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prurientpuddlejumper · 3 years

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Death Threats

Summary: What if the people threatening Barba went after you, too?

Warnings: Angst. Injury. Fluff. (I realized the timing puts this in the episode Heartfelt Passages, so that was a busy day for poor Rafi.)

Dedicated to @teamsladsandgents for inspiring me to get stabby.

2,256 words

You thought he punched you, the man in the elevator. It wasn’t until the doors chimed open and he was striding quickly but casually from the building that you realized you were bleeding.

The inch-wide slit in your shirt took a moment to start bleeding in earnest as you stood in shock, time frozen along with your body. Then thick, dark amounts of it began streaming through your fingers.

The elevator doors were sliding shut before you thought to stumble out with your last ounce of strength—to scream for help—before your body sank to the ground, leaving you alone in your metal coffin. You tried to sit up again, but it hurt and made more blood come out.

You couldn’t reach the elevator buttons.

You were so tired.

The funny thing was, you weren’t afraid. Just disappointed. You always thought you’d turn into an action hero if you were attacked—that adrenaline would awaken some ferocious, hitherto unseen warrior within, like Jason Bourne.

But it all happened so fast.

It was over before you noticed a blade in his hand. Over before you processed that he had said something to you, just before that dull punch in your gut.

“That ADA you’re fucking sticks his nose in the wrong people’s business.”

It was strange that you weren’t thinking about your mom or your best friend of ten years. As you pressed as hard as you could to stem the bleeding, you didn’t see your whole life flash before your eyes. The only thing on your mind was your boyfriend of the last several months, the sarcastic lawyer who kept so many walls up, and the petty argument you got into earlier about his canceling lunch plans again.

None of it seemed real. Didn’t seem like the way the story of your life ought to end—bleeding out in an elevator.

It was getting hard to concentrate on what to do next.

OK. The buttons wouldn’t work. Too far to reach.

No one can hear you scream.

Phone.

Your phone was in your pocket, but you had to take one of your hands off of clamping your gut to reach it. Blood streamed through your fingers—so much blood from such a small hole. Your hand was too slick with it and shaking to grab hold of the phone. If you could get it, you could call 911.

“Work, you fucking hand,” you thought. You thought that was an undignified last thought. It should be something profound. Poetic.

But no. Your last thought was going to be swearing at a Samsung.

Tired.

You never remembered if you managed to get the phone from your pocket or not. It didn’t matter anymore.

The last thing you remembered thinking about was Rafael finding out you were gone, his eyes red from mourning. Blaming himself. You wished you could tell him… If you died, you wouldn’t be there to cup his cheek, to make him smile again. To tell him what you whispered to the dark elevator, alone.

“It’s not your fault, Rafi.”

***

The man’s name was Felipe Heredio, a lieutenant of the BX9 street gang. There was already a warrant out for his arrest when he stabbed you. ADA Rafael Barba identified him in a lineup as the man who was stalking him only an hour after a neighbor found you lying in a pool of blood. The fact that he was already in police custody might have been relieving to you if you were conscious. You might have felt proud that it was Barba who ensured he was arrested.

And your heart might have broken when Barba’s phone rang, and his entire world stopped.

***

Rafael’s eyes were red from crying when you woke up with oxygen tubes in your nose, and your hand cradled in his. Your throat hurt more than anything else, oddly, which you would later learn was from being intubated for surgery.

The first word you croaked upon regaining consciousness was, “Sorry.”

A collection of empty coffee cups was scattered around the feet of his chair so he could stand vigil for however long you had been out. His eyes were not only red and wet, but bulging with that jittery, over-tired, caffeine anxiety.

You knew how busy Rafael was. That it was a weekday (technically, it was already tomorrow), and he’d have court in the morning. What you didn’t know, because he didn’t want to weigh you down with his world, was that Barba had already mourned one death today, and that one more loss might break him.

You were sorry for causing him so much trouble.

Rafael was having none of it, of course. He tried to keep his voice from shaking when he told you, “Why in god’s name would you be sorry?” followed by barking, “Stop that—don’t try to sit up. Nurse!”

His bedside manner was well and truly atrocious.

The next hour was a dizzying blur of nurses checking your vitals and helping you use the bathroom, then answering a uniformed officer whose questions you could barely understand through the morphine haze.

When it became clear what had happened and why, Rafael became unusually quiet. All of his follow-up questions and complaints of, “is this really necessary? Can’t you do this later?” fell away. He slumped in the visitor’s chair beside your bed, his hand still holding yours, but in pensive silence until the officer finished, leaving you alone except for the security detail at the door.

Then the apologies came. The heavy confessions that he’d been receiving threats for a year, and this was all, all his fault. Admittedly, if it weren’t for the morphine drip dulling everything, you might have been pissed off that he knew this might happen and kept it to himself. He kept so much to himself, you had to read about his cases online to know what was going on in his life. But his face—which you always thought babyish, with his smooth cheeks and lips ever-ready to flash a sarcastic smirk—was drawn, making him look old and haggard. He was too serious, too raw to possibly blame him.

“I’m so sorry for putting you in danger. I never should have gotten you involved in this.”

“It’s not your fault.”

“It is,” he choked. “I’ve been getting threats since I indicted those cops, and I haven’t exactly been on… anyone’s good side. I should never have started dating you.”

Like a slap in the face, that sting made it through the morphine. You jerked your hand out of his.

“That came out wrong. It’s true, though. I was selfish to think I could…” He gave a melancholy sigh as he sank back in the chair. “It will be safer if we keep our distance from now on. This will never happen to you again.”

You never imagined you could get stabbed and have your heart broken on the same day, or that the latter would hurt worse.

“Then what are you even doing here?!”

“I had to know you were OK. But as long as I’m getting death threats—”

“Wait, wait. You’re saying you’d rather give up being with me than give up a legal battle with powerful enemies?”

His eyes widened and he stared like a deer in the headlights, only where the deer was an insensitive workaholic, and the headlights were the blinding rays of truth. It wasn’t even a surprise that he hadn’t thought of it that way—this was every fight he’d had with an ex just before they broke up with him.

“I, uh—”

You grabbed his face and dragged him down into the softest kiss, which was not what he was expecting. He almost yelped (though it melted into a whine) when his fiery hot, coffee-flavored lips hit your cool ones. When he pulled back, lips wet and parted, his brow furrowed in confusion over still-widened eyes.

“You are… the sweetest.” Your hand lingered on his cheek as you gave a doped-up-on-painkillers smile. “The most selfless, noble… bravest… amazing man I have ever met. I love you so much.”

“I… what?”

“Rafael”—your thumb lazily stroked his cheek—“I know how much you care about me. Even though you’re married to your job and it’s frustrating as hell sometimes, I’ve never been insecure that you don’t love me enough. I know you never tell me about your cases because you want me to be able to sleep at night. You worry about me too much. And you always look so nervous whenever I leave, like you think I’m never coming back this time.

“So the fact that you would sacrifice your own happiness before you’d let an injustice go unanswered… that’s incredible. You do nothing but give a voice to the voiceless all day, working yourself to the bone without considering the cost to your personal life. You’re like a superhero, ADA Barba.”

A short breath of a laugh escaped his lips as his hand came up to the side of his face to cover yours. His eyes were watery, and he looked like he was about to break down again as he bitterly whispered, “A superhero who almost got you killed.”

“I’m not leaving you, you know.”

“Cariño. If anything happened to you, I couldn’t—couldn’t…”

“Nothing’s going to happen. It’ll be OK. I’m not leaving you alone.”

A tear wavered precariously close to the rim of his eyelid until he turned away, rubbing his face. It was gone when he turned back. “You could have died because of my fucking work! I’ve never given you the time you deserve. How do you still want to be around me?”

“Hey, someone has to be there to protect you when you get yourself in trouble,” you grinned.

Rafael Barba couldn’t take any more. He bent over the hospital bed and wrapped his arms around you, doing his best not to snag any of the many tubes coming out of you or put any weight on anything below your diaphragm, but hugging you to him as tightly as he could. You felt his trembling breathing in your hair, and hot wet spots pooling on your neck.

“I don’t deserve you.”

Your free arm closed over his back, stroking his broad, tense muscles through his shirt. “I’m really glad I didn’t die,” you whispered, finally allowing yourself to feel scared now that he was here. “I didn’t want to die yet. Not like that.”

“I’m sorry.” He breathed in, and his arms tightened protectively. “You have no idea how terrified I was. I’m so sorry…”

“Shh,” you whispered. You clung to him, soothed by his familiar cedar and citrus scent, fainter now after a long, harrowing day, mixed with the masculine smell of sweat.

“I’m glad you’re alive, too. I can’t lose you. I can’t. I love you more than anything.”

Soon—too soon, because you wanted to continue talking—you drifted to sleep in his arms. And once again too soon, you woke up with your entire abdomen on fire, and nurses bringing you pain medication. Rafael was still there, half asleep next to you in the narrow bed.

He didn’t leave you.

Even if it put you in danger, he would rather be beside you, making sure you were OK than cutting you out of his life and hoping the bad guys got the memo. He couldn’t put you through that pain, even if he could do it to himself. Especially when you pondered aloud to him whether you’d survived because you were thinking about him—that you refused to die before seeing him again, knowing what a wreck he would be.

Recovery was long, and interspersed with doing nothing but fall asleep when you’d rather stay awake, and not being able to sleep at all. Rafael (and his security detail) moved into your apartment when you were released from the hospital so he could take care of you—as grumpy and bossy and sarcastic as his bedside manner might be.

You swore you were going to sign up for Krav Maga or Cobra Kai or something once you could exercise again, since apparently you were not a secret knife-fighting ninja deep down. Next time, you wanted to be a badass who could fight back, and never let anyone harm your overzealous ADA when he kicked the hornet’s nest.

Eventually, you would convince him that it wasn’t his fault that bad guys had acted like bad guys. And he would convince you that taking care of you wasn’t a burden—that the emergency time off from work was worth it. He started replacing “sorry” with “I love you.”

In the end, while you wouldn’t say being stabbed was a good thing, or that you’d choose to be stabbed again if you had the option, it did ensure Heredio was put away for a long, long time. It left you with a cool scar, and a new catchphrase for expressing your displeasure—“I’d rather be stabbed again than do the dishes!”

Fine, it also left you jumpy and made your chest tight whenever you found yourself alone in an elevator.

But most importantly, it brought down the walls Rafael had been keeping up around himself. He talked to you more. You talked to each other more. And he remembered to—on occasion—take time out of his heroic, selfless life of battling injustice, and selfishly spend it with you.

• ● • ━━━━━─ ••●•• ─━━━━━ • ● •

@beccabarba / @itsjustmyfantasyroom / @dianilaws / @permanentlydizzy / @mrsrafaelbarba / @madamsnape921 / @astrangegirlsmind / @neely1177 / @onerestein / @delia26 / @stormtrooperofficerbrowneyes / @storiesofsvu

#Rafael Barba #Rafael Barba x Reader #my writing

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ohwoopsiescafe · 3 years

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Jealousy Time—I Mean Coffee Time

It was a lovely Thursday morning. You and your boyfriend were walking along the college campus heading towards a Starbucks near the centre in order to buy a coffee to get you going and help you pull through your arduous studying session planned for that day. You were wearing a beautiful white dress with daisies on it, a pastel pink cardigan, white sneakers and your hair arranged in two pretty braids. You looked so cute. Yoongi thought the same. He couldn’t stop looking at you and smiling in consequence. You were his everything. He was really cute as well. His outfit consisted of black jeans, a big hoodie and some converse boots. It suited him. It reflected his personality. Calm, tranquil, cozy… everything. He was your everything too.

The weather was perfect. The golden sun rays hit your face softly, giving it a glow. Cherry blossoms were falling from trees making a beautiful petal shower. It was a gorgeous summer day. Both Yoongi and you wanted something cold to refresh yourselves, so when you reached the coffee shop, you played a round of “rock-paper-scissors” to decide which one of you would order. Unfortunately, and like it was most of the time, you lost and had to go lineup in an ever eternal queue that was extending even outside the little shop while Yoongi looked for a place to seat and wait until you returned with your drinks.

You wrote down your boyfriend’s order in your phone’s memos so you didn’t forget it. You swear Yoongi only asks for the most complicated drinks to make you have a hard time. You know damn well he prefers a simple Americano but always ends up with a super long order just to make you suffer. Next time you win that “rock-paper-scissors-thingy” he’ll know what’s good! You frowned like an angry kitten and balled up your fists cutely. Yoongi was watching you from afar and his heart melted at your sight. However, he wasn’t the only one looking. He noticed the barista eyeing you with a flirty smile. How could he not? You were so pretty. Nevertheless, that didn’t mean he wasn’t a little upset about it.

It was your turn to order so you approached the counter with a smile.

—Hello, what are you going to have today?

—Mm… I’ll have a tall iced caramel macchiato, please

—What type of milk do you drink?

—Almond’s good.

—Almond? Okay—the chestnut hair boy wrote it down on your cup.

—And… could you put a little more caramel drizzle on it?

—Sure—he gave you a handsome smile—could you help me giving me your name, miss?

—Oh, yeah, sorry—you chuckled a little embarrassed—. My name’s y/n.

—You come here often, don’t you?

—Yes, I do—you tilted your head slightly to the left—how do you know though?

—I’m a psychic—he laughed—I’m kidding. I just noticed how frequently you come and find it a little funny and cute how you always ask for the same thing with an extra drizzle so I wanted to take your order today to know your name.

—Ah haha—you laughed nervously and played with your hair—now you know who is the annoying girl asking for extras. Sorry.

—No, no, it’s fine, y/n… if I can call you that.

—Yeah, I have no problem…—you looked for the barista’s name tag—Taehyung, if I can call you that.

—Go ahead, it sounds good when you say it—he winked.

Yoongi had heard it all and to say he was mad is an understatement. He had half moons in the palm of his hands due to the pressure he was applying. Why was that Taehyung guy flirting with you so shamelessly? And more importantly, why were you allowing it? It always happened, people flirted with you and you never seem to be aware of it. You were nice to everyone, a total cutie. He didn’t even noticed when you walked up to him and bumped his shoulder with the cup of the beverage he ordered.

—You ready, Yoongs?

—Mhm.

—Okay! Next stop: the library to study—you interlocked your arm with his and started marching childishly. You stopped abruptly when you noticed your boyfriend wasn’t following along with your little antics and you pouted—. Are you mad, babe?

—No—he lied and turned his head to give his drink a sip.

—Liar.

—Come on, y/n, let’s get to the library.

You didn’t want to push it so you kept in silence for the rest of the walk. When you finally reached your destination, you went to the second floor of the library, where your “secret spot” was. This was in between some large bookshelves at the far left corner of the building, the exact opposite to the stairs. No one ever approached there so it was perfect. You sat on the floor, with your legs crossed in front of you, got your backpack off your shoulders and took out the inhumane amount of books you had to read to prepare for your exam. Yoongi did exactly the same, except that he did it more aggressively and in silence. You were taken aback.

—Yoongi, honey, is something wrong?

—I’ve told you I’m fine, y/n. It’s nothing.

—Babe, if there’s something making you mad, is better that you tell me what it is. We can find a solution together—you placed down your cup on the floor and surrounded his hands with yours.

—It’s just that I saw you with that barista and…

—Taehyung?—Yoongi huffed.

—Awww, babe, it’s fine. Taehyung was just being friendly.

—Extremely flirty, I’d say.

—Oh he was not!

—Of course he was! You should’ve seen how he looked at you! He was totally hitting on you, don’t try to tell me he wasn’t.

—Okay, maybe he was being a little overly chummy. But it is because it’s his job. Almost everyone working at Starbucks is kind and amiable.

—And does their job include winking and smirking to customers?

—He wasn’t flirting with me, Yoongi.

—Whatever. Let’s study—he said dryly, opening his textbook.

—No, hold on, I don’t want to leave it like this. Look at me—you cupped his face in your hands and looked at him warmly in the eyes—. Yoongi, honey, even if Taehyung were flirting with me, I wouldn’t care. You’re my boyfriend and I love you more than you could imagine. There’s no one else. So stop it ‘cause I ain’t looking at no one else. I only have eyes for you. And if you don’t believe it, I’ll smack your head with this thick ass book until it sinks in—you frowned and grabbed your biggest textbook, threatening him. He laughed.

—Oh come here, baby—he took your hands and made you sit in his lap.

He grabbed your chin and kissed you slowly. The kiss was warm and tasted like coffee, you loved it. His hands caressed your cheek and brushed your hair. It was so sweet and mellow.

—If you kiss me like this and tell me such nice things every time I get jealous, I’ll make sure to do it more often—he laughed making his adorable gummy smile visible.

—God, you’re such a dummy—you rolled your eyes and giggled.

—You know I love you and fear losing you, right?

—I do—you ran your hand through his hair and looked at him fondly—. And you know I love you too and will never go away from your side, right?

—I do—his voice was almost a whisper. He kissed you one more time—. Let’s get to study, come on, I don’t want to fail the exam.

—Ugh, do we really have to?—you said putting your head on his shoulder defeated.

—If you don’t want to fail the whole semester, yes.

—Can’t you give me a better motivation?

—Mmm… if you pass your exam, I promise to take you on a date to the new botanical garden that opened last week.

—Ooh are you for real? Start planning it, I’m gonna crush that mother effing exam!—you both laughed and someone shushed you—. I promised I’ll pass it—you remarked whispering.

—Yeah, yeah, start reading, we still need to study a lot.

—Yessir!

—But first…—he gave you a quick peck—I needed a little motivation too—he shrugged with a smirk.

—Idiot.

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mono-dot-jpeg · 4 years

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fries and milkshakes - k. tsukishima

Summary: A salty volleyball player and a pro gamer walk into a room, so many insults were made that day.

Word Count: 1.8k

Genre: Fluff, Enemies to Lovers, Pro Gamer! Reader, Open Ended (?)

Pairing: Tsukishima Kei x Reader

a/n: purely a self indulgent fanfic bc salty shima is growing on my best friend :))) follow them if you haven’t >:(((( @mangobangi also a very fun quote was put in here from them as well skjdksjdk

"Waa~ the season is over! Thank god. I don't have to worry about practicing with Heesu!" You sighed blissfully. Now you weren't a pro at what would be called normal sports but you were definitely a pro at gaming.

You were (streamer/name), one of the pro players of Philadelphia Fusion from the Overwatch League. You were known for being one of the first females to join Overwatch League. It was a bumpy ride but you made it far. But now you had your studies to focus on. While you weren't in the official line up (due to how young you were), you practiced hard with the benched players and streamed in your free time with your fellow teammates.

You arrived at Karasuno, it wasn't a new day for you. A pretty normal day, except you were transferring into a higher class so that was pretty new. You get to Class 1-4, entering hesitantly.

"Ah, you must be the new student! Introduce yourself!"

"Morning, I'm y/n l/n! Please call me y/n! Nice to meet you!" You bowed as you introduced yourself, you ended up having to sit next to a tall blonde named Tsukishima Kei. Soon it was free time/study hall.

Some students had come up to you as they seemed to recognize you from your streams. You never minded the attention and you just hoped it never got too bad. "Are you really s/n?"

"I prefer not to talk about it too much.." You laughed nervously.

"Wow! You're in like the top 50 in the Asia and American servers!" You rubbed the back of your neck sheepishly. You were never one to brag about your achievements. It was all just a video game to you in the end but then again, you were gonna be in Overwatch League when you get out of high school.

"She can reach top 50 and yet her height says she can barely reach the middle shelf." You turned to look at the tall male.

"Well, that's not very nice, Tsukishima-kun." You tell him. "And if you're gonna insult me, make up something better. I've dealt with years of misogyny in the gaming world, fight me." You have an annoyed glint in your eye as he glares at you.

"Oh my bad, chibi-chan." You were walking right into his trap and you didn't even realize it. "At least I'm in the starting line up on my team." He snickered. He knew very well that you were part of the Philly Fusion and you knew he was in the volleyball team. He knew of a few ways to push your buttons.

"H-Hey! I'll be in the starting line up soon! Just you wait! I'll be at the top!" You huffed. "You'll see me with the big boys, you salty beanpole of a guy!"

"Beanpole? Is that really the best you could come up with?"

"I could come up with worse but I don't think you could handle the heat. What with your petty insults and all." You crossed your arms. "At least I'm at the top with the best."

“Tch, what insults could you come up with, chibi-chan?” He scoffed. Everyone can feel the tension rise between you both. Luckily, a fight didn’t happen due to the fact that the bell had rung. While you and Tsukishima were frustrated at the sound of the bell, Yamaguchi seemed very relieved.

It’s been several days since you got transferred to Class 1-4. You made a decent amount of friends in the class (though you weren’t sure if someone of them wanted to be genuinely friends with you or they just wanted to meet your teammates). You were really good friends with Yamaguchi, although you still didn’t like Tsukishima enough to want to be his friend. More often than not, you both spat insults at each other with no remorse. It seemed to be a mutual thing, neither of you wanted to be friends nor plan on it.

You went to see volleyball practice pretty often as to support Yamaguchi (though Tsukki joked a lot that you were obsessed at continuing the feud you and Tsukishima had). “Hey Yama-kun.” You weren’t as energetic as it was getting close to league season and that meant less time with hanging out with friends.

“Are you okay, y/n-chan?” he asked as he was rubbing the sweat off his face with his towel.

“It’s almost league season for me, which mean I won’t spend as much time here. I’ll be home earlier to practice with my team.” You often practiced in your free time when it was off-season but the coach always thought it was better for you to practice with the team even if you weren’t gonna be in the line up.

“You really have to practice even if you’re not in the lineup?” Tsukishima scoffed.

“At least I’m passionate about what I do! You barely put energy into yourself playing!” You snapped back at him.

“Whatever..” He muttered.

“Sorry about Tsukki..” Yamaguchi said. “So, you’re gonna be really busy now, huh?”

“Yeah, I’m gonna be going back to the Fusion base since they might want me to train over there.” That struck a cord in the duo.

“You’re gonna be leaving?” Yamaguchi asked, shocked.

“Yeah. But it won’t be forever. But they know it would be better for me if I went back to school around the Fusion base so it would be easier for me.” You ruffled your hair in slight frustration. “So funny enough, this is my first and last year here.” You sighed. Tsukishima didn’t know what to say. Nor did he realize what feeling were stirring up inside of him. But they didn’t feel good.

“That sucks, but you’re gonna get close to your dream, right?” The green haired male asked. “I’m glad you’ll get the dream you wanted but we’ll miss you when you leave.” He smiled sadly.

“Saltyshima won’t miss me though but I appreciate that you will.” You smiled at Yamaguchi while said male scoffed at your statement. “Let’s just have fun for these last few day before I leave.”

“Eh? You’re leaving that soon?”

“In 3 days actually. On Saturday.”

D-1

You already felt yourself missing everything in this school. While Tsukishima is struggling to think about what were these dumb feelings doing to him. Why was he feeling this way? Why was it always towards you? Why were these feelings even existing?

“Okay, Tsukishima-kun. Yamaguchi and I made a promise. I have to try and get along with you before I leave to go back. So, let’s start over.” You stuck his hand out. He doesn’t shake your hand and scoffs.

“Like I wanna be friends with you, chibi-chan.”

“Okay, let’s go out to eat then. I’m not taking no for an answer.”

“How about ‘I decline’?” He says back.

“It’ll just be for 30 mins after practice. You can handle that right, Tsukki?” You say almost mockingly.

“Fine.” He huffed. And so started the adventure of the salty male and the pro gamer. After practice both of you headed off to a small diner. “Wow, very fancy.” He says sarcastically.

“Hey, my mom won’t let me in on the money from Overwatch League, give me a break.” You ordered fries and a milkshake. He ordered the same thing as he didn’t seem to care for anything else on the menu. You held up a fry close to his mouth. “Look it’s you.” Before you could move your hand back to eat the fry, he moves closer and eats the fry, his lips just grazing your fingers. “Hey! You have your own sets of fries, Saltyshima!”

“Never said I couldn’t eat your fries though, chibi-chan.” He smirked smugly. How were you gonna get along with the male if he acted like this? You don’t know. You sip on your strawberry milkshake as you glare at him.

D-2

“You’re telling me, you haven’t dipped your fries in a milkshake before?! You’ve got to be kidding me.” You huffed. “Well, now you gotta try it, right now. Do it.” You crossed your arms as you waited for him to do it. You and Tsukishima had unknowingly made a routine between each other which was fries and a milkshake after practice or after school.

“No way.”

“Do it, you coward.” You dip your fry into your milkshake and eat it. “Don’t knock it until you try it.”

“If I do it, will you stop annoying me?”

“You and I both know, I’d still annoy you. Just do it.” He rolled his eyes at your statement before finally trying a fry dipped in the milkshake. “So?”

“It’s not that bad.”

“See! I’m such an intellectual!”

“How are you in my class again?”

D-3

“So...this is the last time we do this. Then I leave.” You were a little gloomy since you and Tsukishima seemed to finally get along, only to probably forget each other in the long run.

“You act like you’re leaving forever. You’ll come back when the season ends, right?”

“I..don’t know yet.” You sighed as you stirred your milkshake with your straw. “You’ll wait for me right? If I come back.”

“When you come back. Don’t say if.” You laughed a bit, but it was a bitter laugh.

“I never thought we’d somewhat get along and when we do, I have to leave for Overwatch League.” You muttered. “Why don’t you come and say goodbye to me when I get to the airport? My aunt is driving me, Yama-kun knows where I live, come with us.” You offered.

“Maybe.”

“Well, let’s not make this our last goodbye right?” You said softly.

Leaving Day

You took a deep breath. Yamaguchi is sitting beside you as he notices the sad look on your face. Tsukishima didn’t come with you to say goodbye. “I’m sure he’ll show up.” He said, trying to be optimistic.

“I don’t know, Yamaguchi...” You mumble. You finally arrive at the airport. “I’ll miss you. I’ll try to text and call as much as I can.” You give him a sad smile. You hug him as he hugs you back.

“I’ll see you soon.” He smiled. You grab your suitcase slowly starting to leave.

“Oh, chibi-chan, you think you can escape from me that easily?” You hear a familiar voice and look up, seeing Tsukishima. Yamaguchi seem to have to take that as a sign to give you and him some space.

“You came after all.” You smiled. He patted your head before pushing you back, chuckling.

“Who do you think I am, chibi-chan?”

“Well, say your goodbyes now. I got to go soon.”

“Right. We got off the wrong foot in the beginning. I will admit that. But within the last 3 days, I tolerate you.”

“Wow, you tolerate me. That’s better than before.”

“Let me finish. I will wait for you. I...don’t just tolerate you. I like you.” His face is dusted with pink, making you hold back a smile and a tease. He took a step closer and kissed your forehead, surprising you. “Take that as my goodbye. Don’t forget to text me when you land, idiot.”

“I won’t forget, beanpole.”

“Shortstack.”

“Lamppost.”

“Gremiln.”

“Salty fries.”

“Sweet milkshake.”

“When you get back, you better buy me fries and a milkshake.”

“I haven’t even left.”

“Well, hurry, so you can come back quickly.”

“I like you too, Saltyshima!”

#haikyuu!!#haikyū!!#haikyuu+x+reader #haikyuu fanfic #haikyuu fanfiction #haikyuu tsukishima #tsukishima kei #kei tsukishima #tsukishima x reader #kei tsukishima x reader #kei x reader #haikyuu kei #haikyuu kei x reader #haikyuu kei tsukishima x reader #haikyuu tsukishima x reader

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theluckyshadow · 4 years

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OC Headcannons

Jamie Song

Jamie Song, 10/01/2000, ♑️ 🇦🇺

Jamie is a born and raised Perth girl

Has one younger sister Quinncy / Quinn

She moved to Seoul on her own after passing her audition at Cre.Ker Ent. in late December of 2015 early 2016

Auditioned on a whim just because she likes music

She’s a trained ballerina and contemporary dancer before moving to kpop dance styles and western

Did a ballet performance for a show to prove she had actual training and that her pointe shoes weren’t for show and because she wanted to

Likes to go on runs and does 30-60mins of a fitness routine daily / when she can

She likes to be fit

She was added to The Boyz lineup because the managers mixed her up with another Jamie- he had just left the company too :(

Now the big joke is they all thought she was a guy when she joined and the full band name is clearly The Boyz and Jamie at this point 😂

Jamie likes to do boxing

Believes in the paranormal

Loves horror movies

It’s always a who loves horror better battle between her and Changmin

Her tag in the Generation Z video was : Jamie isn’t an object but a person.

“People always look at me and see a little girl or a woman and they can’t get passed that I don’t belong to anyone. I’m a person too.”

She’s debatably a very serious person

She doesn’t take shit and will fuck you up honestly

She’s actually super chill, has to mind her language all the time though- the amount of times she’s accidentally sworn whoops.

She joins Jacob and Kevin in a lot of their vlives with Eric joining sometimes so they call all talk in English together

She’s surprisingly not confident in her Korean so she’s always like “hey what does (random simple word) mean”

Like the other girls she’s a clothes stealer but at the dorms it is accidental

She’s the best cook at the dorm and will actually kick you if you step into the kitchen while she’s preparing a meal.

Mostly because she gets startled easily and goes into her own little world while cooking

Back stage it’s a game to see who’s stuff she can take and how long it takes them to notice its missing- Younghoon has taken the longest so far and Sangyeon the shortest

Has the funniest shocked reactions, her eyes widen a little and her nose scrunches in disgust ie a live show she didn’t know her back up dancers were removing shirts and got really surprised by it and went to hide behind Younghoon and Hyunjae

She’s not known to be a big people person but her best friend (since moving to Korea) Hyeji had a crush on Juyeon and the bitch managed to get them to start dating mwahaha

The Boyz

Sangyeon: he knows her choreo in her solo songs. Respects him as a leader but likes to make fun of him whenever she can. She has ZERO boundaries with any of the Boyz. Likes to call him dad but then thirsty fans took it out of context and she started calling him Hyung

Jacob: him, Jamie and Kevin make the dumbass trio when left alone for way to long. He’s quite soft spoken but somehow she just makes him louder. She relies on him for translations when her brain can’t keep up with them. He would like her to call him (1/3) Oppa and she does but only when it’s the two of them or if fans want her to say oppa

Younghoon: he’s scared of her. He’s like a gentle giant and has said multiple times of live that if he stays good she won’t kick is ass that’s all he’s scared of. He gets called (2/3) Oppa because he feels better when she calls him taht for some reason. Literally will never let go of him proposing to New or McDonaldo

Hyunjae: uses him as a shield. That’s it that’s the friendship. She stresses him out when she speaks English every time he screams her soul leaves her body for a moment. Gets called (3/3) Oppa as an apology for Jamie being a little shit

Juyeon: He knows the choreo to her solo stuff which surprised her. He makes her laugh sometimes. For some reason ever clip of the two of them is her pushing him, slapping his arm or pinching him

And well she got him and his girlfriend together (for maybe fic reference lol) so they are on great terms.

Kevin: they have maybe the funniest relationship song with Jacob and Eric in the mix. They have the exact same sense of humour when it comes to memes and old videos. While her humour is more on the dry side he makes her laugh so hard her lungs hurt. If she’s not with Jacob for translations it’s him. Calls him MoonMoon.

Remember that live where Kevin and Jacob absolutely lost it over someone’s laugh sounding like Hooohooohooo. Jamie was there patting their heads as they fell on her / doubled over laughing- she can hold her composure well enough-> until the end of the live that is

New: the only other person who knows her choreo in her own songs out of all The Boyz. She likes to pinch his cheeks and call him cutie. He always lets her get away with it though. He’s good at math and she’s highly analytical and together they hold the only brain cells she swears

Q: they have a funny relationship. During debut days she used to get him and New mixed up a lot and neither told New and if he knows he never said anything. When he’s lost she’s lost and can’t do anything anymore because she relies on the boys for things she doesn’t get

Haknyeon: dance battles. Just tiny ones that end in Jamie pushing him and calling him funny (Nick)names. He likes food... she likes food- she cooks the most though.

Sunwoo: these two bully each other all the time. They mock or jab at one another until someone gets hit- usually him because he hit her back a few times and he found out one she hit harder two somehow Sangyeon always knows always knows. Calls her Noona to annoy her. Rap battles

Eric: He acts like a little kid with her all the time, takes naps in her lap, gets her to buy him food. He’s milking attention from her because he knows she’s secretly weak for his cuteness. He will scream NOONA along with Sunwoo to get her attention even though she’s said dozens of times that they are the same age born the same year

Adding Hwall because he was apart of The Boyz and while I don’t know him well Jamie was in a group with him so I’ll do what I can

Hwall: judging buddies. They both judge everyone she’s more vocal about it though likes to squish his cheeks. Has also called her Noona to annoy her even though she’s only born Jan 2000

#the boyz #the boyz 12th member #the boyz 13th member #help I’ve fallen and I cant get out #sangyeon #jacob bae #younghoon #hyunjae #juyeon #kevin #new #q #haknyeon #jamie song #sunwoo #eric sohn

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tannerpint779 · 3 years

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Ali DiaPersonal informationDate of birth20 August 1965Place of birthDakar, SenegalHeight1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)Playing position(s)Striker16 more rows

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maddhatterreviews · 4 years

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So something kinda funny happened a while ago

I was completely unaware that DC Superhero Girls had started airing again. That wouldn’t be that much of an issue, except I also forgot that I set my DVR to record new episodes months ago. So imagine my surprise when I check the DVR and find five new episodes of Superhero girls just there.

And I thought it would be fun to go over the episodes I saw, since there’s actually some good stuff in them. I doubt I’ll do this again anytime soon, but still.

Tween Titans: This actually came out after I found the recorded episodes, but I figured I’d throw it in too. Mostly because I don’t actually have that much to say about it. Karen and Jess get a job babysitting Dick Grayson and the other Titans, but they are all around ten years old. There wasn’t anything particularly special about this episode. It was just kinda fun watching Bumblebee and Green Lantern having to deal with a bunch of superpowered kids.

I will say the time line seems about right. Dick is usually a few years younger than Barbara, and the characters are specifically called tweens, so he has to be somewhere between ten and twelve years old. We also got to see Bruce Wayne first hand for the first time. It is kinda funny to continue to see two of the three members of the Trinity being assholes. Although, to be fair we’ve really only seen Superman through Supergirl’s eyes and she has a pretty strong bias against him. And it’s unsure how much of Bruce’s douche nature is all part of the “Bruce Wayne Act” he usually has going on.

And I have a distinct feeling this episode is a direct response to Teen Titans Go. While most fans of the Titans either actively hate Go or are generally ambivalent towards it. I kinda have a feeling Lauren Faust might be slightly resentful towards Teen Titans Go since Super Best Friends Forever basically got passed over for it. It’s just the fact that they used the most popular version of the Titans, which just happens to be the same lineup as Go. It could be coincidence, but considering the Titans act like hyper-active brats, a fairly common criticism of Go, it really seems like Lauren Faust is taking a dig at Teen Titans Go.

All about Zee: A girl from school nobody talks to or really acknowledges becomes obsessed with Zatanna and eventually takes both her physical appearance and powers. She figures out Zatanna’s other friends are the superhero girls and takes their powers and appearances as well, becoming a hodgepodge of them all. This is easily the weakest episode for me. I’ve seen this premise a bunch of times and it’s never not felt cringy as shit.

It feels like this was the episode that really felt like it was pulling influence for MLP. People were saying Zatanna was a lot like Rarity, and Rarity’s main thing was generosity right? I don’t know, that’s just how it feels to me.

I think it is kinda funny that the running joke of the villain of this episode is that no one knows who she is and they can’t remember her name because I can’t either. And I’m also not sure if she existed in the comics either. Maybe she’s a Zatanna villain, I don’t know, I haven’t read many of her books. I thought she was Cole for a minute, but as far as I know, the whole changing appearance thing isn’t something Cole can do.

I don’t know, this just didn’t feel like this show’s best, you know?

Living the Nightmare: Another Zatanna focused episode, and a marked improvement over the last. The Girls are having a sleepover at Zatanna’s place and they start talking about nightmares, specifically how Zatanna doesn’t have nightmares because she doesn’t have any insecurities or anxieties that can manifest within her subconscious. So, of course the villain of the episode attacks the girls through their dreams.

I initially thought the villain was going to be long standing Justice League villain Dr. Destiny, but turned out to be a relatively new Zatanna villain named Fuseli. A demon who feeds off of people’s nightmares. And since Zatanna doesn’t get nightmares, she has to enter her friend’s dreams to find the little bastard.

I usually like episodes like this. It’s a good way to quite literally get into the heads of the protagonists. We don’t get a lot of insight into most of the girls unfortunately. Most of their nightmares are by and large inconsequential. Kara is afraid of cockroaches, Diana is (Inexplicably) afraid of teddy bears, and Babs is afraid of...sharks I think? Karen’s fear has a bit more substance since she’s afraid of public speaking, but that’s to be expected from a character whose main defining trait is being shy.

The two interesting dreams are Jess’s and Zatanna’s. A common criticism of the portrayal of the characters was the omission of the anxiety and mental issues that were part of Jess’s backstory. In the comics, Jess was an agoraphobic who experienced an extremely traumatic event before having the powers of Power Ring, the evil Earth-3 Green Lantern that’s powered by fear instead of Will power, forced on her. Lauren Faust has openly stated that Jess had gotten over most of her issues before the series began, but this episode alludes to the idea that she hasn’t gotten over them completely. And this could set up for future episodes to further explore Jess’s issues in full context. This episode is about Zatanna after all.

Speaking of, Zatanna’s claim that she doesn’t have any issues isn’t entirely true. I wouldn’t call it a running joke, but a recurring plot point in the series is that Zatanna’s magic isn’t the best. She usually comes through at the end of the day, but more often than not, Zatanna’s attempts to perform magic will backfire in some way. And after tricking Fuseli out of her friends’ dreams and into her own, It’s revealed that she did in fact have something she was scared of. Zatanna is actually afraid of her own full magical potential, and that if she didn’t have enough control she might hurt someone. The reason she doesn’t have any nightmares about it was because someone, most likely her father, magically suppressed them.

This is also one of the few times so far that the show brought up and expounded upon a storyline that appeared earlier in the series. Abrakadabrapalooza showed that Zatanna’s powers first manifesting scared the absolute shit out of her. While she quickly accepted her magical powers, I have to assume it still really freaked her out considering she almost destroyed the Green Room she was in, and could have easily developed a complex as she was learning to control her powers. Zatara, seeing the toll the incident in the Green Room was having on his daughter, could have locked away her fears so she could have peace of mind while she trains to become a better sorceress.

Of course Fuseli, being a nightmare demon, manifests Zatanna’s repressed fears and there’s a big showdown where Zatanna obviously wins. There’s some interesting implications about Zatanna having her fears suppressed; like what will happen to her now that her fears are out and she acknowledges them. This was a fun episode and it does a decent amount to develop Zatanna.

Dinner for five: Not my favorite of the bunch but it is up there. Dinner for Five doesn’t do much to develop the characters and the only one of the main Girls in the episode is Barbara. It’s just a really fun episode with a lot of action, great interactions and good comedy. It also introduces Deathstroke into the show, which is genuinely surprising.

The episode is about Babs meeting a new friend in school, Rose Wilson, whose father just happens to be Deathstroke. The fights between Babs and Deathstroke are one of the highlights of the episode. Superhero Girls has some above board animation, but it’s not what the show is known for. This isn’t exactly Avatar, Rise of the TMNT, or even the original Teen Titans. The fight scenes have always been less about choreography and more about Loony Tunes’ esque slapstick and visual humor. And the fights between Babs and Deathstroke are some of the best mediums between the comedic style of fighting this show is known for and more serious fight animation.

What really surprised me about this episode is the just that Deathstroke was the villain and the show actually named him Deathstroke, kept him as an assassin, and outright claimed that he killed many people, and the entire reason he and Rose came to Mertopolis was to murder Jim Gordon. This is especially surprising considering the reason Deathstroke was named Slade in Teen Titans was because Cartoon Network wasn’t sure they could get away with a recurring villain being named Deathstroke the Terminator. So it’s just kinda funny that DC Superhero Girls did that even though it’s aiming at the same, if not a slightly younger demographic than Teen Titans.

The story is also a prime example of the beauty in simplicity. With a premise like “Babs makes friends with Deathstorke’s daughter” I would have figured there’d be some kind of third act twist where it turns out Rose is actually Deathstroke herself, or she takes up her Ravager identity and she and Deathstroke both fight Babs. But no. Rose is just a nice sweet girl that really likes Babs and her dad just happens to be an infamous assassin. She even knows he’s Deathstroke and walks in on him about to murder Babs. And she just scolds him for doing so, and kind of implies Deathstroke has tried to kill her friends before.

Bottom line, this was a fun simple episode

Retreat: This is another low point for me. It’s not as bad as All about Zee, but there isn’t much to say about it either. Even though I don’t have a problem with episodes just being fun and not having any relevance to the larger narrative or developing the characters, Retreat especially feels like filler.

Jess drags Babs, Karen, Hal, and Garth into the woods for a camping trip, and springs on them that she also invited Pam. And Pam immediately freaks out when the others start using various tree parts to do stuff around the campset. Pam runs off into the woods and turns into Poison Ivy to raise a small army of plant monsters to straight up kill the others. As she does this, Babs tells Garth, Karen, and Hal a scary story about a witch of the woods, and of course Ivy’s plant monsters attack just as she finishes her story.

The rest of the episode is just the heroes fighting off the plant monsters with various shenanigans happening as they try to survive, since Jess insisted that they put all their technology, including all of their weapons, in a bag tied to a tree. And It’s all pretty solid. I can’t think of anything overtly wrong with this episode, it just doesn’t really do anything all that special. It is still a little annoying that the running joke of Aqualad being useless is still going on. But at least they acknowledge that Garth is the only one of the heroes whose powers don’t come from an external source. He still gets taken out pretty easily, but at least they show he is one of the strongest characters in the show, even if he is still a joke.

It is still funny that Jess is so adamant that she and Pam are friends, when Pam’s antipathy towards her and the other is clear as fucking day. While it is kinda ridiculous that the Superhero Girls and Supervillain Girls can’t seem to put two and two together and figure out who the other is (Especially since Babs put it together that Rose’s dad was Deathstroke pretty fuckin quick) I honestly hope this dynamic sticks around for as long as possible. Logic be damned.

Ally Cat: This is easily, the best episode of the bunch. And it brings up something I’ve been waiting for since the first episode: Lex Luthor coming back as a villain. And holy shit, was it worth the wait.

The episode begins with a news report showing Lex digging up Stonehenge to find the mythical Book of Eternity. An ancient tome that Zatanna claims is able to predict the future with perfect accuracy. Because no one in this universe, or at least none of the six main girls, knows that Lex is a massive asshole they’re not too worried about him having a Book that powerful. But Zatanna insists that no one should have that much power and actually suggest they steal the book from Lex.

Most of the girls are apprehensive, but Babs is surprisingly on board with the idea, and is sure she could come up with a plan to sneak into Lexcorp. Unfortunately, Babs has to go out of town with her dad, and can’t help heist. (And I kinda love that Babs insists that they’re not stealing they’re pulling off a heist, like there’s some kind of difference) So the girls do the only other logical thing they can think of; find Catwoman and get her to plan the heist for them.

It is a solid plan, and it’s kinda funny that Diana either doesn’t understand the concept of blackmail or is so righteous and good she doesn’t recognize that she and the other girls are doing it to get Catwoman to help them. Either way, Catwoman does come up with a fairly genius plan to get them into Lex’s vault.

I have to admit I really love what this series does with Catwoman. Making Selina black is whatever, it’s not that big of a deal to be honest. But the fact that Summer Cree was directed to emulate the Eartha Kit version of Catwoman adds a lot to the performance. And it’s kinda great that they made Catwoman the brains of the Villain Girls. Catwoman’s always been clever, but this show almost seems to make her out to be almost, if not just as intelligent as Lex.

Speaking of Lex, after they just barely manage to get into the elevator to take them to Lex’s vault (Catwoman’s plan almost immediately goes south because the Girls absolutely suck at being criminals) Lex confronts them in his vault, traps the girls, and reveals that Catwoman had actually been working with Lex the whole time. It does make the Girls almost fucking up the plan to get here even funnier in retrospect, since it’s clear Lex wanted them in the vault in the first place. He also reveals that he’s managed to capture the Invinci-Bros and even Superman.

Lex explains that he read the Book of Eternity, and knew that the Superhero Girls were going to try and steal the book by asking Catwoman for help, so he just got to her first. He was able to predict everyone’s moves thanks to the book, which allowed him to effortlessly incapacitate everyone he’s confronted so far. He claims he needed every hero in the city out of the way so he could enact his master plan. The plan he decides to tell Catwoman, simply because he doesn’t think she can stop him and he’s about to send her out of the city anyway.

Thanks to the Book of Eternity, Lex knows that a huge meteor is hurtling towards Earth that will utterly destroy Metropolis and possibly cause global ecological devastation. Lex plans to let the meteor hit, have millions of people die and come in as the big goddamn hero he wants everyone to see him as, and have his technology save the surviving citizenry and rebuild the city in his own image.

This is why I think this series is so good. It’s dumb and goofy, but when it wants to get dark, Holy Shit! They do not pull any punches with this plot. Catwoman out right says that countless people will die if Lex does this; and Lex does not give a shit. Lex Luthor’s main defining character trait is being a megalomaniacal sociopath with little to no regard for human life. He’s obsessed with his own self-image and will destroy anyone or anything to make himself look better. And this episode encapsulates that perfectly

The show doesn’t do anything too extreme, but this plan shows just how evil Lex can be simply by not sugar coating the death toll that will result from it. To the point even one of our recurring villains is utterly horrified by it. But he does seem to scare her off before she can do anything to try and stop him. Fortunately, like in the comics, Catwoman admits that while she’s a thief, she isn’t willing to let an entire city die just to save herself. She doubles back and releases the Superhero Girls so that they can save the city from the meteor.

Catwoman finds Lex on a boat and tells him that after he hired her to trick the Girls, she took a look at the book herself and figured out what Lex’s plan was. So she tore out the page that said what she’d do after the Girls were captured and double crossed Lex. This is also completely in character for Lex. He is so smart that Lex will always underestimate whoever he’s dealing with, so it’s usually surprisingly easy to trick or outsmart him. Especially for someone as clever as Catwoman.

Of course, Catwoman tries to take the Book of Eternity from Lex, but the Girls show up and get the book from her. And the episode ends with Catwoman robbing Lex blind, and showing that the male superheroes are still in Lex’s cages.

This was another thirty minute long special, and probably one of the best so far. It did a great job of showcasing just how dangerous this version of Lex is, while still keeping him kid friendly. He was silly and danced around during his fight with the heroes, but he still planned on letting an entire city be destroyed just to make himself look good. It was also fun to see Catwoman’s more anti-heroic side coming out in this, since DC Superhero Girls has her set up as a pure villain.

And that pretty much everything. This took a lot longer to write, and I will never try to review five episodes of a tv show again, but it was fun to get all my thoughts about this show out. A new episode came out while I was writing this, but I’m not gonna talk about that one this time. I just want to get this one done. Still, as simple as this show is, it continues to be a fun superhero cartoon that I hope will get more kids into DC’s heroes.

#DC Superhero Girls #Wonder Woman #Batgirl #Supergirl #green lantern #Zatanna #Bumblebee #DC Comics #Lex Luthor

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all-hail-the-witcher · 4 years

Text

cats the movie was created by the mafia and here's why

so since one (1) person said that they still wanna hear this theory imma post it

first, the reviews of cats are so mixed, it's confusing. im not even sure if everyone is talking about the same movie. lets look at some of the more wild ones:

but then i found these two:

both of these reviews (the second one especially) explicitly mention celebrities, which, made me think of a conspiracy theory

i once watched a video (i think it was a shane dawson one) where he discussed how people believe that it could be a possibility that the government uses celebrities and their scandals to distract the population from their wrongdoing and general mishaps. that being said, lets unpack what we know about cats:

-cats themselves (as in the animal) are generally very cute and people find them funny. it is commonly perceived by some that the internet - youtube specifically - is “that place with the cat videos” and people are very entertained by them (think about tik toks, twitter and tumblr threads, vines, and ig accounts) and even interact with cats if they happen to be allergic to them. it is safe to say that the human population has somewhat of an obsession with cats.

-cats the musical is generally misunderstood by a lot of people. i have never actually seen it but from what i understand its a musical about cats competing to see who will die and theres one good song (memory). the internet has gone about about “what the heck is cats even about” for many years before the movie came out in the form of memes and other random internet jokes.

and now lets address the us government. right now most people agree that its plenty shitty for various reasons. even people in other countries Dont Get It. (im not going to get too into it because chances are if you have an internet connection you've heard about the shit the us government has done recently)

now. onto the movie itself. (hang onto your hats this is where it gets wild)

according to google, cats is a british american film. it is a well known fact that america was originally colonized by the british and we gained our freedom in 1776 (i really hope thats not news to you) but the war didnt end until the british surrendered at yorktown in 1781 and the treaty of paris wasn't signed until 1783. the british were notoriously salty afterwards, continuing to pirate american ships and do other generally annoying things which resulted in the war of 1812. it was not until after the war of 1812 (which officially ended in 1815) that the british recognized america was independent and actually started respecting them. britain and america were also allies and have famously teamed up to stop people from taking over the world (ie ww2 amongst others).

youre probably wondering what the hell this has to do with cats. stick with mw, we’re getting there.

in the weeks after the 2016 election, there were many memes circulating the internet along the lines of this:

needless to say, it was a wild time for america.

now, admittedly, britain was Also in the midst of their own wild time because of brexit, but somehow the election results managed to kind of overshadow that (at least in america).

so lets review some Important Dates:

-june 23, 2016 -> brexit is proposed

-november 8, 2016 -> 2016 election

-march 2017-> britain formally announces leaving the eu

additionally, in 2016 the worlds biggest superpowers were (in order) the us, russia, china, india, and the uk.

now, onto my theory.

the mafia has always notoriously been trying to be stopped by the government for their crime and is a strange organization with a lot of money. the mafia Does still exist although mostly in new england. since 2016 there has been a disconnect between the government and the people due to the staggering amounts that do not support the current president. the mafia may have seen this as an opportunity to overthrow the current government/president and cabinet and place their own person there so that they wouldn't get as much shit from the government.

this theory does get a little bit complicated regarding the presidents suspected ties to the mafia. however, the mafia is very powerful and i have no doubt that they could have somehow blackmailed trump or implemented false records in order to depict the president falsely. or they could have tricked the president into working with them in order to gain secrets to help them overthrow him. the possibilities are endless.

so in the time between the 2016 election and when britain formally announced leaving the eu, the mafia probably had some time to scheme a little, thinking up possible ways for them to overthrow the government.

after britain announced leaving the eu, someone in the government must have realized that it was making britain widely unpopular and they should do something to clean up their image. so they take a peek around and happen to notice that america is royally fucked cause of the president and there are people threatening to move to canada cause of it.

but why is any of this of importance to britain?

well, britain used to be the top world superpower before ww2, but then were beat out by america both after the war and when they announced nsc 68, a plan to make amerias military stronger and provide aid to american allies being threatened by communism. although britain and america stayed allies, it is likely that britain may have been a bit salty about this. and, if they could somehow get rid of trump and weaken the country this may bump the us from the lead world superpower and (if they were lucky) also russia and china who the president was more or less involved with.

low and behold who has the same desires? the mafia.

so the mafia and britain team up to defeat the us government. but how will they do it?

my friends, that is where cats comes in.

as stated, the government has previously used celebrity scandals to cover up and distract from their own. the mafia and britain would not have wanted to make this seem like anything out of the ordinary, so they decided to implement this form of distraction, but twisted it into grotesque exposure. but they needed a vehicle in which to use this

if you refer to my information on cats from before, american people love cats and cats the musical is a somewhat loved classic that makes little to no sense. additionally, theater fans have recently been calling for screen filmed shows so they dont have to spend lots of money on tickets (see newsies live and bandstand) so in order to pass this off as normal they chose to use cats.

howmst ever, they needed to make the american people not like cats anymore so that they wouldn't be easily distracted by them. how to accomplish this? make the cats in the movie cgi celebrities.

the celebrity lineup of the movie is quite impressive, containing the following:

james corden, judi dench, jason derulo, idris elba, jennifer husdon, ian mckellan, taylor swift, and rebel wilson.

these celebrities were all chosen for the type of audience they would draw in so that it would be as vast as possible. (old people, young people, middle aged people, etc).

the mafia paid these celebrities handsomely and coerced them into being in the movie.

now, lets discuss the timeline.

the movie itself premiered on december 20th and the mafia and britain would have begun creating it as soon as march of 2017. scripts take up to 12 weeks to write, putting them at june of 2017. pre production takes 10 weeks, putting them at about halfway through september 2017. it takes about an average of 10 weeks to film, putting them at december 2017. and, according to pixar, animating a movie can take between 4 and 7 years, however, the reviews have stated that cats only took about a year to animate the movie, putting it at about december 2018. this would give the mafia about 7 extra months for any needed editing or fixing between when they could have hypothetically started and ended the movie itself because the trailer came out in july of 2019.

they would have wanted to release the movie just before 2020 because that is when the next election takes place and they would need everyone to be immune to propaganda.

the mafia and britain creating cats explains a lot of things such as:

-why james corden has not gone to see the movie

-why the animation is so horrifying

-why the movie was made in such little time

-why the celebrities in the movie are actually in the movie

-why the budget was able to be so large if it was an epic flop

-peoples general confusion as to why the movie was even made

see, they would have known that even if not a lot of people saw the movie, it would have made headlines just because of how bad it is, terrifying people of both the celebrities in it (remember this includes james corden, a prominent talk show host and taylor swift, one of the top song writers) and of cats themselves.

in conclusion, cats was filmed by the mafia and great britain in an attempt to overthrow the us government.

be careful who you vote for in 2020.

#this has been a whole load of nonsense #i feel like shane dawson #cats #conspiracy theory #god im so sorry #bless

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eligos-venator · 4 years

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Guilty or Innocent: Eligos Venator

Asked someone to marry you?

“Guilty. You’d be hard pressed to find someone who wasn’t a romantic at some stage in life. Even someone like myself has done that, once upon a time.”

Kissed one of your friends?

“See, because of the wording, I have to say ‘innocent’. I don’t have friends, friend. I have clients.”

Danced on a table in a bar / tavern?

“Yes. And yes, it cost an exorbitant amount of gil for that client.”

Ever told a lie?

“Truth and lies are so easily exchanged for one another. Truth can be used to forge a lie, and a lie can lead to a truth. I’ve told plenty of lies, and I’ll tell many more. Honesty? That’s what I get paid for. But even in honesty, one can deceive through omitting inconvenient truths.”

Had feelings for someone you can’t have?

“That’d require caring enough to have such feelings. I find that to be a waste of both energy and time.”

Ever kissed someone of the same sex?

“Once. I got paid. No, it wasn’t worth the gil.”

Kissed a picture?

“Why would I do that?” The man asked, raising a brow. “That’s rather sad.”

Slept until 5pm?

“Context is required. I’ve pulled all nighters and then slept from afternoon till supper, many times before. But simply falling asleep at a normal hour and not waking till evening the next day? Never. I don’t allow myself to, as I’ve too much work to deal with, and limited hours in any day to get it done.”

Worked at a fast food chain / restaurant

“We all start somewhere. Me, I had to pick myself back up somehow after hitting rock bottom. The skills I had spent years learning at the academy were too identifying for me to be able to sell them, and I didn’t have a gil to my name. I managed to somehow get a job at a quiet restaurant, and worked my way up from busboy to server, to bartender, in the span of a year. Management could tell I was eager to learn and take on every role I could, and the additional roles I took on paid for the equipment needed to start out as a mercenary, and truly start rebuilding my life.”

Stolen something?

“Guilty. I cannot detail as to what because frankly I do not recall. I’ve committed many a crime, but to put effort into remembering them all is a waste of effort. It’s just a paycheck. And sometimes laws must be broken in order to get it.”

Been fired from a job?

“Plenty of times.” Eligos grinned at this. “There’s always someone who thinks lowly of freelancers like myself, and will try to fire them after the work’s done in order to avoid paying for services rendered. There’s even more that try to ask for the impossible in order to claim breach of contract so they can fire you. My advice to fellow mercenaries is to have a good contract, and to make sure to collect something that you might be able to use to, ah, ‘encourage’ them to keep to their word. It won’t earn you any friendship or build camaraderie with your employer, but going hungry won’t help you either. Better to ensure you are able to eat than worry about what your employer’s personal view is of you.”

Done something you regret?

“We all have regrets in life. I try to lead a life without regret, but that doesn’t mean that I haven’t stumbled before and thought back on those choices made. Hindsight is perfect, as they say, and to beat ourselves up over the past accomplishes nothing. It’s better to focus on the future.”

Laughed until something you were drinking came out of your nose?

“That sounds painful. No.”

Caught a snowflake on your tongue?

“If so, I don’t recall. I may well have when young, but after a while, it becomes the same as any other weather phenomenon and is something you adapt to, rather than enjoy.”

Sat on a roof top?

“They’re not the best spot to snipe from, but in crowded areas they’re sometimes the only high ground you can use to get a clear shot.”

Kissed someone you shouldn’t have?

“Shouldn’t have, how?” He asked as his brow raised. “If we’re talking about morals, perhaps so, but my paycheck isn’t decided by my personal ethics. I’m paid to do what I’m told, regardless of consequences and morality.”

Sang in the shower?

“Does humming count? If so, then yes. I can’t say I’m much of a singer, but I’ve a few songs I enjoy greatly, like any other person.”

Been pushed into a body of water with all your clothes on?

“I’ve been tossed overboard while still wearing full armor before. I highly recommend always keeping a grappling hook and line on you when out on the ocean, in case you’re either knocked overboard during a storm, or if your crewmates think it’d be funny to see if you can float in your gear.”

Shaved your head?

“No.” Was the immediate, flat, and unamused reply as the man crossed his arms and yellow eyes stared with clear displeasure at the thought of being bald. “I keep my hair short for convenience. But I don’t keep it that short.”

Made a boyfriend / girlfriend cry?

“Probably. Yes. I anger quite a few people. I’ve upset even more. I’ve made mistakes and have made a few people important to me upset before as well. But the biggest mistake is to let that lie and not handle it. If a mistake is made, it’s best to act immediately to try to resolve the matter. It won’t change the tears spilled, but it will help keep more from falling, in both present and future.”

Shot a gun?

“It’s a part of my job description, half the time. I am partial to utilizing a gun to take targets down at a range. It minimizes the risk to myself.”

Still loved someone you shouldn’t?

“I don’t even know if I’m capable of that emotion. I don’t see how I could still love someone I shouldn’t without having the capacity to love in the first place.”

Have / had a tattoo?

“I’m adverse to identifying marks on my own person, given they can be used to pick me out of a lineup if seen. Someday, maybe, I’ll get one. I wouldn’t mind having one, really. But given my job, it’s a bad idea for me to cave to that temptation.”

Liked someone, but will never tell who?

“If I did, you’d never know.”

Been too honest?

“I say it as I see it. If people have a problem with that, they’re welcome to take their issues with them and jump off a bridge, for all I care.”

Ruined a surprise?

“I ruin many things. Surprises have been one of those that I’ve ruined, yes.”

Been told that you’re beautiful by someone who totally meant what they said?

“No.” That was all he had to say as he crossed his arms, his lips tugged down in a frown as he made a small shooing motion with his left hand to indicate that he wanted the next question to be asked already.

Stalked someone?

“For business purposes. So yes. I’m unable to divulge details, due to the contract signed. What I can say is that it’s not something I particularly enjoy. But a job is a job.”

Thought about murder?

“Frequently. My job often entails applying lethal force against targets. It’s natural I have to think abut it and plan ahead accordingly.”

How about mass murder?

“While I don’t find the idea of murdering a population of people appetizing, I work under the assumption that I’ll need to be armed enough to, at minimum, take out twice the number of targets I’m sent in for. No battle plan ever survives first contact with the enemy, and if you aren’t prepared to adapt to the situation, you’ll find yourself in over your head. I always make sure I’ve enough equipment to take care of both enemy and ally should the situation unfold unfavorably.”

Cheated on someone?

“I am very strict when it comes to contracts made. I don’t break the terms unless my own are broken first. This includes relationships. I have never cheated, nor do I have the slightest of reasons to consider such.”

Gotten so angry that you cried?

“Not at all. I don’t get angry. That’s a waste of energy and time. I get even.”

Tried to stay away from someone for their own good?

“No. Why would I care about what’s good for someone else? People won’t spare a second thought about you and what’s good for you. They’ll take what they need. It’s on your own head if you can’t do the same for fear of consequences for another.”

Thoughts about suicide?

”In the past, I considered it frequently. Looking the part of half-breed is rough on any, but especially so when you grow up in a society raised to be intolerant of others not like them. But I’ve learned since then and grown, and no longer consider such an option.”

Had a girlfriend / boyfriend?

” Girlfriend, yes. I’ve had a few relationships. But I’m very content with my life as it is now.”

Gotten totally drunk during a holiday?

“I drink, but not to excess. Even on holidays I would rather keep my wits about me than let myself be overly influenced by beverage.”

Tagged by: @tiwahra-ffxiv @ivyffxiv [Thank you for the tags!]

Tagging: @uurkhilen @voidtouchedduelist @lilac-memorials @lighttheabyss @octophopi @vesper-aldaine @cigarettes-n-daisies @arcurisrilanox @nocturnedreaming @cadrenebula @yokasaris @roleplay-aficionado @cottoncnyandy @wildgirlcinna @misorastraus @arcana-divine @a-corsairs-chorus @shroudkeeper @miyuki-mazaki @knightingale-xiv and anyone else who wants to do it!

#asks and memes #thank you for the tag!

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the-light-followed · 4 years

Text

SOURCERY (1988) [DISC. #5; RINCEWIND #3]

“It’s vital to remember who you really are. It’s very important. It isn’t a good idea to rely on other people or things to do it for you, you see. They always get it wrong.”

Rating: 7/10

Standalone Okay: Yes, but more fun with context.

Read First: Yeah.

Discworld Books Masterpost: [x]

* * * * * * * * * *

Magic! Sourcery! Death! The apocryphal apocalypse, the Apocralypse! Puns! A cowardly wizard who can’t do magic and who takes it in turns to run away from, and then toward, and then away again from danger!

Over the course of the story, Sourcery literally and figuratively rewrites reality and magic across the Disc.

Sourcery feels a lot like a second start for the Discworld series. Much like The Colour of Magic, it introduces many of Discworld’s major locations, characters, and themes. It even stars Rincewind, in all his cowardly, unmagical glory. But unlike The Colour of Magic, Pratchett has locked down not just the look of the place, but also the feel of it. The Discworld, as a setting, balances on the knife’s edge between absurdist humor and poignant sincerity, and it makes sense that it took Pratchett a couple novels to get the blend just right. I feel like the first five books in the series mark a slow path to the Discworld that the rest of the novels will occupy comfortably, starting with the purely satirical high fantasy nonsense of The Colour of Magic, shifting through the more original concepts of Equal Rites and Mort, and finally settling in place with Sourcery.

With the arrival of Coin, the powerful Sourcerer—who unlike a wizard is a source of magic, not just able to use the stuff—the balance of magic and nature shifts, wizards and towers rise and fall, and the Things from the Dungeon Dimensions briefly push very, very close to the Discworld before they’re driven back.

By the time the story ends, magic is revitalized and permanently changed through the arrival (and then departure) of Sourcery, and the balance of power between city-states is permanently altered. In fact, it is strongly implied that because of these magical battles, some of these places have entirely ceased to exist.

Whoops!

We get a solid cast of characters for this one, coming together and splitting apart again for some really well-paced storylines running alongside one another. There’s Conina (daughter of Cohen the barbarian, hairdresser by profession and warrior by genetics) and Nijel the Destroyer (son of a grocer, but he read a book about how to be a barbarian once), the Unseen University wizards (who put all their skill points into magic powers and absolutely none into common sense), the Librarian and his flock of books (the books literally fly like birds to escape a fire in the Library), Coin the Sourcerer (parented badly by the ghost of his dead father which is possessing his magical staff (no, really)), Death and the other Horsemen of the Apocralypse, etc., etc. Even the Archchancellor’s Hat has a pretty solid role to play.

And, of course, we’ve got our main protagonist, beloved run-away wizard Rincewind.

Western media trains audiences to see and expect cowardice as a negative trait, usually given to villains, traitors, and failures. But although Rincewind’s cowardice is as much a defining characteristic as his lack of magical ability and his misspelled hat, I see him as one of the kindest and most genuinely likeable protagonists on the Disc. (As opposed to my other faves: Vimes can be too intense, Vetinari too terrifying, and Granny is some unholy combination of both those things. Moist is, quite frankly, a little shit.)

Rincewind has ‘runs away a lot, usually from things that want him dead’ as his main character flaw, sure, but I can’t honestly fault him for that. Let’s be real—it’s just a logical continuation of the all-important survival trait, which Rincewind has in spades. And at the same time, he’s also knowledgeable, sarcastically funny, kind in his own way, and totally, completely harmless. It’s almost sweet, even, how utterly nonthreatening this man is. Like Coin the Sourcerer says: he’s like a funny little rabbit. How can you not love that?

I also love that Rincewind’s cowardice doesn’t stop him from doing what has to be done, even when—maybe especially when—no one else seems to be answering the call. Despite all the infinitely more powerful wizards up in the tower with the Sourcerer, it’s Rincewind who shows up with no magic at all, just a half-brick in a sock, ready to at least try to stop the inevitable unraveling of reality and destruction of the Disc. (I’m standing by my claim that Rincewind might be a terrible wizard, but an excellent accidental witch. See my post on Equal Rites for the distinction.)

Anyway, in the end, it turns out that it’s not Coin that’s the real problem, it’s his staff; Rincewind immediately turns to protecting Coin, a literal child. When he and Coin are pulled through to the Dungeon Dimension, Rincewind uses himself as a distraction so Coin can escape, even though it means he’ll be trapped there with terrible things that want him dead. The book ends with him still trapped in the Dungeon Dimensions.

That’s not great, obviously, but one thing I really appreciate about the Discworld series is that even though bad things happen or threaten to happen all the time, you can always trust Pratchett not to be cruel for cruelty’s sake or even just for shock and awe. Things are scary and bad, but they will turn out okay in the end. Pratchett’s not about that grimdark bullshit, and that’s a promise you can take straight to the bank. He understands people in such a real way—none of his characters are purely good or purely evil, but on the whole, when pushed, they tend toward good. They think. They reconsider. They try. Even when it seems pointless, they fight back, and Pratchett always rewards his characters—and the readers—for that.

Sourcery, a prime example of this, ends on a pretty solid cliffhanger. Knowing as we do now that there are four more books that star Rincewind in the Discworld lineup, we as a modern audience don’t need to worry. But in the context of 1988, where there are two full years and three full novels before Rincewind is mentioned again, we have to take Pratchett at his word, and the man really does do everything in his power to reassure us that all will be well:

“Silence drifted around the remains of a hat, heavily battered and frayed and charred around the edges, that had been placed with some ceremony in a niche in the wall. No matter how far a wizard goes, he will always come back for his hat.”

The Rincewind books were actually some of the last ones I read of the Discworld, my first time around, to the point where I already trusted Pratchett not to mess with my feelings for no reason. It’s always nice to hit a cliffhanger and know the author will give a satisfying, well-written payoff—he wouldn’t have written it as he did if he didn’t intend to go somewhere with it later.

And now, having read all the books several times over, I have the satisfaction of being certain that even though it takes him a while, Rincewind will make it back to U.U. in the end. Any time I read one of the Rincewind books and start to feel bad for the poor bastard, I can reassure myself that despite every time he’s forced to risk his life or dragged along against his will on a wild and crazy adventure, eventually he will be given tenure at the University, and he will have the most boring job imaginable, mostly involving sorting his predecessor’s rock collection. It’s all the man has ever dreamed of getting out of life.

As a final note, I have to sidetrack into something that makes me very excited: in Sourcery, Vetinari is finally given a name!

[Paul Kidby’s version of Vetinari from The Pratchett Portfolio.]

Admittedly, this is not the first time the Patrician appears; he’s been around since The Colour of Magic. It’s just that he’s now officially been named, and with that naming comes more and more elements of his personality. Unfortunately, this does not mean he’s now fully, entirely, um…Vetinari-like. (Is there a good word to describe what, exactly, Vetinari is? Let me know; I sure as hell can’t think of one. Machiavellian, sure, but there’s a lot more going on in there on top of that.) He looks like Vetinari. He’s got some very Vetinari-sounding traits. He’s even got Wuffles, and let’s be honest, ‘unreasoning love of dogs’ is one of Vetinari’s easiest-to-nail-down personality traits.

But he also dramatically misjudges a situation with the wizards and the newly-arrived Sourcerer, Coin, to the point where he is turned into a lizard for the rest of the book.

On the one hand, this is clearly an object lesson in human-slash-wizard nature that Vetinari takes firmly to heart, because I can’t think of any time in any other Discworld novel where the man fucks up quite that badly. One of Vetinari’s strongest traits is that he gets people, he understands them and what they want, and the reason he stays in power despite all efforts to the contrary is that he knows how to work that to his advantage. Future Vetinari is a lot more cautious and delicate with both his demands and his threats, he pretty much always gets what he wants, and he is never again forcibly transmogrified into a small, angry reptile. That’s character development, folks.

On the other hand, I think I’m so used to Vetinari as the all-knowing, puppeteering chess-master that he seems wildly out of character for the relatively short amount of time he shows up in Sourcery. I don’t even think I’m entirely wrong in that, because, again, Pratchett is still figuring out Vetinari as a character at this point. He’s been around since The Colour of Magic, yes, but this is the first time we see him as a real, concrete person and not a mere device to drive the plot.

Somehow, he doesn’t yet feel like the politician slash assassin that we’ll come to know and love. Sure, we all know he’s secretly got a hidden sense of humor and a live-and-let-die approach to the whimsical absurdity that pretty much runs the Disc, but he doesn’t make mistakes.

By the time we get to Guards! Guards!, though, Pratchett will pretty much have him on lock. Maybe we really just need to hold his brand of cynicism up next to Vimes’s in order to put them both in the right light.

But we’ve still got a few more books between then and now. Next up, we return to the witches: it’s the Shakespearean-inspired Wyrd Sisters!

* * * * * * * * * *

Side Notes:

Rincewind does exactly one (1) magic in this book, and I am very proud of him for it.

Something I missed on my last readthrough: the Luggage apparently coughed up the Ottavo after a couple days. Last I remembered, in The Light Fantastic, it had swallowed this most powerful grimoire on the Disc and showed no signs of ever giving it up. On the one hand, there’s nowhere safer on the Disc to store a reality-warping spellbook than inside a murderous suitcase, but on the other, Rincewind and his awful luck don’t really need that sort of risk following them around on hundreds of tiny legs.

This book has a really solid message: a person has to decide for themselves who and what they are. It repeats throughout a lot of the character arcs: Rincewind, Conina, Nigel, even Coin the Sourcerer.

Rincewind might not be great at magic, but he’s got the most common sense. For example: it’s not Rincewind’s magical powers that make him able to fly the magic carpet. It’s just that he’s the only one to notice that they’ve set it on the ground upside-down. I think this serves him better than actual magic would in most of his escapades.

Favorite Quotes:

“‘I meant,’ said Ipslore bitterly, ‘what is there in this world that truly makes living worthwhile?’ Death thought about it. CATS, he said eventually. CATS ARE NICE.”

“It was quite impossible to describe. Here is what it looked like. It looked like a piano sounds shortly after being dropped down a well. It tasted yellow, and it felt Paisley. It smelled like the total eclipse of the moon.”

“It’s vital to remember who you really are. It’s very important. It isn’t a good idea to rely on other people or things to do it for you, you see. They always get it wrong.”

“They suffered from the terrible delusion that something could be done. They seemed prepared to make the world the way they wanted it or die in the attempt, and the trouble with dying in the attempt was that you died in the attempt.”

“There are eight levels of wizardry on the Disc; after sixteen years Rincewind has failed to achieve even level one. In fact it is considered opinion of some of his tutors that he is incapable even of achieving level zero, which most normal people are born at; to put it another way, it has been suggested that when Rincewind dies the average occult ability of the human race will actually go up by a fraction.”

“Rincewind rather enjoyed times like this. They convinced him that he wasn’t mad because, if he was mad, that left no word at all to describe some of the people he met.”

“Despite rumor, Death isn’t cruel—merely terribly, terribly good at his job.”

“The truth isn’t easily pinned to a page. In the bathtub of history the truth is harder to hold than the soap, and much more difficult to find.”

“The day had, in fact, reached that gentle point when it was too late for housebreaking and too early for burglary.”

#discworld #sourcery #rincewind

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sesamesaysme · 5 years

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Pdx101 finale thoughts

The risk of having the k-public vote for team members has always been that the final group might MAKE NO SENSE. Voting like this doesn’t take into consideration the broader picture of how does the group look together, what kind of concept are they going for, do we have the right balance of people for every role. Just because two people are good friends doesn’t make it true that they should be in the same kind of group. And this is why people adamantly wanting Dongpyo and Seungwoo in the same group has never made sense to me. Dongpyo is amazing at performances like Pretty Girl. But did I like him in the Boss team? No. He looked like a middle schooler dressed up to fit in with the big boys. And that’s not saying I don’t like Dongpyo. I only don’t like him in that kind of more mature sexy concept. I can say the same thing about not having any interest in seeing members like Seungwoo or Seungyoun do cute songs. Right now this group is a confusion of concepts whereas Wanna One I could easily visualize everyone within the same concept.

Still, 5 years is a long time. I can at least be optimistic and think the babies can still grow into the more mature songs. What I’m more upset about is Jinhyuk getting robbed. Did not see that coming AT ALL. It was the most upsetting thing of the whole 4 hours.

Happy about Yohan getting center. He really is the best to represent the program and the group--the idea that someone can come from basically no training and become formidable in rap, singing, dance in this amount of time as well as be handsome, funny, and kind-hearted. Many of the contestants had stans and antis but it’s hard to find someone who hates Yohan.

Another one of the best moments was MBK getting in back to back. Dohyun may be the youngest by far but he’s versatile. He’ll be fine in any concept. Hangyul getting in was a surprise, but a very welcome surprise since he was one of my picks too.

I’m not going to whine about Yuvin not getting in because I think the songs will still sound fine without him. However, their songs really would have had stronger vocals with him. (Think back to U Got It team which had Seungwoo, Wooseok, Eunsang, Junho, Yunseong, Yohan and STILL their team admitted during recording that the song was difficult for them and they really could have used a Song Yuvin).

Yeah, so...I’m happy and sad. I think I can eventually get used to the idea of everything about this lineup. Jinhyuk not being in it will be the hardest part for me. But at the end of the day though, everyone who made it in is talented and hardworking enough so I don’t think splitting hairs about who deserves it more is the real reason that upsets us about who got in and who didn’t. I think the real root reason for upset feelings is probably just that we’re gonna miss seeing certain faces and the camaraderie of all of them together.

#produce x 101 #pdx101 #lee jinhyuk #kim yohan #nam dohyun #lee hangyul #song yuvin

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velvetgons · 5 years

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smoulder

yoonbin x reader

word count; 6.1k

warnings; hmm slight angst, fluff, i’m soft for yoonbin? not clickbait!, small kissing scene

song; the universe we dreamt - matt dimona and spell - niki :)

requested; yes! thank you [requests are open]

a/n; are we...do we have a tag for the lineup yet.....or not...i...please let me know

As a person who enjoyed spending time with their friends and getting new experiences, it wasn’t at all surprising that you had such an affinity for the carnival that came to your city once a year for a week in the summer. Ever since you were old enough to know about its existence, you’d whine and complain until someone would take you there for a minimum of two of those days. Things hadn’t really changed too much since then, only that now you were older and it didn’t take adult supervision for you to be allowed to spend almost the full week down at the carnival with your friends.

In this sense, you always saw yourself as immensely lucky for finding a friend like Jihoon. He loved the things you disliked about the carnival; he basked in the sheer amount of noise coming from the different attractions and he found some kind of pure enjoyment from the slow shuffling of the crowds around him. But, most importantly of all, he was always willing to spend as much time as you wanted to there, which generally resulted in the two of you dragging more of your verging on unwilling friends to spend the full week in the business of it, too.

The carnival would start on the first Monday of the third week into your summer break from school, and end on the Sunday following. The memories that came with the carnival were one of your favourite things about it, both making them and getting to remember some of the moments you’d forgotten about in the stress that came with your daily schedule of classes. Last summer had been one of your favourites of them all, mostly because you adored the moments where you and Jihoon got the chance to have a meaningful conversation.

And, if you were honest with yourself, maybe the conversation you’d had with Jihoon as the carnival closed on the final Sunday was what made the trepidation and desperation for this week to be as childish and untouched as all of the others so prevalent for you. The sky was getting to be a deep blue by the time you’d both finally began to drag yourself in the directions of your homes, the smell of cotton candy and popcorn still lingering on the both of you as you spoke quietly about future plans. In the moment that you turned onto your street, Jihoon’s arm thrown across your shoulder as he grew quieter, doe eyes catching yours as he mumbled something you almost didn’t hear, you’d sworn to yourself that these moments were something you truly didn’t want to stop having.

“I don’t wanna grow up and apart from you guys,” he’d said softly, and when you’d stopped by your front door to ask him what that meant, he’d simply shrugged. “Every adult seems to just, give up on having close friends. I’m scared, you know, that we’ll all be like that.” He hadn’t given you much chance to respond before he’d insisted on being home on time, ruffling your hair before offering you a quick, “At least we’re always gonna have the carnival, huh?”

As cliché as you realised it was, you’d clung onto that sentiment, especially as the fear grew within your chest over this year’s carnival. It was, as you had to accept at some point, the last one you were all going to be able to spend together before you had to get serious about your futures. Jihoon and more of your friends were going to be idols, you had full faith in that, and some more of your friends were going off to further their educations, or to travel. It didn’t matter, really. Things were moving forward and this was the moment you’d been building yourself up to.

You tightened your grip around the water bottle in your hand, eyes glassing over slightly as you stared at the park’s table, the resounding sound of Doyoung’s voice hitting your ears. “After all these years, you’re still allergic to the idea of fun?”

You heard Yoonbin scoff, your eyes already moving to narrow at him, knowing he’d be expressing his distaste for the carnival week as he always did on the countdown before. “It’s not even that great,” he shrugged, “it’s just, a street with a lot of noise on it.”

“Uh,” you heard your friend who was planning to leave and travel the world as soon as the carnival week was up, Lisa, begin, “there’s rides, so your point isn’t valid.”

You laughed softly, watching as Yoonbin glared over at you, “I don’t know what you find so funny.”

Shrugging, you set the water bottle down onto the surface of the table, “I don’t know why you always come if you hate it so much.”

His eyes narrowed even further at you, his expression turning into a full scale scowl as he rolled his eyes at you, “It’s not like I have much choice. If I didn’t show up, Jihoon would come and make me, so, my options are limited, aren’t they?”

You couldn’t really think of a response to that, you knew he was actually right in this instance, but his constant onslaught of negativity made your built-up anxiety for this week to elevate. Part of you wanted Yoonbin to never talk to you, because it seemed he couldn’t say a single word to you without sarcasm and cynicism dripping from his tone – but the other part of you knew he wasn’t like that, not really. He’d only shown you the nicer side of himself once, as you supposed you had done the same with him; when he’d accidentally walked in on you crying in a bathroom at a party because you’d seen the boy you liked kiss someone else, and he’d dropped himself to sit beside you on the floor and let you cry on his shoulder until you were ready for him to walk you home.

Maybe you had a slight affection for him because of that, maybe you just thought he was nice to look at, but whatever the feeling was didn’t matter; he was uninterested in anything to do with you unless it was the two of you digging at one another until one of your friends interrupted. Strangely, the tension between the two of you had never caused much more than a layer of comical annoyance to build in your friendship group, which, even more irritatingly so, was entirely and irreversibly conjoined.

From the moment Jihoon had met Yoonbin and Doyoung, he’d dragged them into your friendship group, giving you no chance to get away from him since. When you thought about it, you didn’t really know who started the arguing in the first place, but you put the blame onto Yoonbin. Glancing back over at him, you saw he was occupied in a conversation with Jihoon, and you took the small space of time to admire him quietly. If he treated you like he treated all your other friends, you assumed you’d probably have one of those classic school-girl crushes on him. Because, as you had to consistently remind Lisa, you didn’t, under any circumstances, have any form of feelings towards him currently other than the irritation that he seemed to detest you for an unknown reason.

You felt an elbow dig into your side, and you turned your line of sight over to Lisa sat beside you, her eyebrows raising at you as she followed your previous vision to Yoonbin. You bit back a laugh as you lightly smacked her arm, “No, stop it,” you grumbled, attempting to make your moodiness seem convincing.

Lisa’s laugh met your ears as she rose to her feet, you following suit as everyone else seemed to be doing the same. Jihoon knocked his shoulder into yours as he fell into to walk beside you, “So, we’ve got two hours before it opens, I’m thinking we should spend it at my house this year.”

///

You groaned as you lay sprawled out on Jihoon’s bed, your fingertips stretching out above your head to ever so slightly brush one of the plushies placed neatly on the made sheets. You’d spent the last two hours re-watching a movie you’d both seen a million times by now, and now you were waiting around for him to finish up picking a jacket so you could finally leave to go get your other friends and get to the carnival.

“It’s literally just a jacket, Jihoon, you’re not even gonna need one.” You grumbled, pulling yourself to sit up, your shoe-clad shoes tapping against the floor of his room.

He hummed, yanking an old blue hoodie off a hanger in his closet, “The temperature drops as the sun goes down, doesn’t it? And who’ll be warm and toasty in a nice cosy jacket when the happens?”

You shrugged, lips curling into a mock frown, “Not with this much global warming it won’t.”

“Ah,” Jihoon began, shutting his bedroom door behind the both of you on the way out, “that’s an intelligent point, well done.”

A laugh past your lips as he followed you downstairs, your hand curling around the handle of the front door, pulling it down as you looked back to catch his eyes, “Thank you, I try.”

The walk to gather your friends individually was tedious, and completely unnecessary in your mind, you didn’t understand why you couldn’t all just meet at the actual carnival, but you did it anyway. By the time Yoonbin joined the group, a surge of nerves ran through you, unsure of whether or not he’d end up bringing the mood down this time, even if he’d never done it before. You found yourself slipping into silence over most of the walk, focusing instead of looking over at each of your friends to see their bright grins – your eyes lingered on Yoonbin for a moment too long, seeing him wrapped up in a seemingly idyllic moment, a smile that went all the way to his eyes lighting up his features as he walked slightly ahead of you.

Reaching the beginning of the carnival street, you felt yourself tense just slightly at the sight of the forming crowds, reaching over to curl your hand into Jihoon’s. He noticed, squeezing your hand once as he tugged you as close to him as the heat would allow, “I’m right here, okay?”

You looked over at him, feeling your heart tighten a little at the words, a nod moving from your body before you could begin to form a comprehensible sentence to him. Multiple voices met your ears at once, some from the crowd of people around you and others – the more intelligible ones – coming from your friends asking where you were all going first. Doyoung wanted to go to the Ferris wheel, as he did every single year. The lack of any other ideas meant you were all in agreement, heading straight over to the line, still short as more people began arriving after the opening.

“Yoonbin? You not coming?” You heard Doyoung say as you reached the line, looking over to see Yoonbin stood outside the line’s railings.

He shook his head, “This one’s boring, I’ll sit it out.” You rolled your eyes at him, watching his eyes narrow at you as you did.

As usual, you went to pair yourself with Lisa, as Jihoon and Yedam kept up their tradition of going on the Ferris wheel together every year. Except, as you turned to stand beside her, you found yourself floundering, unable to spot the girl amongst the boys in your friendship group. The front of the line was growing closer, causing bouts of panic to move through you as you turned to Doyoung, “Where did Lisa go?”

“She said she wanted to go grab candy for all of us before the line got long, remember?” Doyoung informed, tilting his head at you as the final pair in front of you joined. In general terms, you were sure if you were insistent the man controlling the ride would probably let you go on by yourself, but you both didn’t want to be alone on it, and you highly doubted you had it within you to be pressing enough. It was always the same unspoken rules at the carnival, every single year, most rides you had to go on in pairs because it got too busy and they didn’t have enough people working it otherwise.

The man with the carnival work shirt on rose his eyebrows at you, gesturing forward as you stepped passed the gate, seating yourself in the cart as anxiety made your stomach turn flips. You breathed in sharply, feeling the man look from you back to the line, “Who are you riding with?”

You stuttered slightly, mouth unable to form words as the idea of holding the line up began to bite into you. Your eyes fell to the floor as you struggled to find anything to say, imagining the scenario of how embarrassing it would be to get kicked off the first ride in the day in front of everyone.

You heard a deeper voice interrupt the tense silence, “Sorry, sorry, I had to stop to tie my shoelace, I’m with her.”

Glancing up from where you’d been tapping your foot against the metal frame underneath you, you saw Yoonbin had push himself into the line, and was raising his eyebrows at the man expectantly. The man sighed, “Alright, okay, go ahead.”

Yoonbin dropped to sit beside you, sighing slightly as he did so, reminding you ever so slightly of how warm he’d been next to you that night at the party. You felt the blush underneath your cheeks keep their place, embarrassment at him making fun of you for this digging into your skin as the bar was placed down in front of you both. The wheel began to turn again, and you kept your eyes everywhere except for falling to him.

He scoffed under his breath, “Not even a thank you?”

You wanted to narrow your eyes at him, tell him you didn’t ask him to do that for you, but you couldn’t quite find the burn to do so. It wasn’t like either of you were going to be seeing much of each other after this summer came to a close anyway. “Thank you,” you said softly, not looking away from the view beneath you.

“Whatever,” he grumbled, slumping himself back slightly in the cart as it continued to move, stopping occasionally for people at the bottom to get on and off. As you reached the top, you felt yourself pull in a pointed breath, seeing the buildings and people spread out in front of you. The sight made you both nostalgic and slightly sad, remembering all the different things you’d done and experienced in the town with your friends and by yourself. The swarm of memories made your eyes glass over with a thin layer of tears, and you used your index finger to swipe it away as casually as you could.

You felt Yoonbin’s eyes on you, making you keep your vision focused away from him even more intently. “Are you, okay?” You heard him ask quietly, and you nodded immediately in response, not trusting your voice to remain even as you didn’t look at him.

He didn’t speak again. Neither did you. Your cart reached the bottom again as you both got off, and you found your feet rushing ahead of him to reach your other friends. Lisa was grinning at you as you reached her, probably thinking of a way to tease you about Yoonbin as you forced a childish giggle past your lips in retaliation. The feeling that was pressed to you now would fade, you knew that; it would fade because your friends would give you something else to think about, as they always did.

Yoonbin re-joined the group along with you, his eyes not leaving your form as he ignored Jihoon’s small tease of, “I thought you found Ferris wheels boring?”

The rest of the day didn’t grow boring, it never did, but it did fill you with a sense of nostalgia and a dulled down version of panic. The crowds and noise surrounding you, for once, causing you no anxiety, your mind too consumed with being as completely in the moment with your friends around you as possible.

“Now that it’s getting slightly darker,” you heard Jihoon begin, your eyes shifting to look up at the sky, which had fallen from the bright blue it had remained all day to a muted version of itself.

Yedam scrunched his face up in slight confusion, “It’s not dark at all.”

Jihoon shushed him, turning back to face everyone else as a grin took over his features, “Now that it’s getting darker,” he began again, “I think it’s time we went to the haunted house.”

The group had mixed reactions then, some of them groaning in protest to the familiar visit, and others beaming at the idea of the excitement it brought with it. A bright laugh made you all turn to Lisa, who grinned over at you before speaking, “I think, we should do it, but, we should pick each other’s partners for it.”

You felt your stomach drop immediately, your eyes falling on Yoonbin before you glared over at Lisa, hearing the rest of the group laugh in agreement. The immediate idea between all of them, of course, was that Yoonbin and you would go in together last, to make sure the tension was really built up. Even through your attempts to not spare Yoonbin a single glance, you found yourself cautiously observing him for a visible reaction, seeing him furrow his brows before going to interject on the plan. He was immediately silenced by Junkyu beside him, who nudged him with his elbow lightly and said something you could only imagine was related to loosening up and having fun.

Time seemed to blur in front of you as the pairs in front of you both went in and came out, either complaining that it wasn’t scary enough or that it was too much. In all honesty, you wished you could just have a normal haunted house, like amusement parks had, where you could go in, walk through a hallway and maybe up and down a flight of stairs while things jumped out at you. But, as always, things couldn’t be exactly as you wanted them, that was far too selfish of you to assume. Instead, you had to go room by room to find some form of amusement from the building, getting jump-scared by different things in each. You reached the front, your worry for this day having been forgotten and turned over into annoyance with your friends for making you do this.

Yoonbin was tensed up beside you, and you wondered for a second if he was scared to go into the haunted house, but you doubted it, he’d never been particularly scared of them in the years before. You were gonna make the assumption that it was because he had to go in with you. You reached the front with him, watching as he told the person taking the money that you didn’t need the rules explaining to you before you headed inside.

The first two rooms passed by in a relative blur, although you’d decided after a couple minutes of entering the house that you should count every single time Yoonbin scoffed or rolled his eyes at either you or the concept. You headed back into the hallway from the second room, the lighting making you stumble slightly, knocking your knee against the side of a bookcase as you turned too quick, hissing slightly in pain. You heard Yoonbin mumble something underneath his breath, walking past you to go to the third room, and you wondered if you should class that as a scoff. You decided to go on the safe side and add it to the list, knocking the count up to seven.

Passing the doorframe to get into the room seemed like a mistake as soon as you did it, hearing the door slam behind you as you jolted in surprise. “Seriously? You come here every single year for seven days and that still scared you?” You heard Yoonbin dig, making you glare over at him as your shoulders tensed in aggravation.

“It’s not my fault you’re so robotic that loud noises don’t phase you,” you huffed, feeling the sting in your knee from earlier still running through you as you wanted this walk through to be finished as soon as possible. “Why are we even going to the rooms if you don’t wanna be in here?”

He blanched for a second, glancing around before he lifted his shoulders in a dismissive shrug, “Fine, let’s just go to the exit.”

Yoonbin took a confident step forward to go past to you as the projector switched on, the twisted image of a woman screaming being put onto the blank wall in front of you. This drew little to no reaction from either of you, the both of you knowing from past experience that this happened in the third room. He didn’t pause his movements for very long, taking another step past you and reaching for the handle of the door, tugging it on roughly, pulling it back. The door didn’t budge, however, and he retried the action of pulling it back a couple more times as his moves grew vaguely frantic at the lack of a result.

You stepped forward, peering around his frame to see what was happening as he began to push on the door, checking to see if this did anything different. He turned back to glance at you as nothing happened once again, seeing a look of panic gather on your features as he knocked on the wood surface of the door a few times, hearing a patter of footsteps approach from the other side.

The door handle moved as the person from the other side evidently attempted to open it, seeing it keep to its closed place. Loud banging sounds moved through the space of the room that felt as though it was beginning to grow smaller, before everything went back into silence, your eyes going back to the where the projected image had been, having been turned off and reset for the next lot of guests now.

From inside the room, you could hear what sounded like fragments of a conversation, leading you to assume whoever was running the haunted house was radioing someone else. A muffled voice cut into the atmosphere a few drawn out seconds later, “Uh, okay, so, we’re gonna get some help to get the door open because it’s, well, it’s snapped, somewhere, our apologies. Is everybody okay in there?”

You watched with your bottom lip between your teeth as Yoonbin glanced back over at you, “Yeah, we’re fine, just, how long is it gonna take? To get the door open?”

You heard more indistinct radio chatter before the voice spoke again, “Not long, not long, we’ve just gotta get some tools to pry it open, you know, so, maybe, about half an hour.”

The answer both relieved you and caused a large bout of panic to go through you again. Half an hour, realistically, wasn’t that great a period of time, and so you wouldn’t be trapped in a confined dark space with a boy who hated you for very long. But this also meant that things weren’t going to go to plan with your friends, and now this would probably ruin the haunted house for the rest of the week, and that would mean you wouldn’t be able to go through it with Jihoon or anyone else again before Sunday. The idea filled your chest with a desperate and dramatic need to sit down and cry, but you knew that wasn’t an option for right then. You zoned yourself out as Yoonbin answered a couple more questions from the other person, lowering yourself to sit on the cold wooden floor of the room, leaning yourself back against the wall and tucking your knees to your chest.

Leaning your cheek down onto your knees as you sighed softly, you heard heavy footsteps approach your spot as Yoonbin lowered himself to sit beside you. The odd reminiscence from earlier became a full blown repetition of that night at the party, and you would have wanted to laugh if the fear within you wasn’t so great. You could see, out of the corner of your eye, that Yoonbin had looked over at you, and was most likely feeling irritation with you build up for being petty enough to blatantly ignore him in a situation like this.

You felt a burst of courage move through you as you glanced over at him, watching as his eyes immediately met yours. Tilting your head at him as much as space would allow with your head pressed to your legs, you heard him speak softly, “It’s not that long,” he began, “you don’t need to be scared, I mean. It’s only half an hour.”

The slight tilt of concern in his voice made you wonder over him more so than usual, trying to understand why he acted the way he did with you and no one else. Despite yourself, you let yourself smile softly at him, “I’m not…I’m not scared, but thank you, anyway.”

He nodded slowly, but his gaze stayed locked on yours, “Can I ask you a question?” He inquired quietly, his voice dropping to almost a whisper as you heard a collection of footsteps outside the room again.

The adjusting sound of metal tools and people speaking met your ears as you responded at the same volume as he’d spoken, “Sure, why not.”

The ghost of a smile tugged at his lips before he spoke again, “What have you been thinking about today?”

Caught of guard by the suddenness of his question, you recoiled a little, eyebrows furrowing in confusion. “I…what, like, do you want a cohesive list of everything I’ve thought about today?”

A breathy laugh passed his lips before it turned into a light scoff, “No, I mean, you know, I want, I wanna know what’s been bothering you today.”

“Oh,” you began, losing eye contact with him as you attempted to think of whether or not you’d been too obvious with what had been going through your mind all day, “was it…obvious, like, was I acting weird?”

He shook his head quickly, “No, I, I just noticed on the Ferris wheel and, you know, couldn’t not see it after that.”

At this, a slight wash of relief came over you before you began thinking of what to say. You presumed that you should probably lie to him, his sudden interest in knowing what was going through your mind was something you assumed you should see as a warning sign for something. But you didn’t particularly want to. And, in an unexplainable way, you somehow felt that there would be an understanding of the feeling if you told Yoonbin, of all people.

“I just, I don’t know, I want this week to be perfect, for everyone.” You answered simply, watching as Yoonbin looked at you quizzically, urging you to keep talking. You found yourself without words again, dropping eye contact with him as thoughts swarmed around your mind again.

“Why’s this week so important?” He pushed gently, attempting to ease you into giving him more of an answer.

You swallowed thickly, “Because, you know, it’s like, the last summer we’re all gonna be together for the carnival.” When you finally said it, the idea of your fixation on it seemed impossibly childish and overdone.

Yoonbin moved to turn his body towards you, watching as you sceptically mirrored his action, your knees pressing against his. “So, what’s the importance of the carnival? Did I miss something in the weeks I’ve spent here?” He joked lightly, making a small bubble of confusion move through you, unsure of where this sudden personality change had come from.

The smallest of laughs passed your lips as you shook your head, “It’s, we’ve just spent every summer here since we were little kids, right? And now, well now everyone’s moving on, and we’re…we’re not gonna spend every summer here anymore.” You mumbled, your eyes glazing over slightly as you grew flustered at your own sensitivity to the subject, looking down to the floor.

Yoonbin tilted his head at you, letting you know he evidently had more questions to ask, “I mean, this might be the last summer we’ll spend at this god awful carnival,” he began, a laugh moving past the lump in your throat and into the air around you as he smiled for a moment. “But it’s not like we’re never gonna see one another again. We’ll all still be best friends.”

A tear slipped its way down your cheek as you looked back at him, “That’s what everyone says, and then they leave and stop talking to one another anyway.”

Shaking his head, Yoonbin pulled his hoodie to cover his thumb and leant forward to swipe the tear off your face. “None of us want that, though, so it won’t happen.”

His assurance made you tilt your head at him, “You don’t know that.”

He shrugged lightly in response, breathing out a laugh, “You can’t know much about the future, though, can you? I know that I’ll do what I can to not let that happen, and that’s all that matters.”

This made you smile softly before the slightly bitter realisation that the people he was referring to as his friends didn’t extend to you. You’d expected things to change after that night at the party, you’d assumed you’d both be fine with one another, and that because he’d been so kind then he’d be like that with you afterwards. He hadn’t been. Another moment like that wasn’t likely to cause much more of a change.

“You know,” you began carefully, reaching to knock his hand just slightly with your own, “I think, one day in the far future when you’re married and you have kids and the perfect life created for yourself, you’re gonna remember me, and you’re gonna miss me, so much.” You mumbled, almost to yourself.

Yoonbin wanted to recoil, to be visibly angry with the notion that he’d even be able to forget you of all people in the first place. But he couldn’t really say your perception of how he felt towards you was an unjustified one. “I’m…I know I will.”

You linked your pinkie with his in a rush of confidence, “Can I ask you a question now?” He nodded, glancing down at your interlocked pinkies as you began speaking, “Why do you hate me so much?”

He shut his eyes tightly, hearing Doyoung’s voice when he’d told him that this situation would happen eventually. “I don’t hate you, ___, I really don’t.”

Humming softly, you rephrased your question, “Why are you always so angry with me, then?”

At this, he smiled a little, “Do you remember when we got like this?” His voice had dropped back to a whisper, watching as you shook your head, curiosity lighting up your eyes in the dark. “I didn’t think you did,” he sighed softly, dropping his head back for a minute before he started talking again, “I…I met you all with Doyoung for the first time, right? And, okay, look, I know I always look like I’m constantly angry but…I’m really not, and I guess, I guess you thought I didn’t like you, so you started making these little offhand comments…” he let himself trail off, wincing softly as you sat yourself up properly, your hand slipping away from his.

He wondered if he should apologise for telling you, but you interrupted him, “I’m sorry,” you started, “oh my god, that was so mean of me. I’m…Yoonbin, I’m really sorry.”

Laughing a little, he didn’t move from his place, “It’s okay, really, it is, I…I took it too far, really. I shouldn’t have kept acting like that when you stopped retaliating. I just, I don’t know, felt like I had to.”

At this, you tilted your head at him, “Why would you have to?”

Yoonbin cleared his throat, glancing over at the door where the noise had gone silent at some point during your conversation, although it remained closed shut. “I…okay, this sounds bad, so hear me out,” he started, “but that night at the party, I followed you upstairs, because I, well I knew you liked that guy, and I’d seen him kiss someone else, so I was gonna, I was just gonna talk to you about how I, about how I’d kinda liked you for a little while…” he paused for a moment, as if trying to check your reaction. “But, you were so upset, and it didn’t feel like the right time.”

He watched as your face morphed from one of confusion into slightly comical shock, “Do you still feel like that?”

Yoonbin smiled a little, “Yeah,” he kept your eye contact, “I haven’t dealt with this very well, have I?”

A laugh moved from your lips, “No, not really, but it’s okay,” you rose your eyebrows at him, “go on, ask what you really want to.”

Yoonbin shook his head at you, “I don’t expect an answer, I…I kind of expected you to be angry about this. But, it’s a lot to spring on someone, I know that. Take your time giving me an answer.”

You felt a blush heat up your cheeks as you laughed softly, “There’s only four weeks of summer left,” you said, watching as Yoonbin rolled his eyes at you again.

“You’re obsessed with that, aren’t you?” You shrugged, feeling his pinkie intertwine with yours again, “I’m still gonna be here after summer, you know that.”

“What if I move away for school?” You challenged lightly, not even attempting to dance around the fears in your mind.

He rose his eyebrows at you, “You have a phone, don’t you?”

You grinned slightly, “What if I don’t? Would you go back to pretending you hate me?”

“No, I’d just have to write you letters,” he challenged back, his lips turning upwards as your worries seemed to dissipate for the moment.

You laughed lightly, “But,” you began, drawing a groan from him, but it quickly slipped away when he saw the hint of seriousness beginning to find its way onto your features again, “what about when you debut? You’ll be too busy, right?”

His hand moved to grip yours as a slam resounded on the wooden door, a muffled voice calling out to you both gently, and you watched as Yoonbin moved to stand and go back to the door. The same muffled voice from earlier spoke again, “We’re gonna need a different tool, so, it’ll be, about another half an hour, our apologies again. Is everyone still, uh, all okay in there?”

Yoonbin laughed gently, looking over at your form still on the floor, “Yeah, yeah, we’re all good.” He moved back to sit beside you again, raising his eyebrows for a moment, “you’re still okay, right?”

You nodded gently, observing Yoonbin intently as he moved slowly to cup your face impossibly lightly, “It’s probably a bad time for me to kiss you, right?” He asked quietly, watching as you nodded in response, a grin curling your lips up, “you don’t care, do you?” You shook your head at him, feeling him pull your face closer to his as your lips met. The kiss was timid, his lips brushing against your own in a feather-light way as it didn’t gain in speed or desperation.

He pulled himself back after a moment, smiling at you brightly before speaking, “Don’t, don’t overthink this, okay? I like you, and you like me, that’s all that matters. We’ll just, cross those bridges when we get to them.”

A smile met your features are you nodded slowly at him, curling yourself closer to him while he leant his back against the wall again. “Is there anything else you need you get off your chest? This seems like it’s given us a good opportunity to fix some personal issues.” He said softly, his arm draping across your shoulders.

You laughed again, “Hm, don’t think so. Do you?”

“Actually,” he started, looking down at you as you caught his line of sight, “I have a question about Jihoon,” he began.

“Oh, I can’t help you with that,” you interrupted, dropping your head back onto his shoulder.

He hummed slightly in response, “I…I’m not so sure anyone really can.” He retorted, leaning his head to rest against yours as the room fell into a mix of attempted comfortable conversation that would be met with the sound of metal tools scraping against wood outside the little room.

#:) i'm pretty happy w this #i'm sorry that i'm bad with endings though !#ygtblbr #ygtb scenarios #ygtb imagines #ygtb reactions #yg treasure box reactions #yg treasure box imagines #yg treasure box scenarios #ha yoonbin scenarios #ha yoonbin

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seitjun · 5 years

Text

take the chance, take the turn

braggvin (mattvin) // 7600+ words // racing au

Description: Running shitty people off is something Matt can claim responsibility for, but it's not Matt's fault that he keeps getting said shitty people to work with. Despite the argument, Geoff isn't having it, and soon, Matt only has one more chance to make it work. In comes someone named Gavin Free.

Extra notes: i am an absolute sucker for this rarepair, please talk to me about it!! also, i highly recommend reading this on AO3 because the notes there explain important terms.

This is posted on AO3 here ! Fic also below the cut.

(one.)

“You can’t keep going off at the team just because they said something you didn’t like, y’know. You’re starting to get a real bad rep, Matthew.”

Geoff’s arms are crossed across his chest and paired with the frown lingering on his lips, he’s not at all happy with Matt’s performance. In a rare instance, Geoff looks more like the owner of a prestigious NASCAR team that he is and less like his usual, sleepy self. On his tongue disappointment is a weapon, sharpened and poised at Matt’s throat.

They’re sat at a local bar in Florida, the location of the first race of the season, and they converse in a corner booth away from everyone else. The pit crew and other close friends had left already after a socially acceptable amount of congratulations on Matt’s win; their excuses all danced around the same reasoning of busy schedules, but no one could ignore the weight of the mounting tension between the two heads. One by one they had left, until it left just Matt and Geoff sitting across each other on opposing sides.

“It’s not cheap to run a team, ‘specially if I gotta run interference on your ass 90% of the time,” says Geoff. And if it wouldn’t land his ass in even hotter water, Matt would’ve fucked off by now – this is Geoff’s usual speech, his opening line. Matt knows the whole spiel by now, but he likes his job enough to keep silent. Even kind Geoff could be pushed past his limits. “That’s the fifth crew chief you’ve ran out in two seasons. Two! I can’t just pick any hire up from the street to be in this position.”

Matt stifles the huff that threatens to escape him, already feeling tired of the conversation. He knows that Geoff is only looking out for him – has been, ever since he was recruited by luck in that empty raceway he called home. There’s only so much a driver with a celebrity status can do before people start to turn heads and watch every action with scrutinizing eyes. Matt can’t act how he wants, and sometimes it takes a stern reminder from Geoff.

“You know I’m not trying to get a bad rep on purpose, Geoff,” Matt mumbles. He hunches over to hide, and his arms wrap around himself; he can’t find it in him to make eye contact with Geoff, not when he knows that Geoff is still always right about this topic. “You should’ve heard the guy anyway. He sounded so fuckin’ condescending!” Matt’s eyes set into a glare at the thought of the crew chief earlier, staring off into nothing. “What was he expecting? For me to listen to him when I know he’s wrong and an asshole?”

He doesn’t manage to bite back the scathing words in time, overwhelmed with the irritation and annoyance from the crew chief he made resign. By the time that Geoff has a hand at his head, thumb pressing to his temple, Matt is too late to realize that he’s stepped out of line already.

There’s a brief moment of silence that reigns between them. Cold and exhausted and foreboding – neither of them want to deal with this.

“You’re a good driver, Matthew, I’ll give you that. You won the opening race today,” Geoff finally says clippedly. He pauses as finishes the dregs of his soda, before the metal can clatters as he slams it down on the table between them, every emotion of his hiding behind the force. “But you’re acting like a brat. This wasn’t the Matthew I hired all those years ago.”

Geoff pauses there. His eyes fall shut, and Matt can see the way Geoff’s shoulders tremble as he tries to calm down – deep breath in, deep breath out. It repeats over and over again. Geoff has never wanted to be an angry man, and Matt feels guilt twist inside him for pushing Geoff so far.

It’s minutes later when Geoff opens his eyes again, looking like his usual, sleepy self again. The NASCAR team owner is a tiring personality to play, Matt knows, after being Geoff’s driver for years now. He also knows that Geoff isn’t as angry about the issue now, just more concerned, and it bleeds through in the way his brows furrow and his lips frown.

The years in this business haven’t always been kind to Geoff, and Matt can feel the beginnings of an apology on his lips.

“Get your act together. I called in an old friend of mine, Gavin Free, to act as your crew chief for the next race. You’re lucky he doesn’t know about your reputation,” Geoff informs him. Quiet, subdued. Unsettling. “Do me a favor, Matt, and try not run this one off. He’s a good friend, a better crew chief. He’ll lead you well through the rest of the season if you’d let him.”

Matt just stays silent, sobered up by the conversation. The name Gavin Free runs through his head.

(two.)

"Testing, testing. 1, 2, 3. Can you hear me, Matt?"

Matt shifts in his seat, adjusting the headset as he does so and clicks the 'Connect' button on his end, makes sure that voice is enabled at all times. He doesn’t want to put in the extra effort of clicking a button to speak each time "I hear you loud and clear. You hearing me alright?"

"Perfect!" Gavin giggles from his end, and a small sound of shuffling papers follow him. "We only have a little bit until we have to line up. Thank god you have an easy number to remember for pole position, but it does give us less time to talk really. You ready for this race?"

Matt tugs on his racing gloves and fixes up his driving suit with a soft scoff, his hands fiddling with the wrinkled spots. Less of a necessity and more of a self-comforting gesture, it's habit by now as a way to calm himself down before he gets hit with too much nervous adrenaline. "I've raced this circuit plenty of times. I'm more than ready, and I already know how to maneuver this track well. It's one of my favorites.”

There’s no clear reply to his message, just this small hum of acknowledgement, and something about it is already setting his short fuse on fire. Maybe it’s from learning to expect the worst from crew chiefs or the presence of a new person leading him, but suddenly, it feels like a slight against him. It plays a flashback to all those other crew chiefs he hated, but at least previous ones acknowledged him. What if this is a way to put him down by ignoring him?

He can’t bite his tongue. Can’t help but let the words escape: "Y'know, if you have something to say, you can say it. I'll be pissed if it's condescending, but I can't reach you until the end of the race at least."

To Matt's surprise and indignation, that manages to pull a short bark of laughter from Gavin just as squeaky as his normal voice. "Appreciate the honesty, mate. But genuinely, I don't really have much to say in response, and I was mulling what you said over anyway. As much as I appreciate Geoff for trusting in my ability to lead you, he's...forgotten that I haven't been to this track in a while," Gavin confesses. "It's good you know your way around here. I'll try my best to improve on your own tricks, just keep me in the loop if you do something more reckless, yeah?"

And Matt - he feels a funny twist of an ache in his chest at how easy Gavin's taken his words in stride. Meant to be challenging as a way to pull out the crew chief's hidden agenda towards him, piss him off while at it, Matt's unsure on what to do with a crew chief who's willing to work with him. His brain fizzles to a halt long enough that he misses the announcement for the cars to get into their lineups. It takes a knock on his window from one of his pit crew members to get his head on straight again.

"Oh, fuck, shit," he curses under his breath. That earns another laugh from Gavin's end, but it's not...condescending. Just genuninely amused. It's enough to leave Matt even more flustered and confused about this new crew chief of his that he wants to hate but can't seem to do so as easily like the others. He tries to play his bluster off, just grumbling, "This better not be a sign of how the race is gonna go. Not after I got pole position in the the Florida race..."

// // //

"Christ, I forget how exhausting watching cars race 85 laps is. People pay to watch this entire thing, and I'm still baffled by it, honestly."

Matt rolls his eyes from his seat, glad that Gavin would never know about the action. As much as it’s nice to not be constantly demeaned or ordered by a crew chief, Gavin as a crew chief means a different sort of talking -- the sort that involves inane hypotheticals and fluff filling in space where silence would be. He can't deny that he's more appreciative of this type of crew chief, but it’s grating on his nerves. All Matt wants right now is to focus.

He grunts as he turns down Gavin's volume. Not all the way or else Geoff will have his ass for being disrespectful towards the crew chief again , but just enough that he can process his own thoughts again. It's amazing how much easier it is to function when he can focus on his driving and not the mindless chatter of a charmingly idiotic man.

Taking a deep breath, he peers at the rest of his competition in front of him. His starting position hadn't been all for naught, but a sense of failure is starting to bubble up inside him; he's led about a quarter of the race laps already, but it means nothing when he's been pushed back to third position for the last ten or so. He knows that the two drivers in front of him can catch up quickly to his amount of leading laps, and if he wants to qualify into the final race, he has to be the first to cross the line.

The rumbling of his car is the loudest thing he can hear, and Matt barely manages to hear the announcers' voice from the watchtower as he crosses the line for another time: "5 laps remaining! Looks like Risinger is still in first and Gibson in second. They may be heading the rest of this race, but Bragg looks to be still hot on their tail! Can he overcome them and keep his pole position?"

Matt scowls, and his foot pushes harder on his pedal. It's becomes more dangerous as he nears the end, knows that if he doesn't up his game now, then he's only going to lose. His eyes dart around as he turns around the bend, trying to find any way to squeeze past Gibson, maybe Risinger if he’s lucky enough to catch them in a bad maneuver – even just one or two more leading laps might be enough to score him more points than them.

He’s tunnel visioning, but it's when he turns around the next curve of the race – sees the familiar indicator of a new lap on the other side of their current position – that his radio crackles to even more life. Distracts him completely so from reaching his zone.

"Matt! Matt! Can you hear me? Hellooo?"

With a huff, he turns up the volume again with some regret. "'Course I can! But I'm currently busy right now, trying to get ahead of these two, and I can't answer any bullshit questions!"

"It's not bullshit questions, first off, they’re curious situations. And second, I’m gonna tell you how to take over second position, you smegpot!" There's a shuffling sound of papers following after Gavin's exclamation. "Okay, second position? Fast driver but always way too cautious! People always fight for the inner track during turns, but Gibson doesn't always. He might play it safe next turn, so try to speed up there."

Matt raises a brow - Gavin noticed that? Even for a crew chief, things like that were difficult to spot; applying it was even more so, when racing was never stagnant. It's a dangerous suggestion, bordering on an assumption with less-than-ideal proof. Any other driver would be adverse to it, rather take the third position as a safety option and choose to hedge their bets on racing better during the next qualifying race.

“You know that’s always dangerous, speeding too fast during a turn?” Matt says, as if danger isn’t his hobby and his muse. “Might spin out of control if I’m not careful.”

“What? You don’t wanna do it? Thought that was your thing, toeing the line being competent and being a madman.”

Matt scoffs. His foot is already set to push down on the foot pedal when the turn comes. “You’d be surprised how blurred the line is between them.”

And that’s answer enough for Gavin, the way his amused hum sounds out over the radio. They both know that Matt's never been one of those other drivers; what else could the data of resigned crew chiefs dictate? “Better prove it to me then!"

Gavin’s words only brings a wild grin to his lips, and suddenly, Matt’s car is shooting forward towards second position as fast as his adrenaline is rising. Any sign of nervousness is imperceptible behind the excitement of such a plan, and then he's honing, honing, honing in-

His car's tire screeches against the road, high and shrill as he takes that turn too fast, too messily. He's usually more graceful than this, but he can't find it in himself to care, this little bit of recklessness, when there's only one car in front of him instead of two; a quick glance at the rearview mirror and an ear trained towards the audience only confirms his success.

“And would you look at that? Ramsey’s driver is proving himself once again, to be one of biggest threats of the competition. That was one hell of a maneuver there,” the announcers chuckle.

"Woohoo, Matt! That was both the world's shittiest and best turn ever!" Gavin exclaims, and the radio crackles with the volume. “Not too shabby, honestly.”

"Shut the fuck up, Gavin," Matt says, but he's grinning too much to feel any real bitterness. His heart is still beating fast from the rush, and the surprise from the crowd only fuels it. Second position is miles better than third, but he's still gunning for first. "Look, you got any more of that shit for first position? Any way to pass him by?"

"Why, Matthew, I thought you'd never ask." Matt can practically hear the cheshire grin that must be playing on Gavin's lips. "You sure your car can handle the last laps without that original pit stop? Because I'm going to need you to go as fast as you can."

And well, what else can Matt do but go full speed? After all, it's what the crew chief requested of him to do.

(three.)

"Your time's getting well fast! Faster by .046 seconds, and pushing about .28 miles per hour faster," Gavin informs Matt after jogging up to the driver’s window with statistics about his most recent practice lap. “Still awful using US conversions, but I suppose it’s meant to help you and not me, innit?”

“ Well fast ,” Matt mocks. He rolls his eyes at the other as he puts the brakes on, but he doesn’t say anything else against the comment; not because he refuses to agree with Gavin, not at all, but because it’s off topic. Definitely. “And random opening line, but alright. That’s not a bad improvement at all though.”

“Definitely not! We’ll just have to see though if you can keep it up in the actual race. Consistency is key here,” Gavin says with an excited, little grin. He looks over his notepad where he’s been keeping track of Matt’s statistics before he nods with a hum, circling the most recent time and speed. He looks at the rows of numbers with something almost akin to pride unknowingly, and Matt has to look away at the sight.

Ever since the second race of the season, when Geoff had first introduced Gavin with barely more than his name and Gavin had won him first place in that qualifying race, Matt’s been getting used to the guy. ‘Like’ is still far too strong of a word, but...tolerate is acceptable. That's what Matt’s been doing, and it’s easier than he had thought.

Gavin’s talkative, excessively so if you let him ramble on for more than necessary, but Matt can concede that Gavin’s also interesting . Makes the constant, random conversations less of a drag and entertains Matt enough on most races, if Gavin being clumsy or easily confused hasn’t already. It helps that their humor meshes well, and it makes Matt feel a little less lonely in the driver’s seat.

(It’s also nice to have a partner in crime to bicker with Geoff together. Every day they spend together, Matt swears he can see Geoff’s eyes slowly turn more regretful at introducing them to each other.)

Much more important though, and the only thing Matt would voice out willingly: Gavin understands him as a driver. And that’s not something that Matt say about the past crew chiefs he’s had to work with, remembering how they refused to work with him first. Expecting Matt to bend to their whims, to not retaliate, is like expecting a cat not to claw you after bothering it.

The crew chief has sway over the driver, but it’s in the driver’s hands to make all the choices. Skilled or famed, a crew chief isn’t worth shit if their driver doesn’t want to work with them. Matt’s already had his fair share of them, and he can’t deny that getting Gavin was lucky.

How Gavin knows that, for the most part, Matt is independent; he’s a person who hates forceful orders, likes to do things the way he does whether it’s because of familiarity or adrenaline. Gavin knows the types of maneuvers that Matt prefers, his limit on his skill and execution, his pit stop habits, and even the right words to say when a race is getting tougher than either of them expected. He’s not like any of those stuffy chiefs either, intent on winning for their own reputation and nothing else.

“Right, that’s enough laps for now, yes?”

Matt lets out a distracted noise as he’s pulled out of his thoughts, and he tries to ignore the slight burning of his cheeks. Spending that much thought on Gavin, of all people, feels like a crime. “Wh-What? Already?”

Gavin cocks a brow, and he must be wondering what’s gone wrong with Matt. Matt’s thinking the same, if he’s being honest; he doesn’t know why Gavin is making him feel so much more flustered than usual – why he’s putting in more thought about the man.

“I think it really is time for a break then. It’s almost lunch, Matthew!” Gavin clicks his tongue, and an expression akin to concern is brewing in his eyes. It twists something inside Matt’s chest, deep behind his ribs. “You’re usually sighing at me and cheering on ‘bout how it was finally time. Is there a problem bothering you or summat?”

Matt doesn’t answer immediately, looking up at Gavin with furrowed brows. His chest is feeling funny with how his heart is racing, faster than even his own car out on the track, and he can’t find the words to explain what’s wrong. Something has to be wrong, since he’s feeling all of these weird things. They’re new experiences, and the unknown of it is unsettling. Absolutely mortifying.

But he doesn’t think he can explain it to Gavin – not right now, at least, or maybe even never – so he doesn’t. “Nah, just got distracted there for a moment,” Matt responds. He’s aiming for casual as he gives a lazy shrug and smile, even when he feels the farthest thing from it. “I was busy wondering about how lucky I am to not get that nose of yours.”

“Huh?! H-Hey, that’s a low blow, Matthew, and you know it!”

And Matt just barely listens as he steps out of his car. This odd, little background noise of his crew chief grumbling and slinging half-assed insults, he tries not to think again about the real reason why he’s so lucky.

(Gavin doesn’t need the ego boost, if he’s being frank.)

(four.)

It’s after hours, the bustling crowd that comes with a race already having fizzled out hours ago. With it went the noisy cheers and announcements to leave behind an unsettling quiet. There’s a single, dingy light operating in the garage, and dust particles move in a flurry as Matt gestures wildly.

“Look, I don’t understand why you’re so fucking mad at me.” Matt sighs as he rubs at his temple, a small headache already throbbing at his forehead. “Did I do something wrong somehow? I won the race, I worked with you, and hell, even Geoff seemed happy! Why are you pissed?”

Gavin throws his hands up with an annoyed noise, as if retaliation for Matt’s current ire. He looks tired, even more so than Matt, and maybe if they hadn’t been locked in this stupid argument, Matt would care more. Certainly not now, though. A fight is a fight, especially a sudden one like this.

“I’m not mad, I’m just trying to get you to understand my perspective,” says Gavin, a tightness to his voice that usually isn’t present. He sounds like he’s struggling to keep himself civil and calm, and despite Matt’s irritation, a sliver of dread creeps up on him – no one’s ever really seen Gavin genuinely mad.

Matt tries his best to match Gavin’s own struggle. Whether it’s for the sake of his own composure or the bubbling fear at the thought of a truly angry Gavin, he doesn’t know. He just replies, in a clipped tone in an awful attempt at calm, “You’re not really explaining it to me, Gav. What is it? Why’d you get mad at me?”

He watches how Gavin seems to splutter at that, flustered and frustrated because that's the thing – Matt knows Gavin can’t explain his side well. Words have never been Gavin’s forte, and it only gets worse when he’s emotional. Combine it with confrontation, and it’s a recipe for a complete and utter disaster.

Gavin’s lips purse together, his arms coming together to cross in front of his chest. Defensive, secretive. Unsure . Eventually, something clicks in his brain enough for Gavin to explain with, “You were a prat today. A complete, cocking idiot.”

And okay . That’s one way to explain things, albeit useless as all hell. Something might have clicked, but not enough to actually move the conversation forward. It rests on Matt to figure out the rest, he supposes.

“I...Okay, so I’m an idiot, meaning I probably did something stupid?” Matt looks questioningly at Gavin; he gets a nod back, meaning he’s right on that front and also slightly offended. But whatever he did anyway, it must have been on the track during the race. “Was it a driving maneuver I did?” Another question, another nod.

Matt sighs, scrubbing the front of his face with his hands — there’s no counting how many kinds of maneuvers he’s made in today’s race, how is he supposed to know which one pissed Gavin off? It’s starting to get to him, this conversation. He just wants to be back in their hotel room to sleep off the day’s weariness, before they’d have to be running around for work again.

“Look, can you just tell me which one? Describe it just a little, for fuck’s sake, and I’ll figure out the rest!” Matt is exhausted. Gavin must be too. It sucks like all hell for the both of them. “You probably want this talk to be finished as much as I do.”

That earns him a glare from Gavin, but Matt can’t find it in himself to care about that. He just stands there, slightly looming over Gavin in a slow countdown of his waning patience – waiting, waiting, waiting for an answer.

(And he does, even when he feels like the last thread of his patience is gone, because this is Gavin . Gavin, who he can’t lose as a crew chief after the previous failures and definitely not because he inexplicably has a soft spot for him. It’s all Geoff’s fault, putting him in this situation.)

“It was during the last lap,” Gavin says with a huff. “You were stressed, because you were in fifth position, and you were right by third and fourth. You didn’t know if you’d qualify for the next race if you got fifth.”

Matt’s brows furrow. “Okay, yeah, that’s about right? It turned out I did qualify, even in fifth, but wh—”

“You did a shite manuever! One that I told you not to do, and you didn’t listen!” Gavin interrupts, hands flying into the air. “I usually don’t care if you ignore me, because I trust you to do the right moves, but that? That was real dumb of you, Matthew!”

“You’re still not fucking explaining it to me! What made that one move shitty compared to all the other things I did, huh?!”

“Because you could’ve been hurt!”

Matt doesn’t reply. He’s busy giving a confused look, brows furrowed before oh – and now looking wide-eyed, like a doe trapped in headlights at the sudden declaration from Gavin’s side. He’s caught up in the twisted frown on Gavin’s lips and the watery, concerned expression of his eyes.

He can’t find the right words to say, if there are any to begin with.

Gavin seems to take the silence as a cue to keep talking, his fingers fiddling with a loose stray on his sleeve. “It’s just...you were panicking. And you were desperate to move up a place, so you tried to take over fourth, but you were too close. I tried to tell you that there wasn’t enough distance even if you matched its speed, that you wouldn’t have a chance at all to get a higher place, not unless you wanted to...y’know. Cause an accident. It was too reckless, and you only got out safely, because the others knew what you were doing and distanced themselves. I–”

He finally pauses, realizes his entire jumble of words, and he seems to deflate. His shoulders sag with his head looking down and anger dissipating like steam. Gavin looks small like this.

And Matt – he can’t help but do the same, a heated feeling of shame boiling inside him. All along, Gavin was irritated, because Matt was being reckless. The worst type of idiot that he could have been on the racetrack. “Fuck, goddamit, Gavin,” Matt starts, already intent on berating himself.

He hates admitting defeat as much as anyone else does, especially to Gavin of all people, but this isn’t like their usual arguments; they were all bicker and banter, the easiest way for them to communicate with each other. This is Gavin, rarely rattled and always unbothered, confessing a fear that only luck and others’ competency managed to impede on.

“Gav–”

Gavin interrupts him near instantly. “Look, I know you like to choose what moves to do and when, and I support it. But only when I know that you can get out of it safely, if it’s compromised,” Gavin explains. Matt does his best to listen completely. “What you did was reckless and selfish back there, and that's saying a lot coming from me, Matthew. I’m your crew chief, and I’m a well lenient one, but...what’s the point if you won’t listen when I need you to?”

He sighs, tired. “I know how these things go. I wouldn’t be a crew chief if I didn’t know all this shite about racing.”

Matt understands now, or at least he thinks he does. He remembers Geoff’s words a long time ago in that local bar and all of the crew chiefs he’s run off without giving it a second thought. How he didn’t listen to either of them once, and only to Geoff when it was serious enough to warrant Geoff to use his authority card. How his own attitude didn’t help the crew chiefs, even if he did think they deserved it.

Watching Gavin stand in front of him now, defeatist nature in plain view with his shrunken stature, Matt feels the searing heat of mortification behind his cheeks. He really has been an idiot, hasn’t he?

Before he can stop himself or subject himself to another of Gavin’s interruptions, Matt reaches out for Gavin – tucks him in close in a tight hug. Chest to chest, his arms fully looping around, and his face pressing against the top of Gavin’s head. He hopes it’s enough for Gavin to see how much Matt, touch averse and always playfully mean towards him, means his next words.

“Sorry for being a prat today,” Matt mumbles into the mess labeled Gavin’s hair. He tries not to think too much about how quickly Gavin had clung onto him, how Gavin is holding onto him so tightly as if letting go meant Matt would disappear. Tries not to focus on the swell of guilt that rises and lodges itself in the back of his throat. “I...should’ve been more careful.”

A brief silence travels between them, and for a moment, Matt thinks that Gavin is about to scold him again. Except he soon feels the way hesitant arms wrap around him, slow and unsure, and the warmth that surrounds him; then the feeling of a nose poking at his collarbone from a face in hiding, and Matt can’t resist it.

“Is offering me your nose a sign we’re good now? I mean, I still wouldn’t want to carry that nose around, but it’s the thought that counts.”

“Matt, you prick! We were having a moment!”

“Not sorry, Gav,” Matt laughs, his heart feeling lighter when he hears British insults and a tentative smile cross Gavin’s lips. He lets himself have this, not hiding how every system is alive at this shared moment between them.

Something more than a just a simple moment, something less than what it could be.

(five.)

“Last few races, we’ve been getting a little unlucky, but I think it’s going to change this time.” Gavin’s confident statement makes Matt cock an eyebrow, looking at the other with an expression of ‘Okay, and where is this going?’ He barely budges when Gavin slugs a weak punch towards his shoulder. “Look, I’m just saying! I feel like you’ll win this one, cross my heart.”

“That’s a lot of pressure on me, dude,” Matt says. He rummages through his personal locker in the garage, grumbling while he does so, to look for his race suit today. “Also, I dunno. Tom’s racing with me today, and he got pole position, like he always fuckin’ does. Asshole.” And oh, like a magic word, insulting Tom leads to Matt finally finding his race suit.

Gavin giggles from his seat on the bench next to where Matt is standing by his locker, casually swinging his legs. “It’s the rivalry of a lifetime, innit? Tom’s always so nice though, it’s a shame. At least it’ll feel good when you crush him into a pulp after this race!”

“Jesus Christ, Gav…”

Matt’s concern over his crew chief’s joy at inflicting such damage on Tom doesn’t abate, but it is put on hold momentarily. Pushes it to the backburner in his brain to focus on suiting up this troublesome outfit. This troublesome position, rival. This terrifying race. He feels jittery.

It takes more time than it should with how stiff and plasticy-seeming the suit is, thanks to the fireproof nature for the sake of safety. He bites his lower lip in concentration as he slips it up his legs and pushes his arms through, trying to find the zipper in the mass of fabric. But he can’t seem to hold onto it, grip clammy with building sweat, and his thoughts are spiralling. He’s distracted.

“Matt, love, you alright?”

Gavin’s voice is quiet and low, a stark difference from his usual tone. Matt can’t find it in himself to say much, just lifts his head for his gaze to meet Gavin’s worried own. He opens his mouth and shuts it, open-close, open-close, until he just shakes his head. His hands are trembling.

“Oh, love, you’re really nervous for this race, aren’t you?” Gavin’s hands are soft as it sneaks its way into Matt’s own, their fingers twining with each other’s. He gives a gentle squeeze, and Matt swears that he’s stopped breathing. His eyes are wide, heart racing fast, and he’s feeling off-kilter for a completely different reason now. “C’mon, talk to me, Matthew.”

Matt tries, being left speechless for a moment, as his gaze unwavers from Gavin’s; he wonders if his cheeks are lighting up pink. “I, uh, it’s...just the race, yeah,” he barely stammers out. It takes him longer than it should to get his brain in working order, to try and push past how warm and perfect-fitting Gavin’s hands are. Definitely just the race making him nervous. “Tom’s been my rival forever, and he won the last two championships. I wanna knock him off his pedestal, but...I’m kinda fucking that up right now.”

“What? What are you on about? You haven’t done anything to cock anything up! Just ‘cos you’re not in first and he is doesn’t mean you’ve lost already.”

And yes, that’s true, but overthinking doesn't believe in that – brain, meet the awful, invasive thoughts. “I’ve made it pretty damn hard to win though! And I always find some way to fuck something up, and I’m just gonna watch Tom win again, because–!”

“Because nothing, Matthew!” Gavin pulls his hand away to cup Matt’s cheek, to make him look directly at Gavin and the intensity in his eyes. “You’re a bloody amazing driver, and you’re going to do good in the race. You can’t count yourself out already!”

Matt lets out a low, pained noise. His insecurity is rearing its head, and for the first time in a long while, he feels unconfident in his driving. And as much as he loves Tom as a friend, having Tom as a rival feels like a nightmare at times. “You literally can’t guarantee that, Gavin.”

Gavin huffs, squishing Matt’s cheek. “Okay, fine, you’re right. But I can guarantee that you’ll do your best,” he reassures, “plus, I might have someway to motivate you. Did you know that I actually came out of my mini retirement on Geoff’s behalf to lead you?”

“Hold on, retirement? From what? Geoff never fuckin’ told me!” Matt’s eyebrows shoot up, his mouth falling open. That’s complete news to him, and the shock diverts his attention from his useless feelings. “And what does that have to do with motivation?”

That earns Matt a quick roll of the eyes and a soft flick to his forehead. “That’s ‘cos I don’t let Geoff tell people. I retired after a nasty incident on the raceway– hey, don’t look so shocked! Most crew chiefs were former drivers, y’know!” Gavin pouts when he sees a starstruck look enter Matt’s expression, and he tries to hide his pinkening face. “Anyway...a few races ago, Tom and I had a lil’ chat. Turns out he knew my past, and he, uh, tried to hire me for next season.”

Matt blinks. Processes the words, because oh , that’s even more news to him; when had Tom find the time to talk to Gavin in private? And who does Tom think he is that he can waltz in, trying to snap up Gavin for himself? That’s abso-fucking-lute bullshit, in Matt’s eyes. His eyes narrow in a glare, a canine slightly bared as ‘pissed off’ overtakes the ‘nervous’ setting.

“Woah, woah, woah! Calm down, love,” Gavin soothes. He brushes his thumb over Matt’s cheek, these slow and soft motions, and Matt huffs as he calms down.. “I turned him down anyway. I’m your crew chief, first and foremost. Not anyone else’s.”

Gavin brings Matt close to rest their foreheads against each other’s, and Matt can’t deny how nice it feels. That, and the knowledge that Gavin is loyal to him – calls himself his crew chief, like an unintentional claim for Matt. It barely settles down the bristling feeling inside him.

Matt brings his hands up to rest on Gavin’s hips, pressing fingertips into the shirt. “Still doesn’t change that Tom tried to steal you. Fuck my previous words, I am going to crush Tom in this race,” Matt glowers. He can’t help but turn his head towards the garage opposite his where said rival is preparing in, only slightly trying to burn Tom with his glare. “He has his own fuckin’ crew chief, greedy bastard!”

Gavin rolls his eyes, but he’s grinning, this wild and fiery thing at the sight of Matt’s soul searing again. “That’s the spirit! Fight for me, Matthew!” He pumps his fist in the air, and he does a little dance to go alongside it; bright and peppy, it makes Matt’s heart soar at how adorable the sight is.

Now, he’s given two reasons to fight harder. To force those insecurities down and drive like there’s no tomorrow in today’s race. Damn right he’s going to do exactly that.

“Chin up, Matthew,” Gavin says. He moves to zip up the rest of Matt’s racesuit, presses together the velcro collar, and smoothes out the wrinkles that formed. His hands don’t move from Matt’s shoulder, and his eyes are brimming with belief for a win today. “I really can feel our luck turning around this race. Trust me on that, yeah? I’m your crew chief, after all.”

And Matt listens.

(six.)

Trust goes far. Extremely so.

If anyone asks Matt about the last few laps of the race, he’ll give an honest answer – he can’t remember much but bits and pieces. The important parts of the race, in his eyes, at least.

Like the fears that lingered for most of the last few laps. The fear of being so close but still so far, of being not enough despite his attempts; he’d been racing for so long, yet with nothing official to show for it yet while Tom had done so twice. Then there’s failing Gavin when he said he’d fight for his crew chief, said with so much conviction, it’d be a shame to fall short. And that’s only the biggest ones. There had been a lot of things on his mind besides driving as he approached the last lap. Maybe not the best time for it, but what could he do now?

The last lap is the messiest memory of them all; there’s the tauntingly familiar back of Tom’s car, decals of every sponsor (far more than Matt’s) littering it and mocking Matt for another loss. It flits in and out of his vision as their struggle for dominance teeters between them evenly. There’s the hard press of a lead foot and the revving of an engine being worked to death, maybe even a few sputters from the force.

It’s the thought of ‘just a little faster, just a little more’ repeating itself constantly that’s the clearest bit. There had been a sharp voice – clear and demanding, usually so distracting now a blessing – telling him “pass him, pass him now! on his left, he took a wide turn, it’s open!” that shook him. Had him tilting his steering wheel left without thinking, lead foot even heavier, and then –

“Matthew, Matthew, Matt! You won!”

Gavin’s voice is crackling the radio with its volume. It echoes loudly in the car as Matt finally eases his foot off the gas and slams down on the brake. He’s fucking shaking in his seat at the news, his eyes watery with about-to-fall tears and cheeks turning red from the emotions welling up in him. Adrenaline is still heady as it pumps through his veins, and he finds his brain still shut down from the intensity of the last lap to reply back. He falls back against his seat, slouches down, and he rests his head in his hands.

He won. Oh, Christ, he won.

The laughter that bubbles out of him is only slightly maniacal, because he won! His entire upper half is shuddering with his laughter and glee, and he doesn’t notice how the other side of the radio is radio silent. Not when he does notice the loud rumble of a crowd’s footsteps getting louder, getting closer to him.

He’s teary as he looks up and sees the proud expression on Geoff’s face. He can’t muster the will to push Geoff away when the man opens up the door to pull Matt out and up into a hug; close and meaningful, Geoff is overjoyed as he swings Matt around in the hug. Geoff is so, so proud.

“You absolute, fucking maniac! I can’t believe you pulled a victory like that outta your ass!” Geoff wheezes when he finally sets Matt down, but he doesn’t ease up on the contact. Keeps his arm slung around and gives the kindest noogie that a person could ever give. “Everyone was shocked! You snatched victory right outta Fawkes’ hand!”

“Jesus, I,” Matt finally manages to croak out. His voice feels shot despite barely using it. “I couldn’t believe it either. But...it was Gav, it was all him. Was yelling so loudly about the maneuver, and I just listened, and...he did it. He won it for us.”

Geoff snorts. He sniffles quietly as he gives a small smile – always been a sappy, teary kind of person – and his head turns away to look at someplace in the mass of people that formed. “Gav did, huh? He’s always been a lucky kid, pulling miracles out of thin air like it’s nothing. And speaking of him, there he is!”

Matt rubs at his watery eyes, looking at where Geoff is pointing at as the weight on his shoulders recedes. And suddenly, the crowd parting like the Red Sea, Gavin is dashing out towards Matt with his arms flailing widely; his grin is blinding as he leaps up without thinking–

“Gavin!”

Matt’s cry is too late. A familiar body is already ramming against the front of his own, and Matt can barely wrap his arms around Gavin before they go down together. His knees collide with the ground loudly, Gavin’s weight landing all by Matt’s side with a soft ‘oof!’ from both of them. They’re pressed up close, and Gavin’s green eyes look wide but jovial as it peers up at Matt.

“Matt! Matt, love, you did it, and you looked like an absolute madman when you crossed the line!” His voice is wobbly, just as fucked up as Matt’s own. He’s coming down from his own adrenaline rush.

“I finally win, and that’s your first words to me?!”

“I’m just being honest, and it looked cool, at least!” Gavin giggles with his nose poking at Matt’s cheek. And as if it was naturally meant to be there, lithe arms wrap around Matt’s neck, brings them even closer. It doesn’t matter that Matt’s racesuit is ruined with the sweat of the race and the dirt from the ground. Matt just returns the act, holds Gavin tightly.

“You won, Matt,” Gavin whispers so happily with his grin blinding like the sun. There’s nothing but pure happiness injected into that, and Matt can feel its infectious nature with his own shaky smile. He can barely keep it together with Gavin in his arms. “You won the championship.”

Something in Gavin’s words rattles him for good. Matt finally lets the tears fall, a single one at first and then a monsoon. He darts in to close the remaining gap between them, and he sinks into another sort of victory at the feel of soft lips pressing against his; dies the greatest death when Gavjn pushes back, salt of tears and sweetness of affection playing between them, and Matt doesn’t know how he’s held back for so long.

He’s an idiot for playing this off, as if it hadn’t been in the making over months and state lines. As if all that time with Gavin, feeling an odd type of way, wasn’t going to end up like this – with so much fucking adoration in his heart. He’s an absolute fool, but one who’s caught Gavin’s eye.

His hand is cradling Gavin’s head while the other keeps him locked in a tight hug, by the time Matt pulls away. Cheeks are red for a different reason, but no less better – even the annoying flashes from photographers, the crowd of reports trying to zone in, and the cheers and eyes of every pit crew on them can’t ruin this mood. They’re far too focused on each other.

“I fought for you, I fought so fuckin’ hard,” Matt laughs breathlessly. “Tom better keep his dirty paws to himself now, I swear.”

It’s a weird thing to mention now, but Matt doesn’t care. Not when Gavin’s eyes look at him with so much amused affection, the same kind that must be playing in Matt’s own, before he’s brought in for another kiss – and yeah, he can say that he really did win.

#ragehappy #braggvin #mattvin #rtah #seiju writes

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kounkibou · 4 years

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HC: Mischief Squad

Since Nova was the only one who pitched in, her idea comes first.

Their relationship wasn’t planned at all. In fact, Nova said she didn’t want her daughter anywhere near Nagito, but now that we have them, we can’t imagine what it would be like without these two being friends.

So let’s talk about Nagito and Vivian! ( @technonewkid )

As far as backstory (how they met, what followed, etc...), what I write is going to apply to Pre-Tragedy School verse (leading into Remnant-Killing Game-Post Game verses) and Absence of Despair verse. They have other ways of meeting in other verses, but for now, we’re going to cover the main bits and why you might hear Nagito talking about Vivian.

The HP kids have an online chatroom, and it’s supposed to only be used by them. Nagito, being the mischievous creature he is, decided to see if it had any real security measures to keep non-students out. Plus, he thought it would be funny to get someone else to join. He found a list of cell numbers and pulled a random one out of the lineup. Not really expecting a reply, he sent a message to them saying “Care to test something for me?” with a link to the room.

As luck would have it, the owner of the number was Vivian. She joined and was able to set up an account on the client. Nagito was the only one online at the time, so they got to talking. Vivian learned about the school and its students, and Nagito learned about where she was from. It was kind of wild, especially with a bit of a language barrier between them. (Nagito’s English is pretty good, but it’s more formal than a native speaker.)

The administrator was baffled to say the least. Something had clearly messed up to let a stranger in. The stars aligned, and they let her stay since she wasn’t bothering anyone. Plus, a certain teacher thought it was good that her troubled student had a new friend.

Eventually, Vivian came to visit, and depending on the verse, it either led to her having a grand time for a month+ with everyone before being enrolled herself or getting wrapped up in Ultimate Despair. (Bonus: Nagito insisted Vivian had a talent because he always feels Ultimate potential. It’s like Spidey sense but with Ultimates.)

Now, their dynamic is really interesting. You have Vivian who’s a bundle of energy who wants to befriend everyone and is always persistently trying to make her friends feel better. You then have Nagito who has zero sense of self worth and is genuinely afraid of getting close to people for fear of losing them due to his luck.

Vivian already comes from a chaotic place, so near death experiences aren’t new to her. She has this force that keeps her safe from terrifying circumstances that fly at her from all directions. Her philosophy is if the universe can’t kill her, Nagito’s luck can’t either. That’s why she’s known to openly declare war on his luck. She tells him all the time that she isn’t afraid of it and won’t let it take her. Unlike other people, she hasn’t been killed off, and he hasn’t been able to push her away. Vivian’s stubborn and full of platonic love for this idiot. She’s not going anywhere.

That’s Vivian’s take on Nagito, but since I roleplay him, I really should get into how he feels about her.

Nagito thought it would end up like the rest of any close relationships he’s had, people dying or getting caught up in something unfortunate. (As a result, he usually ends up either cutting off contact or persuading them to hate him instead of like him. Probably will cover that in another post...) When she started to get close to him, he braced himself for that result by withdrawing a bit. It took him ages to actually start calling her his best friend after they became best friends. He’d never had one before. If his normal friends had been killed, what would happen to a best friend? It takes so much for him to feel comfortable admitting to himself that he cares about her.

Why does he care so much about her? Vivian is an open person who doesn’t care if someone isn’t exactly normal. She doesn’t hold anything against people who are weird or have semi-crazy belief systems as long as they don’t hurt anyone. (Again, this comes from her origins.) The first time she heard Nagito’s thought processes, she thought they were totally fine. Nagito wasn’t hurting anybody; he just had an interesting outlook that other people didn’t understand (or want to understand really.) Literally everyone thinks he’s a weirdo, possibly insane, definitely creepy. Vivian shrugs it off like “That’s just how he is.”

Additionally, once they get close to enough to when he starts sharing more about himself, Vivian is supportive in a way that other people haven’t been. One, she’s closer than most people ever get. Two, she tries to get him to rethink his self-destructive behaviors in a way that isn’t “Just stop or else.” Vivian’s approach is telling him that just trying is okay. If he tries, then she can’t be upset. Even if he fails or falls back on it and starts calling himself useless trash, it’s okay because he’s still working on it. As long as he makes an honest attempt, Vivian is happy.

The short version is simply that Vivian doesn’t pressure Nagito to “fix himself” because she doesn’t think he’s broken. He has some things he shouldn’t do, and they work on those. She helps him understand when he’s upsetting people or doing something not socially acceptable. She does things like keep him from referring to himself negatively and keep him from hurting himself in any way.

Now, their relationship isn’t just Vivian being a good support system. They have fun together because they both have crazy stuff happening in their lives. Near death experiences alone are enough for them to bond over. They both also have extravagant amounts of money they don’t know what to do with. (They end up spoiling each other with gifts.) They like to get into trouble and do things that may or may not be legal regardless of the consequences. They also do comforting things like sit and cuddle. Sometimes they just exist in the same space while doing their own separate things.

Most of all, they support one another. They just have fun and can be themselves around one another. They found someone who could tolerate them and even like them despite their flaws. They found a person they couldn’t imagine their lives without.

Real talk, Nova and I can’t imagine them without each other either, and we wouldn’t change it. I’m so glad they have each other at least when we’re interacting.

#x Absolute Hope || Text #x Ultimate Luck || Headcanons #x If I Hadn't Met You || Vivian Povlov #x SHSL Mischief Squad || Nagito & Vivian [ technonewkid ]

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fangirl--of-everything · 6 years

Text

Face Painting (Noah Flynn x Reader)

A/N. This is such a silly idea but it was in my head and I decided “screw it, I’m gonna write it”. So yeah. Here you go.

Requested: Nope

Word count: ~1600 words

Warnings: immature teenage boys, I think that’s it

PLEASE REMEMBER: I do not take requests anymore, so please do not send me any.

Enjoy :)

The carnival was in full swing, and crowds of students and families were wandering from booth to booth, giving clubs their money and playing fun and rigged carnival games. (Y/n) had a small line of people in front of her booth, mostly the younger siblings of her classmates, and couples who weren’t interested in the kissing booth two stalls down. The art club was doing a face painting booth, which made sense for them. She was working the booth from 8:30 until 9:30, and so far she had earned forty-five dollars, and she was only halfway through her shift. Things were going well.

She was in the middle of drawing a tiger face on a twelve year old’s face when she felt her clubmate Alyssa nudge her side. “Hang on,” she mumbled quietly, her tongue poking out the corner of her mouth as she finished tracing the last of the tiger stripes. Her friend continued to poke her in the side. She smiled at the little girl sitting in front of her and held up the mirror. “What do you think honey?”

The girl grinned. “I love it!”

“Awesome.” (Y/n) smiled. “Have a great night, enjoy the carnival!” She waved as the girl and her mother walked away. Once they had disappeared into the crowd she looked over at Alyssa, who was grinning and continuing to poke her side incessantly. “Oh my god what is it what do you want?” She laughed.

“Noah Flynn is in line!” Her friend was all but bouncing in her chair. “And Tuppen!”

(Y/n) raised her eyebrows and turned to look at the lineup of people, catching sight of the tall football player and his friend. “What are they doing here?” Her eyes widened when she saw an entire group of football players approaching them. “Alyssa, why are they all heading over here?”

Alyssa shrugged. “Maybe they want their faces painted.”

(Y/n) scoffed. “There’s no way that’s it.”

Her friend shrugged, and they both watched the group of athletes make their way towards the front of the line.

“Ladies,” Tuppen winked. “Flynn here would like to get his face painted.” He slammed his hand into the taller boy’s back, suppressing a laugh.

Noah scoffed and rolled his eyes. “Let’s just get this over with.”

“Of course.” Alyssa smiled at the two of them, while (y/n) rolled her eyes behind her friend. “But before I get you settled, would you mind if I ask what you’re all up to?”

Tuppen nodded with a smirk. “Anything for you lovelies.”

“Why are you all here to watch Noah get his face painted?”

“Well,” the broad football player rolled his weight onto his back leg, “Flynn here raised the least amount of money for our team, so we need you to paint this.” He handed (y/n) a piece of paper.

Her eyebrows darted up as she looked at the picture on the piece of paper. “You want me to draw this on Noah’s face?”

All the football players nodded, snickering.

She blinked, pursing her lips and looking down at the drawing in her hands. The boys wanted her to draw a series of penises on Noah’s face. It was juvenile and stupid. “You know this is a school fundraiser right? I can’t draw a bunch of penises.”

“A bunch of penises?!” Noah snapped, grabbing the piece of paper from her hands. “Are you fucking kidding me dumbasses?”

Every one of his friends laughed again.

(Y/n) sighed and shook her head. Teenage boys were idiots. “I’ll come up with something else to draw. Noah, give Alyssa five bucks and then sit down.”

Noah Flynn shrugged and walked towards Alyssa, who was waiting near the money box to take his cash. While he was distracted (y/n) opened the design book, flipped to the page she wanted, and showed it to the football players. “How is this instead of all the dicks?”

They all burst out laughing. “That’s perfect!” Tuppen handed her another ten bucks.

Noah came back and shrugged out of his leather jacket before sitting down. “Let’s get this over with.”

(Y/n) tugged her hair back into a ponytail and grabbed her face paints, sitting down across from Noah. The two of them were in a couple of the same classes, and (y/n)’s younger brother was on the football team, so she and Noah were on a friendly basis. They weren’t particularly close, but they had talked enough that she knew he was at a sports camp over the summer and asked him how it was. They chatted while she got her face paint together.

“Close your eyes and hold still okay?”

He nodded and shut his eyes. “So, how’s your night going?”

“Pretty good.” (Y/n) held his chin with her left hand and brushed a line of paint along his forehead. He tensed. “Sorry.”

“It’s fine.” He smirked, eyes still closed. “Did you get the chance to walk around before you had to start working?”

She shook her head, continuing to draw on his face. Noah’s eyebrows raised, and he cracked one eye open. “Did you?”

“Oh!” She felt her cheeks heat up. “Sorry, no I didn’t. But it’s okay.” She shrugged, then tapped his eyebrow with her brush. “Eyes closed please.”

He stuck his tongue out, closing his eyes again. “You didn’t have anything you wanted to do while you were here?”

“No not really.” She grabbed a different coloured pencil. “I was gonna pick up some kettle corn from my mom, but it’s okay.”

It took her almost thirty minutes to finish drawing, and the two of them chatted the whole time. (Y/n) had forgotten how friendly he was, and how charming. It was a reminder of why so many people had fallen for him over their three years in high school. She had never really found herself crushing on him, in spite of how kind and friendly he was. She wasn’t a big fan of the womanizing jock personality. He was pretty handsome though.

When she finished she couldn’t hold back a smile. “Alright, all done.”

Noah sighed, pursing his lips. “Show me the penises.”

(Y/n) bit her lip, holding back a chuckle. “It’s not penises.”

“Really?” He asked. She held up a mirror, snorting as she watched his eyes widen.

“Tuppen what the fuck?!”

The blond appeared, smacking both his shoulders. “It looks fucking awesome! Time for a picture.”

Noah turned his glare to (y/n), who was unable to suppress a laugh. It was hard to look intimidating when your face was painted to look like a giant rainbow butterfly covered in glitter.

His eyebrows raised, and he smirked. “You think this is funny?”

The entire football team was laughing a few feet away, and (y/n) took a deep breath, suppressing a giggle. “It’s funny Noah.”

“Oh it’s funny?” He asked, the corners of his mouth tightening as he struggled not to laugh himself. “You think it’s funny?”

She nodded, pursing her lips. “Mhmm.”

“You look fucking hilarious Flynn!” One of the other players shouted. “Thanks (y/n).”

Tuppen patted her on the back, hard, and she stumbled forward a step. Ow! Son of a bitch that hurt.

“Hey.” Noah’s playful smile dropped and he tensed, taking a step forward. “Watch it Tuppen.” Somehow he really could look threatening even covered in glitter and pink paint.

The other boy shrugged and walked away, looking unphased. Apparently Noah threatened his teammates frequently enough that it didn’t phase them anymore. (Y/n) watched them walk away, a little concerned.

Noah shifted his weight and turned to look back down at her. “When does your shift end?”

“In half an hour.” (Y/n) studied him. “Why?”

He shrugged. “No reason. See you around.” He waved, and (y/n) watched a little longer than she probably should have before she turned her attention back towards the line.

“I’ll take the next customer over here.”

(Y/n) was just finishing packing up the booth and grabbing her bag when she heard someone coming up behind her. “Sorry, we’re closed.”

“Damn, that’s a shame.” (Y/n) turned to look over her shoulder and saw Noah standing there, bag slung over his shoulder, face still painted. He smirked. “I was hoping you could add some more glitter.”

She laughed. “What are you still doing here?”

He held out a bag of kettle corn. “The kettle corn booth closed fifteen minutes ago, and I was already getting a bag for Lee so...” He shrugged. “Here.”

“Thanks.” She took the bag from him, flashing him another friendly smile and forced down the flurry of butterflies in her stomach.

He scratched the back of his neck and shifted his feet. “Hey, uh, I was wondering if you needed a ride home?”

He eyebrows raised. She hadn’t been expecting that. She didn’t know what she was expecting, but not that. “With you?” She asked stupidly.

He laughed. “Uh, yeah. With me. On my bike.”

She blinked. “Um...”

He bit his lip and took a step back, rubbing the back of his neck. “Sorry, forget I said anything.”

“No!” Her eyes widened as the words burst out of her mouth. “I’m sorry, I just wasn’t expecting you to ask me that. That’s all.”

He raised an eyebrow. “So… do you want a ride?”

She should say no. She knew what people said about girls who ended up on the back of Noah Flynn’s bike. It was his first step to getting into a girl’s pants. But… he was being really nice. And it wasn’t like he was asking her out or anything, he was just offering her a ride. What was the harm?

“Okay,” she nodded. “Yeah I could use a ride home.”

Noah grinned. “Awesome. Follow me.”

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