#though ngl it would somewhat ruin the mood

[berlinnelity]

quite literally obsessed with goncharov and quite literally frustrated because it doesn’t exist 

[elitadream]

Hello Elita!👋 I wanted to ask your opinion on something somewhat controversial, the ending of Super Mario Odyssey. You know, the whole “proposal” on the moon. Personally I disagree with the notion that I’ve heard of Peach leaving Mario to die on the moon, as she calls out to him saying “Hey, let’s go home!”. She seemed pretty into Mario’s (almost attempted) proposal, until Bowser came and ruined it (😑). Perhaps during the ride home, Mario and Peach had some words about the ordeal (sounds like a great fic idea ngl😍). I’m kinda undecided on how to feel about the whole thing (though ofc my inner Mareach is upset we didn’t see a proposal😩). Would love to hear your thoughts!🥰❤️

Hello!^^

Ah, yes. The infamous Odyssey ending. 😞😅 I talked a bit here about what my personal ending of choice would have been, and here about why I believe Nintendo went along with this rather disappointing conclusion instead, but ultimately there's no denying that the characters would indeed have deserved better. :/

I would LOVE for Mario and Peach to have a real, actual wedding at some point. But more than anything, I just want them to be a wholesome and happy couple, whether they're canonically official or not. 🥺 I don't want them to fight or be awkwardly formal around each other (though I'll accept the latter if there's fluff involved x3). They've been an item in everyone's eyes for far too long, have a way too strong and obvious chemistry. I think what essentially bothered me the most about this scene is the fact that neither of them behaved like their normal selves. 🤔 It was quite unlike Mario to be so pushy, and quite unlike Peach to irritatingly snap at him in return. If anything, I'm just glad the sour mood didn't linger for more than a few seconds! xP Not that there should never be any sort of conflict between them either, but here, it just felt really sudden and odd and unjustified from both parties. To me, at least. 😶

So yeah. Like you, I have pretty mixed feelings about it! 🤝

[sandwichrin]

A Little into You (Junkyu x Reader) (Ch. 26)

Chapter 26 - Cold 

Word count: 4.9k words

Genre: Fanfiction, PG13, Comedy, Romance.

A/N: Hewwo! I’m back after quite some time 😭 how are you all? I’ve missed you all so muchhh. Here’s the new chapter-- ngl i am super psyched for the next one ‘cause uh, we’re gonna see more cute moments i guess? :3

YGE Building (Main Meeting Room / 5th Floor)

“What did Chani meant when he said he’ll deal with you when you get home??” Soomin interrogates Bomin the moment it was just the two of them left in the room.

Bomin looked away, not being in the mood to answer the question.

“Oh ho so you’re the one that’s sulking right now?”

Bomin continued to ignore his girlfriend, instead, he heads towards the door, wanting to leave the meeting room.

“Wow. Fine. Leave. Just don’t tell me anything anymore,” Soomin said sarcastically.

Bomin stops in his track and lets out a sigh before turning around to look at her.

Soomin had a frown on her face, showing how clearly upset she was with what happened. Her arms are folded against her chest, which makes her look even more seriously upset.

“What is it, Soomin?” Bomin asked non-enthusiastically.

“Oh wow, you’re not asking me to repeat myself, are you?” she scoffed.

Rolling his eyes, he responded back at her, “Look, I’m no mood to fight, okay??”

“I’m not asking for a fight! I just want you to explain what the fuck you just did earlier!”

“Why are you so worked up over this? Everything went smoothly, didn’t it??”

“Clearly, no?? You freaking ruined y/n! That was so uncalled for!”

“Hey, this wouldn’t have happened if you had presented today! I told you, recognition is important in this company! And you had to make that clueless intern present for one of our biggest meetings,”

“For the 100th time, Bomin. She’s not an intern! She’s a regular staff like the rest in my team,” Soomin said in annoyance.

“With that qualification? She’s just the same like that nitwit friend of hers,”

“Oh my god! What is with you?? You’ve never been so stereotypical over people’s academics—yet now, oh god, you’re being such an asshole!”

“Look, I did what I had to, okay! You were supposed to support me, like how I always support you,”

“Bomin…y/n isn’t just a staff. She’s my friend. And I can’t believe I actually opened up to you about everything. I shouldn’t have told you anything about y/n…I should have known that when you asked about her, it was just for your selfish deeds,” she shook her head at him.

“Hey, look, y/n isn’t the one I initially aimed on taking down,”

“Then who??” she pushed her hair to the back in frustration.

“It’s that friend of hers! That stupid boy,” he said, his teeth gritting at the thought of Chani.

“Chani?? What have you got against that kid??”

“You don’t understand! I hate that kid,”

“Okay, then, why?” Soomin questions him. “Tell me, why do you hate him so much,”

“Tsk, you wouldn’t understand.”

“Then tell me, Bomin. I wouldn’t understand if you don’t say it,”

Bomin looks away now, avoiding his girlfriend’s eyes that were staring at him.

Soomin takes a deep breath in, releasing it slowly. She decides to maybe lessen the tension by now so she approaches Bomin and places her hand on his arm.

“Look, Bomin. When we got together, I was so happy. It’s never been this easy for me to open up to anyone, but with you, I was able to do so.” Soomin pauses. “And us being together, you should know that you can tell me anything. Tell me, and I’ll be the judge of your actions.” She continued.

Bomin looks back at his girlfriend, her doe-like eyes staring back into his. She looked less angry now, he thought. Though…should he just tell her why he did all of this?

 *

Whilst the couple were busy with their own matters in the main meeting room upstairs—the floors below were in chaos as the twelve boys (well, twelve plus one if we’re counting Chani) ran around in different directions in search of Y/n.

From the Ground floor to the 4th floor, footsteps of these boys can be heard throughout the hallways.

As for now, these are the whereabouts of the boys:

Ground Floor: Jeongwoo, Mashiho

1st Floor: Jihoon, Junkyu, Yedam

2nd Floor: Yoshi, Doyoung, Chani

3rd Floor: Junghwan, Jaehyuk, Asahi

4th Floor: Hyunsuk, Haruto

 *

YGE Building (Ground Floor)

“Jeongwoo, what are you doing there?” Mashiho asks as he notices the boy looking somewhat distracted. His eyes kept looking at the convenience mart not far from them.

Jeongwoo was still dressed in his school uniform. When he arrived at the building, he immediately ditched his schoolbag in their practice room and heads to where Jihoon had instructed them to be.

He had received a text from his hyungs in their group chat, about how they’re on the search for Y/n and that they had informed the maknaes whom were on their way back from school to help them search once they have arrived at the YG Building.

And so, based on the text from Jihoon hyung in the group, the person he was paired with was Mashiho-hyung. The both of them were stationed to search the Ground Floor of the building. But right now, Jeongwoo couldn’t help giving glances at the convenient store not far from where he was standing.

He knew that searching for you was important right now, but then he was also very hungry. He was supposed to have lunch with all his members but then their lunchtime was sacrificed in the quest of finding you.

Mashiho, who initially was guarding outside the entrance of the restrooms (in case you were hiding in there and would come out in all of a sudden), had decided to go and check on his younger friend after waiting up for 15 minutes.

Jeongwoo placed a hand on his own tummy, “Hyung…is it okay if I get some bread from the store? I kind of had a light snack during breaktime and well, I don’t think I can concentrate on the search feeling this hungry…,”

“Oh?” Mashiho looked at him in surprise. He turned around and looked at the store not far behind him. Jeongwoo does have a point though, he is a school kid, and he shouldn’t be skipping meals.

“Aigoo Jeongwoo-aa, come on, let’s get you something to eat. You’re a growing boy and you shouldn’t be skipping your meals!” he said as he drags Jeongwoo by his arm, taking the young boy towards the store with him.

 *

YGE Building (1st Floor / Cafeteria)

“What if Y/n is hiding underneath one of these many tables though??” Junkyu said, his head sticking underneath one of the unoccupied tables in the cafeteria.

Jihoon rubbed the temples on his head, “Junkyu-aa…everyone’s watching us…”

“Who cares if they’re watching us, we’re busy right now!”

Jihoon shakes his head, watching his best friend continue ducking underneath 2 more tables in front of him.

“Hyung! I’ve checked the restrooms, y/n isn’t in there,” Yedam said as he approached Jihoon.

Jihoon looks at him weirdly. “Wait, you checked the restrooms??”

Yedam nods at this, “Yes, I just said that,”

“Wait, no- you checked the restroom?? Checked?”

“I think he clearly said he checked the restrooms, hyung,” Junkyu replied, his head no longer underneath the tables.

“No, but—” Jihoon looks around, in case anyone was eavesdropping on them. Once he was sure people were no longer interested in their conversation, he continued, “Yedam, did you really check check the restrooms?”

Yedam nods again, but a bit slower now. He finds it strange that his Jihoon-hyung keeps on asking him the same thing.

Junkyu was already standing by both the other two boys’ side when he opened his mouth to say, “Hyung, why do you keep asking him if he checked the restrooms??”

“No, I meant,” Jihoon paused. He leaned in closer to the both of them and whispered, “when Yedam said he checked the restrooms…did he mean he checked the girls restroom too??”

Junkyu backed away from the both of them and covered his mouth with his palm. He lifted a finger and points at Yedam, “You entered the ladies restroom??”

Jihoon too, was staring at Yedam with a fearful look on his face.

“Oh my god hyung! That’s ridiculous!” Yedam answered them, his face holding in his laughter from seeing both of his hyungs’ faces. “I asked one of the lady staff that was passing by me to check in the ladies’ for me of course!”

Jihoon lets out a sigh of relief. “Oh thank god. I mean, I know we’re searching for y/n but let’s not break any major rules here,” he chuckled.

Junkyu nods at this. “Hmm, true. Okay then, I’m gonna go check under more of the tables on that side—”

Before Junkyu could leave, Jihoon had grabbed him by his sleeve, “Okay Junkyu. Let’s not do that right now,” he chuckles nervously, noticing that people in the cafeteria are staring at them again since Junkyu sort of announced he was gonna look under people’s tables. I mean, that does sound suspicious and sort of creepy, no?

“Let’s just come back here once lunchtime is over for the staff. It won’t take long,” Jihoon said as he pulled Junkyu out of the cafeteria with him, and Yedam tagging along behind them.

 *

YGE Building (2nd Floor)

“For the 4th time, Chani-hyung, y/n isn’t in any of the hyungs’ studio rooms,” Doyoung argued towards Chani who kept urging them to check all their studio rooms.

“How will we know for sure? We haven’t checked those rooms,” Chani replied.

Yoshi shook his head as he watched the both of them argue for the past 15 minutes of their search.

As for now, they have checked all the big studio rooms, the resting areas along the hallways, but there was no sign of you.

“Damn, she’s still not picking up,” Chani muttered as he ends his attempt of calling you for the nth time now. Your phone wasn’t off, but it seems like you were avoiding to answer his calls.

Yoshi took out his phone and tried to dial your number as well.

Chani was right. He could hear your phone being on the line but you were purposely not picking up.

Yoshi sighs as he keeps the phone back into his pocket.

“Oh! There, we haven’t checked this row of studios,” Chani said as he points at a small hall leading to smaller studio rooms.

Doyoung shakes his head at his comment. “I told you hyung, we can’t barge into the hyungs’ studios simply. Besides, we’ve passed by this row already. Let’s just move on and check someplace else,”

“Okay but what if one of your hyungs are hiding y/n in their studio??”

“That’s…impossible?? We only knew y/n was missing when you told us, remember??”

Chani stopped in his tracks. “Oh, right.”

Doyoung rolled his eyes at him and turns to Yoshi. “Hyung, what do you think? Should we really check the others’ studios?”

“Huh? Oh uhh, I mean, you can check mine. I don’t mind.” Yoshi answered him.

“Nah, I don’t think Yoshi-hyung would hide y/n.” Chani said. “Oh, but can we go check Junkyu-hyung’s studio?”

Doyoung narrowed his eyes at Chani. “Why specifically Junkyu-hyung’s? Why not Asahi-hyung’s?”

“Aw come on. You guys know why,”

Yoshi and Doyoung looked at him blankly and shook their heads.

“Oh. You guys have no idea? That Junkyu and I are rivals…?”

“No…why are you both suddenly rivals? We’ve known you for almost two years now, hyung. I don’t think you’ve ever mentioned about being rivals with any of us,”

“Nothing. We just sort of became one recently,” Chani responded, deciding not to tell them about Junkyu and him both liking you, since he was pretty sure that the Treasure members would certainly support Junkyu to be with you rather than him.

“Okay, fine. If we’re not checking your members’ studios, then where should we head to now then?” Chani asked, a surrendering tone in his voice. He turns to Yoshi who hadn’t been saying much since the start of their team’s search. “Hyung? Any thoughts?”

“Me?” Yoshi points a finger at himself. Chani nods at him.

“I’d rather ask you then ask Doyoung here, he’d probably tell me to check the vents or something,” he added sarcastically.

“Hey, to be fair—y/n could be anywhere,” Doyoung retaliates, raising both his hands in defence.

“Okay, okay, kids.” Yoshi stepped in between the both of them, breaking the both of them from their glares at each other.

“Let’s just check the staircases, okay?” Yoshi said as he leads both the younger boys to follow him.

 *

YGE Building (3rd floor)

Junghwan walked ahead of his two other hyungs, his head turning left and right at every corner in case he might catch any glimpse of you.

“Junghwan, slow downnnn,” Jaehyuk whined as he trotted along, trying to keep up with the maknae.

Asahi on the other hand stayed on his own pace, way behind both those two.

Junghwan slowed down his steps and turned around to see his hyungs. “Sorry, hyung. I just—I’m worried about y/n-noona,”

“I know, I know. We get that.” Jaehyuk said as he finally arrives to where the maknae was standing. He turns around to see Asahi still walking, still making his way towards both him and Junghwan.

“Did Chani-hyung say anything about what happened though?” Junghwan asked, since his case was similar with Jeongwoo and Doyoung; in which he too, just got back from school and was texted to join in the search once he arrives at the building.

“I don’t think he got around to it. He was all panicky and Junkyu-hyung was already exiting the practice room before we got to hear further on what happened.”

“Oh,”

“Hm but Chani did mention about Bomin-hyung ‘doing it again’? Something along those lines,” Jaehyuk added, in which Junghwan responded by nodding his head.

“Why’d you guys stop? You both can go on first, you know,” Asahi’s voice suddenly popped up, him finally arriving to where the both of them were standing at.

Jaehyuk wrapped his arm around Asahi’s shoulder and snickered, “Aigoo, what are you talking about? Let’s just walk together,”

“Yeah but I don’t see the point in running around,”

“Okay, okay. We won’t run. We’ll walk. Maybe sprint a little,” Junghwan suggested.

Asahi pushes his own hair to the back with one of his hands. “Okay but I can’t promise you I’ll be fast enough for the sprint,”

“No problem hyung,” Junghwan smiled. He turned back to the front, wanting to proceed with his steps but then Jaehyuk called out to him again.

“Junghwan-aa, at least leave your bag in the practice room before we continue searching,”

“Oh? Oh right,” he responded, realising that he was still carrying his bagpack from school when he arrived here.

 *

YGE Building (4th Floor)

Haruto and Hyunsuk were in charge of roaming and searching the 4th floor, as directed by Jihoon.

Jihoon had only stationed them all up till the 4th floor because he was pretty convinced that you wouldn’t go somewhere that would have most of the YG staffs were working at. And seeing that the 5th and 6th floors were always somehow occupied by the staffs, Jihoon assured everyone into not searching the floors above.

Being the only two that were stationed at the top floor compared to the rest, the two didn’t feel the need to run around or hurry like the rest.

Haruto stretches his arms out in the air as he walked beside his Hyunsuk-hyung.

“Hmm, it’s almost deserted up here. I don’t think y/n would be up here,” Hyunsuk complained.

“True,” Haruto nods in agreement.

Hyunsuk’s head looked around as he walks leisurely, stopping by to peek over the small windows of any of the meeting rooms they passed by.

“Oh? That’s the last of the meeting rooms,” Haruto points out, noticing that they had arrived at the far end of the floor, where a large lounge area was located.

“Huh?” Hyunsuk said as he stares at the empty lounge area in disappointment. He was expecting to have found you somewhere on this floor though, considering it would have been the best place to be away from people since it’s this deserted.

Hyunsuk lets out a sigh and turns around.

“Hyung, where are you going?”

“Back to the elevators. Come on. Obviously y/n isn’t up here,”

Haruto followed closely by him. He peeks a glance at his hyung and notices his gloomy expression.

“You that sad she’s not up here?” the younger boy asked.

“Kinda. I was hoping to find her up here. I just…want to make sure she’s okay, that’s all,”

Haruto kept quiet as he walked beside his hyung. He decided to just follow Hyunsuk and not say anything else since Hyunsuk looked like he needed some time for himself.

They kept walking at a relaxed pace, passing by multiple meeting rooms, until they reached the first one that wasn’t far from the elevators.

Haruto stopped in front of the meeting room.

“Ruto? What’s wrong?”

“Isn’t this Y/n’s meeting room last week?” Haruto said as he points at the room with his finger.

Hyunsuk tilts his head, wondering how this boy knows which meeting room this was.

Haruto turned to look at his hyung and noticed his puzzled expression. “No, I didn’t know this too, but take a look at this window here,”

Hyunsuk moved to where Haruto and stared at the window showing the inside of the meeting room. “There’s no one in there, Haruto,”

Haruto shook his head and pulled his hyung to stand in his spot, moving him to stand at a certain angle too.

“There. Look inside. There’s a whiteboard way behind there. Read what it says,”

Hyunsuk squints his eyes to read the handwritten words on the whiteboard.

‘Y/n is the best tutor ever!’ ‘I like Y/n so much’ ‘Will Y/n go out with me?’

Hyunsuk snorts at the sentences, imagining how cringey it must have been for you to have a student that disturbs you like that. He wondered who your student was—and then his eyes read the smaller note written at the end of the board—

‘Chani please get back to your seat and complete your module.’

Hyunsuk covered his mouth with his hand, realising how Junkyu must’ve felt before this. He suddenly felt annoyed at how Chani was literally throwing himself at you, when you were his tutor. The least that kid could do was be professional, no? No wonder Junkyu got jealous, he thought.

“Oh? It’s Junghwan,” Haruto said, making Hyunsuk turn around to see the boy leaning against the rails that was facing the open space of the building.

Hyunsuk approached the rails as well, noticing Junghwan, Jaehyuk and Asahi heading towards a room directly opposite him but only a floor lower.

Wait—

The room they’re heading towards was their own dance practice room! Which means…that…from up here, y/n could have been watching over them. OR. Could it be? Could it be that Junkyu had been watching over you and Chani from down there before this?

 *

(2nd Floor Team)

Yoshi opened up the door to the staircases exit, leading the other two younger boys behind him.

“Huh? Something smells…good,” Doyoung said, his nose sniffing at the strong scent.

Chani too, agrees as he placed a hand on his own tummy, “Yeah, it’s making me super hungry now,”

Yoshi tried sniffing the air around them and sure enough, he could catch a whiff of something yummy…

He turns around to the rest, “Should we go down and check?”

“I mean, there’s no harm in checking out what’s down there, no?” Doyoung replies with a shrug.

“Yeah, and if there are people cooking or selling stuff down there, there’s no harm in buying some too,” Chani added, agreeing with Doyoung.

Yoshi smiles, finding it funny how the both of these kids were against each other’s ideas before this but suddenly they teamed up to defend something that involves food.

“And, and—we need energy to look for y/n, so—we should definitely get something to eat, right?” Doyoung said this time.

“Right!!!” Chani agreed excitedly as he pulled Doyoung’s hand to give it a high-five. Doyoung smiled a little, amused with Chani’s excitement.

“Alright, alright. Let’s just head down,” Yoshi said as he smiles while shaking his head at the two.

 *

(3rd Floor’s Team)

Junghwan tapped his foot, waiting for the ever-slow elevator to reach their floor.

“What’s taking it so long, though? We’ve never had any elevator traffic before this,” Junghwan said.

Jaehyuk pulled out his phone from his pocket to check the time. “Ahh, no wonder. Lunchtime is almost over. I’m pretty sure most of the staff are returning to their offices early too,”

“Whoa, we’ve been searching for almost an hour huh?”

“Yup,”

Junghwan stopped tapping his foot and started pacing to and fro in front of the elevator doors. Almost one hour and still no Y/n-noona?? Not even any news from his other hyungs too. Just where could you be?

“Hey,” Asahi’s voice said, making both Junghwan and Jaehyuk look at him.

“Yes, Asahi?” Jaehyuk asked, keeping his phone into his pants pocket.

Asahi lifts his finger and points at a door located not too far on their left.

Jaehyuk and Junghwan turns their attention towards where he was pointing at.

“You guys…wanna take the stairs instead?” He asked.

Junghwan exchanged looks with his Jaehyuk-hyung. The both of them shrug at each other.

“Sure, that doesn’t sound too bad of an idea,” Junghwan said.

Jaehyuk grinned and pats Asahi’s head, “Aigoo, our Asahi is the smartest as always! We could use the stairs instead of waiting for this snail-like elevator!”

Asahi smiles shyly at the praise. He shrugs and points at the staircase door again. “Let’s go,”

 *

(1st Floor’s Team)

“Quick, the staff are starting to leave the cafeteria! Now’s our chance!” Junkyu urged as he watches the staff shuffling out of the cafeteria doors.

Jihoon hurriedly grabbed him by his shirt before he could go scurrying off and causing a scene, “Okay, okay calm down now kiddo,”

“Let’s just give them a minute or two before we enter. At least let the entrance clear off first,” Yedam said as he glanced over the time on his phone.

 Meanwhile…

(Staircase Loft)

“I must be getting hungry or something. I keep smelling fried mandu and ramen,” Junghwan whined as he stepped down the stairs, leading Asahi and Jaehyuk who were both behind him.

‘Kruuungggg’

Junghwan stopped in his tracks, making Jaehyuk almost bumping into him from the sudden stop.

“Is there something wrong?” Jaehyuk asked him.

Junghwan shook his head and looked over Jaehyuk’s shoulder, where Asahi was almost hidden by the hyung’s taller figure.

“What?” Asahi asked.

“Are you…hungry, hyung?” Junghwan asked.

Asahi’s cheeks went pink with embarrassment as it turns out that the maknae had heard his tummy rumbling couple of seconds ago.

“Hey, you keep mentioning about food—it’s impossible not to be hungry,” Asahi said in defence.

“No, but seriously, I do smell ramen broth in this area. And it keeps getting stronger too,” Junghwan said as he continued stepping down the steps, making his way down again.

“You know what…I smell it too now,” Jaehyuk said.

“Huh, we must be really hungry, huh? What floor are we at now?”

Asahi peeked over the sign he passed by just now, “1st floor. We’re almost at the Ground Floor.”

“Okay, nice! Hyung, can we stop by the convenience store and grab some snacks when we reach the bottom floor later?” Junghwan asked Jaehyuk since he was the eldest among them three.

“Sure! There’s no problem in that!” Jaehyuk grinned as he ruffles the maknae’s hair, thinking that the kid was cute for asking him permission for such a small matter.

Junghwan smiled happily and continued leading them all down the stairs, his steps quickening at the thought of reaching downstairs to buy some food from the convenience store.

He was almost-running as he walks down the steps when once again, he stops—a loud gasp escaping his mouth.

This time, Jaehyuk really bumped into Junghwan’s back, making the boy almost falling down the stairs—in which Jaehyuk managed to grab a hold of him before the boy fell forward.

“Hey, hey, be careful Junghwan-aa! Omg what if you really fell??”

Jaehyuk wondered why the younger boy wasn’t responding to him, so he stepped forward in front of the boy to see what made him stop in shock. “Oh??”

“What…are you doing down here??” Junghwan asked, his voice echoing in the stairs loft.

 *

(1st Floor Team)

“I’ve checked the whole right side of the cafeteria and asked the kitchen staffs—no sign of y/n here,” Yedam reported to Jihoon who just got back from checking the rooftop balcony outside the cafeteria.

“Alright. Thanks for your hard work, Yedam,”

Jihoon turns to look at the left side of the cafeteria where Junkyu was running clumsily towards him, almost hitting over a chair that wasn’t tucked underneath one of the tables.

“Kim Junkyu be careful—”

“I’m here!” Junkyu announced even though no one asked for it.

Jihoon chuckled seeing his best friend’s serious expression despite his usual funny run seconds ago.

“Any sign of y/n?” Yedam asked the round-eyed hyung that just arrived.

Junkyu shook his head. “No, but someone dropped a dollar underneath one of the chairs,” He waved the dollar up in his friends’ faces.

“Oooh nice! You can keep that,” Jihoon gave him a thumbs up.

“Nah, I’m gonna find the lost and found box and put it there,”

“…but…we don’t have a lost and found box…” Yedam looked at him.

Junkyu lets out a loud gasp. “What? Then how would people find their lost items??”

“First of all—that’s why we have to be extra attentive and careful with our belongings,” Jihoon advised both the younger boys.

“Oh and not lose focus,” Yedam added.

Jihoon nods at this.

“Hyung…are you both forgetting?? We’re not here to discuss lost and found?? We’re looking for y/n,”

“Oh right! I almost forgot!” Junkyu said in shock.

“What about you, Jihoon-hyung? Did you find any traces of y/n outside?”

Jihoon shook his head to Yedam’s question. “Nope. Just empty untouched seats and the cool breeze outside.”

“Did you check under the tables??” Junkyu asked.

Both Jihoon and Yedam looked at him, questioning what he said.

“Hey, I told you guys—don’t skip checking underneath the tables,”

Jihoon shrugs at him. “Okay Junkyu. I’ll make sure to check every inch and corner next time,”

“Well, we’ve been looking for over an hour now. And I’m pretty sure the kids are hungry since they just got back from school.” Yedam paused to look at Jihoon before asking, “Let’s take a break?”

“Sure. We can resume searching once we’ve all eaten,” Jihoon agreed. “Text the group and tell them we’ll meet at the convenience store downstairs,”

“On it.” Yedam quickly pulled out his phone, his fingers tapping fast on the screen.

Jihoon and Yedam were about to leave the cafeteria when Jihoon realised that Junkyu wasn’t following them.

“Junkyu? You alright?” He asked the bright-eyed boy that kept looking in the direction of the cafeteria’s balcony door.

“Huh? Oh, uhh,” he stammered, surprised by Jihoon calling his name.

“You coming with us?”

“I…think I’ll join you guys in a bit. I want to go check outside for a while,”

Jihoon lets out a sigh. “Junkyu-aa. You need to eat first. Besides, I told you, nobody is out there,”

“But you didn’t check under the tables!”

“Fine. Go check then. Just meet us downstairs and get something to eat, okay?” Jihoon sighs again, giving up and not wanting to argue with his best friend.

 *

YGE Building (Cafeteria – Rooftop Balcony)

Junkyu opens the door leading outside slowly. The cool breeze from outside made his skin shiver for a couple seconds before he managed to adapt to the weather outside the building.

As he steps outside, his eyes roamed around the place where he first encountered you and Chani when you first started working on the workshop in this company.

Jihoon was right. The place was neat, tidy, untouched. It’s almost as if no one has ever stepped out here. Ah, but then who would? The weather has been chilly nowadays now that it’s late autumn and staying out here for too long could really do bad for one’s health.

Junkyu sighs. Maybe he should just go inside and meet the rest of the gang.

Junyku turned his heels, about to leave when suddenly he stopped.

Ah, right! He should at least check under the tables.

And so, Junkyu got on all fours and ducked his head to look underneath the row of tables on his right.

“Oh?” he muttered as he noticed something placed at the far end table. It really seemed like it was probably just his imagination, but he could feel that something was indeed underneath that table at the end—even if he can’t see clearly because of the chairs.

He got up on his feet and hurried to the spot—stopping, and slowly lowering his body to see what was underneath the table.

“Wait—” he said, when he noticed what was underneath the table. He extends his finger to check if it’s cold, his finger retracting as soon as he realised how cold it felt against his skin.

“W-wait, what should I do?” He muttered to himself, panic rising.

Junkyu shakes his head. He has to do something. Anything. And he has to act fast.

 *To be continued…*

[hannah-writes]

The Semiotics of Roswell (aka why Malex is Endgame because the camera says so)

And we’re back with instalment #2 of The Semiotics of Roswell. I’m supposed to be working but eh, who needs to actually have numbers and facts behind what they’re presenting? Losers, that’s who.

Today’s focus is on episode 2 and though I’ve tried to keep my screencaps in order, something wonky happens when I upload it, so I’ll be focusing primarily on individual scenes and the pairings - as before - so plz forgive me if some of the stuff isn’t in chronological order. The Malex stuff definitely will be. 

Also, at some point, I lost the ability to differentiate between the left and the right. #datdyslexiclife

Image heavy, once again! Consider this your friendly neighbourhood warning!

All my semiotic meta can be followed/tracked using the #Semiotics of Roswell tag, and is here on my tumblr. This includes random other semiotic meta that comes at me when I see gif sets.

Part 1 / Reunion Kiss Video Meta / I Never Look Away Video Meta / 

First of all, fuck this show and its lighting. It’s so dark half the time you gotta squint at the screen to see what’s going on. I know CW shows are all about their moody lighting and how it’s meant to help portray dark, gritty realism but the very nature of this show allows them to cover gritty realism without having to swamp our characters in darkness. 

What I do find interesting is in the below screenshot Max is half lit. This seems to come up quite a lot and now we’ve all seen the finale it can be construed as a hint to the duality of their “nature” as aliens, the darkness of the legacy of their race vs the lightness of their nature and love for humanity. (Michael’s general dislike for everything notwithstanding, obviously)

Liz & Max - handprint connecting them - fall into the my-side-your-side framing in this episode. Interestingly, you can see in the shot above that Liz is shot flat, the camera’s at the same level as her and there’s no upward angle. She’s got an even distance mid-shot whereas in direct contrast Max is closer cropped and the angle is slightly up. This is likely an accident, but there’s an insinuation with the camera being tilted up that Max currently is more powerful over Liz. We’d argue that Max would never feel that way; Liz is the hurricane that messes up his mind and his life and he can’t fight her. But his handprint is on her, which means she’s feeling what he’s feeling. This does somewhat blur the lines for her own perception of what she’s feeling and gives Max a modicum of control. This is more obvious as a shooting decision on the basis that they’re both standing and though there’s a height difference between them it can be compensated for by distance. But we always focus on Max’s face when Liz is around, and she dominates far more of his shot (below) than he does of hers (above). 

Conversely, the below two images are our first proper introduction to the Max/Cam dynamic which, ngl, though Echo is my ship, I enjoyed this for the playful dynamic that it was and it helps settle and establish in Max’s character that he is a sucker for strong women who can dominate the heck outta his soft, squishy person. 

Max and Cam show an up-down shot dynamic in this instance purely because he’s sitting and she’s standing, which sets it apart from the one above with Max and Liz since they’re (ostensibly, height difference notwithstanding) on the same level and being shot differently. Cameron and Max here are physically on different levels.

Max is more centrally-right shot, whereas Cameron’s on the right side of the screen; so though she’s framed to be ready to share the screen, Max isn’t which scrubs out the possibility of a true romantic relationship. Max’s position on the left-hand side of the screen - when he is on it - is reserved for Liz (two shots down!).

(Worth pointing out here that Malex is the only ship that is consistently shot with the my-side-your-side, even when they are broken up not together. Liz and Max have their fair share of shots that are on the same side or in the middle, allowing them to bleed into one - I’m thinking of the finale where they’re both lying to each other over the phone, Liz saying she’s fine when she’s been stabbed & Max saying he’s okay when they’re off doing alien things). 

Seriously though fuck the moody lighting of this show. The only mood it’s inducing is frustration and headaches. Stupid show. 

Again here, Echo is displaying the your-side-my-side framing. It’s the reverse of the above scene; they don’t have a set dynamic where there’s one that owns one side of the screen, not like Malex, but that’s actually okay. At this point in time, their relationship is unstable and tumultuous. Here, you can see they’re shot from the same, flat angle and there’s roughly the same zoom ratio used to help keep them in the frame. It’s not close on his face and zoomed out on Liz or vice-versa.

(Seriously, though, we don’t need mood lighting. I’d like to be able to watch the show without squinting)

First Malex scene! 

Which, thankfully, is outside in the day time which has better lighting. My eyes are thankful, episode. Plus, now I get to look at Michael and Alex for a while and spend some time sitting in my happy place.

The first thing that’s apparent here is that Alex and Michael - even though they’re not even in the same place right now - they’re still adhering to the my-side-your-side. Michael comes into the shot from the left and then the camera actually pans with him, tracking to keep him in the left of the shot. He doesn’t drive in and drive out, what we actually see is him driving in, looking to the right side of the frame and then we cut (below). It’s a hark back to the first episode, which is almost a frame-by-frame comparison except at the end Michael knows who’s standing there and the smile on his face feels almost part pleasure and anticipation at seeing Alex and part getting his armour on (sharp smile, sharper wit) because he doesn’t know what’s coming next. After they kissed at the reunion the sort of almost hope on Michael’s face is painful. 

We cut to Alex (on the right-hand side of the screen), sticking up a ‘you have been evicted’ notice. He’s still in his ACUs, which in many senses as a costume choice could be seen as him keeping a distance from Michael. He’s on Official Air Force Business here, so he needs to keep that respectable, responsible distance. The mid-shot here is also a testament to that; he’s being physically distant because of the nature of his job, the nature of how he has changed as a person. The uniform is a barrier as much as it is anything else, similar to the motif of the colour red referencing Liz and Rosa’s armour (Alex wears a red shirt in the pilot, too, and red is a colour that’s quite often seen in Liz’s wardrobe but styling choices are something entirely different and deserves a meta all of its own). We see it quite clearly in episode one, and again here. 

Under the my-side-your-side rules, the (below) shot where is once again telling; Michael’s home is on the right-hand side of this screen (generally where Alex tends to be in their dynamic, on the right, though it was the left hand of Michael’s that was ruined by Jesse Manes the destruction of their relationships started then and has spiralled out of control ever since, the right-hand side of the screen where home is, where Alex is even if neither of them is willing to admit it just yet, moving across to the right is a step forward, away from the pain of the left, in this framing, Alex represents being closer to home than anything else) and Alex has moved into the left-hand side of the frame. They’re not even remotely in the middle, Alex has gone into Michael’s side of the frame.

There’s a physical barrier - a pole - between them and the house in the shot which carves it in two; Malex and home, visually separated by a stark line down the middle. The lights that are in the frame are dim, and intrusive on the shot. It’s also shot at a further distance than we’re used to, items cluttering the right but a huge open space on the left for Malex. The huge open space, however, makes them look small and tight in their togetherness vs the vast open New Mexico landscape. Them against the emptiness of the world, tight and crammed together.

Visual meta aside, there’s no need for Alex to be so physically close to Michael when he moves away from the door of the airstream, he could have taken any direction - any path - to his vehicle but the one he chose was through Michael. Even now he can’t stay away, can’t fight the tug and push and pull that draws him in.

The vast emptiness of the previous shot is directly contrasted then to the sudden and quick cut the two of them, Michael grabbing Alex and pulling him closer, tugging him in and taunting him. It’s almost a reverse of their dance in the pilot; Michael moves in close, uses Alex’s ACUs to tug him in (tugging on his armour). The camera’s close over Alex’s shoulder and though it’s Michael’s face in the shot, Alex still dominates the frame. We aren’t supposed to be looking at anything else, our eyes aren’t meant to be focused on anything other than this moment right here. 

When we move to look at Alex’s point of view (and I don’t know if anyone’s commented on how Alex reaches out for Michael almost instinctively when Michael tugs him in like a reflex but then grips his hand to pull him away because he’s an airman now and he’s not the man he used to be, literally and metaphorically) the frame is further away, but Alex is still dominating the frame, both his side and Michael’s. It gives us a clue as to Michael’s headspace; Alex is still a huge driving force in his life, in his mind. So even though he’s sassing, he wants to be closer. Alex is the one putting distance between them, here. It’s immediately followed by Michael sassing him which is pretty much Michael’s MO as a defence mechanism; Alex said ‘nope, we can’t do that again’ and Michael’s immediate response is to lash out, go on the defensive, play on the town drunk. (More here in the video breakdown)

OKAY. So, I’m aware that wikipedia isn’t the best resource for information due to it being able to be edited by literally anyone, but here is a link to the USAF insignia and those definitely look like Captain bars, to me, which would mean that teenager Alex “screw authority” Manes grew up to become Captain Manes, and outranks his dad. I’m not an expert on the military at all, and so if you want to know more I would 100% suggest you go read this by the awesome @ober-affen-geil who breaks down the military stuff that we see on the show. Also everything else they’ve written. It’s good. I got lost in her meta tag trying to write this.

Having told Michael to move his rig and there’s separate space between them again, Alex and Michael return to opposite sides of the screen. The contrast here is immense; Alex’s bright “yeah, we’re not supposed to build on Santa’s workshop, either” comment is flippant and bright, there are no shadows on his face or covering him at all as he makes a joke that Michael knows is anything but. The darkness on the shadows over Michael’s face (below) are a clever lighting choice which shows conflict and unrest. Not just because Alex is leaving, but because the Air Force are buying up The Crash Site. 

Okay, then some stuff happens and I’ll dip into that during the video meta, but then really, the bit that everyone’s interested in. I’ve only included two shots of Cameron and Max’s sex scene because eh, we all know that it’s a you-scratch-my-back kind of situation but it’s cool to look at the positioning vs Malex in theirs. 

So there’s something deeply impersonal about how this is shot, it’s distant and wide-angled, the two of them are pressed together but there’s nothing there that tells us this is anything more than a quick shag in the kitchen. There’s no use of any of the motifs we come to associate with our key pairings (Echo it’s the sun, Malex it’s colour and hands). We’re watching this from a distance, an observer of the most casual kind. There’s a lot going on (what the hell are all those post-its, is that her fridge? Her counter is kinda cluttered, it’s handy her stove’s in the middle of the room on a bank of its own. That green container’s full of shit, are they all her spoons and spatulas and stuff?) which means that our eye isn’t immediately drawn to the hot shirtless Max and really hot off the shoulder shit action Cameron has going on there. It’s distant and impersonal and we’re not meant to get invested.

It’s deliberately interspersed between Malex because of the contrast; casual fuck vs two people coming together after a long time and a decade (minus a couple of days) of longing all culminating in a passionate and desperate kiss. There’s desperation between Max and Cameron too but it’s different. 

So. The second Malex scene.

One of the things I really like about this first shot is how little everything looks. We never see the exterior of Isobel’s house, but from the way it’s shot when we do see it, it’s busy and cluttered and home. Both Max and Michael’s places are set further out; Max’s house is surrounded by empty, isolated space, representative of how lonely he feels - though he’s got Isobel, she’s married and happy and he lost Michael the night Rosa died. 

Michael, too, this shot of his air-stream with the truck in front of it is so small. Alex’s car (SUV? I’m not good with car makes) is right in the centre of the screen and you can see Alex moving into Michael’s space. There’s so much amazing meta out there about their relationship that I could only distantly dream of creating, however there’s a point here about Alex being the one to consistently reach out, and @chasingshhadows did a piece on how Alex speaks with his body - Michael throws words out but Alex talks with touch, with action - and this is the first we see of it: Alex going to Michael, going into his space physically. It makes Alex and Michael look so small in comparison to the expanse around them (and, because I’m a hopeless shipper, small in comparison to the magnitude of their cosmic fucking love, fight me). 

(I’m definitely gonna find a video and do a video meta like I did with the kiss, because ~reasons. REASONS, I TELL YOU)

We see Alex on the left here, starting out, his vulnerability has already been highlighted by how small and tiny he looks walking towards the trailer in a phenomenally wide shot (above). This whole seventeen again talk just breaks me. Not gonna lie. This might get a bit incoherent.

Michael’s in the middle-left of the frame, his position already defensive. His truck’s at his back and the open landscape is in focus behind him (where it was blurred behind Alex above). There’s a vastness that’s indicative of something greater; the use of space to make the two of them seem closer is such a clever choice. The backdrop of distance gives a sense of closeness and isolation to Michael’s trailer, but also to this conversation and them as two people alone in the wilderness (it definitely gives off that kind of vibe). 

Ugh, just. My heart. This scene. Alex approaching Michael (this is, of course, after Isobel’s pointed “is there really no one you would risk everyone to save?” comment at the Pony - which correct me if I’m wrong but we haven’t even seen M&M interacting yet, so all of these heavy lines, the dialogue cues, everything supports our cosmic love story, right from the getgo.)

They full on invade each other’s framing here; Michael in the middle-left, Alex in the middle-right, the vulnerability of the situation and the backdrop forcing them to share a space that’s intimiate. The camera’s close, but it’s not too close, so we’re more intimate than the (to be spliced but analysed above) scenes of Cameron and Max and these guys have their clothes on. (And Alex isn’t in his ACUs because he’s not on official business but his father seems to wear them all the time which means the dude needs to take a break every now and then but it’s also significant because that is one of Alex’s barriers down; he’s in his own clothes, clothes that are comfortable and not a uniform that he’s hidden behind and squished himself into a box to wear. It’s another step, another concession to being something for Michael)

The invasion of the frame is important; it sets up an inability to stay out of each other’s space, something that’s all part of a cosmic love story - you know, I’m not sure if you heard this but the two of them just connected like something cosmic - how they drift in and out of each other’s space, right from the first time they see each other.

I promised a video breakdown of the scene and here it is: I never look away, not really, A Cinematographic Breakdown - Part of The Semiotics of Roswell Meta. 

I’ll wait. Come back when you’ve watched them make out some. I’ll stick the link at the bottom again, just in case.

So even though they’ve been invading each other’s spaces this entire scene so far, this is the second time Michael watches Alex walk away and the way he surges to grab hold of him, how he takes up the entire frame just by stretching his arm out and rocking his body and the expanse of wilderness behind him is so telling about where his state is. He’s alone in the world and the person who’s making him feel less alone - who is also alone in the world - is moving away. 

When Alex looks back at him, they’ve got their my-side-your-side framing on and Michael’s still a presence felt here, even though Alex is meant to be the focus. Our eyes follow Alex’s gaze, which tracks us over to Michael. In the seconds that follow, as we all know, they go into the trailer to start it rockin’. But the camera never leaves the close, focused attention it bathes Malex in here. We’re meant to look at them both, unlike Cam & Max, there’s nothing else to focus on here but them. No interesting cupboard or fridge displays, no beer bottle and random green thing filled with utensils. Just Michael and Alex.

Before diving into the framing of the kiss, I just want to touch on the circular nature of this scene. We see it starting with this same wide shot, Alex and Michael looking tiny and alone, we end it with the same shot but neither of them are there. This serves as a reminder of how alone they are right now, how separate and distant and isolated which then gives us a real sense of claustrophobia and intimacy and allows us to feel the difference in vibe between outside and inside (as if we don’t already, but you know what I mean).

Here in the two shots above we see Alex looking ready to instigate, moving into Michael’s side of the frame and though we know it’s Michael that crashes into Alex, the implication here is that Alex is the initiator; he turned up at the ranch, he walked into the air stream (I will never get over Michael’s shaking hand), he’s the one that leans forward here to tell Michael yes, this, i want this now please. We follow from a fixed camera position, frozen in anticipation as to what’ll happen next.

The whole rest of the scene is dizzying; they surge together to the middle of the screen and we’re looking up at this kiss, the camera’s tilted upwards so we’re in a lower position, signifying the importance and overbearing nature of this relationship, how it makes the camera move and swing and then we get the close up on their kisses (below) and they dominate the frame so close and tight that there’s literally no room for anything else.

We shift angles a little here; though it’s all pretty quick for something so steamy and epic. We go from a off-centre shot (above) to a centre shot (below) which gives us the full glory of Alex’s fingers sinking and twisting in Michael’s hair as they kiss like it’s the only oxygen in the tiny space. We’re still crowded close and tight, there’s no room to breathe which allows the audience to get truly caught up in the moment. We’re back viewing them from a level angle, too, allowing us to get sucked in.

The snap away from the close up to the mid-shot is purposeful and the centre focus of Michael (below) gives us a moment to breathe without actually allowing us any space from what’s happening. This taps back into the voyeuristic tone of the Malex kisses, though, as the camera bobs as a person would, Alex and Michael’s world rocking the same way ours does at the realisation that they are about to do the sex thing.

Excuse me, Michael Vlamis, how dare you have such a fucking filthy expression on your face (below) and not expect this pairing to have sailed more ship than Helen of Troy? 

The camera swings again, cutting to Michael pushing Alex onto the bed. Over the progression of the scene, it’s been slowly swamped in a sort of 1980s dusky yellow, adding a sense of nostalgia, almost sinking the scene into sepia. It feels like a dance they’ve done before, the force with which Michael pushes Alex back (below) makes Alex look almost like he’s not sure that they’re gonna go through with this - maybe it’s too much, it’s too long (close up angle, can’t breathe, sepia-yellow like tea-stained photographs - too old, is it the past?) but then Michael strips and we all scream into oblivion. 

Up next week, episode 1x03! Until next time, folks!

(tagging by request: @space-malex​, @istilfeelicantrustyou​, @ineverthoughtiwouldneedasideblog​, @lire-casander​, @i-never-look-away​, @stydiaeverafter​, @signoraviolettavalery​, @saadiestuff​, @callieramics​, @ubiestcaelum​, @tasyfa. if you wanna be tagged in future posts, let me know!)