#those oneshots are already entire stories. if i haven't told everything i wanted to tell in a story

[hua-fei-hua]

*makes grabby hands* give me the sequel spoileriessssss (★ω★)

*eVIL CACKLING*

spoilers under cut (๑•̀ㅂ•́)و✧. we’re talking about so many spoilers.

WHOO so this is like the number one spoiler that i keep under wraps but anyway. 

while iida the horse is a reincarnation of someone, it isn’t actually the iida in the dekusquad -- it’s actually tensei. that’s part of the reason why he never talks in orchid, even though deku sometimes would with uraraka. the other part of that reason is bc he’s currently unaware of his status as a reincarnation. 

the fact that he even reincarnated into a horse and not, like, an actual human being is like this whole thing. i hadn’t thought about it much during the writing of orchid, but in this down time between, i read this nice chinese novel (translated bc i am not literate enough o(TヘTo)) abt these two gods who had to reincarnate into mortals seven times as punishment for fighting, and for one of the lifetimes, they were reincarnated into animals bc they’d gotten into the wrong reincarnation pools bc they were fighting. basically what i’m guessing happened to tensei is that there was some crazy shit happening in the afterlife (i’ll elaborate on that in a sec) that led to him reincarnating into an animal. 

i didn’t actually come up with the plot twist that iida wasn’t dekusquad tenya iida until probably around chapter two, hence why at the start you get that one iconic line where iida gives momo the “some sort of horse lecture” look, but i lucked out with no lines there. i had a friend sketch designs for humanoid versions of uraraka n deku in orchid, but not iida bc spoilers LOL

i also mentioned a lot in comments that the bakugou that appears at the start of orchid is already in the middle of his character arc due to some shit happening that led him to be the co-captain in the first place. what actually happened is dropped at the very end of orchid (that he was neighbors with deku and he kinda killed him), after its foreshadowing, but i don’t think people have connected all the dots. it’s one of the things that gets focused on in peony so now i get to talk about it hereeeeeee :D

so what happened a few weeks (maybe months) before the start of orchid was that bakugou was being his normal asshole self hanging out with deku, and they decided to have an archery contest to see who could shoot more accurately with a bow and arrow. The idea was to see if they could shoot a plum or an apple hanging off on a branch over a river without disturbing even a single leaf on the tree. Bakugou went first, obvs, and izuku went to fetch the arrow back and climbed the tree, but the bough broke beneath him, and he was swept away by the current before bakugou's eyes. 

bc the contest was bakugou’s idea, he blames himself bc even though he never particularly liked deku, he’d never paid his behavior much mind. it’s kind of like a what-if for in canon when deku was like “what would you have done if i’d actually jumped?” where suddenly he has to deal with the permanency of his consequences and the fragility of life. 

nezu knows all this bc he’s a celestial rat man who runs the government and sees great character development potential in him. bc literally no one wants a seventeen-year-old (todoroki) running a military thing by himself, nezu gives bakugou the position as co-captain knowing that his experiences would have him greatly valuing individual life. 

side note, this is why in chapter six, when bakugou’s doing the archery demonstration and kiri volunteers, this is a moment that’s not only important to kiri (in his arc of becoming bravery) but also bakugou bc it was with a bow and arrow that he accidentally killed deku. 

anyway, on the topic of nezu, bc he’s an immortal celestial being, when he calls endeavor only “second best” of his generals, he’s referring to all time. this is bc all might’s status has kind of waffled around through time.

at first, when writing orchid, i was planning on keeping him alive and he would just be a general of another army that i don’t remember if he was gonna be elaborated on. later, i decided “nah he actually just died a long time ago and has become an epic legendary figure that inspired bakugou n deku to become great military leaders” and then more recently, i decided, “actually, wait no. he’s a semi-celestial being, who, for reasons i haven’t yet decided, came to the mortal realm, but due to reasons i haven’t yet solidified, has accidentally ruined his body, gotten captured by demons, and has gone missing” and that’s what’s been messing up everyone in the afterlife that ended up in deku n tensei getting reincarnated into animals

that’s actually one of the main plots of peony. i’ve always planned to have two plots going on in peony, the first one obviously being abt tdmm getting married and all the crazy preparation that goes into it whilst also diving into how the war affected them with the overall question to be answered is “how do you go back to normal once all the previous pressures have been removed but bc your biggest successes were the result of that pressure, you have no idea how to cope?” 

the second plot revolves around izuocha going on some magical quest (at first i had no idea but now it’s all might) in which there would be a subplot containing the reveal of iida == tensei =/= tenya and then going over to the iida family home to check out what’s going on there (i will elaborate more on that later), and then at the end ochako n izuku would be transformed into humans (maybe temporarily, maybe permanently) as reward for their good deeds (tensei would choose to remain a horse i think), and then it would end w/izuocha going back to wherever tdmm is at that time (i’ve always imagined it to be at the wedding itself, but we’ll have to see where the pacing takes us; bc this is going to be a slightly anachronistic story, i have to do intense timelining) and revealing the whole secret story of why they were gone. and probably giving bakugou a mindfuck bc oh my god man he just spent like two or three years accepting what happened how could you do that to him

side note, bc of the tdmm wedding plot, peony is the first story i’ve written where, if i wanted, i could organically work smut into the plot, but bc i don’t like smut, it’ll just be a fade to black if i choose to allude to it at all.

so among the things the trio sees in the iida household is actually fuyumi, and although that’s basically been in my plans since the conception of peony, lately i’ve been waffling on it lately lol.

see, what happened there was a ghost marriage btwn fuyumi n tensei bc that’s a thing. your fiance/e dies? ghost marriage will make them happy. women don’t typically take second husbands, which is part of the reason i’m waffling over this choice now bc really if we’re going with advantageous arranged marriages, then huwumi would have been the more obvious choice (though hawks didn’t exist yet at the time of this idea)

anyway another cool trivia fact about orchid that gets elaborated in peony is the fact that momo had a sworn sisterhood back home that included more than just itsuka and camie, although those two would have been the ones she was closest with. a sworn sisterhood is basically just a group of girls living in the same village/area that are all around the same age, and their parents pool resources for the girls’ dowry later on in life. once they all get married, they typically go their separate ways (unlike kindred spirits/laotong), although they will attend one another’s weddings. among the girls in the sworn sisterhood also include tooru and mina, the latter of which implies that momo and kiri actually lived very close by all their lives, but for various reasons have never met. 

tooru would obviously be married to ojiro bc c’mon they’re cute and deserve more attention. mina, before i settled on the idea of her being childhood friends with kiri while their families aggressively try to turn into lovers, was actually supposed to be married to just some dude living far away who came back for the tdmm wedding, but i couldn’t figure out who that dude would be. i considered aoyama, as i was partial to that ship at the time, but he’s the matchmaker. now, i think if i were to pair her up at the end, she’d marry sero bc i’ve come to prefer that a bit more now. 

i know that sero is also a horse here but hear me out. i retconned this in my head at around the time i came up with the all might idea. what happens is that when they meet sero everyone’s just like "wait but dude like. we thought you were talking about your horse" and kaminari's just like "nah that was just as a joke" bc kamisero are childhood friends/neighbors and they have joking homoerotic subtext while mutually acknowledging that a) they are not each other's types and b) kamijirou is canon

oh i almost forgot to bring this part up lol. so what happens to natsuo also gets covered in peony. he’s still alive and perfectly well; he’s just living with his maternal grandparents, who work in the death industry. 

this has to do with color symbolism. red is for luck and prosperity; white is for death. the reason endeavor wanted to marry rei in this au was bc he saw her white hair (which made her a very undesirable bride) not as a curse or bad omen on himself, but rather upon his enemies. that’s why dabi, who has naturally red hair (in this au anyway), became heir to the estate and shoto (whose half red, half white hair represents equal parts prosperity and death) the military legacy. 

despite being an undesirable bride, rei was still an only child, however, and so as part of the marriage contract, endeavor was to return the first male child with white hair to that side of the family (technically making him no longer part of the todoroki family) to carry on the family business. after scarring shoto, rei would have also been sent back as a form of divorce.

hmmm i think that’s all the major trivia for peony/orchid that completely recontextualizes some moments of orchid

[atinyidea]

The Ache Of A Broken Heart | Ateez Song Mingi

⟶ requested by @un-kpop-ular! thank you for the request lovely!

⟶ highschool!au, bestfriends!au, female!reader, named!reader, hanahaki!au

⟶ angst prompt: “it hurts”

⟶ 3133 words!

edit: hi so it's been a couple years and I've realised how genuinely arophobic this kind of au is and I just want to say that while I'm not deleting it (it was a request) I'm not supporting it and will not write anything like a hanahaki au again. Please do some research if you're confused and I apologize to those who mightve felt hurt reading this oneshot.

"I don't understand why you haven't just told him?"

"Well it's not like me telling him will make anything stop. And there's the potential that I'll lose him completely if I tell him. It's not that simple."

"It can be! You tell Mingi you love him and then he can accept that love you back and you stop coughing up fucking flower petals."

"San!" She whined, lifting her head from its resting place on the toilet seat. "I can't force him to love me back! Besides he already has a girlfriend. I'll get over it sooner or later."

"Is later is when you die choking up a whole bunch of flowers?"

"I'm not going to die!"

"You threw up a whole flower just three minutes ago! You're getting worse! I know you." San paused, gently petting her head. "I know how much you let yourself fall into your feelings. You're sensitive, Jiyeon, you always have been. It's not going away."

"I'll make it go away." She whispered, biting her lip and avoiding his gaze. San simply huffed, pulling you into his chest and just held her for a while, rubbing circles into her back.

Choi Jiyeon was many different things to Choi San but the main fact was that she was his cousin. His only cousin. His father was her father's brother and the two only children became as close as siblings due to the fact they shared the same house.

Jiyeon and San were the same age, born a month apart because their mothers planned it. They grew up in a big house with a big garden. They had loving, caring parents and an extremely fortunate wealth and upbringing.

They went to a public school, making plenty of their own friends but somehow they always managed to converge groups to make one big friend group. And, in that friend group just happened to be Song Mingi.

Now, Jiyeon would have to admit, Mingi was, in fact, San's friend first. However, soon after meeting Jiyeon and Mingi were quick to become best friends. Jiyeon would be lying if she didn't say that, besides San, Mingi knew her best. Mingi was the first to tell her everything, the first to include her in events and jokes. He told her everything and in turn, she'd tell him everything too.

Well, except for one small thing.

Choi Jiyeon was completely in love with Song Mingi. And he didn't love her back.

Jiyeon never used to believe in the Hanahaki Disease until the petals started making their way down her throat. She thought it was a myth grandmother would tell to wain children off of loving recklessly. Her own grandmother would tell Jiyeon stories of the girls she used to know. Of how the would give their heart to anyone who'd take it and in return were given flowers. Only when she was a little older did her grandmother tell her that the gifted flowers were actually a curse in the body. Flowers that would come from nowhere and choke one out until one found themselves throwing the petals up. Jiyeon had never taken her grandmother seriously.

Maybe she should have.

She hadn't even noticed she had begun to love Mingi when the first petal arrived. She had been asleep when it did and woke up to a petal laying on her tongue. Having gone to a house party the night before, getting quite drunk by the amount of pain her head was in, she took no notice. She had, unfortunately, woken up with worse things in her mouth before.

The first time she actually threw up a petal, she and San were having their annual weekend movie marathon. In the middle of the fourth film — Star Wars: A New Hope — Jiyeon suddenly hunched over, grabbing both her throat and her tummy. After what felt like hours to her, which in reality was only five minutes of San freaking out behind her, she finally coughed up the petals that had bloomed in her tummy. Both Choi's sat in silence when she had finished, simply staring at the white petals that were stained red. Jiyeon only realised they were stained red with blood after San had handed her a napkin to wipe her mouth and it too came away red.

"What was that?" San asked, both of them now slumped on the floor on their knees, the television in the background now being nothing more than white noise.

"I don't really know."

"How can you not know?"

"Well, it's never happened before!"

After a beat of silence, San spoke up once again, his voice only hairs above a whisper. "It's like that old story grandma used to tell us, don't you think?"

"The story about the women who would die throwing up flowers when the person they loved never loved them back?"

"Yeah."

"That was an old wives tale San! A myth! A story to teach children to be mindful of who they give their heart to."

"Well, how else do you explain what just happened to you?"

His question had her stumped. How could she explain what just happened? The feeling of something unnatural climbing up her oesophagus, catching in her throat and choking her until she coughed it out covered in blood was not something that could be explained away or turned a blind eye too. There was blood. Bloody flower petals. That came from inside of her. And it hurt. It hurt so much.

"But that tale was about someone who loved another who couldn't love them back. I'm not in love with anyone, San." She avoided his gaze. "It's probably something I ate that didn't agree with me. That's all." She dismissed.

San sighed and she heard it. He sighed because Jiyeon had never been about to lie to him — or to anyone for that matter.

"Ji..." San trailed off. "You can tell me."

"I don't know what you want me to say."

"Is it one of our friends?"

"Is what one of our friends?" Jiyeon feigned ignorance, still not looking up to match her cousin's gaze.

"The person you love," San whispered, manoeuvring from kneeling to sitting, shifting slightly closer to the girl.

"Who says I love anyone?" Jiyeon whispered, finally turning her head to face San.

"Because I think we both already know who you love." San smiled sadly, gently bringing the girl into his arms. He rocked them back and forth gently, trying to create an atmosphere in which Jiyeon felt safe enough to speak her truths.

She rested her head against her cousin's collar. "Are you mad at me?"

San shook his head, even though she couldn't see him. "No. Why would I be?"

"Because..." She looked up, "Mingi's your best friend."

San chuckled. "You can't even lie to yourself. Mingi's your best friend. Sure, he's my good friend but you know things about him he'd never think to tell me." His smile widened a little, lifting a hand to ruffle her hair.

Jiyeon sighed, closing her eyes. "Okay. Maybe I'm in love with Mingi."

"Maybe?"

"I don't know!"

"Jiyeon."

"It's not like it matters anyway. He won't love me back that's why I'm throwing up petals or something." Jiyeon's eyes flew back open.

"Grandma always said didn't... not wouldn't or couldn't." San reminded her gently. "There's still a chance. You just have to tell him."

Jiyeon sighed, her head thumping back into his chest. "Fine." She breathed out, her throat finally numbing. "I'll tell him next time I see him."

The conversation the two had the next time Jiyeon saw Mingi however, was not the conversation she had in mind. He had grabbed her in the middle of the hallway, minutes before the bell for the first period, his handsome face graced with the bright grin only Mingi could create. It sent a flutter of butterflies through her tummy. Before she could get a word in he had already told her his news. The smile on her face had frozen, to the point where she began to panic he's see through the fake happiness she exuded.

"Haneul said yes! She said she'd be my girlfriend!"

Panic froze Jiyeon to her spot. How could she forget about Haneul? The pretty girl Mingi had the biggest crush on. He had spent hours telling Jiyeon all about her. How kind she was. How pretty she was. The way her voice sounded when she spoke to him — "like bells... or the sound of a thousand angels humming!" — and about the way she spoke to him. He told her about how Haneul was smart, how she helped him with all the things he struggled with academically — as if the study sessions he spent with Jiyeon did nothing for him.

Jiyeon had always felt funny when he would talk about Haneul. She hadn't realised the feeling was jealousy until she stopped telling herself she didn't love him.

Haneul was perfect for him; just the right height, just the right build, just the right personality. How could Jiyeon ever be seen as more than just his best friend when someone like Haneul was interested in him?

"That's great! I'm proud of you!" The words flew out of her mouth before she could stop them. The way his grin beamed brighter tore a rip through her heart and something built up in the pit of her stomach. The bell rang a second later and the two made their separate ways for their first lessons.

Jiyeon couldn't concentrate that entire day. Not many people seemed to notice her out-of-it daze apart from San, who looked at her with silent worry as their group sat together at lunch. Haneul has joined them, sitting close to Mingi's right side, answering the questions their friends had for her with a sweet smile.

Why was there nothing wrong with her?

Jiyeon couldn't blame her though. It wasn't Haneul's fault Jiyeon had fallen in love with her best friend. It wasn't Haneul's fault Jiyeon's body had decided it would take out its heartbreak on her, breaking her down piece by piece until her insides crumbled into torn up petals.

That had been sixth months ago.

Sixth months strong were Haneul and Mingi.

Jiyeon thought that it would get better. That the ache in her chest would dissipate now that Mingi was in fact taken by one of the sweetest people Jiyeon had ever met.

“Why don’t you, you know, date someone? Get your feelings under your own control.” San has said one day during a particularly harsh day, your entire bathroom floor covered in blue petals and sickly red blood after a couple hours of coughing and spluttering. You had given him an exhausted glare.

“It wouldn’t be fair to the other person. How would I explain this? ‘Oh, sorry about the mess! My body is just displaying its heartache outwardly because I love someone, who’s not you, by the way, that doesn’t love me back.’ Yeah, that’d go down a treat.”

San rolled his eyes at her, letting go of the hair he had held out of her face. “I’m just saying. It might be a way to get over it. To get over him. To get your health back?” He pressed gently. It didn’t take much to know that San was worried. Jiyeon had lost a noticeable amount of weight, not being able to keep much of anything down — especially after being around Mingi. She had become quiet, one might say reserved, which was unlike the person she was a couple of years ago who was never without a smile or a laugh.

She felt defeated. “I don’t want anyone else to feel like this. It hurts, so much,” She swallowed. “Every time I throw up those flowers it feels like my heart is being smashed with a steel hammer. Or as if it was made out of paper and each petal was just another rip in the fragility of a water soaked piece of paper. It’s dark. It’s a disgusting feeling and I never want anyone to feel it, ever.”

San’s head cocked to the side, his eyes dropping with worry. “You’re dying, Ji,” He whispered. He took one of her hands in his. “Just try it. Please.” He begged.

Jiyeon bit her lip. It would be too arrogant to assume someone would fall in love with her so easily, wouldn’t it? She could let herself be involved with someone else, couldn’t she? She could get over the dark could that surround her heart, right? She nodded, “Alright.”

So San sent her on a date. Ironically enough, another of their friends, Jeong Yunho, had been interested in Jiyeon for a little while. When San has brought up his little conundrum — “I need someone to set Jiyeon up with but every one I can come up with are all dicks” — Yunho has jumped (literally) at the opportunity.

The date was fun. It was exciting. They had met at a restaurant, exchanging shy smiles and small hellos before ditching the restaurant — it was only San who made the reservation anyway — and spent the night just together, deciding on what to do by playing small games of rock-paper-scissors. Jiyeon found herself smiling, laughing for the first time in a long time. She had temporarily forgotten all about Mingi and the pain that would wrack her body almost every other night. They went to an arcade, playing on different games for a few hours, playing around with one another and cumulating enough tickets to get two matching teddy bears. They took a walk through a park, stopping to play on the playground apparatus and unlocking their inner children with small games like who could get the highest on the swings or who could stay upright the longest on the merry-go-round. They found themselves sitting in a booth at McDonald’s, grinning and sharing embarrassing stories about themselves and their friends — mainly San — while sharing two big boxes of chicken nuggets.

Jiyeon felt guilty when she got home, saying goodnight to Yunho and finding herself texting Mingi all about it. She felt guilty when she realised why she was so adamant for Mingi to know. She wanted him to feel jealous. And she felt horrible when he simply congratulated her and offered to go on double dates in the future, her bedroom floor covered in a smattering of red petals after she broke down in tears.

Yunho was kind. His smile was sweet and his words were sweeter. They went on multiple dates and Jiyeon could feel herself getting lighter. The petal attacks slowed down but, they still happened.

Yunho was kind but Jiyeon was scared. On their last date, he walked her home, their hands laced together as they walked under the stars in the night sky. Jiyeon had told him early on in their relationship that she was sorry they had to go slow. She hadn’t given him a solid reason for her need to go slow and he hadn’t pushed her for an answer, but she knew deep down she’d always be scared to take the next step with him, or anyone for that matter. At her door — one that was unlocked because San just knew she’d forget her keys — Yunho had taken her face in his hands and kissed her. Truth be told, she had enjoyed it. His lips were soft and he bent down enough to brush her lips before straightening up slightly, causing Jiyeon to follow him to a height her tippy toes would allow. However, when she opened her eyes the face of her unrequited lover stared back at her and her smile dropped.

Blinking away the image of Mingi’s face she was greeted with the worried eyes of Yunho. “I’m sorry if that was too fast.” He whispered, eyes dropping to the floor. A familiar feeling twanged across her body as her heart sunk, once again, in guilt.

“You have to go.” Her voice was low. She could feel the familiar sensation arise in the back of her throat and she, under no circumstances, never wanted Yunho — happy, kind, sweet, loving Yunho — too see her like that.

He stuttered and she felt worse. “I- I'm sorry. Just give me another date. I don’t want to stop seeing you.” He cupped her face again, tilting her head up so their gazes could meet.

She needed him to leave.

“You have to go.” She repeated, gently stepping out of his hold. She went to speak again but her words were caught in her throat as she coughed harshly. When she pulled her hand away from her lips, looking between Yunho and the bloody white petal in her hand, tears had already sprung to her eyes. She didn’t give him any explanation before turning on her heel, barrelling through the door to find the nearest bathroom.

She could hear him chasing after her, the sinking feeling of guilt consuming her for how much he cared for someone who was caught up with a boy who couldn’t love her back. She retched into the bowl of the toilet, multicoloured petals falling from her lips in encased in the sickening sound of blood being spat from her mouth.

Yunho was kind. He bent down next to her and held her hair from her face. He rubbed circles into her back, his soft voice falling into a quiet song. When Jiyeon had finished her attack her body wracked itself in sobs instead. She felt horrible inside and out.

“I’m so sorry.” She wailed.

He didn’t respond, stopping his soft singing.

“It hurts so much!” She sobbed, not lifting her head to face him. “I am truly sorry.”

After a while, her sobs lessened and the two sat in silence.

“You don’t have to be sorry.” Yunho finally replied, tilting her head to face him again. “I’m sorry you have to go through this,” He whispered. He raised a thumb and wiped at the side of her mouth, watching as the blood there transferred from her lips to his thumb. “I’m sorry you think you’re going through it alone.”

She looked at him, concentrating. Then, her insides froze again. Her tear ducts overflowed again once she realised just what he was talking about. Her one wish had been destroyed. Someone else was feeling what it felt like to be broken. And it was her fault.

She feared she wouldn’t be able to love anyone other than Mingi. She feared that Yunho loving her would kill him inside as loving Mingi did to her.

But in the end, Choi Jiyeon loved Song Mingi, even though they were young, even though he was taken, even though he was just her best friend.

She’d die loving Song Mingi, and in the end, she did.