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blowflyfag · 3 months

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WWE SMACKDOWN MAGAZINE: SEPTEMBER 2005

MNM

“WE’RE GOING TO BE BIGGER THAN ELVIS”

By Keith Elliot Greenberg

You might say that MNM is rewriting history one snapshots at a time. Each time one of the paparazzi snaps their picture, it helps their star shine just a little bit brighter. In fact, they enjoy having their picture taken so much that they named their fishing move the Snapshot. And similarly, every time they nail the move, it brings them one step closer to becoming one of the greatest tag teams of all time.

With each victory, the trio becomes more and more resentful of those who apparently dismissed MNM as a fad that would soon fade. In the August issue of Smackdown! Magazine, Nitro said, “We're going to be bigger than Elvis, bigger than the Beatles.”

When you make statements as pompous as that, it’s understood that many will root against you. But MNM expected contempt from opponents, as well as the fans they’d derided as “too weird, too fat, too stupid, too scared, or too damn normal.” Now the trio believes their harshest detractors are the same journalists and paparazzi profiting from covering the electrifying new tag team.

“I have plenty of admirers in high places who’ve told me what these weasel journalists utter behind our backs,” Melina says. “I heard that some even started a pool over whether we’d be on a losing streak by the time the August issue of SmackDown! On sale–and guess who’s on the cover?”

To a degree, Melina’s self-righteousness is reasonable. After all, many observers initially tagged MNM as the team more famous for its look than anything else. Even before their first match on SmackDown!, MNM was trailed by photographers more intrigued by the threesomes' unique appearance than its achievements.

When Nitro & Mercury captured the WWE Tag Team Championship in their very first match, the popular consensus was that the gold would slip through their fingers right away. They were too arrogant, too shallow and too inexperienced to remain at the top of the tag team ranks. Somehow, MNM proved all their critics wrong. And, now, when the paparazzi appear, there’s a legitimate reason why the pictures are in such great demand.

In April, the team came out of nowhere and captured the titles from Eddie Guerrero & Rey Mysterio–two proud Latino stars not accustomed to getting bested by untested talent. Although tensions had been simmering between Guerrero & Mysterio already, the loss sent their relationship into a tailspin. The two were soon bitter enemies, and when they reconciled for one night to challenge for MNM’s championship, the result was disastrous.

In the aftermath, Mysterio was plagued by troubling doubts, while Guerrero appeared to be possessed by demons. Meanwhile, MNM’s light only burned brighter.

“That’s what we do,” Melina says, “We take the icons you people have chosen to worship, and we reduce them to nothing. We’re competitors, baby. And when you compete, some people lose and some people win.” “We happen to choose the latter.”

That was made abundantly clear when MNM tangled with Heidenreich and his new “friend,” Road Warrior Animal. The cocky young tag team held their ground against Animal–at one time one-half of perhaps the greatest tag team ever-refusing to be intimidated by his legendary status.

“The Road Warriors, The Midnight Express, The British Bulldogs, The Dudley Boyz, all those tag teams everyone talks about as being so great,” Melina says. “Yeah, they were probably all right in their day, but that’s the past. This is now. MNM is the tag team of the present, and of the future. Deal with it.” For Melina, that aggressive spirit extends outside the realm of tag team combat. Repelled by the notion that her fellow WWE Divas are paragons of beauty, Melina has used both violent language and sadistic behavior to diminish their status.

In one memorable confrontation with Michelle McCool, Melina actually asked her boys to remain backstage. Melina then tore into the athletic blonde with an aptitude that matched the newcomer’s managerial abilities. In the end, Melina survived a dropkick and a spear. But as her opponents straddled the ropes, punching downward, Melina shook off the bows, snatched Michelle, and defeated her with a powerbomb.

Even among MNM’s enemies, there were immediate comparison to other females who established themselves in WWE as managers, but ultimately transcended the role.

Today, for instance, few recall that Trish Stratus actually entered WWE as the manager of T&A–the hulking duo of Albert (later A-Train) and Test. Like Melina, Trish drew fans with her good looks, but she had greater ambitions. After she struck out on her own, she dominated the Women’s Division.

Parallels have also been made to Sunny, the stunning cover girl who shepherded several teams to tag team gold in the mid-1990s. In the process, she gained a reputation as a woman who pretty much attained anything she desired.

Others theorize that Melina’s career may most closely resemble that of Sensational Sherri. At different stages, Sherri managed Shawn Michaels, Randy Savage and Ric Flair, and also held the Women’s Championship.

Yet, those who focus on Melina fall into the trap MNM hopes to set–diverting opponents away from the strengths and weaknesses of Nitro & Mercury.

Mercury all but admitted this recently when he told a reporter, “While our opponents are busy thinking about Melina, talking about Melina, and, yes, fantasizing about Melina, Johnny and I can pretty much step into that ring and do whatever we want to them.”

Because of their early success, Nitro &N Mercury’s potential is sometimes compared with the records of other WWE newcomers who swiftly rocket to the top of their profession. But such comparisons mean little to them.

“We hear people comparing us to guys from back in the day like Kerry Von Erich, because he burst on the scene and won the Intercontinental title right away,” Mercury says. “But those people just don’t get it. Bon Erich already established himself years before when he beat Ric Flair for the NWA title. Unlike the ‘Texas Tornado,’ we walked into WWE cold. We came out of nowhere and shocked all the so-called experts.”

“I mean, sure there were Superstars like Kurt Angle and Brock Lesnar who came here and won titles right off the bat, but even those guys didn’t do what we did,” Nitro says. “Angle was an Olympic gold medalist; Lesnar was an NCAA Champion. WWE fans had no idea who we were that first night, when we debuted in Madison Square Garden. But we changed all that by winning the WWE Tag team titles that same night. Now, everyone knows who we are.” Perhaps it’s more appropriate to measure MNM next to Carlito, who won the U.S. Championship in his first SmackDown! match, or Christian, who earned the Light Heavyweight title in his WWE debut. Both came out of nowhere and very quickly grabbed the spotlight. And in both their cases, they have remained among WWE’s elite ever since.

“To all those people who say we got lucky, I have news for you,” Nitro says. “We were lucky the day we were born. Not everyone is blessed with the attributes we were given. And that’s too bad. But nobody says that life is fair. It’s not really our fault if we’re perfect in an imperfect world.”

It’s an attitude MNM carries on the red carpet and , as the results have shown, into the ring as well.

#gonna be real. this was like the only good article in this one. like. the rest are just pictures and dates and stuff like summer slam recap #magazine scan #magazine transcript #smackdown magazine #wwe magazine #Johnny nitro #John hennigan #Melina #joey mercury #MNM #Melina I love you btw Ditch these chumps and start dating girls #also this is for u mint.... i miss u... i hope ur ok #john morrison

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virtuacore · 1 year

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Knock (노크) 못참겠네 (Moschamgess-ne; I Can't Stand It) (1997) periodical old kpop power hour of power (POKPHOP) 1집

what better way to start off this series than with my favorite song from this era ever. the obscurant one-and-done group Knock's "못참겠네" (Moschamgess-ne; I Can't Stand It) is a profoundly strange, groovy banger that's like... you ever hear something and then never stop thinking about it for like, two-plus years? yeah, this is that. it's riding a crazy, pointillistic disco-house flow somewhere between Deavid Soul and Akufen, Cassius trading their vinyl for ROMplers, maximalist microhouse: as skeletal as it is stuffed with little details, spangles and accents, filter sweeps and microsamples. it's things like the molecular reduction of "That's the Way (I Like It)" in the intro, the track snapping into a nocturnal, jazzy hustle, the thumping kick and its accompanying squirrely bassline bending itself into a möbius strip, multiple hard-panned samples jumping out of the mix at the same time, or the digi-horns, space drums, pulses, beeps, whirls, pagers and phones all going off in parallel, and god knows what else (there's a lot more!). and the trio dovetail with and riff on all this racket perfectly, ooh-la-la harmonies colliding with angular co-ed rap geometry, sweetened sing-song into a perfect hook as sassy as it is yearning. and the breakdown after the first chorus is pure madness, a couple bars at a jagged clip and then "it's about that time I put you back on track!" in the center channel and "it's disco time, baby!" out of the left before devolving into gang chants and scream-raps. then it gets itself together and locks back on to that hellacious groove. totally devious.

it's a small thing, too, but I greatly appreciate this song knowing how good its hook is and beating the hell out of it as such. so many hits (and not-hits) of the time just sorta end, you know? here they drop the drums a second, bring them back and then hammer the hook into your brain over and over, layering the intro rap and a bunch more of those laser pulses on top. anyway... this song fuckin' rules so hard. what also fuckin' rules? this song's video!

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the MV is so, so, sooooo good. a low-budget urban daydream of 90s street scenes (shout out to Freetel!), passing trains, underpass dance rituals and rain-slicked parking lots, all lit by colorful strobes and fogged-out flood lights, absolutely killer fashion (and at least two killer wigs), crazy fresh dance moves, just a bunch of grooving and messing about with friends on the street corner with a tinge of X-Files and Jet Set Radio, all linked together by an unimpeachable sense of cool. the image of the group just vibing on top of those cars while shrouded in fog and light? simply iconic. the video's mysterious nocturnal energy and heady, kinetic rhythm is the perfect match for the music, and the combination is a revelation.

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the rest of Knock's sole album also rules, even if none of the other songs quite rise to the level of revelation that the title track does. every song is a keeper, whether the off-axis G-funk of "YAMMA" and "Bad Girl", the cartoonish lilt of "오리", or the infectious duo of "Miss Miss" and "너 친구맞니?!", which both utilize the structure of a four-on-the-floor hook juxtaposed with a funky syncopated rhythm for the verses. "연습게임" is mystical and subterranean, and even the requisite album-closing ballad "I feel in your eyes" is a jammer: slow-and-low, spare yet lush, unpretentious and memorable. the whole record's united by the same off-kilter soundworld that animates the title track—the same ROMpler full of samples bouncing every which way, instruments all over the place, bits and pieces of voice and sound accenting everything, almost like a fourth vocalist. it's full of hooks, microhooks and grooves, all anchored to a mad sense of rhythm and space. all these joints have been stuck in my head for ages, basically! it's always it's the weirdest, galaxy-brain tunes that go nowhere and are doomed to obscurity, ain't it.

download in FLAC or V0 (ripped from my CD... scanned, too!)

bonus fun fact #1: the female rapper with the buzz-cut is named Z-E (지이)—after Knock fizzled out, she linked up with a rapper by the name of Turtleman to form the trio Turtles (거북이), who scored hit after hit until Turtleman's tragic passing in 2008. Turtles were a universally beloved trio, and deservedly so—they also absolutely rule.

bonus fun fact #2 and #3: "못참겠네" (plus "YAMMA" and "Bad Girl") was arranged by one Jegal Min (제갈민), one of the unsung heroes (see also: Shin Young-sub (신영섭)) of the original 1992-1994 "rap dance" craze that was dominated by Seo Taiji, Hyun Jin-young, DEUX and others. like many a failed pop star, he then found far more success in production and management. one of his backup dancers, Kim Jung-nam, later found stardom as half of the legendary Turbo (터보).

bonus fun fact #4: future entries in this series will absolutely not go on this long. i just really love this song, yeah?

tumblr exclusive bonus fun fact #5: periodical old kpop power hour of power (POKPHOP) is a series i've started on my cohost page but to a certain extent this tumblr has been on a POKPHOP for seven whole years now

hat tip: Old Kpop추억의뮤비 and 58RNA3QD

#old kpop #90s kpop #kpop #노크 #거북이 #periodical old kpop power hour of power #POKPHOP

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og-reesetti · 5 months

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Been rewatching the Dragon Ball series, so now I'm going to ramble about it for a while

Had a lot of fun with DB, it's a classic that has tons of fun moments and cool fights. I do miss the perpetual threat of the saiyans turning into apes that sorta went away after the early Z arc, but what can you do. Piccolo's theme has aged delightfully through the years, partially thanks to the memes but also the different renditions are so good. A genuine classic. I also miss that there were just... talking animals and dinosaurs. Like yeah that's how the world be. Bring that shit back!

On to Z! The saiyan trio are all terrible, just some of the worst individuals you could ever encounter. I love them. I'm somewhat partial to Raditz because I'm a sucker for massive heavy hitters, and a lot of his attacks looked so goddamn painful. Obviously there's a reason that Vegeta went on to be such a staple favorite for folks, he's such an ambitious warrior that does his best to be the nastiest, most antagonistic cunt in the universe. But despite that, even through the Frieza arc you see him have moments of protecting people, sometimes for unselfish reasons, but he's so quick to say it was for some prideful reason and do something awful right after. Piece of shit, I enjoy him so much.

On Namek you have Frieza and the Ginyu Force, both delightful for very different reasons. Frieza is so cartoonishly villainous. He couldn't be more evil and heartless, and he's so up his own ass about it that mf doesn't even bother walking around for the first section of the arc. I don't think he's my favorite villain in the series, but he's so iconic and shitty and that final form design is so sleek and cool, you gotta appreciate him. Meanwhile you have the Ginyu Force, the silliest Power Ranger team. The crew is mostly just clownery given form and aside from Recoome, they all go down pretty fuckin quick. But Ginyu the man himself is so charismatic and zany, and pretty competent as an officer and leader. But every time he's on screen he's being either outlandish or crafty. He's the perfect subordinate and hype man.

The final fight between Goku and Frieza is pretty long in the tooth near the end for a "five minute clash" but honestly, yeah that's what happens when you have entire halves of an episode dedicated to standing around powering up and yelling. That's DBZ baby. The clashes are damn good but they're so far between sometimes I spent too much of the yelling time looking at my phone instead.

ANDROIDS! I really like the Android arc. You have the mystery of who Trunks is leading into the wackiness of time travel, and the lead into "oh these androids aren't the right ones wait why aren't they the right ones oh THESE NEW ONES ARE MUCH WORSE WHAT WHO'S THAT BIG GUY" and it just escalates leading into Cell. But the drama and intensity of the whole thing is peak shit. 16, 17 and 18 are such a fun trio that interact so well together and their personalities and abilities are a delight. I'm glad down the road we at least get to keep 17 and 18 around but outside of DBFZ I'd love to see 16 return to the story, even in a supportive role akin to 17 and his ranger bit. Also yes 18 and Krillin are goals.

And now we're up to where I'm currently watching, the Cell Games. Cell as his himself is probably up there for visually fantastic designs. His first appearance as the massive cicada-like husk to his first form being so genuinely alien and slimy is such a great shift from Frieza's personality and intro. The genuine "bro what" moment of him using the Z Fighters' abilities was awesome, and connected super well with the time travel story. How he absorbs people's bodies and the fuckin inhalation of the Androids is so fuckin creepy and gross (and depending on the audience, desirable and appealing) and changes forms leads so well into the bio-terror vibe he has. But also just like Frieza his cockiness leads to him actually giving the Fighters time to become strong enough to put up a fight and eventually flatten him. Bad guys need to stop wanting even fights lol.

----

And that's where I'm at for now. I'm jazzed to revisit more of these characters and stories I like so much and will eventually return to yammer about them yet again.

#dragon ball #dbz

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jackredfieldwasmyjacob · 6 months

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OT 2023 - GALA 1

We're back aaaaaa !!!! Anyways, just as I did with OT 2020, I will be talking about my top 3 favourite performances every week, as well as some honourable mentions. These posts will work a bit different than the OT 2020 ones tho, cause now the show is exclusively streamed in Prime Video, which means they do not upload the full performances to youtube, only 40 second clips. So, what I will do is link those clips in the honorable mentions and in the titles of my top 3, but I will include the full videos for the pases de micros. For the uninitiated, there are two pases de micros during the weeks; these are performances in the academy in front of the teachers that measure how they are doing and what things they should improve and stuff. Normally I will be posting the second one, cause those are usually best.

Update 28/01. I've updated all links to the full performances in the gala.

Anyways, let's start with some honorable mentions <3

Libertad - OT 2020: The first group song! I would say it was a perfect choice, this song really is perfect as a group song, and they sounded pretty good I think (except Suzette who didn't say her lines

Save your tears - Cris and Ruslana: They were good enough I would say! I thought they sounded good, and I really liked the scenography and such. Good performance 👍.

3. EL ENCUENTRO - PAUL & CHIARA

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Here is the original song, by Alizzz and Amaia :)

When I tell you I gasped when they gave them this song... El Encuentro is one of those songs that make me go feral, it's incredible and a bop and I've experienced it live (with both Amaia AND Alizzz !!!) and it's soooo good I love the feeling it expresses and the way it expresses it and yeah.... I'm so happy they got to sing it. I would say Chiara and Paul were perfect for it, they sounded so freaking good and I loved the acting (which becomes even better now that we know Paul has a crush on Chiara sjdsjdj). Also Paul !!! he was the favourite of the gala (SO DESERVED) and he's one of my faves so yeah :) loved this :)

2. PARA NO VERTE MÁS - ÁLVARO & NAIARA

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Here is the original song, by La Mosca Tse-Tse !

Álvaro and Naiara, my favourite twink and choni duo... They're so iconic... Anyways, they had imo the hardest song to defend (not the most difficult but the most 'nominable' one) and they took a glance at that and said 'no thank you <3'. They were great, ate and left no crumbs, made it so so fun !!! They're the best, also Naiara has such a beautiful voice, possibly my favourite this edition.

1. A TU VERA - SALMA & JUANJO

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Here is the original, by the one and only Lola Flores (La Faraona!!!!!!!!)

THIS SONG. OF COURSE THIS WAS GOING TO BE NUMBER ONE. They were the best ones in the gala by far, and they deserved to shine so much, they worked so hard and had such a lovely connection and friendship, they're everything to me <3 Salma and Juanjo are rapidly becoming my favourites and I want to see them in other styles cause they're both folklore singers (Salma with flamenco and Juanjo with jotas) so this song was made for them. Even then, again, this performance was perfect, no notes.

And that was all! Overall, an average gala? I mean, it was the first one, my expectations weren't too high lol. Let's see what next week brings us, with two trios and both an Ana Mena AND a La La Love You song !!!! The nominees are Suzette and Lucas, and I'm not really rooting for any of them in particular, so I have no idea how it'll be go. Nevertheless, I am back hooked to OT, it was so quick lmao.

#vivitalksot #ot #operacion triunfo #ot 2023 #WE'RE BACK !!!!!!#Youtube

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anakin-pilled · 5 months

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okay i finally finished the star wars sequel trilogy and here’s my opinion and thoughts on each of the movies that no one asked for but i want to share anyway 🤓🤓 spoilers below!

The Force Awakens:

Don’t have a strong opinion on this movie TBH, I think it’s the weakest of the three but it’s a good introduction movie.

Wasn’t expecting Han’s death…RIP TO A REAL ONE😭

Still don’t understand how Rey was able to beat a trained Kylo Ren in battle…she was too OP for the first movie.

Kylo’s back story isn’t convincing enough and I think he’s kind of lame, I don’t think they did him justice.

Transitioning between scenes is so reminiscent of the OG triology and I love it.

The Last Jedi:

THE BEST OUT OF THE THREE!! I really enjoyed this movie; especially all the different sub plots. I loved that we got to see more characters.

I AM A FINNPOE ENTHUSIAST

I AM NOT A REYLO ENTHUSIAST

I liked Rose’s character and her dynamic with Finn!! Kelly Marie Tran did not deserve all the hate she got ): Rose was awesome ):

The scene in Snoke’s throne, Kylo reminded me so much of Anakin in ROTS, from the hair to the expression on his face, I literally think he channeled Anakin’s energy into his performance (think of Anakin when he first pledged loyalty to Palpatine)

Kinda confused on the direction they went in with Luke. You mean to tell me Luke refused to kill Darth Vader because he believed there was light still in him, but couldn’t extend the same hope to Kylo? Idk, Luke’s main characteristic is that he’s the hopeful, optimistic hero and I feel like they completely scrapped that. ESPECIALLY BECAUSE THEY DONT EVEN DIRECTLY TELL YOU WHY KYLO HAD SO MUCH DARKNESS IN HIM, i blame the story tellers

Luke saying no one’s ever really gone…yeah I cried 😭

I knew Luke died from like years ago, but watching his force spirit in front of the two suns just reminded me of that iconic scene in ANH where he’s standing in front of the two Tatooine suns. Literally one of my favorite Star Wars scenes EVER 🥹

The Rise of Skywalker

I think my biggest gripe with this trilogy is that it completely ruins Anakin/Vader being the Chosen One. Like….George Lucas confirms he’s the Chose One and then we see in ROTJ that he helps brings balance to the force, thus completing the prophecy. BUT THEN PALPATINE DIDNT DIE AND HES BACK AND THAT MAKES THE PROPHECY COMPLETELY MOOT AND THATS AN INSULT TO MY POOKIE.

Didn’t expect Leia to die…I know Carrie died (RIP TO A REAL ONE) but I honestly didn’t know she was going to die in the movie and I kept on wondering how they were going to pull it off. And I’m just realizing they killed each of the OG trio 😭

We needed more Rose.

They built up Finn to be a love interest for Rey in the first movie then completely scrapped that idea for Reylo 😭

Not sure how I feel about Reylo. I was really hoping they wouldn’t kiss then BOOM they kissed. Idk I just don’t think the chemistry was there.

I still think they did Kylo’s character building dirty, but I did enjoy his redemption arc. RIP

The voices of all the Jedi guiding Rey, I CRIED OKAYYYYYY

FINNPOE SUPREMACY

I love FinnPoe, but also Finn and Poe separately. Oscar and John were amazing

Seeing all the Death Stars crash, the Ewoks looking up and cheering, the celebration scene 😭😭😭😭 I cried so much IDK it just reminded me so much of the the end of ROTJ and honestly I’m a huge sucker for a good winning final scene.

Overall, I enjoyed the trilogy more than I thought I would and while I do think it’s not PERFECT and I do think there’s a lot to fix, I do think a lot of SW fans are just salty and hated the idea of a more diverse, female led franchise. I would definitely watch again (:

Now I need to know what happens after lol

#kendra's thoughts (^_<)〜☆#star wars

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insecuregodcomplex · 5 months

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pjotv e3 thoughts!

- THE ATTICCCCC THE ATTIC!!!

- Ohhh jeez. You seem busy I’ll come back

- YESSS GABE DELIVERS IT

- omg not the cut in half

- GDJSJTBRHD YEAH FUCK YEAH ANNABETH PERCY CHOSE ANNABETH

- PUSHHUMDIWN THE STAIRS OK COTG KIND OF NOD ALSO FULL NAME

- GROVER I love you so fucjin much

- YEAHHHH YEAHHH YEAH BESTIES FOR REALLLLL FOR EVER TRIO

- oh my god no not that!!! NAURRRRR

- Are you kidding me my hearttttt

-is this in the book? At the end? Why do I feel like it’s in the book

- Just take care of each other :(

- ANNABETH SAYING BYE TO THALIA

- PEFCY HATES THE GODS SO MUCH

- this is literally the trio directly from the books

- THEYRE JUST KIDS

- Percy voting.

- GROVER FIES SING???:&: ARYAN

- 😭😭our voting systems broken

- Queen has never been in the real world I’m so fascinated by her being fascinated(?) by the candy

- Annabeth my love

- THATS BEES

- I’m so glad she’s not just in one tbh I thought alecto was just gonna be in one

- I gasped at the Thalia comment

- Love this annabeth moment and like amplification and also most formidable child !!!!!

- I genuinely my yelled at the dagger throw AND TBE ZOOM ON JT THATS FOR US

- I have yelled so much with this PESIIDE

- THE THALIA REVEAL ALREADY!!!!!!!!!

- I love this exploration like the awareness of Medusa from the start

- I USED TI DATE YOUR DADDY. Miss u Uma (not that much rn tho)

- Monstrosity!!!!!!!

- MY MOM USED TO TELL ME HER STORY SHES NOT WHAT PEOPLE THINK

- AND ANNABETH HAS YES WOW. ANNABETHS RELATIONSGIPS TO KONSTERS AND MONSTROSITY ESP BEING RAISED IN THE DEMIGOD WORLD AND!!! CYCLOPES

- A survivor :(:(:(:(

- Not him! Me!

- Percy never believed Annabeth would turn on him!!!

- Sorry I do still want them to cut her head off bc I want the impertinent scene

- FLAMES

- this is so cool I’m terrified

- “Could have shown your father” js could be

- OOOOOOOOO THIS PLAN

- this. Good

- Please please please

- Annabeth seeing Percy in a newer light love

- UNCLE FERDINAND!!!!!!

- He isn’t afraid <3

- PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE

- GROVER BRINGING THEM TOGETHER. YES.

- Grover. Icon.

- YAAAAY bring you closer

- I YELLED AT THIS

- bb Percy alone

- I love them so much

- DITN CHOOSE TO BE ABHALD BLOOD

- as long as the three of us are together none of us are going to be alone!!!!!!!

- I LOVEF THE SCRNE

- what a fucjing asshole I love him

- He sucks so bad I love him

- HERMES??????????>{}’eHERMES?

- FELL ON TBE FUCKING GROUND AT THIS.

#pjotv #pjotv spoilers #v watches pjotv #pjotv s1e3

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ussygussymy · 2 years

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Found You || Euntae Lee (I)

"Poredge”

Every bend and curve of a letter elicited the screech of chalk to accompany it. The woman put the chalk before clapping her hands and that was it for Jihyun.

There was a stagnant irritation she felt watching the woman spell out every word, and it at last came to life.

"So children, as you can see the-"

"Ma'am that isn't correct"

It wasn't the outburst but the lack of hesitation in Jihyuns voice, complete confidence unsettling for a child. The teacher watched the student with disbelief, that a child could be so uncouth.

"The correct spelling is p-o-r-r-i-d-g-e."

Every letter pronounced correctly, the teacher had begun to become irritated by the child. The woman kneaded her eyebrows together.

"And pray tell, how would you know that?"

"I read it in a book, I read lots of books."

Again it was that confidence, the teacher had had enough.

"Jihyun, go to the office."

— —

"I'm Hero Man, standing for justice!" So you dare to bully the weak!"

Jace got into Hero Mans iconic fighting stance, the beaming red cape flowing behind him.

"Bring it on! I will never back down."

Jihyun overheard the conversation from the swing she was sitting on, away from the rest of the children on the playground. She'd found that she never really was one for playing with other children, finding them too childish for her standards. At least that's what she told her mother in lieu of telling them the other children that she was an annoying know-it-all, to be fair she kinda was. Yet, these were two new faces on the playground, which is why her interest was piqued.

"...Jace. Is it wrong if Hero Man doesn't help others?" What if the villain is too strong? Why does he fight for others?"

Jihyun felt her eyes begin to sparkle, the kid surely had an unique personality. So, she really could not help herself to intervene.

"Morally speaking, it would not be wrong if Hero Man were to not help others out. However, it would be contradictory of his character, since he is meant to be good and therefore by our society's defining features of goodness, help others out. Hero Man wouldn't be much of a hero if he couldn't fight for other people, that'd make him a bad character."

Visible confusion was on the faces of the boys, a flood of questions swimming in their heads. Jihyun had begun to feel awkward as the silence permeated, it would happen alot where she would accidentally join a conversation without knowing if she belonged there or not. Right before she was gonna turn to run away and never look back, the boy with the red cape smiled at her.

"Exactly, what she said."

He turned back to the other boy before throwing punches at him.

"Dummy! What kind of superhero thinks that way! Take this super punch!"

"Don't it hurts"

Jihyun smiled at the duo, this was the first time she ever felt like she belonged.

Afterwards the newly formed trio got some candy to nom on.

"By the way, what's your name?

"Jihyun."

"I'm Euntae."

"Nice to meet you."

Jihyun grinned to herself, here were her first friends.

Jace looked back and forth between the two, he couldn't place it but there was a tingling feeling in the back of his conscience that the two would know each other for a very long time.

— —

"It's great we're all in the same class, even you Jihyun, you crazy genius. You guys are happy right." Jace inquired, the trio were sitting side by side. Ever since that fated day they had remained inseparable.

Jihyun merely gave a nod, she was too busy taking a look at the syllabus for the year.

"Yeah. Of Course." uttered Euntae, next to her.

"Guys.. Have you played phone games?" Jihyun glanced at the boy beside her, he really hadn't changed, even now. At times it was quality that irritated her and at times it was a quality she really liked."

Jace, always the Euntae whisperer, knew what to say, "Um.. so Euntae. How about we play too?" Euntae's face lit up, "Yeah. Sounds good." Jihyun couldn't help but smile, his change of expression was little but she knew it was a lot by Euntae standards.

Now the trio was distracted, the boys engrossed by the phone game in their hands and Jihyun caught up reading to the teaching plans in May. They didn't notice the clashing trio who'd come up to them.

"Hey big ears."

The presumable leader had spoken, before the entire flock spoke.

"What elementary school you from?"

"He wants to be friends with you."

"Your ears are huge. Wow."

"You guys wanna go to the snack shop?"

Jace looked at the two of them with pleading eyes. Jihyun could already sense it, a shift in their dynamic, she sighed but agreed begrudgingly. Jace grinned before turning back.

"Hm? Oh yeah. Euntae, Jihyun, why don't you come to."

Vasco merely replied, "Sure. Buy me chocolate milk."

— —

Jihyun found herself going up and getting chocolate milk herself, the chatting from the new trio had begun to irritate her. There was a small panging feeling of worry within her, something had changed in Jace the second they got to middle school. She was fortunate that Euntae was still there at least.

As she made her way back to their table, a third trio had shown up to the snack shop. Jihyun felt a feeling of dread climbing along her back, 'What the hell is up with all these trios,' she thought. Watching them move through the crowd, she could only knead her eyebrows in annoyance. It was another group of gangster wannabes.

"Move the line!" one the lackeys called as the leader moved smugly behind them.

"Ah! If there are no dumplings, you're dead!" the other lackey called.

Jihyun moved her eyes to the other trio, she could see their eyes light up, here they saw opportunity. "Hey, say hello to the scariest senior." One of them whispered, referring to the middle schooler with badly side swept hair. It seems their stares caught their attention as the trio came up to the group of freshmans.

"You guys have smokes? Got 'em or not?" one of the lackeys hassled them. 'This guy definitely breathes through his mouth.' Jihyun thought to herself, cringing slightly when his breath wafted into her face.

"Oh sure! Here!" the leader of the freshmans said immediately. Jihyun rolled her eyes, the desperate attempts to appear tough were causing her enough cringe for the day. Jace looked visibly surprised by the omission.

"Do you have a lighter? Oh you've got sense. Follow us. Let's light up."

"Yes okay!"

That response did not surprise Jihyun too much, but Jace's actions did.

"Let's go! Jace, do you smoke?"

"If we get close with them, it's like hitting the jackpot."

The freshmen looked back at Jace with the hungry eyes of greed, looking to get some status.

"Umm.. yeah, sure I smoke."

The answer got Jihyun off guard, she knew it, they were doomed from the start of entering middle school. All good people are lost to power.

"Don't go, Jace." reasoned Euntae. Jihyun glanced back at Euntae sadly, he'd yet to see that Jace was changing.

"Mom said smoking was bad. She said don't even touch it. She also said that smokers were losers."

Euntae's words had stung the seniors. They were evidently pissed at him and his self righteous attitude.

"Hey, who's this dick? Is he stupid or something?"

One of the lackeys began to laugh before smacking Euntae in the face.

"Fucking arrogant."

That was enough to get Jihyun fuming, she stood between the two, "Who the fuck do you think you are?"

The senior turned his eyes from Vasco to Jihyun, before he started chuckling, "Who the fuck is this chick? Get out of the way bitch." One of the lackeys stepped in to push Jihyun away, blocking her from getting to Vasco. Jihyun felt her insides start to boil over, soon enough there'd be steam coming out her ears. Yet, in this moment she felt helpless to do anything.

The lackey who'd slapped Vasco stepped back up, "This punk! Not moving?" he accused.

"If you are rude to your seniors, you have to say you're sorry." the senior waited a moment, hearing only Vasco's deafening silence.

"Huh? You won't" Thud, the senior began to kick Vasco.

"Euntae! Stop! You're hurting him!" Jihyun yelled, trying to force her way through to stop the brutal assault. Instead she got knocked back, "Stay put bitch."

"You won't? You won't? You won't? You won't?" With every repetition of the word, the senior kicked Vasco, the force behind the kicks growing greater after every time.

"This ass doesn't even make a sound! Wanna challenge me?" the senior laughed, taking glee in assaulting a freshman.

Jihyun looked on in horror, partly because Euntae was getting viciously beaten before her but also because Jace had done nothing to stop it. With pleading eyes she looked towards her only other friend for some aid, and in them she saw cowardice. Jihyun scrunched her nose up in disbelief as he averted her gaze.

"He's a fucking joke, I will beat you till you talk." the lackey laughed, allowing their leader to step through.

"You embarrassed me in front of everyone, you fucking little punk..From today we're gonna spend some time together."

— —

Euntae walked into the classroom with bloodstains marking his pristine white shirt. Jihyun knew exactly who she'd gotten it from, and she'd had enough of it. Today she would confront them about it. He always disappeared around lunch time, that was when she'd follow him.

As the clock turned, the class turned in for lunch, subsequently Euntae got up to leave as well. Glancing at her surroundings, Jihyun got up as well, stalking behind Euntae. Suddenly, he made a turn around a corner, Jihyun sped up her pace in order to catch up with him. However it wasn't long before he turned again, Jihyun found herself running to catch up before she headbutted right into Euntae.

Jihyun backed up, red stained her cheeks feeling embarrassed that he'd caught her in the act of spying on him. "Hey Vasco, I didn't see you there. I was just heading to the bathrooms."

Vasco stared back at her blankly, "This hallway leads to the boiler room." Jihyun started to feel sweat dripping down her forehead, she was caught, "there uh, a special bathroom in the boiler room." Euntae's eyes lit up with intrigue, "Really, I didn't know there was one."

Jihyun sighed with relief, Euntae sucked at detecting lying. "Right yeah, I'll be going then."

Vasco continued to move and Jihyun continued to follow. She'd followed them all the way to an abandoned part of the playground, from ahead she could see the group of seniors as well as a boy wearing glasses attached to the pole.

The leader grinned when he saw Vasco approaching, "The other cicada has come to play." He approached him before jabbing him straight in the stomach. This made Vasco keel over, yet he remained as stoic as ever. "Fuck took you so long? Huh?" Just as he was about to land a kick on Vasco's head, Jihyun emerged from the bushes.

"Stop, I caught everything on video. Have fun smoking when your ass is expelled." Jihyun spoke, holding the evidence in her hand. The phone was quickly snatched away by one of the lackeys, "It's this bitch again."

The leader came up to her, evidently finding the situation amusing. "Are you his girlfriend or something?" He came close enough to feel his breath fanning against her face, Jihyun stood with a hard expression, refusing to back down. "Actually she's kinda cute, you don't mind if I steal her do you?" The senior inquired, looking back at Vasco.

Before Jihyun could make a snappy comeback or the senior could reach for her face, Vasco stood between. "Don't touch her." The senior snickered at his words, before smacking his face hard enough to send him falling.

"Vasco!" Once again the lackeys were holding Jihyun back, she felt tears welling up in her eyes this time from the frustration she'd begun to feel. Once again, Vasco refused to make any noise or provide any reaction. He stared defiantly up at the senior, this served to only piss him off more.

Sending a kick flying right into Vasco's stomach, the senior yelled, "Who the fuck do you think you are? Huh?" The senior continued kicking at Vasco's stomach as Jihyun struggled to fight out of the arms of the two lackeys.

After thoroughly beating Vasco, the senior turned, making hungry eyes towards Jihyun. She felt her eyes widen, a new sense of fear began to envelop her. Just before he could take his first step, Vasco managed to croak out, "..Do whatever you want to me, just don't touch her."

That sent the senior over the edge, "What the fuck did I tell you about talking back? Are you disobeying me?" From his pocket, the senior brought out a box cutter, approaching Vasco with it. "I'll teach you about disobeying."

Jihyun watched in horror as the senior brought the boxcutter down against Vasco's skin before red beads of blood stained the metal. In this moment, Jihyun felt both the most helpless and the most shameful, because she could not break out. So, she stood there and watched as her friend got mutilated by a boxcutter.

Even through that, Vasco did not allow them the pleasure of his screams. "Fuck, whats up with this ass! Think's he's so tough!" The senior huffed, writing out grotesque images on Vasco's skin. After finishing he sneered at them with his friend, "Let's get out of her, I'm hungry."

Just like that they left, as if Vasco's life was worth just as much as a stuffed animal or object. As soon as the lackeys released Jihyun, she ran to Vasco, "Vasco! Are you okay?" She questioned, looking at the bleeding wounds on his chest. Vasco grit his teeth, "Jihyun.. Please don't let my mom see these."

Jihyun looked towards Vasco hesitantly before nodding and helping him get home.

— —

It wasn't the first time Jihyun was in Vasco's room, but it was the first time without Jace by their side. Jihyun took the warm wet cloth before placing it against the wounds Vasco had acquired. Vasco made an attempt to sit up before Jihyun pushed him down. "You need rest, I'm not gonna bother you with questions right now but you better believe I'm gonna talk to Jace."

"No, Jace doesn't need to know." Jihyun scrunched her face in frustration. "Vasco, why do you insist on going through things like this alone? You don't have to, you have us!" Vasco stared at Jihyun with widened eyes, she'd had outbursts in the past before but none as passionate as that. "What are you even trying to prove by not telling anyone?" Jihyun spoke, lowering her voice as she felt bad for yelling at him.

Vasco looked up at her with pained eyes, like he knew exactly what to say but couldn't muster up the strength to say it. "Jihyun, promise you won't leave." Jihyun was taken aback, this was completely out of left field. "What?"

"Jihyun." He paused, allowing the silence to take hold of the moment, "Promise you won't leave." Jihyun stopped, staring down at Vasco, before opening her mouth to speak.

"I promise."

Vasco mustered up a grin, "good."

— —

The next day, Jihyun came to class fuming. The second she entered the classroom she sent a slap across Jace's face that was deafening before sitting back down. Jace held his face, yet his face conveyed that he knew the reason behind the slap. Looking ashamed he sat back in his seat, Jihyun spent the rest of the period glaring at him.

As the school day neared its ending, the classroom emptied quickly, just as Jihyun turned to leave as well the gang of three seniors stopped her in her tracks. They ignored her this time, it seems they were here for Jace. Yet some panging in Jihyuns heart stopped her from running out the classroom, she stayed back watching the trio.

"You're fucking joking, we told you to bring him, not to decide yourself."

"Say it again."

"What did you just say?"

Jihyun looked with intrigue now at Jace's quivering frame, "Euntae is really hurt...So you should stop and.." Before Jace finished his sentence, a punch came flying at his face. Jihyun was up on her feet as she witnessed it.

Jihyun came running towards the lackey, using both force and time to create momentum, she slammed her body against the lackey to get him away from Jace. The leader looked on, pissed off. "This fucker again? Hey you guys keep watch in the hall" The senior called towards the other freshman.

Turning back, the senior began to approach Jihyun, "Hey, your stupid boyfriend stopped my yesterday so today you're gonna play with me."

Even the lackeys looking on with terror as the senior brandished a tatoo gun, "This is for eyebrow tatoos. But it works well on belly buttons as well." Just as the needle was about to prick Jihyuns skin, a presence made them turn.

"..Stop." Vasco.

"I'm here" The lackeys began to laugh at his entrance.

"'I'm here?'"

"How arrogant."

"I see he hasn't changed."

"Your friend is a really bad dick."

"He promised to bring you here."

The senior grinned, "If you report to me or something annoys me...your friends are going to get drawn on too."

His actions surprised Jihyun, Vasco stood in front of Jace and Jihyun in that iconic pose, heroman. The pose made Jihyun remember that fateful day, Vasco was her Hero Man.

"It's natural to help the weak. Those..are my friends."

The senior sent a kick to Vasco's head, throwing him off balance. Despite this he got up and continued to make weak attempts to fight, always getting thrown down, one way or another. Yet, his will to protect never changed. As long as there was someone to protect, he did not stop, no matter how battered he was. Blood was dripping down his nose and mouth now and his eye was squinted.

Jace got down on his knees to plead for mercy from the senior while Jihyun made her own attempts to fight the lackeys. The big one pushed her into a wall instead, bashing her head against the hard concrete. Vasco stopped momentarily to look at her with concern.

At this point, all three of them were getting their asses beat, bad. Seemingly out of nowhere, one of the lackeys was thrown into the air and Jihyun got a glimpse of blonde hair before the dark circles in her vision began to get bigger and bigger. Jihyun found her body getting heavier before she submitted to the darkness and gave way to the floor. With a thump, she was on the ground, sustained head injury.

— —

Waking up, Jihyun found she was in a completely different place in a completely different school. After her parents found out about the situation, they moved her out of the district and sent her off to a gifted school for young geniuses. There she was the top of her class, but she never did forget about Vasco, and she would find her way back.

#vasco #euntae lee #jace park #lookism

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gloriabomfim · 9 months

Text

[The scene opens in Oggy's kitchen, where Joey, the self-proclaimed leader of the cockroach trio, is wearing a pair of oversized comically thick glasses. He struts confidently, showing off his new accessory to Marky and Dee Dee.]

Joey: (strutting) Well, well, well, my dear companions! Feast your eyes upon my latest acquisition – these magnificent spectacles! I'm the epitome of intellect now!

[Joey proudly poses, but as he attempts to walk, he stumbles over a small rock on the floor and crashes to the ground. His glasses fly off his face and land somewhere out of reach.]

Joey: (panicking) Oh no, my glasses! My precious glasses! They've abandoned me!

[Joey begins crawling on his hands and knees, frantically searching for his lost eyewear. Marky and Dee Dee watch, initially stunned, but then they can't contain their laughter.]

Marky: (chuckling) Oh, Joey, you always find a way to make us laugh!

Dee Dee: (giggling) Yeah, Joey, who knew being the brains of the trio required such grace!

[Joey continues crawling around, completely oblivious to the comedic absurdity of the situation. He checks under a chair, behind a toaster, and even peers into a teacup as if expecting to find his glasses there.]

Joey: (desperate) I must find them! I can't function without my intellectual enhancers!

[The montage continues as Joey's search becomes increasingly frenzied. He accidentally bumps into a wall, sends a stack of plates crashing down, and even scares away a passing fly while waving his arms wildly.]

Marky: (teasing) Hey, Joey, maybe you're just evolving into a new form of cockroach – the nearsighted philosopher!

Dee Dee: (laughing) Or the world's first myopic mastermind!

[Finally, after what feels like an eternity, Joey spots his glasses nestled among a pile of cheese crumbs.]

Joey: (triumphant) Ah-ha! Victory is mine!

[Joey triumphantly puts the glasses back on his nose, but they're now askew, making him cross-eyed.]

Marky: (grinning) Well, Joey, now you're not just a leader, you're a fashion icon too!

Dee Dee: (laughing) Yeah, Joey, those glasses really bring out the inner genius in you!

[The trio bursts into laughter as Joey, still cross-eyed, strikes a dramatic pose. Despite the chaos, their camaraderie remains unbreakable as they revel in the hilarious misadventures of Oggy and The Cockroaches.]

#oggy and the cockroaches

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tomiokasensei · 2 years

Note

hello hello marilyn! it's your secret santaaaa! 🎅 oh my gosh i adore your new icon it's mega cute!! tomioka in his santa costume is super adorable! i love kny christmas official art they have amazing ones and so pretties!! I'm happy to know you're doing well :) did you already bought some goodies on your christmas shopping? 👀 i still have to do mine have been so busy these days! ahh snow so cool here we only have on north of our country, on where i live it never snows dghvcsdjk i live in portugal btw!! be sure to be warm marilyn! i wish i could go to amercia on this time of the year :D it's so awesome when you have snow and christmas seems always to be in high spirits on there... not it isn't here but idk why i find it more beautiful there ^^ oh sure i can recommend you some, if you'd like i can say some of my fav ones hope you like it and it's to your liking ^^ blood+ (super good!!! one of all time favorite animes), d.gray-man, mahoutsukai no yome, natsume yuujinchou, barakamon, bungou stray dogs, bleach, soul eater, zankyu no terror, violet evergarden aaand can't think of more if i do will tell you xD i hope you like them marilyn! which are your fav genres of anime btw? which were the animes that gave you happy moments? sad moments? yeaah i agree with you i guess kny's mangaka should have explored a bit more the other characters.. not that i didn't liked the ending it was like.. they all reincarnated and reunited to be always together again but it should have been more! more juicy story for the charcaters please! but yeah just like you said if it's the decision of the mangaka then it is xD awww thank you marilyn i always find it so awesome and fun whenever we talk! i too see our friendship to bloom and have lots of good times together!! i hope you have been doing well these recent days and don't forget to rest and stay cozy ok? :D take care marilyn till next time! 🥰🎅🎅

hello, hello, secret santa~! ! ! 🥰 glad you like my new icon! i wanted to use the new chibi art that came out but i decided to use the old one XD actually i used the new chibi art of giyuu for my header 👀 and my shopping was fun, still have to figure out what certain friends want but i am mostly done 😊 and good luck with your shopping, i would do it sooner cuz items can sell out (i made the mistake in shopping at the last weeks and i regret it lol).... i love the snow and it's fine in america, i think you might enjoy it and find it fun as well as crazy!... and white, snowy christmas is the highlight of the holiday season! 💜 i would love to check out portugal someday, how is it there and when is it the best time to visit? 😃

out of the ones i have seen are d. gray-man, bleach, soul eater, and violet evergarden. i need to finish bleach i am no where near the current arc of the thousand-year blood war xD;;;;; i have heard of blood+ but i never watched it, maybe you could tell me a little bit about it? 💜 my favourite genres are perhaps shonen because of the fighting action and characters (even though the standard main characters tend to be the same (i.e. the goofy, happy-go-lucky kid, the brooding serious one, and the peppy, high-strung types in a trio group) but i still enjoy it. aside from that i love a dark, thriller genre with suspense like death note and puella magi madoka magica, also tragedies and melodramas

speaking of melodrama, kny was definitely one with tragedies and sadness and probably the one i am deep into because of the emotions i felt thoughtout the whole series. however, i felt like having an overwhelming amount of death was a bit unnecessary. maybe having at least one more hashira survive... the ending itself was fine and nice to bring everyone back for the final chapter. i think we all just wanted more in general, a longer series would have touched on their characters...

thankyou again for dropping by secret santa!! 🎅 likewise, take care and until next time~! ! ! 🤗

#animangasecretsanta #asks

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bbangsoonie · 3 years

Text

to my ex (best friend)

member: juyeon genre: fluff?? word count: 2,175 synopsis: thanks to kevin’s tiktok obsession, you end up sending out a google form to all of the people you used to call your best friends. one response brings back forgotten memories and feelings.

“I can’t believe I’m stuck with the Canada boys for another 4 years,” you jokingly groaned.

Today was officially move-in day and the beginning of your college life. After roughly unpacking in your dorm room, you went over to Jacob and Kevin’s room to hang out. Jacob had his guitar out and was playing random chords for you to hum along to. Kevin, on the other hand, was glued to his phone. TikTok had been his new obsession and he was constantly watching the endless feed of videos.

��Hey, we are the iconic trio,” Jacob insisted.

“Wow Eric is basically a TikTok star now,” Kevin commented as he showed you two the video that popped up on his For You page. “This kid is stuck on straight TikTok though.”

Jacob laughed, although he was unsure of what that exactly meant. Knowing this, you chuckled at his efforts to appease his roommate.

“Hey, hey, hey,” Kevin tugged at your arm in an urgent matter. “Can we also do that Google form trend?”

“Uhh which one?” you asked.

“The one where you send out a Google form to your ex-crushes or ex-friends,” he turned to Jacob to further explain. “So basically it’s a questionnaire either revealing your past feelings or confronting what happened between old friends.”

“I don’t know, man. Our high school years were pretty vanilla. We didn’t even have that many crushes,” you shrugged.

“Hmm I mean we did have that huge friend group freshman year. It’s a shame it kinda fell apart as time went by,” Jacob reminisced.

You were reminded of the people you once considered to be your best friends. It was you and twelve other boys, which should’ve hinted at the inevitable end. The beginning of the end started with Hyunjoon transferring to a different school. Then, as you all grew older and high school drama kicked in, you were the topic of many rumors. People didn’t understand—or like—that you were the only girl in an all male friend group. Girls called you all sorts of names and spread ridiculous lies about you that spread to neighboring schools.

No one in the group had any bad blood with each other. Life just pulled you in different directions and you simply grew apart. Some joined the dance team, which consumed most of their time. Some joined varsity teams and focused on getting a sports scholarship. Some became trainees and lost contact with everyone. Some, like you and the Canada boys, became busy with college applications. Everyone had their own reasons and there were no hard feelings.

“Wouldn’t it be fun to finally find out what they all think? Get closure before we start our journey as college students?” Kevin asked, eagerly.

“I guess,” you agreed.

“Alright! Then we’ll play rock paper scissors to choose who has to send them out,” Kevin declared.

Your unlucky streak, without fail, won you the embarrassment honor of writing and sending the form to all your former friends. You grumbled, displeased at the fact that you were now the scapegoat fulfilling Kevin’s curiosity. Nevertheless, you searched through your contact list to find everyone’s phone numbers and sent them the link, hoping that no one changed their number.

By the next day, you received responses from all 10 of them. The trio reconvened in Jacob and Kevin’s room to review the answers. The first few were essentially what you all expected. They explained how life became hectic and your paths just crossed less and less as your interests and goals changed.

When you came across Haknyeon’s comment, you couldn’t help but laugh.

“You still owe me ice cream for lending you my pen during our final exam,” you read aloud. You recalled the day; you were freaking out about your misplaced pencil case and he had kindly offered his extra pen.

“What else would you expect from the foodie?” Kevin laughed.

By the time you got to Juyeon’s response, however, you froze. Curious as to what caught you so off guard, Jacob took the laptop from your lap and gasped. Kevin peeped over Jacob’s shoulder and his jaw dropped after reading it. He immediately looked at you, wondering how you were taking the information.

You were confused. He had been the object of your love and attention for a good three years in high school. Not wanting anyone to find out, you had swallowed those feelings and the Canada duo were the only ones to ever catch on. You and Juyeon used to be extremely close—even closer than you and Kevin or you and Jacob. He always quietly took care of you and the two of you shared everything with each other until one day he suddenly became distant. Without an explanation, he left your side and never returned. You just assumed he wanted to stop being friends. It hurt but you didn’t want to force a one-sided friendship so you stopped reaching out to him.

“What the heck?” you finally blurted.

Jacob slowly closed the laptop shut, eyeing Kevin who seemed way too giddy. He felt uneasy, not knowing if this was a good thing.

“So your first love was requited,” Kevin said smugly. “I told you so.”

“Okay you had absolutely no facts to back up your assumption back then,” you argued.

“What did I tell you? My gut is never wrong.”

“Yeah but he also just cut me off out of nowhere. How else was I supposed to interpret that?”

“Clearly not the way we did.”

Jacob smacked his hand over Kevin’s mouth to shut him up. He knew how much pain Juyeon’s name brought you. You didn’t show it but you still had a soft spot for him.

“It’s okay, Jacob. Whatever feelings I had for Juyeon—good and bad—are history. You don’t have to walk on eggshells around me,” you assured. “Besides, this doesn’t even mean anything. He wrote all of this in past tense. He’s just clarifying the reason why our friendship ended. Like Kevin said, I guess I finally got closure.”

“Closure? My brilliant idea has brought forth an opportunity for you to rekindle your love!” Kevin exclaimed excitedly.

“No. No way,” you shook your head. “The past is in the past. We are living very separate lives now.”

“Oh stop quoting Frozen and just try texting him,” he rolled his eyes. “Jacob and I never told you but he’s actually attending the same university as us.”

This prompted a very loud “What?” from you. Jacob buried his head in his hands, groaning. He was definitely going to get an earful.

“You’re bound to run into him eventually. So just take the initiative and face things head on,” Kevin advised. “Won’t that be less awkward than coincidentally meeting him after ignoring his response to the form you sent him?”

“And who’s the one who made me send it?” you glared, puffing your cheeks.

“You’re going to do it anyway so just hurry up and pretend you have no choice but to listen to me,” he snickered.

“Moon Hyungseo!”

At your use of his full Korean name, his eyes widened in fear and he jumped up to run away, barely avoiding your slap. Watching the scene in front of him, Jacob laughed. He had secretly hoped that you would reconnect with Juyeon as well. He knew how much you used to like him.

That night, you found yourself staring at Juyeon’s contact on your phone. Your heart raced at the thought of talking to him again. It had been years since you two last spoke and so many things had changed since then. You were no longer oblivious and clumsy teenagers. You knew each other’s past selves but didn’t know a thing about each other’s current selves. You were afraid that even if you became friends again, it would be too different. It was why you never harbored any hope for things to go back to “normal” with him. You couldn’t be disappointed if you never had any expectations to begin with.

Still, you took a leap of courage and sent a simple “hey” before you could chicken out. His reply was almost instant, which startled you.

You: hey

Juyeon: Hi Y/n

You: would it be weird if i asked to meet? i think we have a few things to talk about.. if that’s ok with you

Juyeon: Sure! How’s tomorrow at noon? We could talk over a meal at the school cafeteria

You: sounds good. see you then :)

You wanted to scream into your pillow. The awkwardness was driving you crazy but you were still looking forward to seeing him. He still had you wrapped around his finger and you hated it. But you still loved him.

The next day, your clothes were flung around all over your bed. You had rummaged through your entire closet to find an outfit you were satisfied with, resulting in you running a bit late.

Juyeon had arrived at the cafeteria early. He was so nervous that he couldn’t just stay still in his dorm. After all these years, he was finally confronting everything that he had concealed. He always felt guilty about the way he treated you and he was glad he could finally explain and apologize.

When he saw you approach him, he couldn’t stop himself from staring. It had only been a summer since he last saw you at graduation but your beauty still amazed him. He gulped, standing up to greet you when you reached the table.

The first few minutes were spent eating in awkward silence. Unable to bear it any longer, he cleared his throat to begin the conversation.

“Um so I guess my response to that form was a lot to unpack, huh?” he said sheepishly.

You almost choked on the food, surprised by his straightforwardness. He passed you your cup of water as you coughed.

“Yeah..” you mumbled.

“I want to start by saying I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt you. I think I always had feelings for you. At first, it was subtle. I just liked spending time with you. I liked making you smile. I was content with just being friends. You know me, I’m the type to just watch my crush from afar. Then, as we got older, those feelings grew to be bigger than I could handle. I began to get greedy. And I felt that I could literally do anything for you. That’s when I realized how hard I fell for you and that scared me. I was afraid of ruining our friendship but I was also scared of my own feelings. So I started distancing myself from you. It’s a poor excuse but back then, I was a coward,” he confessed.

Juyeon had always been a very direct person. He never really beat around the bush and you liked that about him. That hadn’t changed about him but yet it still surprised you.

“If I could go back in time, I wish I could have done things differently. I knew I was hurting you but I thought that after all that’s happened, continuing to be friends with you would make you the center of gossip again. I didn’t want to make your life any harder,” he added.

“Juyeon, I cared about you a lot more than I did about those stupid rumors.”

“I know that now. But high schooler me was terrified of you finding out about my feelings.”

You contemplated on whether or not you should bring up your own past feelings. You wanted to reciprocate his honesty but were worried that it would be unnecessary. You took a deep breath and decided on the first option.

“You know, I was also terrified of having you find out about my feelings,” you admitted. Your words shocked him as he tried to figure out what you were implying.

“Wait, you.. You liked me too?” he gaped, making you blush.

“Let’s uh stop talking about that now,” you said as your cheeks reddened to a darker shade.

“While we’re opening up..” he looked at you with hesitance. “Is there any chance you still feel the same way now?”

His question caught you entirely off guard. You blankly stared at him, wondering if you heard him correctly.

“Juyeon, this is the first proper conversation we’ve had in years,” you deadpanned.

“That’s not an immediate no,” he lit up.

You wanted to laugh at his simplicity. His childlike innocence was still the same. It warmed your heart to see that he hadn’t changed as much as you were afraid he would. Yet, the fear in the back of your mind remained. You weren’t confident that you could even resume your friendship with him. At your silence, he tried to lighten the mood.

“So then would being friends again be okay with you?” he asked.

“I guess we could try,” you slowly nodded, bringing a bright smile to his face. You didn’t notice that your expression reflected his.

“Great,” he grinned happily.

And that was the beginning of a new story between you two.

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sir-subpar · 3 years

Text

Where have you been? (Part 2)

*Warning: Blood/Gore*

Five weeks. That's how long Boyfriend had been missing. Five weeks with still no sign of the blue-haired man, it was starting to drive Pico mad. The longer this went on, the harder it was for Pico to think positively. He was starting to struggle with sleep, sometimes going days without so much as a wink of rest. His fiery orange hair was messy from him constantly running his fingers through it. It was hard to relax when someone you care about was unaccounted for. Whitty and Hex were still helping out, which Pico appreciated, but it did little to ease his fears. The three of them met up and searched for Boyfriend as often as they could.

It was late in the afternoon, another day going by with no luck finding Boyfriend. The trio had resorted to putting up missing posters for Bf, splitting up to scatter them around town. It did little to help, especially when random vandals would tear them down or draw all over them. Every time Pico saw one of the posters being ruined it pissed Pico off to no end. He didn't think it was possible to want to strangle a graffiti artist as much as he did. By some miracle of willpower he refrained from doing so (that, and he didn't know who was doing it). Pico sighed angrily as he hung another poster, his thumb turning white as he pushed the tacks into a wooden pole. His gaze lingered on the poster. In the picture, Bf was smiling. He looked so happy.. Pico felt his chest tighten around his heart. It felt hard to breathe, but not impossible. He clutched the front of his vest, fidgeting with the teeth of the zipper. Pico could only imagine what Boyfriend was going through, and his imagination was not kind. As much as he tried to ignore the worst possibilities, he struggled to stay positive.

What if Boyfriend was dead?

He hated the idea. He didn't want to think about it. Surely he was alive. He had to be somewhere! Anywhere! He couldn't be dead! Pico tried to ground himself by thinking of other possibilities. Maybe Bf was just hiding from everyone because he didn't want Gf and her family to know where he was. Pico grit his teeth as more anger suddenly rose from his core. Girlfriend… he was honestly starting to resent her. Sure, most people don't want to see their ex after a breakup. Pico understood that, sure, whatever. But when someone goes missing, it's good to help find them. Especially when you're the last one to have seen them…

Pico was suddenly brought back to reality when he heard his phone buzzing in his pocket. Whitty was calling. The two exchanged phone numbers after they went to that diner weeks ago. Pico tapped the green icon to answer, and brought the phone to his ear. "Hey Whitty. What's up?" Pico asked, his anger faded a bit, now being distracted with the sound of Whitty's voice. "I just wanted to let you know that Hex can't help us for a few days. He's got some computer virus that's apparently been a bitch to remove." Whitty sounded agitated. Pico figured he was probably worried about his best friend. "Is he gonna be ok?" Pico asked, he was already missing one person, he didn't want to lose another. "Yeah, some tech guy's helping him out. He should be fine soon..." Whitty paused. "Hey, do you want to meet up? I'm out of posters to hang." Whitty's tone changed a bit, Pico couldn't quite figure out why, but he brushed it off. It didn't matter anyway. "Yeah, I'll pick you up. Where are you?"

…

Pico drove in silence as Whitty sat in the passenger seat. He felt a little bad for the bomb man as even with the seat pushed all the way back, he barely fit in the car. Pico's car just wasn't designed with people over 8ft tall in mind. Whitty had the chair leaned back so he wouldn't hit his head on the ceiling, his knees were bent just so he could fit in the car. Whitty's hands were in his pockets, despite the lack of space in the car, he seemed like he was relaxing a bit.

"Hey Pico." Whitty broke the silence. Pico let out a hum, signaling he was listening. "I had this random idea for the next place we should check." "Hmm?" Was Pico's only reply. He was tired, but he wasn't gonna quit for the day just yet. "You know that bridge close to the freeway? The one over the ditch?" Pico had to think for a moment before he caught on. "You think he might be hiding out in the ditch?" Pico asked, a little glimmer of hope making itself known. Whitty shrugged. "Maybe. I dunno. It's a common place to hide." Pico turned on his blinker, he had to drive to the opposite side of town to get there but at this rate it wasn't a big deal. If there was even a chance of Boyfriend being there, he had to take it. He had to make sure Bf was safe.

…

After Pico parked the car, he and Whitty climbed down into the dry ditch. It was now night, the darkness making it hard to see anything. Except Whitty's eyes, that is. In the complete darkness, Pico noticed Whitty's orange eyes were glowing. He could partially see the tall man's body as the warm light from his eyes reflected off of him. Pico found it fascinating. It was oddly comforting, like a fireplace. Pico found himself getting lost in them.

"... Pico?" Whitty's voice interrupted Pico's stupor. Turns out the inside of Whitty's mouth glowed too. "Huh? What?" Pico asked, a little lost thanks to his little daydream. "Are you alright? You seemed out of it." Whitty asked, shifting awkwardly as he stood. Pico felt uneasy, did Whitty see something in the dark that he hasn't noticed yet? Were they alone? Pico quickly shoved his hand in his pocket and whipped out his flashlight. As soon as he turned it on, and the light flooded the ditch, he realized no one else was near them (at least no one was close enough to see). So why was Whitty uncomfortable? Like someone was staring at him?

Wait…

Pico had almost physically face-palmed. He was staring at Whitty. He just stood there in silence and stared at this dude's face in the darkness. From Whitty's point of view, that probably came off as creepy. Now he felt a bit guilty for being so weird. Damn it, he had to say something to break this weird silence! But what? Should he apologize? Or just brush it off so they don't have to talk about it? 'Damn it Pico, say something! Anything!' He mentally chastised himself. Just when he was about to blurt out what probably would have been nonsense, Whitty piped up. "Did my eyes creep you out?" Whitty asked, sounding disheartened. Pico suddenly panicked, speaking before his brain could filter it. "What- No! No. Not at all. Your eyes are cool! Like a jack o lantern or something. They're neat! They like.." Pico cleared his throat to compose himself again. He had to give a rational response. "I think your eyes are fascinating. I didn't mean to offend you, I just got distracted. I'm sorry." Pico's face turned a light shade of pink out of embarrassment. He hoped his disjointed response would somehow make the situation less awkward. Whitty's eyes widened, and his cheeks glowed a bit as his expression shifted from surprised to bashful. He started rubbing the back of his head, a nervous habit, Pico assumed. "I… thanks. I've had people say my eyes remind them of Jack O lanterns before, but I think this is only the second time someone's used it as a compliment. Bf was the first." Whitty confessed, his tone sounding fond. Pico smiled a bit, of course B would say something like that. Pico snapped out of his trail of thought before he got more distracted with reminiscing. "Speaking of… we should get back to looking for him." Pico stated, bring their focus back to the task at hand. Whitty nodded. The two chose to walk throughout the ditch, hopefully they'd eventually find a sign of Boyfriend under these bridges.

Each step they took echoed off of the cement around them. It was a little eerie. Pico was glad that he wasn't alone, Whitty seemed like he could hold his ground. It was comforting. After a few minutes, they came across a blanket laid out next to a few plastic water bottles. They couldn't necessarily say they belonged to Boyfriend, but it felt like they were on the right track at least. They continued their walk, hoping to find more signs of Bf. A few more mostly uneventful minutes went by, then they saw someone not too far ahead of them. Pico lowered his light a bit so it wasn't shining in their eyes, but he could still see them pretty clearly. They were leaning their back against the wall of the ditch with their arms crossed. They had what appeared to be a goat skull for a head with long horns er.. Horn. Pico noticed that one of their horns had clearly been broken off. Their face had multiple large cracks all over it. He wore a dark blue hoodie that matched his hat. His jeans were either a darker shade of blue or black, Pico couldn't quite tell. The skull-faced stranger had turned their head to look at Pico and Whitty, clearly having noticed Pico's flashlight. His black eye sockets with glowing yellow pupils staring them down. Pico admittedly got a shady vibe from him, but he was accustomed to shady people due to his type of work. He decided to approach the man, but not get too close, he just needed to know if he had seen Boyfriend. "Hey. Mind we ask you something?" Pico called, hoping the stranger would cooperate. "What do you want?" The horned stranger rudely snapped in a clear Russian accent, he was clearly agitated. Pico wasn't that fazed by the man's rudeness, again, he was used to that kind of behavior (not to mention he wasn't all that polite or well mannered himself). "We just have some questions. We're looking for a friend of ours, maybe you've seen him around." The man appeared to relax a bit after hearing that. His expression was less aggressive. "What does your friend look like?" He asked, his tone a bit less harsh than before. Pico pulled his phone from his pocket and scrolled through his gallery until he found a picture of him and Boyfriend. He turned the phone around to face the man. As soon as he saw the photo, his eye sockets widened, and he tilted his head back a bit in surprise. "Boyfriend?" The man questioned.

Now it was Whitty and Pico's turn to be surprised. "You know him?" Whitty asked, bewildered at the man's recognition of Bf. "Yes, we are… acquainted. I see him a lot lately." That, admittedly, made Pico angrier than it probably should have. This guy knew where Bf was while no one else did. B had trusted this guy instead of Pico? Or Whitty? Pico once again asked himself the question that plagued his mind for weeks. 'Why didn't he come to me?' Pico tightened his grip on his flashlight. He should be glad. They finally had a potential lead. Pico forced the irrationality down for what felt like the 100th time that day. "Do you know where he is?" 'Please. Tell me you know where he is.' Pico begged internally. The man nodded his head in a 'sort of' fashion. "I know where he's been hiding lately. It's not too far from here." He looked around a bit, as if checking to see if they were alone. "You know that little theater on Chavez road? The closed one? He's been around there lately. You'll find him if you go there." Pico suddenly felt a small rush of relief. That sounded promising. "Thank you, Mr..?" "Tabi" "Thank you Tabi. We appreciate it. Oh! I'm Pico, by the way. This is Whitty." Whitty waved, and Tabi nodded in acknowledgment. Tabi bagan to walk away. "Take care of Boyfriend you too. He's fragile right now." He called before departing. "We will," Whitty replied, "Thank you." Pico mumbled one more time before he and Whitty rushed towards the car.

…

For the first time in weeks, Pico felt hope. He felt almost giddy in a sense. Soon this nightmare could be over. Soon Bf could be safe. But there was still a chance that they wouldn't find Bf. There were a lot of emotions running rampant in his head. Nerves, excitement, doubt. He couldn't remember the last time he was this conflicted. Various 'what ifs' both positive and negative coming forth to give their piece of mind. Pico gripped the steering wheel of his car tightly, his knuckles turning white.

Tabi's words echoed in his head. 'Take care of Boyfriend, he's fragile right now.'

Was this all really because of Bf and Gf's breakup? It just felt extreme. Most people don't go missing for weeks after a breakup. Especially Boyfriend. This was out of character for him. He hated being alone. There was more to it. There had to be. Pico was sure of it.

Pico pulled over as the old theatre came into view. The decorative walls were a bit worn, but still beautiful. He knew this old place fairly well, it made him a little sad when it was shut down. Pico and Whitty stepped out of the car. Whitty stretched his arms, glad he could stand at his full height again. The bomb man looked at the various posters on the theater's walls, each one advertised some sort of play or performance. "Huh." Was all Whitty said. "What's up?" Pico asked. "I don't know why, but I thought this was going to be a movie theater. I didn't realise it was one of those performing arts places." Whitty replied. Pico turned to Whitty. "You've never been here before?" Pico asked, genuinely surprised. Whitty only shook his head in response. "Aw man, that's a bummer. This place was nice. It was family-owned, a local theater, ya know? It went bankrupt, but when it was open it was cool… B loved it here." Pico's tone shifted as he reminisced. Going from casual to bittersweet. Whitty tilted his head curiously, waiting for Pico to continue. He didn't make eye contact with Whitty, instead focusing his gaze on the theater's doors. "Ya know… sometimes, after a show, the owners would let B and I use the stage. We'd sing there for as long as they let us. We did it almost every week." Pico couldn't help but feel nostalgic. He remembered those times so well. It was years ago, back when he and B were together. They were memories he cherished. "Sounds like it was fun." Whitty commented briefly. "It was." Pico's tone continued to be bittersweet. Deep down, he hoped that he and Boyfriend could have what they did back then. He always regretted letting B go, but never said anything. Once Boyfriend found someone else, he figured he'd never have a chance again. Pico's vision started to blur slightly. 'Goddammit Pico! Now's not the time!' He mentally chastised himself, he didn't want to cry. Not when Bf was still lost. Not in front of Whitty. He was able to bury this before, he could do it again. Pico did his best to refocus on the task at hand. He needed to stop doing this.

Pico cleared his throat.

"A-Anyway, we should look for Boyfriend. He's probably around here somewhere." Whitty nodded. Pico was thankful that Whitty didn't pry into his emotions. He'd rather NOT talk about that at the moment, thank you very much. "Let's check inside." Whitty proposed, Pico gave a brief sound of agreement before pulling the front door's handle. Surprisingly it was unlocked. Was Tabi right? Was Boyfriend here? Did he unlock it? Pico made a mental note about the door and continued inside, Whitty following just behind him. Once again he needed his trusty flashlight. The theater was usually dark as is, but it was extra dark with it being the middle of the night. While in said darkness, Pico was briefly reminded of earlier that night when he stared at Whitty's eyes for an uncomfortable amount of time. Pico's cheeks flushed with embarrassment. This was definitely going to be one of those memories that kept him up at night whenever he thought about it. Then, Pico had another thought. "Hey Whitty." "Hm?" "How come you haven't been using a flashlight too? I mean, I don't mind sharing mine, I'm just curious." Pico hoped it wasn't a rude question. "Oh, well, uh.." Whitty began, Pico once again noticing how the inside of Whitty's mouth glowed like his eyes. "I don't really need a flashlight. I can see in the dark." Whitty's cheeks glowled orange a bit, now Pico was convinced that was how Whitty blushed. He found it kinda endearing, to be honest. "That's really cool. Wish I could do that." Pico said and chuckled a bit, feeling a bit lighter in spirit. Whitty also laughed coyly, feeling a bit flattered. "Let's check out the stage first." Whitty directed, already walking towards it. "Yeah, good idea." Pico agreed, following suit. The 'house' was dusty, and the seats clearly hadn't been used in a while. Well, most of them hadn't. Pico paused, getting a better look. He quickly noticed that a few of them had been folded out, the armrests were raised, and what looked like a shiney red blanket was draped across them. Someone had been using them as a makeshift bed, Pico realized. Someone was definitely here. "Psst, hey Whitty." Whitty turned around to face him, Pico waved his hand in a 'come here' gesture. Whitty nodded and approached him.

The tall bomb headed man leaned over Pico, looking down the same row of seats he was. It didn't take him long to catch on. "We must be on the right track. Wait, is that a curtain?" Whitty reached over Pico to pick up and hold the 'blanket' which was, in fact, part of a stage curtain that had been cut. Pico felt his heart clench. B was using a curtain for a blanket, he must be cold. Pico looked at the chairs/bed. One of the seats had a pile of clothes/costumes haphazardly bunched together, probably being used as a pillow. This was just… sad. Bf didn't deserve to live like this.

While Pico looked at the seats, Whitty took a second to inspect the curtain. It was red on one side, and white on the other side- wait, no, the other side had red too. In weird splotches and smear-like patterns. Whitty held it stretched out in front of him, the white and red patterned side facing him. The patterns looked inconsistent not just in size and shape, but in hue as well. Some of the red splotches looked darker almost..wet, while others looked faded, like stains. Whitty touched one of the darker red spots with his thumb, surprised when it was actually wet. Realization suddenly dawned on him, this wasn't a pattern. Now he was worried. "Hey Pico?" His scratchy voice quietly called, Pico turned around to look Whitty in the eyes. Whitty held the curtain in a way that only let Pico see the shiney full-red side and not the 'patterns'. "I'm not entirely human, so correct me if I'm wrong but… human blood is red, right?" Pico gave him a confused and worried look, then nodded hesitantly. "That's what I was afraid of." Whitty admitted, turning the curtain around so Pico could see. Pico's white eyes shot open wide, before giving Whitty a panicked look. Pico's heart dropped.

Just as Pico was about to say something, there was a loud *CRASH* from a distance.

Pico and Whitty's attention snapped towards the stage, it looked like a shelf had fallen over from backstage. Frantic footsteps could be heard. Neither of them had to say anything, they both bolted towards all the noise. Running up the small stairs to the stage. They ran towards the backstage area. Their own footsteps echoing as their shoes hit the wooden floorboards. Whitty, with his longer strides, took the lead ahead of Pico. Once they arrived at the backstage room, they saw the metal Exit door slowly closing. Whitty slammed it back open, dashing through it, Pico not far behind him. Once outside, they had stumbled into a fenced in parking lot. Street lights illuminated the empty lot, now they could see the other person running away from them. They were short, around Pico's height. They had a black hoodie on, the hood was up so they couldn't see their head. Even so, Pico was sure that it was Boyfriend. It had to be.

The hooded person ran into the parking lot's locked gate. Attempting to climb over it, but they weren't fast enough. Pico and Whitty were on their tail. They still tried, though. They were clearly struggling to get up the fence's bars, it looked like they kept slipping, like they couldn't grip the bars. Just as they were about to make another attempt to climb, Whitty caught up to them. The tall bomb man swiftly wrapped his hands around their torso, easily lifting them off the ground. Like holding a kitten. They helplessly swung their arms and legs, attempting to free themself from Whitty's grip. Amidst all their wild flailing, the hood came down, revealing a familiar face with blue hair. Boyfriend. They found him.

"N-no! Let me go! P-Put me down!" Boyfriend yelled, his voice filled with panic. His eyes were closed, and tears soaked his cheeks. Whitty knelt down to bring Boyfriend closer to the ground, still not letting go. "Hey! Hey… Boyfriend, it's just us. It's okay." Whitty did his best to keep his scratchy voice steady, hoping to calm down the terrified bluette. Despite not having the most soothing voice, it seemed to help a bit. Bf stopped flailing and yelling for the moment, his eyes snapped open. He seemed to have come to a sudden halt. His fearful eyes scanned the environment around him. Pico tried to approach him slowly, he didn't want to spook the poor guy more, but he too, was shaking. He had seen Boyfriend scared before, sure, but not like this. This was a new level of absolute terror. He looked so… fragile. Like if someone so much as flicked him, he'd fall to pieces. This was a far cry from the Boyfriend Pico knew. The dumb, reckless, confident man was no where to be found. What really struck Pico though, was the noticeable dampness of Boyfriend's hoodie sleeves. Pico figured he must have been injured, and he had to help.

In the moment though, he was overwhelmed. He was happy that they found him. He was also worried about him. Part of him was angry. After all the weeks spent searching for Boyfriend, after spending those weeks bottling up all his frustrations, fears, grief, worry. He had reached his tipping point. He couldn't hold back anymore. The tears in his own eyes couldn't be stopped this time. Pico threw away his inhibitions, and just ran up to hug Boyfriend. Pico buried his face in the crook of Boyfriend's neck, and dug his fingers into his blue hair. He was there, they actually found him. And he'd be damned if he lost Bf again. His own face was wet with tears. "G-god Damn it you- you fucking idiot. Don't scare me like that again. F-fuck." Pico's voice shook, sobbing, his cries making it harder to speak. Whitty let go of Boyfriend's torso, instead wrapping his arms around both Pico and Boyfriend, trying not to cry himself (emphasis on tried). A few of his hot, orange tears fell onto the other two boys, but neither seemed to notice.

After a few moments, Whitty and Pico pulled back from the hug. Pico kept his hands on Boyfriend's shoulders, he didn't want to let go. His attention was once again brought to the dampness of Bf's hoodie, he knew it had to be blood. "B… let's go home." Apparently that was the wrong thing for Pico to say, as soon as he did, Boyfriend panicked again. "I-! N-no! I don't want to see her again please Pico-! Don't make me go back!" Pico rushed to ask what was wrong, startled by Bf's reaction. "B, who are you talking about?" Pico gently grabbed Boyfriend's hands, he wanted to be comforting, but that changed when he noticed Bf heavily flinched, and his hands were wet. Pico gently brought Bf's hands into the light. His hands were cracked and bleeding. Badly. The skin and flesh looked like it was just barely holding on to the bones. Some of the blood was dry and crusty, while some of it was fresh. Pico furrowed his brow. "B… what happened?" Bf began crying again. "Gf.. She.." Bf's voice trembled, his lip quivered. He started sobbing. Whitty's orange eyes widened, in a spur of the moment, Whitty gathered both the shorter males in his arms. Lifting them off the ground and standing at his full height. "Hey Pico, why don't we all head to your place?" Pico nodded, still holding Bf's hands. "You can stay with me, B. I promise I won't take you to Girlfriend. She won't even know we found you, okay?" Bf looked into Pico's white eyes, then Whitty's orange ones, before slowly nodding and letting out a barely audible "okay".

Whitty carried them to Pico's car, he decided to sit in the back with Boyfriend so he wouldn't be alone while Pico drove the car (they moved the front passenger seat as far up as they could to make more legroom for him). Bf was huddled to Whitty's side, the tall, warm, bomb man made him feel safe. Whitty had one of his arms wrapped around Boyfriend, hoping to comfort him. The bluette was still crying, but not as much as before, he seemed to have calmed down slightly. No words were exchanged during the car trip to Pico's house.

Once they arrived, Whitty gently carried Bf into Pico's house and carefully set him down on Pico's couch. Pico ran off to grab his first aid kit from his hallway closet, mentally preparing himself for how wrecked the rest of Bf's arms might look. He didn't want to end up freaking out and scaring Bf more. Pico moved to sit next to Boyfriend on the couch. "Okay B, show me what hurts." Boyfriend seemed hesitant, Whitty, who was sitting at Bf's other side, rubbed his back. The small gesture seemed to comfort Bf a little, and he removed the black hoodie he was wearing, hissing as the fabric pulled away from his wounds; he was only wearing a tank top under it, so the damage to his arms was revealed easily. Boyfriend's arms looked worse than his hands did somehow. Cracked and bleeding, in some places, it looked like the skin had stitches only to fall apart more and undo them. He could see the bone in Bf's elbow and shoulder.

Pico felt sick. It was a mystery how Boyfriend wasn't just screaming in anguish. Pico took a quick glance at Whitty, who also looked appalled at the gorey sight before them. Pico looked into Boyfriend's teary eyes, then back at his arms. "We should take ya to the hospital." Pico said nervously, his gauze and hydrogen peroxide couldn't fix this. "I-I already tried that. They couldn't- *sniff* they couldn't stop it. I-It's magic." Bf confessed, Pico noticed Whitty's expression changed from shock to sympathetic. Whitty gestured to Bf's arms "Was this Girlfriend's magic?" Boyfriend nodded. Pico felt rage bubbling in his core. His attempt to keep calm and collected was thrown out the window. "Did she do this on purpose!? That's it! Imma beat her ass!" Pico whipped out his gun. Furious. "I'm gonna pump that bitch full of lead!" Pico was about to storm out his house when both Boyfriend and Whitty stopped him. "PICO DON'T!" Bf and Whitty said in unison. Whitty gripped Pico's arm (which was super easy seeing as his hand was big enough for his fingers to wrap all the way around Pico's forearm), and Boyfriend hugged him, burying his face in the crook of Pico's neck. "Why the fuck are you two stopping me!?" Pico shouted, still undeniably pissed. "Please don't go, Pico!" Bf cried. "Listen dude, as much as I'd love to see ya give that girl more holes than swiss cheese, if you even try it, her family will kill you. Plus, if ya went to her now, they'll know we found Bf, and who knows what they'd do to him then!"

Pico hated to admit it, but Whitty was right. He'd just make it worse by confronting Girlfriend. Her family was powerful, her parents would definitely come after all of them if he tried to do anything to her. His anger was screaming at him to go and blast her with his Uzi, but reason objected to it. Pico sighed, and put his gun on the table. "Alright. Yer right. I'm sorry." Bf hugged him tighter. "Thank you." He said quietly. "Well, if I can't shoot that bitch, let's at least try to solve… this." Pico gestured towards Bf's arms, which were bleeding all over him in the hug. Whitty rubbed the back of his head, unsure. "Well, demon magic did this in the first place, maybe another demon can undo it?" Whitty offered, Pico thought about it, it made sense. If hospitals couldn't treat a curse, might as well try magic. "I can't say you're wrong, the issue now is finding a demon who would be willing to help. The only other demon I know I wouldn't trust as far as I could throw her. Do you know anyone?" Whitty shook his head. The three stayed quiet. Pico wracked his brain for anyone who might be helpful. Maybe his dad knew someone who could help? Probably not. His brother definitely hung out with demons and whatnot, but most people his brother hung out with were bad news. Not to mention he hasn't spoken to his older bro in a long ass time. That was a no go. Who else could he ask? Pico glanced at Whitty, he appeared to be going over various options in his head too. They were silent until Boyfriend chirped in. "I might know someone. Maybe tomorrow we can find her?" Pico shrugged. "I guess that's just what we gotta do. For now though, you should go get cleaned up. You remember where the shower is?" Bf nodded, and started walking down the hallway. "I'll bring you some clean clothes you can borrow!" Pico called, Bf replying with a distant "Thank you" before disappearing around the corner.

Pico made eye contact with Whitty. He might not have known this guy too well, having only met him a couple weeks ago, but the time they spent working together trying to find Boyfriend made Pico appreciate him. He wanted to know more about him. Whitty was so helpful, even managing to calm Pico down when he was two seconds away from snapping. He found the gentle giant fascinating and comforting. "Hey Whitty?" Whitty let out a curious "hmm?"

"I just wanted to say thanks.. For everything. You've been really helpful and great and.. I really appreciate it." Pico's earnest tone made Whitty's cheeks glow slightly. "It's no problem. You don't have to thank me or anything. I just.. Wanted Bf to be safe too, ya know?" Pico nodded understandably. "I wish we coulda met under better circumstances. You seem like a great guy, I uh… I'd really like to keep hangin out with you. Maybe once we get this whole curse thing sorted out, we should do something together? Maybe all three of us should." Pico felt color flooding in his own cheeks now, feeling somewhat nervous. Whitty smiled. "I'd like that." Pico let out a small chuckle. "Cool. Cool. Sounds good."

An awkward lull took the conversation, neither saying much. Whitty eventually stood up and stretched, feeling a bit sleepy. "Well, I should head out. I'm gettin tired. Want me to meet up with you guys here tomorrow?" Pico hesitantly nodded, he almost offered to just let Whitty stay the night, but if he had plans to go home, who was Pico to stop him? "Sounds good. Imma uh.. Get some clothes for B." Pico attempted to make the situation less awkward, he was never good at goodbyes. "Yeah, that'd be good. I'll see you tomorrow." Whitty and Pico parted ways after that. Now, Pico just had to help Boyfriend. Hopefully this woman he was talking about can reverse whatever demon spell was on him..

Pico let Bf borrow his spare pajamas, and threw Bf's clothes in the wash. He wasn't sure if the washing machine was gonna be able to get all the blood out. As he was going through it, he noticed that the inside of Bf's jeans were bloody too, the curse must've been affecting his legs as well. Pico kept the 1st aid kit out, that way he could bandage what was left of Boyfriend's limbs. While Pico tended to the bluette's wounds, he made small talk with Boyfriend, hoping it would put him at ease. It seemed to help. Eventually it became time to turn in for the night. Both boys were exhausted.

"Hey Pico?"

"Yeah B?"

"Can I sleep in your bed with you? I don't wanna be alone."

"... Yeah. C'mere."

"Thanks Pico."

"No prob. G'night B."

"Good night Pico."

#fnf #friday night funkin #fnf boyfriend #fnf bf #fnf pico #fnf whitty #cursed!bf #cursed! bf au #bf x whitty x pico #fnf bf x whitty #bf x pico #bicobomb #bombeep #bico #fanfic #twoshot #where were you?

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anolyso · 3 years

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Utena thoughts...about 2 weeks later

I've been putting it off for way too long and so most of my thoughts stopped being fresh. On top of watching way too many analysis vids post-watch, but still I do at least want to put my 2cents of Revolutionary Girl Utena out there for the world.

Utena is perhaps one of the most famous "magical girl"/shoujo action shows out there for not only it's transgressive themes of relationship abuse and low-key pretty much being the poster girl for like actual feminist perspective on/in anime...but also just doing it all in both a heavily allegorical and understated, yet super over-the-top stylish fashion

But that's it's reputation preceding itself, is Utena worth while all these years? The answer is Yes, but it also really shows it's age and budget in pacing and repetition, tho as an appreciator for "behind the scenes" compromises in art, it's more showcasing Ikuhara's talent in working around both taboo and long-form budget constraints with just well-thought out and iconic imagery that - while episodic and formulaic - is just very good at filling the 39 eps with feasts for the eyes.

Utena broadly is about tomboy Utena with memories long ago after her parents died being "saved" by a princely figure like a princess...except she's so enthralled by the nostalgia that instead she becomes a full on Prince herself and receives a dueling ring to fight in the Ohtori Acadamy secret duels for "engagement" to Rose Bride Himemiya Anthy.

Utena is divided between 4 arcs, only the first and last being Manga adapted from hearsay:

1: Student Council Saga

2: Black Rose Saga

3: Akio Ohtori Saga

4: Apocalypse

From back to forth I'd say that Akio + Apoc is more just escalation into the finale while Black Rose being anime original comes off as a glorified side-character study which while complementing the secondary cast, feels like one of those Anime movies that has to say "but if you don't watch this part, it's pretty much optional for the main plot" despite it also actually introducing the most important antagonist within it's margins.

More importantly, it's the Student Council (arc and the actual people) that lay the foundation but also a large part of the show's focus which ironically puts Utena in the background until like almost the finale and some in-between developments, so it's less "Utena (and Anthy Himemiya)'s story" until the very end, but more like a showcase of how fucked up the system at large is (pin in that).

By the Council themselves is:

Kyouichi Saionji: The biggest jobber, like actually introduced as the most despicable loser ep 1 and proceeds to be a complete arrogant joke for the rest of the show. Honestly in another shojo "love" story, they'd find some way to redeem him but semi-compellingly they turn him into like an Aqua-lad type pathetic brat with an inferiority complex to the actual Student head

Miki Kaoru: the naive "nice, non-threatening soft boy" that also just never actually listens to the girls around him. Probably adds more complexity to the whole patriarchal idea on analytic reflection since yeah, the whole "nice guy finishes last" plays up better when the kid comes off as that "ally" energy of wanting to save Himemiya from being the Rose Bride but also low-key won't actually not just do the duels and win her cuz he's that sorta wishy-washy hypocrite. Arguably the least hateable guy in the cast (minus mascot Chu-Chu)

Juri Arisugawa: TRAGIC LESBIAN TRIANGLE LOVE. Probably the biggest point to of both "not-explicitly homosexual" but also really freaking obvious since her entire story is her girlfriend stealing her "boy crush" when actually she was crushing on her and being pretty much frustrated throughout her story as pining most of it. It's quaint by today's standards but also like damn girl, get over her she was like the worst back stabbing bitch (literally if Black Rose counts)

Nanami Kiryuu: SPEAKING OF QUEEN BITCH, it's been a long time since I've watched a High School girl bully and honestly it's kinda refreshing. If Miki is "soft-boy uwu" Nanami is a brat that gets her come-uppance often, featured prominently as an anime only with the MOST filler/comedic episodes but also not low-key, being the most out-spoken actual brother complex ironically spins perhaps the biggest twist and ironic relationships of "I love my brother but not-like-that but also like-that" by the end. Mostly comedic relief but I find her inclusion to actually add a lot more to juxtapose...

Touga Kiryuu: Big Student Council Prez himself, the first arc antagonist and also a strong foil to Saionji and later a stepping stone for Akio. Touga is THE image of a Princely Playboy Heart-Throb that in any other Shoujo romance would have the main girl win him over from all those "other girls" despite him being apathetic if not outright manipulative of them. Good thing Utena is better than that and really puts a spotlight on just not-actually-ok his power hunger for "the power to bring the world revolution" that leads him to heavily objectify Anthy, arguably even more than Misogynist Trophy Girlfriend beater Saionji, since he doesn't even see her as more than a means to an end despite professing and looking the Prince part but lacking all the actual virtues.

The Student council matters more since they're characters and subsequent tragic flaws are the ACTUAL meat of the show and on second rumination actual shows more how fucked up the system/gender dynamic/power hierarchy is since - while it blatantly fucks over Juri who can't just outright say who she likes - also show almost it's own sub-text of Masculine failings: Saionji desperately clinging to being TOXIC MASCULINE™ and completely falling short underneath Touga; Miki's "nice boy" act belying him trying to replace his low-key nostalgia for his sister (also a bitch, but apparently was more like Nanami in the manga); and best yet Touga being the quintessential "Prince in all but actual behavior" by emulating a cutthroat and Machiavellian world view but coming up empty because well, he's just an illusion of a prince...but that leads in way more to the big finale piece where I'll reintroduce the actual story's main trio

Utena Tenjou: Tomboy Prince with brain empty except for lesbian thoughts. Honestly probably what every western "STRONG INDEPENDENT WOMAN" archetype wishes they were since while having very tomboyish personality in athletics, blunt speaking and also VERY oblivious to the actual plot for REAL DRAMATIC IRONY, but also never actually demeaning her being feminine partially due to her love of an childhood prince and how she maintains her relationship with both her friend Wakaba and later Anthy. Honestly mostly a plot device after S1 until she gets ACTUAL development by the very end and instead kinda bumbles her way into undoing the entire REVOLUTION OF THE WORLD. I kinda wish she felt either more cognizant or at least felt like she was developing/properly rebuking the rest of the cast's power obsessions but I guess that's for the movie.

Anthy Himemiya: Actual Trophy Wife with a dark secret (darker than ski- wait no that's terrible scratch that). Set-up very much as an immediate princess in distress while also being the most femme Yamato Nadeshiko, Anthy being the Rose Bride as a literal prize who acts and behaves as whom she's "engaged" with desires while otherwise being quiet, wry, mysterious and noticably submissive, by the end it actually plays up into THE BIG REVEALS of just how abused she's been into a hopeless acceptance...like y'know actual abuse victims.

Akio Ohtori: Grade A Antagonist, probably the most insidious I've seen a villain in a while, Akio is notable for, back in 1997, being perhaps the big go-to of actual deconstructing the facade of a whole shoujo genre's "hots for a teacher/sexy man putting the moves" and highlighting how actually exploitative and abusive a person like that really is. Being Himemiya's brother (somewhat justified in the manga by both being a weird Sailor Moon-esque reincarnation of gods/godesses of Dios), despite how much of his motives are runing the background and how the entire back story is uh...brought up in like barely in the last arc with little lead up (some scenes feel like they'd be a full melodrama season and they just have like 1 scene in the final arc episodes) he manages to one-up Touga (in the plot as well) by instead of "just" objectifying girls, not-just-flat out saying Utena looks best as a princess, but y'know the fact that he is implicitly yet constantly exploiting and victim-blaming Anthy for her own suffering for "the power of Dios/Revolution of the world" turns it on its head

I've spent all this time on characters but in truth a lot of the meat of the show relies again on the Council Members fleshing out the issues of system leading to outright divorcing "being a Prince" (heroic altruistic virtues) and "being a man" (considering like all but maybe the comedic relief have some deliberately misogynistic behavior) and beyond just the plot (or rather character) synopsis, the talent goes far more in how it's framed, the symbolic/allegorical shots, the repetition adding a good episode formula flow to character showcases, probably the most "tasteful" allusion to uh...*ahem* sexual abuse that so many other edgier/prentious shows fumble. Both in how intimidating yet understated it's foreshadowing is until they hard-reveal it despite never explicitly naming it even tho it sends Nanami into hysterics

Really it's both a massive blessing and reason for it's cult beloved status for it's aesthetics but also it's burden, for being a full 39 episodic season by season character development study of everyone BUT the main trio except for snippets and the very end that makes it greatly appreciable as a legitimate work of art.

What I wanted more to say however (long overdue) is that a large part of following is, visibly at least, western feminist critiques and yes while it almost seems like Utena fits the "deconstructing patriarchy" story like a glove...it's weird how almost none of them actually can give a good historical account of actual Japanese female/gender/sexuality norms nor Anime contemporaries actually were. Like Tenchi Muyo and Berserk came out the same year (Cardcaptor Sakura the next) and despite how you can "feel" the influence in lots of modern shows like SHAFT's signature visual imagery cuts or many WESETERN shows having straight scene references to Utena....almost no one has a similar feel to Utena until like Princess Tutu comes out.

Really tho probably should've watched Utena and then Tutu because while it's undeniable that Utena is a major pillar of shoujo re-codification - what with everyone before Utena was saying they thought it'd be like a Rose of Versaille or Lady Knight rip-off...whose laughing now? - it's almost like there's a missing link between it and it's major western fanbase (probably with what few anime did get overseas, this one probably rose to the top), or how very noticeable there IS an influence on it's genre in Japan

Almost none of the big analyst fans actually know A) it's not "a deconstruction of Magical Girls" since despite Ikuhara working on Sailor Moon just before this, almost none of the tropes line up and instead more with Shoujo genre as a whole. or one of the major inspirations was Takarazuka theater.

And this is not to dismiss how inspirational it is to it's western fandom, but while I am notably cynical towards placing things on pedestals, there's probably something about cultivating the whole pop-culture feminist reading commune with people making weird time-loop theories while kinda most of it is just filling in a mad-lib mostly thanks to Ikuhara just keeping things on the vague and letting the audience take away their own perspective.

Again, most of the show is completely sub-textual or visually/symbolically depicted and never stated nor properly defines it's weird key words (End of the World, Revolutionize the World, Power of Dios, Rose Bride, all things said constantly but never really said what they "mean". But that's also perhaps its charm, in it's allegory and very Death of the Author approach, it has definitely allowed it's fan theorizing and appreciation to flourish so there's something there for that.

Ultimately I'd say Utena the TV series is great more so for what it isn't...or rather I should say it's great for not just subverting Shoujo tropes and archetypes for the Japanese audience but also that despite dealing with some very serious and heavy subjects in obtuse and perhaps understated ways for the time, people have allowed it to be put on it's pedestal because they can easily fit it in themselves.

Honestly though, not that a more "straight forward" approach wouldn't detract from Utena but I will say that the movie, Adolescence of Utena, is very much the best encapsulation of what Utena strives to be (for another big blog post) and while the TV series has plenty of time and flexes it's directorial muscles with budget constraints and season pacing UNrestrained, the movie will trim a lot of the fat

#long post #Revolutionary Girl Utena #I haven't actually done my Anime thoughts in a while #Maybe I'll keep this on my main blog this time #I wrote this mostly on facebook tho if I wrote it here first I'd better integrate images probably #anolyso's media time #uh...except now that's on my main blog

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