#you are seeing that child perform for the first time and its the song you sang to him as a baby that hes composed a movement around

[firelise]

Ronke Adekoluejo as Nanon aka Mama Joseph Bologne CHEVALIER (2023)

[blondephenobarbitol]

I'm thinking about the implications again.

The numbers that the hive mind performs aren't random. Both the lyrics and the choreography will often boil down to to one purpose: to cause pain. (Pokey is ruthless.)

Sometimes it's physical, and that's easy to spot. The cops spend half of their song just kicking and pushing people to the ground. Join Us And Die literally ends with Ted getting beat up.

And when the choreography doesn't allow for it, the lyrics are specifically trying to elicit an emotional response. The hive uses Alice to torment Bill. He's watching someone he loves die in front of him. It does the same for Charlotte.

Okay, the hive gets a kick out watching people suffer. That's not new information. But the implications...

Look at Inevitable. It's a pretty significant shift from the rest of the numbers. Whereas those seem tailored for pain and fear, Inevitable seems to be comforting? Just look.

Paul walks out, and the first thing he does is hug Emma. Which doesn't seem significant at first, but think: Did Bill get that same courtesy?

Alice's first line is meant to taunt Bill. Paul's is almost consolatory; " Emma / I'm sorry / you lost." I won't dissect this completely, the theory is that this first line is genuine. Paul is actually sorry that their plan failed.

And when you take a look at the choreography, it becomes clear that it's a lot kinder than the other songs.

We see Paul waltzing with Emma and kissing her hands. And even though he's not letting her get away, he's not trying to hurt her. He's not even trying to intimidate her. He's shown more than once bending down--getting on her level, like you would to a child--as opposed to towering over her.

The lyrics aren't messing with her either. Whereas Sam is manipulative and Alice is spiteful, Paul's lyrics are reassuring.

"I'm still the man you trust," is a lot different than "Don't you twust me?" when you get right down to it. It carries with it a connotation of 'I'm okay, and you will be too.'

"What if I told you I made it?" actively contradicts the 'I killed your loved one' narrative that Alice used with Bill.

It's not like Emma is buying any of it. She's still terrified. Paul doesn't need to hurt her or taunt her in order to scare her, just singing was enough. But it's clear that he's not trying to.

The hive mind gets a kick out of watching people suffer. Emma is the leading lady. You'd think that she's the one who should have the most brutal song. But she just doesn't. It seems like her song is trying to be the kindest.

We know it's implied that once they get infected, people are still conscious inside their musical doppelgängers (source: the line "your own body is your front row seat" as well as Sam breaking through its control long enough to say "Charlotte" before falling back under).

I think Paul was conscious during Inevitable. I think he knew that they weren't escaping this. I think he knew he was eventually going to kill Emma, and there was nothing he could do about it. But I think he didn't want her to suffer.

Instead, I think he resolved to give her as kind a death as he could. He would lie. He'd tell her he was happy and that she was safe. He'd be as gentle as the hive mind allowed. She was running out of time, so he'd love her with every second they had left.

(but that's just a theory...a musical theory... and cut)

[honeykaes]

the mashup

punkrocker!wriothesley x reader II 2.7k

warning: smut, 18+ content, minors do not interact, afab!reader with no set pronouns, music! au, modern au, punkrocker!wriothesley, r&b!singer!reader, semi-public sex, consensual filming, creamipes, fingering, riding, piercings, unedited

synopsis: your record label insists that the next phase of your career needs to require you to branch out to other genres and collaborate with an artist. After a long time of searching, to your surprise a punk rocker seems interested not only in the music, but yourself too.

Music is an avenue of expression, at least that’s what you always told yourself. You always felt yourself escaping into the vibrations and notes, amplifying your emotions and imagination as easily as putting two earbuds in.

There were many genres to which people escaped, and yours was the slow, sultry tones of R&B. With its elements of pop, gospel, blues, and jazz with a strong backbeat, you found yourself as one of the top performers in the genre. Your name was associated with the top streamers of Spotify and Apple Music. You even had trending songs on TikTok, people would dance or lip-sync too.

As a child, you never imagined the pitchy singing of your idols would bring you here among the hottest stars.

Despite the success, your record label was craving something different from you—eager to break into the “next phase of your career”, or so they say. They insisted you branch out into new genres and collaborate with some trending artists to give you a push towards winning a Grammy.

You were naturally hesitant, wanting to stay true to your craft and tune but their silvery words and promises of popularity caused your position to falter. Still, you wouldn’t just be collaborating with anyone your managers would send your way, you’d make sure of that.

The first one your label brought to your attention was Childe, a popular alternative singer from Russia. He was making waves in the Western market. His music was…alright and his personality was okay. Something about him irked you though, so you ended up passing on that opportunity to your label's dismay.

The second person they introduced you to was a pop singer by the name of Focalars. Furina was her real name though and she was as eccentric as ever. She was a bit vain and her slight condescension tried your patience a little too much, so you ended up passing on that opportunity as well.

Finally to your shock, a punk rocker reached out about a collaboration. No one would imagine R&B and Punk Rock could mess well, yet his label insisted otherwise. You recognized the name before, Wriothesley. He had been away from the spotlight for a while, only having small shows in London after an incident.

You heard he had punched out some hotshot producer for creeping on his subordinates at a party one night. Wriothesley ended up getting blacklisted for a while as a result. You weren’t sure why he was blacklisted, the creep Wriothesley punched out had it coming, but you knew the music industry was the music industry. Perhaps people were fearful that other cockroaches like that producer would get squashed by Wriothelesy as well.

Nevertheless, his label team things with your image and reputation could help mitigate his own in the community. 

When you first met Wriothelsey was interesting as well. Your labels had just finished the contracts, agreeing to a collaboration between your team and his. He would be singing a cover of one of your popular songs; ”everyone loves a rock cover”, your manager said. 

In addition, the two of you will be working on a new song for an upcoming film, your labels salivating at the thought of getting a Grammy and Oscar nomination.

Needing a break from the paperwork and discussing business, you headed out to the balcony to get some fresh air only to see him smoking there instead. His ears were decorated in silver piercings and a hoop loomed on his bottom lip. He took a drag out of his cigarette, letting the smoke blow out and dissipate in the cool air.

His eyes seemed tired, but his icy irises locked onto your own as he began to cough in surprise. He balled his fist up hitting his chest, to try to help him breathe as he tried to sputter apologies.

“Sorry there, I didn’t see you. I try to make it a habit for people not to catch me indulging in my vices,” he chuckled, still coughing from his surprise. You softly chuckled as well, walking up to him to admire the skyline. London was as gloomy as ever, and it seemed you would be remaining here for the time being.

“I didn’t think you were much of a smoker,” you hummed. The man playfully rolled his eyes, taking the cigarette out of his mouth and looking at it. His gaze seemed nostalgic admiring the soft ambers of one end of the rolled nicotine.

” It was a bit of a bad habit when I was younger. I usually just drink a cuppa’ whenever I get a craving but didn’t have an opportunity to so I caved,” he admitted. He threw the cigarette on the ground, stomping it out with his large black combat boots tied up in yellow and purple laces. You chuckled and nodded.

“I get it. No judgment here. Had to stop drinking coffee for a while. One day I drank about 4 drinks and could see my hand shaking when I was trying to write lyrics. Told myself to never get that far again,” you recalled. Wriothesley let out a hearty laugh at your story.

“See, we all got our vices,” he replied.

There was a soft pause between you two as you two looked at the towering buildings below you. The smell of rain on asphalt was prevalent. It must’ve been raining earlier when you were in your meeting, finalizing the collaboration. 

“I’m curious, why did you specifically ask to collaborate with me? Your managers at the meeting informed me that it wasn’t just their idea but yours,” you asked. Wriothesley simply shrugged before lifting his arms nonchalantly as he placed his hands on his jet-black hair with gray streaks. 

”I like your music, what can I say,” Wriothesley replied. You quirk your eyebrow in confusion. Why on earth would someone like him enjoy music from you? Wriothesley must’ve sensed your confusion before a lazy smirk made its way onto his pale face.

“What? Do you think I only listen to one specific genre? Should never judge a book by its cover” he murmured, tutting. You bit your lip, gaze darting from him in slight embarrassment. It was true. You didn’t only listen to R&B after all, you enjoyed a plethora of genres regardless of if it was the genre of music you made yourself.

”Besides, I see all the time people taking different genres and finding a way to mesh them together,” he added. Wriothesley moved so his back rested on the balcony as he crossed his arms and a more genuine smile fell.

“It would be an honor to do that with someone’s music I admire,” he finished.

Recording soon began after that. It was always interesting to see his fingers glide along his electric guitar, strumming and musing as if he were on another plane of existence. He would often flash you winks at these sessions. Banter turned to flirting to the point rumors began circulating in the office, but the two of you didn’t care. It was fun having him in your life and hard to fight off the smile whenever his callous hands would brush against yours when he got the chance.

A few months passed and it was finally time for the last recording session. As everyone left the studio for the night, you decided to stay back to fine-tune things on your end until you felt satisfied yourself. When you walked out, you noticed Wriothesley sitting on the couch. He was scrolling on his phone and looked up, hearing the heavy door of the recording studio open and close.

“Seems you finally got out. Took you long enough, love. I did want to celebrate with you,” he mused as he rose from the couch. You couldn’t fight the smile creeping on your lips seeing his presence right in front of you.

“Celebrate what exactly? Done being in this stuffy room together for now,” you retorted. Wriothesley simply smirked and shrugged.

“Perhaps I could take you to a pub and celebrate that way. Get a few drinks, I can show you the sights of London before you jet back to LA tomorrow,” he suggested. You took a sigh. You truly weren’t in the mood to socialize in a dark tavern tonight. 

“I don’t know about that….Why? Are you trying to take me out on a date?” you chimed back. Wriothesley chuckled and walked closer to you. 

”Maybe. Think I can be lucky enough?” he asks, hands reaching up for their chin. Your eyes widened slightly, shocked at his nonchalant confession before your expression softened. Your hands reach up, placing themselves on his firm chest. 

“We can always celebrate here…too…y’know…” you suggested. Wriothesley expressions darkened, a grin forming on his face. His hand left your chin, making its way towards your waist to bring you in closer to him.

”Didn’t think someone with a reputation like yours would be so naughty,” he hummed, deep in your ear.

”Don’t judge a book by its cover, I think you were the one who said that, no?” you retorted. 

Wriothesley leaned down, capturing your lips. His lips were sweet, tasting faintly of chapstick he must’ve applied earlier. His hands wandered up and down the curves of your body as the two of you made wait onto the couch.

As your form plopped down on the expensive leather couch, Wriothesley crawled on top of you. His hand cupped your clothed cunt, watching you grind onto his hand desperate to get any bit of friction you could. He sucked his caine as he smiled at the scene before letting his hand dip between the waistband on your pants and cup your now bare cunt.

“Already drooling for me…” he murmured, fondling your soft cunt. You rolled your hips, whining as his fingers brushed against your clit. Growing impatient, Wriothelesy, took his hand out before tugging on the waistband of your pants, bringing them and your panties down with it. Your bottoms were thrown aside on the rug, shielding itself from falling on the cool tile ground.

His icy eyes finally gazed at your cunt bare to him. He pressed his finger against one of your puffy folds, pushing it to the side to spread you out further and watching your hole convulse at the mere thought of having him inside of you. 

Clicking his tongue is satisfaction, he slowly sinks his finger inside of you. You whined, feeling the cool touch of his silver rings decorating his fingers as he slowly pumped them. His other hand goes beneath your shirt, moving towards the valley of your breasts.

He grabbed a mound—rolling your pebbling nipple with the side of his thumb while his lips pressed against your neck—nipping and sucking the sensitive skin. His fingers curled as he continued to thrust while the calloused pad of his thumb massaged your clit.

You writhe under his touch, soft moans falling from your lips. He shifted, his hips slightly bucking as his own erection pressed in his tight pants satisfied by the music falling from your mouth. His fingers drilled inside of you faster as the sloshes and lewd noises of your cunt echoed in the room. 

“That’s it…that’s it…you’re almost there, love. C’mon and give me a show,” Wriothesley grunted. A loud moan is ripped from you as you throw your head back. Your body twitched trying to come down from your high as Wriothesley whistled in amused, satisfied by the way your cunt squeezed and pulsated on his fingers. He dug his free hand into his jeans pockets, revealing his phone.

“Mind if I memorialize this,” he asked, flashing his phone to your tired gaze. You furrowed your eyebrows but whined feeling him pump his fingers slowly in your overly sensitive hole. 

“...If you show anyone and I mean anyone, Wriothesley—” you threatened albeit agreed. Wriothesley chuckled, moving to click on the camera app.

“And risk losing a person like you? Never. Besides, I don’t like the idea of anyone else seeing you like this…whining and crying just on my fingers. Y’know if you made a face like that then I wonder how you’ll look with my cock inside of you, hm?”

Wriothesley began recording as he continued to slowly pump his fingers inside of you before slowly dipping them off. He chuckled, admiring his digits coated in your slick before smacking down your clit as you jolted. You scoffed and grabbed his phone, filming the camera in his direction. 

”Well then why don’t you also give me a show,” you suggested, quirking an eyebrow up with an amused expression. Wriothesley chuckled and nodded. He slowly took his shirt off revealing his fit form, tattoos adorned his arms. His nipples were flushed and pierced as well.

”My eyes are up here, love,” he joked. You fought the urge to roll your eyes before you shifted the camera towards his crotch. He played with the waistband of his pants before slowly letting them fall, his cock immediately smacking to his lower stomach, pulsating eagerly.

He pumped his cock a few times, you could see precum budding at the tip along with his Prince Albert piercing. His moans are light and airy, clearly teasing you as you rub your thighs together.

He leaned over and claimed your lips as he grabbed the phone from you. His tongue dragged against your bottom lip as you moaned in the kiss. He shifted you on top of him so that he was lounging in the chair instead. You could feel how hard and thick he was as his cock pressed against your leg

”Well then, I can’t do all the work…Why don’t you go ahead and take a seat” he suggested, patting his upper thigh. You took their shirt off, hovering above their cock. You grabbed onto his member as Wriothesley sucked a breath in before you slowly sank down it.

As you slowly moved down on it, you could feel how much he was stretching you out. The dull burn as you inched closer was getting to you. Wriothesley offered a sympathetic smile reaching out with one hand to rub your clit to encourage you to sink down further. Although it was a tight fit, you eventually bottomed out. Your body shuttered feeling the foreign coolness of his piercing pressed against your gummy walls. 

His hand eventually leaves your clit before trailing towards your thighs and resting on your ass, where he gives it a tender squeeze.

”Don’t keep me waiting, lovely,” he cooed. With a grunt, you slid up before sliding back down continuously, pressing your hands against his chest as you bounced on his cock. Wriothesley bit his lip, zooming in as he reached out to fondle your tits before drifting the camera back down to where his cock was disappearing inside of you.

He could feel how tight you were, etching him to reach deeper inside. He starts to thrust up causing you to moan. You weave your own hand down to play with your sensitive clit to get more friction.

Wriothesley clicked his tongue noticing, before throwing his phone on the ground without a care. His large palms grabbed onto the globes of your ass before his pace grew faster. You could barely think as he pistoned himself inside of you, legs quivering as you didn’t bounce on him anymore.

His cock continuously hit that sweet spot inside of you as you shifted and gyrated your hips— drool dripping from your lips. You rub tight circles on your clit faster.

“There! There! There!!” you yelped out. Your back arched, as your eyes rolled to the back of your head finally reaching your high. Wriothesley grunted nails harpooned in the plush of your ass as his lower half bucks up, spilling cum inside of you. 

He continued to thrust inside of you, pushing it deeper while he groaned. Your voice quivered, feeling his warmth completely coat you as thick globs of cum smeared on your folds and thighs. You let your upper half lean down to rest as Wriothesley patted your ass gently, red from how tight he was clinging onto it.

His lips pressed against your shoulders for a tender kiss, heavy pants echoing in the recording studio.

“This’ll be a night to remember…” Wriothsley chuckled before kissing your sweaty forehead. His gaze softened at your tired panting one.

“I say it’s a good thing we will be working quite closely together for the upcoming year, wouldn’t you say, love?”

[fiendishfables]

hello!! i saw ur blog and i was super excited to see another aroaceee is it alright if you do platonic adam x reader headcanons? he can be reader's friend, sibling, or preferably reader's father figure as long as its platonic, anything u'd like is fine! sorry if my request is kinda weird lol, i just haven't seen a lot of platonic hazbin hotel stuff (especially stuff with adam in it)

a/n: Always good to meet other aroace individuals, indeed. I personally love Adam, he is absolutely my favorite character. I’ve been dying to write for him more and thinking of him as a dad is just my favorite scenario-

warnings: cursing, Adam being Adam, brief mentions of sex, subtle hints at Lute x Adam (if you squint)

words: 944

additional notes: this was one of my first asks I ever got; I AM SO SORRY FOR THE WAIT. Enjoy~!

Adam as a Father Figure

Headcanons

First of all, he never expected to actually have a kid of his own, but now here he was

By the time you turned 6, you knew about every single curse word in existence, along with a (disturbingly) decent amount of female anatomy

Lute gets promoted to babysitter

When Adam is off performing with his band or needed in the council/other Heavenly resides, Lute is responsible for keeping track of his child

Even if she lost you (which she has, multiple times) he won't be that worried

You were a kid and as far as Adam knew, kids needed food

Hence how he knew you would find your way back to him eventually

Okay scratch that, maybe he does get a little worried...a lot

Starts to doubt his ability as a parent

Once he even got Sera to send out a search party for you because you had been gone longer than usual

It worried him sick whenever you went exploring, but he was almost a bit prideful that his offspring had managed to inherit his sneaking around capabilities already at such a young age

Lute has had to console her boss many times in response to your random disappearances under her watchfulness

He has legit been facedown on the couch with his head in her lap whilst he bawls his eyes out, blabbering to her about his worries pertaining to you, and then somehow that stems to his hopes and dreams in life (he doesn't wanna talk about it)

Only for you to walk in with food from some random location about 10 minutes later

You'd be on the floor as soon as you enter the domicile because Adam would have jumped on you and then proceeded to hug the very life out of you (all while stealing your bag of food in the process and running off with it)

Calls you a bitch, dumbass, and 'a little shit' for worrying him

Though he would never openly admit he had been worried

He doesn't care if you have a social life, he wants you home safe before 9pm, sharp

── ･ ｡☆*☽*☆ﾟ.──

Teaches you how to play guitar

He claims its because he wants to pass on one of his awesome talents to his only child, but he also really wants you to join him and his band on stage one day or another

You are in the starter stages of learning and are able to accurately get chords down and learn to read sheet music

A tear just may have come to his eye

The first song you two ever perform together is "Hell is Forever"

He did see someone try to give you a rose after your performance and nearly knocked them out

Trust him, he's a sex and relationship positive guy (for the most part) but he also can't help but feel like he wants to protect you at all costs

If you dare to call him over-protective, he will very gladly give you the silent treatment for a good 5 minutes

After that time mark, he will be groveling at your feet and whining about how sorry he is (rare that he actually says 'sorry')

His biggest fear is his own child having it out for him and not wanting anything to do with him

A clingy parent, no doubt

Wants to train you in the ways of becoming an Exorcist Angel

Poor guy is a bit insecure about everything and needs extra reassurance, though he would never ever outwardly ask for it

That's a sign of weakness in his eyes

Not for his child though

You come to him with even the smallest hint of watery eyes and he is already going full dad-mode

Determined to find the fucker who made you upset

Promises to give em' a good ol' kick in the balls (or vag)

Adam won't discriminate, he's just there to beat the ass of whoever hurt his precious baby

He will get in a fist fight with Sera in order to make you happy

Just expect to be the one he then blames when he gets demoted

── ･ ｡☆*☽*☆ﾟ.──

Adam totally took lots of naps before he had a child, so this just makes for the two of you ending up crashing on the couch together and creating a melodic tune out of your in-sync snoring patterns

Anything the two of you can do together without constantly arguing is a miracle, so this is to be cherished

He has definitely given you some very creative nicknames (as he calls himself 'Dickmaster')

Lute has taken many pictures

She wants to make a photo album and give it to Adam one day just to piss him off

But as she knows how much he really cares for you, she does not want to risk him growing apart from you due to something stupid she did for a few momentary laughs

Let's you two have your moments without interrupting

The two of you always fight over food and who gets to pick where you go for the evening, if going anywhere at all

Lute claims that you are making Adam all the more emotional, but no one seems to be complaining

Especially not the High Council

Its nice to have him shut his mouth for once and remotely think about his actions and who they could potentially effect

Adam has something to lose now, and everyone in both Heaven and Hell alike knew it

No demon spawn would ever get to set even a foot near you

You were the first life he felt truly responsible for

He refuses to fuck it up and lose someone else he cares about

He would protect you until the ends of time, whether you liked it or not

[pap3rcherry]

୨୧ “WORLD WE KNEW” ♡.°୭̥

Hazbin Hotel x Betty boop reader

Type: General headcanons.

Genre: Fluff, romantic/platonic.

About reader: Reader is feminine, very short like betty and reader does not have betty's age, shes way older.

Characters: The crew

୨୧ when you first got in the hotel, everyone was curious about you, some thought you were weird looking, others thought you looked cute and some... thought you were an actual child. (ahem... nifty)

୨୧ Alastor personally found you cute, but wouldnt admit it, since we all know how he tries sooo hard to be mysterious and edgy. (and honestly? it works and it makes him look even more attractive).

୨୧ speaking of which, i think he would be the only one to fall in love with you, although it may take a little while, but it does happen if you put effort in it (or if you're insanely lucky)

୨୧ Nifty would be so happy to see someone who is small like her, so she doesnt feel like the only gnome in a hotel full of giants.

୨୧ i heavily HC that Husk would be your friend, since your so charismatic and emotionally mature and how you seen so stable, he honestly finds it cute and surprising that theres someone a little decent in the hotel.

୨୧ Everyone in the hotel either finds you charming or absolutely dainty, especially when you do that "bu bu biro" sound, its very adorable.

୨୧ back to Alastor, the reason he would take a liking to you is probably because you remind him of his times and how polite and charming you can be at the same time, you really are something else to him.

୨୧ Charlie personally finds you ADO-RA-BLE, you are so cute and calm to others and is very mature, she even asks herself how did you even ended up here.

୨୧ You are friends with everyone in the hotel since you are so goddamn charismatic and mostly an extrovert, you just match everyone's energy in the hotel perfectly.

୨୧ When Lucifer went to the hotel, he honestly was surprised that it was even possible for someone to be at least a little shorter than him, but yet, here you are.

୨୧ You performing one of your little songs for the gang in the show & tell day <3 (Alastor was very smitten but wouldnt admit it)

୨୧ Angel would make you repeat your little "bububiro" all the time because he finds very cute.

୨୧ now lets talk more about betty boop!reader

୨୧ You were probably be a Frank Sinatra, Brenda lee, Liana flores fan, it matches your charming but somehow calm and collected personality

୨୧ your room would have more calm color palette, it probably would be draped in black, grey and white, your bed would be those queen sized with lacy decorations on the poles, real queen and fancy shet.

୨୧ Vaggie would probably like your hair, because of how singular and cute it looked she would ask if she could touch but she doesnt wann ruin it. (Unrelated but i really like betty boop's hair design)

୨୧ the egg boys probably calls you "fancy short lady" since you're wel... short, but they enjoy being around you since you are so kind and sweet with them, sometimes you even entertain them with your little songs and short shows.

୨୧ You and sir pentious have a normal friendship, he respects you and you respect him, although you think hes very silly sometimes because of his way to act and... attempts to look tough.

୨୧ In conclusion, you would fit in very fast with the crew (<3)

A/N: im so sorry if this is short, im very sleepy but wanted to provide something for yall cuties.

[cool-fancier]

A Dance of Synergy

Requested by anonymous

Synopsis: Passion for dance ignited at a young age led you to WayB and a close friendship with Bada. A surprise battle ensued at Street Woman Fighter 2, showcasing your hidden connection. The shared synergy while dancing together left fans curious about the unspoken bond between you and Bada

A/N: I did rush this so please don't mind and I'm sorry if like the timeline doesn't make sense

Word count:2.6K

Your passion in movement as a child inspired you to pursue a career in dance. You found comfort in the rhythm of music from the age of five, your body responding easily to every beat. It felt as if the songs themselves were telling stories that could only be expressed through dance.

Your enthusiasm expanded immensely as a result of your unwavering dedication. Hours spent mastering each step, pirouette, and leap became a tribute to your unrelenting dedication. Dance wasn't just a hobby for you; it was your soul.

You caught the attention of local dance communities as you refined your skills, leaving a lasting impression with your mesmerising performances. Acclaim didn't come easily—countless hours of effort, pushing your body to its limits, and battling self-doubt constituted the foundation of your journey.

Then came the key moment when your sister, Noze, entered the competitive dance world for the first time. She saw your brilliance and strong commitment and realised she needed you at her side. WayB, Noze encouraged you to join her crew with her contagious enthusiasm.

Joining WayB wasn't just about dancing; it was a decision that changed the trajectory of your career. Together with your sister, the crew took the dance scene by storm, your synchronized movements leaving audiences in awe. Noze's energy blended seamlessly with your finesse, creating a dynamic duo that captured the essence of every performance.

Your partnership with WayB elevated your profile in the dance industry. Recognition followed as your talent caught the eye of choreographers and artists alike. It was during these collaborations that your expertise as a choreographer flourished, carving a path that eventually led you to the pulsating heart of the K-pop industry.

WayB's reputation paved the way for their entry into Street Woman Fighter, an electrifying dance competition. Your sister, Noze, encouraged the crew to embrace the challenge, sensing the opportunity to showcase your collective talents on a grand stage. The experience not only solidified WayB's position but also propelled you further into the dance industry's spotlight.

— — — — — — —

Your chance meeting with Bada at her dance lesson was a memorable experience. You recall approaching the studio anxiously, the slight fragrance of sweat mingling with the excitement of learning from one of the finest. Bada's enthusiasm filled the room as she effortlessly lead the class through the difficult choreography.

With your exact techniques and contagious excitement, you drew Bada's attention as the class progressed. Her compliments at the end of the lesson seemed like a reinforcement of your commitment to dancing. You had no idea that was just the beginning.

After the class, while you were catching your breath, Bada approached with a warm smile. "Wow the famous Y/N from WayB ,You were amazing in there!. Are you new to my classes?"

You chuckled nervously, grateful for the compliment. "Thank you! And stop I'm not that famous , this was my first time here. I couldn't miss the chance to learn from the legendary Bada Lee."

Bada's laughter was music to your ears. "Legendary, huh? Flattery will get you everywhere! I'm glad you enjoyed it. I hope to see you in more classes."

From that day on, you became a regular at Bada's classes. Each session was an opportunity to learn from her and share a few laughs along the way. Your admiration for her talent grew, but so did your friendship.

Your interactions expanded beyond the dance studio as the weeks evolved into months. Coffee dates, casual lunches, and even spontaneous dance-offs became common. The relationship between you and Bada was undeniable, the shared passion for dance forming the foundation of your bond.

As your friendship with Bada grew, so did the moments of discovery. You found yourselves plunging deeper into each other's worlds amid dancing rehearsals and late-night hangouts.

Bada recounted stories about her experiences in the K-pop world with magnetic passion. Her eyes twinkled as she described the joy of choreographing for some of music's biggest stars. You listened closely, enthralled by her passion for dance and the industry insights she gave.

In turn, you opened up about your experiences with WayB, detailing the high-octane moments on stage as well as the creative process behind some of your most memorable performances. Bada was an attentive listener who asked probing questions about your craft.

You discovered shared interests and variations as your chats progressed beyond dance. Bada's taste in corny romantic flicks mirrored yours, and spontaneous movie nights became a favourite hobby. Every shared laugh and meaningful conversation enhanced your friendship, from arguing the best dancing styles to playfully criticising each other's dress choices.

There were also times when you both confided in one other about the difficulties you faced in the competitive dancing scene. In those moments, your mutual support and understanding established the cornerstone of your new partnership.

There were glimpses of something more in the midst of the growing friendship. The lingering looks, the unintentional touches that sent sparks flying, and the butterflies in your stomach when you were together—it was an emotional dance that neither of you could resist.

It was during a spontaneous outing to a bustling street food market that the unspoken tension between you finally surfaced. Amidst the aroma of sizzling delicacies and the ambient chatter, Bada turned to you with a thoughtful expression.

"You know, spending time with you has been incredible. I feel like I've known you for much longer than we actually have. There's this connection between us that's hard to ignore."

You nodded, feeling the same way but also unsure of where to take the conversation. "I feel it too, Bada. It's like we just... click."

The air between you held a silent question, a mutual acknowledgment of the unspoken feelings that lingered beneath the surface. It was a defining moment—a crossroads where friendship and something deeper converged.

With a soft smile, Bada reached out, gently taking your hand. "How about we explore this further? Take things one step at a time and see where this journey leads us?"

Your heart skipped a beat at her words, relief flooding in as the unspoken tension dissipated. "I'd love that, Bada. Let's see where this dance takes us."

That moment marked the beginning of a new chapter in your relationship. From there, the transition from friends to partners was a natural progression, solidifying the beautiful connection you shared.

Amidst the bustling street food market, the conversation lingered in the air, a silent understanding hanging between you and Bada. The playful banter and shared laughter seemed to create a cocoon around the two of you, shielding you from the outside world.

As the evening sun cast a warm glow, Bada leaned in, her eyes twinkling mischievously. "You know, there's one thing we haven't tried yet."

Your heart raced, anticipation mingling with a hint of nervousness. "And what might that be?"

With a playful grin, Bada teased, "A proper goodbye for the night, perhaps?"

A shared chuckle punctuated the moment, the air thick with unspoken anticipation. Without a word, you leaned in, your lips meeting in a gentle, playful kiss. It was a fleeting moment, but one that spoke volumes—filled with the promise of something beautiful blooming between you.

Pulling away, both of you wore matching sheepish grins, a hint of color dusting your cheeks. "Well, that was unexpected," you chuckled.

Bada, her laughter infectious, replied, "I blame the romantic atmosphere of the street market. It's making me do crazy things!"

The shared laughter dissolved any remaining tension, the ease of the moment reinforcing the comfort you found in each other's company. With a knowing glance and a playful wink, you both continued your stroll through the market, the echoes of your laughter mingling with the vibrant ambiance.

That spontaneous kiss became a cherished memory—a moment that sealed the unspoken feelings and added a touch of whimsy to your budding relationship. From that day forward, the warmth of that shared kiss lingered as a silent promise of the affection and connection between you and Bada.

— — — — —

The Street Woman Fighter 2 concert was a highly anticipated gathering of dance crews, and in a surprising twist, you had managed to secure a spot for an unexpected 1vs1 battle against Bada. It was a sneaky decision, known only to the organisers, because you didn't tell anyone, especially Bada, about your participation.

As the evening progressed, the crews showcased their abilities, and each performance was welcomed with deafening acclaim. The electricity in the air crackled with excitement, as the battles grew, leading up to the final act of the day.

Bada, as Bebe's leader, had captivated the audience with her crew's dazzling performances. She had no idea that an unexpected opponent was waiting in the wings—a challenger who was more to her than just another dancer.

Bada's amazement was obvious as the emcee announced the surprise 1vs1 match. As you went onto the stage, the spotlight illuminating your silhouette, her eyes opened in surprise. The audience murmured in confusion and excitement, unaware of the backstory behind this sudden face-off.

The emcee's voice rang out throughout the venue. "Ladies and gentlemen, a surprise addition to today's battles! Joining us for an impromptu 1vs1 against Bada Lee is none other than Wayb's Y/N!"

Bada's expression was priceless as the music began, signalling the start of the battle. You took a position opposite her, a teasing smile on your lips. The expectation of the crowd contributed to the intensity of the event.

As you began your routine, the first few beats of the song boomed throughout the venue, your motions flowing and precise. Bada, taken aback but never one to back down from a challenge, matched your intensity with her own trademark style, the dance floor serving as a canvas for an unexpected battle of styles.

As the battle progressed, the tension between you and Bada crackled in the air. Each move was a silent retort, a playful challenge to the rumors that had been circulating within the dance community. The audience, caught in the exhilarating showdown, cheered for both of you, unaware of the deeper connection that existed between the two dancers on stage.

In the midst of the battle, a playful wink and a mischievous grin were exchanged between you and Bada. The unspoken understanding added an extra layer of amusement to the competitive atmosphere.

The battle reached its climax, both of you showcasing your best moves. The audience erupted into applause, thoroughly entertained by the unexpected showdown. As the music faded, you and Bada stood facing each other, panting but wearing matching grins, a shared secret concealed beneath the surface.

The atmosphere in the arena erupted with energy after your heated 1vs1 bout with Bada. Sensing the heightened energy, the emcee introduced a surprise segment: a collaborative dance between you and Bada. As the familiar chords of a popular song filled the room, you both exchanged a shocked look, your unspoken connection sparking a spark of anticipation.

As you and Bada took your places on stage, the audience erupted in applause, the spotlight casting an ethereal glow around you. As the music grew louder, you began to move in perfect unison, each stride mirroring the previous one, as if your bodies were speaking a same language.

The chemistry between you and Bada was undeniable, the unspoken bond manifesting in the synergy of your movements. Fans were mesmerised as your diverse dancing styles merged effortlessly, producing a mesmerising tapestry of motion.

The earlier battle's humorous banter and competitive edge had been replaced by an effortless harmony, with each move complementing the other. It was as if you both anticipated each other's movements, a monument to your friendship's unspoken understanding.

With each elegant turn and intricate formation, the audience, entranced by the exhibition of unity and delicacy, shouted louder. Whispers and gasps flooded the room as your and Bada's chemistry transcended the dance floor, creating a lasting mark on everyone in attendance.

As the music reached a climax, you and Bada finished the dance with a magnificent final posture, the audience's cheers echoing throughout the venue. The shared moment between you two lingered in the air, a silent testament to the deeper connection that existed between you.

The emcee, beaming with enthusiasm, approached the center stage amidst the thunderous applause. "Ladies and gentlemen, let's give it up for Y/N Y/LN and Bada Lee! What an incredible performance! The chemistry between these two dancers is simply undeniable."

Fans, who had been speculating about the nature of your relationship, couldn't help but notice the palpable connection between you and Bada. The synergy that had unfolded before their eyes left an impression that was impossible to ignore, sparking a renewed wave of curiosity and excitement among the audience.

The emcee, sensing the electric atmosphere, approached with the mic. "A spectacular showdown! Y/N, Bada, any words for our audience?"

You stepped forward, the smile on your face concealing the deeper sentiment. "Thank you all for the love and support. It's been an incredible experience sharing the stage with such amazing talent."

Bada, her eyes gleaming with excitement, added, "Absolutely! The energy here is electrifying. Thank you for being a part of this journey!"

The crowd cheered, unaware of the hidden dynamics at play between you and Bada. As you left the stage, the playful banter and shared glances remained concealed, adding a layer of intrigue to the rumors that continued to circulate within the dance community.

The crowd cheered, unaware of the hidden dynamic between you and Bada. As you left the stage, the playful banter and shared glances between you remained concealed, adding an intriguing layer to the rumors that continued to swirl within the dance community.

— — — — —

In the hushed aftermath of the concert, the backstage area embraced a serene ambiance. You and Bada found a secluded spot away from the bustling crowd, the shared moments on stage still vivid in your minds.

Bada's smile was soft, filled with the remnants of the exhilaration from the performance. "That dance was something else, wasn't it?"

You nodded, a smile mirroring hers. "Absolutely. The synergy between us was incredible."

A comfortable silence settled between you, the weight of the unspoken emotions adding a layer of depth to the moment.

The shared glance between you held a silent agreement, the bond you shared extending beyond the confines of words. In that quiet space, amidst the fading echoes of the concert, a mutual understanding lingered between you and Bada.

As the quiet lingered, the intimacy of the moment heightened. Bada's gaze softened, her eyes searching yours for a shared truth. Without a word, a gentle yet purposeful movement drew her closer, and in that silent invitation, you felt a warmth envelop both of you.

The world around seemed to fade as Bada's lips met yours in a tender, sweet kiss. It was a moment that felt suspended in time, a silent celebration of the bond that had quietly grown between you.

When the kiss gently parted, the serenity of the moment remained, a shared intimacy that transcended the public eye. Bada's eyes met yours once more, a depth of emotion conveyed in that silent exchange.

"Thank you," Bada whispered softly, her voice carrying a weight of gratitude and affection.

You smiled, a warmth spreading through you. "For what?"

"For being here. For understanding. For this moment," Bada replied, her eyes shining with sincerity.

In the quiet embrace of the backstage, amidst the remnants of the concert, you and Bada stood, hand in hand, the unspoken intimacy of the night weaving a tapestry of shared memories.

It was a moment that etched itself into the story of your relationship, a moment that celebrated the beauty of dance, friendship, and the love that had quietly blossomed within the rhythm of the music and the unspoken language of your movements.

[cosmic-ghost-hermit]

Hello! The art on this reading is done by me! If yall wanna go check out my art blog its called @starlitghostfawn 🖤🩵🤍

Remember take what resonates, leave all the rest behind but always be open to new experiences!

PILE 1

Crystal: Green Fluorite

Astrology: Aries ♈️, Capricorn ♑️, Pisces ♓️, Virgo ♍️

Figurine: Blossom Bunny

Song: “Memory” by Toby Fox

Pile 3, your inner child has a pixie-like energy that makes them super hyper and happy. However, they have a huge complex about success. They are surrounded by expectations that were put upon them long ago. Now you are the only one putting those expectations on them. They need some time to play. Space to do whatever they please with no pressure to perform or to do your absolute best with no mistakes. Allow mistakes to be made. Allow yourself to be human. You are so hard on yourself and think yourself in circles over the littlest mis-step. Mistakes a part of humanity and being alive. Your inner child is an earth angel that is allowed to learn messily. You will make yourself and others proud even if you take time to let them free.

💚🩷🍡🍐🧚🏿‍♀️🧝🏽💗🌸🌷🪷🐛👛👒🧠🍀🍉💕🍣🍾🎀♻️🛍️🥝🍈🌳🐙🧚🏼💶💖📗🪴🐢

PILE 2

Crystal: Rose Quartz

Astrology: Scorpio ♏️, Taurus ♉️, Cancer ♋️, Aquarius ♒️

Figurine: My Melody

Song: “Wasteland, Baby” by Hozier

Pile 2, your inner child is congratulating and celebrating with you! They have this soft, shy energy. They have asked something from you and you gave it to them! Fantastic job, friend. I think what you have been working on is loving your inner child more actively. You worked through some emotional issues recently and met your inner child where they needed you. It has made your life different but happier! Maybe you showed them a love they haven’t felt before or at least haven’t felt in a long time. I definitely see maybe you did something new with your hair that your inner child finds so fun and fulfilling. I also see you could have worked through the root of an ED and are working on your recovery! Your inner child is so grateful to you. You are learning to love each other and trust each other. Which I see you have worked very hard on. You have been doing your shadow work and healing. It is time to take a break and pour yourself your favorite drink. Appreciate yourself for all the work you have been doing.

🤍🩷💛🐭🍯🥼🌸🩰🦢💑🎟️💒🔑🧺🛁🐰🌺👙🍰👻🌼🫀💅🏻🫖🧁💝⚜️⚱️💿🍭🍌🥞🐩

PILE 3

Crystal: Angelite

Astrology: Sagittarius ♐️, Gemini ♊️, Leo ♌️, Libra ♎️

Figurine: Cinnamoroll

Song: “always, i’ll care” by Jeremy Zucker

Hello, pile 3! Your inner child's energy is like a fire-cracker. They have a very spicy energy but it feels very tame. An outside force (probably a mother or another feminine role model) definitely shoved them in a box early on. Your spicy energy goes unappreciated by you because of how some of your inner child has been hidden away. Two things I think would be important for you to know about this. First, you are free of this third party who judged you. You don’t have them hanging over your shoulder anymore. You are free to let your inner child be themselves. Second thing, your inner child’s aggression is a very useful and protective tool. Let them get angry. Let them bark at people. Not allowing that energy out is less protective than relaxing and permitting them to protect you from people or things that you know hurt you. I know you’re scared to empower them. Their discomfort is worthy of being addressed. You don’t have to keep them away to remain safe anymore. You are 100% allowed to be a little brat sometimes and there is nothing wrong with that. Anger is part of the human experience and is important to keep some control over but not a total domination. Free the little one.

🩵🤍🌊⚗️📖🔪💦🏳️❄️🦋🛜💎🔭✉️🍚🪼👗🔂🛏️🗯️🧊💍📘♿️🪥💀🕯️🥶🫂👖🐋☁️

-ghost 👻🩵

[endlessnightlock]

If you feel inspired, #10 “I’ve seen the way you look at me when you think I don’t notice.” from the random prompt list <3

Her dad's guitar takes up a fair amount of space in Katniss's lap, boxy but lightweight, with room to hide behind when her nerves get the better of her. Slightly battered and smooth from use, the balsawood is cool to the touch when she picks its strings and makes it sing. But she's getting antsy, so she puts her guitar in its case and wanders over to the corner of the stage. She's careful to stay hidden behind the heavy velvet curtain. Ms. Trinkett will give her the devil if she catches her peeking out.

People are trickling into the high school auditorium: classmates, a few teachers, and a smattering of parents. She sees Gale and the rest of her cousins file into a row near the stage with Hazelle. Prim and her parents have been here for a while. Katniss hopes the auditorium won't be too full when Principal Flickerman starts the show. She's not a confident performer. Singing and playing are more of a compulsion for her, a hunger she has to feed rather than a bid for attention.

When the clock ticks down to zero (performance time! Ms. Trinkett brightly states), she's waiting for her turn to go on stage with the guitar strapped to her chest.

Madge starts the show with a classical piece. The school's piano is out of tune, but her best friend makes it work. Katniss can't keep the smile off her face. Madge is the shyest person she knows, and she's proud of her friend for getting over that fear to play tonight.

"Wow. Did you know she could play like that?" Peeta Mellark asks. Somehow he'd wandered away from the group he was standing with and up to her side.

Katniss gives a sharp nod, surprised he said anything at all. Not that he doesn't talk. He's popular, friendly, and always hanging out with one group or another. He just never talks to her.

"I mean, of course you do," he laughs at himself. "Is that why you're such good friends? Shared talent?"

She shrugs. "Maybe." She's never considered that before, but he might be on to something.

"Nothing like twenty questions before we go onstage. I'm just a little nervous. Talk too much when that happens."

"No, it's okay," she says. A strain of nervousness makes her insides tight, too. She decides she likes talking to Peeta. He says what he's thinking, but in a more thought-out way than she can pull off. Words stumble across her lips, leaving her embarrassed more often than not. "You can talk. It's not too much."

Peeta grins at her.

"Um, what are you doing?" she asks. "Not like, life in general. For the show."

"Comedy. Going to try getting laughs out of my dumb jokes."

"Oh. I didn't know you did that."

"Me neither, until two weeks ago when they posted the sign-up sheet. I had to find a way to get into the show."

"I was dragged here kicking and screaming. That's brave of you to try something new."

"Or stupid. We'll see." Peeta says. "I know you have a beautiful singing voice, but I didn't know you played."

"My dad taught me. This is his, actually." She pats the fretboard, keeping her eyes on the strings, feeling shy at the compliment. "I didn't know you'd heard me sing."

"I think it was your first public appearance. Kindergarten. Mrs. Paylor asked if anyone knew The Valley Song. Your hand shot up, and when you stood on your chair and sang, my fragile 5-year-old heart was lost," he says.

"That didn't happen," she says.

"Swear to god. You had on a red checkered dress, and your hair was in two long braids. I like your hair tonight, too. It's really pretty."

"Thank you," she murmurs. Katniss pats the braided, pinned updo her mother did for her. She likes the old-fashioned style because it feels in keeping with her mountain heritage.

Vague memories of that red and white dress invade her mind. She does her hair in a single braid most days because it's long and gets everywhere if she doesn't, and she did wear it in two as a child.

"You have an incredible memory."

Peeta shrugs, smiling down at the tips of his shoes.

"Peeta, you're next dear," Ms. Tinkett says, bringing Katniss back to herself. Madge's song was over three students ago in the rotation, and she hadn't even noticed.

"Wish me luck?" Peeta asks her quietly.

"Good luck," she says, kind of dumbfounded by their conversation. She'd caught Peeta looking her way when he thought she didn't notice but never considered what that meant.

She couldn't hear most of Peeta's stand-up routine, but she caught amused laughter from the audience. When it was her turn to go onstage and stand in the spotlight, their conversation was still in the forefront of her mind, and she found her fingers moving over the strings, playing The Valley Song and remembering the little curly blond headed boy from kindergarten.

[jmdbjk]

Episode 2: Adolescence 

Beyond the Star, produced by HYBE Media Studio

They begin by conveying how important concerts are for them. Concerts. Not performances. Concerts.

They thought they “made it” in 2016 when they booked the Olympic Gymnastics Arena for a concert. It was the dream venue for idols at the time and are amazed they are performing there and never imagined they’d have a concert that big.

During the interviews where they are expressing their thoughts about what performing during concerts means to them, we see footage of different concerts illustrating what they are trying to explain. 

Hobi harkens back to their first concert in October 2014 for The Red Bullet tour, at Seoul’s AX Korea with 6,000 in attendance. He says they didn’t care about how many hundreds or thousands were there, they were just so thankful for the fans who came to see them.

Attendance rose at each progressive concert. Their fourth concert in 2015 had 13,500 in attendance at the Seoul Olympic Handball Gymnasium, and their fifth concert in May 2016 at the Olympic Gymnastics Arena, mentioned at the beginning of this episode, had 25,000 in the audience. They were in awe at how huge it was when they first arrive at that venue, looking out at the empty seats before they began rehearsing.

They were always so emotional during their ending ments, so thankful for what they were experiencing after knowing how hard they’d worked from debut up until the end of each one of those concerts.

In the early years, the hearts of those young men were bursting with passion and to see so many fans supporting them had to be an overwhelming relief, its no surprise their emotions overflowed.

Though they finally saw their hard work being appreciated, the joy was tempered with having to deal with pushback.

One of the things I noticed that was not mentioned yet in Episode 1 was how much pushback, bullying, negativity and hate they received from their peers and other fans outside their team and company from the very first day.

Working their asses off to fulfill their dreams while being faced with all that makes it even more amazing that they stuck with it. 

It was them against the entire kpop industry. We all know how much BTS is hated by other kpop fandoms. We see it daily on the X timeline. The jealousy is real, it's destructive and it's dangerous.

BTS is untouchable now but in 2013, Jungkook was 15 years old. A CHILD! Jin was 20! BigHit had no money. There was a point after debut when they were asked to move out of the dorm because the company couldn't afford it anymore. Underdogs is an understatement, truly what the hell did they think they were doing up against all these established kpop groups, their fandoms and the big 3 companies?

Now, in Episode 2, we start to hear how the guys handled all this. For some of them, they did not handle it very well. Namjoon talks about his panic attacks and how he avoids the internet and going online during a song/album release. 

In Episode 1 we saw Hobi and Jin so thrilled and excited, anxiously waiting and monitoring online their very first album release at midnight on June 13, 2013 and for Namjoon to tell us now he can’t enjoy the thrill of that is so devastating to me. 

When an artist sends their art out into the world, it is like a living part of themselves, an extension of themselves that they lay bare to the world. The visceral reaction of panic when seeing people hate you for it…and the amount of courage it takes to ignore that and keep going and make more art to release into the world…I challenge anyone to show me they have THAT amount of courage.

And I implore you to understand the depths these guys LOVE their fans ESPECIALLY BEFORE THEY WERE BIG to keep doing it in spite of the hate.

Yoongi was incredibly diplomatic when he says “we had a lot of unreasonable controversies.” I would have said "we had a lot of total fucking bullshit that meant nothing thrown at us by a bunch of stupid butt hurt people." There, I fixed it for you, Yoongi.

They had a ludicrous amount of people gunning for them, hating them for being successful, hating them for being different. Jealousy drives people to do the most hateful things.

Jimin says, “having to deny the bad rumors was always so upsetting.”

Namjoon recieved death threats during the Red Bullet Tour. Early on they were accused of chart manipulation because they sold so many albums. This is the company had no money, there was no money to spend on chart manipulation!

They were accused of plagiarism and brought to court and were exonerated because it wasn't true.

Jimin received death threats at the end of the Wings Tour.

Being the humans that they are, with feelings and emotions, Yoongi says they and the fans were getting desperate and spiteful in the face of all this backlash and hate. 

The fan song “2! 3!” was an anomaly. It is somewhat somber for a song dedicated to fans. Most fan songs are light and cheery. But this song fit the emotions BTS was experiencing and bonded them closer with their fans and was again, another instance of the members being sincere and genuine in their expressions. 

The emotional scenes of BTS standing on stage, Army singing the lyrics back at them, waving their purple plastic bagged Army bombs, has to be one of the best memories for them. A truly bonding moment between artist and fan.

December 2016, Mnet Asian Music Awards, they win Artist of the Year. It is their first major award. Yoongi says “in a movie, the ending credits are supposed to roll at this point.”

They’ve reached the top… as they knew it. End of story... 2016? Nope.

Early the next year while they were on the Wings Tour, they were told they were going to the United States for the Billboard Music Awards. No other Korean act had ever done that before. They had no expectations for that trip. They had no idea what they were supposed to do when they got there.

It’s kinda cute seeing them prepare and wondering what to expect. They are so young and you can tell they are trying to figure out if they’re supposed to try to emulate the image of a western pop star.

When they get out of the van at the red carpet event, they all look around the back of the van to the other side of the street and see the fans screaming at them. They knew who the real fans were and they wondered what everyone else thought: perhaps people were just curious about who they were. 

Namjoon wonders how different it may have been had they, the members, been a little more culturally proficient, meaning at that time, they were inexperienced, naive and ignorant about the impact they were making. It was all a big wonder to them at that point. They were thinking “do they even know who we are?” 

Then they win Billboard’s Social Artist award, not a major award but still, it had been won by Justin Bieber for many years prior and now it was BTS’ opportunity to kick in the door. And they did. With all seven pairs of feet. Western artists began to take note and wanted to collaborate with them. The thorn in the western music industry's side had arrived in the form of this team of 7 and their fans.

Yoongi thought it was a one-off token award, but then they were invited to perform at the AMA’s. They can’t believe they’ve made it that far. 

They are soaring and going places they never imagined they’d go. Everything seemed like a fairytale, the success, the adulation, the global attention…

But it was happening too fast, their young minds, their emotional development and sense of self never had a chance to mature and catch up to their work load and the pressures and expectations their image and success placed on them. They never had a chance to stop and assess themselves personally and consider if this level of fame was something they even wanted.

Literally, they never. stopped. working. When they say "we just kept running forward" that is not a euphemism, it is literal.

As soon as one event, concert, appearance, fan meet, photo shoot, shooting Run BTS, music shows, whatever was over, it was on to the next one...from plane to hotel to venue back to hotel back to plane, to be repeated over and over.

In mid-2017, by the time they talked about resting for a while, it was perilously close to being too late. They still had the rest of the Wings Tour to complete through December. Some of them had already considered quitting. Some did not possess the confidence to endure the burden. Some of them wondered if pausing was the right thing since they were doing so well. 

They were confused by how they could be feeling like this after they’d worked so hard to get to this point.

The title of this episode is "Adolescence" and it pertained not only to the members who were just emerging from it and their careers that had gotten past the starting line and now riding an almost out of control rocket to stardom. It also was a point in time for the company trying to get its feet under it, for its leader Bang PD trying to steer this team, to figure out how to manage this worldwide sensation they'd created.

Bang PD had to learn how to deal with his team's enormous success as he watched them begin to burn out. He embraced a philosophy of focusing on the importance for an artist to have autonomy and be happy as a person which was not a thing in the kpop industry at that time. He was worried about their mental well being and their happiness. He suggested a break.

They knew there was an "end" coming eventually. End of contract, military... et al. They pondered the inability to enjoy the fruits of their hard work and that it couldn't "end" with them being unhappy.

We know in 2018 they renegotiated their contracts. 

For a group as close as they were, as committed as they were to their careers and to each other, they had to come together and discuss how they were feeling while being burned out, they had to admit to each other they wanted to quit. We don’t know the nitty-gritty details of how it went down but they worked through it and re-committed to each other and their team.

They didn’t give up and that tells me not a single one of them are quitters.

My own personal thoughts are that they recognized they needed to stop at that specific point in time and regroup. They knew enlistment was coming eventually and the typical life-cycle of a kpop group had been about 7 years when idols aged and younger ones took their place. But they'd reached places in the stratosphere that none other had before. I think they paused, recalibrated and actually let themselves seriously think of a future after enlistment that would allow them to keep up this level of success, to keep pushing boundaries...and therefore they re-evaluated what was in that contract to include things that ensured their well-being so they could grow. That new contract was set to expire this year, well after Jin was supposed to be back from the military and most likely all of them. I am curious to know what that original 2018 contract planning included...

Anyway, I accidentally rambled a lot adding extra context and my own thoughts while watching this episode.

Review of Episode 3 next…

[offbrandkyoya]

21 oh

previous | masterlist | next

cw: panic attack, physical/verbal abuse

The day has arrived. After many practices, sweats, and of dehydration, it was time. Scaramouche’s first performance. He acts all tough, but he really is nervous. It's been so long since he sang that he didn’t know if he could do it. Thankfully, Venti reassured him that he’d do just fine. He was starting to warm up to the members. A little bit, though.

He can hear the crowds chanting their names. "Are they always this loud?" He asked as one of the assistants fixed his makeup. "Unfortunately." Heizou responds with a sigh. "It's a pain, but you’ll get used to it." Kazuha adds in, and Xiao nods in agreement. Now, everything was fine, but Scaramouche noticed Aether’s quietness. He wasn’t good at comforting, so all he did was watch. "Alright boys, you’re on." The manager walks up to them. She says to Scaramouche, "Good luck." She says with a smile until she turns to the rest. "Don’t drag him down." "Yes, ma’am." The boys went onstage, Venti first, and headed straight to their positions. The crowd cheers.

"Good morning, everyone! It's been a while, huh?!" Venti yells, and the fans respond with a shout. "We’re back, but with a new friend! Let's see what he’s made of! But first, I’m your number one cutie, Venti!" He points at himself, and someone shouts, "I LOVE YOU, VENTI!" He chuckled and blew a kiss, then cupped his face. "I love you more!" The fans squealed in delight. Xiao steps up and says, "Hello, hello." He was interrupted by loud cheers, louder than Venti’s. "I am Xiao; please enjoy today as we put our whole heart into this." More cheers erupted, and Scaramouche could’ve sworn he heard someone tell Xiao to take his shirt off. Next was Kazuha, who waved as everyone shouted his name. "Hi, I am Kazuha, the cat man." He did a cat pose, and Scaramouche held his laugh. "I love you all and thank you for the support. I’m glad you’re here!" More cheers followed, and Kazuha continued to wave at them all until Aether stepped up. "Hi hi!" They all squealed and called his name. "It is me, Aether! Hope you enjoy the show, my cuties!" He made a heart sign, and they all screamed like little girls. "Hey, hey, hey!" Heizou shouts as he points to the fans. "Hey, hey, hey!" They responded. He laughs, "It’s me, Heizou! Thank you for coming to our show, and I hope you stick around the whole day!" He pumps up his fist, and the fans do it in return. Lastly, it was Scaramouche's turn.

He rehearsed this a lot, but he felt so embarrassed. He took a step forward and cleared his throat. "Uh, hi, I am Scaramouche. Its a pleasure meeting you all, and…" His cheeks turned red. "And being able to see your cute faces in person." The crowd went wild, and he heard them ask for his hand in marriage. "Please enjoy." He says with a small smile, and they go to their respective positions. Scaramouche was tasked with starting off with a surprise new song they wrote, but he was nervous as hell. The music started playing as he gripped his microphone. He started to sing, but he sounded uncertain. The quietness from the fans wasn’t helping, and it made him even more anxious.

He was starting to regret doing this until he looked down at the front. His heart skipped a beat as he saw your face. You were all sweaty and panting, so he assumed you just got here in a hurry. You made eye contact and smiled. He stared at you for the longest time before smiling back and starting to sing with confidence. The fans were surprised by the sudden change but began to cheer as they enjoyed the sound of his voice. You cheered as well, clapping your hands to the beat. You were so proud of him.

The show continued with ease. They performed new and old songs, but mostly old. You were enjoying every minute of it, as you couldn’t help but feel like a mother watching their child succeed. Your eyes were mostly on Scaramouche, though. He was so dreamy and beautiful. You really were in love with that man. To be honest, you thought it was just a silly crush, but no, Scaramouche was different. He was truly special. You blushed whenever you guys locked eye contact. Sometimes, he’d wink, and you couldn’t help but faint since you knew it was directed towards you. Scaramouche was so different on stage that it was kind of attractive.

It was nearing the end, with the sky getting dark. They were singing the second-to-last song, and you could tell they were exhausted. You wished they’d have longer breaks, but unfortunately their manager wouldn’t allow that. Still, you put in a whole lot of cheer to give them a boost. Everything was going well until Scaramouche froze. His singing got quiet, and he stopped, staring off into the distance. He gasped and started shaking. His grip tightened as his eyes shook at whatever he was seeing. His breath was shaky, and he started to sweat. The crowd started to whisper, and the boys stopped what they were doing, but the music still played. You watched from below as Scaramouche lost it.

He hung his head low as he tried to balance himself. He felt himself start to hyperventilate, and his head was spinning like crazy. The voices of his members were hard for him to hear as he wanted to leave. He wanted to run far, far, far away. Venti tried talking to him, but Scaramouche wouldn’t respond. The others tried as well, but nothing worked. Venti held his breath as he turned to his audience and said, "I’m so sorry, please wait for a moment as we try to fix things." He leads Scaramouche out of the stage to the back as the murmurs of the fans grow louder. You, extremely worried, shoved yourself through the crowd. "Excuse me, please." Almost all of them didn’t let you through, and that frustrated you. Guess you had to find another way.

Xiao and Heizou helped Scaramouche sit down, and Venti kneeled in front of him. "Hey, take deep breaths, yeah?" Scaramouche still wasn't responsive and continued to tremble. Xiao kneeled next to him. "Scaramouche, whatever it is that made you nervous, it’s over. It’s just us." Scaramouche wanted to believe those words so bad, but his mind kept saying otherwise. ‘She’s still here.’ The boys heard yelling, and that's when you arrived. "Scara!" You rushed to his side, and the guys noticed a cup in your hands. Scaramouche flinched at the sound of your voice. "Y-Yn?" He musters out. You nod, "It’s me. I don’t know what happened, but listen to my voice and our voices." You showed him the cup of water. "Here."

He looked at it and noticed your hands shaking. His heart started to hurt. ‘I made them worry.’ Slowly, his hands reached for the cup, and he took a small sip. "Thank you." You smiled and said, "Of course." "OH MY GOD!" It was their manager, barging into the scene. She immediately stormed towards Venti. "THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!" Your eyes widen, but Venti is unfazed. "YOU MADE HIM NERVOUS ABOUT THE PERFORMANCE! I TOLD YOU TO TAKE CARE OF HIM, AND LOOK WHAT YOU DID!" "Ma’am, it wasn’t any of our faults." Scaramouche-" "SCARAMOUCHE WAS FINE UNTIL HE WAS IN YOUR CARE!" "That’s not true-" Suddenly, she slapped him, leaving a huge red mark on his left cheek.

You gasped as your hands gripped Scaramouche's chair. "God! You’re such a worthless leader! If you weren’t connected to Zhongli, I would’ve had you gone from the very beginning!" Venti looked down, lifeless. "I’m sorry. I’ll do better." "I’m getting tired of your pathetic excuses, Venti!" Kazuha went in between them. "Ma’am, we’ll make it up to you, we promise. We’re terribly sorry for causing Scaramouche trouble." She scowled. "Tomorrow, everyone but Scaramouche, will skip breakfast, lunch, and everything for dance practice." "Yes ma’am-" "That’s not fair!" You stood up abruptly, standing in front of Scaramouche protectively.

She furrowed her brows. "You again?! You’re always messing things up!" "Venti didn’t deserve that! You should be the one apologizing!" She started to walk towards you. "You have no right talking back to me." Xiao felt anger boil inside him as he went to your aid but stopped. "Don’t." Scaramouche spoke up. The manager froze. "W-What?" He looked up at her with a glare. "Don't, or I’m quitting." He then went and held your hand. You could feel his fingers tremble, and you soothed them for comfort. She backed away from you and the others with a growl. "Go home. This concert is cancelled." Then she walked away, leaving you all behind. Once she was gone, you frantically turned to Venti. "Venti! Are you okay?!" He looked up and smiled at you. "Don’t worry about me. I’m fine."

He then went and ruffled Scaramouche's hair. "Let’s head out. We’re all exhausted from this fiasco." You were still upset, but you nodded. "Okay. I can give you all a ride." "We appreciate that." Xiao says with a small smile. They all headed to your car, which, thankfully, was out of sight so no fans would bother you all. "I’m sorry there's no space for us to fit." "It’s fine." Venti says, "Scaramouche, you can sit next to Yn." He smirked since the two of you were still holding hands. Scaramouche didn’t get that and just nodded. "Thanks". The rest squeezed themselves in the back, and you dropped them off at their place one by one.

It was Aether’s stop, and when he was going to leave, you remembered the talk. "Wait! Aether!" He turned to you, confused. "Yn?" "You wanted to talk after the concert. We can talk about it outside." He simply smiled. "No, it's okay." You frowned. "Are you sure?" He nods, "Yeah, it wasn’t that important anyway." He smiled once more and closed the door, heading to his doorstep. You faced the road a bit upset. Though you smiled and turned to Scaramouche. "It’s just us now. Where do you live?" "No." You blinked, a bit startled. "N-No?" "I…" He looked down sadly. "I don’t feel like going home right now." You frowned but smiled once again. "Okay, we can stay at my place." He looked up at you. "Are you sure?"

“It’s okay! It’s just me anyway." "Okay." And so you headed towards your place in silence.

- WE REACHED 400+ FOLLOWERS YIPPEE!!!!!

- HEY! I promise we’ll know what’s aethers deal soon trust 🤞

- second part is also a written post it’ll take me a while though so pls bare w me 🙏🙏

- ngl ur aether theories make me giggle because only I know what’s up w him 🤭🤭🤭🤭🤭

🏷️ @sakiimeo @coquettemaiden @rmiyuki @kur44pika @theblueblub @jxxji0309 @dreamsofminnie @ohmyfinggod @redactedhimbo @kunisbeloved @akagism2 @sketcheeee @aeongiies @thefandomcrow @beriiov @thenightsflower @yukiipc @scaraapologist @scarletttcroww @samyayaya @crucnhice @monaypo1 @feiherp @myaaones @warcelia @hangecanweholdhands @yuminako @valiryyz @screechingxiaolover @tiddieshakeshownu @ilovechuuyaa @d4y-dr3am3r

[lilyginnyblackv2]

Animate Times did an interview with Kazuki and Rei’s Japanese VAs. Here’s a rundown of the interview:

1. The interview asked how they were able to act out characters that have a job that basically involves killing other people. Rei’s VA brought up the fact that a work doesn’t always have to be super realistic in its approach, and Kazuki’s VA added on to that, saying that the basic premise is that they are humans beings first, assassins second. Their job just happens to be killing people, so they don’t waver in regards to that, but that is their only main difference between ordinary people.

2. Kazuki’s VA’s favorite scene, even after Episode 6, is still the scene between Misaki and Kazuki in Episode 3. He likes the complexity of it, specifically on Misaki’s side, and how it showed that the series was more than just a comedy. When the interviewer asked, “You don’t sympathize with Kazuki?” Kazuki’s VA states that he does, of course, understand Kazuki’s side of things and that the theme of the series is “parenting is eternal” (or more natural put, “parenting is a life-long commitment”), but that he also understands Misaki’s side of the things as well.

3. Rei’s VA’s favorite scene was seeing Miri at the zoo in Episode 6. He liked seeing how she acted and behaved without Kazuki and Rei around, seeing her get into arguments and how her dynamic is at the daycare, etc.

4. When asked what their impressions were of Miri, Kazuki’s VA was like, “SHE’S SO CUTE!” lol (I feel that is so in-character too!). He then mentions how she was very proactive for a 4 year old, like it was the TV show “Old Enough.”

Rei’s VA says, “I think I can hear the theme song. (lol).” And Kazuki’s VA goes on to say that he thought that there might be some camera operator around, lol. He then talked about how his own daughter, who is around Miri’s age, isn’t as proactive as her.

5. They continue to talk about how Miri isn’t shy and is pretty skilled at a lot of things (for her age). They bring up that there is a bit of a maturity to her, but that she still has a child-like innocence and that a lot of fathers likely would not be able to resist her cute smile, forgive her, and dote on her. haha

6. Rei’s VA referred to Kazuki and Rei together as “The Buddies” (バディ), lol, and he also praised Miri’s VA. He also talks about how Rei is very concentrated on his own interests and keeps to himself a lot, but that Miri has helped him break out of his shell (lit. brought a new wind into his life).

7. The final thing that the interviewer asks about is what facial expressions of Miri’s the two of them would like the audience to pay attention to.

Kazuki’s VA: “Hmm, well, she’s basically cute all the time!”

Rei’s VA: “But, her facial expressions change quite often.”

We learn from Kazuki’s VA that the back of the script has a picture of Miri’s face on it, and that the expression is different every time. He also mentions how he likes the way Miri’s VA does Miri’s laugh. 

Rei’s VA finishes off the interview by saying that while Miri makes a lot of cute faces, she also makes a lot of comical ones too, so be on the look out for those!

----

A link to the interview will be in the comments below. It was such a cute interview and honestly feels very in-character to both Kazuki and Rei. I also love how Kazuki’s VA is a father and has a daughter right around Miri’s age, I think that aspect of his own personal life experience likely adds another layer to his performance.

[inventedfangirling]

Pran's Growth : from pran-so-cool to pran-in-love

Since I did one for Pat I thought I should do one for Pran too although this one turned out slightly different than Pat's and far faaaar (im talking crazy levels of scrolling far) more detailed because i'm only human idk how to be brief about Pran FORGIVE ME.

Look at him he's my baby, i just CANNOT. So that now we have established that I have unexplainable levels of fondness for him, and so can only view his actions through love tinted glasses which means i'm basically Pat which means I'm super qualified to write this post, lets move on to what i actually wanted to say.

The first glimpse we get of Pran's mind (if you look in the chronological order of events in the show's universe) then its during his conversation with Pat where they discuss what song to perform for christmas.

Here we see the normally closed off Pran share his feelings (albeit about the topic of the song) with Pat with an ease that feels uncharacteristic of the Pran we come to see later. Because while Dissaya was still overbearing and controlling, Pran hadn't had to bear the worst of it yet. For a single child without friends that he could really open up to, it was natural for Pran to feel a pull towards Pat boisterous though he was, because he offered him a space where he could for the first time in his life open up in. 

It could be argued that Pran didn't reveal anything to Pat (it could be argued otherwise too i will get to it soon) but for a person of Pran's nature, who finds expressing himself difficult the space Pat offered for him to express his creativity and his passion for music and song writing was by itself a lot. But it's not just that. Pran is not only talking about a random song is he? He is talking about putting his actual feelings into the song. How he likes the feeling of hesitation of wanting to jump in but being afraid to be heartbroken.

He is knowingly or unknowingly speaking about his own feelings with respect to Pat. I say unknowingly because it is hard to imagine Pran really revealing his heart like that if he really knew what he was going through at that very moment.

And how does Pat react to Pran's words. He pays attention, listens intently and encourages Pran's idea. Pran opened up and Pat let him and Pran actually felt great about it. Its one of the rare moments in his life where he could be honest about something so special. 

And then Pat goes on doing random thoughtful acts like making the guitar pick out of his own ID just cos he saw Pran was struggling to play the guitar without it. He had nothing to gain and he still did that. He is nice to him. He says hi to him by the juice stand, he tells him he'd see him in the music room. Like he wants to see him there. Pran almost forgets their family feud. He was falling in love after all. How could he not?

The feeling being new to him, Pran like any teenager was curious to see what would happen? 

What if I step closer? What if we spend more time together? What if i was more nice to him? Could something actually happen?

But then he sees InkPat in the music room and Pran loses the spirit he had suddenly gained. 

Maybe not. Pat probably didnt feel the same way.

 And then the bracelet thing happens. 

Of course he didnt feel the same way. 

And then the christmas show happens and they practice together again, they play music together again and music and his feelings for Pat have somehow been inextricably intertwined ever since that conversation they first had about the song. And so here he was finally singing the song in front of people, declaring his feelings out loud, and the crowd was actually cheering and grooving to their song and the whole vibe of it puts him in a space where he feels anything could happen and in a rare moment of indulgence he turns to smile at Pat while singing the song he wrote about them. 

But then before he could even taste the feeling of freedom that that performance was potentially offering him, it all comes crashing down as he sees his parents standing in front of him, face aghast and anger writ large on it. And before Pran knows it he's shipped off to a boarding school away from everything he ever knew.

For any teenager that's a harsh change. For a neurodivergent gay introvert like Pran it would have been an even more isolating experience. Finding himself in an unfamiliar environment with no friends, no family and just a bunch of strangers, his only companions the anger and frustration at the whole situation at his mother and the boy who broke his heart (oblivious though he was of it).

How could Pran have let this happen? How could he have ever thought there was something there? And even if there was, that something could happen? How could he let him in? Of course it was gonna end up like this.

3 years at the boarding school pass and we can assume that Pran makes his own set of friends during this time. But we know that none if any are close enough for him to even bring up later on. Which means the one person who got him to open up, who gave him a safe space to talk and share feelings was still Pat. The one person he didn't have to be anything other than himself was, Pat. The only person who he ever felt comfortable enough to open up to was Pat. And Pran can't believe his terrible luck when he sees him stand across from him. 

Unlike Pat who has seemingly gone back to acting like a spoilt child fighting for no reason who is trying to hold onto the person he had become the past 3 years when Pran sees Pat all his feelings come rushing back to him. Despite it all, despite the three years of gap where he swore to never let himself be in such a position again, the moment he sees Pat he is gone again. Because the three years felt like nothing suddenly. And he's once again standing across from the boy who broke his heart.

Why the hell did this have to happen? Out of all the universities he could go to, why this one?

And this time things are more conducive to their budding friendship. And Pat  soon gives up his macho act and somehow keeps finding excuses to spend time with him. Of course Pran's feelings sprung back up in twice the ferocity.

His defences were still up but what the hell was happening?

Why is he helping him out for no reason? Why is he offering to do that? What the hell is being like this way for? Why is he smiling at his dimples like that? This possibly can't be real.

And yet. Day after day Pat keeps coming back and Pran's defenses are slowly threatening to come down and it's scary but its also exhilarating, but it's mostly scary.

And then he's proven right. To have been scared.

Because of course Pat never feels the same way. Of course he likes Ink. Of course that's what was happening all along. Silly Pran letting himself hope again. How foolish of him.

Episode 5 is Pran scrambling to pull back and secure his defenses, Pat is never getting through this wall again. He's done with this. He can't possibly be heartbroken over and over and over again for the same oblivious guy who probably has not a single clue what he's doing to Pran's heart.

And then the freshy night happens and then Pat acts a confusing combination of angry and hurt at the bar and Pran is supposed to be celebrating but he can't wipe Pat's betrayed face from his mind and then if that wasn't enough the confrontation with Wai happens and things come to a shrieking halt in the rooftop where Pran has finally had it. He tells him.

He finally lets it out, in the most Pran way he could at that point, telling Pat to not give him any hope to not do this to him. But instead of the final nail on the coffin that he expects Pat to hammer in, he knocks the winds out of him as he tells no, because no he actually does not want to be friends. He actually wanted what Pran wanted?

After all this time?

And then they step closer and wait for a while before Pat finally leans in, giving him the kiss that he had been dreaming about since god knows how long. Except the kiss is too short and maybe Pat had only that much to give, but Pran had years worth of love and want and longing he had been carrying around and he wanted nothing more than to let it all go. And so he does. He pulls Pat closer and gives him the kiss that he's been wanting to give him forever. 

Pran tells Pat every single one of his feelings through that kiss. Because he was never going to ever be able to put them into words was he? But alas...if Pat wasn't putting the final nail on the coffin, then the wave of realizations that follow the kiss tells Pran that he needs to be the one to do it.

It's never gonna work out ever. This is the most they could ever have. And knowing that Pat returned his feelings doesn't make it any easier.

Because what the hell was he doing? Letting himself go like this!? Setting himself up for getting hurt again? Pat may have kissed him, but he liked Ink too didnt he? And even if he didn't any longer, their families hated each other. And the last time they knew they got close, Pran had to go through hell and back. 

How could he do this to himself again? No.

It is over. It has to be over. He can't keep getting hurt again.

And he pulls back.

By miles. He is done letting his guard down and getting hurt and causing hurt. This is best in the long run. He should just stay away from Pat. No matter how much it hurt. It was never gonna work out anyways.

But then Pat comes back. Pran pushes him away. He has to give up at some point. He has to. Why would he keep coming back? But Pat keeps surprising Pran. He keeps coming back and butting in and being a pain in the ass and Pran is at his wit's end because he just doesn't know how much more he can withstand. He could see how much effort Pat was putting just to have a conversation with him. And eventhough he was staying away to protect himself he also thought he was doing it for Pat's sake too. That it was better for everybody in the long run. But Pat's steadfast efforts finally get to him.

He was still the one person in the world he could truly be open in front of. His defenses were somehow at his weakest. And sitting there on that beach dreaming of a reality where their parents don't have a life consuming feud��going on Pran actually lets himself open up once again. After that it was just a matter of time before Pran was lured into the who falls in love first challenge bet. Bringing their love for competing with eo into this was the only way Pran could be eased into this.

Pat knows him so well. They've come so far. What the hell, he could win this challenge couldn't he? Pat followed him all the way to their hostile architecture trip didn't he? He would cave in.

Pat keeps surprising him though he keeps finding new ways to flirt and stump him, and Pran never to be beaten has a few tricks up his sleeve too.

Neither end up winning and things stay in that will they won't they when will they limbo and there was all chance of it continuing indefinitely and then Pat surprises him again.

He doesn't take Pran's easy out. Pran had basically offered to confess and end this bet. Pat was being handed an easy win. But he declines it. And then he surprises him even more by walking into the loss, showing up to play Kwan in a drama he didn't even need to act in, in a play he signed up for just to flirt with Pran and now the play he is offering to do, entirely and completely for Pran. At this point Pat really had the upper hand in the bet. And he still willingly volunteers to lose. He puts himself out there, knowing he will lose. Because on the other end of it Pat saw a relationship with Pran. Why prolong it any longer? And how could Pran not melt at that. Bet be damned. 

And that's why he cooks curry for Pat and when Pat tries to eat it himself, Pran stops him, looks at him meaningfully and then feeds it to him, as if signalling to Pat that if you lost for me, i'm losing for you too.

And so they start dating. And Pran now has to get used to this feeling of his defenses being down. His vulnerabilities exposed and his heart basically out there to be hurt. It was absolutely terrifying. And he wouldn't have had the courage to go for it if Pat hadn't done what he did. Showing him that he valued Pran and his feelings over his own ego. Pat's consistency and sacrifice proved beyond a shadow of doubt as somebody Pran could actually trust himself with. Over and above his overwhelming love for Pat, I believe it is that trust that helped him take that step. 

And Pat keeps showing him every step of the way that the trust was given in safe hands. After every fight, every disagreement, they stop and they talk and they communicate. Pran asks for time. Pat gives it. Pran asks him to keep it under wraps. He's okay with it. Pran compromises on a lot of things himself. He steps out of his comfort zone, willingly does things he wouldn't have dreamt of otherwise just to make Pat happier.

Because he realizes that if the relationship has to work, they both need to put equal effort. By being with Pat, Pran while being in a safe space gets to open up his heart in ways he would have been afraid to otherwise.

It is implied that Pran is the one who cooks for both of them, he leaves cute notes to make Pat smile when he's upset, he does random thoughtful things like putting the paste on the toothbrush for a waking Pat, he hurries home immediately to comfort an upset Pat, and even if it made his friend mad he still showed up to practice sessions and games because he wanted to support Pat and be there for him.

When Wai outs them it is the tremendous trust that he has in Pat and their relationship that helps Pran go over to assuage Pat and helps them get through it together. Every step of the way every block in the path they handle it together. His trust in Pat, his belief in their love growing more and more.

And that's why when Pran sees that Pat is quite serious about staying on at the beach, despite his reservations and fears and wanting to be there for his mother too he still goes all in. Of course he does. Of course he goes all in for the boy he has loved ever since he knew what love was. The one person who kept showing up over and over. The only one who he had complete and utter trust in, to be there for him. 

Because finally, finally Pran could see what he couldn't even dream of when he was young and a life he didn't dare let himself think about in their few months of relationship. A life with Pat, the kindest warmest love-shaped boy he knew, no matter how silly he could get, he would always want to be there for him, with him and he no longer felt like he had to clutch onto his defenses like they were the only thing he really had, because no? He had Pat didn't he?

The only person who knew what it was like being in Pran's shoes, and who loved him nonetheless and maybe even all the more because of it, the way Pran did with him, because he knew Pat would never hurt him knowingly.

He could do this.

He could do this with him.

His belief in their love, his trust in their relationship, the commitment that Pat expressed to him in that conversation, ensured that no matter what challenges came up later in their fake break up era, things would still be okay. It's because of that faith that Pran knew that he could afford to go to Singapore for a couple of years and they would remain strong though it all because of that assurance and confidence he felt in himself, in Pat and this relationship that they had nurtured and cherished.

We see him grow up from a boy who was scared of feeling things to a boy who was brave enough to overcome that fear to let himself be open to hurt to crying in the arms of Pat, letting himself be his most vulnerable to braving hurt to fighting for what he loves and doing what he feels is right.

We see his growth from when he went from being afraid to express his feelings to expressing that in actions and then in words and asking Pat to do the public confession and writing a song for him and asking him how good he was in bed and demanding Pat call him sweetly.

Unafraid of his wants or desires and no longer averse to expressing them. We see him growing beyond childish hijinks to buying a gift for the man who had once hurt his mother, because two things can be true at once ( Ming was an asshole, but he was still Pat's father). He was building a life with Pat, and a meticulous planner like Pran was obviously not going to leave his relationship with his future father in law to chance. 

And that's my take on how Pran went from "You still owe me" to "Every time i'm near you, nothing good happens" to "Can you please stay away from me?" to "You know that fact (that you aren't my friend) now leave" to "Someone like you what's to like?" to "You've got to stop doing this to me Pat" to "Why start when you know how it's gonna end" to "It's the kind of relationship i always avoid"  to "I care about you more" to "if you want my hand be brave" to "If i do that (thinking of it as a song for Pat) then how can i ever really quit" to "Being with you already feels like freedom" to "We like each other. Why does it bother anyone?" to "I can be anywhere as long as i have you" to "I wrote this song for him." to "Give it to him for me" to "If not you i won't allow anyone else to use it" to "Call me nicely" unafraid of expressing his feelings and desires, heart more open and loving than the one he started off with.  

To conclude and in short throughout the show the growth we see in Pran is perfectly illustrated in his password change from the Pran (who was uber protective of his own self and was emotionally repressed and closed off trying to appear cool and unaffected) of Pran So Cool to the unabashedly in love Pran (having made rapid progress in expressing his feelings and braving fears) of Pran in Love, and it's Pat's love and kindness that helped him along the way. 

The world didn't change him. Pat's love did.

[geronimomo-spd]

here is a list of what was in this show, and in what ways they updated/changed the pieces of music they played, and what they never played before. with a dash of commentery:

i am the doctor is the first track, neat, they did the Proms version, which combines the Pandorica speach theme right at the end

all the strange strange creatures, which yeah another Proms staple, it had a few touches of fresh violins in the end we did not hear before

they did a suite for the entire classic who themes they did play that night, apperently the two people behaind the rediophonic workshop were there to play it as well! that's neat, the 60s cyberman theme, (i love it dearly, got obsessed with it pretey recently lol), they also did some stuff that i would not know to recognize if there is anything new about them: the sea devils theme, the city of death, and the 5 doctors! the same classic who themes they played i the proms 2013, either way they sound very nice, the orchestra really nicely blends in with the syntonizer and it feels like a loving hug.

oooh and they have a mini interview with mark and peter from the radiophonic workshop!

Abigail's Song (Silence Is All You Know) is very neat as well, no changes but its very nice. and they dedicated the piece to Michael Gambon, that's sweet

omg Steven Moffet hello, i did not remember seeing him on the cast list. they are using the season 4 intro as like an in between piece to welcome guests on stage by the way, his interview in nice but short, mostly talking in short about his time as a show runner and the diffrence between Matt and Peter.

sylvester mcCoy is here in the audiance apperently!

This is Galiffray is next, pretty standard but again beutifully played

the long song is next, no child singer, the same singer as Abagail's song as well, but gosh!! they included in it the part of the theme of this song that played when 11 regenerated?? and the new singing then payerd over it. it is the same theme part that played when the actual speech of the long song played, in front of the living planet, but without the speech itself it really takes you back to his regeneration in my option, they then layerd the singing part over it in a very nice harmony that made me tear up 😭 . once again just like they did in the proms 2013, but this version feels very updated

the companions suite, they went Rose - Amy, which sad no clara, bill or any other companion, but its nice to hear those themes again, also Martha's theme got a little bit more Wind Instruments and violins then usual! which extended it a little and that was very nice. it also felt like Donna's theme was a little bit quieter then usual, they also combined Amy's theme little starting notes to fuze organicly into the theme itself, the xylophone very imbeded into the theme instead of it standing out like in earlier performances. and gave it a little bit of extra notes right at the end.

Emily Cook interview! she apperently played in the orcestra in the show as well with the saxophone. and talking about the doctor who lockdown project! (i cannot believe i never knew about this thing's existance??? holy shit,)

Doomsday, had a fancy and really funky gaiter solo, much similer to when it was preformed at the proms in 2008, but this time its very distinctive, not playing along singing at all, just pure gaiter goodness, really enjoyable

Vale Decem was really funky! nothing new but as bombastic as ever, screaming its way to your ears

Am i a good man!! very nice to see a Peter theme finally making its way to the fold, though a lot of them were preformed at Doctor Who Symphonic Spectacular 2015, it was a much smaller scale as to the proms and this show is definitly bigger, god i used to be so obsessed with this themeee its not even funny, the version is very similer to there and you can reallly feel the drums punping at the start and its really energetic

omg twice upon a time?? damm, actual music released from something past season 9??? insane about this actually, oh i have never heard this before, its so gentle and remenicit of am i a good man in such a beautiful way, giving them theme a call back with emotinal and more action based end, it also adds the known and notable singer and some stuff from rtd era doctor theme?? and some funky violins from i am the doctor?? all leading to a fine finish?? i am in shock and aw. its like a finishing theme from Marry Gold to his era of the show. damm (if you are worried about The Shepherd's Boy, that will come later!)

a chris chibnall and Segun Akinola interview! Chris talking about the scrutiny he got for his era, and excitment about the whole thing, and Segun Akinola talking about the stress of the job and the freedom he got. THEY ARE ALL SO EXCITED FOR THE FACT THAT HIS THEMES FOR DOCTOR WHO ARE FOR THE FIRST TIME BEING PREFORMED AND I AM SO EXCITED ABOUT IT AS WELL HOLY SHIT

FINALLY the woman who fell to earth suite! confirmed to have: the woman who fell to earth, spyfall, power of the doctor, and a few suprises?? 👀 god i am once again becoming emotinal, i love 13's theme so much. the spyfall theme is so recognizable for its bond influence and so fun!! 13 era loves will know a lot more then me on the rest of it but god its so fun. DEMONS OF THE PUNJAB!! TRADITINAL INDIAN MUSIC WITH A FANTASTIC SINGER, god i wish we could watch this visualy. 13s regeneration theme is so GOOD IM CRYING, what can i even say, they didn't have the libraty of changes as this was the first and might be the only preformance of these themes, as little changes as possible for what i've noticed, but still, what a rollercoster of emotions

The Life of Sunday (Ruby's Theme) ...oh? piano? a lone and qiuet piano? a quiet and sad sounding theme? oh it expands! omg the slowely building violins?? the violins are truly the stars of this evening, and then the hopeful theme ends and now the violins are not celebrating the piano, they are moving towards a sad but nice main part. oh we are jumping forwad a little! oh wow, this is truly like a valce. the piano is the star but to what end? its slightly hopeful but very mournful existance

a lot of the versions had a little bit of a rytham change in most of the peices, little bits where you would think "oh is it out of rythem?" but no, its just a slight change in tempo, i guess to make the versions played here to stand out a little.

Marry Gold interview! hello! omg its so weird to hear his voice again. talking about his new era and coming back to who.

Fifteen, WHAT THE HELL THIS IS STARTING LIKE A SUPERHERO THEME?? oooh we are leading to an action based middle, the bassons are controling the theme! the trumpets!! its bloody danceable!! i am stimming all over the room! its fucking danceable!! it feels very action based very much like i am the doctor, a lot of rising violins, usually singeling hope, this feels like... such a fresh and new doctor. but it doesn;t sound... excited, it feels like a man on the run, it has a very clear dessperation going in, and i am neglecting to find any quiet moment if and they exist at all. the rising of the hope comes very sparadicly, much like Ruby's . it feels like they are contredicting each other simply by nature, but both of them are constantly searching for hope and i guess happines? accept he feels like he is searching for... quiet, peace, DAMM i gotta relisten to this to get more understanding of it

russel t interview! ok talking about his his history with who and coming back, mostly about appreciating the music in the show overoll

The Shepherd's Boy!!! FIRST TIME PREFORMING. god i am emotional once again, you can clearly hear the diffrent instruments individually at the start, the violins are lovely the chelos and everything else is really beautifully building up itself, the drums. the choir! all rising! they added the chior to the part right before the end!! added chior overoll andmakin it much more stand out as opposed to the soundtrack version. the drums were eceptinal!! in all of peter's era music. god its great

Doctor Who Theme (2023 version), lets go! the pianos! the quiet violins!! people have pointed out its similer to the movie middle eight and that's very true, the piano is truly the star of this theme and it shows!(edited) i am buzzing this was as great and better then i expected

[thefrontofmymind]

Can you make a joe quinn one where him and the reader are together since shooting st4 and now the show is over they celebrating it with the cast to go to a concert or festival and they sre not much of pda in public but now they dont care because they havent got much time together since then and at the concert they are like hugging snd kissing and they like closely hugging and hugging from behind snd at one song he holds her from behind and its kind of a slow song? Idk if it makes sense but can you also add in that they go to brazil after that to promote st4 with jamie and the reader snd jamie make fun of him because of his song and stuff? You can decize the ending :)

Hey Jude; Request (Joseph Quinn x costar!Reader)

a/n: hi lovie! idk how but bits of it changed along the way but i think it holds up! hope you enjoy!! kisses <;33

SYNOPSIS: Reader gets to experience their Vecna song with Joe

WARNINGS: none! just some fluff!

The crowd at Glastonbury was electric. Perhaps because it was the first festival post-pandemic, or maybe it was the fact that Paul McCartney, one of the most iconic rock stars in music history, was performing his greatest hits, but everyone around you couldn’t hide their pure, unbridled joy, and you felt the same.

You remembered when the lineup was released–you practically begged Joe to come with you to the festival. Seeing Paul McCartney live was a part of your bucket list, a well known fact about you, since you listened to the Beatles almost everyday while you were filming season 4 of Stranger Things, then going one step further–when asked what your ‘Vecna song’ would be in an interview just a few weeks prior, the only song significant enough in your mind that you could think of was ‘Hey Jude’, which you’d loved since you were a child.

You were thankful you didn’t get stopped much throughout the day, as much as you loved to meet fans of your work and take as many photos as you could with them, Joe was a bit shaky on the whole experience–he preferred to be more private, which you respected all throughout your relationship. You felt free to hold his hand, give him a quick peck as you left him to get some food from a stall while he stayed with your group of friends–there wasn’t a pressure to hide any display of affection, due to all the kerfuffle around you.

It was starting to get dark when McCartney began to play, and the temperature was rapidly dropping, chilling your skin and causing goosebumps to appear. You should’ve brought a jacket, idiot. All you had was shorts, a t-shirt, and a bright pink cowboy hat that came in a set that was shared among your friends. Your eyelids were just starting to get heavy, and you felt yourself grow more and more drowsy after a day of sun and excitement. You rested your head on Joe’s shoulder–he stood next to you in the field, arms folded as he quietly sung along to ‘Got To Get You Into My Life’.

Almost on instinct, he wrapped an arm around your shoulders, pulling you closer so you could lean on him. You swore you could stay standing there with him forever, just swaying along to the music. You didn’t think about the people around you, anyone who could possibly snap a photo and post it, before it spread across all ends of social media, none of it mattered in that moment.

The concert was fantastic, a dream. You sang as loud as you could, danced until your feet hurt, and ended the night by falling asleep in the arms of the man you loved. But unfortunately, the end the weekend, meant back to work for you and Joseph in the form of a twelve hour flight to Brazil the next morning. Of course, you were grateful for the opportunities the Netflix show had given you–not to mention a boyfriend who worshipped the ground you walked on–but between jet lag due to time difference, and then the late night-early morning, you were irritable to say the least. You just wanted to get the interviews you had scheduled done so you could go back to your’s and Joe’s hotel room and take a nice, long bath.

You, Joe, and Jamie were sat in your seats in a row, waiting for your first interviewer of the day to sort out his mic pack. You’d had a couple coffees to give you energy, but you were still glad that Joe and Jamie were with you–to provide some banter and back-and-forth, if nothing else.

After some pleasantries and the interviewer complimenting all three of your performances in the show, it was down to the questions. You were asked what it was like shooting in the middle of a pandemic, what was your reaction to the ending of the season, what did you hope would happen in the next season, and finally–the question that was so clearly coming–what was your ‘Vecna song’, the song that would save you from Vecna’s curse.

“I feel really stupid becuase I answered this as a joke at first but now I’m kind of stuck with it.” Jamie prefaced, looking to you and Joe. “I said ‘Party in the USA’ by Miley Cyrus!”

The three of you laughed together, though you couldn't deny it, it was a good song. Joe gestured to you to answer next, watching intently as you took a breath before you spoke.

“I think I’ve said it before but mine would probably be ‘Hey Jude’ by The Beatles.” The two Brits nodded in concurrence. “Me and Joe saw Paul McCartney live not long ago and it’s just such a good song, and-and holds such an gorgeous meaning and that’s why I love it.”

You placed a hand on Joe’s arm at the mention of his name, him placing his opposite hand on top of yours and rubbing it absentmindedly with his thumb. Jamie cleared his throat, making your mind jump back into your body and lose focus on the tingling in your hand.

“Mine is uh-” Joe chuckled a little. “Mine is probably ‘Up & Down’ by The Vengaboys, I’d say…Great song.”

Joe’s comment made everyone in the room laugh, while you readjusted in your chair–feeling the absence of Joe’s contact on your skin, you felt cold, even under the bright lights, and he felt the same.

[sweetqueerinthesummer]

Taylor Swift and the closet

The closet is one of the most widely known parts of queer culture, and Taylor has been investing it for so long in her art, so I wanted to draw up a list of the way she has been using it, trying to be as exhaustive as possible, so here is everything I noticed:

I Know Places performance

On the 1989 world tour, for the I Know Places performance, which is probably one of the queerest songs by itself on 1989 and one of the first songs in which Taylor talks about a secret relationship, Taylor decides to perform the song surrounded by closet doors behind which she hides, to avoid the media and protect her relationship.

Look What You Made Me Do (part 1: the music video)

In the Look What You Made Me Do music video, Taylor presents herself as locked up, again. She is in a golden cage that reminds us a lot of the visuals from I Know Places on the 1989 world tour (the cages were swinging in the visuals, and she is even on a swing in the music video). She is dressed in a full orange outfit, which is speculated to be the color of Karma, an album that would’ve been released in 2016 had everything with the West/Kardashian family not happened. It is interesting because it will not be the last time this imagery can also be linked to things that happened in her career against her will, but also because we sometime think of Karma as an album where she could have been more free (gay) than in reputation (this should be taken with a whole spoon of salt, the existence of Karma is, to my knowledge, far from proved, and its content is completely unknown, it’s just a theory).

Ready For It music video

Ready For It, as well as its music video, would deserve a dedicated post seeing how interesting it is in terms of closeting and how it lightens reputation as an album and a lot of what comes after. But I'm just going to say that:

Here, on the left, the robot naked locked up Taylor is her true self and on the right is her closeted public persona. 

This is, to my knowledge, the first time Taylor uses the imagery of the glass closet, in the music video of a song about bearding (if you don't know what I mean, go see the difference between the way Taylor describes “he” in the verses and “you” in the chorus). The music video seems to confirm that the song is about the difference between her public persona (and relationship) and her private one, instead of being a love story (no love interest can be seen in the music video), and it ends with the closeted Taylor being free, and the public persona being destroyed...

So It Goes

"Gold cage, hostage to my feelings" She is trapped in a gold cage (like in the LWYMMD music video), because of her feelings that keep her imprisonned... if that doesn't sound like the closet, I don't know what does honestly.

The Lover era

The closet imagery is almost completely absent from the Lover Era, which fits the timeline: it's the era during which she was supposed to come out.

The only appearance I noticed is in the Lover music video, where her closet is full of yellow clothes, which is mainly significant in the fact that yellow seems to be the color Taylor uses to symbolize closeting now.

seven

seven is often interpreted (by gaylors) to be about a young gay love ("your braids like a pattern love you to the Moon and to Saturn"). In that regard, the lyrics "I think you should come live with / Me and we can be pirates / Then you won't have to cry / Or hide in the closet" can be understood as a proposition to run away and go live somewhere they could live their love freely.

willow music video

In the willow music video, this moment is incredibly significant

Child Taylor goes through the door and emerges as an adult in a glass closet. There, she immediately knows that she is supposed to start singing, and then, when she tries to join her lover on the other side of the glass, she can't leave and she is stuck in it… I believe that it speaks for itself. 

cowboy like me

"And the skeletons in both our closets / Plotted hard to mess this up"

In a song about feeling connection to someone because you recognize them as a part of your group that break the rules ("bandit"), the mention of the closet as something that keeps you from being with them is interesting, I would say.

Look What You Made Me Do part 2: the Eras Tour Performance

Since the beginning of the Eras Tour, the closet/glass closet/imprisonnement imagery is more present than ever, both in the concerts and in the music videos she put out since then.

In the Look What You Made Me Do performance, the imprisonment of Taylor's old selves (in glass closets) is understood widely to be a metaphor of her stolen masters, and it probably is in part her intention. There could be more than one meaning to that idea, even in Taylor's mind and one does not contradict the other. But here specifically, it seems to be confirmed that Taylor didn’t (only) think of that while imagining these visuals, since every single one of her album is present including the ones she has owned since they were released (Lover, folklore, evermore, Midnights):

(I don't have enough images left but some of the dancers are in Lover and folklore outfits too)

Lavender Haze visuals

Several times, in the visuals of the tour during the performance of Lavender Haze, Taylor is very clearly in a closet:

Lavender Haze can also be interpreted as being about bearding, that much can be analyzed both from the lyrics and the music video. During the performance (you can check in this video) those visuals appear when she says "no deal the 1950 shit they want from me" and disappear with "i just wanna stay in that lavender haze", I wonder if the closet might be the 1950's shit she doesn't want anymore...

Karma music video

In the Karma music video, there is no reference to a closet per se but Taylor is once again kept locked up, in an hourglass and a light bulb, this time. I don't know if it is significant in a particular way, except that the hourglass appears the first time she says "Karma is my boyfriend" which could mean that it's not going to be her boyfriend for long maybe? I noticed this one without any particular interpretation to be honest, but I didn’t want not to put it here, just in case...

As for the bulbs, they end up exploding...

I Can See You music video

Last but not least since there are two references to the closet in the music video for I Can See You, but first, a few things:

The music video is obviously about her taking back her masters, there is no doubt about that, it is very explicit and it would be stupid of me to try and say that it’s not. But as I said in the part about the Look What You Made Me Do performance, some things can have more than one meaning, and just because there is an obvious way to understand this specific piece of art doesn’t mean that it’s the only one. 

Second, here we’ll need to point out that before and/or during the Speak Now era, she dated very publicly Taylor Lautner, who features in the video. Gaylors also believe that she dated Liz Huett, her backing vocalist on the Speak Now tour.

Now, in the music video, we see three people rescuing Taylor from the vault in which she is kept. A woman (Presley Cash) stays in a van, while Joey King joins Taylor Lautner to save Taylor. What is interesting is that the only character that is not, at any point, linked to the lyrics is the man (potential beard). Presley Cash’s character is, more than once, either saying or illustrating the lyrics: “I've been watching you for ages” (she’s always looking inside Taylor’s vault even though it’s not really relevant to what’s happening), she even says “I can see you” at the end. As for Joey King, she is the one keeping quiet when Lautner is loud, she throws her jacket on the floor, and she is quite literally “up against the wall” when she opens the vault… She is the only character linked to the muse for the whole video, and she is the one opening the vault (closet?) for her.

Adding to that, Taylor’s old selves (in this situation, her outfits of the era) are kept in… glass closets, that explode at the end. The thing is, if we follow the (Lover era) failed coming out theory, the way her masters were stolen may have been the reason she didn't come out at the time, so, could it be that Taylor feels like her stolen masters are what keep her from being fully out?

[offbeatcappuccino]

queen of tears is going to cure me~ episode 1 summary and ramblings

Kim Soo Hyun has a penchant for playing what I saw someone playfully describe "the colorblind man". Obviously the term is not referring to the actual medical condition, but rather his willingness to either not see or ignore the red flags associated with the 99.5% looks like they would kill you and 0.5% is a cinnamon roll-esque girl boss. These girlies are the ones that society deems to be villains because of their arrogance and abrasiveness. However, these "Evil Queens" are Kim Soo Hyun's "Snow Whites" because, by the end of the show, he will be fixing their unprocessed childhood trauma with the power of true love. Hong Hae In (played by the wonderful Kim Ji Won) is the recent addition to a long list of women which include Ko Moon Young, Cheon Song Yi, and Cindy.

In Queen of Tears, Kim Soo Hyun plays Baek Hyun Woo, who serves as the legal counsel for the Queen Group In the opening scene, Hyun Woo is asked to recount how he met his wife Hong Hae In, the current CEO of Queen Department Stores and a chaebol heiress. He met Hae In for the first time when she was working as an "undercover" intern. While his other colleagues are miffed by her obnoxiousness and indifference towards their work, Hyun Woo tries his best to help her and even goes as far as telling her that she needs to step up her game because he's worried that she will be fired for her performance. When Hae In asks him to reflect on why he feels that way, we see Hyun Woo confess his feelings for Hae In in one of the funniest ways ever seen in kdrama history. Completely oblivious to the fact that Hae In is a multimillionaire, Hyun Woo offers a pragmatic declaration of his love by listing his academic qualifications, his ability to pay rent on his studio apartment, and even the fact that his family owns "35 cows". Hae In is amused and flattered by the proposal and the rest is history. When Hyun Woo discovers Hae In's true background, he freaks out and resigns his job. Despite this, Hae In literally chases after him in a helicopter and promises to "never make him cry".

After nearly three years of marriage ,Hyun Woo and Hae In's relationship has become a shadow of its former self. While in public, Hyun Woo and Hae-In's marriage is lauded as the "marriage of the century" and a stunning example of a progressive South Korea where love can overcome class and social boundaries, Hyun Woo and Hae In are in nothing but a loving relationship. They sleep in separate beds, eat breakfast as far as they can from each other, and are constantly at odds with each other at work.

Complicating the tension between the two are their surroundings. They live in a multigenerational mansion with the rest of Hae In's family and their "work" and "personal" lives become intertwined. For their chaebol family, every personal decision is also a calculated business one that can impact their investments and prestige. In these conditions, as the outsider, Hyun Woo receives the shorter end of the stick in their marriage. At work, he is routinely degraded at work by Hae In when their opinions do not align and at home, his in-laws treat him like a second class citizen ordering him around like an employee rather than their son-in-law. For example, in one scene, we not only see the family members forcing the couple to have a child but they also insist that the child's surname be Hong (mother's last name) rather than Baek (traditional father's last name). Throughout all of this, Hyun Woo's humiliation is exacerbated by the fact that Hae In never appears to stand for him and is complacent to all the verbal and emotional abuse he faces from their family. While all of these scenes are shown with a splash of comedy, they also convincingly convey Hyun Woo's desire for a divorce even if it must be paid with an immense cost.

With much of Episode 1 conveyed through Hyun Woo's point of view, it is tempting to brand Hae In as a terrible wife. However, we are offered glimpses that suggest her feelings towards Hyun Woo are far more complicated. For instance, shortly after the scene where Hyun Woo is bossed around by her family, she privately confronts her younger brother for being disrespectful towards Hyun Woo. Such actions are accompanied by moments where we do see that she yearns for him and is hurt by his disdain towards her and their marriage. However, like many of her tsundere male counterparts, she struggles immensely with emotional transparency. Instead of engaging in heartfelt communication, she resorts to offering cold blasé remarks, which gaslight Hyun Woo's genuine concern and anger.

What is interesting about the world that Queen of Tears creates is that the protagonist does not benefit from male privilege. In fact, many rigid patriarchal practices are subverted in the drama. For instance, instead of the bride moving into the husband's marital home, the opposite occurs when Hyun Woo relocates from his family's farm to the Queen's Mansion. There are also other notable examples such as the insistence of Hae In's family to take the maternal surname, which contrasts the default cultural practice of taking your father's last name and their unique custom of forcing the men who married into their family to prepare the dishes for their memorial service. These scenes not only highlight the unique interplay between gender and socioeconomic but also force the viewers to reckon with the patriarchy. It is jarring to see the roles flipped and it makes us question how displacement, abuse, and oppression are normalized for married women in Asian societies. As a South Asian, many of Hyun Woo's experiences parallel the stories frequently recounted by my own mother, aunts, and grandmothers.

With only one episode, it's hard to discern whether this set up solely exists for comedic shock value or whether the show is making a` genuine social commentary. If the latter is true, I am excited to see how the writers will utilize this theme in moving the plot forward. For Episode 2, I am also intrigued to see how the cliffhanger in Episode 1 will be addressed. Is Hae In telling Hyun Woo the truth or is this her twisted way of her testing his love? Who knows, but I know for sure that Queen of Tears will make me anticipate the weekend more than I usually do!