#so if it is an April fools joke you need to work on humor

[imthecleric]

Ooc: now people think will is Brenner??? I simply cannot with this fandom and their “media literacy”

[mostlymarvelsstuff]

To Call You Mine

Chapter 10.5

Authors note: Thank you all for humoring my April fools joke, for being such good sports this real chapter is full of fluff with a sprinkle of smut. Hope you all enjoy! 

Warnings: smut(grinding, groping, lactation kink, vaginal penetration), a/b/o content(knotting) 

Word count: 4757     Nat Masterlist    Marvel Masterlist   TCYM Masterlist

   It's been about a month since the New Year's gathering with your friends, and every move Natasha has made since then has been utterly adorable. First she made sure to schedule all the appropriate appointments with the correct doctors, even though she’s only had to go to one so far. And then she began to look up all the items she wanted for the pups nursery, and lastly she's been nesting. Which is currently what you find her doing. She shifts around in her nest, fluffing pillows the way she wants them and rearranging some blankets. 

   “Alpha?” she calls out, turning to look at you where you stand

   “Yes my Omega?”

   “Can you please come cuddle? I need my nest to smell like you to get comfortable.”

   A soft smile spreads across your features, “Of course Natty”

   You gently join her in the nest, sitting down beside her. A purr rumbles in her chest as she snuggles into you, practically crawling into your lap and your strong arms wrap around her. She nearly melts in your hold as you begin to scent her and the nest, a sense of peace and love washing over her. Unbeknownst to her, her purr becomes louder and you chuckle at her cuteness.

   “Is my Omega happy?”

   She nods, “Very happy. This is what I’ve always wanted.”

   “Me too” you admit, kissing her cheek, “I’m so excited to have this life with you, Dima and our pup”

   “Don’t forget Liho” she teases, and the cat meows from her spot on the nearby windowsill

   You both laugh, “Oh yes, and Liho. I could never forget our kitty”

   The two of you fall into a comfortable silence for several minutes, just content to be soaking in each other's presence and scents. But after a while your Omega shifts in you arms, letting one of her hands rest against her small bump

   “Do you want a boy or a girl?” she asks, looking up at you with curious eyes

   You ponder it for a moment, “I think a girl would be nice, but I’m not picky Natty. As long as they’re safe and healthy I’ll be happy. What about you?”

   “I want a daughter” she confesses with a smile, “I love Dima so very much, but growing up I always dreamed about having a little girl.”

   You move your hands to cup her small bump and she leans even further into your touch, “Then I hope it's a girl, because I want my Omega to get everything she wants. She deserves it.”

   It doesn’t take long for your mate to fall asleep in your embrace, and you make no attempts to move from her nest. Instead you simply pull the blankets up snuggly around you both and make sure Dimas baby monitor is nearby. Though it's rare for the pup not to sleep through the night, you’d rather be safe than sorry.

   When Natasha awakes the next morning she's greeted by the sight of you asleep beside her and she's absolutely thrilled that her nest and blankets smell like you. She knows the whole house is yours and therefore hers, but there's just something in an Omegas instincts that make them cling to their nests when with pup, and to have hers smelling like her mate, her safe space personified, it really soothes her.

   She takes a moment to look over your peaceful features and she begins to purr, happy that her Alpha is so content beside her. Unfortunately she can't watch you slumber long as the cooing on the other end of the monitor informs her that her pup is awake and she knows it's best to feed and tend to him before he actually cries out for her.

   She slips away from you as stealthily as possible and makes her way upstairs. She makes quick work of changing Dimas diaper before settling into the rocking chair with him. She lifts up her shirt and in no time he begins to suckle.

   "You know my sweet boy, you're going to have to learn to share." She tells him, running her fingers through his messy hair, "You're going to have a sibling in a few months. Someone for you to play with" 

   His bright eyes look up to her and she wonders if he understands what all that means, or if it's something he'll have to see to take in. She remembers she took the news of Yelena's pending arrival quite well, but she was also older than Dima currently is when that news came. She really hopes he'll be just as close with the new pup as she is with her sister, sibling bonds in a pack are something special.

   Just then her phone goes off and thinking it could be you letting her know you were awake and making breakfast she eagerly picks it up. But instead of her Alphas name she finds her best friend's name across the screen.

   Wanda: Good morning Nat. I was wondering, do you have plans for today?

   Nat: Nope, I'm free. What's up?

   Wanda: Care to go shopping with me? You've had a pup already and I would really like your advice on things to get for mine. I'm much more nervous about all of this than I expected to be.

  Nat: Aww, of course I'll come Wans! And there's no need to be nervous, you're going to be a great mom, I know it.

   Wanda: ❤️ thank you dorogoy(sweetheart). Pick you up in an hour?

  Nat: sounds perfect. See you soon

  She slips her phone back in her pocket before she stands and makes her way downstairs, her pup still attached to her breast. She quietly re-enters the bedroom and sits beside you in the nest, letting the hand that's not supporting Dima caress your face.

   "Y/n, baby" she calls out, smiling as your brows twitch, "Alpha, time to get up"

   You yawn before opening your eyes and though you're still groggy a smile spreads across your lips as you see your Omega and pup in front of you.

   "Mornin' Natty"

   "Good morning baby, sleep well?" She asks, her hand still caressing your cheek

  You nod, "Very well. Did you?"

  "Mhm, I certainly did"

   "Good" you declare, moving your one hand to hold hers while your other grabs Dimas, "Mornin' sweetheart"

  Despite enjoying his breakfast he still manages to coo at you and squeezes your fingers affectionately and Natashas mind wanders to images of you and the unborn pup interacting in such ways as well, making her heart swell.

   "Wanda wants me to help her while she shops for her pup, she's picking me up in an hour if that's ok."

  "Of course it's ok." You tell her, squeezing her hand, "Just be careful. It's dangerous enough for Omegas out there, let alone pregnant ones."

  "We will be, because there's no way Vis is letting her go alone. She may be driving but she's not alone"

   You nod, "Ok good. I'll keep Dima here so you can be out as long as you need to be with them."

   "You sure you won't mind?" She asks, still not entirely used to having such a caring and considerate mate

  "I'll be fine. Tony says I probably won’t be needed until April, so all I have to do is check over my guys schedule, make sure they show and handle a small bit of paperwork. I can easily keep an eye on him with the monitor until I'm done and then me, him and Liho can have some fun."

   She smiles and leans in for a quick kiss, "Thank you Alpha. I appreciate you so much, my love"

   "Aww Natty, it's really no problem."

   "I know, I'm just so thankful I have you" she replies just as Dima finally detaches from her, "Would you mind taking him so I can get ready?"

   "Of course not" you reply, sitting up and taking the pup from her, "Come on buddy, let's go get you the rest of your breakfast"

   By the time you're finished feeding him his oatmeal and fruit your Omega has finished getting ready and she joins the two of you in the kitchen with a kiss to each of your cheeks.

   "Here detka(baby), I know you don't have a lot of time before Wanda shows up, but you need to eat. For both of you."

   Her heart warms as you hand her a freshly made omelet, with all of her favorite ingredients and she happily grabs the plate from you.

   "Thank you baby” she says, giving you another kiss on the cheek before sitting down at the table next to Dima in his highchair, “Were you a good boy for your Mama?”

   He coos at her with a smile and you chuckle, “He was. Ate every bit of his food”

   “Good” she says with a smile, pinching his cheek lightly as she scoops the last forkful of breakfast into her mouth, “Please continue to be good malen'kiy (little one)”

   “Don’t worry, he will be. Now go on, I think Wanda just pulled up”

   She quickly hops up and gives you a kiss, “I love you Alpha, see you later”

   “Love you too Omega, be careful and have fun!” you reply, ignoring the strange sense of deja vu 

   A few minutes after your Omega departs you scoop Dima up and your arms and take him upstairs. You gently set him down in the large playpen in the middle of his room and place a few more of his toys inside with him before kissing the top of his head

   “I’ll be downstairs in my office for a little while, but I’ll have your monitor with me” you tell him, as if he understood a word, “Have fun little guy”

   Not wanting to leave him alone for the entire time Natasha is away, you head straight for your office in order to get to work. You sit down at your desk and smirk at the picture of your Omega that she had gifted you before your focus goes to your computer. You log on and take a look at the schedule for your men, making sure each is on there for their requested hours while also making sure Tony never goes without bodyguards. Satisfied with the schedule you send it off in an email to all your men as well as Tony himself, and no surprise, Tony promptly replies with an email.

    Tony: Thanks Y/n, hope all is well with you and your Omega. Don’t forget I have that upcoming gala that I’ll need you for in about a month.

   Y/n: We’re doing very good, thank you. We’re actually expecting another pup! I’m incredibly excited and nervous. Hope you and Pepper are well too. Right, fundraising for the new research projects, right?

   Tony: Congrats kid!! Why the hell didn’t you tell me sooner!? You’ll need time off!!

  Y/n: Tony, I don’t need time off, I only come in when absolutely necessary to begin with, it’ll be fine. I’ll only need someone to cover for me if something comes up around the time the pup is due.

   Tony: Alright, alright. Fine. Do you know how many you're having? Or what they’ll be?

   Y/n: Not yet, we still have a little waiting to do until then. Probably another month before we’ll know.

  Tony: Well keep me informed and if you need to stay home for the Gala, it's not a problem at all!

   Y/n: Thank you Tony. Now if you’ll excuse me I have some paperwork to catch up on

  Tony: No problem kid! Talk soon!

   You close your laptop and pull a small stack of paperwork out of one of your file drawers and set it infront of yourself as you grab a pen. It’s nothing exciting. Just signatures here or there and a few forms of approval for new and better gear. About halfway through you pull out your monitor and look at your pup through the camera, and you smile as you see him contently playing with a few of his stuffies. 

   “Mama will be done here soon honey” you tell him through the device's microphone, assuring him that he's not alone in the vast house. You listen to him babble for a little bit before setting the monitor back down and getting back to work. 

   Finally you finish everything and you clean up your workspace a bit before heading upstairs. You quietly walk into Dimas room, wanting to see what he was up to without disturbing him. He's now laying on his stomach, his back feet kicking adorably as he chews on one of his first teething rings. He quickly notices your presence though and drops the toy to give you grabby hands.

   “Hi little man” You chuckle as you pick the young pup up, “What do you say we head downstairs, get some lunch and then watch some tv while we wait for your Mama to come home, hm?”

   You carry him back downstairs and settle him down in his bouncer by the tv and you turn on his current favorite cartoon, Bluey, before going back into the kitchen. You scramble up an egg for you and Dima to split, adding some lentils and turkey bites on the side for him before quickly putting together a turkey sandwich for yourself.

   When you return to the living room with your food you find Liho waiting for you on the sofa, her wide eyes scanning your plate for a potential treat. You toss a small piece of turkey to her before returning your focus to Dima. You feed him his lunch between his coos and giggles as he watches his show, only eating your own once he's finished. And of course this means sharing the occasional bite with your Omegas pesky kitten.

   After you gather all the dishes and take them out back out to the kitchen to sit in the sink until you go to wash everything after dinner, you grab a bag of cheese puffs for yourself to snack on during the cartoon before returning to Dima and Liho. As you sit down your phone pings, and knowing it's most likely your mate, you promptly pull it out of your pocket.

   Natty: Hi moya lyubov'(my love), sorry for not checking in sooner but I didn’t want to risk disturbing you while you worked. Everything ok at home?

   Y/n: No worries detka(baby), I figured you were busy showing Wan and Vis everything pup related anyway. All good here, I finished up work a bit ago and the three of us just had lunch. He's behaving perfectly. Will you be eating lunch with them or should I prepare you something?

   Natty: Good, was worried how he would behave, I've never been away from him for so long before. Thank you baby, but no need, we’ve just sat down to have lunch ourselves. I should be home not long after, Wanda just has one last store to take us to, if that's alright.

   Y/n: Of course Natty. Now go eat something delicious and enjoy the rest of your time with them. I'll see you soon my Omega, love you ❤️

   Natty: Love you too my Alpha, see you soon ❤️

After another episode of Bluey ends you notice the pup beginning to lose interest, so you remove him from the bouncer and place him on the floor. You join him, pulling over a few of his toys for you both to play with and you switch the show over to some Winnie the Pooh, his other favorite currently. A few minutes pass when suddenly Liho gets up from her spot on the sofa and darts for the front door.

   You then hear a car door shut before keys jingle and you smile at the fact that somehow Liho knew Nat was home before there was even any indication. The door opens and the kitten begins meowing, acting as if she had been left home alone all day without a sliver of attention. You can hear your Omega fretting over her before she enters the room.

   “Hi baby” she calls out, a smile on her face as she sets down a few bags nearby, “I got a few things while helping Wanda find some things, I just couldn’t help it. I’m so excited to meet our pup”

   You smile fondly at her, “I don’t blame you one bit, I also can’t wait”

   She makes her way over to the two of you and sits down beside you, giving you a kiss in greeting before turning her attention to Dima, “Hi malen'kiy(little one)”

   He smiles brightly and babbles, doing his best to waddle over to her without falling. She opens her arms to him and hugs him tightly, before peppering his face with kisses. He giggles at the action, warming both your hearts and making you both smile. After a bit more attention he lets out a yawn and Natasha knows what that means.

   “Looks like someone is sleepy” she tells you, situating the pup in her arms, “I’m gonna go lay him down for his nap before dinner, when I come back down can we go cuddle in my nest?”                                

   “Of course we can, baby. I’ll meet you in there, ok?” She nods excitedly, before heading upstairs. 

   The small pup wiggles as she places him on his changing table and she chuckles at him while grabbing his feet playfully. He squeals with delight while he softly kicks his feet in a fake attempt to keep her away from him.

   “I’m gonna get you!” she teases, wiggling her fingers dramatically before tickling his small belly

   He erupts in a fit of giggles and so does she as she continues tickling him, all of which you can hear and see through the monitor that sits on the windowsill next to your Omegas nest. 

   You smile to yourself as you prepare yourself for cuddles. Now you would think it doesn’t take much for that, but when you're an Alpha that tends to overheat easily paired with a pregnant Omega that practically needs to be buried in blankets to feel completely comfortable, preparations are needed.

   You quickly strip down to just your boxers and throw on an old tank top you usually wear when working out before climbing into your mates nest. You fluff up a few of her pillows and scent her stuffies for her to make sure she's comfortable, and just as you finish scenting her favorite blanket she makes her way into the bedroom.

   Your scent is strong now, and the sight of you in your boxers has her mind wandering to some less than savory thoughts as she makes her way over to you. Without hesitation she straddles your lap and wraps her arms around you as she nuzzles against your neck. At first you think nothing of it, she often likes to cuddle in this position. But when her lips start kissing your scent gland and her hips start to grind against you, you realize she had a different motive this time.

   “Does my Omega need something?” you tease, letting your hands moving to grab her  ass to help her move against you

   “You ” she whimpers, feeling your cock beginning to harden beneath her, “Please baby”

   “I got you Natty, just tell me what you need”

   “Your cock” she purrs, “Need you inside me”

   Suddenly Natasha finds herself laying in her nest with you hovering above her, your arms on either side of her as your hips press against hers. She watches the way your muscles flex and lets out a moan as your bulge rubs against her core, silently cursing the clothes that are in the way.

   “Y/n, please” she whines, wiggling her hips as her hands tug at your tank top

   You can’t help but smile at her needy state, but you relent to her wishes and move away long enough to remove the offending items from yourself before moving onto her. Her shirt is the first thing to go, her bra following right after and you can’t resist the urge to let your tongue lick at the few drops of milk that escape her breasts. She lets out another whimper and one hand wraps itself around you to hold you there while the other presses against your abs as if to distance herself from you and you chuckle at her predicament. You make a decision for her, pulling away and removing the rest of her clothes so you can give her exactly what she wants. 

   “You're soaked Natty” you breath out, letting the tip of your cock rest against her opening

   “Mhm” she whimpers, her hands gripping the blanket beneath her in anticipation

   Finally you push your hips forward, slipping inside her easily as you both let out a moan of pleasure. You start thrusting immediately and she lets out a soft purr when you begin to cover her chest in kisses, your hand trailing across her small bump

   “I love you” she says, running a gentle hand down your back

   You look up at her with a grin, “I love you too Natty”

   She guides your face back up to hers and captures your lips in a passionate kiss and moans when your tongue slips inside her mouth. Her arms wrap around your torso and her fingertips dig into your shoulders hard enough that you expect a few bruises to be left behind. You break the kiss in order to catch your breath and she takes the opportunity to once again nuzzle against your neck 

   “Ooh god!” she exclaims as your cock rubs against a sensitive spot inside her, causing her walls to clench tightly around you

   “Fuck!” you moan and Natasha practically melts at the gruffness of your voice

   The speed of your thrusts picks up as you chase your release, you knot quickly beginning to form and you can tell she's just as close as you are by the way she flutters around you.

   “Knot me, please” she begs, “Fill me up baby”

   With one final thrust your knot slips inside her, locking you together, and your warm seed pours into her eager pussy, throwing her into her own powerful orgasm. Her head falls back as she lets out a mixture of beautiful noises and her arms tremble slightly as she comes down from her high

   “You alright?” 

    Her eyes slowly open to look at you and she gives you a satisfied smile, “Mhm”

   “Good” you reply, cupping her face in your hands. Your thumbs caress the apples of her cheeks, causing her to purr at the affection

   You pull your hands away and wrap them around her before rolling over, letting her rest atop you while your knot holds you two together. She keeps her arms tightly around you,her head resting against the center of your chest as your fingers card through her hair as your other rests on her hip. 

   By the time your knot deflates she's practically asleep in your embrace so you decide for an easier clean up instead of a full bath this time. You slide yourself out of her, causing her to whimper as she's still sensitive but you distract her with soft forehead kisses

  “I’ll be right back Natty” you whisper as you shuffle her to her side and slip out of the nest.

    You quickly move about the bathroom, cleaning yourself off with a soapy washcloth before moving to prepare one for your mate. Her groggy eyes meet yours as you emerge and she smiles as you kneel beside her. Without needing to be asked she spreads her legs apart, allowing you to gently clean her. Once you're done you cover her with one of her many blankets, only leaving to toss the washcloth in the dirty laundry. And when you return you find her struggling against sleep, no doubt because she's waiting for you.

   “Take a nap Natty” you tell her, slipping under the blanket beside her, “I’ll wake you up before we have to get Dima up.”

   “Mkay” she replies, snuggling against you, “Love you”

  “Love you too” you reply, wrapping a protective arm around her 

  A few hours later you gently cup her face, “Baby, time to get up. We gotta wake Dima and have Dinner”

   She groans and her face scrunches up adorably as she stretches but her green eyes finally open to look at you, “Hi”

   You chuckle, “Hi Natty. Since I’m already dressed I’m gonna go get him, while you put your pajamas on think about what you’d like and I can either make or order it”

   She nods and watches you fondly as you leave the room, finally pulling herself out of the nest and into her most snuggly pair of pajamas once she hears you and Dima making your way out of his room via the monitor. She watches you diligently place him in his bouncer as you turn on cartoons for him before turning to pet the curious Liho where she sits in the armchair

   “Hi baby, thanks for getting him” she says before hugging you

   You wrap your arms around her, “Of course. Figure out what you want for dinner?” 

   She hums in thought, “How about pizza?”

   “From the shop that makes the brownies?”

   She nods excitedly, “Yes please!”

    You smile and pull out your phone, quickly hoping on the Doordash app to place your order of pizza and brownies, “It’ll be here in about ten minutes”

   “Thank you baby, better go get Dimas food ready”

    By the time she's finished making his rice with small portions of veggies and meat on the side you're opening the door to collect your order. You carry it in and set it on the table, returning to the living room to grab your pup while she plates his food. You get him in his highchair at the table while your mate brings over his food as well as plates for the two of you. You sit down across from her, closest to Dima so that she can eat unhindered as you help him with his meal.

   After a few bites of her pizza Nat is reminded of something Wanda had mentioned earlier that she wanted to bring up with you, “Alpha?”

   “Hmm?” you reply only looking to her once your pup swallows his spoonful of rice

   “Wanda said next month she and Vis are going to go find out how many pups she's carrying and their genders, and i was wondering if we could do that too. They should be just big enough by then” she asks, her nervousness evident

   You know this nervousness has nothing to do with you, it stems from Brucs behavior. Nat now struggles to ask Alphas any questions, as she wants to avoid upsetting them. But she's much better than she had been, especially with you. But this subject deals with something emotional so it's natural that her anxieties would flare up. You take a second to set Dimas spoon down before turning to face her and you bring your hand up to hold hers

   “I would love that, my Omega” you answer honestly, giving her hand a squeeze

   She gives you a wide grin, but that quickly turns to a look of surprise as rice flies into the side of your face. You give her the same expression of shock before turning to your pup and he lets out a high pitched giggle as a few grains fall to the table. Natasha begins to laugh with him, despite her attempts not to and you can't help but laugh along with them

   “And this is why you're still not allowed cutlery mister” you tell him, reaching for his spoon

   “I don’t know, I think he did pretty well with that shot” your Omega wheezes through her laughter 

   You shake your head, “Oh there truly is no deny he's related to you or Lena thats for sure”

   “Oh!” she exclaims, “She has to see what her nephews accomplished, look here!”

   Begrudgingly you do so, letting her snap a photo and send it off to her sister and probably Wanda too. Sure enough your phone dings twice and you take a glance at the notifications

   Lena: He's got my aim. I am so proud. ❤️

   Wanda: Lookin good hot stuff, loving the new accessories

   You look over at your still giggling mate, “I’ll remember this when he nails you with applesauce”

Taglist: @wandaromamoff69 @mmmmokdok @nataliasknife @natashasilverfox @when-wolves-howl @danveration @naomi-m3ndez @sheneonromanoff @sayah13 @likefirenrain @nighttime-dreaming  @readings-stuff @chaoticevilbakugo @crystalstark02 @wackymcstupid @xchaiix @iaminluvwithnat @lovelyy-moonlight @blackwidow-3 @mistressofinsomnia @that-one-gay-mosquito @yomamagf @yourfavdummy @justarandomreaderxoxo @scoutlp23-blog @whoischanelle15 @lissaaaa145 @eline03 @wizardofstories @imthenatynat @marvelonmymind @fluffyblanketgecko @bitch-616 @dakotastormm  @zoomdeathknight @rayeofmoonlight @naslt @lattayhottay16 @yelenabelov-ed @thatonebrazilian  @marvelwomen-simp @wannabe-fic-reader @tashakink @whitewidowsbite @smromanoff

[stalkerofthegods]

Loki Deep dive

Signs he's reaching out- seeing the Snaptun Stone, Large numbers of spiders, Fire seeing his symbols and things that remind you of him in a dream, a close brush with danger, Dreams of Loki speaking to you, Repeated appearances of any of the animals related to Loki, sudden obsession on him or seeing things related to him that you wouldn’t regularly notice

Days & holidays! - Autumn Equinox, Samhain, Yule, Sep 5 UPG (tumbler meme devoted to him day) , Julaften, Saturday, April fools, Lokablót

Equivalent- logi  (the personification of fire), Prometheus, Tantalus, Jesus, Pan, Cernunnos, Dionysus, anasi, Bacchus, Lugh, Hermes, Mercury, Elegua, Eshu, Prometheus, Veles, Coyote and Crow

Dislikes- in my experience he wasn’t a fan of Hermes, he doesn’t like Heimdall (Heimdall kills Loki ) 

Married- he is married to Sigyn! (the goddess of Victory)   Also, Loki’s first wife (Angrboda who was a Jotun ) taught Loki magic, later he devoured her heart because she was an ‘evil’ witch.

Zodiac- Aries and Gemini 

Siblings - Blood Odin, Hellblindi and Balyestyr

Devotional- volunteering to help survivors of trauma, helping with orphanages, and those who are in need, laughing at yourself.

Animal - Coyote, Salmon, Snakes, Foxes, vulture, Quiscalus quiscula, wolves, serpents, cats, falcon, butterfly, raven, flies, dragons, spiders.

colors - yellow , green , red, pink, neons, purple, gold, silver, Black, violet 

offerings - Candy, Atomic Fireball (he loves alcohol ex- tequila, rum, brandy, and mead, but he does get tired of it beacuse it’s offered so much), Pez, Pixie Sticks, cookies/pastries, caramel apples. Speaking of apples, He loves red food (ex-Red Velvet) He likes things with a lot of pepper spice, or even just the peppers themselves (habaneros seem to be a favorite), good whiskey, bread, knives, whatever reminds him of u, also baked goods, or anything really, you can give him just sugar or just food, whatever says “LOKI!!”, he also loves caffeinated drinks!, he likes cinnamon, chocolate, Tobacco, weed, cheesecake, especially with berries,  old granddad brand of alcohol, and hard cinnamon flavored or spicy liquor, and spicy runs and mulled wine! Carmel golden apples!  He also loves Nutella, I would recommend giving whatever you think he would like, he likes new things I heard.

Number - 13  and Kaunaz, Naudiz, Thurisaz, number 3, The Berkana rune, 

Planet- Pluto, Dark Moon

To do in his honor  - Inner Child work, Llaughing at yourself, Accepting that no one and self is perfect, and mistakes are okay, Feeling all of our feelings, drawing, coloring, singing, dancing, being creative, working with children or the elderly, collecting and sharing jokes, going on a walk, get lost, go on an adventure with friends or fellow outcasts, go clean up a local park in his honor, do something ur scared of, joke in their honor 

What he favors in devotes - Passion and drive, inc stubbornness, a go-getter, hunger for life, child like playfull Ness

God of - Celeverness, change, Creation, Cunning, Divine, Discovery, Humor, knowledge, sex, Seduction, shapeshifting, trickster (mischief), wit, truth,  temptation, the hearth, nature. 

Patron -outcasts (black sheep), earthquakes, changing cycles of the moon, nature, fire itself.

his weapon- Lævateinn

Herbs - daisy, mistletoe, Lavender, Patchouli, Cinnamon, Clove, Hemp, Holly, Mistletoe, Cedar, Juniper, Elder, “yellow rattle” plant, lokasjóður, “Loki’s Purse” (a plant), Loki oats, wild oats, birch, alder, mullein, acorns, Aspen trees (UPG)

Preferred coffee- very very sweet. (I also heard he likes mocha) 

Remind me of him - smiling, laughter, dancing, knives, horns, flowers, trees, flies, foxes, rings, black nail polish, masks, spiders, red hair, cat eyeliner look, eyeliner, blue eyes, plastic toys, nature 

Blessings - sharper knives (be careful they may be blunt one second and then sharp)

Tarot- The magician, Wheel of Fortune, the sun, the devil, the tower, the magician, 

Signs - spiders, vultures, snakes, seals, foxes, flies, wolves, Dandelions, coyotes 

Alter decorations - boats, kids' toys, anything listed here really.

Scents - He likes cinnamon, mulled wine, cotton candy, and peaty whiskey and yew, but nothing strong or overwhelming or alluring and anything too feminine, he also dislikes super masculine colognes. He likes Pine, cinnamon, sugar & spice, honey, and wild berry incense and dragons blood incense 

Animals• Fox, spiders,Flies, salmon horses, vultures 

Crystal• Volcanic and Sulfurous stones (ex. Obsidian Gypsum, Hematite, etc.)((is associated with tectonic activity)), pyrite (fools gold), color-changing stones, Bloodstone, Xlead calcite, Sunsgone, Stones associated with the air element, red stones, Stones of any other color you associated with Loki (ex- red Jasper, Garnet, Carnelian, Ruby), Stones that scream “LOKI!!”, but mostly - Red Jasper, Amber, Garnet, Goldstone; Plastic, Acrylic, Glass, Gold, Bronze, Silver, Magnesium, Orange calcite, hematite, fire agate, onyx, etc.), serpentine, fire quartz, smoky quartz, pyrite, multi-colored/color-changing stones (labradorite, fluorite, alexandrite, bismuth, etc.), carnelian, and tiger's eye, kambaba jasper, prehnite, garnet, green aventurine, malachite, and petrified wood, Yellow calcite

Symbols•fox, Knox, web, Tangles, snakes, Flies, salmon, horses, Mistletoe, (I've also heard vulture, hawk, skull

Names•known as sky traveler, Ve, or, father of monsters, Flamehair, “that bastard” (UPG), Lie-Smith, Sly-God, Shape-Changer, Sly-One, Lopt, Sky Traveller, Sky Walker, Wizard Of Lies, and Loftur and I'm sure there's more. (I’ve accidentally called him Taco Bell before myself.) 

Mortal or immortal • immortal, but has apples to live longer, suspected the Apple effects last YEARS (like more than 100+ years. Because he is not “old” or dead yet, and in mythology, they take it to stay young and live forever.) and ragnorok

Vows/omans• Blood brother with Odin, Loki swears oaths that he will devise a scheme to cause the builder (of the wall of the asier home) to forfeit the payment, whatever it may cost himself.

Morals• He's morally grey 

Personality• understanding, and fast going, can be jealous and has a quick temper.

Fact• He had a wife before Sigyn and he is in a cave until Ragnorok. I also heard he like farts a lot. And sends spiders, so beware, he made spiders in Sweden mythology 

Roots• Norse mythology 

Appearance in astral or gen• red hair and fair skin but not too red or too fair. Also, blue eyes I think or green. Or anything at all really.

Children- Hel, Jormangandr, Fenir, Sleipnir, Vanir, Narfi, (from sigyn) Svadilfari,  and Einmyria and Eisa (with Glut.) He also ate a woman’s heart and bore the first witch, some say also a HUGE cat. 

Season• the month of Gemini and Aries 

Status• God and Yotan

Element- Fire, air, nature.

Personality- Loki is not always the most mature and can sometimes act like a toddler. Also chaotic Neutral. he is not an omniscient Deity, but true to his word.

Parentage • The tree Lufey and farbauti

Prayers•

Flame-hair, your soul burning into the night, Throwing caution to the wind And casting the die of fate, Teach me your fearlessness. Lie-smith, your sharp words like daggers, Cutting through illusions to the bone And revealing the reality we refuse to see, Teach me your clarity. Silver-tongue, whispering carefully veiled truths, Sowing shrouded mystery in your wake, And leading only the clever onward, Teach me your secrecy. And leading only the clever onward, Teach me your secrecy. Gift-Bringer, recognizing all the overlooked, Giving rightly earned reward where it’s due, And in turn, blame as well, Teach me your justice. Scar-lip, ending silence in the face of injustice, Grinning down at the outcasts And rallying your voice with theirs, Teach me your anger. Pain-holder, accepting your punishment, Embracing the consequences of your deeds, And taking the fall of those who are weaker, Teach me your resilience. World-breaker, harbinger of chaos, Spitting fire upon the stagnant And carving the spear of change, Teach me your courage. Cruel-striker, slanderer of the gods, Burning the inefficient and stale, Revealing potential in the ashes, Teach me your insight. Sly-walker, throwing your mischievous grin about And casting laughter into the darkness Where before there was only despair, Teach me your joy. Shape-changer, manipulator of all walks of life, Confidently adapting to every situation, Commanding the strength of any form, Teach me your cunning. Hearth-fire, warmth of my heart, Your arms a sanctuary where none is found Light and life of the home I can always return to, Teach me your nurturing. Sky-treader, ever true to your wild heart,Letting none even try to contain your spirit As free as the sky itself, Teach me your passion. Hail Loki, And thank you, my God, For everything you bring to my life.I love you so.

- by @klawl

Links/websites/sources •

Links I recommend - 

Loki is the Norse god of mischief, and the hard cold truth, even tho he may be cold, he is wise, and charming in many ways.

I use resources, I do not own the info, and most deep dives have UPG (that I use in my work.) And I only take some information from sources. I am 14, this is my hobby, I am learning but I spent many hours and days on this, and I am always open to criticism. I have been doing worship for 5 years. Please know you can use the info, I do not sue, but I will take action if this work is used without permission and not put as a resource if used in any work. without permisson and not put as a resource if used in any work, for the public.

[magicmindless]

I need more headcannons! I really love reading some of them and imagining if that were real from the Flipverse characters! 💖💖

Well I guess as long as someone asks then I can keep making these

-During Mocharia Life, for April Fool's day Didar did the old “not prank anyone” trick, he just made everyone think he was gonna prank them but never did

-Speaking of which, for Halloween, the spotlight was placed on Didar. As much as Petrona dreaded it, she asked Didar to come up with a few elaborate pranks to play on passing customers. The best prank they played was similar to this prank

-Isadora wants to be an actor like Budwin formerly was, however, Budwin really hopes that she doesn’t due to his past experiences

-Koilee has fantasies about being a siren, luring men to her koi pond and killing them. She doesn’t hate men or anything, nor is she crazy about them, it’s just something she thinks about

-Back in middle school kids tried to bully Xandra and Xolo for their looks. It stopped very quickly due to them showing their capabilities on how quickly they can traumatize people

-Sue’s hair used to be a lot longer, but then she had a meltdown and cut her hair short. (Yeah she was one of those people), and now she keeps it at the length it is

Edit: Ok I kinda don’t like the reason that Sue had her hair cut (but if you do I’m keeping it up) so I made another reason

-The reason Sue had her hair cut was because she was getting her hair trimmed while Mindy was an amateur and she accidentally cut off a long piece of her hair so she was like “well time to cut the rest of it off” so then her hair was super short. But then it grew out to the hair length she has now

-Petrona secretly likes sex jokes. She’s mostly a sarcastic person with dry humor, however, any humor that involves sex is almost guaranteed to make her burst into laughter. For professional reasons however, this usually isn’t known

-While thinking about what to be for Halloween, someone told Sue (don't know who but it was probably either Trishna or Didar) that she was already scary enough and that she didn't need a costume. Later she was seen chasing said person with a knife. (It was a fake knife but it was still scary)

-While hiring, all Mocharia crew members (everyone in credits) had to sign a contract by Papa Louie saying that they will never mention how they got hired to anyone outside the production (hm…)

-NuMarcus doesn't sell NFTs. He takes screenshots of them and THEN sells them

-Foodini once collaborated with Duke Gotcha to make a game show called “Not-funny News” (which is basically “Don’t Laugh News” from College Humor). There was even an entire episode exposing Duke

-Nick has gotten to a point in his life where every time he gets hurt, instead of crying out for help or reacting much, he just lies on the floor contemplating his life for a few minutes

-Timm isn’t a good dance teacher. He goes way too fast for the person

-Each city and town in the Papa Louie universe has different stereotypes about the people. Mentioned below is basically what people will think about you if you grew up in one of these places

(DISCLAIMER) These are all stereotypes for a reason. They’re not meant to be taken seriously, and they’re not factual):

Burgerburgh: It’s so incredibly boring that you just have to do things. You’re really really good at one thing, but then you’re terrible at everything else. Or you’re just decent at everything

Calypso: You’re nice friend material but you wouldn’t be able to keep a partner. You’re either super sweet to tourists or lowkey a prick to them

Frostfield: You’re a huge pushover who is way too trusting of people, but you could throw hands if you must

Maple Mountains: You’re brutally honest and always on edge for some reason

New Pepperton: You are INSANELY into geek culture

Oilseed Springs: You may be slightly passive aggressive and you got bored of chickens super quickly, but you know how to work with your hands

Oniontown: You like to joke about your trauma and you probably need therapy

Portallini: You think love is super important and believe in something that involves some sort of spirituality or paranormal whatever

Powder Point: You’re rather laidback for someone who lives in an amusement park, but that doesn’t mean you can’t go crazy

Sakura Bay: You care about the environment and like to keep things clean and perfect. Also you just know how to make things look pretty

Starlight City: You are competitive over everything and like to indulge in alcohol and fancy parties

Tacodale: You have some sort of rags to riches story or sob story everyone pities you over

Tastyville: No matter how different you may be from others, you have this energy that just screams you’re from Tastyville. You probably have some sort of big-shot dream but you can’t quite make it yet so you’re just here for now (Edit: You know what? I agree with people saying Tastyville is Ohio-coded, and from the absurd memes, I guess these people live in super hell. Papa Louie’s here after all)

Toastwood: You like to constantly put yourself in danger for fun. Also you’re a general risk-taker

Whiskview: You’re either annoyingly charismatic or you’re super shy around people. Also you’re probably gay

[the-red-thread-that-strangles]

I don't think I've ever seriously watched through all of Detective Conan

Things I learned on this binge:

- Sonoko has a sister, who's a film student?? Ayako also has a fiancé who appears several time

- Shoutout to episode 65 for actually featuring some detective work, running around, asking people about stuff, and as a whole, just doing some sleuthing. No convoluted tricks, just a kid's not-so-helpful hints to follow.

- I am of course very taken by episode 76, the introduction of phantom thief 1412. From Shinichi's call to Agasa ('hey please look this guy up for me in my dad's criminal database, I'm going to be meeting with him soon and I want to know about him') to Kaito landing on the roof silently, and Shinichi waxing poetry about his approach; to Kaito going 'hey kid, what'cha doing over there, isn't it past your bedtime?'; to Shinichi's smirk as he fires a little rocket, and him informing Kaito with glee about his little firework. And Kaito immediately recognizes something's off with this kid. Shinichi politely introduces himself, and then, very importantly, says that in that case they don't need to try and pretend around each other. And Kaito smirks, and plays along, and does the opposite of what Shinichi expects; he causes chaos with skill and a smile, and then disappears after chastizing everyone about their lack of humor, about them not recognizing his April fool's joke. Shinichi meanwhile is in awe at his skill. Kaito's little monologue in German is just hilarious too, and so damn iconic:

"Von mir kannst du noch was lernen, kleiner Schnüffler. Im Gegensatz zur Polizei sind Diebe Künstler; sie entwickeln Fantasie um an das zu kommen, was sie wollen. Kriminalisten dagegen sind langweilige Sesselpuper. Sie sind neidisch auf uns, denn uns gehört die Vision." And then he's gone.

Also this episode has Sonoko agreeing with Ran that 'a magician looking into one's soul' is "geil". Oh Sonoko, never change in your horny quest for KID.

Furthering my happiness, Shinichi feeling Kaito's presence abord the ship, feeling watched, and relishing in the hunt. The whole 'c'mon KID, where are you, I want to see what you can do' gets me every time. Shinichi luring KID away, instead of alerting the police, so they can play a little. 'Oh KID, you can't fool me, You would never steal a copy.' Kaito's cartoonishly large eyes when Shinichi destroys the phone with his football. I might've been choking a little when Shinichi dropped the line "Most artists only become famous after death. Let me help you with that :)", only specifying he'll bring him behind bars afterwards. And then Kaito tosses Conan the pearl, flashes Ran's bra, calling himself a perfectionist and immediately triggering Shinichi - which also makes me think, he must've thought something was up with Conan, to flash the bra and get immediate recognition from Shinichi. And Shinichi electing to go save Ran instead of chasing KID, and promising vengeance.

- Also, it's funny to recognize voice actors. In particular, I've noticed both the German voice actress for Rory Gilmore (from Gilmore Girls) as a variety of maid side characters, as well as one of her boyfriend's, Dean's, voice actor as a stage magician. Also at this point it's still Sonoko's original German voice actress; later on she'll get the voice actress for Bloom (Winx Club), and I cannot unhear it. Oh joy.

[jimboo]

I was editing my school news today, adding in some cool transitions for silly ole april fools day, and I finish and I say “Wow! It looks so cool!” I worked hard on it, I worked my ass off

and this fucking guy.

He watches it with me and goes “eh, it could be better”

hey bozo, this is *your* fucking segment.

I don’t need to be editing *your* segment, but I do it because YOU DONT KNOW HOW TO FUCKING EDIT.

I turn to him, I say “Are you joking?” because he has a dry sense of humor, not a very fun guy to be around for too long

he replies “No, I just think it could be better.”

THEN HEY, MAYBE DO THE EDITING YOUR FUCKING SELF???? MAYBE LEARN HOW TO EDIT RATHER THAN FUCKING “DIRECT”

YOU ARE NOT A FUCKING DIRECTOR, YOU CRITICIZE AND THEN NOT TELL US HOW IT COULD BE BETTER

[therainroguefanfiction]

A Mess of a Prank (Asahi)

Genre: Fluff, friendship, slice of life

Word Count: 2,674

Pairing: Reader, Asahi

World: Treasure

Note: Happy April Fool’s day ya fools.

━━━━━━༻❁༺━━━━━━

Today was April Fool’s day, the day of insane pranks and dank memes. You had always been fascinated by the holiday but never got to participate simply because the people around you didn’t handle jokes well and you had no skills to pull them off successfully, either. So, you settled each year for just watching people prank each other online instead, reblogging them as if you were somehow part of the joke. But this year? This year you were determined to prank someone. You spent hours going through your contacts trying to choose a victim, but there was only one that you felt comfortable enough with to prank.

Your best friend, Asahi.

He had put up with a lot of shit since becoming your friend and you felt confident that he wouldn’t get upset over a silly little prank. You also worried that he might see it coming since he was a smart cookie, but you chose to ignore that worry and got to work setting your plan in motion.

You climbed out of the car, looking up at the giant Hobby Logic sign that sat above the store in orange letters. It was early in the morning and the store had only just opened, so there were very few people inside. You stepped in after a woman and her young daughter, glancing around for your friend. You found her near the back of the store, straightening up the wall of pipe cleaners.

You tapped her shoulder. “Excuse me.”

“Yes? How can I he -” she turned around, a customer service smile on her lips. She blinked when she realized it was you. “Y/N? What are you doing here?”

You clicked your tongue. “Is that any way to speak to a customer?”

She rolled her eyes, turning back to the pipe cleaners. “Considering you’re not a morning person and I can’t believe you’re up so early, I don’t think you are a customer. Maybe you’re a ghost or a demon.”

“How rude,” you huffed, smacking her shoulder. “I’ll have you know, I have a really important mission to accomplish today.”

She paused, realizing what day it was and she looked at you suspiciously. “Why? What are you planning?”

“Don’t worry, I’m not going to prank you. I do need you to direct me toward the confetti, though.”

“Aisle eight.”

“Brilliant, thank you!” You gave her a wave before heading toward aisle eight. Rows of colorful glitter in plastic tubes lined the shelves, followed by colorful confetti in plastic bags. They started out small, the size of sandwich bags, and they grew all the way into bags that reached your waist. You spent a good five minutes staring at the bags, trying to decide on how much you would need and, more importantly, what color you should choose.

“You’re so indecisive, I swear.”

You glanced at Naomi as she approached you, straightening the apron around her waist with the store’s logo on it. “It’s an important decision. If I choose too little, I’ll have to come back but if I choose too much, I’ll have leftover confetti with no use for it. Then there’s the color which can determine the mood of the prank. If I go for something bright, it might be too noticeable but if I choose something dark, it might make the prank lose some of its humor and seem more serious.”

She deadpanned. “You put way too much thought into this.”

“It’s my first prank since I was a kid, of course, I did.”

“Just choose blue. It’s a fairly neutral color.”

“You don’t think it’ll be too noticeable?”

She hummed, pointing toward a darker blue. “This one here is royal blue. It’s lighter than navy blue but it’s still dark enough to not draw too much attention. I recommend that one.”

You leaned closer to the bag she was pointing at and nodded. “It’s a nice color… but how much should I get?”

“I don’t know what the prank is so I can’t help you there.”

You turned to her but she held her hand up to stop you.

“And I don’t want to know. If you get arrested, I want no part of it.”

“You’re supposed to be my ride or die,” you frowned, earning a look.

“I am, but I draw the line at jail. I’ve got to get to work, hurry up and choose something before people start complaining about the weirdo staring at confetti for twenty minutes.”

You watched her disappear from the aisle before looking at the confetti, a frown on your lips. For the color Naomi had chosen, there were only three options – the tiny sandwich bag size, one that was just a bit bigger, and a giant bag that sat on the top shelf. You did some quick calculations on your phone and realized that it would be more expensive to buy a bunch of tiny bags than it would be to just get the big bag. You got on your tiptoes, leaning on the shelf to try and reach the giant bag at the top but the shelf was too high and the tip of your finger just barely brushed the plastic.

You put your foot on the bottom shelf, testing it to see if it could hold your weight and it seemed somewhat stable. You’d just have to be fast about it, that’s all. In one swift motion, you pulled yourself up the shelves, fingers curling around the plastic but a cry left your lips when your foot slipped and you fell backward, your ass hitting the linoleum floor and the bag of confetti landing on top of you. You winced in pain, rubbing at your hip. ‘Well, that could have gone better… but it also could have gone worse!’

Shaking your head, you pulled yourself to your feet, feeling a sharp pain go up your back when you did so. You were fairly sure it was going to bruise and be sore for a while, but it wasn’t anything serious. The bag was even bigger now that you held it in front of you and, sitting on the ground, it reached your waist. Would you really need this much? You doubted it, but you would be saving money regardless. You grabbed the bag, thankful that confetti wasn’t heavy, and headed for the front of the store to wait in line. Since there were only a few customers, Naomi was the only one at the cash register.

When you placed the large bag on the counter, she looked at you as if you had just murdered an entire family. She took a deep breath, pinching the bridge of her nose. “Y/N…”

“Yes, bestie?”

“Don’t you think this is a bit… excessive?”

“Not really,” you shrugged. “Why? Do you?”

“Yes!”

“Don’t exaggerate,” you waved her off, pulling your wallet out. “This is gonna be epic.”

Once she rang up the item, she sent you a look. “I’m serious, Y/N, don’t call me from prison.”

“You never support me,” you stuck your tongue out at her, taking the bag and carrying it under your under.

She just shook her head, watching you leave the store.

━━━━━━༻❁༺━━━━━━

You stood in the living room, looking up at the ceiling fan with a frown. It was a lot higher than you thought it was and you weren’t sure you’d be able to reach it but not for lack of trying. First, you tried standing on the coffee table but it wasn’t even close. Then you tried using a stool from the kitchen and, despite being taller than the table, you still couldn’t reach it. Your frown deepened as you looked around your apartment, looking for anything that could boost you up enough to reach the fan – the only thing sturdy enough was your dresser.

After clearing the items off the top, you took a breath and pushed your back against the side, pushing it with all your might. It screeched loudly against the wooden floor and it took a lot more effort than you thought it would to get it into the living room, especially since the living room had carpet instead of wood flooring, but you completed your task. You set the bag on the dresser before climbing up and reaching for the fan only to start coughing at the thick layer of dust and cat hair that coated the wood.

‘Jesus, when was the last time this was cleaned?’ you waved your hand in front of you and coughed again. You were sure you had cleaned it at least once in the two years you had been living there but there was so much dust that it seemed as if it hadn’t been cleaned in eight years. With a huff, you climbed back down to get cleaning supplies. Twenty minutes later, the fan was mostly spotless and ready for the confetti. The problem is that the confetti didn’t like to stack up and kept sliding off, fluttering to the ground. Would a thin layer be enough? It would have to be.

Your phone buzzed in your pocket and you paused, tugging it from your pocket. It was a new message from Asahi.

[Asachan || Hey. What are you up to?]

You smiled. [Trying to relax :3 how’s practice?] Putting the last of the confetti on the fan, you slid off the dresser and winced as pain went through your hip. And you still had to move the dresser back. Shaking your head, you put your phone on top of the dresser before beginning to push the dresser, but you got it right in front of the hall before you groaned, out of energy.

[Asachan || It’s going well. I like this choreo.]

Before you could reply, he sent another message.

[Asachan || Are you gonna stop by the studio today?]

You glanced up at the fan. [Sorry, I can’t today.]

[Asachan || Why not?]

You hummed as you looked at the empty message box. What should you say? You needed him to come home for the prank but you doubted he would stop by after practicing all day. Your hip throbbed and it was like a light bulb went off above your head. You could ask him to bring you meds for the pain! [I hurt my hip today 😦 When practice ends, can you bring me some pain meds? Please~ Asachan?]

A minute passed, then two, then five, and no reply came through. ‘He must have gone back to practice,’ you shrugged, setting your phone down on the dresser before sealing the confetti bag and placing it in the hallway closet. You tried to move the dresser again but pain shot through your back and you groaned, letting your upper body slump across the dresser. The wood was cool against your cheek which felt good since the room was heating up without the fan turned on. You pulled yourself up until you were lying across the dresser, using your arms as a pillow.

Before you knew it, you were asleep and not even your buzzing phone could wake you as message after message came through from a worried Asahi.

[Asachan || How did you hurt your hip? What happened?]

[Asachan || Y/N? Are you okay?]

[Asachan || This isn’t funny, Y/N. Answer me.]

[Asachan || If this is an April Fool’s prank, I’m deleting your number.]

[Asachan || I’m on my way.]

━━━━━━༻❁༺━━━━━━

Asahi was out of breath by the time he reached your apartment door, his heart hammering with worry. You still hadn’t responded to any of his messages or calls. He wanted to leave practice as soon as you stopped replying but his manager wouldn’t let him and his members convinced him to wait a bit, saying that you might have just gotten busy or distracted but after a few hours passed and you refused to reply, he finally got his manager to agree to let him go.

He knocked on the door, holding himself back because it was getting late and he didn’t want to disturb your neighbors. The sound roused you from your sleep and you lifted your head in confusion, rubbing at your eyes. It took you a minute to realize that the sound was coming from the door and you started to push yourself off the dresser but your back locked up from the terrible sleeping position and the earlier accident and you fell off the dresser, hitting the ground with a soft groan.

When you didn’t answer, he tried the doorknob, finding it unlocked. How many times had he told you to keep the door locked? You never listened to him. With his heart pounding in his ears, he turned the knob and stepped into the apartment. The lights were off, the room dark without the sun to cast light through the window. He flicked the light switch beside the door, bathing the room in light.

You winced at the sudden bright light, peering your head over the top of the dresser to see who had just entered your apartment but you got a face full of confetti as the fan kicked on at its highest speed, sending the little blue pieces of plastic all over the room like a confetti tornado. You sputtered when a piece went into your mouth.

Asahi blinked in confusion, looking up at the fan to try and discover why it was snowing blue in your apartment but then he remembered your message and he frowned, eyes snapping to you. “Y/N.”

Your eyes met his as you slowly pulled yourself up, giving him a sheepish smile. “Hi…”

His eyes raked over your body, searching for any physical sign of injury but he found none. “What’s going on? Why didn’t you reply to my messages? Are you okay?”

“Breathe, Asahi,” you laughed, shaking your head to get rid of the confetti that was still falling from the fan. You held your arms out. “April Fools…!”

His brow furrowed. “So you’re not hurt?”

“I mean, I did hurt my hip when I fell at the store this morning,” you put your hand on your lower back, feeling the ache there like you had just had a bad night’s sleep. “Or maybe it’s my back. I’m not sure, the whole area is kinda sore.”

“Why didn’t you answer me?”

“I waited a bit for your reply and then I fell asleep. I’m sorry!” You put your hands together in front of you and he sighed, running his hand through his blonde hair, sending a mess of confetti to the floor and earning you a confused look. “Yeah… about that. Happy April fool’s day?”

“Was this your plan the whole time?” his lips twitched up.

“Maybe. It would have gone better if I hadn’t fallen asleep…”

“You pranked yourself, Y/N.”

“Eh? How?”

He motioned toward the room and you glanced around, finally noticing just how much of a mess had been made. The confetti had gone everywhere.

“Crap, I have to clean this up.”

“Mhm,” Asahi smiled softly, resting his hand on top of your head. “I’ll help you.”

“That’s not necessary! You practiced all day and I did this to myself like you said.” You took a breath. “I made my bed and now I must lie in it.”

“I can’t let my best friend suffer alone,” he stated, kneeling down so he could start gathering the confetti into a pile.

You smiled warmly, kneeling beside him and throwing your arms around his shoulders. “Thank you, Asachan.”

He picked up a handful of confetti and tossed it at you, amusement dancing in his eyes.

“Yah, that’s not cleaning.”

He grabbed another handful, raising a challenging brow.

“Asahi, don’t you dare -“

He tossed it at you again and you let out a battle cry, tackling him to the ground. Your laughter mingled with his as the two of you wrestled, ruining the small pile he had made. Your prank may have failed, but you still considered it to be a good day.

━━━━━━༻❁༺━━━━━━

[marshmallowprotection]

Okay this is a bit of a random and odd questions

So we all know all members of the RFA usually have better chemistry with certain members (Jumin and Zen bicker a lot but I would say Zen and Yoosung get along more. Or Saeyoung and Yoosung probably bc Yoosung is naive and easy to fool lol)

Now that GE Saeran is a member, besides MC and Saeyoung, who do you think he’d resonate or get along with better?

You think he’d play along with Saeyoung’s antics in messing with Yoosung? (I know I would lol)

I like knowing about everyone’s relationship dynamics, like even before I settled on a route playing this game in 2016, the way everyone interacted and their dynamics was what made everything so fun. So I wanna know how GE Saeran’s dynamic would add into everything. I guess the AE gave us an idea but, everyone was reasonably very focused in getting Saeyoung back yknow?

GE Saeran does have some special dynamics with the RFA that don’t really get the time to be fleshed out enough for you to see how it is. Though, you do get to see a lot of hints into how he speaks with them. I think it goes without saying he relates the most to Jumin, and that’s always got to do with the fact that they both think with their logical conclusions and tend to be stiff to others that they aren’t close to. They’ve got a lot in common with their mannerisms, and it’s be talked about by a few of the RFA members, actually. He and Jumin just get along really well. 

It might be a surprise but they have a similar sense of deadpan humor, and not everyone might understand their jokes, it’s funny to see them react so plainly to things and chuckle, while everyone else in the room cocks their head and hasn’t a clue why they’re laughing or doing what they’re doing. Hey, it works. They’ve also proved to be very coordinated when working together and that’s how so much progress is made in two weeks flat. Because they’re putting in the work to talk about everything. 

It just makes sense, y’know? 

Zen’s sense of humor and personality doesn’t make sense to Saeran. He’s kind of dry with Zen but he’s not disrespectful. He just doesn’t know how to keep up with Zen’s mannerisms. He’s confused why Zen talks about himself so much and why he’s so outgoing with his irritation. I can’t see Saeran teasing Zen but I can see them having... lost in communication conversations. They just miss the point with each other, but they do support the other person strongly. It’s sweet but they are confused. 

Yoosung and Saeran get along well. Saeran doesn’t tease him. I imagine they share recipes and talk about their progress with growing food in their gardens and trying out new activities. They’re the kind of friendship that grows on the back of knowing that you can deeply discuss niche topics. Saeran doesn’t mind Yoosung’s kind-do attitude. He appreciates that Yoosung throws himself into doing things over and over again until he gets it right. I can’t see Saeran pranking him, though. 

Saeran’s sense of humor... literally, he’s hilarious but he doesn’t understand a lot of things. Need I remember any of you about the April Fools quiz on Twitter where you tried to prank him and he didn’t understand so the RFA had to buy you the tickets for the fake cruise that you wanted to torment him with? Saeran is too sweet to... yeah, no pranks here like Saeyoung does. 

Jaehee and Saeran get along as well as Jumin and Saeran do, it’s very simple. They are very cordial and there’s never a misunderstanding. I imagine that she and Saeran talk a lot about passions and what makes them happy, even if they aren’t interested in what the other person is. It’s just nice to know that you can gush to someone! Apart from that, Saeran and Jaehee have a friendship built on steadfast understanding. They know they can count on the other person, and it’s really sweet. 

[kiirokero]

Emacity (PJM)

Emacity: The desire or fondness of buying

Part of the “Protect the Village!” Oneshot Series!

Masterlist

Pairing: DeliveryBoy!Jimin x Reader

Genre: Fluff, Romance, mutual pining (kinda) 

Note: April will be my hibernation month lol

Summary: Whoever invented online shopping? A genius. Whoever hired Park Jimin to be the town’s delivery boy? An even bigger genius.

Word Count: 2.2k

      You wouldn’t call yourself a shopaholic. It’s not like you had an addiction to the point of needing an intervention. You knew what was a dumb purchase and what was a personal purchase. You actively searched high and low for coupons and discounts. You never bought something that you knew would end up in the garbage after one use. You were a responsible shopper. But shopping was like a hobby. 

      You were lucky enough to have the money to spoil yourself. You worked a well-paying job as a translator for businesses that are trying to branch out to new countries while also offering online language classes to international students. Switching between Korean, English, Spanish, AND French usually gave you a headache. And trying to translate a word that didn’t really exist in other languages was exhausting, but it paid well. 

And it gave you opportunities to see Jimin. 

      Park Jimin, Bangtan Village’s delivery boy. Worked at the post office seemingly 24/7 and is always voted employee of the month. Has a smile that’s permanently painted on his face and is as kind as a saint. What’s not to love about him? Besides that fact that his eyes sparkle with the same elegance as polished amber. Or the fact that his skin is perfectly smooth. Or that he emits an aura of confidence and stability. 

      Not that you know, but you can feel it. You and Jimin exchanged few words on the occasions when you get to see him. Simple, “Hey! How are you?” ’s and “Long time no see!” ‘s. But each word that reaches your ears are pieces of gold to you. You and Jimin didn’t really know each other, but you’d like to say that if you waved to him out in town, he’d wave back. 

      Your friend, Namjoon, liked to call you a lovesick idiot. Whenever you gushed to him about how Jimin smiled at you, he’d shake his head and say, “You’re a hopeless romantic and it’s tiring to me,” And today was like no other. 

      “I’m telling you, Namjoon! He has the cutest smile,” You sighed, watching your best friend work on his current project, Yoongi’s car. “I know, you’ve told me several times before,” He groaned, lifting his head from the machinery under the hood and looking at you with an unimpressed look. Absentmindedly wiping off his oily hands on his black stained hand towel. 

     “Why don’t you just talk to the dude? You know several languages yet you can’t communicate to a boy who speaks your native language?” He pointed out, leaning his hip up against the black car. “I may be able to chew you out in French, but I don’t speak ‘extrovert’” You argued back, a sly smirk on your face. 

    Namjoon rolled his eyes with a small smile, “You’re impossible,” He chuckled, “But you really should talk to him. You never know~ He may think you’re cute too~” He teased, dodging the spare hand towel you threw at him. “Stop teasing!” You whined, “You know I can’t, I’ll make a fool of myself and end up confessing to him in Spanish or something,” You groaned, slumping in your seat. 

     Namjoon tilted his head in confusion, “How do you accidentally switch to a whole other language,” He asked. “Trust me... It’s happened before...” You cringed, shivering at the less-than flattering memory. “Well... Maybe you should express it non-verbally?” He suggested, shrugging his shoulders nonchalantly as he went back to tampering with Yoongi’s car. 

      “I appreciate your advice, Joon, but I don’t think I can even work up the courage to confess, verbally or not.” You sighed, giving Namjoon a somber look to which he responded with a comforting smile. Namjoon went back to work and you checked the time on your phone. 2:22pm. 

    “Shoot, I gotta go,” You said, standing up and grabbing your bag. “Why? I thought you didn’t teach on Wednesdays?” Namjoon asked, still working on the car. “I don’t but, I’m expecting a package,” You smiled to yourself. “You memorized when Jimin comes to deliver your packages? That’s kinda creepy Y/n,” Namjoon insinuated, squinting his eyes at you.

     You gasped, “Is not! I’ve just noticed that he always comes around 3pm... and I want to be there when my new keyboard comes.” You crossed your arms in defence. “Mhmm, go on then,” Namjoon chuckled, and you stomped your way out of his workshop back to your house. 

     You wait anxiously for a knock on your door. You sit on the couch, fiddling with the blanket that was draped over your lap. If you were being honest with yourself, you were more excited about seeing Jimin than getting your new peach-pink keyboard to complete your soft pastel desk setup. 

      You knew Namjoon was right about you being a lovesick idiot; you were in deep, and you haven’t even hung out with the man! You scoffed to yourself, shaking your head at the way his smile made your heart rate pick up and palms clammy. Maybe you could take Namjoon’s advice and invite him on a date. Not necessarily come completely clean and admit you were head over heels, but ease your way in instead.

Only problem is, you didn’t quite know how to do that...

      The long awaited knock finally sounded through your tiny house, and you stood up quicker than you should as blood rushed to your head, making you feel dizzy. Shaking it off, you go over to your door, opening it to reveal the very man you’ve been wanting to see all day. “Hey! What’s up Y/n?” Jimin greeted you with a smile, a small brown package under his arm. 

     “Hi Jimin, I’m doing good... What about you?” You asked, leaning up against the doorway. “I’m good, it’s a nice day out today,” He sighed, handing the package out for you, “Here you go! Your weekly package,” He joked, making you give him a lovesick smile that made you look like the woozy emoji. “T-Thanks,” You chuckled nervously. 

      “No problem,” Jimin said. “Hey um Jimin...” You called before he could walk away. “Yes?” Jimin inquired, raising an eyebrow. Shoot, what do you say? You didn’t think this through you.. You can’t just invite him out like a normal human, what if he says no? “I um- What’s your... favorite food...?” You asked, cringing at how pathetically shy you sounded. Jimin’s eyebrows knit together in confusion and he chuckled. “I like strawberry Pocky’s a lot,” He stressed, licking his lips at the thought. 

     You nodded, writing that down in your head for later. Maybe you could do something with this. “Cool, cool. Well, um, have a nice day!” You said, walking back into your house, package in hand, leaving Jimin confused and amused. “What a girl...” He whispers to himself, smile, like always, never leaving his face. 

     You continue to buy little things online just as an excuse to talk to Jimin. Who needs a mini cactus? You, apparently. And that chick plush you saw on Instagram? Boom, it now lives on your bed. Whenever he comes around, you take the opportunity to ask him questions like what his favorite color was or if he was allergic to anything. 

    You were planning something for him, and he was catching on. Sure, your questions were usually unprompted, but he’d humor you any day of the week. He may not know exactly what you were planning, but all he hoped was that it would change his life forever. And it would. 

     You were almost done with Jimin’s mini basket of favorites. A blue basket that held his favorite snack foods, stickers from his favorite shows, and some of those chunky rings he likes. Sure, maybe it was a bit excessive. Maybe this was teetering the line of weird and sweet, and you knew that bribing your way into a relationship was definitely not the way to go. But you just wanted to be nice. 

     Maybe buying things for others was your love language, or maybe Jimin was just worth spoiling. It was probably both. Whatever the real answer was, it didn’t matter to you. You just wanted Jimin to be happy. 

     Even if meticulously fiddling with the basket made you want to pull your hair out as the bow never looked quite right. Realistically you know it wouldn’t matter in the end and that Jimin would likely take the bow off after he received it, but you still adjusted it until it was perfect. 

     “Yeah, yeah, laugh all you want, Joon,” You sighed as you heard Namjoon hysterically laughing on the other side of the phone. “You’re going to bribe him into going on a date with you?” He asked, out of breath. “No! I just want to be nice,” You bit back, rolling your eyes even if Namjoon couldn’t see you. “Wow, the irony of Jimin delivering the gifts that your going to end up giving back,” Namjoon chuckled, finally calming down. 

     “Look, I’m just trying to follow your advice,” You whined, finally giving up on the navy blue bow and leaving it be. “True, I was thinking about a banner or something though. Like a cheesy promposal,” Namjoon said, and you could hear the undertones in his words. What he really wanted to say was, “How dramatic could you be? This is too much honey,” 

     Groaning, you flopped down on your couch, mumbling into the cushions. “I think I’m going to give it to him today, I have another mini cactus coming today,” You said, feeling a mix of excitement and nervousness swirl in your stomach at the thought of finally asking the man you’ve been pining over out on a date. “That’s great! He’ll definitely say yes,” Namjoon said excitedly, trying to keep your fragile spirits intact. Knowing that if anything goes wrong, you’ll chicken out immediately. 

     “Yeah, I can do this,” You smiled, looking at the clock on your oven. “It’s 2:30, I have to go prepare. I’ll call you after!” You said, exchanging your goodbyes with Namjoon and hanging up the phone to go clean yourself up a little bit. 

    You weren’t terribly worried about your appearance. Jimin had seen you in coffee stained sweats and hoodies. There wasn’t anything worse than that. So you opted for a simple t-shirt and legging combo, washing your face and touching up your hair a bit. “Now to wait,” You whispered to yourself as you sat on the couch with the basket in your lap. 

     While you waited on the couch for Jimin to arrive, you looked at the mini cactus that sat on your coffee table and chuckled. Usually you bought things that may seem random to an outside person. A mouse that looks like a cat's paw, a throw pillow that doubles as a blanket, random earrings. But never a mini cactus. 

     After you asked all the questions you could think of and bought everything that you thought Jimin would like, you didn’t have an excuse to keep seeing Jimin. So, like a normal person, you bought little knickknacks. Hence the mini cactus and it’s new friend that’s on the way today. 

Knock knock knock

“Well, your new buddy’s here lil’ cactus dude,” 

     Taking a deep breath, you stood up and walked over to the door, hiding the basket behind your back. “Hello, Y/n,” Jimin smiled as you opened the door for him. “Hey,” You smiled back, tightening your grip on the basket behind you. “Here you go, another odd stationary?” Jimin guessed as he held out the package for you and you took it with one hand, placing it down behind the door.

      “I guess you could say that,” You chuckled, nervously shifting on your feet. “Speaking of... I have something for you,” You mumbled, but loud enough for Jimin to hear. “Is it another impromptu question? You haven’t asked one in awhile,” He chuckled, his cute eyes upturning into crescents.

“Close your eyes to find out,” You said.

“Close my eyes? Is this the part where you murder me?” Jimin teased, causing you to playfully roll your eyes. 

“No... just close them,” You whined. 

      “Alright, I’ll close them,” Jimin relented, closing his eyes at your request. Taking another shaky deep breath, you took the basket out from behind your back and held it in front of you. “Open...” You whispered. 

      Once Jimin opened his eyes, he let out a cute gasp, eyes lighting up at the sign of the gift. “W-What’s this?” He asked, looking up at you with a huge smile on his face. “It’s um, all your favorites. Jimin’s basket of favorites,” You declared, holding the basket out for Jimin to take, which he happily did. “Y/n, this is amazing. What’s the special occasion?” He asked, looking down at the assorted gifts and snacks. 

      “You’re always making me smile, so I wanted to return the favor,” You shrugged in an attempt to look casual about it. “Really? I make you smile?” Jimin smirked, making your cheeks heat up. “Y-Yeah you do...” You admitted, kicking at the rocks on your porch. “You’re such a sweet girl, Y/n, cute too,” Jimin whispered to you, causing your breath to hitch. 

“C-Cute?” 

“Yep, you’re a cutie,” Jimin said, booping your nose.

“Would you um... Let this cutie ask you out to lunch?” You asked. 

“Most definitely,”

“Park Jimin, do you want to grab lunch sometime?”

“It’s a date, cutie,”

[agentsofchallenges]

Welcome back, agents!

We hoped you enjoyed yesterday’s Grant Ward’s Spotted Socks Appreciation Month challenge in celebration of April Fool’s Day (feel free to continue it all month if you so choose!) but we do have a real, tangentially-related challenge for you, in case you didn’t want to spend the next thirty days photoshopping fuzzy polka dot socks onto Grant Ward (and who doesn’t, occasionally?).

Keeping with the theme, April’s challenge revolves around: humor!

Week 1 (April 2nd-10th) - Content Week

For Content Week, your mission will be to create content revolving around a prank or a practical joke, or just humor of any kind. As always, content can be fics, art, moodboards, headcanons, edits, or anything else you can come up with!

Week 2 (April 11th-20th) - Rec Week

For Rec Week, your mission will be to help celebrate your fellow agents’ works, old or new! You are challenged to create a rec in any form (fic rec lists, moodboards, art, or even spinoff/inspired-by fics! though please do be sure to get permission from the author first if needed) in which you share and shine a spotlight on a work (or works!) that made you laugh out loud.

Week 3 (April 21st-30th) - Combo Week

For Combo Week, we also are going to be celebrating ourselves! Your final mission for this month is to recommend your own work that you think is the funniest (though do feel free to continue Content Week and Rec Week activities as long as you like - keep creating!).

To report back to HQ at any time during the mission, use the tag #aos april fool’s within your first five tags, and @ this blog so we can find and reblog your content. (Please note that Tumblr's notification system is somewhat flawed, and if you find that your content has not been reblogged within two days of posting, feel free to send an ask to this blog, or directly message one of the mods, and we'll make sure your creation gets reblogged ASAP.)

Best of luck, agents, and a happy April to all!

[joonsrack]

+Pairing: Namjoon x fem!reader, Taehyung x fem!reader (one-sided), 

+Genre: Angst, humor, fluff, two-shots, sfw

+Word count: ~8.5k

+Warning: Mention of past recreational drug use (weed), blood mention (nosebleed), lot of pinning 

+Rating: Pg13

+Summary: 

Your roommate and long-time one-sided crush disappears one morning, leaving behind only a post-it note stating two things:

1. He’s off to finally meet the love of his life whom he met on the internet, might take the whole summer;

2. He’s sub-renting his room while he’s gone, don’t worry it’s all taken care of;

+A/N: Just six days late, nothing too major. This is the first part of a two-shot I’m writing for the bangtanscenery collab: April Shower & May Flower. This didn’t turn out as expected, but it is what it is lmao. Thank you to @gguksgalaxy for helping me brainstorm, and @spicykoreantatertots and @starlightseoks​ for reading over my stuff, fixing my mistakes and giving me the validation I needed to carry on 💖

The first day of summer vacation is supposed to be a good day, a great day even. No more finals, no more studying; just warm weather, lazing around, and maybe picking up some shifts at the grocery store.

Today is all of that, but it’s also the worst day of your life.

It had started as it was supposed to; no alarm clock, just your body waking up by itself. You had messed around on your phone for a while, not caring about the time you were wasting. After the last three weeks of nerve-wracking deadlines and exams, you had deserved a break. The next thing on your schedule was work on Thursday, meaning you had two days completely to yourself. You had big plans for these two days; doing absolutely nothing.

But then, as the day was slowly shifting from morning into noon, the stillness of the house cued you that something was… not right.

As you have come to learn, your roommate, Taehyung, is not one to go about his summer day without his 20 minutes of morning stretching on zen nature sounds. Sometimes you join him, sometimes you don’t. He has a morning routine that he sticks to a T, and in a way, you find the sound of him doing his routine comforting.

Two years you’ve been living together now; or well, almost two years.

You had met in your first semester of freshman year, both residing in the same co-ed dorm. The horror of shared bathroom, kitchen, and living areas had prompted you two to throw caution to the wind and start living together, even if you were both still technically strangers. Two years later, the concept of being a stranger with Taehyung is so far fetched, it’s like you’ve never not known each other.

Which is why this comes as a slap to your face.

After finally making it out of your room and to the kitchen, you find in lieux of your roommate, a single post-it note, stuck to his old fashioned shelf stereo.

There are barely fifteen words on it, but that’s enough to destroy your post-final, beginning of summer haze:

Going back to Korea for the summer, I’m finally going to meet Busan_baby!

I sub-rented my room, he should get here soon :) xx

Objectively, Taehyung doing spontaneous things is not out of character. But this… Leaving for a whole summer, without even hinting at it...

You had plans for this summer. Plans that consisted of spending quality time with him, and maybe, possibly, finally confessing to him. Him leaving kind of put a wrench into that.

Plus.

Busan_baby…

The mysterious internet friend that’s been plaguing Taehyung’s mind since they met during an Overwatch raid, whatever that means.

Your two-year crush had only evolved in the time you were living together, and a part of you had become possessive overtime. So these days, only the mention of Tae’s friend’s username was enough to put you in the worst of moods. And now you’re going to lose your summer with your roommate to her? To a perfect stranger living on the other side of the planet?

And the whole sub-renting situation...you’re boiling. He just... rented his room. To someone you might not know, with whom you’ll be stuck all summer.

The first day of summer vacation is supposed to be a good day. This, this is not a good day.

Your first reaction is to, well, do nothing. You feel tears of frustration welling up in your eyes, and you recognize the burning sensation in your chest as anger. You feel a little ridiculous; you’re always factoring Taehyung into your plans, always have, but clearly he isn’t giving you the same kind of courtesy. You grab your phone, knowing he hasn’t sent you any text, but checking anyways. You have no idea what time he left, he could already be in the plane for all you know, but you send him a message anyways.

Me 1:27pm: Is this a joke?

You wipe a tear away, trying to breathe through the negativity. He must have had his reason, he does have his whole family in Korea, maybe they’re the real reason he left and he’s just joking with you.

Just as the thought is starting to make sense, you hear the key in the lock, and your heart starts beating double time.

It was all the prank, he’s not leaving for real, it’s him coming back to surprise you. See? You had nothing to worry about. The smile grows on your face, and you quickly dry the tears track on your face, not wanting Taehyung to tease you about them.

But doubt quickly sets in your mind when it’s clearly taking too long for whoever on the other side to open the door. The bolt is old, and it had taken you and Taehyung weeks before you had been able to know the right way to unlock it without struggling.  

You can hear them struggling with the key, rattling the doorknob, until finally the bolt clicks into place and the door swiftly swings open. Obviously, whoever is on the other side wasn’t expecting it to give, and they stumble past the doorsill, barely missing the floor by a few centimeters.

You’re shocked into stillness, watching the catastrophe unveil.

Mystery man then trips on the entry mats, throwing him forward once again until his head gets dangerously close to the kitchen table; but like a seasoned tripper, he flips his body mid-plunge, landing hard but cushioned by the shag carpet of the living room.

He groans, rolling on his side holding his head in between his hands, and you’re too shocked to do anything but stare in both horror and wonder.

The living trainwreck on the floor doesn’t seem to have noticed your presence yet, and you’re inclined to just lay low and wait until you can observe more accidental gymnastics, but you realize that would be weird. Would it be weirder than everything you’ve just witnessed though?

You clear your throat to announce your presence, and he freezes, opens one eye, spots you, closes it again, and groans even louder.

“Is there any chance you just materialized now and missed all of that.”

You shrug emphatically.

“I can lie if that makes you feel better.”

He sits up, smiling grimly and resigned, like this is not the first time this has happened.

You would go offer him a hand but you also have no idea who this man is, what he’s doing in your apartment, with a key, and seemingly enough bad luck to bring this whole building down by himself.

“So… Who might you be?”

He looks up to you in confusion, and for a second you think you also see hurt flicker across his eyes, but it disappears as fast as it appeared.

“Taehyung… didn’t tell you?”

Right, sub-renting.

You grab the post-it off the stereo and wave it in his direction, letting him connect the dots.

“He just did.” You say, voice dripping with sarcasm, and he winces, noticing how you’re clearly unhappy with the whole ordeal.

“I thought you knew...I... fuck. I can leave if you want? You don’t look like you agreed to this.”

You sigh, feeling bad that you made him feel bad. It’s not his fault after all. Plus, him sub-renting means he most probably doesn’t have a place to stay right now.

“No, no. Of course not. It’s not your fault, I’m just… he didn’t even tell me he was leaving. It’s a lot.”

Silence fills the room, and he smiles awkwardly at you before dusting himself off. You take the opportunity to finally properly look at him.

He looks vaguely familiar now, with his tall body, long limbs and soft brown hair. He’s wearing grandfather clothes, but it’s strangely fitting with his energy. The glasses perched on his nose are slightly crooked, but it doesn’t like it’s from the fall. It looks permanent.

If he’s Taehyung’s friend, you probably saw him around Uni or something.

“So, I still don’t know your name?” You finally break the silence, and he looks startled by the question, pushing the glasses up his nose.

“Kim Namjoon. Well, Namjoon Kim here.” He finishes with a faint blush on his cheeks, and you nod, well aware of the whole last name difference. You’ve been living with Taehyung for two years after all.

“I’m going to try calling him, you can...get your luggage in I guess.”

“His plane was leaving 3 hours ago, I doubt you’ll be able to reach him.” He says sheepishly, as if that was his fault.

You pinch your lips in anger containment, not needing Namjoon to watch you slowly lose your sanity. You feel a surge of dark emotions invading your chest, so you have to make your escape swift.

“Cool, nice. Ok. Well, I need to... be in my room. If you have any questions just knock on my door. Or call my name.”

You’re already off into angst world, making your way to your room, so you miss Namjoon’s parting words;

“But... you haven’t told me your name, y/n.”

You feel the need to grieve the summer that could have been, so you do.

The first stage is denial.

It’s a little hard to deny though, with Taehyung gone and Namjoon currently moving into his room, so you jump straight to anger.

You would feel bad for Namjoon, you didn’t even show him to Taehyung’s room, and your welcome was pretty cold. But you can’t be blamed, this was sprung on you. You were blindsided; betrayed; fooled.

You try to remember your chats with Taehyung in the last few days, but everything is covered by a mist of confusion. The last few weeks are blurred and blended together, a mess of studying, late nights, nervous breakdowns; so you and Taehyung were not exactly talking. You were more...existing in the same space. Or crying in the same space, really.

But still, you know that if Taehyung had mentioned his plans to disappear for the summer you would have surely remembered.

You write an angry text a hundred words long, fueled by the horrible feeling of having been wronged and a need for vindication.

You don’t send the text because you know at the bottom of your heart you’re being overly dramatic, but it’s still therapeutic to act like you’re going to send it to him.

Then comes bargaining.

You write another text, this one more conciliating. You promise to be a better roommate, to stop bunching up your socks and leaving them in the cracks of the couch (although he does that too, the hypocrite), to stop stealing the Korean snacks his mom sends send him once a month (which is a big commitment; they’re just so good, you can’t find this quality in your uni town), and to stop using up all the hot water in the morning.

You also do not send this text. There’s a little too many promises in it you just know you won’t be able to hold.

You’re transitioning into the depressive stage when you hear a crash coming from the living room, followed by a few curses.

With the whole thing you witnessed earlier, you’re surprised that nothing fell victim to Namjoon’s long limbs sooner. He clearly has coordination issues; you would be worried, except pretty much everything decorating the apartment belongs to Taehyung.

Everything except…

There’s a bad feeling creeping up in your stomach. You don’t have the worst luck in life, but you also don’t have the best. And bad things usually happen in a group of three.

Taehyung ditching you for the summer, Taehyung clearly being fooled by some internet catfisher, and….

You jump to your feet, following the sound to the living room. There, your new roommate is kneeling on the floor, gathering the pieces of dried macaroni scattered around him. You can see the picture frame on the floor, the glass cracked in the middle.

The first day you had moved in together, Taehyung and you had taken a picture together with a single-use camera. You were both exhausted from the move, boxes laying all around, but beaming with satisfaction.

You had gotten a frame for it but Taehyung thought it was too bare, so one time, completely high as a kite, he’d decorated it with macaroni and hot glue.

You hold it very dear, and it has a central place in the living room. Or well, it did.

The macaroni remains on the floor is probably the saddest thing you’ve ever seen, and you can’t bear the sight of them, so you give a parting blank look to Namjoon, who’s looking up at you pale as a ghost, and you walk back to your room.

Alright, so stage one of grief; denial.

Belting your heart out to Italian music is usually your way of dealing with sorrow, but with a new and strange presence in your home, it probably won’t be happening for a while, so you settle for laying in your bed, with your curtain pulled closed and some Andrea Bocelli blasting from your earphone. It works for a while, until your stomach reminds you that you haven’t eaten all day.

You sigh, bracing yourself for yet another reminder that you’ve been basically abandoned by the possible love of your life. You come out of your room dragging your feet, only to be basically assailed but the unmistakable smell of frying garlic. You’re both disgusted and intrigued, so you pick up your pace to the kitchen, finding Namjoon there, sweat on his forehead, with a concentrated look on his face. His glasses are hanging at the tip of his nose, probably having slipped there from the sweat, and you find yourself endeared by the sight. Only for a quick second though.

“Are you sure it’s safe for you to be left alone in the kitchen?” You ask, and he whips his head towards you, clearly startled by your presence.

“Well…” He says, followed by a deprecating laugh, and you kind of feel like an asshole. He probably broke the frame by accident, and it’s not like it’s his fault that Taehyung bailed on your summer plans to go run off to who knows who the fuck busan_baby really is.

“What are you cooking?” You ask, trying to change the subject, and he looks grateful but also very nervous.

“Hm, well Taehyung told me once garlic pasta was your favorite, and since I was trying to apologize for, well the frame but also just being sprung onto you so suddenly, I figured I could cook your favorite dish...”

You nod, but you can’t contain a snort, and Namjoon’s expression becomes worried.

“Taehyung thinks that because that’s the only thing he can successfully cook, and the first time he did I didn’t have the heart to tell him I can’t stand garlic.”

Namjoon looks at the dish, then back at you, then back at the dish. You see all the energy drain from his body, face falling as he groans in frustration.

“It’s fine you didn’t know.” You try to sound as apologetic as you can, but it doesn’t seem to be helping, and he moves the pan from the burner, closing the heat, plastering a hand on his face.

“This is going all wrong. This day is just mess after mess. I’m so sorry I’m usually much better at human interaction, I’m just very nervous right now, I guess.”

You want to ask what he’s so nervous about, but you feel like it might not help his distraught state. “Ok so, clearly this was doomed from the start.” You say, and his face falls even more, so you hurry to finish your thought before he can jump to conclusions.

“You showed up while I was having a horrible day; I had no idea you were coming; you...tripped and fell in front of me, probably making you feel embarrassed, then all this nervous energy lead to you having another clumsy accident, and I probably didn’t help with my overall coldness… and now, this, which again, is totally not your fault…” You let the silence hang for a little longer before you finish your thought. “ I think we should start over.”

“...What?”

“Yeah, I think we should start over. Like, come here.” You wave your hand in a motion for him to follow after you, and he does, albeit definitely looking reluctant.

You lead him to the front door, opening it, waiting for him to get the cue. He stands there, looking a little dumbfounded, glimpsing down at his slipper clad feet.

“Come on, only for a second.”

He finally follows your directions, stepping outside in the hallway, and you close the door behind him. After a good 30 second of silence, you realize he might be dumber than he looks.

“You’re supposed to knock.” You say just loud enough for him to hear on the other side, and there’s a split second before he finally does.

You throw the door open with the biggest smile you can muster, and he stares at you in actual worry.

“Hello Namjoon Kim, nice to meet you! Taehyung totally told me you were coming! Come on in!”

Namjoon finally catches up, pinching his lips to stop himself from smiling.

“Nice to meet you,-” He greets back, taking a step into the apartment, but the sole of his slipper gets caught on the doorsill, ripping it off.

He stares down at his slippers in betrayal, and you have to bite the inside of your cheeks to hold back a cackle.

“At this point, I don’t know how to convince you I’m not like this 24/7.” He says, and he looks a little bit more relaxed than before, which is good.

“I’m sorry to say that ship has sailed.”

Going to sleep at five in the morning is never the right decision, even when you have nothing planned, but the prospect of watching Hannah Brown finally eliminating Luke P off The Bachelorette is just too good, keeping you wide awake until you finally get the satisfaction of seeing the smug smile being wiped off his face. Taehyung was so looking forward to this, cursing out the man after every episode, and not having him by your side, yelling incoherently at your computer screen, definitely made you sad.

There's also the whole waiting-for-a-text-that-never-came thing.

You know his flight landed, you looked at the flight time between where you are and Incheon airport. The realization that you weren’t even worth an “I’ve just landed” text is enough to ruin you Luke P elimination afterglow, sending you straight to sleep.

So being rudely awoken at 9 a.m., eyes sore from the lack of sleep and maybe some possible tears of frustration, is not the best feeling.

At first you think you dreamed it, a loud crash from somewhere in the apartment, but then the groans of pain that follows are sounding pretty damn real.

You throw the comforter off, jumping out of bed in the same breath, trying to locate the source of the commotion but still woozy with sleep, and you find its origin in the bathroom;

Very naked, save for the shower curtain draped over the figure.

Namjoon squeals at the sight of you, making sure all the important bits are covered with the curtain that he probably dragged in his apparent fall, half of it still hanging off the pole.

Your sleep-deprived brain slowly catches up to the situation, and you slap both hands over your eyes, turning around with the intention to get out of dodge, only to walk straight into the door frame. The impact makes you lose your balance, the unforgiving tiles making contact with your ass at the speed of light. There’s a throbbing pain in your backside and there’s definitely something dripping from your nose. Another beautiful start to your summer vacation.

It’s your turn to groan, holding your head back to stop the blood from dripping all over your PJs. There’s wet fumbling in the general area of the shower, the sound of the water being cut off and then a moment later, a very naked man appears in your field of vision.

“Hum.” Is all you say, as he snatches his boxer brief from the counter, slipping them on in a flash. But you’ve seen. You’ve witnessed. You’re a changed person now.

“I forgot my towel.” He answers back, face so red it looks like it must hurt. There’s still shampoo suds in his wet hair, dripping down his forehead, neck, and shoulders, but he doesn’t seem to care as he grabs the toilet paper roll, offering it to you.

“Are you ok?” he asks with concern in his voice. He’s kneeling in front of you, skin glistening, and the sight he makes doesn’t help with your blood pressure. His handsomeness didn’t escape your notice, but this….this is a little overwhelming.

“I’ve known you for less than 24 hours and I’ve already seen your junk; I’m great.”

He looks a little thrown by what you’ve just said, but you can blame it on a concussion later, so you’re not too worried.

“Lean forward and breath through your mouth,” He says, choosing to ignore your comment. You follow his recommendation, pinching your nose.

“You seem familiar with nosebleeds.” You tease, knowing full well he’s clearly the clumsy type.

“I’ve had my share of encounters with flat surfaces.”

“So are you gonna tell me what possessed you to shower in the middle of the night?”

“Is 9 a.m. the middle of the night?” He asks, a grin playing at his lips.

“It sure is during summer vacation.”

Namjoon chooses to ignore your admission of being a living, breathing, couch potato.

“I wanted to go get a new pair of slippers, maybe a new frame as well. I obviously need to add a new shower curtain to the list.”

You look up at the way his tone goes slightly somber from irritation, and you’re having none of that;  it’s 9 am, middle of the night, and all you want right now is everything to be happy and breezy.

“Do you mind if I tag along? I wanted to get a corkboard for all my pictures, so I won’t need a new frame actually. We could go get some middle of the night breakfast too.”

His eyes light up, a new energy filling the room.

“Of course! You can, totally.”

His metaphorical tail seems to be wagging, and you’re a little confused about the source of his sudden excitement, but he seems to be in a good mood so that’s the important part here.

“Alright then, I’ll let you finish your shower- oh my god, wait. Are you ok? I heard you fall; that did not sound like a painless descent.”

Namjoon winces, rubbing at the back of his head like he’s suddenly reminded of the pain.

“I’ll survive with only slight bruising, it’s all good.”

You nod, relieved he didn’t hurt himself seriously.

“Let’s get you some bubble wrap while we’re there.” You tease, and he rolls his eyes, probably having heard that one before.

There’s this moment of silence where neither of you are moving, and you’re wondering what he’s waiting for to go back in the shower.

“So...are you waiting to get another peek at my junk, or?” He teases.

You blush, staring at him dumbfounded. Your sleepy brain says yes, but your pride says no.

“Right, let me get out of here.”

You take your roll of toilet paper with you as you leave, pride almost intact.

Both of your loudly growling stomachs make the decision for the order of things, and your first stop is the cheap dinner a few streets down. The usual grumpy waiter that you’ve grown fond of is on shift, and his eyes zeroes straight on you two the second you step in.

His regular glare is already pretty intimidating, but the intensity of his stare is enough to make you want to take a menu and hide behind. Instead you walk with Namjoon to the table you usually sit at with Taehyung.

“Hey Joon.” Is the first thing Yoongi says, throwing the menu on the table with all the lack of grace in the world. Namjoon salutes him back with the ease of someone who’s used to being the target of Yoongi’s laser focus. You deduce they’re friends, by the way they seem to have a silent conversation with their eyes.

He switches his focus to you after a beat, and you gulp loudly, confused by the inquisition in his stare.

“Hi Y/N, where’s your tragic love story?”

Your jaw drops to the table, shocked by Yoongi’s blunt call out of your unrequited love for Taehyung. You two often come to eat here, but clearly you come too often if Yoongi figured you out so accurately.

“Jesus am I that obvious?” You mutter, picking up a menu to avoid looking at either man. You don’t need to see Namjoon's reaction when learning you’re crushing on your roommate who’s also one of his friends.

Yoongi snatches the menu out of your hands, having none of that.

“The usual I presume?” He asks snapingly, throwing one last unimpressed look at Namjoon before walking away.

Namjoon waits before he’s out of earshot to sigh. “Who pissed in his cereal this morning?” he scoffs, trying to lighten the mood, and you’re grateful for his attempt but you’re also feeling pretty shitty; why do your feelings for Taehyung seem so obvious to everyone but Taehyung himself?

“Well, I guess the elephant is out of the bag”, you say with fake enthusiasm. You want to be mad at Yoongi for his brusque ways, but Namjoon would probably have figured it out one way or another. This is kind of ripping the bandaid in a way.

There’s another beat of silence before Namjoon clears his throat, and you brace yourself for what he’s going to say, which is why what he asks comes as a surprise.

“Are you ok?”

His voice is empathic, genuine.

You look up to him, eyes a little glossy.

He’s got a kind face; a dimple here, soft corner smile there; eyes searching but not judging, the crooked glasses giving him a nerdy look. Yet, you’ve...seen. There’s nothing nerdy about the rest of him.

You smile sadly, biting your lips while looking back down at the table. You’ve known him for less than 24 hours and you already feel like Namjoon is the kind of person you can confide in, and before you know it, words are tumbling off your tongue.

“I guess… It just sucks that I was not even worth a ‘I’ve just landed text’. Or even better, him telling me in person that he was leaving for the summer, completely ruining all the plans we made together.” Namjoon nods along with your confession, and once you open your mouth, you just can’t shut it. “Like I’m always making sure he’s included in all of my planifications, and I always go beyond to do stuff that he likes… Like I’m sorry but I hated doing pottery, like, I suck at it. All I made always ended up having a vaguely phallic shape and I’m pretty sure the teacher was judging me, but I still put through three months of pottery class, which were very expensive by the way, because I knew Taehyung would love that. And the Pasta! I hate garlic, I can’t stand it, but I still told him it was my favorite since it’s the only thing he can cook!”

Namjoon clears his throat, looking around at the people starting to take notice of your meltdown. You were getting increasingly louder, you realize, so you sigh, letting the tension escape your body with a deep breath.

Yoongi stops by the table to drop two cups of coffee, raising an eyebrow at you, to which you answer with a glare of your own. He walks away with an evil glint in his eyes, and you already know what’s about to happen. You still risk a small sip of the steaming coffee, only to spit it back into the cup, face void of emotion.

Namjoon winces at you, offering you some napkins for the drops dripping down your chin.

“He put mustard in it, didn’t he?” He asks while you wipe your mouth, then taking your water to wash down the acre taste.

You nod slowly.

“He’s got a weird way to comfort his friends.”

You nod again, but grabbing his cup at the same time. “Do you mind?” You ask, and he agrees enthusiastically, only to frown when he sees what you do with it next.

You grab the table syrup, dripping some all over Namjoon’s coffee cup handle. You put it back on Namjoon’s side of the table, smiling warmly at him.

“Where were we?” You ask cheerfully.

“I think he might just ban me from the Dinner.” Namjoon says in a daze, looking back at where Yoongi is throwing daggers at the both of you from the window, wiping his sticky finger on his apron in vain; You know this stuff is impossible to get rid of.

You knew Yoongi would expect your handle to be sticky after the stunt he pulled, which is why you did it on Namjoon’s cup instead. You make sure to send Yoongi your most radiant smile as you walk away, waving. You should probably avoid the dinner for a few weeks.

But now, belly full of good food, mood lightened, you can go on your productive day of buying stuff. You take the bus to the closest Target, a comfortable chatter between the two of you, when something suddenly hits you between the bedroom aisle and the bathroom aisle.

“Now hold on a second; I just realized I never properly introduced myself. I mean obviously you already know my name, since Taehyung seems to have talked about me, and well, Yoongi used my name earlier too. But still... Wow, I’m so sorry I'm the worst new roommate ever.”

Namjoon shakes his head no, fiddling with the brand new slippers he picked up on the way.

“It’s...fine. Actually, well. I was hesitant to tell you since I don’t want you to feel bad about it but... we’ve already been introduced. Also we shared like, three classes so far. I’m minoring in languages.”

“Oh… Oh my god.” You say, stopping in your tracks. You look up at Namjoon with wide, confused eyes.

“It’s ok.” Namjoon says, pulling you after him into the bathroom aisle with a light touch to the arm.

“Oh my god I’m so sorry,”

“It’s fine I swear.” He reassures, steering you until you’re standing in front of the shower curtains.

“Wow, all this time I was acting like we didn’t know each other-”

“Y/N...” He tries to stop you.

“I’m sorry I have the worst memory.”

“I think it was more your complete and utter lack of interest for anyone but Taehyung that did it.” He teases, not unkindly. There’s more an air of resignation to it.

You drop your head in your hands, feeling flustered and embarrassed.

“Wow everyone really knows, huh?”

“You’re not exactly subtle.”

Maybe your friends were right; maybe you need to take a breather. Maybe this summer away from him is a good thing.

“So… Namjoon Kim, how long have we ‘known’ each other?” You question, quotation marks and everything.

“Well…” He trails off, thinking about it for a second before answering, scratching his head as he seems to be wracking his brain for the exact information. “Taehyung introduced us during one of the first dorms get-together, so I'd say as long as you’ve known Taehyung.”

You groan, pulling on one of the displayed shower curtains, hiding your face behind, doing your best impression of an ostrich burying its head in the sand.

“I’m a horrible person.” You state to no one.

“To be fair though, I was not on the same floor as you guys, so we probably didn’t see much of each other.”

God, he’s such a good person, trying to make sure you don’t feel bad with yourself for basically ignoring him for two whole years. It literally took him moving in with you to notice him. You peek from behind the curtain, not ready to come out completely.

“I feel horrible, I’m really sorry I didn't mean to ignore you for two fucking years.”

“You’re good, y/n, I understand. Actually I think that you-.” He says, but cuts himself short, mouth slamming shut.

“You think that I...?” You ask, curiously, eyebrows going up.

“No, nothing. It’s nothing.” He answers, but it’s hurried, the look on his face borderline frantic. He doubles up on the fiddling with the slippers, the price tag close to coming off with the way he’s tugging on it.

‘Curiosity killed the cat’ they say, but you’ve never listened to that; when you feel like something is being hid from you, you’re like a starving shark smelling blood. You can’t let go, you need to know what’s putting Namjoon in this state; what he was about to say about you.

“Namjoon, it’s ok, you can tell me.” You try to go for a reassuring smile, but the look in your eyes must give you away because it only serves to make Namjoon look more worried.

“I- I think that.” He clears his throat, looking around nervously. “I think that you’re holding the ugliest shower curtain I’ve ever seen.”

You frown, looking down at the aforementioned curtain you're currently still half hiding behind.

It’s truly atrocious; it’s a solid ugly grey color, the top part bare of anything, but starting from the middle, the bottom part is layers of ruffles over ruffles, hemmed by some white lace. It’s truly horrifying; very hard to look at.

“Namjoon.” You say, and his eyes finally settle on you.

“Namjoon, if you don’t tell me what you were going to say I'm making you buy this truly horrifyingly ugly curtain.”

There’s a look of pure unadulterated horror passing through his eyes, before he composes himself, looking perfectly neutral.

“It’s your bathroom, I'll buy whatever you want.” He says, voice void of infliction, and you smirk, pleased.

“Amazing, I’m so grateful you’re willing to spend seventy bucks on this curtain.”

“Seventy bucks?!” He exclaims, choking on air. You know he’s a student; students are usually poor. Simple math.

“Or… you could tell me what you were going to say, and I can settle for this beautiful plain white curtain,-” You entice, coming out of hiding to grab the other curtain on the display, stretching it out and showing it off as if you were in an infomercial. “yours for only…” You pause, checking the price tag, “ $9,99.”

He sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose. After a moment of silence, he mutters something so quickly you can’t catch any of it.

“Come again?” You ask, turning on your heels to hug the monstrous grey ruffle disaster to yourself in a threatening manner.

“I said…” He looks about ready to take a bite out of the slipper to avoid your questioning. “ I think that you’re- I think that- It’s cute.” He stammers.

Of all the things, you were not expecting that.

“What?”

“I think it’s cute, ok? I think that you’re cute for focusing all your attention on him like that.”

You’re shocked and confused. This is not the words usually used by your friends to describe your relationship with Taehyung.

“It’s like the rest of the world around you fades away when you’re with him or you think of him, and I wish-...I wish I had someone who liked me that much too.” He finishes, the tip of his ears burning scarlet.

You take him in at that moment, this broad and tall human, with the nicest set of dimples, the soft eyes hidden behind his glasses, the overall grand-father look that he somehow rocks; The way he’s so big yet he’s got this whole gentle vibe going on; how he’s so involuntarily destructive but he also has this calm aura surrounding him.

Suddenly, you’re kind of glad Taehyung is not around. You probably would never have noticed Namjoon if he hadn’t left. It’s only been 24 hours but you already know Namjoon is the kind of person you want to befriend. And he seems to want to befriend you too, so maybe, this summer won’t be so bad.

This summer is terrible.

You get a text from your boss first thing in the morning asking you to come in early, someone else having called in sick. Your bus shows up late, making you late, and you barely have time to catch a breath before Karen, the manager, is on you, lecturing you for your tardiness. Yes, maybe you’re often late, but you can’t really help it if mother nature skipped you when handing out punctuality.

You’re barely clocked in when you’re handed some cleaning tool, a customer having made a mess with some jam pots, meaning this is going to be a sticky disaster. Then you get screamed at because some prick disagrees with the pricing of a jar of pickles, as if that had anything to do with you; You hate pickles.

It just gets dumber from there on, and when the end of your shift comes around, you can’t wait to just be back home, with nothing to do but finally watch the finale of Hannah Brown’s season and maybe stuff your face with whatever you got from the grocery haul you did yesterday.

You wonder if Namjoon is cooking anything; a part of you hopes that he isn’t, worried for the state of the kitchen; another part of you would definitely be pleasantly surprised. As long as there’s no more garlic on the horizon.

It’s kind of weird how this is technically day 3 of you being roommates and you’re already used to his presence. Of course there’s still some awkward moments, but they never last too long.

Namjoon is such a sweetheart, and there’s a part of you that is mad for basically depriving yourself of his friendship for so long. Another part is happy that you did so, or his arrival in your life wouldn’t be the perfect distraction from Taehyung abandoning you. Not that you consider him a distraction, but he’s definitely distracting.

When he’s not falling in showers, he’s singing in them, apparently. Completely off tune, his voice not the most graceful, but still very, very endearing. A shame that you had to rush to go to work while he was having his very own concert, or you would probably have gotten out your phone to gather some blackmail materials.

There’s also his possible inability to cook anything other than pasta; it’s been three days but you’ve already seen him cook some kind of spaghetti at least thrice.

You’re not the most accomplished cook, but you can manage. You have a feeling that next to Namjoon though, you probably look like a professional Michelin decorated Chef. You’re thinking about taking over mealtime when you’re home, maybe assigning him the sous-chef role. A risk that you’re willing to take so you don’t have to see what would probably be a hurt expression at being completely dismissed from the kitchen.

There’s also his ankles. He’s got such pretty ankles, you’re kind of jealous. They’re all dainty and pretty, which is not what a man probably wants to hear when talking about his body, so you’ve decided to keep this compliment to yourself.

You’re not sure exactly what he does during his day. So far you’ve observed that he spends a lot of time in sweatpants, on his computer, earphones cutting him off from the world. He had spent a few hours on the couch yesterday, a focused look on his face as he was clearly working on something, but you didn't want to bother him to ask him what he was doing.

You get home, sighing deeply as you finally take off your shoes after nine hours of standing. It’s dinner time, your stomach is growling, there doesn’t seem to be any action in the kitchen, and you don’t have the strength or patience to cook anything right now, so you grab your phone, pulling up the UberEat app.

You plop down onto the couch, bouncing slightly before properly melting into it, but you can't fall asleep now, you’re on a food-oriented mission.

You’re about to pull up the page of your favorite pizza place when something in your peripheral vision catches your eyes.

It’s Namjoon’s laptop, open on the side table, earphone hanging from the side; The screen light is dim, but you can easily recognize the face on the paused screen.

It’s John Paul Jones.

You can’t believe your eyes, and you’re so shocked, you don’t hear the bathroom door open. You jostle when Namjoon appears in a flash, slamming the laptop shut, looking particularly distraught.

“You did not just see that.” He says, hand still on his laptop, frozen in position.

“I sure fucking did.” You exclaim, eyes sparkling. This is the best thing ever. “You’re watching The bachelorette. Alone. Because this is something you actually enjoy.”

“Please don’t tell anyone.” He whines, dropping into a low squat, wiping his face down with one hand. “I swear I’m a feminist.”

“You’re a romantic, you love love.”

Namjoon groans.

“That’s why you don’t judge me for my crush. You’ve seen worse.” You marvel, and he looks up shyly at your tone.

“You don’t have to worry, I won’t tell anyone...” You linger on the pause for a moment, keeping him guessing. “As long as you promise to do your marathon with me.”

He frowns for a second, searching your face for the teasing or ‘just joking’ that he thinks is coming. But it’s not.

“You’re...a fan of The Bachelor franchise?” he wonders aloud, and you laugh out loud at the bemusement on his face.

“If by fan you mean slowly but surely making my way through all the seasons, all the series, all the content I can, then yes, I would say that I’m a fan.”

There’s a shy smile growing on his face, his dimple going the deepest you’ve ever seen them so far in your three days of co-existing. You’re on the verge of popping out a ruler and verifying once and for all how deep those really are.

“Then yes, Y/N, I will accept your offer of being your bachelor buddy.” He chuckles.

There seems to be a lot of marathons on this summer’s horizon, and you love the idea.

Going to sleep at 5 am is never a good decision, but when it’s because you were binge-watching Bachelor in Paradise with your new bachelor buddy, then you can forgive yourself.

You step out of your room, yawning, at the same time as Namjoon does.

“Hey” You greet him, to which he answers with a small wave, squinty eyes avoiding the light.

“Hungry?” You ask, scratching your head as you make your way to the kitchen, Namjoon following behind.

“Ravenous” He croaks, morning voice ten tones deeper. But it’s not affecting you. Not at all.

You open the fridge to browse the content, pulling out some milk to make yourself some cereal, going to sit at the table so you can both eat and scroll through your phone comfortably.

Namjoon sits on the other side, buttering up some toast with an impressive amount of Nutella; but you’re not judging, being an ex Nutella-addict yourself.

You pull up your text like you’ve been doing for the past few days, checking if you received any messages that your phone failed to notify you about, sighing when you still have no answer from Taehyung. You would worry, except there hasn’t been any newsworthy event about planes or Korea or anything; you’ve been following the news just to be sure.

You peek at Namjoon, who’s staring blankly into his slice of bread with the air of someone who didn’t get enough sleep. You clear your throat lightly to get his attention.

He raises unfocused eyes on you, and you have to bite back a coo at how adorably soft he looks, with his soft brown hair a mess, eyes still half-open, a light stubble slightly apparent, and his mouth hanging slack.

“Did you...did Taehyung send you a text or something? Since he left?”

It takes Namjoon a second to register the question, frowning for a split second before shaking his head.

“He hasn’t, but I wouldn’t worry. His family would have reached out if he hadn’t made it safely.”

“Hmm good point.” You nod, going back to your cereal. You’re slowly coming to terms with the fact that Taehyung seems to have completely forgotten about you. It hurts like a bitch, but it’s getting bearable. You’re not sure how it’s going to be between the two of you once he comes back from his summer spent chasing his internet girlfriend, leaving you in the dust. You’ll definitely feel awkward around him, at least for the first few weeks. You’ll have to have a talk with him, maybe ask for an apology. So many of the plans you made together are now definitely not happening.

“Y/N?”

“Hm?”

“The other day you said that you always plan stuff factoring in Taehyung’s interest and choices, and that kind of bothered me.” Namjoon mumbles, looking suddenly very awake but also very shy.

“Aw, don’t be bothered. In a way it’s kind of my fault you know. I could easily just do my own things, but I choose to plan around him because I want to spend time with him…” You pause, wince. “It’s kind of sad now that I’m putting it this way.”

“I know that he considers you his best friend, though, and relationships, even platonic ones, go both ways.”

You smile into your cereal, pushing them around the milk.

“I appreciate you defending my honor, Namjoon.” You tease lightly, a warm feeling spreading through your chest.

“Actually I was wondering-,” He cuts himself off, scratching his head, before carrying on, “I was wondering, is there something you’ve always wanted to do? But you haven’t since it’s not something Taehyung would appreciate?”

The question takes you by surprise, and you wrack your brain, trying to think of something.

“Well, I’ve always wanted to do a road trip to the future birthplace of Captain Kirk in Iowa, but Taehyung’s not really into SciFi, so I never brought it up.”

Namjoon’s face is the one of someone who was not expecting this answer at all, and he stares at you for a long moment, something akin to wonder sparkling in his eyes.

“You like Star Trek.” He marvels, shaking his head like he can’t believe it. “How are you so perfect.”

You freeze, he freezes; everyone freezes.

“Wait, what did you just say?”

“Erhm, well, hum,-” He stammers incoherently, face growing red, before finally getting control of his tongue again. “I mean, your cinematic taste; they’re perfect. How is your cinematic taste so perfect? I just woke up, my brain is still half asleep.” He laughs, but it sounds forced, and you take pity over him.

“Sure.” You answer, dragging on the syllable. ”Anyway, that’s what I would do. I’ve always wanted to visit there, and I’ve always wanted to do a road trip, so, yeah.”

Namjoon looks grateful that you’re not insisting, taking a big swing from his glass of milk, and you’re scared that he’s going to choke and splurt milk all over the table and you for a second. Knowing his track record when nervous, it wouldn't surprise you, but he manages to keep it all in without incident.

It’s been a while since you’ve practiced your reanimation techniques and Heimlich maneuver, and you make a note to review some videos, just in case. You have a feeling that living with Namjoon is stressful

“The reason I’m asking is, well, I’ve got nothing planned this summer, and I would love to try new things. I know we’re basically strangers at this point, but, if you want we could, you know, do some stuff together. Like, I would love doing a road trip to Captain Kirk’s future Birthplace. Only if you want! I don’t want to impose myself either. If you want to save that for friends you know better, it’s perfectly fine. I’m just saying, like, I’m open to doing stuff with you. Like, I think we get along well and,- Now I’m just rambling.”

You giggle, finding this whole thing quite endearing. You’re tempted to torture him a little, but you decide to take pity on him; it’s morning after all.

“Namjoon.”

“Yes.”

“I would love to go on that road trip with you.” You state simply, and your words take a moment to register, but he gives you a beaming smile, the dimples making yet another noticed apparition. The joy is short-lived though, a frown making its way on his face.

“There’s just one thing; I don’t drive.”

You snort, extending your hand to tap lightly on his, comforting.

“It’s a good thing if you ask me.”

“...Do you?” He asks tentatively.

“Yeah baby,” You exclaim, pulling out your best southern accent. “I'm a licensed driver and everything. ‘Haven’t drove into a wall since 2016.”

“That's not as reassuring as you think it is.”

“Are you questioning my driving abilities?” You ask, leaning forward in a threatening manner.

“...No.” He gulps.

“Then let’s set a date!”

There’s a new air of excitement taking over the kitchen, the prospect of a road trip making you feel giddy like a child going to Disneyland.

“Wait, where would you get the car?”

“I can pull some strings.” You shrug with a taunting eyebrow raise, aiming for mysterious. There’s a certain someone who owes you one, and this is the perfect occasion for him to pay his due.

Before Namjoon can question you further, someone starts knocking on the door incessantly. You turn questioning eyes to Namjoon, who mirrors the look, and he stands up, hurrying to the door as the onslaught doesn't seem to be stopping.

There’s a flurry of movement as whoever is on the other side of the door jumps into Namjoon’s arms, sending him swaying back from the weight. There’s confusion and shock on Namjoon’s face, and you quickly understand why.

“Tae?!”

[utterlyinevitable]

‘Of all the lies I have ever lived, my favorite was you and I” Ethan x MC. ❤️ love your writing!!

thank you so much!🥰  i hope i did the request justice 🙈

For All The Lies

Word Count: 1.4k Warning: lil bit of angst Summary: This takes place two years after OH2. 

(art by @juliaraeart) ________________________________________

They sat around the fire of the large Cape Cod backyard at Harper’s engagement party. Becca had come as Bryce’s plus one, the surgeon wanting to spend as much time as possible with her while she was briefly back in town. A lot had changed since she accepted a research fellowship across the pond, an easier departure for her since Edenbrook had to make staffing cuts because of a budget shortfall. Becca consciously made the choice to leave the comfort she came to know for an opportunity of a lifetime and subsequently save another person's job.  

She hadn’t seen or spoken to Ethan Ramsey since she accepted a research fellowship. That was two years ago. 

Becca walked into the evening garden party on Bryce’s arm, her petite diamond still shining under the fairy lights. The moment Aurora saw the pair, Becca immediately let go and jogged over to her friend enveloping her in a hug. The two girls had kept in touch over the last few years, even setting up a free movement research programme between their two hospitals.

“What, no hug for me? I thought you loved me,” Bryce pouted at his two friends. 

The women chuckled and opened their arms letting him into the group hug. 

“That’s what I’m talking about. I miss being surrounded by beautiful women.” Ever since Becca left and residency ended last year the usual gang of doctors had spread out all over the globe, leaving Bryce with just one ally at Edenbrook - Elijah.    

One of the attendings waved Bryce over, leaving the two diagnosticians to talk. 

“How was your flight?” 

“Not bad. I’m not jet-lagged at all if I’m honest. Bryce is making sure I don’t pass out any time soon though,” she chuckled before quickly changing the topic, “I can’t believe Dr. Emery’s getting married.” 

Aurora looked directly into Becca’s eyes and said, “Believe me I never thought I’d see the day.” Harper Emery, like all Emery’s, was completely career orientated. Her career had been her longest and only love for as long as Aurora could remember. That’s why when she announced her engagement to the family they all thought it was an April Fools joke. “I’m happy she’s happy.” 

“Me too. Anyone special in your life?” Becca wiggled her eyebrows. 

“Definitely not. I’ll settle down when I’m retired.” 

There was a call for all family members to gather on the balcony for a photo with the happy couple. Aurora gave her friend and sorry smile as she departed. 

Becca timidly made her way over to the bar to grab a glass of champagne. She looked up at the stars shining in the sky and carefully took in her surroundings. She wondered if her own wedding would be as grand and glamorous as this reception. As if thinking the thoughts of her future while in Boston was a charm that summoned ghosts of her past, she heard a gruff clear of a throat from behind her. 

His velvety baritone voice cooed, “Dr. Lao.”

She couldn’t help the smirk that perked at her lips when she heard her name on his tongue - it was a Pavlovian response. 

Rebecca Lao turned around to see Ethan Ramsey apprehensively standing a few feet away, dressed head to toe in his trusty black tux. 

“Dr. Ramsey,” she uttered back. 

In a space of over 300 people they still had such a hold over one another - for time stood still and Ethan and Becca were the only people permitted to move. In the distance a new song began to play from the orchestra.  

Ethan held out his hand, “For old times?”  

Without a second thought she took hold and with a small smile agreed, “For old times.”

The pair planted themselves in a corner of the laid out wooden dance floor and away from the commotion of rambunctious party-goers and attention of others who could misconstrue their embrace. Ethan had his hands respectfully on her waist, while she had her right hand draped over his shoulder and left securely on his chest. 

They swayed back and forth for a labored moment before either of them spoke. 

“Let me see,” Ethan nodded to the jewelry affixed to his chest. For a moment Becca completely forgot about her reality. Hesitantly she lifted her hand and placed it into Ethan’s waiting one. With intrigue and precision he rotated it back and forth, letting the silver diamond catch the light at each angle. “It’s decent,” he nodded in approval.  

“Not too shabby,” she agreed, staring at their interlocked hands. “Doesn’t get in the way and not as distracting.” 

Becca knew she never wanted to make a show of her relationship status, especially in her line of work where she’s constantly using her hands and needing to pull gloves on and off. Anything bigger than 2 carats was too much in her mind. She mindfully thanked her fiance for once again knowing her and her needs better than she herself did.  

“You’ve always been a magpie.” Ethan smirked as he remembered all the times she would get distracted by shiny objects in a shop window, on a screen or even the reflective glare of light.  

She rolled her eyes. 

“How.. have you been?” they weren’t the words he wanted to say but they were the ones their situation called for. He had no right to demand any personal information from her. Hell, he didn’t even deserve the privilege of her company but here she was in his arms after all this time.  

“Busy,” she said with absolutely no humor. “I now know why you preferred a solitary life.” 

Ethan’s face fell with the unintentional sting.  

He pulled his lips back up and pridefully told her, “I read your book.”  

Shock was evident all over Becca’s features. She knew her book was published globally and as an avid reader of all medical journals he was bound to read it. Still, it shook her that after all this time he was still paying attention. “What’d you think? Not as boring as yours, huh.”  

“Satisfactory,” she saw a flicker of mischief dance around his irises. “For a first time author.”  

Becca began to speak, “How -” at the same time Ethan added, “Wh-”.   

She let him continue on with his thought; 

The flicker of light was replaced with a dark cloud as he spoke, “Why didn’t you keep in touch?”  

Becca’s eyes grew heavy with sadness and she tried to look anywhere but at him. “Ethan…” 

He searched her features, using everything he learned about body language from years of doctoring and from knowing her body, for any semblance of an answer. 

All he found was guilt and… something else. 

She went to remove her hand from his and he squeezed it tighter. Her mouth fell agape and turned her gaze to meet his. Blue mimicked brown, both trying to convey all they wish they had the courage to say. Both wanting to mend all the problems they caused and all the decisions they’ve now come to regret. 

The brows above her sorrowful eyes rose, coaxing him to speak. 

Looking at the face of the woman he once passionately cared for, the woman who could see right through his facade, Ethan couldn’t form a coherent retort. He couldn’t think of anything he could say that would make up for all the lost time, all the lost moments. 

She squeezed his hand, egging him on. 

After a harsh inhale Ethan finally relayed the most daunting of words, “Of all the lies I have ever lived, my favorite was you and I.” Finally, after all this time - after all the tears shed he was finally able to say, “I’m sorry I pushed you away.” 

It was as if the admission crippled him, his hands fell from her immediately and he took a step back.  

Becca closed the gap between them once more and placed her hand over his heart. She stared at his chest, remembering the old blissful feeling of their skin on each other, as she maturely admitted, “We were meant to be in each other's lives but not in that way. I know that now, I’m sorry I kept forcing myself on you.” 

“You didn’t force anything.” He shook his head admonishing her words. “I wanted it all, every bit of you.” He placed his hand over her own. His eyes never shifted from her sullen ones that kept themselves fixed on their joined hands. “I’m sorry I wasted all that time lying about my feelings for you. I completely failed you - I know that now.”   

She balled her fist up against him. “Ethan…”  

“Are you happy?” 

“Yes.”  

“I’m glad,” he said with recognition for the most impressive person he has ever met and will ever meet.  

________________________________________

Taglist: @ohchoices​​ @dulceghernandez​​​ @aylamreads​​ @binny1985​​​ @ramseysno1rookie​​​ @interobanginyourmom​​​ @queencarb​​​ @perriewinklenerdie​ @rookiefromedenbrook​​ @eramsey28​​ @choicesficwriterscreations​​ @heauxplesslydevoted​​ @schnitzelbutterfingers​​ @purpledragonturtles​​ @ramseyandrys​​​ @ermidc​​ @mrsdrakewalkerblog​​ @doilooklikeiknow​ @overwhelminglyaquarius​ @drethanramslay

[ohdaim]

april fool's day oneshot

hi guys, i wrote this today in one sitting, and it's lazily edited:) i'm recovering from an oral surgery and on strong medication, so i hope this makes as much sense as i think it does.

Ship: Ignis Scientia/female reader Summary: You are a Citadel valet working the night shift, frequently attending to Ignis' car. You have no idea how to talk to him. He has no idea how to ask for your number. Words: 1849 idk if this is considered fluff or just mutual pining but with like,, idiots

__

Stir together bread crumbs, garlic, parsley…

You scanned the rest of the newest recipe on your favorite cooking blog, Feeding The Fussy. As always, it looked delicious. As always, you rated it five stars and typed out a comment.

I followed the recipe exactly, but I left out the bread crumbs and cheese. I used shrimp and bacon grease instead. Terrible recipe. Won’t make again.

Putting your phone away, you came to attention when someone stepped out of a Citadel elevator across the lobby. You worked night shift as a palace valet and hardly saw anyone but for a few regular night owls. One of them approached now, and gods, you were nervous all of a sudden.

Ignis was your favorite regular. He was polite, tipped well, and made small talk so you wouldn't have to. You didn’t know what he did in the Citadel or why he so often left at four in the morning. You just knew you had a big crush on him and, for that reason, could never carry a full conversation without getting sweaty palms.

“Good morning.” He greeted you first. “Quiet night?”

You nodded, entering the info you needed to check his vehicle out of the system. You wanted to say something, anything. Nerves got the best of you, and you excused yourself into the back room to get his car keys. On your way out, you held them up. “I’ll have your car here momentarily.”

Ignis didn’t respond. He wasn’t even looking at you. His attention was on his phone, a corner of his mouth curled upward.

You paused, taking in the smirk with shy curiosity. That was a new look. What was he smirking at? When he seemed to remember himself, he schooled the look and met your eyes. Startling, you repeated yourself quietly and went through the doors leading to the parking garage.

Ignis’ car consistently smelled like coffee wrapped in leather. Your phone vibrated in your pocket as you buckled in. Because you wanted to linger in the nice scent--was this extremely weird? Yes, of course--you checked to see what the buzzing was about.

An email. You’d gotten a reply from the Feeding The Fussy chef. They’d liked your comments in the past but hadn’t addressed your obvious jokes. You stared at the subject line for a beat, then opened the message.

Thank you for the review. Almost as insightful as last week’s eight hundred word description of your current diet and how my recipes conflict. Do you have any suggestions on how to improve this one?

Your nervousness grew so heavy, it burst in bright red over your face, a flame in your chest. The chef was talking to you. You’d chalked it up to luck that they understood your sense of humor and the intent of your comments. Never had you thought they’d give more than a like. You typed a response before getting back to work.

Pro tip: Using a microwave is faster than the oven. Also, I’ve begun a new diet (details to follow), so is there any way to make this recipe without the ingredients?

Ignis’ car was fancy but less so than most others in the garage. You always felt a pinch of regret when pulling it up to the lobby entrance. Driving a car like his just to see how fast it could go, it wasn’t something you’d ever get to do. You didn’t own one yourself, and truthfully, you'd only gotten a driving license to be qualified for this job. Getting out, you waved at Ignis and extended an arm toward the open driver’s seat.

Tip passing from his hand to your own, you bowed and tucked the money into a pocket. He thanked you, getting into his car. You waited for him to drive away, likely the last person you’d see this shift.

“Ah, pardon me,” Ignis startled you by climbing back out, the car door hanging open. He held something out to you. “I believe you dropped this.”

You looked at your phone in his hand, your eyes wide, nervousness becoming embarrassment. Quickly grabbing it, you bowed again. “Sorry.”

Ignis chuckled. “It’s quite alright. Good thing I noticed when I did.”

Nodding emphatically, you wished he’d just go before you humiliated yourself further.

Clearly not reading your mind, he lingered a moment longer. “In truth, I--”

“Have a good day, sir.” You didn’t mean to interrupt him and hadn’t expected him to say more.

He cleared his throat and smiled. “Same to you.” Thanking you again, by name this time, he left.

Back in the quiet lobby, you put his tip with the rest you’d made that night. You sat behind the desk and buried your face in your hands. The sting of feeling stupid in front of Ignis was abated by the underlying excitement that came from talking to the chef you admired.

They specialized in meals for picky eaters, which you were. They used clear directions, so they could be followed by an amateur chef, which you really were. They sometimes added personal anecdotes spiced with sarcasm and dry jokes to the recipe’s background, which made you feel safe to comment. You refrained from checking your inbox, content to wait until you were home to see if they’d replied yet.

Two attendants arrived for the day shift, and as you hitched the strap of your bag over a shoulder, readying to leave, one of them told you to wait.

“You should pick up a new nametag before your next shift.”

Glancing down at your uniform, you remembered you’d lost yours several days ago. “Oh, right. I will.”

You stepped into an elevator, pressing the button for the metro station level. New nametag. Dumb. You had your work badge but still required a tag. How else would the Citadel inhabitants know who to thank for fetching their expensive cars? You rolled your eyes at the thought, already annoyed. You’d have to come to work early to pick it up. Was it too soon to quit and attend culinary school? You needed to make a bit more money first. Ignis tipped large bills, but still, it’d take years of picking his car up every morning before you could afford tuition.

Grinning to yourself, you weaved through the incoming morning crowds and boarded a train home. It had felt nice, hearing Ignis say your name on his way out. He was the only person who ever addressed you, so maybe getting a new tag was worth it for that alone. Ignis was just-- He truly-- You really liked when he came down, that was all.

It didn’t strike you for another several hours, as you filled out the online request for a new Citadel employee nametag, that Ignis must’ve remembered your name. You supposed a great memory was probably just another part of his polite demeanor. That’s what you told yourself, at least, to keep your crush from growing. You didn’t even know the man.

You attempted the chef’s latest recipe, and as it cooled, you--very casually and not nervously at all--checked to see if they’d replied.

I’ll keep that tip in mind. As for your question, I recommend the following replacement recipe: brew a cup of coffee or tea, sit somewhere comfortable, and enjoy the beverage knowing your comments haunt me whenever I cook.

You read and reread the message, then laughed into a hand. Worth the wait. You ate a bite directly from the dish on your counter, huffing through the fresh heat with mild regret. They deserved a genuine review after such honesty, but it seemed you were doing little more than burning the roof of your mouth. So you took a picture of the food, offering a thumbs up with one hand in frame, and sent it as a reply.

The next night you worked, Ignis arrived much earlier than expected--before midnight, no less. He was coming in rather than going out. Another man was with him, someone blonde and unfamiliar. Ignis opened the back to retrieve something, turning you down when you offered to get it for him. The blonde man, his smile sincere but awkward, complimented your shoes.

“Thanks.” You didn’t really know what to say. People chatting with you was uncommon.

“They match your uniform’s tie… thing.” The blonde man was red in the face. Someone needed to tell him he didn’t have to make small talk. You were just a valet. He persisted, his smile broad. “It’s nice, y’know. You’re, like, coordinated and stuff.”

“Prompto.” Ignis closed the back and proffered a piece of luggage toward the other man. “Leave her be.” When the man took the bag from him, Ignis gave you the car keys. “I apologize for my friend. He can’t contain himself around beautiful women. Add inebriation, and he’s a lost cause.”

You gripped the keys tightly, taking in everything with a slow nod. Yes, of course, right. All of that made sense. Ignis was bringing a drunk friend into the palace. Normal Ignis stuff.

“Do you think Cor’s gonna be mad at me?” the blonde asked Ignis, walking backwards from the car toward the lobby doors. “Iggy, what if Cor gets mad at me?”

Ignis rolled his eyes, a hand checking his inner jacket. “A tad late to worry about that. Go directly to the barracks and try to sleep it off.”

“Where are the barracks again?”

Ignis’ chest broadened with a sigh, and he left the guy hanging. Withdrawing a money clip, he held it out to you. “For your trouble.”

You hesitated taking it. The outer bill appeared to be 1,000 yen, and it was several notes thick… More than the usual tip. You took it slowly, fingertips brushing his leather covered palm, and murmured a quiet thanks.

Ignis remained, his hand lifting to brush loose strands of hair out of his face. He wasn’t as put together as you were used to. Your eyes trailed downward, now noticing the unbuttoned collar of his shirt. Huh.

He cleared his throat and began, “There’s something I--”

“C’mon, Iggy!” The blonde man held one of the entrance doors wide open. “If I knew Cor was gonna be mad anyway, I would’ve stayed at Noct’s.”

Ignis gave you a hasty farewell, already walking away to push the blonde man through the door. They disappeared inside, leaving an awkward wake of silence. You settled into Ignis’ coffee-and-leather scented car, a realization hitting you late, as they tended to do. Had Ignis implied you were beautiful? You didn’t entertain the thought for long. Ignis was a professional, royal something-or-other. He would never. You were reading too much into it. Surely.

On the walk from Ignis’ parking spot back to the lobby, you checked for the latest message from the chef. You’d boldly given them your number in a DM when the comment thread became unbearably long. You hadn’t held out hope of receiving a message and read their initial text at least ten times in disbelief before responding and saving the number.

Was this a new friendship? You hoped so.

[sunflowers-insherwood]

Spring RH Headcanons

in spring in Sherwood Forest, it’s warmer, but wet, drizzly, and windy

- 'thank heck for that' allan thinks when he sees the first properly sunny day in march

- the second it's warm enough they all go to the river and have WASH DAY

- they get their first proper bath in ages and greatly enjoy splashing each other in the face

- it's such a ceremonious day robin always lets the gang have the day off to fully revel in it

- robin and will are great swimmers

- john and much just prefer to float

- until allan and djaq dive underneath them and flip them over hehehe

- when the first daffodils bloom much picks some and puts them in the camp

- soon there are loads of flowers in every corner

- allan's hay fever is Not having a good time but he likes the flowers so much he tries to hide it

- djaq is still complaining about being cold

- john refuses to take his big coat off because he got emotionally attached to it accidentally over winter

- robin and the gang plan a massive easter egg hunt for all the villages

- they spend the night before creeping around and hiding the eggs for all the children

- because the poor need looking after emotionally too

- the sheriff somehow gets one under his pillow??! simply painted with a massive smiley face and the words 'you can't eggs-acute us!'

- guy gets one with a lovely drawing done by robin of him and marian making out

- much, allan and will get the most involved in painting the rest, they sit around for days in camp painting as many as possible

- while john, djaq and robin raid all the rich folk's egg supplies

- leading to the infamous egg shortage of 1193

- they now have loads of jumpers and warm weather clothes with nowhere to put them

- they know they'll need them again next year though so will creates some underground storage for all the seasonal items

- because the weather changes so quickly though, they still keep some of their jumpers and scarves on hand

- there's nothing worse than getting caught in an april shower

- mid mission and suddenly a downpour of rain

- and even hail???

- and the gang are forced to run for cover

- if they're lucky a villager lets them stay in their house

- this led to a few close calls, however, where they had to pretend they were family to people in the village when local guards demanded shelter too

- 'you don't look like siblings' 'we're actually adopted' 'allan, shut up'

- april fools gets increasingly out of hand every year oh god

- first it's just a prank war between robin and allan

- but it slowly builds until they have two teams, months of planning and spying prepares for the day

- it's robin, much and john vs allan, will and djaq

- pranks includes toffee onions disguised as toffee apples (much's idea), fake insects (djaq's idea) randomly picking people up and throwing them in the air (john's job) fart cushions (allan's maturity) weapons that make rude noises when fired (will's genius) and hiding the other teams underwear (robin's work, they find it pinned to the top branch of a tree by an arrow)

- when it's april fools day while allan is working at the castle, he and marian take great pride in messing guy

- they draw a beautiful moustache on him with his eyeliner (the stuff that takes ages to come off)

- to get back at them he frames them for a crime and makes the sheriff announce them guilty

- little do the know the sheriff is having a whale of a time and is in on it too

- robin is about a half hour away from coming in to save them it gets so serious

- once they find out it's a joke guy gets a lecture on what constitutes as humorous and what is 'too far'

- the sheriff just crackles with laughter at this entire situation

- but stops when he sees the gang have toilet papered the entire castle

- when it gets to april 26th everyone is always a little quieter at camp

- allan can’t stop rubbing the back of his neck and he and will spend a lot of time together on that day

- much gets sick of people associating what should be a day of celebration – it founded his favourite ever group of people! – with execution, so he goes around trying to put this right

- and along with djaq cooks up a massive surprise feast for everyone

- and suddenly john is playing the lute and everyone is dancing and the sun is still high in the sky even late in the evening

- allan and will are dancing and everyone is singing and drinking and celebrating the birth of the gang

- and they know they both went through hell that day

- but they’d do it again for the lads

[lucysuniverse]

Critical Beauty

Am I the only one who thinks Jo Jinho is perfect just the way he is? Probably not. :D

To be honest I incredibly miss this man so I just wanted to feel him a bit closer while I am writing this story and he is serving in the military.

Happy Birthday Jinho! We love you all. 

Pairing: Jinho x OC/reader

Genre: comfort, romance, angst

Word count: 6081

______________________________

I messed up. Like totally. My dad and those idiot colleagues of mine totally washed my brain. But after all I was the one ruining our relationship completely. And I could not blame him for having the will to break up with me because If I was in his shoes I would have done the same.

-|-

I knew it wasn’t right this way. We lived together for almost a year by now, and I couldn’t tell him. I couldn’t tell him that I was lying to him continuously in order to protect him from pain and save his self-esteem. Or at least this was my intention through-out the years.

We lived in a small flat. This is what we could afford. I just graduated from high-school and he was going to auditions. One after another. He was determined, and he was good. Insanely good. I couldn’t understand what is missing. What do you need more to become a singer? Didn’t he have outstanding vocals? He did. Didn’t he have a bit shy but loveable personality? He did. Didn’t he have sense of humor? HE DID. And on top of that he was handsome. WHAT WAS MISSING THEN???

As his girlfriend my heart was aching to watch all his efforts go to waste after so many years passed. We had a relatively big age gap between us. Well as long as you’re a teenager or young adult even two and a half years difference seem a lot. But later on, it doesn’t really matter. Especially not when you like someone. Because you like them for the person they are.

I loved him so incredibly. Because he was great. He was caring and cute but sometimes surprisingly masculine and very hot. I couldn’t wish for a better man. There was only one thing missing. Actually, not was but were. 5 more inches.

Because although we were quite far from each other in terms of age, we were all the more so close in terms of height. To be honest I guess I might have been smaller than him, but it never felt like that. And every time I thought about this I felt ashamed. Because that was the only thing which gave me hard times. I wouldn’t say I didn’t like his height. I liked everything about him. But sometimes I just wished he was a tiny bit taller, or I was even smaller (if that was possible).

Sometimes I found myself wondering about this: this couldn’t be the reason of him failing all those auditions, right? They can’t be so mean right? If you’ve ever heard a good singer than you would know that Jo Jinho was one of them.

This is why I always told my father to wait just a little. He was really opposing our relationship. I would have understood his concerns if he had real reasons, since I was his only daughter. But what he always said was ridiculous, narrow-minded and I just resent him for that.

“When will he finally stop this stupid joke of becoming a singer. Didn’t he have enough throughout these years?”

“I am fine dad. How about you?” I said as a reply. I was so fed up listening to his bullshit all the time. He heard Jinho singing. And even though he would have never admitted, he knew Jinho was born to be a singer. Anybody could tell. But sadly, in his eyes only those are real men who are lawyers or doctors. When they divorced with mom, he even found me a real man… My dad thought I should go on a blind date with the trainee of his divorce lawyer. He even complimented his ears! Like what the heck! My always logical and strict dad tells me to date the trainee of his divorce lawyer because he has nice ears.

Don’t get me wrong I’ve never thought about leaving Jinho, but my dad nagged me all the time so I checked the guy’s social media pages. Funfact: he was born on the freaking same day in April as Jinho. Am I freaking joke?

“Little woman… I am your dad no need to act like this. But think about your future kids. Will they be also minions?”

“Bye dad it was good to talk to you.” And I hung up. I didn’t want to ignore him. After all he was my dad. But we never had a good relationship. Well a relationship at all. But the irritating thing was that even if I tried to ignore all these comments he made me angry. I couldn’t stop myself. I should not marry Jinho but we are already expecting kids?! And minions? And these are my dad’s words when he himself isn’t a giant either. ARRGGGGHHH!

“Hi babe! Is everything okay?” Jinho asked. And as always, I put on a nice smile and said “yeah, all good.” And I hated myself for that.

-|-

“What is that?” He asked curiously. I didn’t know he was still at home. I wanted to put the box back under the bed as soon as possible but it was too late he saw it.

“Oh this? It is just something stupid. It is not important. Did you leave something here?”

“Yeah, I left my phone on the charger. But don’t change the topic. It must be something important if you were staring at it so dearly.”

“Oh no. You misunderstood.”

“Okay, enough of this. What’s that? Do you have something to hide from me?” And even though he didn’t say this in an offended way there was edge in his voice.

“It’s your birthday gift.”

“My birthday gift?”

“Yeah.” I knew this couldn’t work. But I couldn’t come up with a real acceptable reason.

“It was last month. And procrastination is your middle name so it can’t be for my next one, I am not buying this. So, what is that?”

“I will bring this back okay? I don’t know why I bought this. I must have lost my mind. I just …”

“Oh show me finally.” And before I could give him the box he took it out of my hands.

“You must be kidding me, right?” He asked after 3 minutes of torturing silence.

“Look I am sorry. I know we should be saving money and …. but I can ask for refund and also…”

“You created such a big scene just because of this?” And he was laughing. He was LAUGHING!

“What? Aren’t you mad?”

“Why would I be? Should I?”

“Oh… yeah. I mean no. No. I just thought… I just…”

“You thought I would be upset to found out that my girlfriend is secretly buying a pair of high-heels for herself to feel pretty? I am getting more upset now that I know you felt like you should hide this. Also, why did you think I didn’t want to see your pretty legs in this? I thought you knew me better. If that’s all I am off for work. Bye babe see you in the afternoon.” And he gave me a light kiss on my forehead. And I felt on my skin he was smiling. “And I hope next time I see you, you’ll be wearing these.” And he casually left the room.

I made a fool out of myself. I really thought he would be offended by this. I mean it wasn’t a big deal to give up on high-heels. They weren’t very comfortable anyway and we really had to save money. But I was young and for the first time in my life I felt getting more feminine. Maybe I was already but this time I started to realize.

I thought it was selfish of me having these secret desires to put on a bit tighter clothes and wore high-heels especially when he is not really taller than me, but after having this conversation I was even more encouraged. I knew he didn’t have problems with it and that was all that mattered. I was happily tiptoeing to the office. My colleagues even complimented me.

The girls were jealous for having those nice shaped legs, and the boys… let’s not talk about them. If you think they will become serious once they grow up… Well friend you are totally mistaken. Boys will be boys. But they didn’t cross the line, in their own way they complimented me as well. And I felt confident and happy. All thanks to my sweet boyfriend whom I could always rely on.

I was in a really good mood until the point I let some idiots ruin my day. I couldn’t say they ruined it. I was the one let them do it. I just wish I never overheard their conversation.

“I was wondering why she is never coming to the year-end parties but now I see. The company is not yet prepared for those legs.”

“That was a good one bro. But they say she is just staying home all the time with that hopeless guy. I feel sorry for her to have such a boyfriend.”

“What really? Why aren’t they coming together?”

“Another rumor says it the guy is a dwarf. So, she is rather staying home with him.”

“Wow. How do you know so many things?”

“Resources…”

“Which girl then?”

“The blondie in the red jeans.”

“Mmmmmh.”

“Stop it she is mine.”

“Until when?”

“Tonight. Then you can have her.”

“You are disgusting man. Well done.” And they laughed.

“Ah but that sweetie. I really feel sorry for her. Having that boyfriend can be very burdensome.”

“Oh yeah. If I was her boyfriend, I would make sure she feels good in every situation.”

“You mean every position.”

“Exactly.” And they laughed again. “You know me so well.”

I felt dirty. It’s not like they did anything specific to me. They were just fantasizing. But I felt fucking dirty in that moment. I wanted to erase this conversation from my head but instead I heard their words repeatedly in my head.

I heard my shoes making that irritating sound on the street while I was going home. With every step I felt smaller and smaller. I regretted wearing that stupid high-heel… So as soon as I arrived home I put them back in their box cleaned, ready to bring them back to the shop. I would want to throw them away instantly but then suddenly I thought about Jinho.

We need to spare money. He needs to buy some nice clothes for the next audition. And also, we barely manage to pay the bills since I just started studying in the med school and next to collage it is quite hard to work. Sometimes I thought maybe I should just quit dreaming about becoming a doctor but there was a senior doc, my supervisor who inspired me a lot. Last month he helped that well-known celebrity couple. He said the lady had some complications while she was giving birth to their little girl but the doctor helped them and finally the little Daisy was born healthy. Some of my fellow classmates said he even resembles Jinho…. I don’t know why.

Talking about Jinho, he was quite clueless when he found me eating the third bowl of ice cream and watching Lovely Complex.

“You are still watching this?”

“Anime is not only for kids. And well I’ve just become an adult anyway, meaning I am still a kid. Let me be. Oh and if you go to the kitchen can you bring me the last Ben & Jerry’s? I know I shouldn’t be buying these but I just felt like having a pajama party on my own. Thanks babe. ”

“Look.” And he sat down next to me and slowly took away the Ben and Jerry’s from my hands to put it on the table. “Can we talk about today morning?”

“Sure. But what is there to talk about?”

“I hate it when you act like this. And the funny thing is that you know I do.” He smiled bitterly. I was aware of it. None of us were stupid. Well… we both were very clever to be honest. When I acted silly it was either out of fun or I was trying to hide something. Just like now.

“Okay. Sorry.”

“I feel like you are kind of disappointed in me. And I just wanted to let you know and thank you for enduring all these days and months together with me. I know that even if you don’t tell me that it is hard to tell your parents that I still didn’t make it.”

“Jinho it’s not your fault.”

“That is showbiz, I know. The only thing that hurts me is that when I started this utterly long and unpredictable journey, it was me and only me. But since then we found each other, and me failing all the time is not only an individual concern. We are a team. And I am not a good team mate. You just graduated and want to become a doctor. And I should support you.”

“Jinho you’ve already done so much for me, you can’t even imagine. And you do every single day. Even today. So, don’t just please don’t say you don’t support me, when you support me the most.”

“But then what’s wrong?”

“What do you mean?”

“Even after so many years I’ve never met your colleagues and I hardly ever meet your dad. I know you are working part-time and you are tired from doing college and your job at the same time but these parties could help you relieve stress a bit.”

“I don’t want you to meet those idiots.” And well, this was true. Not only because they would make a joke out of us, but after today I was kind of ashamed of working with those bastards.

“But I guess not all of them- oh what’s this? I am sorry babe but I need to pick this up, we will catch up on this okay?”

A producer called him. Or should I say the producer? The one who just became a dad. The one whose wife gave birth to the little Daisy in our hospital with the help of my professor. That producer. I was insanely happy. Finally, good news. I couldn’t bear anything bad any longer. But the worst was yet to come.

-|-

We were walking hand in hand on the streets. Finally, a promising audition. It was on Saturday so I could go with him to the company and show some support as I should. Once the audition was over Jinho shook hands with the producer. I could imagine them working together. I even found cute how they were both quite small.

Jinho said they would contact him later, but he had a good feeling about finally making it. I was so happy. I’ve never saw him so hopeful after an audition. When we were leaving the company there were six model like people nearing us. I was sure they just walked out of Vogue. The two most likely European girls alongside the four men suited each other very well. But not all the boys were Korean. One boy’s appearance shouted “Shanghai Prince” the other’s “Nagano Prince” but don’t ask me why. I just had this feeling.

I don’t know how Jinho felt but I was in awe. They looked stunning. Flawlessly chitchatting about a Flower Shop in the nearby. I always thought models have other topics to talk about. Well the owner of that shop must have done something very well then to become a hot topic.

“They were cool right?” He asked suddenly.

“Yeah.”

“Just wait a little longer. I will become one of them anytime soon.”

“I know.”

And I really knew that he would succeed. He was supposed to be a singer. I even imagined myself becoming his manager. I loved helping people. And I was determined about med school, but for him I could have given up on it. I knew with his music he may be curing more people in his life than me as a doctor. So after all our goal was the same.

              As we were nearing home familiar faces were getting closer. The two guys that bullied me in high school. They always had something against me. If I had red nails I was a slut if I wore a turtleneck they called me a nun. They ate my lunch, stole my notebooks etc. Same old thing. Bullies are so uncreative.  

              “Oh hi dear. Long time no see.”

              “Hi guys.” And I started to panic but wanted to grab Jinho’s hand and leave as soon as possible.

              “Hey its Saturday, why such a hurry? Knowing you, you don’t have any plans or invitations, do you?”

              “I am sorry boys, but we will be leaving.” Jinho said firmly.

              “Oh, did you see someone? I heard a voice but I don’t know where it comes from.” One of them said.

              “I don’t know man. Maybe our favorite girl can tell us.” And now they were both looking at me challengingly.

              “You guys are still not tired of the same old shit, are you?” I asked with a bored face but deep inside I was startled. I hated seeing them again, I hated the fact that even after graduation they can do this to me and Jinho as well.

              “Same old shit? Look at you. Are you talking about yourself?”

              “It was enough. Get lost.” Jinho said again.

              “It is strange I keep on hearing things but I don’t see anyone.” One said.

              “Poor girl. You should have higher expectations. Are should I say taller?” The other added. And they laughed. I was about to cry. Why is this happening to us, when finally, things seemed to become better.

              “Is he the best you could end up with? Oh god your still so low-class as you used to be… or is he not your boyfriend? Correct me if I misunderstood.”

              And that was when I fucked up. I didn’t say anything. I hesitated. There were no good answers. I knew them so well, no matter what I was about to say, they would turn it against me. But even that should have been better than this.

              “I am sorry guys, but if that’s the problem, I can tell you we are not together. Look at her. Is she someone to mess around someone like me? Definitely no. She is better than that. She has a taller, funnier and richer guy next to her. He has just entered that building at the end of the corner. I guess you both know which building I am referring to.”

              “Is that true?” They asked at the same time.

              It was our only chance to finally escape from this nightmare situation. They could stop us if they wanted any time. We were both too small to resist if they were up to something.

              “Yeah, that’s right. He works there.”

              And as if the curse was broken, they nodded with respect and were no longer blocking our way.

              “If that’s the case, we are sorry about what we said. We knew you are going to make it. And who is that lucky guy? Yanan? Shinwon? Yuto? No waaaay. Oh my god are you dating Jung Wooseok?”

              I had no clue what they were talking about, but I had this gut feeling that my dear ex-classmates became fanboys throughout the years. FANBOYS! It was ridiculous. I couldn’t help but smile out of embarrassment.

              “I am sorry, but you also know that we should respect the artist’s privacy. I cannot say more.”

              “Okay, so its Wooseok. Oh my god. He is a legend. Could you please get his autograph?”

              “I am sorry but we should get going. Jinho has- wait… Jinho?”

              “Oh the small guy? He left couple of minutes ago when it turned out you are dating Wooseok. Is he jealous by the way? He might have some feelings for you. But don’t mind him girl. You are dating the great Jung Wooseok. What else can a person ask for?”

              For a forgiving boyfriend I guess. I left these two idiots there and I started to run after Jinho as fast as I could. Did he say he is leaving I just didn’t notice? Was he upset? Did he leave something at the audition? I called him several times but I couldn’t reach him. After going back to the company and checking the possible places where we were that day I decided to finally go home. I just hoped he would be there.

-|-

              He was at home. And he didn’t seem upset. He told me to take a shower after this tiring day. It was his tiring day though. If only I had the audition today.

              We spent the afternoon calmly he was practicing and I watched a movie. The male protagonist kinda resembled the divorce lawyer’s trainee. Yang Hongseok. And wait a second, he is at the same agency where Jinho had the audition. Nice. I was so happy and excited I really hoped they will call him back with good news.

              Jinho was practicing for hours. He only did this when he was determined and wanted to prove himself before an upcoming audition or when he was hurt. I started to have a bad feeling. There isn’t any upcoming audition. Shit.

              I prepared some nice food and I cautiously knocked on his door to tell him we can have dinner. He didn’t seem angry or anything he just casually nodded and we started to eat.

              “About today… thank you for saving me. These two were always bullying me and if you weren’t next to me today I might have ended up crying and hurt again.”

              “At least YOU are not hurt.” And the way he said ‘you’ was different.

              After minutes of awkward silence he thanked for the food and was on his way to go back practicing.

              “Wait Jinho.”

              “Yeah?” He asked indifferently.

              And I couldn’t ask what I wanted.

              “There is dessert for you in the fridge.”

              “For me? Aww. That’s nice. I thought it is for someone else. Maybe for Jung Wooseok.”

              Bingo. I knew something was fishy…

“I don’t even know who that guy is. And you are well aware of this. Look, I know those two are disgusting and resentful but it was you who stopped them. It was thanks to your made up story that they finally stopped.”

“Oh right. You are so right. What if we just pretend not dating anymore? Maybe it will solve other worries too?!”

“What? Do you want to break up?”

And I saw that he kinda froze at this question. He didn’t mean it.  But if he was mentioning break up he must have been hurt for real.

“No. Of course not. This is why I was kind of avoiding you. I wanted to talk about this when I have calmed down. But fine since it’s out it can’t be helped.”

I was getting nervous. The thought of losing him was more than painful. I didn’t want to live without him. I couldn’t live without him.

“I always thought we are a great team. Even if there are things we should work on we were always open about concerns and we solved the problems together. But I am worried this situation right now is not something we can change even if we work together.”

“We can solve everything together, okay? I want to solve it. Jinho please. I understand and realize that I must have hurt you with my words. And I am so sorry about that. I never wanted to hurt you. I should have told them the truth.”

“Do you know how much happier you looked when I said you are dating this illusionary taller, funnier and richer guy? Do you realize how relieved you were when they showed you respect for dating an idol? Do you get it finally? I love you so incredibly. But this is me. Only this much. I cannot give you more. I am working hard to get there. I might be there someday. But it won’t change facts. I am Jo Jinho, I am 5.6. I don't look like a model. I don’t have money. But I love you. That’s all I can give. But I am not sure it is enough. I am no longer sure I can give you the things you need. I am not sure what I can give you is the same as you want me to give you.”

“What?”

Is this really how I behaved? Is this really how I made him feel?

“I am not saying we should break up, but I am asking you to reconsider what you want from me and from this relationship. I want you to be honest. I promise you even if you say ‘I am sorry but I only date guys above 5.8’ it will hurt and I will be broken, but I will accept it. As long as I know you made the right choice in order to be with someone who can make you happy, I will accept your decision.”

“No Jinho. You totally misunderstood. I don’t want to date anybody else. Who cares about those stupid inches?”

“You. It was only you. Always. Did you ever hear me complaining about it? This might sound cruel but I learned to accept myself and love myself in this way. And it was a hard and long journey. I won’t pretend it is only about you. I don’t want to lose this confidence. I don’t want to become that insecure man I was before. But you make me feel like someone who needs to be protected, someone who should be hidden. I don’t want to feel like this.”

“I never wanted to hurt you.” I said while my tears were falling.

“I know you never did. It was unintentional. But you’ve hurt me. I just want you to realize a lot of things can be improved and changed, but my height is not something I can modify. Please just think about it. If you still want me this way, just let me know. I would be happy to stay together.”

And he left me there. I would want to hug somebody, and I needed his presence but, I was kind of glad he didn’t see my ugly crying face.

He was so damn right. And I could totally understand the way he felt. If you love someone you shouldn’t make them feel like trash. And it was always and only me who had those concerns. The rumors spread by the colleagues and my dad’s stupid words. I am not sure how I really felt. Maybe I was just influenced by them but I was worried I might have cared too much about his height.

Everything was up to me now. He was waiting for my answer. Even after I hurt him so bad, he didn’t want to break up. It was up to me to choose an average life with a divorce lawyer’s trainee type of guy, or choose a different type of life with him. A life with Jo Jinho.

-|-

We’ve slept separately. It was better this way. I was suffering alone but it just made me realize how much I needed his presence, how much I wanted to see his face when I woke up and how badly I wanted to feel his arms wrapped around me.

I prepared a nice breakfast. I wanted to clear things as soon as possible, but food is important too. Kids, don’t forget to eat breakfast!

“Hi! Good morning!”

“Good morning! Wow. So many nice dishes. Is this a compensation?”

“It’s an ‘I am sorry for being a bad girlfriend’.”

“Oh thank god it’s not an ‘I am sorry for breaking up with you’.” He said with a smile. But I couldn’t laugh at it. I know he was hurt. And him trying to make a joke out of it meant that he was hurt more than he showed.

“I am not gonna leave you Jinho.”

“I am sorry I didn’t mean it.”

“Look. I… I… messed up okay? I understand that even if I had good intentions I’ve hurt your feelings. But I think we can solve this too. I wanted to say thank you for finally saying what I should have heard. The thing is that you were right. I was the one obsessed with your height. And the saddest is that not specifically because of you. I thought if I am almost as tall as you I can not be a fragile, small woman. I wanted to be smaller, I wanted to be the one who needs to be protected. And I couldn’t accept myself in this way. I didn’t see me the way I wanted.”

“I wish you would see yourself with my eyes just to understand how beautiful you are.”

“I am sorry to make you feel bad when I was the one who couldn’t love myself. If you could help me to accept myself as you did back then, I think we would be able to stay together. And if you still love me I wouldn’t want anything more than this. I want nothing less and nothing more than you, Jo Jinho.”

-|-

Magic Bra. I was raising my eyebrows. Did she really make a successful business with such a company name? But when I checked on the internet the reviews were praising her insanely.

Lucy_1127 wrote: I was invisible before. But when my longtime best friend saw me in this red bra, he finally realized we were supposed to be together. I love this bra. It is indeed magical. My only regret is that it is more times on the floor than on me. (Moderators please don’t erase my comment *begs*)

Hoetaekie828 wrote: when the owner told me that this lingerie has magical power I was sceptic. I am 27 you know. I don’t believe in fairytales anymore. But when I saw her (my back then best friend now girlfriend)... Wow! She was indeed a beautiful princess from a fairytale. Since than I couldn’t thank the owner lady enough. We are regulars at the shop. I totally recommend it for couples, and for those friends who are shy to admit the truth.

              Jinho didn’t tell me why I got this. He just told me this is a gift from him to me and also a part of our therapy. We didn’t apply for real therapy. But we agreed to rebuild our trust and change things. As a first step he told me to wear these. I was kind of surprised. Jinho wasn’t really a shy type but we were both so stressed recently, having a time dedicated to ourselves was so rare like a leap year.

              When I put on the ‘magic bra’ I checked myself in the mirror. I wasn’t totally satisfied but I looked so different in these. I finally saw someone who is brave and confident. For the first time I thought if I work a bit harder, not only on my body and carrier but on my behavior and inner values, I might become someone who is worth of Jinho’s love. I really hoped so.

              “Okay, so where is my lovely and concerned girlfriend who cannot see herself as a fragile, feminine woman? Because I only see a stunning, confident lady here. I am sorry miss, but even if it is so hard to send you off I will have to ask you to leave because I already have someone closed in my heart.” He said when he suddenly appeared behind my back. Our eyes met in the mirror.

              “Oh is that so? That’s a shame then. Are you sure she wouldn’t allow this one? As long as you are happy I think she wouldn’t mind it.”

              “Do you think so? Am I that kind of lucky guy? Well… let me see.” And he is seductive gaze was wandering all over my body. “No. I cannot do that to her I am sorry.”

              “Why not? Is she so nice?”

              “Yeah. She is a precious someone to me. And I promised something to myself. I wanted to show her how beautiful she is. I need to keep that promise. So even if your affair offer is very tempting I have to say no.”

              “What a pity. I think she doesn’t even know how lucky she is… Is she more beautiful than me? That can’t be true. Mister you must be lying.”

              “No, I am not. I love her and she is beautiful. What if I prove you?”

              “Fine. If you prove me than I’ll be leaving and won’t seduce you. If you don’t prove me you’ll have to have an affair with me.”

              “Okay.”

              “So, how will you prove me?”

              “Just look at yourself in the mirror.”

And even if I was confident pretending to be another lady for fun looking at myself in the mirror while he was watching me from behind was kind of embarrassing.

              “You know my girlfriend is a bit insecure and even if I tell her she won’t trust me when I say she is beautiful. You have some similarities. You both are stubborn and don’t trust my words… bad girls…”

              And I couldn’t help but laugh a bit. He was cute. I was grateful. And I loved him incredibly.

              “So, for example if I would say I love how she puts her hair behind her ears she would be like: but it is nothing special.”

              And as he said it he put my hair behind my ears and put a soft kiss on my neck. And then looked back at me in the mirror. And I started to get the taste of this whole thing. He was so freaking hot. He decided to show me how he loved each and every part of my body. He put soft kisses on my shoulders and wrapped his arms around my waist without taking his eyes off of me. And this excited me. For the first time I realized it was really not about being small or tall, fragile or not. He loved me and I loved him back. And we were perfect for each other just the way we were.

-|-

              “Sorry but could you please go to the hall? Someone passed out. Oh god these fans these days…”

              “Sure, I’ll be there in a sec.”

              It wasn’t the first time in this week. Fans were crazy about him. And it was good to see that he finally received this much of love after working hard for his dream for the past years.

“I am here. How can I help? Where is the patient?”

“He is here.”

“You two?” I asked a bit shocked.

“Oh! Our favorite girl. Please save him!” Member 1 of the bully duo said. I am sorry but after what they’ve done to me throughout these years I don’t bother calling them on their names…

I just gave him first aid and after he woke up I made sure he is fine.

“You’ll be fine now.”

“Oh my goodness. Thank you. You saved him.”

“You saved me. Thank you. I have never thought one day you’ll be saving my life.”

“Trust me, this is not something I’ve expected either. But what are you two doing here?”

“We are fans!”

“I am sorry to let you down but Wooseok is not present today. This is Jinho’s solo concert…” I said a bit offended.

“Silly. We knooow. We came to support him.” They said.

“Oh, if that’s the case… I am glad. I think he would be happy to see your faces. But promise me you won’t faint in front of him okay?”

“Yes doctor!”

“Good.”

“Also… we are sorry… for everything.”

And I just nodded. I was happy that they apologized even if it happened after so many years later. But in a way I was happy that we met them on that day. I guess I needed to meet them to realize being critical about beauty is just so unnecessary. Beauty is so subjective, and is not only about visuals and heights. And when I looked back on Jinho talking happily with his fans signing the albums, I knew that in my eyes he was the most beautiful person, and nothing else mattered.

[popculturebuffet]

The Casagrandes Reviews: Operation Dad

In my first look at The Casagrandes, We meet Ronnie Anne and Bobby’s dad Arturo as Ronnie tries to get him to start working in the city to be closer to them.. and when a genuine honest appeal dosen’t work, shenanigans will have to do. Dad stuff under the cut. 

This is one i’ve had in the works since my labor day catchup binge of shows, but kept getting pushed back either due to regular coverage or specifically timed things like the bi visalblity day review of “What Was Missing.  And with Halloween next month, my time to cover this is running out a bit and I feel it’s a great place to start covering this show so, pitter patter.  The Casagrandes didn’t really hook me in at first: It did have two things going for it: An intresting premise A blended family coming together, with our heroine and her big bro being fish out of water in a new family situation. Wheras with the Loud House Lincoln, and by extension most of his sisters, is used to how his house runs, knows the score and knows how to manuvre around it, Ronnie Anne was being dropped into a new situation, with people she KNEW, but only likely from seeing them breifly. It’s one thing to see your cousin once or twice a year, as I did with mine at that age, it’s another to live with them. It had a lot of potential. The other thing was Bobby Santiago, Ronnie Anne’s brother, and one of my faviorite characters across both shows, an endlessly nice guy who while suffering from a terminal case of dumbass, is utterly likeable, helped by his VA Carlos PenaVega, with the spinoff and i’ts build up only fleshing him out more by giving him his job at the Mercado, and showing he has serious buisness acumen  in addition to his many other talents. 

But what made me wary was the lead: Ronnie Anne didn’t get the best intro on the loud house. You know this, I know this. We all know this. No sense beating around the bush: She was a bully, who had a crush on lincoln and masked it by pummeling him. And this was seen as okay by the show which isn’t as suprising in hindsight as Chris Savino clearly has messed up views about women and harassment, and is thankfully no longer part of this. She did get slightly better once she actually showed up, getting genuine chemstiry with Lincoln and being shown underneath the bully exteriror was a pretty nice kid who shared his intress. Granted it wasn’t perfect as the show madei t clear he was terrified of her, but it did at least also make it clear he no longer had a reason to be, and while she’d prank her boyfriend, or assits his sister during her dark time once a year in doing it, and if your wondering if i’m ever going to watch or cover the april fools episodes .. yeah i’m just waiting you know.. for april fools. 

My point is it was kinda mixed and their solution was to soften her up a bit but also act like she and LIncoln weren’t intrested in each other all of a sudden instead of you know, dealing with her past actions and having her make up for them. It was sloppy is what i’m saying and the character while not bad wasn’t in the best positoin to tkae the reigns of her own show. They did add some intresting depth with the move though, showing that Ronnie Anne and Bobby were often on their own, and that Maria moved them to the casagrande household simply because she felt her daughter would be happier NOT having to be the strong one or take care of herself all the time and actually have someone look out for her instead. It was a good emotional reason for hte move and both casagrandes showed up ocasoinally, mostly Bobbi whose still with Lori to this day as seen in the season 5 premiere.  It was an okay foundatoin but it would depend on what they did with her character.. and i’m glad to say.. they made it work. The show still has rough edges, mostly having the same problem ducktales and the loud house itself had during season 1 of juggling such a large cast: Most of them outside of Ronnie Anen and Bobby have only gotten 1 episode, and even then CJ feels underutlized despite being amazing, while the adults outside the grandparents feel underutlized.  Buuut the show is funny, intresting, has good pacing and unlike the loud house, having already learned that lesson, while Ronnie Anne does get more episodes than the rest of the family, it does feel more like an ensemble show and the focus on her feels less like the show not knowing what it has and more like easing the viewers into the rest of the cast by using her as a viewpoint.  Ronnie herself is better, the bully aspects gone. She can still take care of herself, and is still fairly indpentent and clever, but she’s got a sharp sense of humor and a clear love of her family and the fish out of water aspect I hoped for, while not used a ton, still comes up in intresting ways.  Overall i’d say the show is off to a good start.. and it has Melissa Joan Heart and Ken Jeong as a married couple and let’s Ken play a diffrent role for once: A dorky, kind dad instaed of any degree of lunatic. That being said given his character her’s last name is Chang, I can’t help but think this and community are in the same universe and that the Changs have just had to put up with whatever insane phase Senor Chang was going througha t the time every time he visted. I mean i’d love to hear Sid tell ronnie anne the time her uncle came over in a napoleon outfit and revaled he’d taken over his community college with the help of a bunch of children.  But i’m getting off topic, I gots an episdoe to cover and out of the ones I watched this felt both like a great re-introduction into the cast and was easily one fo the best with a great emotional core and great jokes and LOTS to dig into. So i’ve jawjacked enough, pitter pater. Again!

It’s with this episode we properly meet Arturo Santiago, Ronnie Anne and Bobby’s father, Maria’s ex, and owner of one hell of a beard. Ronnie mentioned him back in friended aka the pilot because fuck that airing structure but not the time or place for that moving on. 

We see he video chats his daughter once a day, though today she made hte mistake of doing so on a crowded subway while with her best friend and future wife Sid. NOW we can talk about Sid. Sid was introduced in Friended! over on the loud houd house as part of that mini arc I keep yelling about and will again and again. Sid is Ronnie Anne’s clyde: A best friend whose there as her sidekick, emotoinal support and resident goofus, being a bit of a weirdo and given i’m a giant ass weirdo, you can see why I like her/want to keep her safe from the nightmare that is at last half this fandom. Plus she and ronnie anne are adorable together and have more chemstiry than she and lincoln did.. thoguh the two do have OT3 energy together in his one episode, but that’s for another time. 

Anyways as Sid helps her rangle wifi by them by doing the mecha shiva we soon find out Arturo is coming home! Home lord he’s been off in Peru for too longggg. Point is Ronnie Anne is excited, Bobby is excited, everyone’s excited except for Hector who hates him.. and honestly I can see why the contrast. For everyone else, Arturo is a charming, friendly guy who genuinely loves his kids and only is away from them because he has a lot of important work to do and even with that is still an active part of their lives. Buuuut Hector likely sees it diffrently and is likely homing in more on the fact Arturo is barely there in person for his kids and left Maria to do all the raising them by herself, with her own demanding job.  It’s not a black and white situation is what i’m saying and.. I genuinely love that. It’s a complex thing to deal with: A parent who isn’t there for his kids but it’s hard to say if he’s being selfish or not. He’s not david from roseanne doing this so he can feel good about not wanting to deal with being a father or the death of his brother, Arturo genuinely just wants to help those who need him, even if he has to sacrifice a lot to do it.  Ronnie Anne naturally wants him to move here though and convince him during his visit, and her plan nicely shows off the duality of her charcter: She’s clever and can easily think things through, as his originzation has it’s home office in Great Lakes City so he could still help those in need, just more from the organizational end, as well as i’m assuming GLC’s own homeless and needy. But she also has an 11 year olds understading of complex issues and thus thinks the easiest way to convince him is to take him on a fun daddy daughter day that will make him love the city. Bobby is less optimistic about the plan though.. and that’s because he’s been through this with Arturo already. Granted his job for him was at weenier on a stick because it’s bobby, the boy is a peach of a human being but has the plkanning skills and common sense of a basset hound on qualudes.  He just sugest she enjoy the time. And this says a lot about BOBBY too: He’s used to his dad being out of his life, he’s probably been gone for most of it and while he loves him, he’s had ot get used to the fact he’s probably never going to be regularly in his life and while he understands why his sister’s trying this he wants to spare her the pain he went through. It’s interactions like this that to me show the series at it’s best and what it could be: deeper character interactions that really let the characters and voice cast shine, that still mix well with the usual nonsense.  Arturo arrives and everyone loves him.. and again it’s easy to see why: he’s kind, friendly and to the kids, he’s their cool uncle who lives in another country and as someone with one of those, It does feel neat. Hell he was my cool uncle when he just lived in chicago or seattle, but somehow he had to top those by moving to fricking ireland. So I get where they come from and really relate to it.. I mean I met mine in high school, my family tree is complicated, but still.  So while everyone but Hector is happily remeetinmg their uncle Maria shows up. And it’s awkward, the two not knowing how to greet each other, but it’s very obvious Maria and Arturo are on good terms, it’s just hard when theres so much history there.  Speaking of Maria let’s talk about her since this is one of her only scene’s this episode. Maria is one of my faviorites. She isn’t used a ton, but this is more excusable than it is with the Casagrande parents, as the whole point of Maria uprooting her kids to Great Lakes City was to give them company and someone to take care of them while Maria worked the long and varied hours of being a nurse. She’s a good parent, who just picked a rough career, and made the hard decision to uproot her kids, not for her sake, as it can’t be easy living with both your elderly parents, your sister and her husband not to mention 5 kids, a giant adorable pupper and an obnoxious parrot, but so they’d be happy.. which given Ronnie Anne went from having no friends and largely having to be the rock in the house, to having a sizeable friend group plus her cousins, as well as generally being happy while Bobby went from bouncing from job to job to running the family buisness and planning to expand it when he gets older. She’s a good gentle person who still makes time for her kids, and I wish we saw more of her with her spotlight episode, which was about Ronnie Anne trying to spend more time with her, being one of my faviorites so far. I also like the fact that for once in a cartoon a parent with a time sink of a career isn’t demonized for trying to put food on the table and rather than just quit or have a mean boss or the usual cliches, Maria just found a way her kids wouldn’t be alone. She’s awesome.  Ronnie Anne first tries showing him how great the city is with home cooking and a warm bed, but the first while nice is something he still gets, and the latter in a nice touch is just.. too soft for him. Ronnie meant well, but understadably he’s just not used to it and makes a cot under the stars instead.. he’s not trying to be ungreatful, he’s just sued to it. 

Anyways Ronnie indeed takes him on a montage, with some cab headbonks beacause why use an uber that’s cheeper and safer huh? Anyways our father and daughter do have a montage, and hector gets beaten up by a luchadore because this promotion apparently dosen’t get not to attack the crowd. They really need to stop booking that guy.

Ending on our article image, which is really sweet and a real beautiful shot, Ronnie Anne finally gets to her Ronnie Plan. First Arturo cycles through two diffrent assumptions about what she’s asking him about. He first thinks she’s about to tell him about a special boy or girl in his life, his exact words. He backspaces to include that. She says no which.. I guess okay you have other things in mind but you can’t put off him meeting Sid forever. That aside I do think it’s a good indication Ronnie Anne might be bi, and both her parents just easily accepted it which is great. I could be reading too much into this, and I probably am, but I’ve thought I was before on nickeodeon and look how legend of korra ended. 

The next is just hilarious as Arturo tries to let her down gently that he’s not getting back with maria which Ronnie Anne agrees with and was not remotely her point, but I do like as it shows their well and truly done, and it’s nice to see that sort of dynamic with a divorced couple in fiction where it’s not because of lingering sexual tension or anything, just that their apart but have kids to think about and presumibly the split was amicable if again still awkward. Finally Ronnie asks him.. but he gently refuses, since the people he helped need him as much as he wants to stay.. but part of what makes Arturo likeable, especially since he’s in the REALLY throny situation of not being in his kid’s lives in person despite having the opprountiy now, is that he genuinely tries to compromoise, saying he’ll try to up the calls to two a day, and he’ll visit more often. Ronnie Anne sadly and half heartdly says it’s fine and walks off.  So Ronnie Anne vents to that girlfriend she apparently dosen’t have that he cares more about her patients than him and Sid sidgests that part of that is simple: He dosen’t feel she and bobby need him since, as I pointed out earlier, their doing better than ever. So Ronnie Anne intitates a second Ronnie Plan: to convince him she’s a troubled youth and get him to stay and reasssmbles her cousins to help.  Before we move onto this plan that’s totally a good idea and not a borderline Zach Morris evil scheme, let’s talk about those cousins real quick. Quick fire: CJ is really great, a sweet kid and I wish they’d use him more and generally do nto get why they don’t, Carlota is fine but not all that defined at this point but Alexa PenaVega tries.. and why yes it is kinda weird Carlos PenaVega’s wife and the former star of spy kids is playing his sister. And Carl.. I don’t likes him. I just don’t. He did give me a really good episode, which we’ll be covering next month, but he’s just a little asshole with out the charm of fellow little asshole Louie Duck, who alsos cams people but actually gets consqeunces more often. 

That quickfire done Carl does a forgery which depsite me being eh on him, clearly, is a funny bit, to make Ronnie Anne look like she’s failing, but that fails as you’d expect when he can help her with that from Peru.  So it’s on to the actual plan: Which really boils down to this. 

I mean.. that’s essentially the plan convince him she’s running with a dangerous crowd and is breaking bad, dressing up in punk clothes and making a scene at breakfast. She also gets a really neat new haircut, similar to luna’s but spiky which.. why isn’t this her normal hair? and why dosen’t she at least keep the cool leather jacket? I always get annoyed when a character’s temporary costume change is even better than their default design and htey fail to realize it but whatever.  IT starts to work a little but clearly a breakfast tauntrum won’t be enough so Ronnie Anne enlists Sid.. who is frightend,d osen’t recognize her and dosen’t want to get shoved into a locker. .. who hurt you.. tell me.. I have a box to deliver. Just let me pop a quick H on there real quick. 

Anyways, once Sid realizes “Oh that’s not a bully come to shove me in a locker that’s just my girlfriend in the middle of a zack morris grade elabroate manipulative scheme”, which happens once a week their fine, she comes up with one last plan: Have her friends, who are neat but need more filling out, dress up like punks bullying her friend sameer.  This plan.. makes no sense. For one she was already a bully back home.. granted it was because she liked the kid, which no just no, but it’s heavily implied she did the same to the rest of the lincrew too. .which aside from Rusty isn’t a good look. I mean his face is punchable and he mocked hte idea of them being together despite next season hitting on Lincoln’s sisters, there’s a 1:1 chance he hit on her and she shoved him in a locker as is the natural response to anyone getting asked out by that goober. No matter how hard the show tries to pretend that didn’t happen it did. If her bullying kids didn’t get him to move home back in royal woods it won’t work now. 

So they had behind the fish market for their plan, Arturo is directed there.. and sees through it. I mean she’s probably sent him pictures of her friends, he knows who they are and no amount of costumes is going to fix that. I mean you really only changed Nikki’s hair. Why not just have a dance fight. i’m legitly asking dance fights are rad and this reminds me of the venture bros episode where hank, to impress his date, has billy and white pretend to be a street gang to impress his date. Just do that for sid instead of trying to gaslight your dad into staying.  But no while he pulls her into the car, Arturo knows this was a stunt and asks why. When Ronnie Anne tearfully reveals she just wanted him to stay.. he hugs his child.. and agrees. He realizes that if she’s willing to go to these lengths to get him to stay, she must REALLY miss her papa. So he plans to call the office to transfer.  But then while helping her dad unpack, Ronnie Anne finds something and we get another emotional scene: Ronnie Anne finds the letters he got from the various kids he’s helped, and is moved to tears. Props to Izabella Alvarez for her performance here as she reads the letter and realizes just what her dad’s work does ,and why it means so much to him. He truly helps those who need it and she decides she can’t take that awy from it: Sure her dad won’t be around.. but other kids need her dad more. She has a big family, she misses her dad.. but she can live without her dad. They need a doctor. 

So Arutro heads out with a tearful goodbye and Ronnie Anne leaves him a scrapbook of their time together. We then cut to the Santiago sibs playing cards, and being sad about their dad and all that.. when Arturo calls.. and then shows up in person. He took the Headquarters job after all, though a close friend of his we met earlier in the episode but I ddin’t mention will be taking over in Peru, and from earlier clearly wanted to get back out in the field, so it all works out. And it’s a nice character moment; Arturo realizes while his work is important, and as mentioned he does make sure a compient replacment will continue it.. his family can be too and it’s okay to think of himself and them for once. As I said he’ll still be able to help just in a diffrent way and there are probably needy kids who need him here too, if not in the same ways obviously as a doctors without borders type project. So eveyrone shares a group hug and even Hector bursts into tears. And Maria comes in wondering what she missed whiel Sergio asks who wants to tell her. oh sergio.. why didn’t you stay away when you ran away in a future episode.  Final Thoughts: Not much more to say. It’s a well done episode with high emotinal stakes, great acting and some great jokes I didn’t get to, and while the plot of “Make absent parent stay by pretending things are bad’ isn’t new, it’s done well enough here. Overall just a really good episode that shows what this show can do and why it’s unique family setup makes for intresting stories a lot of shows can’t tell, and validates this spinoffs existnace. The episode also really fleshes out Ronnie Anne’s character, and givne Arutro’s been gone since the divorce if not longer, it’s resonable to supsect her earlier bullying might have been lashing out at her parents divorce. It’s just good stuff. Keep an eye peeeld to this blog for my regular loud house and ducktales coverage , and some more casagrandes this october. ANd until then, Go Team Venture!