#one thing for sure for me who's been fluent in english for about 10 years now . I can say for sure that I fucking hate speaking this langua

[jtl-fics]

Fluent Freshman - Part 30

PREVIOUS

Ichirou Moriyama had long been someone Riko had spoken about and therefore someone Kevin knew of.

First reverently as he talked about how someday his brother would come for him and how he’d watch Riko’s games. Then Ichirou never showed up once and the anger set in and mentions of his brother would result in especially bad days.

Kevin’s only saving grace at the Nest near the end was that Ichirou had been as uninterested in him as he was in Riko.

Neil was the one who had handled any communications with the new Master of the Moriyama family and Kevin was grateful for that. His stomach still twists when he found out what it would cost him to have the closest thing he would ever really have to freedom since his mom’s car accident but Kevin could hardly fault Neil since Kevin has no idea if he would have been able to even open his mouth and speak to negotiate with Ichirou. He certainly wouldn’t have thought to bargain for Neil and Jean’s lives.

So he was going to make sure the Neil had the best possible chances to get on a great team not just because he had every faith that Neil could be on the national court but also Kevin wanted him on the national court. Neil was his partner and his friend.

This was his last year that he could help as directly as this so he and Neil were still putting in the hours in their evening practices. It was also the last year that Neil could rely on him to assist in getting everyone up to snuff.

Ichirou Moriyama was going to be stopping by at some point and Kevin had decided that the best way to handle this information was to focus on something life affirming.

“I’m just saying it isn’t an unknown flavor combination.” Kevin argues.

“Kevin there is something very different about vanilla protein powder in chicken stock and Chicken and Waffles.” Aaron says from his spot behind Kevin in Wymack’s car.

“There shouldn’t be! It’s all the same flavors, just liquid!” Kevin turns in his seat to point at Aaron, “You should put on your seatbelt, what if Wymack crashes?” He says for the third time since the car ride had begun.

“That’s my problem, not yours.” Aaron says and his eyes have been locked on the roof of the car since the car ride began which was rude but Kevin had learned to expect nothing less from a Minyard.

“It will be my problem when your corpse breaks my neck as you fly forward!” Kevin hisses.

“Coach, could you do me a favor-“

“I’m not going to crash the car.” Wymack interrupts eyes on the road and hands at 10 and 2.

“God forbid you do something nice for me.” Aaron gripes crossing his arms.

Kevin decides to change his target.

“Coach-“

“Kevin, you’re not putting any protein powder into Smith’s soup. That’s final. Do you want to mess up his Grandma’s hard work to follow the Doctor’s recipe exactly?” Wymack asks.

No.

No Kevin does not wish to mess up Grandma Smith’s hard work.

He just…

A Food pyramid flashes in his mind.

…thinks he knows more than the hospital dietician.

“It’s not that Smith’s Grandma made bad soup.” Kevin says because the woman was a talent in the kitchen even if she might use a bit too much butter. He’d let her know but Nicky refused to translate and she’d smiled so warmly at him and touched his face so gently… “I think she was led astray by bad science and Nicky wouldn’t translate for me.” He says, “If she understood English she would have understood and agreed with me.” He says because he did manage to get her finely chop a bunch of carrots to put into the pasta sauce so that Neil would get some veggies.

She was a reasonable woman who understood the importance of good nutrition.

“I don’t know about that.” Coach says and Kevin wonders what he means by that.

They’re close behind Andrew’s car and Kevin can see two parking spots next to one another near the front except Andrew pulls into the spots in a way that means it is almost impossible for anyone to get into the second spot unless they owned a tiny smart car.

Andrew often parks like that to make sure no one dings the Maserati.

“That little shit.” Wymack grumbles as he continues to drive.

“Aren’t you going to let us out at the entrance?” Kevin asks.

“Who am I, your driver?” Wymack grumbles and does not slow down to let them out  at the hospital entrance. “You’ve been bitching about not getting enough exercise and eating too much fat this weekend, consider this just some of the exercise you’ve been wanting.” He says.

Kevin leans back in the chair.

He does NOT pout. He merely frowns with his lips puffed out and feels as if he has been treated unfairly.

He uses this time wisely.

He thinks about Neil and Andrew’s ‘secret’ conversation.

Kevin still doesn’t know Russian, has no plans to learn it because he does not want to know 80% of what Neil and Andrew say to one another, but Kevin has always been great at understanding tone and it’s not that hard to understand that they were talking about FF when he ‘Kapitan Neil’.

He thinks about what might stress Neil out about FF (never once does he consider that FF being in the hospital with a stab wound may be the thing that stresses Neil out, not when there’s an explanation that involves Exy).

FF might choose to leave.

That would not bode well for Neil.

Kevin has already signed but Neil needs the next few years still to make sure he can follow through on his deal with Ichirou.

FF is a great defensive dealer.

Kevin still doesn’t really understand how he can seemingly just appear on the Court to intercept passes but Kevin has been informed that all of his plans to figure it out are ‘medically unethical’ and ‘likely to get him thrown in prison’.

Nicky patting his face pityingly and saying, “Your face is too pretty for prison.” had been when he stopped looking at how he could buy electrodes.

His follow-up search to find out that no prison in the United States currently had an Exy court as a facility had him drop the outline of his research into his recycle bin and right click to delete permanently.

Since Kevin cannot find a way to replicate that particular talent of FF’s then they just need FF to stay.

He also quite likes the steady freshman. He’s probably not ever going to be National Court level like he and Neil are, but he would be a solid Dealer on a good team. Kevin wouldn’t even mind playing with him professionally.

They park the car far in the back of the lot and Wymack grumbles at a different nice car that is taking up two spots. Kevin climbs out of the car and they start their way towards the hospital.

Kevin considers jogging in circles around Aaron and Wymack as they walk just to burn off more of the lunch they’d just had but decides against it.

Maybe a different nutritionist will be on staff today and will be able to back Kevin up on his plan.

***

Captain Neil and Andrew are quickly followed by Nicky and his Grandma both of whom look nervous but some of that seemed to dissipate when they saw him.

“Are you okay?” Captain Neil asks.

FF goes to open his mouth but a nurse interrupts, “He decided to go on a walk in his current condition. I thought we were quite clear that you needed to stay in bed. Stressing yourself is why you collapsed in the Cafeteria like that.” His main nurse chastises.

“Sorry, it won’t happen again.” FF promises because it won’t. He’s planning on asking for a medically induced coma to escape the consequences of his actions so leaving the bed is the last thing he’s going to do. His dad’s trust for him can have money taken out for his medical needs and there has never been a greater medical need in his entire life than right now.

“What happened?” Andrew demands stepping next to Neil.

How does one explain getting a job offer from the Yakuza (Yakuza or Mafia)?

“I wanted to go for a walk.” He answers because he had and that’s easier to explain.

“Why did you meet Ichirou Moriyama?” Andrew asks again in German.

Well dammit.

FF finds himself at a crossroads.

Does he tell the truth? That he’s an idiot and didn’t realize the man was reaching out to Captain Neil? That he went and had an entire conversation with the man who owns Captain Neil, Kevin, and Jean Moreau? That afterward he tried to stand up and fainted which is how he got taken back to his room?

He thinks he has enough lies going on between his own and his grandma’s and he needs to relay something from Ichirou Moriyama.

“Lord Moriyama wanted me to tell you that he no longer needed to speak with you Captain Neil.” He relays just like he said he would and he sees Captain Neil tense.

“Smith.” Andrew says his name.

He also doesn’t want to talk about it any further.

“I’m fine, but I don’t want to talk about it.” FF closes his eyes as he answers back in German. He feels exhausted now and wishes that he had just requested a coma earlier so that he wouldn’t be in this situation. “Captain Neil, you left your phone here and it’s been pinging. Sorry I read one of the texts.” He gestures vaguely to his side table.

None of his guests speak for the next few minutes as the nurses finish reminding him to stay still, that he’s lucky his stitches didn’t break, that he’s on thin ice. He’s tired and he’s hungry so he’s curt with them in a way he’ll regret later but right now it’s just a lot when he can still feel Captain Neil and Andrew’s eyes burning into him.

Then Nicky proves to continue to be the nicest friend he has when the nurses leave and he feels Nicky’s hand take his and squeeze. “Hey, how are you really feeling?” he asks.

FF takes a deep breath, “I have...no idea.” he says. “I’m sorry.” he adds.

Nicky squeezes his hand again, “Hey, Aras made you some soup and we kept it away from Kevin. You’re probably a lil’ cranky because you’re tired, hungry, and in pain. You don’t need to talk about it right now okay?” Nicky says.

He’s really lucky to have Nicky as his friend.

He squeezes Nicky’s hand back and valiantly does not cry. He squeezes his eyes tighter to keep them from slipping out, it’d be embarrassing to cry here like this.

“Thank you.” He says voice quiet but doesn’t open his eyes, knowing what will come out if he does.

His Grandma comes to his side again and strokes his face. Her fingers wipe away the few tears that did slip out despite his best efforts but he thinks she did it so casually that maybe no one noticed.

It hasn’t been a good day, but Grandma’s soup has always been something that makes him feel better. He just wishes he could be alone for a minute with just her to witness the next few minutes.

Nicky, bless him, must sense that because he squeezes his hand tightly before letting go, “C’mon, let’s give Smithy and Aras a moment okay?” He says.

FF doesn’t open his eyes until his Grandma whispers, “My little Rotisserie Chicken, they’ve stepped out.” She says.

“He offered me a job in the Yakuza.” He blubbers immediately. “I don’t even know if they have dental.” He spills one of his lesser concerns.

“Oh honey, let’s eat some soup.” She soothes stroking his face.

***

Neil feels bad.

FF was pale, shaking, sweaty, and despite his grandma’s best efforts Neil had seen a tear slip from his tightly closed eyes.

He looks to his side and sees Andrew’s own hands tightened into fists.

“C’mon, let’s give Smithy and Aras a moment okay?” Nicky says and drags them out of the room through the sheer force of his ire. It’s moment like this that Neil really does understand why it is that FF prefers to spend his free time with Nicky over any other of their group.

They get out of the room and down the hall before Nicky starts in. “You two are the KINGS of not talking about shit so, for now, LEAVE it.” He hisses in German in a bid to keep the conversation private from anyone walking past.

“We need to know what deal he and Ichirou came to.” Andrew says in the same language.

“You’re going to find that out from Ichirou probably once he crazy murders Romero and Jackson in the next couple days!” Nicky cries dramatically, “Smithy probably doesn’t even know the full details because he’s in a lot of pain because he’s been STABBED.” Nicky points a finger at Andrew but wisely does not poke him with it. “Do you think he ACTUALLY went on a walk? Ichirou’s men probably took him since they couldn’t find YOU Neil.” Nicky points at Neil and, again, wisely does not poke him with it.

Neil’s stomach twists.

Maybe Neil should invest in a phone clip like Wymack thought the implication that the Moriyamas came to where his phone was leaves him wanting to skip it like a stone straight into the ocean. Too bad going to a beach still makes his palms sweaty.

“So what WE are going to do,” Nicky does a quick circle to point at the three of them, “is we are going to be good friends and help Smithy because he’s stressed, in pain, and needs friends not INTERROGATORS.” Nicky waves his arms in exasperation.

“Who are Neil and Andrew interrogating?” Aaron asks and Neil looks to the side to see Aaron with Kevin being pulled along by the scruff by Wymack.

“Smithy.” Nicky says.

“Why?” Kevin asks.

“Because Ichirou came and talked to him.” Andrew explains.

Kevin goes pale. “Why? I thought he was going to talk with Neil?” Kevin asks looking at Neil.

“He probably came here following Neil’s phone, which he left. So he grabbed Smithy to talk to him.” Nicky says, “Ichirou seemed impressed and pleased with whatever they talked about but Smithy is a little fragile after all of this so,” Nicky stepped into Kevin’s space, “Leave.” He pokes Kevin’s chest once, “Him.” He pokes Kevin’s chest twice, “Alone.” He pokes Kevin’s chest a third time.

“How would he even have an understanding of who he’s talking to?” Kevin asks looking sick. “No one has mentioned anything about the whole thing with the Moriyamas right?” He looks at the rest of them and Neil knows none of them would mention it.

Nicky rolls his eyes with his entire body.

“Kevin, do you know how many languages Smithy is fluent in?” Nicky asks.

“Uh…quite a few?” Kevin responds looking thrown.

“Yeah, one of those languages is French. Which you KNOW because he’s corrected your pronunciation before.” Nicky reminds Kevin and the Son of Exy blushes slightly.

“What does that have to do with this?!” Kevin squawks.

“Kevin, how many conversations have you had RIGHT in front of Smithy in French as you talked with Jean?” Nicky asks.

“None!” Kevin hisses.

“Can you say that for sure? You know how it can be with Smithy. Aaron over here has basically almost fucked his girlfriend in front of Smithy before because he didn’t realize he was there.” He juts his thumb towards Aaron.

“Hey.” Aaron scowls not happy to be reminded of that. “He needs a damn bell.” Aaron grumbles.

“I’ve talked about it in front of him and you never told us?!” Kevin exclaims.

“It’s Smithy! He’s not going to tell anyone!”  Nicky argues.

Which is very true.

FF is just not that kind of guy.

“So we are ALL going to be good, supportive friends to Smithy and hopefully he gets out of here today despite the whole shit show with Ichirou and we get him back to Abby’s where he can rest up in her guest room with his grandma.” He points at each of them with a frown.

“But-“

“Kevin, leave it for now.” Wymack finally steps in to the conversation. “How’s he looking?” He looks to Neil.

Pale, tired, pained, and trying not to cry either from pain, stress, or fear Neil does not know.

“Bad.” Neil answers.

Wymack sighs, “Stay out here. I’m going to go check.” He says.

They watch as Wymack enters into FF’s room.

Kevin is still spiraling from the realization of all the different conversations he could have possibly had in front of FF thinking French would act as a barrier.

A thought crosses Neil’s mind, “Wait, Smith doesn’t know Russian right?” He looks to Andrew because he and Andrew have said quite a few things to one another when FF was there.

“No, he said he isn’t learning it here.” Andrew shakes his head. “Even if he does learn it Smith would just leave if he was uncomfortable.” Andrew shrugs.

They have all seen a ‘Smith 180°™‘ before when he’s walked in and has seen Aaron and Katelyn or entered a room where Nicky was talking to Erik or Matt was talking to Dan. Neil has even noticed one or two when him and Andrew may have been in a less than private place.

It was nice to have someone who would just see them like that and leave it alone instead of betting on it, trying to take a picture, or gagging like it’s disgusting.

Wymack walks back out after a minute in FF’s hospital room, “Let’s give Smith and his Grandma a couple more minutes.” He says and Neil’s heart sinks.

***

Wymack wasn’t quite sure what he walked into.

Smith’s Grandma was wiping his face and feeding him soup which is about what he expected. What he hadn’t expected was what FF was saying to his Grandma.

“….didn’t even wash his hands Gran. What if none of them wash their hands? I can’t work in that kind of environment!” FF babbles as he takes another spoonful of soup from his Grandma.

Smith’s Grandma looks up and sees that it’s just him at the door before continuing in English, “Sweetie, you don’t need to accept the job offer from the Yakuza.” She soothes.

“What do I even do?! What’s the etiquette? Do I send a letter refusing the job offer? Do I email him thanking him for the interview? Was it an interview?” FF asks.

Wymack shuts the door and he’s sure FF hadn’t even noticed him.

Yeah the kid needs a couple more minutes

MASTERPOST FOR ALL PARTS OF FLUENT FRESHMAN AU

NEXT

@i-have-three-feelings​ @blep-23​ @dreamerking27​ @andreilsmyreligion @belodensetdust​ @rainbowpineapplebottle @yarn-ace​ @iwouldlikesometea @lily-s-world​ @obscureshipsandchips​ @booklover242​ @whataboutmyfries​ @sahturnos​ @pluto-pepsi​ @dreamerthinker​ @passinhosdetartaruga​ @leftunknownheart​ @aro-manita-muscaria @hologramsaredead​ @Chaoticgremlinswishtheycouldbeme @tntwme​ @tayspots @nick-scar​ @crazy-fangirl2524​ @blue-jos10​ @stabbyfoxandrew​ @splishsplashyouropinionistrash​ @sammichly​ @the-broken-pen​ @bitchesdoweknowu​ @very-small-flower​ @ghostlyboiii​ @its-a-paxycab​ @bisexual-genderfluid-fan​ @cheesecookie​ @theoneandonlylostsock​ @foxsoulcourt​ @blueleys @adverbialstarlight​ @elia-nna​ @can-i-just-stay-in-the-corner​ @nikodiangel​ @foxandcrow-inatrenchcoat​ @hallucinatedjosten​ @satanic-foxhole-court​ @vexingcosmos​ @chalilodimun​ @insectsgetcooked​ @angry-kid-with-no-money​ @queer-crows​ @lillyndra​ @themundanemudperson​ @readertodeath​ @apileofpillows​ @mortalsbowbeforeme​ @hellomynameismoo​ @next-level-mess @youreonlylow​ @interstellarfig​ @notprocrastinatingatalltoday​ @percyjacksonfan3​ @queenofcrazy27​ @bsmr261 @ghostlyscares​ @spencellio @adinthedarkroom​ @harpymoth​ @sufferingjustalilbit​ @anxietymoss​ @oddgreyhound​ @ohno-myhyperfixation-itsbroken​ @ken22789​ @atiredvampire​ @isoldescorner​ @not--a--pipedream​ @azure-wing​ @bushbees​  @roonilwazlib-main​ @crumplelush​ @foldedaces-paperbirds​ @thesenseinnonsense​ @let-tyrants-fear​ @ketchupandfries​ @legowerewolf​ @deadlydodos​ @but-we-respect-his-craft​ @cariniqe @zanypersonapricotbiscuit​ @lesbian-blackbeard​ @lesbiansupernatural​ @silvermasquerade​ @thepeachfuzz​ @minniemariex​ @kazoo-the-demjin​ @gaypomegranate​ @ji-nk-ies​ @neilimfinejosten​ @omgrubelangel​ @itsyouitsmeorpheuseurydice​ @percabethotplove​ @cozyrosykay​ @foxyatlas​ @theoneandonlylostsock​ @cindersapsecrets​ @scornedethnographer​ @hugemotherfuckingnerd​ @givemethedamnflowers​ @our-king-bree​

The  requests to be added to the tag list keep being spread out across a few  different areas. If I missed you please just ask again in the replies I  promise I just missed you.

As stated before if you’re up here and I spelled it right but you didn’t get a notification there might be  something switched around in your settings that won’t let me tag you properly?

[lovemesomesurveys]

Have you ever left your front door unlocked all night? Nooo. We keep our door locked 24/7.

Do you prefer cold or warm weather? Cold, are you kidding? I can think of a few things worse than having your house feel like an oven and sweating in your own home. <<<< Ugh, right??

The last advertisement you saw: What was it advertising? I already forgot.

Do you prefer bar or liquid soap? Liquid.

Do you wear any perfumes / colognes on a regular basis? Not currently, but that's cause i ran out of my NIcki Minaj Pink Friday 2 perfume. I'm obsessed.

Do you have high or low self esteem levels? I'm just a sucker with no self-esteem.

When was the last time you listened to a song on repeat? What was the song? That Dance You Outta My Head song by Cat Janice from TikTok. Her story is really sad.

How do you feel about being in the house alone? I'm okay during the day but not at night at all. And sometimes during the day can be too long.

What was the last compliment you received? It was on my nails I just recently had done. I did cute nails for St. Patrick's Day.

Do you like mint or orange flavored chocolate? I love mint chocolate.

How often do you get spots? Like, pimples? Not often at all as I've gotten older.

Do you believe that when your ears burn someone is talking about you? i say that jokingly, but no.

Are you a good host when visitors come over or do you wish they’d leave? I try to be, but I really don't like and avoid hosting cause i feel I suck and it's so stressful. I'm too worried about everything going well and everyone having a good time.

When was the last time you burnt your mouth from eating something too hot? It's been a long time I don't recall.

What is your favorite foreign language to listen to? (In music or speech) I mean, English since that's my fluent language. I do like some Spanish and Swedish songs, though.

Do you prefer instrumental songs or ones with lyrics? I prefer lyrics, but that doesn't mean I'm opposed to all instrumental music.

Name something simple that makes you happy. Shopping on that damn Temu. It should stress me out cause I shop too much.

What is your favorite instrument to listen to? Piano and guitar.

Pick one: Books, movies or music? Nope, I'm choosing all 3.

Do you carry a bag around with you often? What does it look like? I have my bags I switch out depending on which one I feel like using.

Do you like your natural hair color? No, but I dye it red.

Do you delete your emails / texts often? I never delete texts. I used to be really good about clearing my email regularly to keep it from getting out of hand, but I've been majoring slacking.

What was the last book you read about? It's a murder series. I haven't read in several months ya'll it's not okay.

What color are the walls in the room you’re in? White.

Did you dress up last Halloween? As what? Nope. I stopped doing that several years ago.

Do you have any old friends who you still kinda speak to but it’s awkward? Honestly, it'd be that way with any of my Facebook "friends" that aren't my family. Like, they're people I know from school growing up or went to college with, but we don't keep in touch other than an occasional "like" on something with some of them. If I ran into any of them in public it'd be super awkward.

Name one of your favorite memories. Just being a kid and playing with my Barbies and whatnot.

Are you a polite person? Yes.

When was the last time you used a quote from a movie in real life? Recently, I'm sure.

Have you ever used a chat-up line that actually worked? I've never used a chatline. I did teen chat rooms back in the AOL days when I was like 10.

Can you put your legs behind your head? No.

Do you forget things easily? No.

The last song you listened to: Did it have a male or female vocalist? Male.

Is the heating on in your house currently? Nooo. I'd be too warm. We don't use our heater anyway except for extremely rare cases just to warm it up a little.

Do you often find toothpaste too minty? I use a sensitive one that light mint.

Have you ever had braces? Do you need them? Not for my teeth.

Are you a subscriber to any magazines? Which? Nope.

What does your voice sound like? (Loud, quiet, high pitched, etc) I don't know how to really describe it other than quiet.

[ultrahpfan5blog]

Heart of Stone - a fairly typical Netflix action film....

Netflix action films, barring the two Extraction films, have generally been very generic. Heart of Stone is about as generic as it can get. Not an incompetently made movie, but just about everything in this film has been done before, and fairly recently. This film really did feel like Mission Impossible meets Citadel. And indeed, there are elements of the story that feel directly ripped off, such as a fictional independent intelligence agency, which was present in Citadel, and an AI technology system, which was present in Dead Reckoning P1. I will give it this, the film looks well produced. I'm sure Netflix spent a lot of money on this film and it feels that way. The locales and the action is all very competent and fun to watch. Problem is that there isn't much else to the film. Its essentially bad guys trying to take power by using this AI technology and good guys trying to stop it. The film at points tries to murky the waters by trying to have characters question who is good and bad, but it never really commits to it and you are still pretty much watching a fairly black and white argument play out.

When it comes to performances, Gal Gadot is not the greatest actress around, but I admit that she has improved over the years, especially with her facial expressions. She still has issues with her dialogue delivery at times, but overall she is quite charming in the role and the film plays to her strength. She somehow manages to toe the line between being superheroic, yet being fallible. Jamie Dornan as the main villain is fine. I mean, it was super obvious to me that he would be the villain, and it isn't as if the movie spends a very long time trying to hide the twist, which I appreciate. His performance is solid, without being particularly memorable. There is just nothing special about the character and his motivation for him to really dig out in terms of performance. Alia Bhatt, in her hollywood debut, is fine as well. She probably is the only character who has somewhat of an arc. I feel like the film should have spent a bit more time on the dynamic between Keya and Stone, because that is kind of the crux of the film. As with a lot of actresses acting for the first time in english, you do get the sense that she at times struggled with it, despite being fluent in the language. Its one thing to speak fluently in English and another to act in English if you haven't really done it before. Outside of these three, there isn't anyone really who has a character to speak of. Glenn Close randomly pops into the film in a nothing role. BD Wong has a similarly small role. Sophie Okonedo as Nomad and Matthias Schweighöfer as a Charter agent are the only other ones who have any substantial screen time, but not really enough to make major impact.

All in all, Netflix movies get graded on a curve by me. Would I watch this in a theater? No. There is nothing in this movie that you haven't seen done better. Is this a watchable movie at home if you already have a Netflix account? Sure! There's nothing blatantly incompetent or bad about it. Its well produced and the action is generally pretty good. There are worse Netflix movies out there and there are probably worse theatrical movies out there too. I would probably grade this a 5/10.

I feel that these mid level action spy movies/tv shows have reached a saturation point. The Gray Man, Citadel, Heart of Stone, The 355, The Protege etc.... they all feel and look very similar. And a lot of these have fairly big name actors and actresses behind it. I don't know how, but these films/tv shows have to figure out a way not to look and feel so generic.

[partyinthemysterymachine]

i don't have a high quality attention span atm so I'm browsing a little bit but i lOVE that your AUs have multiple iterations. Like man I FEEL that in my soul. Im interested in all your concepts but if I gotta zero in rn I'm looking to some Apartment AU stuff. Henry Stuff (always wanna hear about henry stuff). James Stuff, James/Henry Stuff, uhm. Travis my dude. if you want?

LOL THANK U :3c!!! i love having like. 10+ different iterations of the same AU i can do So Much Damage it's Fantastic. (ask me about twitch streamer Frank Sunderland sometime, i've been blathering about it to a few other people lately but that one absolutely has one of the finer apartments in my head LOL)

uhhhHHH WELL. as far as Henry goes, here's some HC i got for him that goes along with Heya, Neighbor!:

green-eyed boy; but with a catch! one his eyes is going foggy (ha ha. no i'm serious, he's going blind) and it's kind of been coming on within the past couple years. he's seen a few doctors about it (or, partially) and the consensus is that it's not An Issue™️, just seems like you got a bad run of genetics there, Henry. :\

spoiler alert: It's Not About The Genetics, Henry

;)

late 20s - early thirties. tho i can also pin him about 35 in terms of age.

5'11"ish. maybe 6'2" on a good day if i feel like it for him LOL

likely trilingual: English/Spanish/Mandarin. (still working on the Mandarin tho, he's having a bit of difficulty with it. wouldn't call him fluent tho; rather, Trying So Very Hard/struggling, LOL)

prefers popping popcorn in a wok

actually goes to get pedicures because it feels nice. eileen sometimes joins him but it's kind of a "me-time" thing for Henry.

secretly wishes Douglas would ask him to take spy pictures for him. he thinks that would be so fucking cool and he would be so fucking good at it (true). but also the concept scares the bejeezus out of him because he is Not some kind of photographer James Bond. it's Complicated, ok. but douglas please ask him to take spy photos He Wants To Be Asked So Bad,

he is not from Maine. he's from Kansas. (he knows ur thinking it. don't do it tho. don't u dare do it.)

uhhhh NOT SURE WHAT ELSE FOR HENRY RN so hhghghghh who else we got...........

===

WELP... TRAVIS.

travis, travis, travis.. travis... travis.

now i got infected with a REAL TREAT of a hc for Travis awhile back that i'll be implementing just about everywhere LOL, and the basics of that is that Travis Grady is Silent Hill's trucker.

and that's all you get about THAT, LOL

(ok ok.. i guess i WILL say this: if u have to make a comparison between what Travis's Silent Hill Trucking Jobs entail vs what it means to be a conduit (Hashtag GOOMT!James Problems), what Travis is/does (hehe) is a tier above conduit. so do with that what you will ;) )

just like in HN! i largely hc Travis to be from Alabama, and kind of a short dude (5'8") and just a ray of goddamn fucking sunshine on two legs. i think he's just the sweetest little shit around and god bless him for that.

sure wonder about that guy tho. wonder what his deal is........

.. :)

===

can't say i have anything right now for Henry/James; however, i DO have an AU idea that James actually does become an essence/mechanic of the town after he parks his car in the lake; as in, he's no longer physical, doesn't quite exist, and is more of a spiritual essence - or residuals of one.

so in that way, it isn't like GOOMT. James's car is still in the lake, but he does not manifest as a person. for lack of better phrasing, he was sort of "absorbed" by Toluca Lake (i mean. that's technically actually true, LOL) and Toluca shared her powers and misery and whatever else with him.

well after the events of sh2, the town was weakened and i think that over time, James was able to gradually build up power from Toluca and, like.. leech off of Toluca as well as Silent Hill, and semi-overthrow the town to "claim" South Vale as his. like, firmly his. as in he's able to manifest Pyramid Head himself, and even "puppet" the other monsters that are there and on very, VERY few occasions, possess them if need be.

(tho possessing Pyramid Head is the "easiest" for him to do, ofc, tho because he can't do this enough to get any real practice in or understand it beyond the duct-tape basics, he has no idea what he could actually accomplish with this or what necessities it would offer; it does tho take a LOT out of him so this is why he doesn't tinker with trying it out.)

James can't talk, either. he'd have to "talk" through monsters (like gesticulations, or monster placement - which is somewhat possible for him to do without possessing them, tho put a pin in that one because i'm not sure how that mechanic works yet LOL) but his presence IS absolutely heavily felt in the town. he's only one of the many set of eyes Watching You but he's also the most dangerous/suspicious/hateful.

chinhands. tbh i love Lake James. Town James? Vale James..? not sure what to call that one LOL. but i think about him every now and then. he actually was product of trying to conceptualize an RP (and this one had Cuban Boxer Harry too! from Brooklyn!!!) and tho that one sadly didn't get off the ground, i still keep both Town James and Boxer Harry very near and dear and close to my heart, LOL.

===

TYSM FOR SENDING ME THE ASK BEFORE BED ILU BAROOONNNNNN MWAH MWAH!!!!

[sulisstuff]

Sulisstuff explained!

Hello there! And welcome to my blog!

I've been on Tumblr for over 6 years. In the past I've had several blogs with this one previously being a meme page for Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks' miniseries Band of Brothers.

Now. I still love Band of Brothers, but I decided that I wanted to turn this blog into something more general.

So, why not get to know me a little?

In this post I'll discuss a few things:

Who I am

Where I'm from

What languages I speak

Fandoms I'm active in

My type of content

Well. You know the drill...

So, if you'd like to get to know me a little bit, read it below the cut!

PS. At the bottom you'll find a very heartwarming surprise : ')

First of all:

This blog is NOT dedicated to the godess named Sulis OR to Aquae Sulis, known for the Roman baths.

My blogname is just an easy way of writing Suli’s stuff. Gotcha?

Suli’s stuff = sulisstuff

Yeah? Okay, good. You can go on.

Soo, second of all:

What's my name?

My name is Suli.

It's not my actual name, but it's the name I'm comfortable with to put on the internet. So you can just call me Suli on this blog, even if you do actually know me ;)

Now, I mentioned Sulis and that my blogs name is just a version of Suli's stuff

But to those who are fan of James Cameron's Avatar and Avatar: The Way of Water: I'm sorry. My name also doesn't have anything to do with Jake Sully's Na'vi name "Tsyeyk Suli"

I do absolutely love Avatar and I love the connection it has, but it's not based off of it.

Where am I from?

I'm from the Netherlands. I was born and raised Dutch and I'm proud of it! (gekoloniseerd)

So, since I'm Dutch, I feel like I have to mention that the Dutch people seem to be known for their fondness of swearing and cursing.

And I do feel like I also have to mention that I'm no exception.

Like, not in the slightest. Sorry

Iykyk...

My blog won't be filled with swearwords though, but I also won't make sure that it isn't. So if you have a problem with swearwords, you should probably look elsewhere.

Still love you all <3

What languages do I speak?

My first language is Dutch! I'm completely fluent and it's the language I speak on a daily basis.

My second language is English. I was not raised speaking English and I started taking English classes in school when I was about 12 years old. I consider myself pretty fluent in the language, but naturally I still make some mistakes as it is not my first language.

And after that I've had five years of German classes when I was in school, but I can't say I speak the language very well. I do understand it moderately though, but just don't ask me to translate it haha.

What are my pronouns/preferences?

I was born as a female and I identify as a female, so my pronouns are she/her.

I'm straight, and not part of the LGBTQ+ community, but I love and support everyone to be who they are and I will not accept any form of racism or discrimination on my blog! People who comment negatively on those matters will be reported and blocked immediately. No hate on this blog, just love!

What fandoms am I active in?

I'm active in several fandoms. Here are a few things listed that I absolutely love. Though you will see some stuff more regularly than others

Movies

Avatar

Avatar: The Way of Water

Dune

Series

Band of Brothers

The Witcher

Stranger Things

The Alienist

Knightfall

Reign

The Pacific

Currently watching: The Tudors (But I'm progressing very slowly because I never seem to have the concentration or motivation to finish a series. Sometimes I'm hooked and can't be "unhooked" for months but I still have to find that "hooked-button" for the Tudors)

Books

The Ranger's Apprentice / De Grijze Jager

Sports

Formula 1

What type of content can be expected?

On this blog I will post just random stuff related to the fandoms I'm in.

I actually love to write and I've been writing stories since I was 10 years old, but I've never actually published them anywhere. And if I do write, it will only be in Dutch. I master the English language very well, but not well enough to actually write stories I will be satisfied with.

So, if people would like me to write anything for the things I listed above, I will surely try, but it has to be okay if it's only written in Dutch :)

Furthermore I will probably post memes and other content related to the things I love!

Also, here's the heartwarming surprise I promised you. It’s the beautiful profile picture I created especially for this blog.

Gotta love Microsoft Paint.

We tried... Wef

ailed

:')

(Tap for better quality. you'll need it)

[yisanged]

this was supposed to be me briefly going over context for another post i made but i had to keep explaining more and more things for it to make sense and it became this whole essay and i wasn't gonna post it since it's not really necessary but. wellll if sam insists......

so in my state foreign lang classes aren't a requirement to graduate but it's recommended bc it looks better on college apps plus some of the bigger colleges require like 2 or 3 years of it (or otherwise proof that you're fluent in something besides english) and my goal is to get into a bigger prestigious college to use that as an excuse to Leave. anyways i took french 1 last year and it wasn't bad the teacher was one of my favorites ever and it wasn't particularly hard to me it's just french itself is kind of ass. no offense beyond the basic amount. anyways i don't really want to take french again if i don't have to but then i learned about the seal of biliteracy which is like. well i'm not sure about how graduation works for other states and countries but my state has a certain amount of credits for certain areas you have to get, a certain baseline score you have to earn for these two tests, and then as of fairly recently you also have to earn two seals. and the seals are basically like if you fulfill certain requirements they'll give you this badge thing that's on your diploma and is on your high school transcript for example if i take band for all four years of high school i'll get the fine arts seal or if i get on the honor roll all 4 years i'll get the honors seal. anyways the seal of biliteracy is one of the harder ones to get they said less then 10 people from our school graduate w it every year but basically you have to take an approved test in a language that shows you can speak it fluently and they'll give it to you. and the kids who get it do it by taking 4 or 5 years of french or spanish (the only languages they have classes for at my school) and then scoring high enough on the ap exam for it. but i did my own research and obviously there isn't a lot of foreign lang ap tests but there is another approved test called the aappl which covers a lot more languages including korean. so the idea is that if i take the korean aappl i'll earn the seal of biliteracy which would look better on my transcript than if i were to take a couple years of french, plus it'll be less work for me since i already mostly know korean and i can fill up the periods that would've been used for french with electives i actually want to take. anyways i was a bit nervous about the idea of taking the test because i'm not super confident in my korean so i asked my dad to get textbooks. but we looked at the demo korean test they put out and it's like. not bad at all. i could figure out the reading and listening portions without too much trouble and the demo isn't graded but my dad said i did it right. the writing and speaking portions kinda scared me though. my dad says if i just take the time to read all the korean picture books we have around the house and watch more kdramas i'll just naturally become more comfortable with everything. i don't know if that's true... i tried to insist i would need more formal learning instruction stuff for grammar and w/e but my dad said my grammar is pretty much as good as any other native speaker's. i don't believe him. he did admit that i needed more practice with writing and talking more formally because i've only ever in the most casual level with my parents. and they're probably gonna test more formal speech bc the whole goal of fluency isn't to get to native level but just enough so that you could use the language practically in like professional settings. but he just told me to watch some kdramas and read the kids books we have and i would get better at it naturally. i'm a bit skeptical about that so i got him to order textbooks anyway. i'm having fun reading these picture books though i remember being read a lot of these as a kid.

[imaginarybird]

20 Questions for Fic Writers

Tagged by @m-b-w and answered under the cut!

How many works do you have on Ao3?

16 at current count. I've written way more fic in my lifetime, but I've only had this account for a few years and for a handful of those I've been in an off and on creative slump.

2. What's your total Ao3 word count?

347,414

3. What fandoms do you write for?

At the moment, pretty much exclusively 9-1-1, but my previously published fics were for Legally Blonde (the musical) and Girl Meets World. And I have some drafted wips for things like Leverage and Criminal Minds that I'll probably revisit someday if the inspiration strikes.

4. Top 5 fics by kudos?

Looking for my Heart (9-1-1; Buddie)

All the Courage You Have Left (9-1-1; Buddie)

Because Reasons (Legally Blonde; Elle/Emmett)

A Missing Voice (Girl Meets World; Rucas)

The One to Survive (9-1-1; no pairing)

5. Do you respond to comments?

This is a habit I'm trying to build--so up until recently no, but I am getting more consistent about it.

6. What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Right now it's probably The One to Survive, since that one very much leaves things hanging to hopefully be continued at a later date. It's a a 9-1-1 AU that takes place right as Maddie and Chimney are headed back to LA after Maddie completes her treatment and features character death and some tough decisions.

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Mm...probably Because Reasons. It's a Legally Blonde AU that has Elle and Emmett as rival teachers and is basically a condensed rom-com. Since I typically write things that are more on the angsty side, my endings are often hopeful but not necessarily happy, but this one is definitely a classic roll credits moment.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Not as of yet, thankfully.

9. Do you write smut?

As a completely inexperienced and uninterested asexual, I am more of a fade-to-black, rejoin the characters in the afterglow kind of author.

10. Do you write crossovers?

I have not, but if the inspiration was right I definitely would.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

At one point someone tried to post one of my Girl Meets World fics on Wattpad, a site that I never plan on using. But it got taken down pretty quickly.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated before?

Nope

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

I have not

14. What's your all-time favorite ship?

Oof. Idk. I honestly don't know that I have an all-time OTP that I read/write/come back to over and over no matter what. There are lots of pairings that speak to me, but my focus shifts frequently.

15. What's a WIP you want to finish but doubt you will?

Twists and Turns. This was a massive Girl Meets World AU I tried to undertake. I'm not even sure that I want to finish it so much as I'm disappointed with myself that I deleted it in a fit of depression/frustration and never got to the big secret reveal I was going for, but I'm fairly certain I'll never go back to it.

16. What are your writing strengths?

Asking me to compliment myself is very mean but I'm usually pretty happy with my depictions of darker feelings/trauma.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Action and endings. And the previously mentioned smut.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language?

I tend to avoid it since I'm not fluent in anything except for English. I'll usually just imply it.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys probably. Wanting to continue stories with them is how I discovered fandom and I think I dove in pretty quickly after that.

20. Favorite fic you've ever written?

Of what I have published and finished write now I'm most proud of All the Courage You Have Left (linked above). It's a 9-1-1 lawsuit era fic that takes a turn and an approach to Buck's history that I hadn't seen before, and I really loved exploring how that changed things as I was writing it.

-----

I'm honestly not sure of any folks that I follow/that follow me that are writers who would want to engage in a survey like this so I'm not tagging anyone specifically but instead, if you see this and you want to share feel free to say I tagged you!

[goblinselfshippr]

❤️Romantic f/o tag explanations+ links

(+Leviathan bc he used to be a romantic but he got switched) fair warning, I don’t keep up with all the shitty musician drama. Warning for medications/experiments/drugs in Albert’s part specifically(which I have moved to the very bottom past Leviathan for that reason).

Vergil- #❤️[A Thousand Years]

Pretty sure most people get this one, it’s the infamous Twilight wedding song. Everyone and their mom knows by this point that I’ve been shipping with this guy since I was like 10, and when you spend that much time writing/daydreaming about a guy it really does feel like we’ve been together for millennia. BUT did you know it is also based off of a wedding dance that I always thought about us doing? It’s a bit of a mashup between this video and this one

Cicero- #❤️[DWTC]

This is actually an acronym for Down With The Clown which is an ICP song… yeah… lol my parents should’ve known I was not gonna be a normal child when they blasted Riddlebox 25/8. Cicero’s entire playlist is mostly ICP because he is in fact an insane clown. I think originally his tag was going to be “My axe” or “chop chop slide” or something but obvs that’s violent and I figured I’d probably need to censor everything if I went with those. I wanted to keep them around 3 words or less, so the acronym was just faster (meanwhile Simeon’s tag exists)

Farkas- #❤️[Tír na nÓg]

*inhale* HOOO BOY this is both a song by Celtic Women and the fae world in Irish folklore. In the song, I’m pretty sure it’s about a warrior who is shipwrecked on an island and sees a faerie that looks like his wife who is trying to tempt him to stay safe with her on the island of Tír na nÓg. My S/Is are exclusively either fae or angels (sometimes both at the same time) but I figured Skyrim has a closer folklore to Norse and Irish and popular culture loves saying they are the same. So yeah, Tír na nÓg because he’s getting tempted by a pretty fae lol

Aizawa- #❤️[Mr. 10pm Bedtime]

This is a song by Girli (one of my top 10 faves) and I really feel like the chorus fits him shdndj especially “Baby, don't tell me you're too old To have a little bit of fun sometimes” and “So tell me one more time That I've been trashing your bedtime I hear you knock, knock, knock On the door and you let me know “Pipe down or you'll have to go!" “ like that is HIM. Our dynamic is very much “loud/flashy/extroverted” and “god I’m so tired introvert”

Levi- #❤️[Under the Willow]

Another lucky guy with a wedding dance. Willow by Jasmine Thompson (warning, the camera spins with the dancers for some ungodly reason so those parts might make you dizzy/motion sick bc it for sure makes me a little nauseous) it’s a really soft song and I kinda only picked it for him because of the line “Down by the water, under the willow Sits a lone ranger, minding the willow” but some of the other parts still fit him imo “If he had spoken, love would return Spoken inside, too soft to be heard” bc that man has a hard ass time conveying emotions. Yes he is blunt, but feelings are embarrassing. (Source: me wanting to disappear the moment I have them). It’s apparently based off of a fairytale called Under the Willow by Hans Christian Andersen

Wrecker- #❤️[Absolutely Smitten]

Dodie song because I was absolutely in my Dodie era with him SHCAKCAB It’s so cute and fun and just feels like him! Esp because it’s easy to imagine my s/i singing this about him (she is a performer) in the bar! I don’t really have a lot to say, these things just lined up. It was a hard tie between this one and Would You Be So Kind, but for me the shorter tags the better.

Simeon- #❤[Kannst du die Engel sehn?]

This is from Die Engel by Eisbrecher, the tag means “can you see the angels” really original i know lmao I love this band and this song(I am not in any means fluent in German, I can only flirt and order food), I have included a video with the English translation. It WASNT going to be five words long, but I felt like just “Die Engel” (The Angel) would NOT work because people wouldn’t understand its not die(English), it’s die(German) + be like “wow that’s a little harsh” 🤣 the full lyric is “Can you see the angels, they fall only for you” which is meant to allude to how Simeon does a LOT of shit he is not supposed to for the MC

Jafar- #❤️[Out of Body]

This is a song by Gorillaz that feels kind of like some sort of cult ritual at first. Allegedly it is about the sort of euphoria you feel dancing at a club or party. Idk feels a lil culty to me(<- has never been to a party). Another one I don’t really have much to say about, in my head it just fits. It’s fun and upbeat and a little crazy/foreboding because this guy is nuts ily tho bby

+Leviathan- #❤️[Break the Internet]

This is from Cyber Sex by Doja Cat exclusively because I didn’t know what the hell to use for him that wasn’t an anime OST song, and I like keeping the music theme. (Sorry bud) I was going to do something from Match to Water by Pierce the Veil(which I feel like is HIS song even if I don’t really feel romantically abt him as much), but I really couldn’t find anything short and snappy that I felt like fit him. And obviously the name of this song would not work on my sfw page 😅

Albert- #❤️[Mr. Doctor Man]

Song by Palaye Royal that has been stuck in my head for the past 6years (shoutout to my ex who introduced me to this band). It’s pretty heavy if you actually listen to the words (alludes to a doctor using illicit substances to cope with the trauma of the job). I’m not completely naïve to the fact that our guy Bertie is canonically a homicidal maniac who absolutely abuses his position to turn people into weird zombie demons or human hamburgers. His story is dark and I wanted his song to reflect that feeling. One of the more recent updates from the game’s creator actually shows a concept art of a kid Albert in some sort of medical testing facility, and I really felt like the song’s themes resonated with him

[rhyske]

Thank you it's been a rough year but I am doing better and the horizon is looking brighter!~ ^^ <3

Luna was disappointing, to say the least, she doesn't really do anything other than wave her stick around and die. I didn't care about her like I did with the boys because I didn't really know her. she was just a nice girl I guess haha, so yeah could have been better. The boys are really well written though. Gladio is my personal favourite cause he is both a bit rough but also so soft. I've been waiting for VII remake to hit Game pass or Xbox in general, I'm like 99% sure it was announced it but PS have some exclusivity deal which is annoying. TT_TT

I haven't seen the second season of TLoVM yet but I've seen the campaign so I'm not really in a hurry. I have watched a good chunk of the 3rd campaign and it's pretty good and definitely funny. I think originally CR planned to make like just a short series through Kickstarter. then the community gave them a massive budget. they partnered with amazon prime, who I think have greenlit 2 more seasons after season 2, as well as the mighty nein series. It's just wild how it happened.

Dragon age 2 is also my favourite so far, haven't played the DLC though, it wasn't included in EA play which was pretty rude I'm not gonna lie haha. inquisition is fine but it just doesn't feel like dragon age to me, more like a generic fantasy game? I don't really find any characters interesting except for Varric and he was a vital part of 2 so they can't take credit for that to be honest. Dorian is pretty neat, he has a personality at least and he is pretty funny. The others are fine I guess. the inquisitor is pretty bland as well, apart from that just having them lead the inquisition out of nowhere was a weird choice, like they were maybe a criminal and they just let them take the lead. imagine if they would have gone with personality options as in DA2

blue inquisitor is like oh no my bad I'm gonna do my best to fix this and help everyone while everyone else is seriously suspicious of them and they are lowkey a hostage. purple inquisitor handling the situation with sarcastic humour and maybe tries to escape from the Inquisition (and fails) red inquisitor being rude and pissed at everyone while also blaming them for everything, tries to escape several times (and fails). i don't know but something like that could have been more fun and interesting maybe.

I started learning English when I was about 8 years old I think and yeah it was through school. I started learning more and faster due to playing games online though, in the beginning, I was very shy and not confident in my ability to speak, eventually, I made a friend that I felt comfortable talking to when I was 14/15 ish and I became fluent quickly after that. now my English is better than my native language and I speak English with my mom and my brother because it's just easier to express myself in English. my mom and brother are pretty much the same way too hahah. I was supposed to learn another language in school as well but I opted out because I am dyslectic ^^' 💜

Oh good! 💕 I'm glad things are looking up :D

Yeah Luna had so much potential. Noct loves her, or at least has a crush on her, for....some reason. They only met like, 10+ years ago and barely talked since. They write like, one or two sentences in a journal they send back and forth? That... Is romantic in theory, but when you think about it, that's not great. Oohh, Prompto used to be my favorite until Ignis' DLC episode came out. I cried in both, but his DLC surprised me the most and gave me new appreciation for his character. Gladio is a gentle bear. He kinda reminds me of a grumpy cat.

Oh yeah, exclusivity deals 🙄 Gotta love 'em.

Yeah, I remember they had plans for just like, one episode but the Kickstarter got like, millions of dollars which was enough to make about 15ish episodes? And then Amazon picked up the rest to make it a normal 20 some odd episode show. I didn't know about a season 4! That's awesome! Amazon is the one funding the Mighty Nein one too? That makes sense.

Oh yeah, Inquisition dropped the ball on so many things. Dorian and Varric are the only companions I remember too. I don't care for any of the others, which is such a shame. My Inquisitor was a Dalish mage, who doesn't believe in the Maker, but there's like, just one throwaway line about it or something and it's never brought up again? Their Dalish clan is never really talked about and their fate is left up to an optional table quest. It's so bad. And don't even get me started on the gameplay and pacing. DA2 had such memorable characters, even if you hate them. There's multiple companion quests for every companion, they have conversations with you based on things you choose, their conversations between themselves allude to them all having independent lives as well as friendships between them all outside of being dragged around by Hawke. It's just.... So good.

What is your native language, if it's okay to ask? Totally okay to not answer (: I have a friend, who is basically a sister, who has parents whose native languages are different, but both speak English. So she grew up with English being her native language. If I remember right, she isn't fluent in either of her parents native languages because of it.

I've started trying to read stories in my target language and it really helps a ton! To be engaged and interested in something that isn't just boring textbooks 🙄 Studying made fun!

[popopretty]

Storm Bringer Spoilers (10)

A small part from the Epilogue where Chuuya and Dazai met up with Dr. Wollstonecraft. It was from one of the translation requests I got long ago and this part is fun, everyone is so adorable, so here it is.

Feel free to retranslate if you want. Just note that I am not a native speaker in either Japanese or English so I make mistakes sometimes.

Chuuya went back to the pier, and as he was about to get on his bike, a black car slowly approached him. The window at the back seat slowly came down and the person inside called out, "Chuuya".

That was Dazai. It was a rare sight. He had his black suit and his tie on, the formal attire for guests greeting.

"Work is in five minutes."

Chuuya and Dazai were standing under the gangway of a luxury passenger ship.

That was a ridiculously expensive fancy liner. The ship that Shirase had boarded before that was incomparable to it, both in size and materials. Its paint was chalk-white without a spot, the five-story guest rooms were decorated like the finest hotels. No matter where the passengers went, they would be accompanied by a skilled guide on board. The ship was also known for its navigational capability. Even when it sailed at twice the speed of an ordinary ship, its turbulence was less than one tenth of a normal one.

That ship was called "The Boswellian".

The government's passenger ship that only high-ranking government officials were allowed to board.

The gangway was lowered and delegation descended in front of Chuuya and Dazai's eyes.

First were the guardsmen in black suits. They cautiously looked around at all directions. The bulges around their waists showed that they were all carrying guns.

After that came some bearded men who looked like officials. Old, capable, with gray brown eyes that showed no hints of what they were thinking. Their clothes were of top-quality. A man carrying a cane with a golden spiral pattern on it was pushing the crew who was trying to help him off board with the tip of his cane, so crudely as if he was chasing away a stray dog on the street.

"The noble demons of England have showed up." Dazai murmured in a voice that only Chuuya who was standing next to him could hear.

Those people were high-ranking officials of the British government who came here for the post-incident investigation, the “Assassination King incident" that occurred through multiple levels of state secrets. A team of investigators were dispatched to Japan to investigate this serious case that went beyond a normal criminal case, and report to the government. And Port Mafia had come forward to welcome the team and cooperate with them in the investigation, as a party to the case.

Illegal organization Port Mafia is in charge of welcoming the investigation team of the British government.

It was an odd situation, but there was a certain rationale and calculation of the Boss behind it.

First of all, the one who had the whole picture of the incident this time was neither the Ministry of Foreign Affairs nor the police, but Port Mafia. As from the beginning, the European governments had been trying to hide it completely from the Japanese government. Also from the Port Mafia side, they also had a reason to keep a close eye on the movements of the mighty British government.

That was because they suspected that these people might try to eliminate every person of Port Mafia who was involved in this incident to cover up the "Assasination King incident" that arose from the state secrets.

Obviously, Port Mafia had no intention to reveal the truth and the secrets of the case. But it was hard to tell how much the British would believe in words of a criminal organization. That was why Dazai was sent to greet them. If they really had the intention to eliminate the people involved, Dazai would have to negotiate to stop that from happening. If the negotiation failed, then Port Mafia would have to eliminate the investigation team before the other party had the chance to eliminate them. That was why Chuuya was accompanying him. Depending on the other party's actions, this might turn into an interstate war that involved the whole Port Mafia.

“Well, let the fun deception game begin.”, Dazai said excitedly as he headed towards the investigation team.

The guard men immediately reacted to the person approaching, their hands reaching for their waists where the guns were.

“Thank you for coming all the way here, ladies and gentlemen of the great British Empire.” Dazai's attitude changed completely as he greeted the guests with a fluent and courteous voice. “You must be the members of the investigation team? I know this is sudden but may I ask who your representative is?”

“Representative?” the guardsman whom Dazai directed this question to looked rather confused and tilted his head. "This is the technical advisory unit of the investigation team so if you say representative, I think that might be Dr. Wollstonecraft...”

Dr. Wollstonecraft?

Chuuya tilted his head. He had heard that name somewhere before.

“Aa!” Dazai seemed to get it right away. “I heard that name before. That’s the skilled engineer who designed Investigator Adam Frankenstein, right? Hmm... you must be Dr. Wollstonecraft then?” Dazai followed the gazed of the guardsman and called out to the most dignified and oldest man in the investigation team. He had a shaggy white beard, a receding hairline, and two medals for achievements in the military science sector pinned to his chest.

The old man noticed Dazai’s voice and laughed out cheerfully.

“No no, I’m not Dr. Wollstonecraft. I’m just tagging along. Doctor is... Look! She's getting off the ship right now.”

Dazai and Chuuya followed the old man’s eyes and looked up at the ship’s gangway. At the top of it, an oversized travel suitcase was left there unassisted. Wait...

“Okay. Nice to meet you. I’m Dr. Wollstonecraft... Oh so this is the said country? It looks bigger than on the map.”

The small figure that appeared from behind the suitcase, no matter how you looked at her...

“... How old is that?”

That was a little girl.

Blond hair, white blouse. The suitcase was big, but she was also small enough to be completely hidden behind it. She wore a big pair of round glasses that covered half of her face. And on her chest were more than twenty medals for achievements in science.

“Hey hey...” Chuuya made a drawn face.

“Oh! It's getting interesting.” Dazai laughed happily.

The little girl struggled down the gangway. She was holding the oversized suitcase, or rather, clinging onto it as it dragged her downwards.

“Heave ho! I am.. heave-ho... Dr... heave-ho! Wollstonecraft Godwin Shelley, heave-ho!”. The girl spoke every time she got off one step, still clinging on to the heavy luggage. “People call me the girl with a genius brain but, heave-ho, those are people who don't have the ability to see the essence of things. Heave-ho! My achievements are thanks to my special skill that make any designs possible. Heave-ho! And because I am a genius.”

“Hey, aren't you going to help her with that heavy luggage?” Chuuya couldn't stand it anymore and asked the bearded old man next to him.

“Hahaha. Doctor is the type of person who doesn't want anyone to touch her luggage.” the old man laughed cheerfully. "Even Her Majesty wouldn't be able to take that from her. Because if we do so, she will start crying and screaming, just like a kid who has gone back 10 years in time."

“If she goes back that much, isn't she gonna end up in her mother’s belly again...?” Chuuya said with a tired face.

“Also, she may look like that, but Doctor was really looking forward to this trip. That case is filled with her favorite essentials for this trip. No-one will be able to take it from her.”

“Old man! Don’t go around talking about me like I am just a normal little girl! I might be short but I will be a full-grown decent adult very soon.... heave-ho!”

Dr. Shelley finally got to the end of the gangway. She wiped off the sweat on her face and fixed her clothes with her hands. “Phew! Nice to meet you again, people of Japan. Well... you are Chuuya-kun right? Thanks for taking care of Adam.”

Upon hearing Adam’s name, Chuuya's face looked like he just shallowed a bitter thing down his throat. "I am not sure." , he then said. "The one who was taken care of was me."

The little girl fixed the big glasses to the middle of her face and stared at Chuuya.

“He died saving me... Doctor, Adam is your best work, right? I'm sorry for breaking it.”

“Hmm.”

Doctor Shelley observed Chuuya from the left, from the right, then stared at him closely from the front. Like she was observing an interesting research subject.

"You are right, Adam is my greatest work." , she said with her arms crossed. “Rather than sending him to a good-for-nothing island country like this for investigation, I’d have him in the lab and continue the research to upgrade him.”

Chuuya listened in silence. His expression was not looking at something in front of him at that moment. What he was seeing was some scenes of the past.

Doctor Shelley cleared her throat like a child then continued, “The best thing about Adam is that, he is equipped with the intelligence to think and judge the situation by himself. In other words, Adam chose to sacrifice himself out of his own will, his own judgement.” Dr. Shelley smiled. “Because you are worth it. I believe in Adam. I appreciate your apology, but it’s not something you need to worry about.”

Chuuya opened his mouth, trying to say something but he couldn't put it into words. Just like a child who had forgotten his way home, he just stood there with a stunned look on his face.

Seeing Chuuya like that, Dazai giggled as if he couldn't do anything about it.

“First off, from the beginning I didn't like the idea of using Adam for such a worthless investigation.” Dr. Shelley crossed her arms, looking sullen. “The government is always like that! They send out machine investigators for missions and when they are done with it, they just blow it up together with all the secret information. Even though we could have got the best test data from interacting with different cultures from those solo missions! Just because it's for the sake of human's life, they think that they can neglect science like that?”

To Chuuya and Dazai’s surprise, Doctor Shelley ordered her subordinate for “that” and had a black tube the length of an arm brought to her.

"That's why, such an ill-natured person like me had installed a detachable sub-processor and non-volatile memory. Without telling the government.” She took out the thing inside the black tube. “In here.”

The thing inside the tube that had the length of an arm, was actually an arm.

That was Adam’s right arm, the arm that Chuuya sent flying and stuck into the ground when he was escaping from inside of the Demonic Beast Guivre.

“This is...” , a question mark appeared on Chuuya’s face. “After the incident, I searched the scene but couldn't find it anywhere. Why is it here?”

“I mean, it's rather obvious to do this, isn't it?” Dr. Shelley put her finger on her huge travel suitcase. After her vital signals were verified, the auto-lock was released.

The figure that came out from the suitcase took the arm. And he said as he was attaching it to himself, “Do you want to hear an Android joke, Chuuya-sama?”

Chuuya stood still in shock. He kept his mouth open in surprise. Finally, he took a breath slowly through that mouth. A deep breath, as deep as he could. Then his expression changed as if he was about to burst.

And he laughed, "Hahaha...!"

[wormmeatjackson]

Why can Percy speak/understand Latin: A Thorough Examination

This single question has haunted me for years. I have not been able to get it out of my head, and with my latest re-read of the PJO and HoO series it has grown into a burning itch that I just cannot ignore any longer. Why is it that Percy can understand Latin despite him being a Greek demigod?

Trust me, you're gonna want to keep reading.

This question has haunted the long-sufferers for a millennia, myself included, and today I am going to do my best to get to the bottom of it. Now, fair warning, I could be very out of the loop with this. The question could have already been answered by Rick himself and I just have no idea. Either way, I don't care because I think this is going to be a lot of fun.

So, come along as I dredge through the depths of Rick Riordan’s Greek/Roman world to hopefully find the answer to this burning question. A.K.A Diving into the whole “why can Percy speak and understand Latin when he’s a Greek demigod” discussion because I have too much time on my hands and an obsessive personality.

FYI: all of my physical copy books are packed away right now, so I’m working off of PDFs, which means I don’t have exact page numbers.

Let’s start from the beginning, shall we? The first instance we have of Percy speaking and understanding Latin is in chapter 10 of The Lightning Thief (I Ruin a Perfectly Good Bus), Percy says “‘Braccas meas vescimini!’” Which means ‘eat my pants’ as he, Grover, and Annabeth are fighting the Furies on the greyhound bus. Now, an easy argument to make sense of this could be that Percy simply learned this phrase in his Latin class taught by Chiron at Yancy. But, as many have pointed out, Latin is an extremely difficult language to learn and it would take much longer than a single academic year for an ADHD and dyslexic 12 year old to learn. On the flip side of that, though, he could’ve simply learned that specific phrase, similar to how young kids will purposefully learn curse words in different languages.

In reality, neither of those arguments actually matter. In chapter 10, Percy claims he has no idea where the Latin came from, implying that he did not purposefully learn this phrase nor learn Latin well enough to speak it. So that still leaves us with the burning question: Why?

Unfortunately that’s it, really, for the PJO series. We don’t get any more information about Percy speaking Latin or why he would be able to. But, we are given little details that help us construct a bigger picture.

In The Sea of Monsters, chapter 5 (I Get a New Cabin Mate), Percy is speaking with Chiron as the centaur packs away his things to leave Camp Half-Blood. Percy sees him stash a Latin-English dictionary into his saddlebag. This may be digging too deep here, but it’s a very interesting detail.

Obviously, we know that Chiron can act as a middle school Latin teacher and that he is very aware of Camp Jupiter, even though the readers won’t know about that for years. So, it isn’t strange that he has this dictionary. But him owning it and where he chose to pack it- his saddlebag where it would be easily reachable- or even that he chose to pack it at all, helps clue us in to the fact that even Chiron isn’t fluent in Latin. Which helps the argument that there is no way Percy could be fluent. Now, don’t get me wrong, Chiron is pretty damn close to fluent, as we see in The Lost Hero, but my point stands. This also begs a new question: where in Hades was Chiron going that he needed a Latin-English dictionary on hand?

He says he is visiting his kinsmen in the Everglades. But surely his kinsmen don’t speak Latin, right? And we know from The Son of Neptune that Roman centaurs- ones who could most definitely speak Latin- were evil, so I’m sure he wasn’t going to visit them.

Maybe he simply just wanted to study Latin on his time off. Either way, it doesn’t really matter within this discussion. Back on topic.

I believe that we can officially rule out the theory that Percy learned Latin willingly and knowingly through his own abilities. Which still leaves the question wide open.

To throw another wrench in this already confusing jumble of details, in chapter 19 of The Sea of Monsters (The Chariot Race Ends with a Bang), Percy finds out that the camp was attacked by something called a Draco Aionius, which Percy tells us is Latin for “‘really-big-lizard-with-breath-that-blows-stuff-up’”. So this again, lets us know that Percy understands Latin to a certain extent, but also tells us that other campers may as well. Now, usually, as we find out in The Heroes of Olympus series, there are Greek and Roman names for pretty much everything. So, why does this Draco Aionius not have a Greek name? Well.. there might be an answer. In The Son of Neptune, chapter XIV, Hazel explains that Letus is the Roman name for Death, but the Romans are perfectly fine keeping his Greek form, Thanatos.

So, this tells us that sometimes there is an overlap of the two worlds where names don’t always change for whatever reasons. Going back to The Sea of Monsters, maybe this creature came about in Roman times, so only has a Roman name. And if that is the case, then the campers at Camp Half-Blood would be taught the Roman name and meaning in their Monster Fighting classes. This would all make sense, because we know that Greek demigods are only hard-wired for Ancient Greek, not Latin, although they are able to recognize a few terms and phrases. If they could naturally understand both, surely Annabeth would have included that when she explains to Percy the reasons for his ADHD and dyslexia in chapter 6 of The Lightning Thief (I Become Supreme Lord of the Bathroom).

So, Percy is still the outlier. Moving forward in the series, The Titan’s Curse gives us no insights into this discussion, with the word ‘Latin’ not even showing up once in the entire book. Easy. Next.

Luckily in The Battle of the Labyrinth this is not the case. Latin comes up exactly once, and this time, it concerns Annabeth.

In chapter 15 of The Battle of the Labyrinth (We Steal Some Slightly Used Wings), Quintus reveals that he is actually Daedalus and has been building himself new bodies. Annabeth doesn’t believe it at first, so Quintus asks her if she knows what his name means. Turns out it’s Latin for “the fifth”, meaning that Quintus is Daedalus’ fifth body. Now. How does Annabeth know this? To be fair, this is a very simple term in Latin, and Annabeth is an extremely well-read person, so it is very possible that she picked it up somewhere or could just simply recognize it. Considering the extensive overlap of Greek and Roman mythology and culture, it is not farfetched to believe that Annabeth has learned her fair share of simple terms and phrases in Latin over the years of studying.

In my opinion, this argument makes such more sense than Annabeth simply intrinsically knowing Latin, and in turn all of the Greek demigods intrinsically knowing Latin, because this is one of the only instances where we see Annabeth interact with the language. No where else in the PJO series do we see her speak or actively translate Latin. Of course.. the HoO series is a little different, but we’re not there yet! If Annabeth knew Latin as well as she knew Ancient Greek, she would have used it more, along with the rest of the Greek demigods.

Another book down, and we are still no closer to finding an answer than we were at the start. Although we can rule out the idea of Greek demigods inherently knowing Latin. That much is apparent. So, why is Percy the exception?

Unfortunately, The Last Olympian does not bring us any closer to those much needed answers. The only mention of Latin comes from a statue of the Roman goddess Pompona in chapter 12 (Rachel Makes a Bad Deal). This gives us absolutely nothing to work with as it makes perfect sense for a statue of a Roman goddess to be cursing in Latin. Percy doesn’t even make an attempt to translate it for the reader, so we have no way of knowing if he understood it or not.

And thus is the end of Percy Jackson and The Olympians. I feel as if we have ended with more questions than when we started, but do not lose hope. I believe The Heroes of Olympus series might be able to give us a deeper insight.

This is where it gets interesting. With The Lost Hero comes a myriad of new characters, one of them being Jason Grace. In chapter VII, Jason meets Chiron, and it is revealed that Jason can speak Latin fluently. Of course, he is a Roman demigod, so this makes sense. But we’re not here for Jason. We’re here because of something that Chiron says in response to Jason’s speaking in Latin. Chiron says, “You know Latin. Most demigods recognize a few phrases, of course. It’s in their blood, but not as much as Ancient Greek. None can speak Latin fluently without practice.”

Now, doesn’t that just open a whole new can of worms? … Or does it?

Reading that, we could easily write off this whole thing and say there, that explains it. But, is one of the phrase that Greek demigods can easily recognize really “eat my pants”? That doesn’t feel right. And Just because you could recognize the phrase, does that mean you could also pull it from thin air in the middle of battle? It just seems fishy.

Now, if we look back at Annabeth’s situation, specifically with Daedalus/Quintus, what Chiron said makes perfect sense. Annabeth was able to recognize the simple term and is most likely able to recognize more than other Greek demigods because of her expanse of knowledge. As always, though, I could just be grasping at straws here. This is made obvious again in The Lost Hero chapter III when Jason uses the name Vulcan instead of Hephaestus. Annabeth is quick to correct him, clearly recognizing the Roman name for the god. This happens again and again with Annabeth and Jason. It also happens with Will Solace in chapter 5 when he corrects Leo and says that the Greek demigods tend to use the Greek names for the gods.

But, on the flip side, when Jason speaks in Latin in chapter X, Piper can’t understand anything he is saying. And again in chapter XXXIV Jason speaks in Latin and Leo cannot understand a single word. This all fits with what Chiron says to Jason in chapter VII. But, Percy doesn’t really fit into this category. He knows more than simple names and terms. Why is he special?

Some people argue that Hera/Juno implanted Latin into Percy’s brain to help him when he arrived at Camp Jupiter. But, then, did she give him that power all the way back when he was 12? How would she possibly know what was to come? And if she only did it after she kidnapped Percy and stole his memories, then wouldn’t you think he would still be able to recognize simple terms that even other Greek demigods would be able to?

The Son of Neptune might help us with this. In chapter III, Percy has arrived at Camp Jupiter and one of the Lares called him “Graecus” which Hazel has to explain to him means Greek. If he had Latin infused into his brain by the Queen of the gods, don’t you think he would be able to understand that simple term?

I know what you’re thinking, but if he can’t even recognize that simple term, then isn’t what Chiron said wrong too? Well, no. Not really. Under normal circumstances, I believe that Percy would have easily been able to recognize the word, but he lost his entire memory including the Latin he knew. And he didn’t even have context clues to be able to put together that graecus means Greek, because he couldn’t even remember that he was Greek.

But, as Percy’s time at Camp Jupiter continues, he starts to pick up more and more Latin including the names of Reyna’s dogs and Jupiter’s title of Optimus Maximus. But, he also very quickly becomes able to read fluent Latin. In chapter IV, he sees the Second Great Prophecy- or the Prophecy of Seven- and is easily able to translate it into English and read it aloud. And just a few paragraphs later, Hazel lets out a string of curses in Latin, and although Percy didn’t catch all of it, he picked up on not-easily-recognizable words like “son of a gorgon” and “power-hungry snake”.

Later in chapter XIII, Percy and Hazel walk through the forum and Percy easily understands that signs in Latin are advertising things like pottery and jewelry and tickets to events. Again, these don’t seem like easily recognizable terms and phrases.

Once again, in chapter XXXVI, Percy hears a partial prophecy from Ella the Harpy. This chapter is from Frank's point of view, but even Frank sees that Percy understood it and is troubled by it.

Maybe all of this can be chalked up to the few days he spent at Camp Jupiter, but I don’t think so. Just because you go to the Roman camp, doesn’t mean you suddenly become Roman. Percy is still Greek and is still hard-wired for Ancient Greek, so Latin should not come this easily.

To further drive home this point, in The Mark of Athena, chapter IV, Annabeth encounters Terminus who yells at her in Latin. Annabeth makes guesses at when he is saying to her, but it’s written in a way that implies she doesn’t actually understand what he is saying. The quote is “He yelled at her in Latin, no doubt calling her a liar and a rule breaker…” Annabeth guesses, and she probably guesses correctly, but she doesn’t understand the words Terminus is saying.

This shows that Percy has an understanding of Latin that goes deeper than your ordinary Greek demigod, and even Annabeth is anything but ordinary.

Unfortunately, The House of Hades and The Blood of Olympus have nothing more to offer within the context of this discussion. Besides Hazel, Frank, and Jason cursing repeatedly in Latin. So, we are left with that.

Ultimately, we are given no answers and only clues as to how and why Percy can understand Latin in a way that is quite unusual for a Greek demigod. We know that he did not study the language of his own accord and we know that Greek demigods only naturally understand a few simple phrases of Latin here and there. Annabeth is a prime example of this.

Well, as a last ditch effort, we can look at other things that make Percy special and see if there is any correlation. For one, he is a child of the Big Three. But so are Thalia and Nico and neither of them have the Latin-speaking abilities that Percy has, so that isn’t it.

Percy has been involved in two great prophecies, but being in a prophecy does not determine anything about knowledge. Plus, technically Annabeth and Will and Nico, among others, were also all involved with both prophecies, just not to the same extent.

We may never know why Percy has this rare ability. Maybe Poseidon had a little bit of Neptune in him when he was with Sally, maybe Sally has some long lost Roman relatives we don’t know about. Maybe there is no reason at all. Percy is just Percy.

So, in conclusion, I guess that Percy is just built different. 🤷‍♀️

[imaginethebeautifulworld]

Hello! ¡Hola! Ciao! Salut ! So question: what would you do if you ever met Gilbert, Lovi and Arthur in real life? And possibly where would be the location of your meeting? 🙃

Dear Ancients are you trying to kill me? @_@

Salutations, Lovely~ I'll try to be as... realistic as I can here, I guess.

First off, I at least know from experience that I would keep my panic at bay until I was finally alone again, when I would have a full on meltdown. I don't-

How do you cope with meeting someone you've been lowkey daydreaming about for the past ten years? Silently vow to yourself to keep calm and carry the fuck on, and make sure you never let them find out that you've been writing fanfiction about them for near a decade.

As for how I would meet them?

Well, that's honestly a really hard one to answer, luv. ^_^; Despite my severe social anxiety, I casually befriend people all the time, in some of the most unpredictable ways.

I based each of these loosely off of how I actually met some of my friends, as realistically I can't even begin to narrow down just how I meet/befriend people.

Arthur I know would be the most likely candidate for actually, unintentionally running into. My ultimate goal for years has been to move back to London on a permanent basis, hopefully earn my Masters equivalent in History or Journalism. Now, I gotta be honest, I was rarely ever in my dorm except to sleep; there was a whole city to see!

I got roped into a giant game of Manhunt in Southwark with a bunch of (at that time) strangers, I wandered the damp silt along the Thames when the tide was low, bonding with some Crawlers over the cool ass artifacts we found, and there was Brazilian student I became Whats App buddies with during a weekend bus trip to Belgium, bonding over our books, the fact we were the only singles in a tour group filled with couples, and everything we thought the other should explore back in London.

I can honestly say that Arthur is... Welp, I just think out of the three of them, however we meet would be the most random happenstance. Maybe he's the punk I bonded with while in the queue outside Garfunkle's, singing along to the vintage tunes and gradually loosening up into overly dramatic faces and silly dances.

Gilbert would... As much as I love him, I feel like in real life he would probably intimidate me at first.

He reminds me of these guys I met in Montmartre that started walking with me, rambling at me in French, then English, trying their damndest to convince me to let them buy me a coffee. I thought I was in the clear when I used Italian to say I didn't understand what they were saying, and my fucking luck that one of them was fluent in Italian, too. Or maybe he's like the guy who was at the Venice airport waiting for the same flight, bored out of his mind and playing wallball with a small bouncy ball he had in his pocket, who I ended up asking to join when my roommate fell asleep on her then-boyfriend, now-husband. Or he'd be like the kid who accidentally got locked into Regent's Park after hours, and I helped him climb over the fence to get back out. Or maybe he's the guy I made laugh in an Amsterdam grocery store because of my mini meltdown over finally finding Cool American Doritos at 10 pm, who then helped me figure out exactly which pre-sliced deli meat was turkey-esque.

The thing with Gil is that he's such an extrovert that I could see him being the one more likely initiating any possible friendships.

And then there's Lovino.

If he were true to canon, he's more than likely the one approaching me. Maybe he's the guy who rescued me in Rome from the tourist trap gladiator actors, who will gladly take pictures with you, but don't tell you till after that you're suppose to pay them for each photo. Or maybe he's the guy from the flight to Roma, who was on the phone before takeoff cursing lowly in Italian about politics, and for my dumbass and smart mouth to immediately start commiserating with him, the next hour and a half spent venting to each other about our nations' mutually terrible politicians, and the woes of living in the hellishly expensive London. Or, or! Lovi could be the man I saw in the Barcelona airport at 4 am eating breakfast, who was just so beautiful that all of my party kept checking him out. My philosophy has always kind of been to regret the things that you do rather than didn't do, so as we all got ready to head for our gate, I politely approached him to tell him that he was the most beautiful person I had ever seen. And his smile-

To this day, whoever that man was, he is still the most beautiful person I had ever seen. But when I said that, and he smiled at the compliment, only to return it with this earnestness that still makes my heart flutter even as I write this well over five years later-

Anyway.

I'm sorry this got so long, but really I'm not quite sure how else I could go about this. ^_^;

I make friends in all kinds of situations, something that's both a curse and a blessing. I couldn't possibly guess the circumstances, couldn't even begin to imagine how or when it'll happen.

Just keep an open mind, an open heart, and find confidence in who you are, and the rest pretty much follows~

Thanks for the ask, Lovely!

[commander-kirschtein]

College!AU headcanons for the 104th

masterlist

Eren Jaeger:

Degree: some sort of humanities subject. I’m torn between history and geography (I can see him only going though because of pressure from his dad/Zeke because they both went so he feels like he has to.)

Would definitely get some tattoos whilst at uni as well as growing his hair out (”haircuts are too expensive for college students.”)

Needs coffee every morning else he feels like death (pulls way too many all nighters to get work done - Mikasa is not happy with this habit.)

Probably wakes up 10 minutes before a lecture and just legs it - he sets alarms but he tells everyone they never go off (he’s lying he presses snooze every time.)

Mikasa Ackerman:

Degree: languages !! Which ones though I’m not sure? I feel like she’s a polyglot so would already be fluent in French and Spanish so would chose to have a degree in one of them alongside something more challenging - maybe Russian or Japanese ??

Would maybe join a creative writing/poetry society, she likes to write in her spare time as a way of expressing her emotions as she finds opening up a bit of a struggle.

Before going to college, she’d take a gap year to do some travelling. Has all of her adventures written down in a diary that she often reads once she starts college.

The queen of houseplants. She has so many, they all have names and she’d never dream of letting any of them die.

Armin Arlert:

Degree: astrophysics or marine biology (I know Armin loves the ocean but he is also a space nerd don’t argue with me) BUT another option could be artificial intelligence ?? He just thinks it’s interesting.

Loves a good group study session. He finds he takes in information better if he talks to people about it and tries to explain concepts (be warned if you ever ask Armin about his subject - you will be there for hours.)

Probably the only person who does all the reading for his subject PLUS the additional reading. He doesn’t even see it as a chore because he likes to know as much as he possibly can !!

Would suggest that everyone in his lectures makes a group chat where they can send notes, thinking that other people will send theirs so he can make sure he got all the info down - nope everyone is just stealing your notes Armin I’m sorry.

Jean Kirstein:

Degree: could definitely see him studying modern history with politics, don’t ask me why I just see it.

Left handed, he knows the struggle of writing something only for it to be smudged seconds later and his hand covered in ink

Will pull out his guitar at any given opportunity. The king of playing wonderwall (it’s a crowd favourite and everyone ends up singing.)

You know Jean is stressed if he’s rubbing/touching his face a lot - and drinking lots of black coffee (he doesn’t like the taste but thinks he’s cool and tough for drinking it.)

Sasha Braus:

Degree: culinary science.

Never has a pen. If you sit next to Sasha in a lecture she will always ask for a pen (a pen which you will never see again I’m sorry - in fairness, you won’t want it back because she’s chewed the ends of it.)

If you have a shared living arrangement with Sasha you have been blessed. She loves to cook !! (Kinda a given with what she’s studying) and is always willing to make dinner for everyone (she will make a mess though so be prepared to do the cleaning up afterwards.)

I can definitely see her joining the choir or even being in a musical theatre production! She’s a great singer, albeit not the best dancer but she has the energy and spirit and that’s what’s important.

Connie Springer:

Degree: something like hospitality and tourism (he’s got such amazing people skills! he would be great at this and has the right energy for it.)

This boy would live on instant noodles if it wasn’t for him sharing a place with sasha. and the most erratic eating schedule (“what do you mean I can’t eat breakfast at 3pm??”)

Has a massive crate of energy drinks from cosco. Goes through said crate way faster than should be humanly possible.

His laptop is covered in stickers (many are random ones he’s collected and slapped on but he got some of Sasha and Jean making stupid faces that he put on there too - Sasha found this hilarious, Jean was not impressed.)

Marco Bodt:

Degree: English language with drama.

Musical !! Theatre !! Society !! This man is a triple threat, but honestly he prefers to be part of the chorus because he doesn’t like the pressure and stress of having a main part.

The best person to have with you on a night out. You’re throwing up? Marco will hold your hair back. You need a lift home? If sober he’ll take you and if he’s been drinking he will get you a taxi and come with to make sure you get back safe. An absolute angel <3

The most likely person to become an RA. He also volunteers to help with many of the events on campus and would probably be part of the student association committee.

Historia Reiss/Christa Lenz:

Degree: she seems like a psychology gal to me. Probably would take psychology as a degree and then would go on for a masters in something more specified like educational psychology.

You know she’s got a stationary set up to die for. highlighters in every colour, all of her notes written in gorgeous handwriting, her desk is super organised !!

You’d never see this girl going to a lecture or seminar in casual clothing - she’s always dressed up even if the rest of the students are in what looks like what they wore to bed the night before.

Likes to take the lead in group projects. Can’t stand missing deadlines so is very organised (has a very cute diary too where she writes important stuff down.)

Ymir:

Degree: sociology or philosophy.

Definitely a last minute assignment writer, will always ask to borrow notes because she didn’t do the reading.

Sells stuff on depop as a way of making money through college. she makes badges and well as some really cool resin earrings (proudly worn by her gf Historia.)

Sits all the way at the back of the lecture hall so she can go on her phone (to message Historia obvs.)

Bertoldt Hoover:

Degree: film studies with English language

I can see him being a techie for the theatre at his uni. he does the lighting and sound for the annual musical !! (trips over cables and bangs his head on lighting bars all the time but still loves doing it.)

Because of his degree, likes to hold film screenings for his friends. In another post I hc that Reiner won’t shut up during movies and Bert is probably the only person who can deal with Reiner’s constant commentary.

Drank for the first time in college and did not enjoy the experience. He’s definitely a puker and has decided instead he will be the big brother friend and make sure everyone gets home safety and will watch the drinks whilst they go dance.

Reiner Braun:

Degree: some sort of engineering (I’m thinking chemical??)

Becomes a bit of a gym rat once getting to college. Also joins a lot of societies because he likes to be sociable and will often drag Bert along too (why can I see these two going to like ping pong club or something. whoever loses has to buy the takeout that night.)

Is going broke because of his daily caramel frappchino from starbucks (all the baristas know him by name.)

Okay but Reiner owning a motorbike ?? Sign me up. He’s the coolest kid on campus.

Annie Leonhardt:

Degree: biochemistry.

Annie isn’t much of a social person and keeps her circle small, but she realises things are going to be pretty boring if all she does is stay in her room, so she ends up joining the girls soccer team.

A very tidy person to live with. will probably tidy up after everyone because she cannot stand the mess - but be warned if this happens all the time she’s not afraid to confront her roommates about it.

If she’s stressed about assignments, her sweet tooth comes out big time. her biggest guilty pleasure is white chocolate and she always has a bar before an exam or a big essay is due.

[btssmutficslovingfan01]

The Afterparty

Summary: You’ve been a fan of BTS for seven years and counting. When you see them at the GRAMMYs after-party, you’re surprised to find that no one is even going up to talk to them. They’re making a spectacle of them, as the boys lounge lazily on the couches. With sweaty palms, you finally manage to stutter out a “hello,” to Namjoon, the leader of the group. A lot can happen in one night, especially when you’re the only one who makes them feel welcome.

Words: 6.8k

Pairing: BTS x Reader (all members)

Genre: Smut, pwp

Warnings: Gangbang, Vanilla sex, Oral (m & f receiving), spit-roasting, Unprotected Sex, Bad use of condoms (if you have them, use ‘em!), Double Penetration, Sex toys, rope-play, hints at Jungkook getting together with reader, possessive pillow-talk

                         ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

“Hey guys, I’m a huge fan.” You wave at all the members, feeling immediately small as they say a small “hello” back. It was your first time getting tickets to a huge awards show, much less coming to an afterparty where only the hottest celebrities gather together for one night. You weren’t a celebrity, but at least you were making an effort to talk to them without clout-chasing.

They could tell you were nervous, so Joon speaks to you in a soft voice.

“Hi, it’s always great to meet a fan. How long have you been listening to our music?” You look down, feeling too dizzy to look at him directly in the eyes. You could feel the eyes of jealous onlookers on you as you speak to your favorite artist.

“Seven years. I found out about you guys during the ORUL8,2? Era. I fell in love with your cute grunge band type theme there.” Namjoon, for the first time in a long time, actually blushes at your words. As he rubs his neck, Hoseok and Jin who were sitting next to him gaze at you in bewilderment.

“Yeah, not my greatest era.” His genuine laugh catches everyone off-guard, they thought they weren’t supposed to socialize with anyone.

“I love your songs though, and your lyrics are amazing. Jin, may I just say, Epiphany was so well sung. I even got a tattoo of the lyrics!” You pull your sleeve up to show Jin your tattoo. He exclaims, “Wow.” before setting your arm down. “By the way, when is D-2 gonna come out, Yoongi? The first one was so good. Oh sorry, was I rambling? Oh God, I’m rambling.” You sigh in embarrassment as the members find themselves thinking about how cute you look all self-aware of your surroundings. 

“It’s fine. Here, you can sit between Jimin and Yoongi. There’s room on the seat of the couch, since they decided to take the armrests.” You can’t believe you’re between your bias and biaswrecker. Well, you are an OT7 bias, but you were sitting at the hip level between the two men. Who you idolize. 13-year old you is dying.

“So, Yoongi...are you at least bringing back Tony Montana for a studio version?” Jimin says something to him in Korean before shoving him playfully and then Yoongi turns to you, saying,

“Sorry, no spoilers.”

“Okay, I’m not an interviewer or a reporter. You can tell me, honestly, are you fluent in English?” You direct the question to both the boys as they give you cheeky smiles before Jimin leans in and whispers seductively in your ear. “Yes. We all know English but we pretend like we don’t because we’re too lazy to answer stupid questions.” You blush at the close proximity but mostly because it sounded like Jimin was telling you to piss off.

“Wow. You guys are cool. I could never act so well,” You find yourself more at ease with them, locking eyes with Taehyung across on the other couch opposite of you, with Jungkook on his phone and too distracted to notice your silent eye-fucking. You wouldn’t know, you were too oblivious to pick up on his arousal. He wanted you, bad. “Well, I’m gonna head down to the snack table. Anyone want anything?” This time Jungkook looks up, tucking his phone into his pocket before running after you.

“Me too.” His broken English is so cute, as he follows you to the table to find a feast. He licks his lips, in seeing the giant chicken untouched and ready for consumption. Out of the corner of your eye, you see a couple of girls pretending like they’re scrolling through their phones and taking pictures of him. You wish there was a no phone rule or something like that at this afterparty.

You move to his other side, blocking his view from the girls as he obviously looks up at you after grabbing some drinks.

“You take four. I took two. Jin and V on diet.” 

“I know your secret. You don’t have to talk in broken English, Jungkook.” He smiles as you call him by his name correctly, you’re sure he’s grateful to you for not prying. Most Americans would get all up in his business.

“Thank you.” He whispers softly as you grab the cups and balance them on a plate.

“For you guys.” You pass out the drinks to the members and immediately Namjoon starts up another conversation with you.

“Is this your first after party?” 

“Yeah, but it’s fun. At least it’s memorable for me because I got to meet you guys. Sorry, I’m still a little star struck.” He lets out a chuckle as you take a sip of the champagne.

“You’re handling it pretty well. If I were in your shoes I would’ve freaked out. It’s so cool that you stuck with us for so long.” You shrug, a smirk tugging at your lips as Namjoon takes a sip of his drink as well.

“Not really. You guys are just regular people and I think fans forget that sometimes, it’s easy to forget when you guys dance so in sync and robotically without even thinking.” 

“It takes a lot of hard work.” He reassures you.

“So, did you bring your girlfriends?” You mock the interviewers’ questions as Namjoon guffaws. “I’m just kidding. I don’t care, I stan you for your music and your animated personalities, cheers guys.” You clink glasses with them as they take a sip, all eyes on you as you stand among them instead of looking at them like trophies in a glass case. Everyone in the room was watching you, as you interacted with the “Korean act” so naturally.

There was nothing to it, you didn’t care if they were staring anymore. If anything, you felt more welcome standing next to Bangtan.

“So is asking about personal relationships just an American thing?” You cringe thinking about the Ellen show and how she asked inappropriate questions such as “have you ever hooked up with ARMY?” and completely disrespected them. You didn’t want them to get the wrong impression of you from that bad encounter.

“It’s a strange concept but unfortunately yes, it is normalized here. I think you handled it pretty well though, Tae’s reaction was memed when in reality it was completely understandable!” Taehyung looks up from his phone at the mention of his name, staring directly at you once again.

“Why does he keep looking at me like that?”

“I think he wants to talk to you, dear.” Namjoon’s sudden change in demeanor intimidates you. You shake it off as Namjoon pushes you towards the couch where Taehyung is lounging on while Jungkook disappears off to the bathroom.

“H-Hi Tae.” You awkwardly stock over to the couch as the second youngest BTS member eyes you up and down.

“What’s your deal? Do you want a picture, an autograph? I can’t figure you out.” He sounds cold and calculating, despite your thoughts kindling telling you he was a warm and kindhearted person.

“I’ve been honest this entire night. I wanted to drop by and say hi to the group that I’ve been stanning for seven years. Is that suspicious?” He rubs his jaw, gulping the rest of his drink before setting it down on the table next to him. He looked like he was about to eat you alive, and you loved it.

“No. I can tell you’re being sincere. We’re chill. Joon, everything’s chill.” 

“Alright, now that that's done, our manager told us to be back in our hotel room in 10. We were supposed to skip the after party as we do in all awards shows but he insisted we make an appearance. That’s why we’re here.” Namjoon rounds the members up and everyone adjusts his pants accordingly as they stand up.

“Oh, you guys are leaving?” You sound hurt, but with Jimin’s warm fingertips suddenly on your cold shoulder, you shudder at the small shock from his touch.

“Sorry, how about we just take a quick picture together? I think you’re one of the coolest fans we’ve met.” You didn’t want this night to end. 

The Park Jimin just told you that you’re cool. You felt complete.

After snapping a couple pictures, Jungkook quickly appears by your side, stopping the other members.

“Wait, they’re playing “Cotton Eye-Joe” I wanna dance!” Namjoon rolls his eyes before dismissing him. To your surprise, he asks you to dance (very anxiously at that) and you follow him to the dance floor.

Even if it’s a private event, there are a lot of people in the crowd. You and Jungkook also hold hands so you don’t get separated. Suddenly, everyone forms lines. As the song starts, the crowd starts dancing in sync. You teach Jungkook the moves and just as his curious eyes meet yours, you hear the sound of a bell. They were gonna say toasts.

“That was…” You can’t place your finger on it, but Jungkook looked like he had just seen a ghost. He looked strange. You’ve never seen him give anyone that look. Could he be...Jungshook?

You raise an eyebrow as he suddenly runs back to Namjoon, whispering something in his ear and then going to the other members as well. You’re confused as Namjoon pulls you aside, tapping your shoulder instead of grabbing your hand to follow him. You go to a smaller area blocked off from the crowd.

“Sorry, there were too many cameras around there. I was wondering if you wanted to come with us for the private after-party celebration and have some drinks? We normally go live and then after we turn off the camera we get a little drunk and wild. Plus, Jungkook said he wasn’t ready to let you go just yet.” As he smirks you realize what he just meant. Jungkook was attracted to you?! Either that or he meant it in the most friendly, non-sexual way possible.

“Alright. Um, where are you guys staying by the way?” Namjoon gives you a sexy smirk before leaning and whispering right up against your ear:

“Room 327 on the third floor. That floor is off limits but we’ll let the guards know you’re allowed in there.” You look around before following him out and discreetly making your way to the girls’ bathroom.

“Did you see that bitch parading around the boys like she was their eighth member or something? Pathetic, honestly I gotta give her a C+ for trying. I couldn’t talk to their leader Jimin looking like a trashbag.”

“K, they were literally ogling her. Like you gotta admit, her dress was super cute and her makeup was pretty too.”

“What’s wrong with you G? Are you crushing on her or something? You’ve got to get your eyes checked. She wasn’t even pretty. If anything our boys were uncomfortable.” You open the stall door, washing your hands quickly and quietly ducking out after patting dry. The girls in the restroom make wide big eyes when they realize they just messed with the wrong bitch.

They’re pretending like they were the ones that got invited to the secret BTS party. Losers, they were just sour because Jungkook didn’t even give them the time of day.

You decide to head up to the room after 10 minutes of Namjoon signaling you to get ready and then as soon as you see them leave the party, you sneak up the stairwell. A bulky, tall and surprisingly handsome bodyguard stops you.

He pushes his glasses down to see you, and then lets you through to go join the boys.

You quietly knock on the door to be greeted by a smiling Hobi, and he shushes you before pushing you behind the couch in their suite. The room was so wide and big, different from the hotel room you were staying in for sure.

Within five minutes or so the boys wrap up and then Yoongi leans over and pulls you out of your hiding spot.

“Hey! It’s you, um what’s your name?” Jin scratches his head for an answer. All the members seem a lot more talkative in comparison to earlier. The mood is light and merry.

“Y/N! And bring on the drinks, I’m gonna get tipsy.” The boys chant for you as you chug half a bottle within five seconds, still sober as you burp. 

“Cute.” Jungkook laughs as you excuse yourself and take a sip of water to even out the playing field.

                                         ⋆*･ﾟ:⠀ *⋆.*:･ﾟ .: ⋆*･ﾟ: .⋆

“So now that we’re all drunk, how about we play a game of sexual ‘never have I ever’?” Namjoon’s proposal is favored as all of the members murmur words of agreement.

“Sounds good. Okay, I’ll go first. Never have I ever humped a pillow.” You, Jimin, Jungkook, and Hoseok put a finger down at Yoongi’s confession.

“Never have I ever sucked dick.” Hoseok says, immediately spurring you, Jimin, Yoongi, and Namjoon.

“Really Tae? I thought you did.” Jin says, slapping his thigh as he turns bright red.

“No. I never experimented either.”

“Okay...hmm this is hard. Never have I ever been in a threesome.” Everyone puts their fingers down except Jin, who cries in the corner. 

“Damn, that’s rough. Okay, never have I ever used lube.” Every man in the room groans as Jimin grins toothily. You found it charming how he managed to sound so cheeky but alluring at the same time.

“Never have I ever been in a romantic relationship that lasted for more than a month,”  Namjoon and Yoongi put their fingers down as the other members complain about being too busy. You also put your finger down, biting your lip. “It’s your turn.” He reminds you.

“Um..never have I ever been sexually intimate with a woman.” All of the guys groan as you target them, putting their fingers down at your words.

“Never have I ever been in a gangbang. I had friends who talked about doing the same girl plenty of times in school and shit before we debuted. It was fucking annoying, I just wish I could get it out of the way.” 

The room falls silent as you pipe up, clearing your throat before speaking, “Well, why don’t you? There’s one girl here and...ˢᵉᵛᵉⁿ ᵒᶠ ʸᵒᵘ...so I’m just gonna stop talking now.”

Jin breaks the silence with a stupid dad joke, making Hoseok and Jimin fall into a fit of giggles.

“So are we done? There’s no way any of you have been in a gangbang before,” Your voice stands out as all of the boys look at you, half-offended and half-aroused. “Am I the only one here who has actually been in the middle of three or more guys like that?” More accurately, you had a gangbang with two pairs of boys from neighboring schools, so no one ever found out about your promiscuous activities while you were 17.

“And you have? How could we believe you?” Yoongi spits out, sounding more defensive than anyone else in the room.

“I can suck three dicks at the same time. I’m not ashamed of my talents.” Yoongi gives you a harsh, judgemental stare. You’ve seen that look from your peers and teachers way back in high school and your workplace. They are doubting your abilities.

“Joon, why don’t you tell her why you really invited her here tonight?” Namjoon puts his glass on the table before standing up and pulling you towards him, your body lands on his, your head resting on his chest as he wraps his arms around you.

“We like sharing. Tonight, it seemed that Jungkookie took a liking to you. And we agreed, it would be good to get the maknae some pussy, especially since he hasn’t gotten laid in months. We decided you were the perfect candidate.” You gawk as he allows you to drop to your knees, your eyes wide as if you were asking for permission. Joon nods, sitting back down to give you access to his thighs as you crawl between his legs and inhale the wonderful scent of expensive cologne.

“Guys, are you really doing this in the middle of the couch? At least take it to the big bed where we can all see you, geez.” You’re surprised to see Yoongi unwinding on the couch, his dick large and bouncing against his thigh as he rubs the tip and goes back to the base as you’ve seen in porn.

“Jungkook-Ah, come here. You said you can suck three dicks at once, right Y/N?” You nod, wrapping your lips around the head of his cock and feeling Jungkook’s growing bulge through his boxers first before pulling them to the floor and then taking his dick into your mouth as well.

Both men moan as you simultaneously suck them off, your tongue sneaking down to the bases of each individual cock so you could lick them to orgasm. You know simple little tricks can make all the impact.

“Oh fuck, I’m gonna cum if you keep doing that. Shit.” It was strange, hearing curses fall from your favorite idols’ lips. Namjoon’s cock was much longer in comparison to Jungkook’s, but in whatever Jungkook lacked in length, he made up for in thickness. You were having trouble now, breathing heavily as you discard their clothes one by one.

The boys watch you intently as you suck them off, and you’re also equally aware of the men on the couches, who are watching your display of expert cocksucking.

Jimin, Tae, Yoongi, Hoseok and Jin have their hands in their pants or on their boxers as each man strokes himself to the site of you sucking their band members. You liked the taste, since they most likely ate fruits and drank sweet things to make their cum taste good. You can tell how healthy a person is just by the taste of their juices.

You lick your lips with a smack, your eye makeup is smeared and it makes you look like a raccoon before Namjoon grabs a tissue and wipes your eyes off for you.  

You smile before peeling off the dress completely to reveal your lingerie. The men watch as you play with your huge breasts in front of them, toying with your bra as if you have trouble taking it off.

“Oh my god, I’m gonna cum.” Jungkook groans as you start working and them again, now taking both cocks into your mouth at the same time and letting them see stars before pinching the tips with your long fake nails.

“Shit.” Namjoon and Jungkook came simultaneously, thanks to you. You smile as Jungkook grabs another tissue and helps wipe the cum off your cheeks and mouth before pressing the softest kiss to your lips. “I hope you’re okay with intimacy. We’re boys with hearts.” Namjoon puts a hand on his chest, signaling the “heart,” on his right side. That also adds onto his clumsy charm, the “God of Destruction” making an impromptu appearance as you make your mark.

“Yes, because your heart is totally on the right side of your chest. Come here, big boy.” You give Namjoon a lingering kiss after breaking from Jungkook and then you turn to the other boys on the couch.

“I wanna taste you.” Suddenly Jimin is kissing down your inner thighs, trailing saliva down your entire leg before kissing back up and staring up at you, just as Jungkook squeezes your boobs.

“I hope you don’t mind. We’re far from being done here.” You groan and close your eyes as pleasure takes you from all sides. Hoseok and Yoongi are circling your navel, joining Jimin in the attack on your clit, while Taehyung and Jin are working on your breasts as Jungkook and Namjoon hold your hair back, allowing the others to get a piece of you. When Yoongi and Hoseok step back, rubbing their naked dicks in their hands you realize everyone in the room is naked, including you. Jimin ripped off your panties and threw them on the floor next to the door while Namjoon took your bra off. 

This is the first time you’ve seen all of them naked. They look even better without clothes on, in all honesty.

“Ji—FUCK!” You moan, bucking your hips as Jimin swirls his tongue right between your folds, hitting the perfect spot as you whine like a horny bitch.

“You’re fine sweetheart, just take his tongue. You can take another dick, right?” Before you can process what’s happening, Taehyung is fucking your mouth, his bulge poking the back of your neck uncomfortably. You still enjoy the sensation of being filled, so you don’t mind too much.

“Is everything okay? Thumbs up if you’re good, thumbs down if you feel bad.” Namjoon brings you back to reality as you give him a thumbs up, your heart racing in your ribcage as Tae fucks your face and Jimin eats you out.

Jin, during this whole time, was nowhere to be found. You wondered what he was doing. Maybe he was preparing a surprise for you? Your thoughts fail to wander as Taehyung’s testes slap against your cheeks, hard enough for you to go numb. Your face hurts but the gesture itself was so kinky, you wanted to see it again.

“Tae, slow down, make her feel good first. Jimin, fuck her faster.” Namjoon takes the lead as you lie back, panting heavily as Tae gives you a moment to catch your breath, his cock resting on your chin as you catch your breath, the sensation of Jimin’s lips testing your bundle of nerves as you shudder with an all-too familiar feeling. 

You couldn’t believe a BTS member was about to make you cum tonight, for real, and not some drawn-out fantasy like the many lonely nights you spent with your vibrator and dildos at home. You’re so glad all of your friends passed up on this opportunity, according to them BTS were a bunch of “gay kpop dudes,” and “girls,” because they wear makeup like any other celebrity that would appear on camera. You would’ve gone back to your hotel room early to sleep in so you could wake up and go home after an unexciting night of wasted opportunity. You were so happy that this was happening.

At least you shoot your shot, and it actually worked this time.

When you open your eyes, you’re surprised to see that both men have switched positions, this time Taehyung ripping open a condom as your eyes widen, your mouth watering at the sight of his huge dick. You knew he had a big dick from the moment you stanned BTS. Now here it was, in the flesh, ready to enter your hungry, hungry hole. Your pussy tightens immediately at the thought, and you’re soon distracted by Jimin and Hoseok’s actions as they begin peppering your body with hickies. You don’t really mind, it’s not like anyone important is going to see you when you go home. Besides, this is Bangtan for pete’s sake, who the fuck would stop them from leaving marks? You wanted a reminder of this night, since this was just as special to you as it was to them.

Jimin moves his plush lips down to meet yours as Hoseok kisses your weak spot, right on the side of your neck. You giggle from the ticklish feeling of his tongue on your neck, practically melting into the bed as Taehyung rubs his cockhead against your weeping entrance, your pussy already slick wet with arousal as he nudges your legs further apart. His cock is huge, but it’s not ridiculously out of proportion. It fits his body, as a cock should look on a man, naturally. You’re so glad you aren’t a virgin. You remember freaking out after first seeing a dick in an erotic film.

Tae’s cock is far from weird or awkward, it’s actually as pretty and ethereal as the rest of him. You could say the same for the other guys, as their cocks fit their bodies too. It’s just a minute detail, but since you were obsessed with these seven men since forever, you pick up on it. Tae gives you that signature boxy smirk once again as you finish ogling him, making awkward eye contact with the 5’ 10” man as he teasingly slides his cock right up your most sensitive area.

“Cute, you’re so wet, I don’t think I could resist now.” You moan obnoxiously loud as your body convulses from the sheer force of his thighs meeting yours. You whimper out of pain, but as soon as your inner walls adjust to his size, you let out another sinful moan.

“Hobi...Jimin.” You see both men above you as you open your eyes slightly, their cocks hanging in front of your face. You love it, being treated like a whore when in reality you wouldn’t think of even holding hands with a boy. Maybe it’s the Bangtan effect. They’re all hot and they treat you so well, kissing you and checking up on you every few minutes. It’s not like an awkward fanfiction where the characters are mostly silent with prolonged descriptions of sex and wayyy too much background when it’s supposed to be a simple pwp smut. 

You personally love reading those things, especially the 10,000 word ones. Now that you’re actually living it, you can see why authors would want to elaborate. The feeling can’t be expressed with dialogue, it’s so much more than that.

You sigh into their cocks as you suck them interchangeably. Both men are entirely fixated on you, watching as you somehow manage to please them while getting brutally fucked by their roughest bandmate. It was impressive, they’ve never seen a girl as talented as you. Maybe that’s because you’re the first girl they’ve ever fucked altogether. 

This is a very special day for them indeed, as the city flashes purple outside in celebration of BTS attending the Grammys, the eight of you are trapped in your own little world, exploring each other.

Taehyung finishes fucking you after several minutes, your mouth filled with cum and your face stained white as well. Namjoon gives the two men a serious look before signalling the next pair of boys, Yoongi and Jin. Jin cleans you up first, while Yoongi gets you some water to help you recharge. You don’t know if you can truly get through seven men. Only Tae had penetrated you but you still felt incomplete. This wouldn’t be a true gangbang if you didn’t fuck every man at least once.

Yoongi seems to read your expressions, putting an arm around your shoulder and reassuring you first before moving on.

“You make the last call. We’re all okay with this but the moment you say no, it’s all over. I don’t wanna force you.” You find yourself leaning into a kiss, a gentle but firm kiss planting the first seed of desire on his lips. He can’t back away now.

“Can you bend me over and fuck me from behind? I’ve always had that fantasy in my mind from the time I discovered Yoongi smut fiction.” The other men seem impressed, watching you with drinks in hand as you seduce their second-oldest band member.

“Ahem, just so you remember, I’m here too. I grabbed toys earlier so I can prep you, don’t worry it’s clean.” You wanted to so desperately ask Jin where he got them but you snap yourself out of the little fantasy. You’re just a one night stand to them, you probably won’t see them ever again in person, whether it's in a sexual context or not.

“Mmmm, tie me up while you’re at it, would ya? Fuck, I’m into that kinky shit.” Jin gives you a wicked grin. For the first time, you notice his “jokester” persona has a dark side as well. If luck is on your side then sex will Jin will the perfect way to end this amazing night. A finale for the books, tabloids and magazines would eat it up! But you can’t tell anyone. You probably won’t tell anybody. It’s not like you’re a teenage girl from the hills. You can keep a secret.

“Me too, so are you sure you’re okay with this?” You nod as he finishes tying your arms to your sides, your feet still free in case you have to stretch. 

“This is so hot, oh look she’s wet again. Why don’t you fuck her first hyung? We can take turns fucking her with the toy and using our dicks.” Yoongi smirks, drooling a little bit at the thought of you completely helpless at their mercy.

“That’s a perfect idea. Princess, you know what to do if it gets to be too much.” You give him a thumbs up as he pushes the dildo up your second hole, the one in the back. You’ve never had anal sex with a guy before. You’ve also never been tied up. This was a new experience for you, and you were excited that the men of BTS were the ones taking your sexperience to another level.

“Ohhhh, that feels amazing Yoongi.” You close your eyes, resting your head on a pillow as Jimin quickly wipes your sweaty forehead with a moist towelette. You give him a small mutter of “thanks,” before feeling a foreign emptiness in your body. Someone took the dildo out! Just as you were about to freak out, Jin quickly replaces it with his fingers. You watch in awe as they play with your clit like you’re a toy. 

Then, you finally feel it, a cock wrapped in a condom, but the condom is so thin it feels like it’s barely there! After adjusting to him, you feel Yoongi slipping in behind you. You let out a scream, Jin pressing a harsh kiss to your lips and shushing you as you handle having two relatively large dicks inside you.

Your body shudders with shock and your muscles are tense as you move ever so slightly, adjusting to their slowing pace as they near their release, both men groaning ever so lewdly in your ears. You receive kisses and grunts of praise as they continue thrusting into you with no end.

“I’m so close, you’re so tight baby, so fucking tight.” Yoongi kisses your neck, biting down and leaving another hickey on an unmarked spot.

“Nggg, I’m coming, shit, fuck your pussy feels so good.” You’re so glad you shaved before you attended the awards show. Your lower body was silky smooth, and it made the experience just that much more pleasurable. Jin definitely appreciates it, as you buck your hips up and slam into his cock. Your inner walls are so stretched that you take all 9 inches of his erect gargantuan cock

“Oh, Jin! Yoongi…!” You moan as Yoongi starts rubbing your clit exactly above where Jin’s cock rests, your body jerking forward as you orgasm immediately. Your toes curl and you instinctively suck on something to mask the moans, much similar to how you used to suck your fingers to bite back a moan or two when you were a teenager still living with your parents. 

You were so glad there was no one here to interrupt, it was just you and the seven men you adored so much. “Fuck me harder,” You roll your hips back on Yoongi’s body, as he and Jin readjust so you were on your side again but this time Yoongi loosens the ropes holding your arms down. You kiss him gratefully, quickly finding yourself in the middle of a dick sandwich as both men enter you simultaneously, fucking you at a quick pace. 

Your body is numb and the only thing you feel is pleasure. It’s too good to be true, you just know it. “Cum in me. Fuck me hard and fill me up with your seed. I don’t care, just someone–anyone fuuuuckk.” You lewdly throw your head back in pleasure, Yoongi kissing your neck softly as he and Jin seemingly switched places, now with Yoongi in the front and Jin in the back.

“Look at her tits bounce. Oh you look so fucking sexy taking our cocks babe. Wish I could live inside you. I bet you’d love being my little cocksleeve, wouldn’t you?” You couldn’t deny his words, he spoke the truth. If a man such as Jin wanted to fuck you anywhere you would let him. That’s just how life is. You know you couldn’t pass up such an opportunity the moment you decided to strip down in front of them. You could take it, all seven of their cocks at once if they let you.

“Mmmph, I’m cumming Hyung. I wanna fuck her, fuck her forever.” Yoongi’s words only hang heavy in your heart, since you know this is just sex talk. In reality you’d have to leave tomorrow only to never see them again. It was the harsh reality of One Night Stands, one every person hates to go through. 

It wasn’t like you didn’t know this would happen, of course you would grow attached to the person you’re fucking. It’s a natural reaction, you just didn’t expect Yoongi to be the emotional one, that’s all.

“Cum with me Yoongz, let’s cum inside her together.” The two let out synchronized moans before releasing their precious juices inside of you. Even though they came, they don’t bother pulling out, remaining in their positions as Yoongi presses his lips against yours in a post-sex daze.

“We did it. We all fucked her.” Jin whispers as your uneven breaths slow down, your racing heart calming down as you come down from your euphoric state. You could see their juices dripping down your thighs and spilling onto the white sheets, your body warm as you squeeze your legs so that your pussy really clamps down on Yoongi’s cock, while Jin’s cock twitches in your ass once more.

“It’s over then…?” Yoongi gives you a mischievous smirk, one you recognize from all his MVs. He has a calming laugh as well, the mood somber and fitting instead of an awkward post-sex shuffle for clothes and food. You suppose this is because the members of BTS have been friends for over ten years now, and they just had a way of understanding each other and lightening the mood just by murmuring to each other about random things. 

Both men finally pull out of you, leaving you in your own little pool of sex as you lie atop the lonely king-sized bed, feeling more alone than you ever have. At least, you assume they left when an eerie silence settles into the room filled with a fragrance of musk and cologne and a putrid stench that you could only assume was your own sweat. 

It’s funny how all the boys still smelled good even after fucking you like how they did. You missed them, even though they were with you just a moment ago.

“I just realized something, I forgot to ask for your name.” You’re surprised to find Jungkook standing before you, holding a towel and a water bottle.

“Y/N.” You didn’t realize it either, but then again you were too distracted getting fucked by monster cocks. 

“That’s a pretty name. I was wondering if you wanted to sleep over here tonight? This is my room and I kinda wanted you to myself anyways so what do you say?” You liked the thought of Jungkook fawning over you, but it was even better now that he’s back so you can stare at him all night long.

“Sure.”

“Good, for a second I thought you were doing to say no. That would’ve been embarrassing considering that I kicked everyone out so I could have you.”

“Nuh-uh, that bed can support five people. We played rock paper scissors just so we could figure out who the heck gets to sleep with you tonight. Y/N, if you’re up for it?” You see a fully dressed Namjoon, Yoongi, and Hoseok at the door, the men filing in as Jimin, Tae, and Jin remain nowhere to be found.

“Of course. Just cuddle me for warmth, it’s super cold in here.” The men take care of you just as you’d asked, Namjoon and Yoongi cuddling you from one side while Jungkook and Hoseok cuddle you from the other. You feel like this is definitely more than just a one night stand.

When the morning comes, you’re still in the big bed, surrounded by sleeping BTS members. You couldn’t believe they were real and waking up here was proof that last night really happened and you weren’t drunk off your ass. You remembered it so vividly, Jimin’s lips, Yoongi’s tongue, Hoseok’s fingers. Everyone touched you one way or another and you got to eat a lot of dick.

It all came with the price of your stamina, though. You weren’t the most active person, so your muscles were a little bit sore from all the extraneous activity. It was worth it, you would definitely go through it again even if it meant you had to limp to work the next day. Speaking of work, you had to go to your office today. You were in town for the concert but you had some business to take care of too. You still had a few hours before you had to leave, though, and your things were still in your room which was on a different floor, thank God you picked the same hotel that BTS was staying in without knowing.

“You need a shower, don’t you?” You’re surprised to find Jungkook awake and ready to carry you to the bathroom. You shyly follow him, heart rate rising as he gives you an adorable bunny-toothed smile. His doe eyes are so wide and filled with sparkles, as usual.

“No sex, right? I don’t think my body can handle another round so soon, although I wouldn’t mind if you bent me over and-” Jungkook’s eyes widen as you start.

“Ah, no. I’m not gonna do anything. I’m respectful. Even if we had amazing sex last night that doesn’t mean you can’t say no. You always have a choice.” You never thought of it that way. You thought it was always a permanent deal, just something everyone agreed on.

“So why did you decide to sleep with me? It’s not like you guys planned this, right?” He nods, as you start washing yourself with the shower curtain half open in case Kook wants to join.

“We didn’t. Well, I didn’t. Everyone was bored and we thought we could find different girls to spend the night with each of us. Obviously, things didn’t go as planned since everyone was too intimidated to approach us so we all narrowed our focus down to you. Argh, I should stop speaking for the whole group. What I meant to say was, I actually liked you from the start. Not because you approached me, but just because you treated me like an old friend. It was refreshing, and really nice to see a confident woman for once.”

“You think I’m confident?” You shut off the water as you begin scrubbing your body with soap.

“Of course, you danced in front of a crowd with me, that kind of thing takes guts. It’s like if I asked my childhood idol to dance with me. You did what others couldn’t. You’re amazing Y/N.” You turn the water back on, moaning as the warm water hits your skin just right. That wasn’t all; you were becoming hornier by the second.

Jungkook must’ve sensed it, since he pounces into the shower, fully naked and displaying everything. You can’t help but drop to your knees, innocently sucking his cock head and kissing his underside down to his balls where the last piece of hair remains. Jungkook’s pale face is flushed a lovely rosy pink as you lick the miniscule hairs, his whines setting you on edge as the water drowns out your noise once and for all.

“Cum on my face, Kook. I wanna taste your juices.” Jungkook lets out a girlish whine as you drive him over the edge with your dirty talk. He thrusts his hips forward, making you gag on his cock and tears well up in your eyes as his cum bubbles in the back of your throat. Seeing you actually covered in his cum is a different story, it activates a side of him he didn’t know he had until now.

“On your feet. I’m gonna bend you over and fuck you loud enough for my bandmates to hear.” Your moans are all that could be heard throughout the vicinity as Jungkook gives it to you good. His cock is swollen red, blood rushing to his face, heart, and lungs as he absolutely ruins you like you wished.

“I don’t think I can walk.” You croak, voice destroyed since he fucked your throat well before.

“You don’t have to. From now on, let me take care of you.” You didn’t have a problem with that, but little did you know that his bandmates had a very different vision for you in the near future.

                             ━━━��━━━━━━━━━━━━━

                         Dark Ending, hope you enjoyed the story! ♡

[son-fuori-di-me]

"I had no idea I could change someone's life."

One Shot. Word Count | Around 3300. Description | <French female pov> you're visiting Rome for the first time, and you casually meet Damiano David the day before the Circo Massimo concert. The conversation takes a unexpected path.

Content | Real talk. No romantic development. * Expect French idioms and italian approximations from automatic translators

---

"Bordel, c'est immense !" ("Holy cow, that's big !") I said, looking at the Circo Massimo.

It was my first time in Rome. Knowing Italy a bit, I expected a hell lot of sun, a delicious bunch of ice cream for each meal, and tons of pretty things to snap with my phone. Well, that was the plan for my first two days there. Cause Saturday would be a very different day. Saturday would be Måneskin day.

I've been waiting for so long to do this trip. And what a blast it has been for now. Took only a bag, my external battery, some makeup and my favourite clothes to finally discover this astonishing city. This was my first solo trip. I've always travelled with my family or my ex, but never on my own. For once, I could decide what I wanted to see, what I wanted to eat, when to take a break. And as there are plenty of things to see in Rome, i wanted to enjoy every second of my trip. I could focus my last day there solely to the Måneskin concert happening that Saturday night. But as I didn't want to leave anything to chance, I decided to precisely organize my last day, so I could visit a bit more - a get a last fantastic meal before the concert.

I got myself a gold pit ticket. I guessed that would mean I had a special queue. So on Friday night, as I was back from a late tour in town, I decided to watch more closely the Circo, to check for the entrances, and see how I could sharpen my organization and schedule for the next day.

"J'espère que je vais pas avoir à poireauter toute la journée, avec la chaleur qu'il va faire." ("I hope won't have to hang around here all day tomorrow, the weather's gonna be hot as hell")

It was almost 10 pm. I was getting closer to the Circo, trying to read the boards, but all was written in italian and didn't seem to concern the concert. And a year fangirling over Måneskin clearly wasn't enough to become fluent. I saw no sign mentioning "gold pit". So I decided I would ask around, with Google translate ready in my phone in case I couldn't find anyone speaking English.

I saw a guy sit on a bench, smoking. He was dressed in an ugly dark sweater, with the hood over a cap. He was either a drug dealer or a hobbo. My instinct as a girl living in Paris got the uphand and I decided to ignore the guy and try to find a woman instead, or maybe a group of locals, to get me the information I wanted. Unfortunately, after a good 20 minutes walking around and asking people, no one could tell me how to make sure I find the right queue for the concert. I was about to give up and head back to my airbnb and I saw a silhouette still sitting on a bench, near the Circo. It was the same guy from earlier. "Bon, je tente, s'il est trop chelou, je me barre." ("Well, might as well take the risk, if he's too much a weirdo, I clear off quickly.")

"Scusi, do you speak English ?" i said, getting closer to the guy, but still from a good distance in case it turned wrong.

"Pretty good. You need something ?" He was searching something in his pockets and reached his pack of cigarettes. His voice was deep, but gentle. He did look funny but didn't sound dangerous - i still didn't get too close as I hate the smell of smoke.

"Do you know well il Circo Massimo ? I'm going to a concert here tomorrow and I want to make sure I find the right queue, but they haven't installed any sign yet". I asked, showing the structure of the stage behind me.

"Cute accent, where are you from ?" he answered, completely ignoring my question.

"Well, I'm French. So, do you know il Circo ?" I preferred to quickly repeat my question to let him know I wasn't interested in whatever he was trying to.

"Ah, Bonjour ! I speak a little French !" He said, now reaching for his lighter.

"Yeeaaaah cool, but how about the Circo ? I'd like to be here early enough, but I don't know wh-" I froze as he lighted up his cigarette. It was brief, but with the spark, I saw his face for a second.

"Hm ? You don't know what ?" He asked, with a smirky voice.

"Mais naaaan ?" ("Dont tell me -") I let out that typical French astonished sound without thinking. "You gotta be kidding me !"

He laughed as I was getting a little closer, staring at him. With one hand, he was putting his lighter back in his pocket, with the other, he lifted a bit his cap. It was him. It was Damiano.

I felt my spine shiver with that uncomfortable sensation of being around someone famous. As a journalist, I had my lot of interviews, so I knew there's no point in changing behavior around such people. But I still was flabbergasted to see him.

"Sorry, I didn't recognize you. Well, gotta say you're not dressed in your best outfit !" I chose the strategy of sass, to hide how impressed I actually was.

"That's my favourite sweater you're seeing me in, and I'm smoking hot in it" He said with a smirk, getting into the sassy game.

"Time off before the big day ?" I asked, completely forgotting about my initial request and switching to my interview mindset when I'm super focused about the conversation. "Shouldn't you be having a great night of sleep, to recharge your batteries ?"

"I don't feel like going to bed" He said, having no idea how the conversation would soon turn. Fortunately for him, I wasn't working in the music media industry. "That's quite a stage we're gonna play on."

I didn't know why he was talking to me about all of this. I didn't dare to ask him either. I just enjoyed the moment.

"Well, the Eurovision song contest was bigger, wasn't it ?"

"Hm, don't tell me about it, I still don't know how I managed that."

He suddenly had a strange tone in his voice. It didn't sound like the radiant and confident Damiano you see on Instagram stories or on TV interviews. I remembered where I heard him like that. In the 2019 documentary "This is Måneskin", the making of Il Ballo Della Vita album, in the sequence he's arguing with Vic on a train, as he tells her how anxious he can be get sometimes.

"Well, you did, didn't you ?" I put on a more serious voice. "And you had a ton more of pressure, representing your whole country ? So how a concert here in your home town could be worst than performing in front of all of Europe - not to say the whole world ?"

He was still smoking, listening in silence.

"Or maybe it isn't about how big the performance is but about performing in itself ? Why are you performing ? Why are you putting on a show ? All those fancy clothes and that makeup, who is it for ? For people to love you ? Or for you to love yourself ?"

Mais qu'est-ce que je branle ? Il va se barrer dans deux secondes, là c'est sûr (What the fuck am I doing ? He's leaving any second now.) I got a bit too excited about being able to share a few words with him. What's gotten onto me ? Well, let's go then.

"What is it you're running after ? Or running from maybe ? Some complex to compensate ? With all that smudge and confidence, that wouldn't surprise me."

He sat back on the bench. As he inhaled a deep breath of smoke, I saw a smile on his face. But I also saw his hand holding the cigarette shaking.

"Are you a psychiatrist or something ?" He simply said, as if he was trying to keep his voice as steady as possible.

I hesitated to tell him the truth. I was sure he would walk away the second he would know my actual job. Et puis merde, autant tout dire. (Well, fuck, might as well be honest.)

"Nope, I'm a journalist." I admited, as he looked right back at me with a surprised look. "Pretty much the same. We get appoitments with random people, listen to their life, observe their body language, and tell them our whole opinion about all of it, which might very well shape how they perceive themselves from now on."

"Only difference is that you don't have to keep anything secret. Right the contrary."

There. This was it. He was gonna leave now, for sure.

"Before you go, did I hit any truth ? Don't worry, I'm not in the music media industry, I won't write anything from our conversation." I hoped this information would save me a few more seconds with him.

He didn't answer right away. He didn't leave either. He kept looking at me, still smoking his second cigarette in a row now.

"Whatever it is you write about, I guess you must be good at it" he finally replied. "Cause you did score a few points."

Another short silence broke. As a fan, I was obsessed with his music, lyrics, and attitude. But catching a glimpse of what lied behind the glamour definitly caught my interest. I wanted to know more.

"Why are you here ?" I slightly deepened my voice, getting back to my interview tone, and kept on going with this as if that was usual business for me. "It's half past 10. You play on Rome's largest stage tomorrow. You surely better should be in bed, or be about to, before the big day."

In that moment, I had the upper-hand in the conversation. He was sat on the bench, I was on my feet in front of him, and therefore above him. Not the best approach to get someone's trust for an interview, but with a personnality like Damiano's, you gotta put your own show.

"I actually don't sleep much before big events like these" He finally answered, accepting his condition as an interviewee. "I don't sleep much at all."

"You're tend to insomnia ?"

"Not really, I just got used to 4-5 hours of sleep, that's it."

"Even during tours ? Cause this all sold-out European tour for Teatro d'Ira must have been exhausting".

"You have no idea, bellezza."

"So tell me." From there, I decided to change my strategy and sat on the ground, still in front of him, but giving him the upper-hand, to put on a more trustful atmosphere. "How are you doing ? And I don't mean, like casual 'yay, fine', I mean : how are you doing ?"

I still have no idea of my tactical move of giving him more space to express himself worked, or if he understood right away where I was leading him, but in the end, he still didn't seem bothered by this conversation we were having. In fact, it looked like he was enjoying it.

"I'm... content, I'd say." He paused, and I didn't interrupt him with another question this time. "I know I'm going through the life I wanted. The music, the tours, the praise. It's all I could have ever asked for."

D'accord, très bien, mais ? (Okey, very good, but ?) I stayed silent, but I couldn't help anticipating what he was saying.

"But surprisingly, sometimes it's still... unfulfilling. Like I can never be satisfied".

Repressing some Hamilton's lyrics from my mind, I innocently pretend I didn't fully understand what he meant - another journalistic technique, to get someone to repeat themselves with other words in order to get them deeper into their reflexion.

"What do you mean, "never be satisfied" ? You're on top of Spotify chart list, your albums are now platinum successes, you're winning awards. How is this not satisfying ?"

"It's just... What are all those things for ? Money ? Fame ? Yeah, I like those but..."

"Typical Capricorn" I muttered, to slide in the conversation that I actually knew pretty well my subject - my subject being him. He chuckled.

"Damn really ? Let me guess ? Aries ?"

"Pisces+Taurus, actually. So what, you don't like being famous ?" Getting back quickly into more questions - another technique to keep control over the rhythm of an interview.

"It's not that I dislike it. It's just... not always as fun as I thought it would be."

"What part of the job ? The writing and composing ?"

"No, that's the best part." He reached for a third cigarette. It was almost 11 pm now. "Vic, Thomas and Ethan. Måneskin. They're the best thing that ever happened to me".

"Then what, you feel like a fraud ?"

"Hell, no ! I'm exactly where I should be." He claimed, with a light pride tone.

"So, if you're proud of what you create, and if you love the people you create that with, then what is the matter ? If life is about getting the Bare Necessities, it seems like you got it all." Hitting with a universal - and musical - reference. Shoud do the trick.

"Hahaha ! Lo stretto indispensabile, si ! But life isn't that easy." He said laughing, as I felt he started to let go of the tension. "In real life, you get judged all the time, and people try to dismantle you, and spread rumors."

"I didn't think you'd be one to listen to people's comments about you".

"I'm not. I stopped giving credits to those. But it's still here, you know ?"

"From what I see, you're keeping it real, with lots of wisdom. I can't quite grasp what seem to bother you."

He paused, looking at his feet for a few seconds.

"I'm afraid it won't last." He finally confessed. "I'm afraid it all ends as quickly as it all started. I'm afraid people get bored. I'm afraid I become a caricature of myself. I'm afraid I can't write new songs. I'm afraid to be a shooting star, you see ? Very bright, but gone in a flash."

"Like, to be an Icare ? Or may I say "Ykaaar" like on your Instagram ?"

He chuckled again.

"Huh, I'm that obvious ?"

"Yeah, even a bit over-the-top, if I may dare say so."

"Well, I've always related so much with this mythological figure. I mean what's wrong with aiming for the Sun ?" He said, pointing a hand to the dark sky above us. From his attitude, I could tell he was way more relaxed than in the beginning. He even took his cap and hood off, so I could now see his face more clearly. His eyes were glittering. "Burning your wings... What's that morale supposed to teach us ? Be modest ? Be moderate ? Che noia !" (How boring !)

"Well don't be !" I felt almost like scolding him. "There's nothing wrong with seeking big dreams. As there's nothing wrong with this feeling of being outrun by your life. Savour the moment. Every second of it. It's because you can't know how long it may last that it tastes so good, so thrilling ! And you actually already are ten steps ahead ! Writing songs like ´Torna a casa' or ´Coraline' at, what, 19-20 years old ? You're the real deal, dude. And even if later on, you get blank page anxiety or write just good-enough songs, it's okey. You got plenty of time to make mistakes. Take the leap of faith. Failing and being a failure aren't the same. You learn, you grow from it. It's okey to doubt yourself, but please, don't ever doubt all the love and support you get."

I paused, hoping I didn't do too far and missed my point. But in a way, I could also feel I got it right. He was looking at the Circo, his eyes even more sparkling than before.

"I..." He got up, standing on the bench, looking as tall as a statue from my perspective. He came down and took a few steps. I got on my feet, starting to feel concerned about what I just said.

"I didn't know I needed to hear that." He finally confided. "I always wanna reach perfection. I'm aware I can be authoritative, sometimes even harsh, on the band. I can't accept to be a failure. But love and support, that, I can't get enough of."

I didn't respond. There was nothing to add. This instant felt like an hour. The wind was slightly blowing through the length of the Circo in front of us. His hair reflected the gentle light of the moon, only showing her first quarter. He broke the tranquility of the moment, turning and taking a few steps in my direction.

"Grazie mille" he said, his arms opened, calling for a hug.

"But, you're very welcome" I said approaching him, softly putting my arms on his back as he put his over my shoulders. The second before his face disappeared from my vision, i noticed a tear on his cheek.

"You've completed reset my mind. I feel like I can start all over again. I was anguished, trapped by my anxiety. But it's all gone now. You've changed me. Thank you, thank you so much" He affirmed full of hope, his voice shivering.

"Wow, well. I had no idea I could change someone's life." I answered, trying to hide how moved I myself was from the conversation.

------

It was almost midnight now. We kept talking for a while, comparing life in Rome and Paris, exchanging what was our best concert experiences. But he still needed to get back home to rest before the concert, and I didn't want to arrive too late at my airbnb - even if I could have spent the whole night talking with him. Yet, to enjoy our last few minutes together, he offered to walk me back to where I was staying. It was just a 15 minutes walk, along the Tevere river bank.

"So tell me." he asked with a smirk. "How does the Bare Necessities go in French ?" He started to muffle the melody.

"Oh no, you don't expect me to actually sing it ?"

"Hehe, you got me into a therapy session, so I can get a little song from you, no ?"

"Damn, you. This is blackmail !" But drunk on the moment, I took a deep breath.

"Il en faut peeeeeeu pour être heureux, ("Look for the baaaaare necessities,") vraiment très peu pour être heureux, ("the simple bare necessities") il faut se satisfaire du nécessaire !" ("Forget about your worries and your strife")"

I started dancing along, if I had to be ridiculous, might as well utterly be. But he actually followed my lead, clicking his fingers.

"In fondo, baaaasta il minimo, ("I mean the baaaaare necessities") sapessi quanto è facile ("Old Mother Nature's recipes") Trovar quel po' che occorre per campar ! ("That brings the bare necessities of life !")

We kept on singing Disney songs for a few minutes as we walked at a slow pace - I was shocked he never saw Tarzan and immediately made him promise to watch it as i told him Phil Collins recorded all the songs in five languages, including Italian. When we finally reached my destination, we exchanged a last timid hug as farewell.

"Well, I'll see you on stage tomorrow." I told him as I crossed the street.

"And I'll look for you in the crowd !" He shouted with the brightest smile on his perfect face.

** the end **

[ekingston]

thank you for thinking of me, @gveret-fic, in spite of the fact i can only just barely call myself a fan fic writer again!

1. How many works do you have on ao3?

just 2!

2. What’s your total ao3 word count?

a hilariously modest 49760.

3. How many fandoms have you written for?

five? six! i kept thinking of more as i was answering these questions!

4. Top 5 fics by kudos?

with only one exception none of my old stuff is up on ao3, so i suppose it’s You & Me & Holiday Wine on #1-4 and Picking Up on #5

5. Do you respond to comments? Why/why not?

i do! i’ve made it a habit to respond to all comments before or just after a new chapter goes up so at the moment i still have a large number of them unanswered— hopefully not for too much longer!

6. A fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending

i used to be a big fan of stark cynical nihilism, believe it or not, but i’ve arrived at a point where life seems full enough of that already so i’m trying to write brighter things these days.

7. Do you write crossovers?

i have! sometimes you just need a taste of how two characters from different pieces of media would interact, you know?

8. Ever received hate on a fic?

unfortunately.

9. Do you write smut?

DO i

(absolutely. in fact i hope you’ve all read it)

10. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

knock on wood because i fear that’d be much more traumatic than when it happens to my art 😒

11. Ever had a fic translated?

i was going to joke that it’s already been translated once since english isn’t my first language but that’s not actually how it works so, no!

12. Have you ever co-written a fic?

well there is something in the works but i don’t think it strictly counts as co-writership!!

13. All time fav ship?

never have i ever been as obsessed with a particular pairing as i am with supercorp now and i was online when Xena:Warrior Princess was still on the air, so. can you imagine how tired i am?

14. WIP you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

i’ve arrived at a point where i need to either just write this fairytale au in one inebriated sleepless weekend or kill it entirely, because it’s taking up valuable headspace i would much rather be using to finish YMHW and on editing & publishing my second supercorp fic.

15. Writing strengths?

i hear i write humor well! which has been a bewildering discovery but also extraordinarily rewarding!

16. Writing weaknesses?

i’m afraid i still could use some work when it comes to pacing. also actually making myself sit down and write, even when my head isn’t quite in it

17. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in a fic?

perhaps with the exception where you, the writer, are multilingual and you know for sure that you’re writing exclusively for an audience that’s also fluent in those exact same languages, maybe don’t?

18. First fandom you wrote for?

i was in elementary school at the time so i could barely loop my g’s and i had no idea what i was doing, but it was for V the original series — the show is from 1984 but the reruns aired here years later and i had the queerest urge to make the two evil ladies with the enormous hair who glared and glinted their teeth at each other a lot become the very best of friends.

19. What’s your fav fic you’ve written so far?

no fan fic i’ve written before has given me as much joy and satisfaction as YMHW has and that’s in huge part due to the warm reception it’s gotten. i’m grateful for everyone who has taken the time to read it, and that includes those who never leave a comment because i understand how hard that can be and i’m here mainly to give people something to enjoy, not to cause stress or guilt about not leaving a note! i have a lot of love for all of you!

i’m sorry if i’m tagging people who have been tagged before, but: @msdanvers, @ayeti, @spicycheeser, @roseticospacebae & @deadbiwrites, give me yours!