showdown w tim talia jason and damian facing ra's, ra's using his hold on tim to hurt him, and talia torn between her father and her son + tim who she's seen grow up from far away and who she feels she should have protected from ra's,, jason eventually has a one on one with ra's and the prophecy does happen and he kills ra's and angry old gods who were chained in the temple wake up and banish ra's soul from this realm.

they heal tim from whatever ra's did to him, with the promise that he will travel to care for the god's temple again, as his duty was supposed to be 

they all get back to gotham, tim still looks 15 but will grow to his real age within a few months, he has many scars and the mark on his back changed for a setting sun like what was carved on the temple's entrance, damian has his Mom, and jason is free from his all caste duty.

the end woooo this is over 2k long rip !! feel free to ask if u got more questions :0 !!

[mynumberfivethings]

i have another blog where i write fic for another fandom and i talk it out a lot w anons mostly so others will see those interactions and say something along the lines of: “oh man, i love this idea, i’d love to write it too but ur already gonna do it, so no point” but i constantly encourage them to write it anyways bc i am the type of person who loves to read and re read the SAME concept/trope over and over bc i enjoy it so much, so like, what? ten similar stories written by ten different writers? SIGN ME TF UP pls! u know? 

and the fact is, there hasn’t been a genuinely “original” idea in forever, so ya know, fuck it up ppl! it’s fanfiction! idc! 

so when ppl get mad about others writing v similar fics (as long as its not an obviously word for word copy stolen from the original work) i just cannot wrap my head around said anger? 

like, my longest WIP in ao3 rn is this tua AU im really enjoying working on and i remember being in the shower in early september one morning and getting the idea, which is basically: ooh, what if the temps commission decided to save five fifteen years into the apocalypse instead and he worked for them for a couple of years and he broke his contract at age 30 and after doing some math decided that the best way to stop the apocalypse from ever coming to fruition was to murder reggie??? but then he gets stuck raising the rest of his siblings (all of who are only 14, since in this AU he’s only been missing a year in their timeline)---and basically i had this idea and thought oh shit, this would be so cool bc there’s SO MUCH to explore, like reginalds death, five being mr. mom, grace gaining full autonomy thanks to five, pogo finally owning up to some shit, the kids realizing the extent of the abuse they suffered and getting to be KIDS! the temps commission eventually hunting five down! vanya’s meds could be addressed and everyones shock at learning she has POWERS! like, damn, the possibilities in my head were ENDLESS 

so as soon as i hopped out of the shower i wrote the general gist of the idea down in my phone notes app and left it there for like two days? only bc as much as i felt this fic calling my name i also knew it was going to be A LOT and i wasn’t sure if i was up to the task. so two days pass and i end up writing the first chapter, editing, revising, etc and i look at the final product and im happy w it so i post that bitch, and the next morning i wake up to this person complaining in my inbox that i ripped off their idea, and i looked at their fic (the titles are SO SIMILAR!! it’s a quote from season 2-”I’m the daddy”) and the summaries are also very similar, and they posted it literally two days before me, on the VERY  same day i had the idea originally and i just think its so funny bc like, BRUH, i was over here like look at me w my original ass idea, i love this AU, omg, big galaxy brained bitch over here that i am, hehehe, only to find out that our brain cells, from probably thousands of miles away connected very briefly on that early September day to come up w the exact same concept, like. damn. 

i did read their fic tho, and thankfully they took it in a v different direction and so while the general idea was the same, the stories differed SO MUCH so i was just shook, like, dude, did u even read my story??? 

BUT ANYWAY, all this to say: there has never been, nor will there ever be, an original idea, if we’re in the same fandom, i guarantee we’ve all shared ONE single braincell at some point and come up w the same fic idea, gif idea or meme idea and i think that’s fuckin swell honestly.  

[rcbinpenn]

hey hey hey!! i’m jay (he/him), and i’m here live to bring robin penn to the scene. he’s your run of the mill uber progressive film bro whose interests include whole foods, organically-rolled joints, and being the wokest person in the room. more info below the cut, and feel free to message me if you wanna plot :))

( avan jogia, cis male, he/him ). hey, isn’t that [ ROBIN PENN ] walking down bennington street? i think the [ 25 ] YEAR OLD [ FILMMAKER ] is from [ CHERRY HILLS VILLAGE, CO ]. i’ve heard some rumors down at ginger’s, saying that they're [ SELF-RIGHTEOUS AND GUARDED ], but then again they’re known to be [ CHARMING AND INNOVATIVE ].  either way, they seem to be interesting, hope they’ll stick around.

stats ; 

full name: robin chatura penn

place and dob: cherry hills village, co on november 23rd, 1994 (did i do that math right oh god) 

sexuality: pansexual

zodiac sign: sagittarius

hogwarts house: gryffindor

parallels: kyle scheible (lady bird), vanessa abrams (gossip girl), elliot alderson (mr. robot), miss grotke (recess), tyler durden (fight club), kate stratford (10 things i hate about you), diane nguyen (bojack horseman), jay gatsby (the great gatsby) 

background ; 

okay so! first thing to know about robin is that he’s hella disingenous about his background, so even though this is like ~ the truth ~ he’s definitely told your character something different (although he tries to mention his past as little as possible, mostly just sprinkles tidbits that he knows he can keep up) when they ask 

but with that being said !!! robin penn grows up in upper class suburbia and it’s the thing he hates the most about himself. he’s the third of five kids so he’s got huge middle child syndrome, but also since his parents had like four other kids to show off they were kind of content with him doing his own thing? so he becomes the black sheep of the penn family easily, and is also kind of the outcast of his entire neighborhood? but i mean, they looked down on him and at the same time he looked down on them from his high horse of progressivism, so it was all very mutual

but growing up without any tangible people to relate to isn’t all bad, because it’s how he discovers movies! he watched every classic there is pretty quickly and moved onto niche foreign films, which is why he’s now so well-versed in like absurdist french films from the late 80′s when nobody else gives a fuck

he makes his first film at fifteen and uploads it to youtube, where it does fairly well!! it by now means makes him a viral sensation or anything, but it’s successful enough to make him a god amongst the outcasts and artsy types at his high school. this is where a lot of his ego and confidence and “i’m woker than you” complex gets super intensified, because the kids he was surrounded by were all entitled rich preps who were like ~wow you know about the war in iran~ and loved to put him on a pedastal of knowing so much about the world and being such an activist when he’s really just another left-leaning anarcho-socialist

his parents try for like .2 secs to convince him that the film industry is unreliable and not the best to go into, but he obviously doesn’t listen so they cough up some money and send him off to usc

and finally!! he is free from his upbringing!! he can be whoever he wants!! so that’s exactly what he does. i’ll just insert this portion of my app in bc i think it encapsulates it pretty well: and this is where robin 2.0 begins. it’s not that he’s ashamed of where he comes from - except that, well, yes he is. he hates the idea of making all these pictures about oppression and class struggle only to come from the dictionary definition of affluent privilege. so he doesn’t lie, necessarily, but he does borrow some storylines from the thousands of movies he’s seen in his life. at freshman orientation he comes from a poor village in east india; at a party downtown he’s from the wrong side of the tracks in the bronx; and at a local art gallery, where he first meets raphael brooks, he’s from a broken home on the outskirts of san francisco. he is the writer of his own life, able to keep each storyline perfectly separate, and he doesn’t say a word to anyone when he goes back to his million-dollar estate in the hills of colorado

he does well at film school, he makes some pretty decent films and because of his charming and magnetic nature he gets a good bit of job offers that would have him staying in la BUT he’s like “fuck that, la is superficial and pretentious and i’m gonna go to new york and make REAL art”

so he does, kind of? i’m literally so tired asfjkaslj i’m sorry i’m just gonna copy and paste more from my app, fuck original wording all my homies hate original wording: new york is everything he imagined it to be and yet nothing like it at all. he’s a stranger in this city all over again, and while that excites him as far as being able to craft a new character for himself, it also means he’s starting from scratch. and while everyone in california is obsessed with the glitz and glamour of movies, it feels like robin’s style of grit and provocativeness is the status quo amongst new york filmmakers. he finds himself resorting back to that rich boy attitude buried deep within him, wanting to be worshipped for his artistry and originality without wanting to put in any of the work. it’s been months now since he’s been able to beat this lazy streak and start on a new project, and it’s left him relying on asking his parents for rent money while telling everyone he’s just raking in an income from old and new projects alike. still, now that he’s in this rut, he can’t help but pass the days and wonder: is this it for him? is he a one-hit wonder only capable of regurgitating what everyone around him has already produced, or is there still a story inside of him to tell?

that’s it, i think !! i’m sorry i’m functioning on so little sleep, feel free to message me with any questions or concerns or complaints or PLOTS very excited to get started, xoxoxo

[feel199x]

☆・゜☆゜・stardust, paint, and ambition・゜☆゜・．☆

painter! hwang hyunjin, college!au

a/n: introducing the muse series!! bc im a dummie with Too Many Ideas!!  masterlist  btw this is the song that is mentioned

warnings: pinch of angst

                                    ┍━━━━ ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ━━━━┑

College had been kicking your ass recently, which is why you had been in a cafe for the past eight hours. You had gotten there when they opened, and since then, you had eleven cups of coffee. After that, they just gave you free refills. Finals were coming up, and you absolutely could not afford to fail. You had worked hard all semester, pulling countless all-nighters and pushing yourself until you could push no more. You thought that when you graduated high school, that would be it- you could relax a bit. You had gotten in, gotten a scholarship, so that was it, right? Wrong. In order to maintain your scholarship, you had to maintain above a B average. So, here you were, doing your best- which at this point wasn’t even really your best anymore. So when you thought a super attractive boy was staring into your soul, you assumed you were hallucinating from the caffeine. It wasn’t until you got up to use the bathroom, and his eyes shot up from a pad he was holding, that you confirmed that it wasn’t a hallucination. While you were in the restroom, you tried planning how you were going to ask him about it. As cute as he was, it was still weird to stare at someone. You were especially embarrassed about it because at some point you nearly started crying over a ten-page essay.

So when you got out, you just sat back down. And stared back. Okay, maybe this was weird. But he was the one staring first, and you weren’t one to confront others. Instead of looking away though, he just turned over to a blank page. And for less than a moment, you saw what he was working on. You.

“Alright, buddy, what’s your deal?”

He smiled, putting the pad down on the table, and laying his chin on his hands, cutely, you might add. “It’s not every day you see someone like this.”

“Like what?”

“Someone beautiful in a raw state of emotion.”

 You might’ve said something back, but you were incredibly flustered. You knew he had to be an art major though because no other major would talk that way. Or draw people at 6 pm in a cafe, on a Saturday.

“So can I?” he spoke again, voice smooth like silk, “Can I draw you?”

You stopped typing, mostly out of surprise because you expected that to be the last of your interactions. “I mean,” your words came out choppy and nervous, “I guess. If you want to. It’s a public place. Do what you want to.”

“Okay, then can you turn around for me? It won’t hurt for you to take a break.”

You looked nervously at your laptop, looking at the only half done essay. You hadn’t even taken any breaks these past few hours, other than going to the bathroom or more coffee refills. It wasn’t due today, and you didn’t have your first finals until Tuesday. But you couldn’t take a break, you had grades to upkeep. And to you, that meant everything, even if you had to push yourself until you could no longer push. Not that it ever ended well.

“I can’t take a break, sorry.”

“Why not?”

“Because I have things to do. I need to maintain my grades.”

He was quiet for a minute, tapping his pencil against his cheek as he kept staring at you. “You’ve had fifteen cups of coffee since I’ve been here, don’t take a break for me.” He winked. “Take a break for yourself.” You set a timer on your phone, finally closing your laptop. Your eyes were watery from staring at blue light for so long. “Thirty minutes,” you said, “And then you have to go back to staring at me.”

“Deal.”

You pulled up a chair from across from him, unsure of what you had agreed to. You put your chin into your hands, cupping your face the same way you had. It might’ve been risky to tease him since he could’ve just completely botched your portrait. But instead, he just smiled again.

“You’re cute.”

“Just draw the picture.”

“My name is Hyunjin, by the way.”

“____.”

“Such a pretty name, it suits you.”

“Do you flirt with everyone you draw?”

“No, just you.”

 You tried peering over the sketchpad, trying to take a look at what he was drawing. “No peeking!”

“Do you usually go around drawing people in cafes?”

“No, there’s something special about you. The stars, they aligned for us to meet.”

“Are all art majors this sappy.”

“Oh, absolutely. And I’m the worst of the worst.”

You laughed, it felt good to take a break and be able to talk to someone instead of staring at a screen where you’ve typed ‘furthermore’ more times than reasonable. The conversation continued, and you had completely forgotten about the timer you had set. You jumped when it rang, warning you that your time was up. Hyunjin wasn’t at all surprised though, putting his pencil down.

“Can I see your phone?”

“Why?”

“Don’t you want to see how it’ll turn out?”

You gave him your phone, and he handed you his. After exchanging numbers, he bid you adieu, wishing you the best on your essay.

When you got back to your dorm, you kept catching yourself drifting back to the boy from the cafe. It wasn’t particularly distracting, you finished everything you needed to and more. But it was annoying. Many people, including your family, warned you that life would pass you by if all you did was study. But your academic studies were all you knew, even if you wouldn’t admit it out loud. Dealing with people, even though you knew you had to do it in your workplace, was difficult. If given the chance, you would choose to be alone or with a few close friends. It wasn’t that you looked down on people who were friendly and outspoken, it was just something you didn’t know how to do. You laid in bed, suddenly regretting all those dances and proms you skipped, all those home games you refused to go to. You were digging yourself a deep hole of regret until your phone beeped.

jinnie: hello hello my muse

If you could uwu out loud, then you would have. You didn’t look back at the contact name once he put it in, you didn’t think he would’ve texted you again. That type of thing had happened before, well, not this exactly. But teasing, making fun of you. Throughout your high school career, many boys had asked you out as a joke. And you fell for it every time. You always had the mentality that one of these times it had to be real right? Surely, people wouldn’t keep lying to you? But they could, and they would. So once college started, you were determined not to fall into that trap again. But this boy was sure making it real hard.

you: muse?

jinnie: yes, my one and only

jinnie: has sent you a picture

Your heart felt warm as you saw the picture. But instead of just being a sketch, it was a full blown watercolor painting. You never thought of yourself as conventionally attractive, but seeing the way Hyunjin had painted you really made you feel admired. You felt like, well, a muse as Hyunjin put it. But you were wary, nothing but cautious. The painting was beautiful though, you couldn’t deny it

you: you’re a good painter, a really good painter

you: you made me look so nice, thank you!

jinnie: i had to do my muse justice

jinnie: you studying at the same cafe tomorrow? let’s meet up!

you: sure, but i have to study

jinnie: no promises, i’ll be there at eight

You spent most of the night talking about nonsense, and you felt reassured. Hyunjin never made fun of you, or did anything that alluded to the conversation being a joke. It was a lot easier to talk to him, and he carried most of the conversation, the only stress being responding to him. You were glad you didn’t have a roommate because the number of times you burst out laughing and giggling was way too much. It felt good to take a break, even though at the time you didn’t really think of it that way. It wasn’t until your alarm rang that you realized that time had flown by.

you: i didn’t realize we spent all this time talking

you: its already seven

jinnie: oh shit you’re right

jinnie: meet you there !

Suddenly, you became very nervous. It wasn’t every day that an absurdly attractive guy asked to hang out with you. Especially when that same guy knew the importance of grades to you. So, with no promises of actual conversation, what did he have to gain? Nothing, except time with you. It felt weird, out of place, and suddenly you were all cautious again. You dressed a little nicer than normal, not wanting to be in sweats again but not wanting to look like you tried too hard. Even though you most definitely were. Before you knew it, you were flinging yourself out the door, already late. But when you arrived at the cafe, your heart dropped to your stomach when you scanned the tables, and saw that he wasn’t there. Another hour passed, and your hands were flying over your laptop keyboard. This had happened before, and you knew there was no chance that someone like him would be interested in someone like you. And you were fine with that, if someone could play with someone like that- then why would you want to be with them? You were just mad that you had fallen for it, time and time again.

“Sorry I’m late.”

You looked up at him, unsure if you should’ve been mad or not. “I thought you weren’t coming.”

“Oh please, did you actually think I wouldn’t come to meet my muse? Plus, we have a portrait due as a final grade.”

You couldn’t help but smile, retaking notes from a previous lecture so you could revise. “Okay,” you said, “But if you’re late again, I’ll never let you paint me again.”

He gasped, clutching his shirt. “There would be no greater punishment.”

After a bit of working together in silence, Hyunjin put his sketchpad down to stare at you again. “Hey, could you put your laptop down for a bit?” You obliged, completely and utterly confused at his request. He put his chin in his hands again, cupping his face as his fingers tapped his cheeks and you copied him. Sure, Hyunjin was cute, but as he looked intently at you, studying your face for his portrait, you realized that he was so much more than that. He could be a model if he wanted to, but instead chose to make people feel beautiful. As he continued studying to your face, you could feel the heat creeping up your cheeks. He had no business being this good of a person. “You’re so cute like this,” he murmured, “I have to take a picture.” You had no time to react as he pulled out his phone and heard the phone imitate a camera shutter. “Hey! Delete that! I probably look super gross!”

“No way! I need this picture, I finally know what I’m going to paint!”

“That’s so unfair!” You slumped in your chair, whining, “You know how much grades matter to me,”

“I’m just good at arguing.”

“Then become a law major.”

“I don’t feel like selling my soul, sorry.”

Hyunjin let you study in peace for a while but told you stories about his adventures in art class while you studied. After that though, he became restless, distracting you by winking and shamelessly flirting with you.

“Hey, hey, ___!”

You sighed, closing your notebook. “Yes, Jinnie?”

Hyunjin stopped, mouth agape and then quickly shut it as he gave a ridiculously big, sweet smile. “Say it again.”

“....Jinnie?”

Hyunjin’s hands flew over the table, pinching your cheeks and stretching them out. “You have no reason to hide all this cuteness from the world.” His hands dropped back on the table. “Let’s go for a walk. I’m bored.” You shrugged, putting your stuff back into your back. “Sure, where do you want to go?” He looked surprised, but eager. Grabbing your hand, he messily shoved his sketchbook into his bag and nearly running out of the cafe. As the both of you walked up an annoyingly steep hill, you realized that the view of the city was to die for.

You both sat on the grass, over a cliff that overlooked the city. As the sunset, you understood why Hyunjin was a visual arts major. With a world as beautiful as this, a constant, ever-changing world like this, you were ashamed that you took no time to appreciate it.

“You need to stop and smell the roses, ___.”

“Can you help me?”

“Anything for my muse.”

The day after finals, you were absolutely exhausted. But even so, Hyunjin made you come out of your room. You didn’t care how you looked, you were tired and all you wanted to do was sleep. But Hyunjin brought you along to a diner, insisting that a good burger and milkshake would make you feel better. It didn’t, what made you better what spending time with an over-energetic Hyunjin.

Every night, for about eight months now, Hyunjin had kept on his promise. Even if it was just sneaking into your door room to have a spontaneous dance party (which he was weirdly good at) or just lay on your lap, giving you attention as you studied. There was one night where you had pushed yourself too far and got unreasonably upset at a grade. You knew it wasn’t a rational reason to be upset, but you cried anyway. But Hyunjin, being the angel he was, played your song on the record player he had gotten you for your birthday. At four in the morning, the two of you were slow dancing as you pressed your tear-stained against his chest, swaying to the song. It was that night, after spending all your free time with Hyunjin, and you mean all your free time. Hyunjin would wait outside your lecture hall to hang out, even sneaking into some of your classes. In return, you sat with him in some of his classes but ended falling asleep on his shoulder as his professor talked about baroque architecture. After all this time, you realized you were in love with him. Hopelessly and utterly in love with him. He made you better and you made him better. He helped you take breaks, and you helped him with paying attention to his non-art related classes.

It was the night of the gallery walk, and Hyunjin had his own little corner with all his work displayed. You had come with a bouquet of flowers, all of which he had painted at some points. But when you got there, you’d never felt more admired or in admiration. All this time, all his works contained you in some shape or form. Hyunjin was more than a painter, his painting looked like photographs. What brought tears over to your eyes was the painting of a picture he had taken a while back. You knew then, more than ever, that you needed to confess.

“Do you like them?” Hyunjin was dressed in a classic suit and tie, standing next to you.

“You make me look nicer than I actually am.”

“Nah, you’re made of stardust and ambition. You’re art, raw and unadulterated.”

“I told you to stop dropping lines from your poetry class.” You handed him the bouquet of flowers. Your hands were sweating, you knew today was the perfect chance to confess but you were shaking like an overworked washing machine.

“Jinnie.”

“Don’t call me that, I have to look like a professional artist and I can’t do that if I’m swooning over you.”

You pointed your feet towards him, grabbing onto his shoulders with shaky hands and made him look at you.

“Hyunjin.”

“Yes, my muse.”

Your voice was wavering, heart anxious to break out of your chest. “I’m,” your voice faltered, stuttering until you pushed the words out, “I’m in love with you, okay that’s a bit forward, but it’s okay if you don-”

Hyunjin cupped your face, pecking your lips. “I fell in love a while ago.” He winked, still cupping your face. “I’ll give you a more worthy kiss after the gallery walk, my muse.”