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thewritetofreespeech · 3 years

Note

I'm feeling under the weather. Would you write some scenarios of how the GOM boys + Kagami would take care of me to help me feel better???

Awwww! I’m so sorry to hear that!! I hope you feel better ^_^. Hope this helps too! It’s a little long with all the boys. So rest of the GOM + Kagami is under the cut.

Akashi:

Being sick was the worst. Between the body aches & pains, general lethargy, you hadn’t gotten out of bed hardly at all today. You barely had the energy to get up and call school this morning to tell them you weren’t coming. Thankfully, they hadn’t pressed, and wished you a speedy recovery for returning to class on Monday.

That was your wish too.

You didn’t want anyone to know you were sick.

Sleeping most of the day, you were surprised to hear the doorbell much later in the afternoon. This would be the time you would normally just be getting home from school. So, who could possibly expect you to be home right now?

“Akashi-kun…?” You said in surprise. Finding your boyfriend, and his dreamy duel-colored eyes, on the other side of your door.

“Hello darling.” The brilliant red head greeted with a soft smile. As if it was perfectly natural for him to be here. “I heard you were under the weather. So I came to check on you. I also brought a physician to check in on you as well.” You look past Akashi finally to see a nice, older looking gentleman in a white lab coat with a crescent eyed smile.

“Akashi-kun, I already went to the doctor. That’s how I know I’m sick.”

“This doctor is better.” He announced as he saw himself in, with his doctor, and led you over to the couch. “He’s the personal physician for the Akashi family. His credentials are far superior to that of your typical clinic doctor.” You want to say something to him about how it didn’t take ‘superior credentials’ to diagnosis a cold, but Akashi was already positioning you on the couch. He gave you another soft smile before he turned to the doctor with a much cooler look and told him to get to work.

Sure enough, you still have a cold. “Gee, I’m so glad you brought such a brilliant doctor all the way here for me Sei-kun.” You quip sarcastically. Using your familiar nickname now that you were alone.

“Humor me, alright.” He replied. Bringing over the tray of tea he had been busying himself with while the doctor examined you. “I was worried when you didn’t come to school today. Why didn’t you call me?”

“Because I didn’t want to worry you….” You mutter into your tea cup once he had handed it to you. “I know…you get worried about people you care about being sick, after what happened to your mom. When Kuroko was sick last winter you practically wore a trench in the floor pacing ‘til you knew he was better.” Your fingers run the brim of the tea mug. Soaking up the warmth in your hands as you hold it. “I thought I could get over it before you found out, so you wouldn’t have to be the wiser. I guess that was pretty stupid hn? You always figure everything out.”

Akashi looked at you with a soft expression. Then he leaned in to kiss your warm forehead. “You’re not stupid. Don’t ever say that about yourself.” He told you. “And yes, it’s true. I get worried when people I care about are ill. But more than that I get worried when people don’t tell me things. When my mother was sick, no one told me anything. They said she was fine. Then one day she was just gone. Being in the dark is worse than just knowing the truth. So I must insist that you tell me these things in the future. Ok?”

You smile a little. You can tell he was trying really hard not to make this an order; his orders were absolute after all. But he was trying to make sure that he was kept in the loop in the future. He was worried about you.

You smile a little and snuggle into Akashi’s chest. “Yes kotei-kun.”

Midorama:

Thank God Japan had such strict firearm laws, because if you had a gun right now you’d shot yourself.

Ok, no you wouldn’t. But death would be a sweet blessing over this cold. This 24-hour bug thing hit you hard and hit you fast. Crippling you from a once vibrant human being to a walking corpse in less than a few hours. You sincerely wished that it was only 24 hours.

You hear the doorbell from the kitchen and hope it’s your soup. Too weak to even make your own food, you’d begrudgingly ordered some hot broth in an attempt to eat and keep up your strength.

You open the door to surprisingly find not your soup but Shutoku’s positive point guard standing there. “Takao?”

“Hi [Y/N]-chan!”

“What are you doing here?”

“Shin-chan heard you were sick. So, he wanted to come take care of you.” Holding of a napsack of supplies.

You blink once, looking around to see if you had somehow missed Midorima in your fever fogged mind. “He’s…here?”

“Don’t just stand in the door way and let the cold air in. You’re just going to make your cold worse.”

You blink again and Takao gave an awkward laugh as he scratched the back of his head, before revealing a small green walkie-talkie from his pocket. “He didn’t want to get sick himself.”

A grumble of irritation left your lips. “So Shintaro sent you to do his dirt work, as usual.” Takao laughed again. “Tell him thanks but no thanks. I don’t want any second-hand bedside manner, and I’m just going to sleep anyway.”

“Oy! [Y/N]-chan! Don’t be like that!” The dark-haired teen’s hand lanced out to catch the door. Barring you from closing it. “Shin-chan was really worried when you didn’t come to school today. Honest. He does want to help. You just know how he is though. I know it’s not the same as coming up here himself, but he bought all this stuff and wrote down all these instructions for me to help make you feel better.”

You look at the bag Takao had in his hand. It did seem like a lot. Midorima must have gone to several different drug stores to pick it all up and bring it over here. Even if he did stay in the parking lot. You look past Takao down to the ground floor, where Midorima was standing looking up at your apartment. Seeming to wait for you to follow his instructions about going inside but also with that steadfast look he got when he was truly worried about something.

“You just don’t want to go back down there and tell him you failed.” The boy in front of you laughed with an awkward ‘maybe’. “You can’t stay too long. My parents are going to be back after work, and they’re not going to be happy about a boy in my room and another one looking real stalkery in the parking lot.”

“Thanks [Y/N]!” Takao said as you let him in.

“Make sure they take the cold medicine now, before it gets too late. It’s one cap full every 4 hours. Drink some of the green tea I made for you. It’s in the green thermos. The red one is soup.”

“I know how to take medicine Shintaro. And I already ordered food before you got here. It’s on its way so-Wait! Why am I arguing with a walkie-talkie!?!”

Aomine:

You have an absolutely splitting headache. To the point that every time you get up to go to the bathroom and throw up, you check to see if an icepick is somehow lodged in the back of your skull.

Why did you have to get sick today? Aomine was going to kill you for missing his game; even if the outcome was inevitable. His love for basketball was second only to you (and sometimes you weren’t sure about the ranking). So you being at his games was what he loved most of all. If you weren’t there to see him crush whatever team into dust and lead his team to victory, you’d never hear the end of it. Maybe you’d get lucky and he’d get in the Zone early on and not even realize you weren’t there. Yeah…that was possible….

You crack your eyes open into painful, narrow slits from under the covers as you realize the pounding you were hearing was not just in your head but at the door. What idiot was banging on your door in the middle of the afternoon?

Steeling yourself to get up and answer the door. You were surprised to find it was your idiot behind the door. Aomine standing there, in his trademark Too warmup suit and equally trademark scowl.

“Aomine? What are you doing here?”

“What am I doing here?! What are you doing here?!”

“I kind of live here.”

Aomine tsked through his teeth with a sneer. “That’s not what I meant, baka! Why didn’t you tell me you were sick?!”

“Oh….” You blink a little in surprise. What was a good way to tell him that you didn’t think he’d care? “I didn’t think it was a big deal.”

“It’s not, but you should still tell me about it!” He told you. “I had to hear about it from Satsuki. Do you know how stupid that makes me look if I don’t know that my own s/o is sick?!”

“So are you mad that I didn’t tell you? Or are you mad that I made you look stupid?”

“I’m mad at both!” Aomine yelled. He then seemed to realize he was yelling at a sick person, and his s/o, so he took a breath and calmed down. “Here.”

You look down at the convenience store bag he offered you. Taking it in your hands. “What’s this?”

“Jellies.” He replied, stuffing his hands in his pockets. “I didn’t know which flavor you’d like when you’re sick, so I just got a bunch of ‘em.”

You blink at the bag, then up at Aomine. He…got these for you? You can see on his face now that he was angry because he was worried about you. Not that you were going to miss the game, but because he was worried about you. Your beautiful basketball ace was too proud to admit it though. “Thanks.” You said softly, with an equally soft smile.

The ace looked away and rubbed the back of his head while he was at it. “Yeah well, jellies always made me feel better when I was sick as a kid. Figured they’d make you feel better too.”

“I really appreciate it. I haven’t been able to keep much down.” Maybe that was TMI, but hey. Relationships weren’t always moonbeams and rainbows. “These will really hit the spot.”

“Well, I got extra red ones in there for you, so crack one open.” Aomine said as he saw himself past you and into your apartment.

“Hold on! You’re eating my present now?! Wait…hang on a minute, aren’t you supposed to be warming up for your game? How are you going to get back in time for starting line up if you’re here now?”

“I’m skipping it.” The blunette answered as if it was obvious. Taking off his windbreaker jacket and throwing it in a chair, before he flopped himself on your couch with his limbs stretched out to take up most of it. “There’s no one strong on that team anyway. So, it’s no fun. Let those other guys put in the work for once. They can’t expect me to carry the team all the time. So annoying….”

You stare at Aomine. Was he really….skipping basketball….to be with you here when you’re sick?

A warm feeling, you’re sure was not your fever this time, spread over you. He really did care, didn’t he?

“You should really put those in the fridge before they get warm. Warm jellies are the worst. I still want a red one though. Maybe two now that I think about it.”

You grumble as the ‘warm feeling’ starts to dissipate. Still harboring in your chest, but certainly less profound than it was a moment ago. “It’s super rude to eat someone’s present when they haven’t even had one of them, Aomine.” You still give him the red ones though.

Kise:

Your kingdom for another box of tissues. At the rate you were running through them, a small rainforest was in serious jeopardy.

If you didn’t feel so cruddy, you’d be more worried about that fact. Right now, however, you just wanted your nose to stop running. You had been sneezing and sniffling all day, and in an effort to not be labelled ‘Typhoid Mary’ chosen to stay home from school. It was the reasonable thing to do. When you were sick.

You finish blowing your nose for the umpth time when your phone rang. You pick it up and answer with a gravely, “hello?”

“[Y/N]-CCHI!!”

You pull the phone away from your ear at the loud, sobbing cry of your name through the phone from your boyfriend. “Kise…don’t yell…”

“[Y/N]-cchi! You’re sick! Why didn’t you tell me?? Kurokocchi had to call me today and tell me!”

Damn Kuroko. That snitch. “Because it’s not a big deal. It’s just a little cold. I’ll be fine.”

“But [Y/N]-cchi! You’re all alone with no one to take care of you! I won’t be back til Sunday!” Kise had gotten a modeling job out of town for the weekend. Some ‘on location’ gig for some sea side pics. Poor Kise. He must be freezing. But, those photos needed to be done and printed long in advance before summer time to boost sales.

If you had had to put money on it, you would have thought he would be the sick one: running around half naked on a frozen beach in January. Yet here you were.

“Do you think I just sit in a dark closet, with nobody around, until you show up again Kise?” A dramatic gasp was heard on the other end of the phone. “I’m not ‘alone’ Kise. I mean, I am now, but I have people around me to help if I need it. So you don’t have to worry.”

“But I’m not around to help you!” Kise whined. You can practically hear the broken-hearted boyfriend emoji floating around his head. “Let me at least order you some soup. Soup is what sick people eat right? That place near your house has that chicken ramen you like. Chicken ramen is like chicken soup. That’s what people eat when they’re sick right?? Or maybe you want something else?? What’s another thing that sick people eat?!”

“Ryouta!” You have to yell his first name to get him out of the spiral. You love Kise, but every now and then his boundless energy was annoying. You let out a sigh, and tell him, “yes, you can order me some food. Don’t go overboard.”

Kise perked up. You do kind of wish you could see his smiling face. It was so cute when he did these adorable 180s. He promised not to go overboard before he hung up the phone and ordered you some food. He then immediately called you back to let you know it would be there in 20 minutes, and told you all about his day.

He stayed with you on the phone when your food came, and even after. You watched one of your favorite movies on Netflix party, curled up in your blankets on your bed. If you closed your eyes and focused on the warmth of your blankets & Kise’s soft voice in your ear, it was almost like he was here.

You fell asleep to that feeling. Feeling much better after you woke up and waiting for Kise to come home.

Kuroko:

You toss and turn a little in your sleep, trying to get back to it as you’ve actually woken up and want to sleep more. Rest was the only cure for a cold. And although you were still tired, even though you’d stayed home and slept all day, you were apparently too tired to fall back asleep.

You crack your eyes open. Your vision blurry for a moment before it clears up. Leaving you with a sea of blue in front of you. “Hello [Y/N].”

You let out a surprise shriek, followed by an almost perfect imitation of your boyfriend’s Ignite Pass against his face. “K-Kuroko!” You stammer, as the young man in question tried to recover from the shattering blow you just gave him. “I’m so sorry! What are you doing here?!”

“Your mother let me in.” He replied, words muffled by his hand. He pulled it away to inspect it and seemed to find no blood. That was a relief. You’d feel so bad if you both were down for the count. ��I wanted to see you, and bring you your course work for today.”

Ah. So that’s how he got in. You didn’t think your mother would just let a high school boy in your room unsupervised. Also, maybe it was because Kuroko looked so unthreatening. If only she knew. “Thanks. Sorry again.”

“It’s alright. I should have known better than to sneak up on a sick person.” He said with a soft smile. His hand reached out to pet your head. “How are you feeling?”

“Still crummy,” you confess, “but on the mend. I’m sure I’ll be back to school on Monday.”

“Good. Everyone at school misses you. Even the senpais were asking about you today.”

“Did you miss me Kuroko?” You ask sheepishly.

To which he got a surprised expression before softening and immediately answering, “yes.”

Your face warmed with something other than a fever, and you pulled your blanket up to your nose. “You should go. I don’t want you to get sick too.”

“I’ll stay for a little bit longer. Don’t worry. I won’t get sick.”

It was a big fat lie as Kuroko was sick immediately after he left. He really should have known better with his borderline frail physique for anything other than basketball. Still, it was nice to talk to him for a while. And you got to take care of him after you were better, so it was all worth it.

Murasakibara:

‘Just a few more hours. You can do this.’

You keep repeating that to yourself over and over again in your head as you trudge down the hall. Only a few more classes and you could go home to die in peace. Why did you have to have a test today?!

Your penance march comes to a halt when you run into somebody. Looking up you realize it was Murasakibara. “Oh, sorry Mura-kun. I didn’t see you there.” You really must be sick if you hadn’t noticed the tower that was your boyfriend and Yosen center.

“[Y/N]-cchi, you don’t look so good.” The purple haired man drawled.

You frown up at him, not needing to hear that right now. “That’s not very nice to say to your s/o, Mura-kun.”

“But it’s the truth.” He told you. “Honesty is the best policy.” You couldn’t really argue with him there. Besides, you were too weak to argue.

Suddenly your vision was dark. You were worried for a second that you might have blacked out in your sick induced state, but quickly realize that Murasakibara’s large hand was on your face. “Mura-kun, let go.”

“You have a fever.” He replied, completely ignoring your protest. He still let you go, of his own volition, and stood to his full height again. “You need to go to the nurse.”

“No. I need to go to class.” You state in a huff. Batting his hands away in an effective, but weak manner, before walking past him to head just there.

You make it about three steps before Murasakibara grabbed you. Lifting you up in the air with ease and throwing you over his shoulder, in a move that would have made your head spin normally. Not to mention if you had a fever. “Atsushi! Let go!” You shout. Squirming and kicking your legs to no avail.

“No. You need to go to the nurse.” He repeated. Carrying you like a sack of potatoes as he walked down the hall.

“Put me down Atsushi! This is embarrassing! I need to go to class and take my test! It’s important!”

“Nothing is more important that your health.” You stop struggling for a moment as Murasakibara said something actually profound for once. “[Y/N]-cchi needs to take care of themselves, or they’ll just get sicker and get others sick. Tests and silly stuff like school work can wait.”

You grumble and slump down on Murasakibara’s shoulder. It wasn’t like him to be this serious. He also seemed very serious about taking you to the nurse. Nothing seemed capable of deterring him from that path. “Mura-kun, can you put me down? I’ll go to the nurse with you, but this isn’t really comfortable and I can walk on my own.”

He stopped. Then gave you a side ways glance out of the corner of his eye, seeming to not trust you, but still gave in and sat you down. “[Y/N]-cchi is gonna be good?”

“Yes,” you tell him, “I’ll be good.”

He escorted you the rest of the way to the nurses station. Asking if he could have a lollipop, and annoyed when they didn’t have one. What kind of a doctor’s office was this if they didn’t have lollipops, he asked. You’d giggled a little bit and told him to get to class. You’d call him later, since your parents were going to have to pick you up and take you home. You 100% had a fever and were told to go home. Murasakibara pet your head once more before he left to get to class.

The next day, when you were home recuperating, your mother had come into your room with a big candy store bag. “Someone left this big bag of lollipops at the door for you. Do you have any idea who it’s from?”

Kagami:

“I’m really ok Mom….No, it’s not that serious….You really don’t have to come home. Dad either. It’s not the first time I’ve had a cold, and I’m just gonna sleep it off. I’ll be fine by myself…..Yes, I got medicine….No. I’ll be ok. I have a friend from school who’s checking in on me….I love you too. Bye.”

“Your Mom ok?” You look up from the couch when Kagami came up behind it. Handing you a bottle of water for your scratchy sounding throat.

“Yeah. She’s ok. Just worried. She asked if I wanted her to come home, but I told her no.” You hate to admit it but you’re pretty sure it was a hollow gesture. Your parents work was very important. You had learned that early on growing up. They missed certain things in the trade off for having very important, successful careers. One of which was taking care of their child when they were sick.

“You also didn’t tell her it was me who was here. How come?”

“You want me to call her back and tell her we’re playing house?” You ask, with as cheeky of a grin as you can muster being sick. It still got the desired result.

“We’re not playing house!”

“Doctor then?”

Your cute boyfriend turned about as red as his hair, and stalked off back to the kitchen while fluster muttering to himself.

You chuckle a little. Which turned into a coughing fit, so you had to drink a little bit of water.

You and Kagami had initially bonded over being “latchkey kids”. Though your situation was not as severe as Kagami’s, with your parents still being in the country at least, they both traveled for work a lot and were rarely home. They tried to stagger their work trips so you wouldn’t be home alone, but this wasn’t the first time.

This also wasn’t the first time you would be alone when you were sick, if it hadn’t been for Kagami.

“Aren’t you worried you’re going to get sick?” You ask from the living room. Your voice squeaking and squawking the whole time.

“I never get sick.” He replied back confidently. Then rounded the corner with a tray you were 90% sure you did not have in your house before now. “Basketball and eating right keeps me healthy. So, I never get sick. You don’t have to worry.”

“I don’t think eating a dozen cheeseburgers a day counts as ‘eating right’.” You tell him.

Kagami grumbled. Seeming to want to argue or say something, but realizing its bad form to fight with a sick person. Instead, he just sat the tray down in front of you and sat on the couch. “What’s this?”

“Chicken noddle soup,” he replied. “Japan doesn’t have the right noodles. So I had to use soba. But the main part should be the same.”

“You made me chicken soup?”

Kagami tensed for a moment. His face turning hot pink again; possibly from the soft expression on your face or the soft sound of your voice. He turned away, scratching his cheek. “Y-Yeah. Like I said, it’s important to eat right to keep healthy. So…So eat up so you can be at school on Monday. It sucks when you’re not there.”

You smile softly at Kagami, then lean over to give him a peck on the cheek. “You said you never get sick right?” You tell him when he looked at you. His cheeks still pink, but not much pinker than before.

You eat your soup and gush constantly over how tasty it was. Kagami seemed super proud. Cooking and basketball were the two skills he was most proud of, and knowing that you liked something he made made him puff out his chest even more.

After your soup he made you a bowl of ice cream you were also 90% sure you did not have in your house before now and watched a movie.

After that, Kagami said he was going to head home but when he stood up from the couch you hand lanced out and grabbed onto his shirt tail on it’s on. “Could…Could you stay?” You’ll blame the weak sounding tone of your voice on your cold later. “I know I told my mom that I’d be fine on my own but….I really don’t want to be alone.”

The red headed ace blinked, seeming surprised by your confession (that you were also totally going to blame on your cold later). He gave you a soft smile and sat back down on the couch. Pulling you into his arms so you were practically in his lap. “You could have just told me that.”

856 notes · View notes

teacupfulofstarshine · 3 years

Text

fly high!!

summary: logan has carried the nickname of "ice king" with him since middle school. he has never successfully meshed with a team before. his opponents think him incapable of growth.

his opponents are wrong, and their mistakes carry a heavy price.

(OR: a haikyuu!! au; one game featuring logan the genius setter and his team)

a/n: rewatched haikyuu!! got inspired. here's 3.5k! HUGE huge thank you to josie ( @flamingfawkes ) for beta reading! title comes from haikyuu!! s2 opening 2

CW: trash-talking, insults, minor injury/blood mention, references to past mistakes, making assumptions based on past actions, swearing, nonspecific v-mit mention

wordcount: ~3.5k

read it on ao3!!!

“Hey, isn’t that the crazy setter from that middle school tournament last year?”

“Yeah, they called him the Ice King!”

“Whoa, what a cool nickname!”

“Not so cool if you’re on the court with him. I hear his teammates kicked him out of his last game because he’s incapable of being a team player.”

“No wonder he ended up at that garbage school - I bet none of the good schools would take him!”

“How stupid does that team have to -”

“Hey!” Remus barks loudly, jerking his chin up and leering at the suddenly-terrified players. “You got somethin’ to say about my teammate, you absolute rat bastard -”

“Remus!” Thomas grabs the libero by his collar and picks him up like a drowned cat. “I apologize for my teammate. He gets a bit . . . overzealous at times. Remus, apologize.”

“Go to hell!” Remus says cheerfully, twisting around to try and lick Thomas’s arm. Thomas drops him in disgust, but Remus lands like a cat and rolls to his feet, bouncing away with a cackle.

“What was that all about?” Roman asks. Remus takes his bag back and slings it over his shoulder, looking up at his twin. “I thought we talked about causing trouble at tournaments - they’re going to kick you out, and we don’t have a backup libero anymore.”

“People were being assholes about Logan. You think I can just let that slide?” Remus bares his teeth, and Roman levels a glare at the opposing players.

“Oh, well in that case,” he mutters, pushing up his sleeves. Before either of them can respond, Logan reaches out and grips their shoulders.

“Please do not get into fights on my account.”

“Well, it’s not like you’re not going to get in them on your own account, are you?” Remus says. “You can pretend you don’t have feelings all you want, Logan, I know the shit they say bothers you.” Logan flinches, just barely, and Remus reaches up to pat at his shoulder. “You’re not alone anymore, Logan. You don’t have to fight these battles on your own. We’re not going to let them shit-talk you and get away with it.”

“I might not be as willing to fistfight people for your honor as my deviant brother over here, but I know for a fact that the whole team shares his sentiments. You’re not the person you were in that middle school tournament.” Roman places his hand over Logan’s, and Logan offers him a small smile.

“Are we fighting people?” Janus asks. “Remus, darling, you know we’re not supposed to do that in uniform. What if you get blood on it? I know you didn’t pack a spare, and I won’t have time to launder it before our game. Besides, you know better than to make threats where there are witnesses with recording equipment present.”

Remus slips out of Logan’s grip and bounces off towards the court, chattering idly to Janus and waving his hands around. Thomas turns back to them, setting a hand on Logan’s shoulder.

“You okay?"

“I am adequate.”

“Not what he asked you,” Roman says, shoulder-checking Logan as they keep walking.

“I know what people say about me. I am aware of the toll my past behaviors took on my working relationships with my team. I am . . . working to be better than I was, but I am not sure I have made much progress.”

“You’re already loads better than you were,” Roman says. “You’ve got a great eye for tosses, and you’re learning to talk to the rest of us. We’re getting there. We are.”

Logan blinks, looking back and forth. “Where’s Virgil?”

“Probably in the bathroom, trying not to throw up.” Logan looks alarmed, which is to say that his eyes widen slightly. “Don’t worry, he usually doesn’t. He just has nerves that get the better of him, so he takes some alone time in the bathroom to calm himself down.”

Virgil rejoins them at the doors of the gymnasium, looking pale and faintly green. “You okay?” Thomas asks. Virgil nods, winding a stray lock of hair around his finger. “It’s gonna be alright. You’ve been working on that pinch serve for how long now?”

“Months, but it could still go wrong, it -”

“It won’t. You’re called a pinch server for a reason, Virgil. We bring you in when we’re in a pinch.”

“Which puts even more pressure on me to not mess up!”

“You will be fine,” Logan says. He turns around, peering at Virgil through his sports glasses. “I have faith in you. You are more than your serves - you are also an excellent blocker with swift reflexes. You are a multi-purpose tool, and I will utilize you to the best of my ability.”

Virgil stares at him, mouth slightly open, and Logan blinks, leaning back, eyebrows creasing. “Was - that an insensitive remark? I meant no disrespect.”

Virgil blinks at him, once, and then laughs, gently socking Logan in the arm. “Maybe other people would have found it insensitive, but I found it comforting. Thanks, Lo.” Logan crinkles his eyes and curves the corner of his mouth up, gently bonking his forehead against Virgil’s shoulder.

*~*~*~*~*

“I’m sorry!” Roman sprints across the court and pulls Janus to his feet. “I hit you in the face, are you alright?”

“I’ll never recover,” Janus says, rubbing his face. “Am I bleeding?”

“Not that I can see.”

“Still have all my teeth?”

“Yep.”

“Then I’ll be fine.”

“You really gotta get better at receives, Jan!” Remus laughs.

“And why would I do that when I have my darling libero looking out for me?” Remus grins, pleased, and Janus ruffles his hair fondly.

“Can you please not be gross with my brother right the fuck in front of me?”

Janus raises a single eyebrow at him before leaning down and very deliberately sliding his tongue into Remus’s mouth. “What the fuck, I officially retract my apology for hitting you in the face, I’m done, I’m leaving, goodbye -”

“That’s an . . . unusual warmup strategy,” the opposing captain tells Thomas.

“They’re unusual players,” Thomas says.

*~*~*~*~*

“Thomas, nice serve!”

Thomas spins the ball between his hands, takes a deep breath, tosses it in the air, slams it forward. “Damn it - straight to their libero!”

“It’s a quick from the left! Janus, that’s you -”

“On it!”

“Nice one-touch - pick it up!”

“Remus -”

“Got it!”

Logan turns, runs, leaps up into position, scans over the team. Where are the blockers - where are the spikers - what’s the position - who can he use - what can he do -

“Logan, to the ace!”

“Number two, number two!”

Roman jumps on the left, Janus on the right, and coming from the back row - the pipe, he can do it, where is Thomas, he’s running from the back, he’s in the air, twist lift and set -

Thomas slams it straight past the opposing blockers and hits cleanly. The referee blows her whistle, and the score changes. One point in their favor.

“Logan, I wanted a toss!” Roman complains. Logan squints at him - is he really upset? No, his eyes are crinkled like when he laughs at Remus’s stupid jokes, and he shows Logan a thumbs-up.

“You can have the next one,” Logan says.

“Telegraphing your next move so loudly? I guess the Ice King has lost his touch,” Number Eight calls. Remus begins snarling from the back row, but Logan turns a cool stare at his opponent.

“I have more than one weapon in my arsenal.”

Number Eight scoffs, but Logan just turns away. “Thomas,” he says. Thomas looks at him, and Logan lifts his hands, signing quickly. Setter-back-row. Aim-receive-9. Thomas nods, taking the volleyball again.

Remy touches Emile’s shoulder gently. When he turns to look, Remy nods at Logan and Thomas. “What is he saying?”

Emile turns more fully towards him. “Their setter is in the back row. He’s not allowed to move to the front row until after the serve, so there’s a moment of confusion where he has to run in front of someone. If you aim a serve correctly, there’s a delay, which can mess up even the strongest receiver.”

Sure enough, the setter darts in front of Number Nine, and the receive goes flying out of bounds.

“He really is something else, isn’t he?” Remy asks.

“Logan? Yeah, he’s got great analytical skills, and they’re fast to boot. His problem is communication, but this team . . . it’s not gonna let him get away with being silent for long.”

Thomas serves again, and they receive it more cleanly. The set goes up, the spike goes down, and Remus dives to catch it. “Nice receive!” Logan moves into position, his hands go up, Roman gets into position and jumps, the blockers move in front of him, and Logan shifts at the last second and dumps the ball right in front of the net.

Number Eight glares at him again. Logan stares back impassively. “Was that supposed to impress me, Ice King?"

“Was that supposed to intimidate me . . .” Is Logan supposed to insult him back? How would Remus insult him? He will never understand the art of trash talking someone. “For someone playing a team sport, you seem to be incredibly self-centered right now.”

Number Eight scoffs at him and turns away; Logan just blinks.

“Was he trying to insult me?” he asks Roman.

“Probably,” Roman says.

“Oh. Was I supposed to insult him back?”

Roman grins at him, sharp and bloodthirsty. “Let your tosses insult that pesky motherfucker. Don’t be afraid to rely on me to help you, hmm?”

Logan nods. “As you wish.”

Remus has to dive for the next receive, and it comes off-kilter. “Sorry!”

Nothing to apologize for, Logan thinks. You got the ball in the air. That’s all I need.

Roman slams the ball past two blockers without even trying.

*~*~*~*~*

They take the first set narrowly, 25-20. Their opponents attack with a vengeance in the second set, and it isn’t long before the player-swap whistle blows and Virgil steps up to serve.

Logan hands him the ball; their fingers overlap. Virgil looks at him, and Logan looks back, crinkling his eyes. “You can do this,” he says, voice low. “They underestimate you the way they underestimate me. I can see it in their eyes. Show them why that is a mistake.”

Virgil blinks at him, taking the ball. “You got it, Lo.”

“What’s he gonna do?” Number Eight laughs. Logan returns to his front line position next to Janus.

“You know, you really run your mouth quite a bit for someone who has yet to show me anything truly impressive,” Janus drawls. Number Eight looks like he wants to flip him off, but before he can, Virgil serves.

“It’s out!”

Number Eight smirks, chin up, but Logan doesn’t look at him. He keeps watching the ball as it travels, travels, wavers, wobbles, and drops to the court, just within the line.

The opposing team turns to stare in shock as the whistle blows.

“Nice serve!” Remus and Roman yell, sprinting over to slap their hands against Virgil’s in victory.

“I knew all that practice was gonna pay off!”

“You’re amazing!”

“Guys, it’s just one point,” Virgil says, rubbing the back of his neck. His face has a pleased flush.

“It’s one more point than we had!” Remus says. “One point is the beginning - it’s all we need! Now go out and get us one more!”

Virgil serves, again and again, and racks up three more points before the opposing team figures out what to do with his jump float serve.

*~*~*~*~*

Not all blocks are equal, Janus thinks. The goal is not always to shut the ball down. Sometimes, a wall is not possible.

Janus is not a tall middle blocker; he isn’t nearly as short as Remus is, but he’s only average height. He cannot shut down the opposing spikers the way that someone else might. He hears what people say when they see him take position.

How can he possibly be a middle blocker with that height?

Aim for the middle, he’s too short to make any difference!

Even if he jumps, he can’t stop you!

They are all fools.

Janus does not need to stop a ball to block effectively.

He jumps, and Number Six smirks at him, aiming right for him. Janus can see Remus moving behind him from the corner of his eye, and he smirks right back at Number Six.

I don’t have to stop your spike to shut you down.

He shifts his fingers, and the ball bounces off of them. “A soft block?!” Number Six shouts. Janus hears the ball make contact with Remus’s forearms, and he’s running when he lands. By the time Logan’s hands are in the air, Janus is all the way at the other side of the net, and he swings his hand as though he’s going to slam the ball down. Number Six jumps in front of him, snarling, and Janus shifts to the tips of his fingers again and feints.

The ball drops to the court just behind Number Six, the referee’s whistle blows, and Janus lands. “Was the toss alright?” Logan asks, jogging over. “Do you need me to make any adjustments for you?” Janus notices the way his eyes widen, as though he’s afraid he’ll get yelled at, and he smiles. It’s genuine; despite the popular misconception, he is capable of those.

“It was wonderful,” he says. “Nice toss, Logan.”

Logan smiles up at him. “Nice feint!”

“Damn it!” Number Six shouts. Janus turns to him and smiles with all his teeth, no mirth behind it.

You underestimate me at your own peril.

*~*~*~*~*

Their opponents call a time-out, and Logan grabs his water bottle. Remus slaps him on the back before he has a chance to take a sip. “Logan!”

Logan turns, startled, and Remus grins up at him. “You’re on the back row when we go in, right?”

“Yes.”

“Don’t run forward.”

“What?”

“Don’t move forward to set. Focus on getting the cleanest possible receive you can, okay? Just get it into the air.”

“If I receive, I cannot set,” Logan says. “I do not understand.”

Remus drops his grin, showing Logan his ‘I’m-being-serious’ hand sign. “I know you’re a genius setter, but trust me, Logan. My brother and I have a trick or two up our sleeves. It’ll be okay.”

Logan blinks at him. “I am unsure of this plan.” Remus just keeps watching him. “However . . . I trust you. I trust my team. If you say that you can handle it, then you can.” Remus grins at him, holding up his hands for a high ten. Logan tucks his bottle between his legs and high-tens him back.

Before they step back onto the court, Remus grabs Roman’s wrist. “Wh -”

“I told Logan to focus on receiving this next spike.” Roman turns to look at him.

“What the hell - why would you do that?”

“He’s all the way in the back row! And it must be tiring, setting all those balls one after another. Don’t you think it’s Wonder Twin time?” Roman’s expression changes from angry to joyous in an instant.

“You know what? You’re absolutely right.”

The serve comes in, and Logan shifts into a receiving stance. Remus and Roman make eye contact across the court, and Roman’s eyes flick to the left. Remus nods. Logan receives the ball cleanly. “Nice receive!”

“Their setter received it!” Number Two yells. “They’re limited!”

Not on my watch, motherfucker, Remus grins. He sprints forward, touches down right in front of the attack line, jumps, twists, and lifts his hands. Roman heads for the left, all three blockers surge up to meet him, and then he pivots and sprints to the center. Remus tosses, Roman jumps, and the ball slams down onto the opponent’s court.

Remus, who isn’t used to being in the air, lands on his ass, but he rolls to his feet quickly. “Take that, you son of a -”

“Remus!” Thomas snaps. Roman sprints back and gives him a high ten, grinning, and Logan looks at him.

“You can set?”

“I’m better at receiving, and I’m not really tall enough to play any position other than libero. But that doesn’t mean you’ve seen my whole bag of tricks! I can set in a pinch, as long as I jump from behind that attack line, but I really only practice setting for Roman, so I don’t do it for anyone else.”

Logan blinks, and then his face breaks out into a wide, unrestrained grin, one hand flapping rapidly at his side. “You’re so cool!” he bursts. “That’s amazing, that’s so so cool!”

Remus grins, flushing under the praise. “I know! I am amazing, aren’t I? Marvel at my power!”

“Don’t compliment him like you mean it, Logan, he’s gonna get a big head!” Roman scolds. Remus sticks his tongue out, and Logan laughs.

*~*~*~*~*

Logan lifts his hands to the back of his head, like he’s covering it against the serve. He shifts his fingers to signal: synchronized attack.

The serve goes up, clean receive, which means the most likely course is -

“Center attack!” Logan shouts. Number Three scoffs as his center straight comes down right against Remus’s waiting hands.

“It’s all yours, Logan!”

All four of them move in unison - Virgil, Janus, Roman, Thomas, all running forward in unison. Logan shifts, watches the confusion of the blockers, lifts his hands. The toss that will work the best, the toss that can score a point, the spiker who will carry the momentum of this match is -

“Watch out, it’s number 13!”

Virgil slams a cut shot across three blockers and scores without breaking a sweat. “Unlucky,” he smirks, fistbumping Janus.

*~*~*~*~*

The second set comes to a deuce, and they call a time out. “We need to gain a two-point lead to take this match, but don’t get so caught up in the idea of the next point that you miss the one in front of you. Keep your focus in the moment, not the future. Understand?”

“Yes!”

Logan tosses the ball into the air, jumps, and serves. As the other team receives, he grabs Roman’s shirt. “Roman, instead of a wall, try an umbrella!”

“What?”

Roman’s eyes widen in recognition as they jump to block the spike, deflecting it towards the back. “Remus!” Thomas shouts.

“I got it - it’s up!”

“Roman!” Logan shouts, turning to set.

“Thanks for the heads-up, Ice King!” Number Eight laughs. All three blockers converge on Roman, who jumps and bounces the ball off the block.

“What?!”

“A rebound?!”

“Remus, pick it up!” Roman shouts.

“I got it!”

“Come on, let’s go!”

Roman and Janus jump at the net, but Logan is already setting for the pipe. Thomas jumps from the back, slams the ball past the block, and scores.

“Nice kill!”

“You couldn’t use lingo that’s a little more clear next time?” Roman complains

“Why would I need to? You understood what I meant, didn’t you?”

Roman ruffles his hair, and Logan swats at his arm. “Hey, that hurts, don’t do that!” Roman just laughs and keeps going.

*~*~*~*~*

The rally has been going for almost two minutes now, the ball constantly in the air, and the exhaustion is setting in. They have the lead by one point, and they only need one more to take the match. “Come on, come on!”

“They’re gonna use the ace! Cover Number Three!”

Roman jumps, Logan’s hands go up, the blockers move to cover Roman, and Logan dumps the ball. Number Ten dives for it, but it drops to the ground right in front of him.

They take their second set, and the match, 26-24.

*~*~*~*~*

Patton tucks his manager notebook into his bag and starts handing out water bottles. “You were all amazing! Logan, I think that’s the most you’ve communicated in a match, and it really showed!”

Logan takes the water bottle, nodding. “It took me a while to learn how to communicate most effectively with my teammates. I was trying to carry the entire weight of the team on my shoulders as the setter. But I . . . am not the only one on my team thinking. I can give options, and trust that they will utilize those options effectively.”

“That’s right!” Remus crows, slapping his back. “We have brains too, Logan!”

“The rest of us, maybe. You? Debatable,” Virgil says. Remus immediately tackles him to the court.

“Are you trying to injure me?” Virgil shrieks. Roman rolls his eyes and sighs.

“I do not know how you put up with him on a regular basis, I truly do not,” Logan sighs.

“It’s a miracle I haven’t suffocated him in his sleep, it really is.”

*~*~*~*~*

The bus ride home is quiet. “I’m sorry,” Logan says.

Virgil passes him an earbud. “What do you mean?”

“I did not toss to you nearly as much as I have in previous and practice games when you were on the court.”

“No need to apologize for that, man. I wasn’t in as much as normal, and you utilized the rest of the team to the best of your ability. And we won, didn’t we? I’m not offended, I’m not gonna break up with you over it.”

Logan smiles, and Virgil tilts his head to press a gentle kiss to his cheek. “Take your post-tournament nap, Popsicle. We gotta build up our strength for tomorrow.”

Logan puts the earbud in, leans his head against Virgil’s shoulder; Virgil leans against him in turn, and they’re asleep before the bus crests the next hill.

#starshinewrites #sanders sides #logan sanders #virgil sanders #roman sanders #remus sanders #janus sanders #thomas sanders #platonic TDRLAP #platonic creativitwins #background analogical #background dukeceit

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sanstropfremir · 3 years

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kingdom episode 5 review!!! lets fucking go!!!!!

look. was i insanely hyped for this episode? yes. was my hype justified? also yes. holy FUCKING SHIT. you’ll have to forgive me for going off the rails at some points because ateez and btob directly tapped into something primal in my brain and i am obsessed. i'm obsessed. there’s no other word for it I’m obsessed.

ok ok ok i'll focus. i'm focused. i'll do the stage breakdown first and then do my personal ranking at the end. i might do a quick runup comparison of the self and expert rankings for funsies but i'll see how i feel when i get there. instead of going in airing order i’m gonna reverse it, since that was the order i actually watched them in and also i will run out of brains if i talk about rhythm ta first.

skz

i feel for skz. i don't think this show is going to be as much of learning curve as it needs to be for them because the fan voting skews the rankings so much. I’ve said it so many times before, but letting something flop or getting a bad ranking is actually good, because it shows you that you need to improve. because skz keeps getting validated by the fan rankings and placing first in the last two stages, they aren't actually taking the time to evaluate what about their stages is or isn't working. and besides, we’ve now seen two very similar concepts in a row from them, just one is on a grander scale than the other. what they should be doing is what both ateez and btob did for this round, which was scale up production value, but scale down concept. i know this sounds weird but i'll explain. skz has done two very abstract and ‘grand’ concepts. first round we had ghosts/good self vs evil self, and this stage they just went straight for the throat with a deal with the devil type stage. now when you combine these very abstract concepts with an unclear narrative arc, you lose clarity of intent in the performance because there are no specifics that you’re playing off of. there’s a lot more places left up to personal interpretation and this is where people can get lost. btob and ateez both narrowed down their concepts to hyperspecific scenarios where they very clearly showing the audience the arc the stage is taking. audiences can be smart but also if you can lead them by the hand they like not thinking about highly conceptual ideas, and especially not so much in a pop song competition show.

costume

this is so rare because generally stylists are pretty careful about this, but i genuinely think they got outshone by the backup dancers, especially in the ‘heaven’ sequence. those sash and skirt combos with the strapped white tops that look like straitjackets? the fucking angel wings?! these are some thematically fun costume designs and because they’re white they stand out so much more when skz are wearing black. i also think i've seen these tops on backup dancers before? i thought it was on the last stage but i might be going insane.

i am a sucker for beaded embroidery and the combined dyework on some of their sashes is beautiful. but again, thematically irrelevant? at least you can see the greco-roman inspiration in the backup dancers’ costumes. all this is telling me is that whoever the stitchers are at jype, they are fucking incredible, but they don’t actually have a good designer because the main costumes for all their stages have been both aesthetically similar and thematically irrelevant.

again, i applaud skz for trying more experimental makeup, but boys you have to go bigger, it has no impact right now.

set

well, i did ask for them to commit to the western art bit and they sort of delivered? the first space is not planned very well and combined with the wide wide camera shots instead of making the space seem grand and sweeping it just seems bare. the ‘heaven’ side was excellent though, there was much better control of the camera and the columns and altar scaled the space down so it was more believable. also the breakable columns were fun and corny and i love it when stuff gets destroyed onstage.

the child statue transformation into actual child was a neat trick that i think landed really well. i wish they had given that concept a little more grounding other than the flashback bit but it was still very readable.

i know using rodin's gates of hell is the easiest way to shortcut saying that like, “you are now entering hell,” but them being used SO literally feels a bit blunt when the last time we saw them used in kpop was by original blasphemous catholic lee taemin, who used them with such nuance and intelligence that i'm a bit put off by skz’s literalism.

on that note, i find it very interesting the conflation that happens between greco-roman/”classical” aesthetics and catholicism, because ideologically the two are opposed (see: the bible) and historically, they didn't exist at the same time. now i'm not going to go off on a tangent about neoclassicism because you are not here for an art history lecture but i thought i would make the observation about how catholics continued appropriation of greco-roman aesthetics without complete understanding or context of those aesthetics is as pervasive as it ever has been in the last several hundred years.

lighting

generally the lighting is pretty good, but there’s an over-reliance on projections that cheapens the look of the stage but also devalues the intentions as well. at the core of it there’s a profound statement being made about trading away your innocence, but when you underscore that with like, clock graphics and a WoW looking demon, it loses that simplicity of message.

the thing about using this particular type of projection, which are actually screens and not typical projectors, is that screens always throw light. and due to where they are situated, this basically means that if you're using the screens at full capacity with a cool colour range, we are going to be able to see everything. this is another contributing factor to why the stage looks so empty; they’re lighting up everything and it exposes where the gaps are.

now i fully acknowledge that this possibly could have been a deliberate choice, since they do actually use some spot lighting at the beginning and end. however, if it was it did not land for me.

i loved the intro of demon felix done in blue, that was a nice switchup from what we would usually see, but i wish there was more of a coherent colour arc. like the narrative it stutters around a bit.

sound

the arrangement was a miss for me. i found it a bit dissonant again, like their last stage, since the original i'll be your man has obvious lyrics about a good christian boy being sad about a girl. this gets a bit wonky conceptually as soon as you add a child self into it. i don’t know if they changed any of the lyrics in the singing to match this a little more because i don't speak korean, so i'll have to wait for episode subs for verification.

i really applaud them for trying, and overall they didn't actually do that bad, but skz is not a vocal group. the most i'm going to say about it is that these boys don’t have the breath support. this is likely because they're trying to do choreographically complex movements, but also it's a training thing. you can hear the difference even just between eunkwang’s ‘vocal warmup’ at the beginning of back door, he’s not projecting full voice but he still has the breath support for his voice to sound full, whereas all skz boys sound thin in comparison, even when at full volume, because they’re trying to project from the throat and not the chest. that's all i'm gonna say about that. i don't think the cracked note was bad, i didn’t really clock it on first listen.

staging

thematically they could have had something really interesting here if they stuck to a more simple narrative arc. the genesis (i’m very funny) of the idea here is good, the whole mephistopheles deal with a devil + regret/loss of innocence is clear, but the arc isn't really an arc, and the colour story doesn't help. it kind of goes earth (green/blue) -> the gates of hell are opening (red) -> oh it's heaven now (blue) -> oh just kidding it's hell/lets destroy heaven (red) -> back to earth (blue). not necessarily a bad arc, just a bit complex for four minutes.

the choreo was a lot better this time, there was a lot more intention and relevance to theme and i didn’t feel like they were flailing for the sake of flailing as much as i have in their other stages. there was also a clarity in the overall blocking and movement patterns that was missing from their other stages. this stage has a really great handoff of each member playing the ‘main’ character, especially in the beginning. i especially liked the cut from falling off the stairs to laying centre stage.

i think I’m right in assuming that it was a choice that the members were all playing the same character and demon felix was that character possessed rather than the actual devil, but personally i think it would have been a lot more fun if they had straight up just made him be the actual devil. there’s a bit of dissonance when you have a performer with such a specialized skillset that gets used in very specific instances, but then he shows up in the regular group choreo like any ol’ guy. they always put such emphasis on felix (as they should, he’s their most charismatic performer), but they never go the distance. i would have loved it if they had committed to the bit like TOO did in their magnolia stage from rtk, where they had a member just be blinded justice. that was literally the only thing he did and it worked so well. could have done the same here with felix and it would have been fun. that being said the felix parts were SO good. love love love him getting dragging in chains.

btob

this hit every little one of the buttons in my tiny backstage crew brain. i'm in love with this stage. there’s so many true to life little details here that on repeat viewings you're still finding new things. i know i rag on and on about narrative every week but here is a good example of what i've been trying to get at this whole time: the stage needs a shape. an a to b. you don't need a whole pirates spiel or a game of thrones theme extended universe; all you need is a clear setting and a point a to point b. this stage has both those things perfectly. we have a hyperspecific setting, (american rockstars) and a basic arc (getting ready to perform -> performing). even though back door is outside of btob’s wheelhouse, they spun it in a way that played to their strengths and did a bit braggadocio, which is rightfully earned. i'm gonna be saying it every time but the experience shows!!!

costume

good contemporary costume is SO difficult, i want to impress that here. because it's the the time period that we are currently living and seeing every day it's so easy for the audience to spot mistakes. although yes it's easier to source/shop for, to get it good enough that it doesn't pull people out of the immersion is surprisingly more difficult than you think. their stylists did an excellent job here. the backup dancers and btob are all in monochrome plus one and it adds a very clean unity to everything without visual clutter.

each of btob’s costumes have enough to give indication of character, along with the member’s acting, which i'll get more into in the staging section. regardless, never underestimate the power of a good fitting shirt and statement belt. oh and minhyuk in the stirrup motorcycle boots with the skinny jeans and the supreme boxers and the red satin robe? good bye.

i love love love a dyed buzz this was such a good aesthetic choice for peniel, 10/10 i have no complaints about the costumes.

set

oh my god i’m gonna french kiss this set designer. this is such a simple set but it’s executed so well. there’s the ‘backstage’ area, the corridor with four dressing rooms, and then the ‘stage’ that’s pretty much just velvet ropes. so simple, but all the detail is in the set decoration and props. the road cases, the monitor, the subtle flex of the posters of them on the walls, the clothing racks, all the booze. although this is not the actual layout of any theatre (they're normally much weirder than this), there’s so many little details here that really make the experience.

there’s a very straightforward path here and it works so well. i think this might be the best use of the gates so far? it appropriately suited the drama of the moment and they didn't have to do anything to them because they're already in a theatre. bada bing bada boom.

lighting

love the setup and continuation through the amber ‘BRRRMM.’ like with sf9 it gives a smooth transition into the stage. also loved no blackout. it's a general rule in current theatrical practice that you only use blackouts when they are absolutely necessary, because they can stop the pacing of a play dead in the water. so the lack of one here at the start of the stage was a really smart choice and makes the transition feel less jarring.

i will say that actual backstage areas are very rarely lit with amber because it travels far and it's bright. it's much more common to see running lights (the lights on during a performance) to be deep red or blue.

those blasting wash lights as the gates open? the DRAMA. such a seemingly innocuous choice that really cements the atmosphere of ‘we are about to perform.’

really smart use of the projections to accentuate the already existing stage facilities. it's pretty much unnoticable because it's very well done but i appreciate it.

sound

this ARRANGEMENT!!!! it's so good!!! back door has this premise essentially built into the song so it was so smart of them to put this gimmicky spin on it. loved the literal interpretation of the knocks into the structure of the stage, it makes the blend between the sound design and the staging that much more effective.

more rock versions of everything please and thank you.

btob is just stunting at this point and i love it. i'll have to wait for subs but judging by the hands in front of the camera bit and the ‘your super high note’ i’m pretty confident the added rap lyrics are full of shots at the other groups and honestly? valid.

staging

there's some really sharp camera control here with the one take first half. It’s up very close and personal because there’s a lack of space but it really works for the ‘intimacy’ of seeing backstage at a venue. also this is such a simple movement track but it’s so effective. it backs over a couple spots but it doesn't feel repetitive because there’s a sense of urgency and drive.

there are so many good little details in here that are true to life and unnecessary to include but sell the performance as a whole. peniel flinging water onstage, minhyuk stripping down twice and flinging his clothes around, minhyuk closing the door on the standby’s face, the backup dancer as a dresser with the laundry basket, peniel stealing the hat off her but then not going on stage with it these are all things that I’ve either had directly happen to me or something very similar has happened. but the best one and the one that sets off the tone amazingly for the whole stage is eunkwang’s intro. that ‘vocal warmup’ with the quiet okay at the end? with the little jump? i see that moment of vulnerability before the transition between person and actor every time i watch someone go onstage for the first time and there’s no way to describe it other than magic.

the luxury of only having four members, there was actually time in this stage to establish character. it also speaks to the performing strength of btob that they can establish clear character in this short amount of time. obviously it’s pretty one dimensional; there’s serious eunkwang, typical rocker minhyuk, fuckboy peniel (how many licks does it take to make your tootsie pop, anyone?), and comedian changsub. i’ve seen and met and worked with these exact dudes many, many times. ugh i love this stage

ateez

the utter euphoria i felt at the proof that last round’s stage wasn't a fluke. this stage is so good. it's so good. i'm obsessed with how good this stage. as an unreformed pop punk teen who played a LOT of latin jazz i am LIVING. if you’ve only seen the episode cut and not the full version here i'll make it easy and link it for you because oh my GOD mnet destroyed the pacing by cutting in a full minute and a half of reaction shots. actually mnet fucked up the pacing for all of these stages but this one was the worst. and look. i know this is the closest these boys are going to get to being real punks and this is a carefully curated and artificial facade for narrative purposes only but oh the pandering tastes so sweet. regardless of that, i am IN AWE of the level of storytelling happening here. the narrative is so clear on just the first viewing even though there is so much going on and they use every possible element they can to further enhance that narrative. repeat viewings just add more and more little details. i’ll probably miss some things because there's so much but i'll try my best.

costume

look, hanya and i were joking that my notes for this stage were just gonna be ‘san dog collar’ for a thousand words and i was so tempted to just leave it at that because.....woof. so here is a short list of things i am the most obsessed with:

san dog collar

san smeared lipstick

wooyoung cruella deville ponytail

hongjoong terrible blond crewcut

san crushed velvet cargo pants?!

seonghwa cropped fur jacket

yunho arm sleeve

hongjoong sockless in red derbys

but in all seriousness the costumes are so good. none of these are truly authentic punk looks but they capture the spirit right and that's what matters. all the right trappings are there; safety pins, patches, plaid, leather, and a lot of diy type looks. i love the painted masks, especially as a callback to the comedy/tragedy theatre masks. it was a thematic choice to have the backup dancers in black and the tac vests are a super simple contextual device.

also hongjoong’s quickchange hat/jacket combo is super fun and i hope that’s intentionally a preview of the next stage.

set

if you weren't convinced before that whoever is designing the ateez stages is a stage designer, i don't know what to tell you. it's hard to tell because there is so much environmental storytelling happening, but there is NO large scale set here. like with their last stage, kq smartly put money into two highlight pieces; the anarchist blimp and the van/wall, and the rest of the stage atmosphere is established solely through propwork and lighting. just think about that for a bit. every other group has some kind of large scale room or wall build. ateez has a bunch of tables, flyers, and a podium. i don’t know if i can accurately communicate just how difficult this kind of coordination is to pull off but holy fucking shit this is so hard to pull off. these are theatre people i see you and i see your work and i love you!!!

they fully used the gilt mnet stage as their pseudo government building and it works. everything about this (lack of) set is so smart i wish i could be more articulate about it but there’s so only so many ways i can say the same thing over and over again.

lighting

the laser scopes. the LASER SCOPES!!! god this lighting designer is so good. whoever you are, i'm acknowledging your effort because you deserve it. there’s some really wonderful contrast and directional lighting: the van light, the pinlights/lasers/smoke as searchlights. a lot of atmospheric red lighting but it makes sense for the theme (alarm lights) and they offset it well (unlike in the other two predominantly red stages we’ve seen) by fill lighting the faces with blue or amber; this is what actually makes us able to see what’s happening on stage

the projections are used to augment the stage action in without being overpowering, they're at relatively low tonal value so they aren't lighting up the stage at full brightness like in the skz stage.

the big brother eye on the tv screens (it's just a projection, not actual screens) combined with the government ban notice and the broadcast has to be the record for fastest visual explanation of fascist totalitarian state.

sound

i love it. they really successfully made rhythm ta into an ateez song and it’s cool as fuck. i love that it isn't sonically very loud. a lot of the chorus is actually quite level tone and quiet, which is a bold choice and they pull it off. this is very comfortably in their range (excluding jongho) and they went more for style than range and that's exactly what every group should be doing. singing high does not equal singing good. yes i am looking at you jongho you should have stopped at that penultimate note, it was fine!!

using rhythm ta as a pseudo protest song against a fascist government that’s banned all music and art? galaxy brain. that intro of hongjoong whispering “hey hey hey hey, this is just a song so get on the rhythm” after gunning down military police/guards? king fucking shit.

staging

i will eat all five pairs of my fluevog boots if kq hasn't hired a bunch of theatre professionals to direct and design these stages because now it's been proven that last stage wasn't a fluke. the level of execution at work here is absolutely incredible. oh the gesamtkunstwerk of it all!!! there is SO much happening so quickly in this four minute stage and it still manages to convey exactly the correct amount of information that it needs to on the first go round, and it only gets better on repeat viewings.

they use a really classic theatre perspective trick with san climbing the rope, and they absolutely didn’t have to do that. san probably could have actually climbed that himself, but here they made a choice for aesthetic artistry over tricking/other feats of skills we’ve seen the 4th gen groups do. instead of going with the more technically difficult and ‘impressive’ option, they chose the simple way that allows for more character to shine through. there’s actually very little tricking in this stage as whole, they're putting trust in the design of the stage and the raw performance abilities of the members to carry the stage and they stick the landing again. san has some breakdancing and so do the backup dancers, but it’s window dressing in the same way that the flyers are window dressing.

there’s a lot of really good little moments of acting that really sell the performance and dedication of the group as a whole to giving their all. hongjoong overall in his cocky aspirational leader role, seonghwa’s first verse and malfunctioning earpiece bit, san’s falsetto hostage interrogation bit. also i'm obsessed with how far yunho just hucks that mask. he gets like fifteen feet of air with that thing. also props to hongjoong barehanding that glass break.

the paper props are impeccable. the first notice sets up the situation right away, and then we get some further exposition with the newspaper wooyoung is holding (which says ‘the central government has defined the black pirates as a terrorist’ but honestly you don't really need to know what it says to get the point), and then we have raining anarchist flyers from the anarchist blimp. great atmospheric touches.

the blackout crash-to-mask transition is just so good. this is an example of a good use of a blackout. nothing else to add i just thought i would point it out because it's dope.

like with btob there's some really tight camera control here, that along with the lighting and the way they've laid out the space make it easy to follow the trajectory of where they're going and also make the space seem smaller than it is. this is a really big stage and if you don't control how you want it to be seen you end up like with what happened to the first part of skz’s stage. i wish they had tracked some of the one takes a bit better, but the end of that take where the camera followed the group movement laterally and then the formation swung around to face front? sexy. surprisingly the editing is pretty ok.

there’s probably still so much i could talk about but this is already so long so if i missed something just let me know.

ok finally lets do some rankings

personal ranking

this round wasn't as tough to rank because there were two clear top tier stages for me. i actually went back and looked at my ranking from last round and this is identical except the top two spots are switched, which i find extremely funny. however in contrast to last round, these stages were all leagues better than their predecessors. all the groups are improving, just some at greater speed than others.

ateez - i'm not even gonna explain this one.

btob - i won't explain this one either since i just did that.

sf9 - this would have been first if ateez and btob hadnt blow everyone out of the water.i still think they made all the right choices and played to their strengths.

ikon - this stage is so fun to watch but the others offer me more. that’s it.

skz - i like the idea behind it and i loved felix; i'm always down for some good catholic fuckery but like last round it just wasn't played out far enough.

tbz - double ding on the moulin rouge and the continued game of thrones references for me. there were a lot of strong elements here but when compared to every other stage it just doesn't have the same gravitas.

the self rankings i thought were fairly accurate, but again, what the fuck is up with these expert rankings? who are these experts? what stages are they watching?? i won't go more into it than that because then you'll be here even longer but i don't trust these experts who consistently rank btob at the bottom, do you have eyes??? ears????

ok i'm done for real now im so sorry this 4.6k words......if you make it this far do something nice for yourself like eat a cookie or something. this is way too long you deserve a reward for making it through my nonsense. as always if you’ve got questions or want to share your opinions feel free to send me an ask!

#kingdom #kingdom review #should i risk it and tag the groups this time? i kinda wanna bait some weirdos #kpop analysis #ok im gonna do it #ateez #btob #stray kids #the boyz #sf9 #ikon #im pretty sure i missed so much here but this is so long im so sorry #at least next week i wont be doing this kind of writeup #text

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sleeperswakewriting · 3 years

Note

i just thought of a new prompt omg rivetra skating partners au??? IMAGINE THE SEXUAL TENSION??? THE SLOWBURN FROM BEING SKATING PARTNERS TO FRIENDS TO LOVERS 🥺👉🏻👈🏻

saw this tweet and imagined them sm: https://twitter.com/oyimpian/status/1383173356774699012?s=21

Omg anon, thank you for showing me this. I have 0 knowledge about figure skating but I do love watching it! I was totally listening to the Yuri on Ice soundtrack writing this. I don’t think I would be the best person to write a full fic, but I hope this 2k ficlet works! Routine and outfits based on this performance!

They had kissed more times than she could count. It had always been the same in their five years of working together--orchestrated, chaste, but just enough acting to dazzle the crowd and judges.

And tonight would be their last.

Petra tightened the laces of her figure skates, making sure not to snag the nylon of her stockings from her freshly manicured nails. She checked herself in the mirror; ginger hair locked neatly into a bun for the maneuvers they would be pulling off later, and her deep red velvet dress twirled around her hips. It was one of the most daring outfits she had ever performed in, with the back almost completely exposed and and the front neck cut a deep v-neck with the mesh layer.

She took a deep breath as memories washed over her, wondering where the time had gone. It had only seemed like just yesterday when Petra met her grumpy skating partner, Levi, and she had wanted to knock him off the ice from their initial meeting to his brash attitude. However, they performed the tryouts at their coaches’ requests, and not only were they physically compatible, she had latched on to his crude sense of humor and found his company enjoyable.

Sure, it took them awhile, he would frequently get irritated at her when she would lose her footing or not stick a landing, and she would throw him a few choice words whenever he dropped her, which wasn’t often, but the minute his hands slipped and she came crashing down, tempers flared. They were both good at what they did, they were hand selected by the top coaches in their country, and with talent, came ego.

Unsurprisingly, their common work ethic served as a guidepost for their mutual partnership over the course of the five years they had been working together. Petra was relatively newer to the competitive figure skating scene, only doing some solo competitions but felt that she could accomplish more with a partner. Levi was in a similar boat, about to retire since he had gotten bored, but when his coach Erwin suggested a partner he said, why not?

Except it had been disastrous, with Levi mouthing off to each of his partners, and not to mention that they all commented on his height. It wasn’t a huge sore spot because he had been used to it, but the fact of the matter was, no woman wanted to be lifted by a man who was 5 inches shorter than her, so he resigned himself to retiring until Erwin suggested that he meet up with Petra Ral, a new, but talented skater who was 8 years his junior.

Not only was she shorter than him, but they were able to move in time with one another and were able to wordlessly read each other’s movements. It was an intimate type of connection, one that their mutual partners over the years had questioned time and time again, but they both reassured their partners and more importantly, themselves, that their feelings were completely platonic.

Or so had Petra thought until Levi told her that after this year, he would be retiring. He was getting older and he was looking at other career prospects, like possibly coaching, but valued their companionship over the years. He said the words with such a precise staccato that Petra even wondered if he cared at all since he took her out to dinner after practice to tell her.

It was then that her heart broke. She assumed it was just from losing her skating partner, that was a common occurrence in their field, but as the day of their last competition grew closer, Petra knew it was something more.

The way his hands pressed into her waist was no longer a section of choreography, but a gesture that made her heart flutter. His concentrated stormy look when they breathed in time with one another, preparing to execute a synchronized dance, was now filled with an electricity when their blades scraped their ice.

This routine in particular was special; it was from Moulin Rouge, one of her favorite movies and the first part of the routine was sensual and filled with lust. They had spent hours upon hours perfecting each and every single lift, and they had barely any time to see family and friends from the hours they put into their routine. Truth be told, they spent the most time with each other, and the action of hanging out after work wasn’t even strange, it was expected, as they alternated who picked the restaurant for the night.

There was a knock at the door, and Petra shouted, “Come in!” as she already knew who it was from the three steady raps.

Levi entered, looking handsome in his simple black outfit to compliment her own. He took her in and nodded appreciatively as the weight of the next hour hung heavy over them.

“You ready?” He asked, hand outstretched.

Petra smiled, used to the familiar words and routine they had as she took his hand and he led them out for their warm up lap around the rink with the other couples.

They had their routine down pat--they always kept their gazes locked on each other during warmups, not wanting to let the other couples distract them. Hands danced across each other’s bodies as muscle memory took over, going over their routine in bits and pieces and letting themselves become reacclimated to the ice for the day. Petra had often thought that she was becoming more used to skating than walking for the amount of time she spent dancing with Levi, and she flexed her back as they spun in time, hands locked onto each other.

Feeling satisfied with their warm up, they exited hand in hand to the waiting room as they were the third couple to go. It wasn’t unusual for them to be physically close during competitions, Petra was always nervous as hell, and even though Levi had a cool and fixated composure, competition day nerves also stirred inside him. Better to face them with each other, and they sat on the bench, looking absently at the TV as the announcer gave their routine opening speech.

Petra bit the corner of her lip. “Levi, I know we’ll have time for this later, but I wanted to let you know how much your partnership has meant to me over these last five years. I almost want to retire since you won’t be with me anymore,” she laughed airly, but fell silent at his narrowed gaze.

“Don’t do that, you have a whole future ahead of you,” he said in a clipped voice, eyes fixated on the television. He squeezed her hand a bit tighter as he diverted his expression to the floor. “But the same goes for you, Petra. I’ll miss you a lot.”

She nodded, feeling more reassured by his words as she moved to lean her head against his shoulder as they watched the other couples perform. They didn’t say a lot, usually keeping their opinions for post-competition hang outs and replays, but Petra didn’t know if there would be any of those anymore.

“Do you think the other couples are like us? I feel like we’re so in tune, like we get each other. Like them,” she said nodding to the current pair, “You can tell they don’t trust each other from the way her muscles are so stiff during her lifts.”

“There’s no one else like us,” Levi replied simply, raising himself from the bench to do a few stretches. Petra did the same and admired the way lean body looked in his current outfit, back sinewy and his hair gelled perfectly into place.

The speaker announced them, and Petra’s heart wrenched that that would be the last time she would hear Levi Ackerman and Petra Ral and as they moved onto the ice, holding hands, eyes locking. Petra took a deep breath, and all was lost as soon as the music started.

The routine started with her straddling him from behind, and she effortlessly jumped as he took her, arms locked at her thighs and hers around his neck. He lifted her as they danced, and she twirled, eyes fixated on him as her center as it always was. Then came the synchronized dancing and Levi’s hands were at her bare waist, hands hot and precise as they spared no moment in moving and darting between them. He lifted her again, and their foreheads touched while they circled around the rink, not caring for anyone but each other.

That was Petra’s favorite part about the way they skated together--nothing else in the world mattered besides them. She could drown out the crowd with him by her side, it was just the music, the ice, and them, moving and breathing in time. He held her from under her legs, the action sending a pleasurable shiver throughout her body despite being touched there by him thousands of times, and as she descended they locked eyes as they prepared for their next big moment.

They let go, red and black speeding and twirling around each other but not quite touching. As the music reached its crescendo, Petra leapt into the air as Levi caught her from around the waist, and they spun as each other's center of gravity. Legs wrapping around his, she straddled his waist as they leaned into each other and kissed as the music went softer and moved to a more sensual rhythm. Her hand laced through his hair, feeling his fresh undercut and inhaled his musk and their lips moved against one another, sending ripples of pleasure between them.

Breaths heavy, they released their lips as the crowd went wild, and Petra unhooked her legs as Levi took her hand and they moved in time, parallel to each other. Her heart beat fast as Levi’s lips still hung against her own, the kiss much more passionate than in their practice kisses or former routines, but tried to push it from her mind as the finale was coming up.

The music built and ended as they both stuck their landings and bowed as the crowd cheered. Petra was crying, just realizing the magnitude of their last competition as she saw her face on the large screen and Levi sped over to her, taking her hand, his eyes also filled with moisture as he kissed her cheek and led them away to watch for their scores.

It always took a few minutes for the judges to get the scores together, and before Petra could say anything, Levi moved her against their locker and pulled her in for a searing kiss. Legs weak from their routine and the adrenaline, her knees wobbled and he caught her, hands at her waist as he brushed his tongue against hers, deepening the kiss as she returned it with fervor.

Breaths heavy, Levi pressed his forehead to hers. “I’m not imagining things, right? This kiss was different.”

Petra smiled between tears as she nodded, threading her fingers through his hair as she continued kissing him the way she had wanted to for the past five years.

“Hey guys, what are you doing? They’re just about to announce the scores--” Erwin walked in and smirked at the partners as they held each other, but broke apart as they heard Erwin’s voice.

Both blushing from being caught, Levi held Petra’s waist as he guided them back outside, neither caring too much about their scores since they both had won the biggest prize that night.

#rivetra #Levi x petra #petra x levi #petra ral #ask prompt #my fics

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boymeetsweevil · 4 years

Text

in your court

Grouping: Reader x B-ball player!Jaehyun (feat. BFF!Hyuck)

Word Count: ~10.8k

Warnings/Themes: Two idiots in love, oc is scary when mad, hyuck is crafty always, jae is a bit intense but he’s just trying his best, gratuitous descriptions of dimples, a kiss!!! sfw!

Prompt: “awkward!oc with his basketball teammate jaehyun. Honestly anything with bff!haechan.”

“Make sure you don’t make it look shaky.”

Donghyuck puts the phone camera close to his face so he can better see your handiwork through the video call. He looks a bit like a fish, but you can’t see him because you’re focused on the mirror in front of you.

“Remind me why I’m being forced to do this?”

“Because I’m your best friend and I deserve a sign just as much as Jisung and Johnny.”

You have to stop yourself from rolling your eyes so you don’t mess up the number 14 you’re drawing carefully onto your cheek in eyeliner. Although you hate to see good makeup go to waste, you’re trying to be a better friend while also trying not to accidentally write the number backwards. It’s Donghyuck’s new number this season and he begged you to show some team spirit despite the fact that you normally mix with sports the same way oil mixes with water. The last time you showed up at practice was the first day of the season and you fell from the third courtside bleacher after Donghyuck called you over to introduce you to a cute new walk-on team member. If anything, just being around sports is dangerous for you.

A minute later, you sneeze while holding the pencil and draw a huge line straight through all your hard work. Donghyuck literally screams and you hang up the call to focus. When you finally finish redrawing on the side of your face, there’s half an hour left before the first home game of the spring season starts. You grab the matching construction paper sign you made earlier, complete with a huge gold glitter 14, and head out the door. Taeyong is supposed to pick you up so you can make it to the gym on time. He’s the only other friend you have who is remotely associated with sports and that’s only because he’s dating one of the players, Doyoung.

The ticket Donghyuck gave you days ago places you near the court’s side with a near-perfect view. You settle in and wait for the game to begin. The team is already out on half of the court, doing some light warmup tosses and making the occasional mean eye at the visiting team practicing on the other half. You catch your best friend’s eye and he lights up when he sees the sign and eyeliner drawing.

“Check me out, Hyuck!”

You turn to give him a full view of your profile, subtly proud of your skills.

“Look at you,” he drawls as he jogs over to you, “You know, I think this is the best your eyeliner has ever looked.”

“God, you’re so annoying.”

You try your best to cast an elbow at him without disturbing the still slightly wet glitter on the sign. When you nearly take out the old man sitting directly in front of you, you settle for flipping him off.

“Wait,” Taeyong peers at the sign, “Aren’t you—”

“I think Doyoung said he was looking for you. Something about wanting a good luck kiss.”

Taeyong narrows his eyes but still stands up to go look for said boyfriend. Doyoung’s not the nervous type, but he’s also not the type to say no to some pre-game affection. You watch Taeyong disappear towards the locker room while Donghyuck steps over some of the fans already seated and takes the now open spot next to you.

“Hey,” he says with no trace of humor in his voice any longer. “Promise you’ll still be my friend after this game?”

You place the sign on your lap and turn to look at your friend. Lately the coach has been pushing him harder and you suppose it’s starting to wear down his usual confidence. With the hand that’s not covered in little golden glitter flecks, you reach down to rub his shoulder.

“Of course I will, Hyuck. And even if you guys don’t win tonight, I’m still taking you to get food after. My treat.”

It was supposed to be a rare moment of sincere friendliness. But this seems to distress him further because he looks down at your hand on his arm and then groans before covering his face in his hands. You’re confused but you don’t have any time to ask him what’s up. A few of his teammates walk over then.

“Sorry to break up the love fest, but Coach wants us to do some stretches before the whistle,” team captain Johnny says, gesturing to the other side of the gym where some other players are already contorting themselves.

Behind Johnny stands that new walk-on. The one you fell on your face in front of. He takes in your temporary face tattoo and overly detailed sign and smirks, allowing a dimple to wink at you. You can only hope to every deity in the universe that he doesn’t remember the way you first met.

“Hey,” he smiles good-naturedly. “Glad to see you made it here in one piece.”

“Thank you,” you say with way too much sincerity.

It’s enough to knock Donghyuck out of his bad mood and make him snort loudly beside you. The new guy smiles a bit wider, revealing a twin dimple. You look away.

“Don’t get too friendly, Jung,” Donghyuck says with fake menace in his voice. “There’s only room for one Dream Team member in her life, and that’s me.”

“Oh, sorry, I didn’t realize you guys were—”

“We’re just friends,” you blurt out before looking down at the fascinating liver spots on the old man’s head in front of you.

“Yeah, she wishes.”

“I definitely don’t,” you snap.

He sticks his tongue out at you. “Well, I’m glad you don’t.”

“Guys, come on!” Johnny calls a moment before the coach’s whistle blows to give a final warning.

As they walk over to the side of the gym you curse yourself for acting so weird in front of that Jung kid. If he didn’t think you were a dope when you tripped over nothing the first time you met, you’re certain he thinks you have the charms of a 13 year-old boy by now. The only thing that snaps you out of it is the fact that Donghyuck is in a time of distress and clearly needs his friend.

With squared shoulders and a new sense of duty, you try your hardest to be the world’s best cheerleader. You’re not really sure how sports work, basketball included. The game itself turns out to be really fun. Even though you’re not quite sure what’s happening. Taeyong sends you a text with a picture of your own mildly confused face contorted into a pout as you raise your handmade sign a moment too late, after everyone has already sat back down. But eventually you figure it out after enough times of standing when people around you wearing school colors stand up first. You know enough to cheer every time Donghyuck takes the ball to the basket and boo loudly every time he gets knocked down or his shot misses. In fact, you get so into it that you catch yourself cheering for other players. You even make the mistake of cheering once for new kid Jung but immediately stop when he catches a glimpse of you in the stands and shoots you a beaming smile.

They win by a small margin, thanks to a 3 pointer Johnny shot in the first half of the game. By the time that happens, you feel like you have a good feel for the game. You don’t have to wait for the other fans from your school to stand up when the last buzzer rings, and you instinctively run out onto the court with the rest of them as the final score settles. There’s adrenaline and joy pushing you into Donghyuck’s arms. He’s genuinely surprised but welcomes the greeting, spinning you lightly while he laughs.

“Congrats on the first win of the season,” you shout when you finally pull back. He lets you squish his cheeks in excitement. Doyoung ambles over then, looking for Taeyong. You offer him congratulations as well.

“Thanks,” he smirks a bit as he takes in your large sign and the slightly smudged 14 on your cheek. “Shouldn’t Jaehyun be the first to hear it, though?”

You raise a confused brow.

“Shouldn’t I be the first to hear what?”

You can’t help the way you stumble back against Donghyuck at the deep sound of Jung—no— Jaehyun’s voice. He looks pleased. Probably with the outcome of their first game.

“I was just saying you should get the first ‘congrats’,” Doyoung explains, nodding in your direction. Jaehyun blinks, but takes it in stride.

“I’d be glad to receive it,” he says with a grin. His dimples pop out even more than usual under the sheen of sweat and the glow from the fluorescents. “So, what’d you think? How’d I do?”

You have no idea why but your heart is beating like it’ll fly out of your chest. It takes everything in you to muster up a cool and natural response.

“You throw good.”

Donghyuck, the traitor that he is, gets sent into a cackling fit. If you listen carefully, between the gasps for air and the hyena-pitched giggles you can hear him calling you a dork. You’d turn to yell at him, but he’s right. Doyoung barely covers up his own laughter while leaning on Donghyuck’s shoulder to try to disguise the sound as a series of coughs. But Jaehyun merely smiles down at his shoes as if he’s somehow moved by your clunky words.

“Sorry,” you mumble.

“No, I feel like I did well today thanks to your little sign.”

“The sign? Oh. Actually, this is for—”

In that moment you realize two things. The first is that Jaehyun’s jersey has a big 14 emblazoned on the front of it. Just like the one you spent 10 whole minutes drawing onto your right cheek. And the one you spent 2 hours glittering the night before. The second is that you aren’t nearly as observant as you thought you were. Then you realize a third thing: Donghyuck is slowly creeping away from you as it all clicks together in your head.

When you turn to face your friend, the color has already drained out of his neck. He can see the wheels turning in your head and he raises his hands in a placating gesture, but you cut him off before he can even start. Grabbing at his jersey you make him turn around until you can see the white number 6 emblazoned on the fabric. It’s the same number he had last season, and the season before that.

“Just to clarify,” you begin with an unsettlingly calm voice, “When you asked me earlier if I would still be your friend after the game, you were talking about this, right?”

Donghyuck’s eyes go wide and dart around anywhere but your face. “You know what? I think you’re thinking of my brother, Hyongduck. We look a lot alike, so it’s an honest mistake.”

The coach calling him over in that moment is the only thing that keeps you from eviscerating him on the court with so many witnesses. You let him go, but not without him having to un-pry your fingers from his jersey. Jaehyun watches on with amusement in his eyes and you remember that he saw you nearly Hulk out on your friend.

“So, you actually didn’t know my number was 14?”

You shake your head, “I thought it was Hyuck’s.”

“I see.”

He tilts his head again, with eyes narrowed he looks you over before looking past you to where Donghyuck has finally made it to locker room safety.

“Well,” he fiddles with the chain around his neck, “I’m kind of sad the sign isn’t actually mine.”

“Oh. I mean, you can keep it if you want.”

Jaehyun’s head ducks down a second time, shaking his head at the ground like he heard something funny that you couldn’t hear. He does take the sign out of your hands though. With slow hands, he wraps the construction paper up until all the remaining glitter is safely tucked away.

“What about that one?”

“What do you mean?”

He points at his own cheek to mirror yours. You had forgotten all about the 14 you drew on your face to go with the sign.

“I don’t—I don’t know if you can wrap this one up, you know” you laugh stiltedly.

“Yeah. But I could always take a bit for the road. May I?”

All you can do is let out an eloquent ‘huh’ before he’s reaching out then and swiping away at some of the eyeliner that had moved around during the game. The drag of the pad of his thumb across your cheek should be completely harmless. Donghyuck has been infinitely rougher with his handling of you; one of the privileges of close friendship. And yet it’s this soft touch that has your breath leaving you like he punched it out of you. You swear the corner of his mouth raises, but it could be a trick of the light.

“What are you doing after—”

“I gotta go, sorry. Good game,” you toss over your shoulder before pulling your phone up to your ear like you’re taking a sudden phone call.

No one has to know that you spend the next few minutes dunking your head under one of the running faucets in an empty locker room to cool your heated face.

---

Nearly 20 minutes later, Donghyuck is tiptoeing out of the men’s locker room. He doesn’t notice the shadow waiting for him. When he deems the coast all clear, he opens up his messaging app and shoots you a text asking for your whereabouts.

“I’m right here.”

He jumps nearly 3 feet in the air before letting the scream that built in his throat turn into a whine. You’re just barely visible in the dark corner of the gym. If he squints you look a bit like his sleep paralysis demon.

“You scared me,” he says as he takes a step back only to hit a wall.

“Funny how that happens.”

You pull out your phone, stilling standing in the dark, and let the light from your phone cast eerie shadows across your face. Donghyuck gulps audibly as he watches you type slowly in response to his text. The sound of his phone notification moments later sounds deafening in the otherwise silent space.

You (21:39) - Run.

“Look, let’s talk this out like adults.” His hands come up, palms exposed like you’re a feral animal.

“I knew you weren’t number 14,” your voice is steady and devoid of emotion as you take a step towards him.

“Then you shouldn’t have fallen for it—shit. Wait!”

He trips in his haste to get away from you and falls. You foot lands dangerously close to his face as you come to stand in over him and he grimaces.

“Please don’t kill me, I’ll do anything.”

“Why did you tell me your number was Jaehyun’s number? Make it good and maybe I’ll let you live.”

“I just felt like it.”

“What the hell!”

“I’m serious.”

“Wrong answer, Hyuck.”

With that, you wriggle a foot free from one of your sneakers and shove your socked foot over his nose. You’ve been wearing the shoes all day and, because you forgot to do laundry the night before, the socks are recycled. The sound of Donghyuck’s cries for help make you slightly better and you smile softly to yourself.

You would think that Donghyuck would have learned his lesson about not causing chaos in your life after a face-full of foot. But you should know that it’s practically his job description after knowing him for as long as you have. Sometimes you love that about him and sometimes you kind of hate him for it. This time, you hate him for it.

Donghyuck prefaces the outing as a way of apologizing for tricking you. Normally you would have been slightly more critical. The first thing to tip you off should have been the fact the “apology" in question was coming almost two and a half weeks after the fateful jersey swap accident. The second thing should have been that the “apology” was coming in the form of a trip to a very specific tea house you don’t frequent because you’re not a tea person. And Donghyuck knows this. Because he knows everything else about you. Like which sweatpants you wear when you’re feeling bloated or when you just need a hug. But mainly you should have known something was up because it was Donghyuck. When he feels like he should do something, there’s no stopping him.

“What do you want to order,” he asks while holding the front door open for you to pass through.

“A smoothie.”

“It’s a damn tea house, order something normal.”

“A smoothie is normal.”

“Do you order hot dogs at seafood restaurants too,” he pins you with a tired glare. You mirror the glare and add crossed arms.

“If they don’t have a smoothie, then I don’t want anything.”

You take a look around at the interior of the shop. It’s the polar opposite of the shops you usually frequent, which are all trendy with their mixes of dark, unfinished woodwork and sleek minimalist furniture. This place is almost cottage-like in the ornateness of the older architecture and the collection of kitschy antique pieces. You’re not surprised to see that a good deal of the patrons are older, some verging on elderly. There’s only a handful of people who look like they could be your peers. One of them looks oddly familiar. You can’t put your finger on it, but there’s something familiar about the way he stands and the delicate gold links laying across the back of his neck.

“Jaehyun,” Donghyuck calls a bit too excitedly, “Hey, man is that you? What are you doing here”

“You told me to meet you—” Donghyuck cuts him off with a dramatic gasp and a glance at his bare wrist.

“Aw, would you look at the time. I actually have somewhere to be right now, so I can’t stick around.”

“But you drove us here,” you whip your head around to look at him, but he coughs suddenly and looks away.

“Yeah, sorry. No time to drop you back off at your place, so I guess you have to figure that out yourself. Jae drives though. Maybe you can figure something out.”

Neither of you really know what to say. You watch silently with your mouth open in disbelief as Donghyuck turns on his heel and struts out of the tea shop exit, whistling contentedly. You suppose that if you’re the god of chaos reincarnated, all of this would feel like a good day’s work. You berate yourself for recently washing your socks.

“Good to see you again,” Jaehyun says after a beat. He shoves his hands into his pockets. “Thought I had scared you off after...yeah.”

“Oh, right. That.”

The air feels both too thick and too thin at the same time. You want to leave, every fiber of your being is screaming at you to leave before you do something weird in front of him again. But you can’t move. So you stand there, 3 feet away and not saying anything as Jaehyun looks over the large chalkboard menu hanging above the head of the older woman who is manning the front counter.

“What are you getting?”

“Me? Uh, I don’t know. I’m not really a tea person.”

“Well, what kind of person are you?”

Given the context, it’s a harmless question. But there’s a sing-songy lilt to the way he asks the question. It’s so blatant that curiosity gets the best of you and you stop purposefully avoiding looking at him. One of his dimples is out and he’s very nearly poking the tip of his tongue out at you, like he knows you’re suffering and he thinks it's funny. Almost like he’s flirting. Almost.

“I’m a smoothie person,” you finally say. “But there’s no smoothies on the menu.”

“I’ll see what I can do.”

“But doesn’t it say ‘no customizations’?”

There’s a sign on the edge of the counter that says just that. Despite the fact that it’s written in beautiful, looping cursive, there’s an ominous tone to the message. Like the little old lady behind the counter might actually make you into tea if you asked for a frappe or something. You’re a little worried for Jaehyun’s safety. He must sense some sort of hesitance because he brushes it off and gestures toward the rest of the shop.

“Don’t worry about that. I’ll take care of it, you can go grab us a table.”

The way he says ‘us’ so casually has you tripping slightly over nothing. He’s somehow there in the nick of time to grab at your elbow in a gentlemanly fashion to help steady you. Perhaps you yank yourself out of his proximity a little too quickly. But it’s only because you really want to find a good table and you can’t do that if Jaehyun is distracting you by grabbing at your limbs.

In actuality, though, the tea shop is fairly vacant. There are a variety of tables with pressed white tablecloths and dainty tiered tea trays housing pastries. You pick one at random and sit down. Part of you really does wish you’d left when Donghyuck did. But the other part is curious to see what Jaehyun’s like when he’s away from his team and truly outside the context you usually find him in. So you compromise and watch as subtly as you can.

He seems fairly similar—all charming smiles and pretty hair while approaching the counter to talk with the lady you assume is the owner of the shop. She looks stern as she polishes some dainty bone china, but brightens when he comes to the counter. You watch in quiet awe as she reaches a hand up to pat fondly at the side of his face, most likely pinching a cheek from the angle you’re sitting at. You see him run a hand over the back of his neck which grows red after he says something to her that she must not like. Her brow grows heavy and her lips purse but he says something else then that has her directing her sharp gaze at you. You gulp and pretend you were merely admiring the tea sandwich tray on the table as opposed to spying. A wave of sudden embarrassment comes over you and you open up your phone to text Donghyuck

You (15:38) - this is a shit apology just so u know

You (15:38) - come get me plz

Hyuck (15:40) - sorry suddenly cant read dont know what that says :)

You place your phone face down onto the table and cross your arms with a huff. While trying to plan an escape that makes you look the least asshole-y possible, Jaehyun returns with the drinks. More specifically, he returns with a tall water glass in one hand that’s filled with a pale tea with fruit chunks and mint leaves sprinkled throughout. The other hand is encased in a floral appliqué oven mitt that holds the prettiest squat little teapot you’ve ever seen. It’s blue, so it doesn’t match the pastel green teacups organized on the tablecloth, but it’s still a lovely sight.

“What’s this,” you stir at the fruit in the glass with an elegant teaspoon.

“It’s a chilled fruit tea,” he explains while casually pouring himself a steaming cup of black tea. “I tried my hardest with Mrs. Li, but there was no way I was gonna get you a smoothie. This is the closest thing I could get.”

“You really didn’t have to go to all that trouble. I would have been fine with just a water. I don’t want to get you in trouble with the owner.”

“Don’t worry. I think my reputation is fine for now.”

It’s weirdly fascinating to watch him fix up his tea. As a member of a basketball team, you would have never thought he’d be a tea drinker. Let alone a tea drinker who takes heaping spoonfuls of sugar to go with a tiny splash of milk in his tea. He hums a little to himself as he stirs it all with a silver spoon that’s been crafted to look like roses are growing up the stem. When he looks up a moment later, he catches you staring at him. His eyes crinkle and they look like they did when he looked at you after shooting a 3 at the latest home game, full of quiet joy. Both then and now you’re not sure what the smile means or why it seems to be for you. You look down and realize his lips are moving.

“What?”

He chuckles at how far away you sound. “I said ‘how’s the tea?’”

“Oh, uh, I don’t know yet. I got distracted. I was...thinking.”

“Mhm.” There’s smugness practically oozing out of his thoughtful hum.

You take a sip to appease him and frantically search for something to say that won’t make it obvious that you aren’t a fan of tea, but then you stop yourself. It’s no smoothie, but it really is the next best thing. The tea is cold like a smoothie, providing the same reprieve from the sticky heat of Spring. The tea with all its macerated berries and mint leaves is sweet and thick much like a smoothie.

“This is amazing,” you peer down at the cup like you’re not sure where half the glass went.

A light weight lands on your shoulder then. “That’s very kind of you, dear. High praise coming from a non-tea-drinker.”

It takes a lot of effort not to scream and even then your eyes open comically wide and you jump in your seat. Jaehyun has to disguise his laughter at your reaction by turning away in his seat as you turn in yours to face the old lady who was at the counter.

“I’m sorry for any trouble you went to so you could make this, Mrs. Li, Ma’am. I told Jaehyun that I wanted a smoothie and he was just trying to make me feel comfortable.”

“Oh, I know. Jaehyun’s been coming to the shop since I opened it, so he should know all about my ban on requests.” Mrs. Li eyes Jaehyun as he takes an innocent sip of his tea. “He’s always been courteous about it, so I thought he must have a darn good reason for breaking my rule this time.”

Jaehyun’s hand slips while pouring a second cup, but he doesn’t say anything as Mrs. Li continues to expose him.

“Now, that reminds me. Jaehyun, my boy, I’m sorry to tell you that Kevin won’t be coming to his sessions this week. He has a dentist appointment and it can’t be helped,” she sighs and waves her hands.

“That’s alright. As long as he practices a little every day he should be in good shape and we can pick up right where we stopped.”

She nods and for a moment the serious expression on her face morphs into something softer. Patting the back of his chair, she looks over the table and then at you.

“Alright. I hope everything is to your liking, but if something does come up do feel free to tell Jaehyun. He’s a very capable young man and he knows the shop like the back of his hand. I’d better get back to work now. The silver won’t polish itself.”

You wait a few beats to be respectful, but as soon as Mrs. Li returns to her post behind the counter you gulp down the rest of your tea and lean in.

“Who’s Kevin?”

“Her 9 year old grandson. I teach him and his younger brother piano on the weekends.”

“Oh, that’s—that’s nice,” you nod coolly. At least, you hope it appears cool. Internally you’re scrambling.

Of course your best friend’s basketball teammate teaches piano to young kids. Of course he helps the elderly tea shop lady with her store. Of course he drinks sweet tea out of blue floral teacups. Of course.

He’s finally ready to go after a third cup. You’re not sure where he’s putting it all, but it seems to be a regular occurrence for him. He takes your glass from you before you can argue about your own ability to do it and walks back over to the counter. Now more than ever you wish you could read lips. He goes around the counter to wash the glass in the farmer’s sink in the back and then stops briefly to say something to Mrs. Li. She says something back with a smile that has his cheeks flaming. He leaves a bill on the counter and comes back mumbling about his tea being too hot when you stare at his face. You’re not sure how true that is given how fast he downed those cups.

When you emerge from the tea shop, the sun is shining from a different angle and the temperature has mellowed out.

“My car is a few blocks that way,” he points in the direction of the parking lot nearby.

“You don’t have to—”

“I want to.” Even with his soft tone, his voice is firm and you don’t try to fight him on it.

But it’s strange walking with Jaehyun silently. It feels entirely too companionable despite the fact that you don’t even know him.

“Do you...want to play 20 questions?”

He stops in his tracks, clearly not expecting you to talk without him coaxing you out of your shell. But after the initial shock fades, he nods.

“What’s your favorite color?”

“White,” he says immediately. “What’s your major?”

“Studio art. Do you play other sports?”

“Nah. Is Donghyuck your best friend?”

“Yeah, Hyuck’s my best friend.”

“Is he...protective?”

“Protective? Of what?”

“You, I guess.”

“Hyuck?” You let out a snort because the thought is just hilarious. “On the right day I’m pretty sure he’d sell me to Satan for a fresh order of sweet potato fries.”

“I see,” he purses his lips like he’s in deep thought before returning back to the present moments later. “You get two since I asked two.”

“Do you like it here, now that it’s been a while since you transferred?”

“Yeah,” he looks you in the eyes. “I like it here.”

You swallow a bit too audibly but power through and keep asking questions. It takes nearly half an hour to walk the two and a half blocks leading to the parking lot. Even after that, Jaehyun takes a scenic route back to the main campus. When he pulls up outside your dorm, you’re not sure what to say, but it feels like something should be said. The sun is near setting and he’s haloed by the dying rays as he leans on the steering wheel to make sure you make it inside.

After giving a little awkward nod, you drag yourself out of the cabin of his car. There’s only a few steps left until you reach the door when he calls out. You turn.

“So,” he trails off, drumming his hands on the steering wheel before adjusting the mirror even though he’s in park and no one is coming. “Donghyuck has, like, a million fans.”

“What?”

“I just mean that he’s been on the team for years, he has a fan base. But I’m just a transfer student, so I don’t have that. And, you know, it’s really nice to have someone to cheer for you.” He tests the waters and looks at you hesitantly before continuing. “I still have your poster.”

All you can do is blink as you realize what’s going on. Or, you think you know what’s going on. And it makes zero sense to you, but you have a habit of overthinking things anyway. You kick at a pebble near the toe of your shoe, taking some time to muster up the courage to be presumptuous in a way you’re not used to.

“I can...I can make you another sign. If you want. Or like wear your number.” He grins and in that moment it seems to outshine the fading sun. “So you don’t feel left out.”

“I’d like that.” He starts the car up then, still grinning as he looks down to shift gears and adjust all his mirrors yet again. “Tell Hyuck he doesn’t need to set aside tickets anymore.”

“Okay,” is your witty reply before turning once more with a too warm face.

He waves at your retreating back before putting the car into drive.

Everyone on the team knows that every once in a while Donghyuck likes to come to practice a lot earlier than is probably normal. It’s not strange to come in when there’s 30, 40, even 50 minutes before practice starts and find him practicing footwork or doing layups on the court alone.

Jaehyun hedges a guess that he’ll find Donghyuck in the gym a good hour before practice starts one day and is pleased to find that his intuition was correct. There’s music blasting from a portable speaker and Donghyuck is doing some of the drills the coach likes to run, but done with his non-dominant hand.

When the ball rolls to a stop and Donghyuck moves to get some water, Jaehyun announces himself.

“Hey.”

“You quitting already?”

“Not yet,” Donghyuck takes in the serious set of Jaehyun’s jaw and shoulders. “We can do a 1-on-1. If you’re up for it.”

Jaehyun nods and sheds his outer layers on the sidelines. Donghyck wonders if he’s angry about something, perhaps that about practice a few days ago where he went a little too hard on Jaehyun and bashed his cheek with an elbow during a scrimmage. He braces himself for some incoming aggression, knowing he may deserve it a little.

They settle for leaving the ball on the ground in the paint since the equipment cabinet is still locked until the coach arrives. Both of them sprint from the freethrow line, with Jaehyun grabbing the ball first. Donghyuck moves into defense easily, having been in game mode for who knows how long. Jaehyun isn’t nearly as tough in his offense as Donghyck expected. In fact, he’s playing surprisingly light.

“What’s up with you,” Donghyuck says after the first basket.

Jaehyun catches the ball after it falls from the basket, jogging it back to the starting position. Donghyuck waits for him back at the freethrow line, brows raised but otherwise silent.

“Nothing’s up. Nothing big, I mean.”

“You’re a pretty bad liar.”

The words catch Jaehyun by surprise and he stumbles a bit coming off the line. Donghyuck uses the momentary shock to his advantage and steals the ball. The point comes easy as he basically runs a circle around his competitor.

“Since I won that point, why don’t you tell me what’s really bothering you?”

Donghyuck doesn’t bother going back to the freethrow line and instead goes back to dribbling practice. His rhythm is slow with his off hand, but steady. Better than Jaehyun’s with his off hand.

“Do you believe in bro code?”

Donghyuck snorts. “I guess. You’re not gonna ask me for my mom’s phone number, are you?”

“No. Not your mom’s,” Jaehyun trails off.

Instantly Donghyuck knows what this is about. Or who. Your face flashes in his mind and he has to bite his own cheek to keep from laughing. Being your best friend gives him exclusive access to just how awkward you can be. But the fact that Jaehyun resorted to all this buildup is kind of hilarious.

“Aw, you guys are cute.”

“What?” Jaehyun’s cheeks grow pink. “Why is this cute?”

“Look, you don’t need to ask me first or do whatever this is. I’m not her keeper. And I’m not gonna sabotage you, either.” Jaehyun’s shoulders lose some of their squared off edge.

“Okay,” he nods. “Thanks, man.”

“I could use a favor, though.”

“Oh. What is it?”

“I have a meeting with Coach after practice today. But I also really need to pick something up at the stationery store before tomorrow. Can you go pick it up for me?”

“Sure, I guess.”

“Cool. I’ll text you the details later.”

---

Jaehyun arrives at the stationery store with his phone in hand. The note from Donghyuck mentions some special set of paints with a foreign-sounding name. As he walks through the aisles of the little store, Jaehyun wonders who the paints are for. The note also mentioned that they were a gift for someone, but it doesn’t say who the someone is.

It takes a few laps around the store, and by the time he spots the little nook for the brand, the store owner's voice had already sounded through the overhead speakers to say that the shop would be closing soon. He grabs the last box left and quietly rejoices. Donghyuck had bartered your number for the price of running the errand. If Jaehyun could get the paints, then he could get the number. The odd part was that Donghyuck had mentioned something about Jaehyun possibly not even needing to ask him for the number if he played his cards right. Originally he had shrugged the comment off, but it did raise the hairs on the back of his neck a bit. There’s something about Donghyuck that feels akin to a cartoon villain, but Jaehyun can’t put his finger on it.

“Checking out?”

“Yeah,” he hands the shop attendant the container of paints.

The attendant tries to scan the barcode, but a strange sound comes from the machine.

“I think something’s wrong with the barcode. If you can wait right here, I’ll go get another one to scan and give you that one instead.”

“Oh. That was actually the last one left.”

“I see.” The attendant presses some keys on the computer before nodding. “I think we should have a reference code in that backroom. I can go get that and punch it in manually if that’s okay.”

“If it’s not too much trouble, that would be great.”

The attendant assures him it’ll only be a moment before leaving the counter and disappearing into the back of the store. Jaehyun waits patiently while leaning on the counter when the bell to the front door of the shop rings. Another customer has come in right before closing, and the sound of their labored breathing makes it clear that they know they’re cutting it close. The footsteps fade out and then grow louder once more after a few minutes. He takes a glance over his shoulder to see you standing a little bit behind him.

“Oh. Hi. H-hey.”

“Hey, yourself.” Jaehyun turns completely and sets his phone on the counter. “What brings you here?”

“I’m just grabbing some paint. I ran out a few days ago and I have some big projects coming up.”

“That’s funny. I’m doing the same thing.”

“Do you paint,” your eyes grow a little bigger with the prospect. At the sight of your small smile, Jaehyun wishes he could paint for the first time ever.

“No, but I’d like to learn.” And it’s never been true before, but he means it in that moment.

“Well, I could—”

“Sorry for the delay,” the shop attendant comes jogging back from the backroom. “Another employee had the reference book, so I had to spend some time to hunt it down. But you should be all set now.”

Jaehyun sends an apologetic smile your way before turning back to finish checking out. Once he’s done, even though he’s on a tight schedule with this favor, he hangs back.

“—I’m sorry but we sold out of the Neo Color Technology paints. If you’d like, we can give you a call when the next shipment comes in, but there’s a two-week wait.”

“Ah, really? Okay.”

You gnaw on the inside of your cheek as you think about what you’ll do now. The idea of continuing some of your projects with a new set of paints that could have a completely different set of hues makes you nervous. You just perfected the shade of green you needed at the base for your huge forest study. Now you’d have to start from scratch.

Jaehyun is trying his hardest not to eavesdrop, but the odd paint name catches his attention. It’s the same one he just bought, per Donghyuck’s request.

“You can have mine,” he blurts out. “I’m the one who bought the last ones. But I obviously don’t need them like you do.”

“Are you sure?”

“Please, take them.”

Jaehyun hands you the bag. The smile you offer him in return is brilliant.

“I’ll pay you back.”

“God, no. Don’t worry about it.”

“Then, let me buy you a tea or something at least.” You hand him your phone. “Here, put your number in and you can pick a day. I’ll pay.”

So Jaehyun takes your phone and inputs his number. A moment later he gets a text from you, clarifying that it’s you. He feels victorious for a moment and then confused. Here he is, getting your number without having to ask, just like Donghyuck himself had mentioned. He’s getting this number because he gave you, Donghyuck’s friend, some paints. Paints that Donghyuck asked him to buy, as a gift to a mysterious friend.

Maybe Donghyuck is less like a villain and more like a twisted fairy godmother.

This little dance you keep doing with Jaehyun is strange, to say the least.

It felt odd to copy the number 14 onto your cheek for the first time knowing who it would really be for. And it felt weird to get so used to doing it that you can now copy the stencil in with practiced ease using the face paint you bought specifically for the occasion, no longer worrying about accidentally writing it backwards. All the while, you can barely make eye contact with him after a game, although you can practically feel the weight of his gaze when you make a beeline for Donghyuck after the last buzzer rings. And you can see the way his hand tugs at the gold chain around his neck as he approaches you cautiously. And you can hear the disappointment in his tone when he asks if you’re going to the house parties thrown by one of the players that typically follow the games only to hear you say no each time.

Another few weeks later finds you trying to make it through midterms. Donghyuck being a literature major means his midterms schedule is always different from yours. This time his midterms end much earlier, a few days earlier to be exact. You’re left to suffer through late night crunches to finish up paintings for one of your crits. Photoshopping some pieces for your digital art class leaves you so busy you don’t even register what’s going on around you.

“It’s my turn to host the post-game party,” he says after letting himself into your apartment one day. He drops the spare keyring reserved for him in the dish near the front door.

“Mhm.”

“But I feel like it would be a nice change to have it here.” When he makes a big show of dropping the takeout he brought you, you don’t even flinch at the sound of it hitting the table you’ve taken over.

“Sounds good,” is all you say as you try to find the one layer out of the 25 you had that you were looking for.

“Great, so I’ll probably stop by on Friday with stuff before the game to set up and then the team can just come through afterwards.”

“Sure.”

“Don’t hate me,” he places a kiss on the top of your head before wrinkling his nose when he smells your unwashed hair. “And don’t work yourself too hard, either.”

“Yeah...definitely.”

Friday comes by and you’re still working, so you have to skip the actual game itself. In the brief window of free time you had that morning, you wonder if you should text Jaehyun again so you can tell him you won’t be coming or bringing your little hand stenciled 14. But you decide against it. It’s a big game and he doesn’t need to be bogged down by unnecessary texts.

You’re actually away at your first crit when Donghyuck stops by again, this time with party supplies. When you come back, you barely register the mountain of beers and cheap wines sitting in your kitchen. All you want to do is sleep like the dead for a few hours. As you zombie walk to your room, you swear you hear him call to you to ask if he can store his balloons in the sink. With your last two brain cells you figure he must have said something else and you were just too tired to actually comprehend it.

Hours later, bass blaring through the thin walls of your place wakes you from your slumber. The details of your conversation with Donghyuck a few days prior come flooding back just as you pick up your pepper spray to drive out what you thought were home intruders. You leave your weapon behind and open your door just slightly. The music washes over you, louder now that the seal to your bedroom has been broken.

There’s plenty of voices coming outside that accompany the music. Even a few errant screams make it inside and to your ears. Courtesy of Chenle, no doubt. A few more brave steps outside your room and a glance out of the hallway window lets you know that you didn’t mishear Donghyuck. You see several of the guys chucking water balloons at one another on the grass outside. The pile of little teardrop-shaped balloons is admirably large and it becomes clear that they’ll be doing this for a while.

You’re not in the mood to get soaked or get mosquito bites just so you can seem friendly. After all, the party is being hosted in your apartment complex. That’s friendly enough, you reason. Once you’ve done a quick sweep through the rest of the apartment to make sure nothing is stolen, stained, or broken, you return to your room to get ready for bed properly. It takes a while because you have to wash your hair on top of everything else after receiving a very strongly worded text from Donghyuck.

While in your bathroom, brushing your teeth and watching a video Taeyong sent you, there’s jumbled knocking on your door. Barely any time passes between the last knock and the creak of someone leaning on your door as they open it. You curse to yourself before spitting in the sink.

“Hey, the bathroom for guests is actually—”

Jaehyun stands in the middle of your room, squinting at the tapestry you have hanging over your bed. The sound of his teeth chattering despite it being the peak of Spring is actually alarming enough to stop you from being mad that Donghuck didn’t think to put a clear sign towards the bathroom for the general public.

“I always thought your room would have candles in it,” Jaehyun drawls. He looks around once more like he’s hoping a candle will jump out of a hiding spot. All his movements are slow and sleepy.

“Are you drunk?”

He grins with eyes that droop closed. “Yep.”

“Great,” you mumble. When you take a step closer you realize the dark red sleeveless tank he’s wearing is actually dark from being saturated with water. “Why are you wet?”

“Hm? Oh, yeah. We played water balloon tag. I lost the last round.”

Jaehyun places a clumsy finger to his lips and stage-whispers a loud “shh”. For some reason you mirror that back to him. He nods, satisfied with your reaction.

“Don’t tell the others, but I...” he hiccups “I got cold, so I came inside.”

“What’s wrong with telling them you’re cold.” He hangs his head in shame then. Clearly you’re missing something important.

“Hyuck says bad bitches never get cold.”

With his shoulders slumped forward in such a pitiful fashion, you actually feel bad for wanting to laugh. It’s surprising. Super surprising actually, considering Jaehyun’s presence in your room means Donghyuck forgot to do the one thing you ask of him when he hosts parties at your place—put clear signs for drunk people to follow to the guest bathroom. You usually don’t want to deal with drunk student athletes, but something about Jaehyun makes him exempt from that.

“You can warm up here.”

As soon as you say the words, you cringe. It sounds like the awful beginnings of a bad porno, but your intentions really are pure. There’s something too sad about watching him nearly doze off while standing up like a newborn colt. So you go and find the best hoodie that you have in your clean laundry and you risk going to the kitchen and getting hit with a runaway water balloon so you can put water on for tea. Hopefully it will warm him up while also sobering him up a little.

“Is this Hyuck’s shirt,” he asks as soon as you return with a steaming mug.

“Uh, I think so.” You take a moment to appraise the hoodie. “Yeah, it’s his. It’s from one of his basketball camps from when we were younger, I think.”

He purses his lips but gratefully takes the mug with swaying hands. After taking a large sip, he hums and lets his head loll back with a smile.

“This is Mrs. Li’s blend.”

“Yeah.”

It doesn’t seem right to tell him that you’ve been back there a couple times now and have started trying to get into tea. You take the time to put some distance between him and you. You walk to your bed and fluff a pillow that doesn’t need fluffing. The thing is that Jaehyun being in your room feels...weird. He looks all too content and comfortable in the space. That’s not to say he doesn’t suit the environment well. Somehow he looks like he belongs in your room with his soaked tank top and damp hair. You fluff the pillow harder.

“You must be tired,” he says after a long silence. He’s finished his tea but his eyes are still glassy.

“What?”

“Donghyuck told me ‘bout all your projects. Told me you had to draw him for one.”

“Oh, yeah I did. People actually loved that piece the most. But it took me the shortest amount of time.”

“Next time,” he begins ambling across the room, coming to place the empty mug on your bedside table. “Next time, you can ask me to model. If you want.”

“I mean, I only asked Hyuck since he was watching TV and he was there. Plus I know his face so well that it doesn’t even matter if he talks while I paint. The company is kind of nice.”

“Well, you can do it with me next.”

He’s drunk, you remind yourself. He doesn’t realize how strange what he’s saying is. And yet, your face still heats up. The sound of his teeth chattering lightly again reminds you how he got to be in your room in the first place. Jaehyun hugs himself as he continues to check out your room with a small smile on his face. He looks content.

“Do you want to get in,” you offer before your brain can process what your mouth has just done. His eyes go wide.

“Excuse me?”

“Not—I mean, you just...look really cold and tired. Plus I heard you guys lost the game tonight, so the coach had you hauling ass after.” At the sight of his mildly amused face, tongue nudged between his teeth you add, “I don’t mean you should stay the night. It could just be for a bit and then you could, like, get up and call a cab home. But I get it if you’d rather not. Actually, I can just go see if Hyuck is around. I think he brought his—”

“No, no, stay,” he replies quickly to keep you from jumping out of bed. “I could use the rest.”

He turns around to shrug off the wet tank and pull on the hoodie, mumbling something about ‘not wanting to get your sheets wet’. Internally you wonder if you’re being laughed at by the gods while staring politely at nothing in the other corner of the room. You scoot over from your position in the middle of the bed to the side opposite him. He rewards your kindness with a flash of a bright smile before moving to pull back the covers.

His face lands directly in one of your pillows and you panic when you realize your sheets aren’t fresh out the washer. Jaehyun doesn’t seem to mind and lets out a sigh before shivering a little. With the hood over his hair, you can barely make out his eyes but you can tell they’re trained on you.

“You sure this is okay,” he whispers.

“Yeah.”

The bed shifts minutely as he turns a little to get more comfortable. It feels hot in the bed all of the sudden. Despite the fact that you have on weather appropriate pajamas and your most lightweight Spring bedding on. Despite the fact that you’re not laying close enough to him to be able to feel any body heat. Maybe it’s warmer outside than you thought. That’s probably it.

---

When you wake up several hours later, it’s to the sound of clanking in your living room. The other side of the bed is empty and you try not to read into it. It wasn’t supposed to be a full night over, after all. You swing your feet over the edge of the bed only to squeal when your foot hits something cold in the little rug you keep there.

“What is it!” Donghyuck crashes into the room while holding the trash bag he was collecting loose beer cans with. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I just—oh.”

You look down at the rug and see something shiny and metallic as opposed to something wet and slimy. With your index finger and thumb, you pick up a medium length golden chain. It shines even in the low lighting of your bedroom. You both squint at the jewelry, trying to place it.

Donghyuck’s eye grow wide and he looks around the room in disgust suddenly.

“Was he in here?”

“Uh, yeah,” you grumble as you rub your eyes.

“What for?”

When Donghyuck raises an inquisitive eyebrow, your mouth drops open.

“We just slept—”

“You slept together?”

“Hyuck, not like that! What’s your problem?”

“Still, why is he sleeping in here? You never have guys sleep in here.”

“You sleep in here all the time,” you point a finger at him.

“True,” he cedes immediately, pointing a finger back. “Well, you better return that. I think it’s his lucky charm or something.”

“Can’t you do it?” He laughs before returning to the living room.

“He didn’t leave it in my bed.”

“I–fine. I don’t need your help anyway.”

At that, he snorts.

“You do, but I’ll let you keep thinking that you don’t, because I’m a good friend.”

“You’re annoying, that’s what you are.”

You pull on a sweater before coming out of your room with your phone in hand. There’s a companionable silence that falls over you two as you attempt to draft a text to Jaehyun about his chain while Donghyuck picks up the remaining trash from the party.

“How’d everything go,” you ask once the message is sent.

“It was fine. Jae was so gone that we thought he had flushed himself down the toilet for a while. But I guess that’s not what happened.”

Your face heats up at the teasing tone he uses.

“Hyuck, I have something to tell you.”

“God, what? Are you pregnant?”

“No! What the hell? Are you?” You try to swipe at his butt from the back of the couch.

“No! But...can you just say what you’re gonna say? You’re making me nervous.”

He even goes so far as to put the trash down and come around to sit with you on the sofa. You take a deep breath.

“I have a crush on Jaehyun. I just thought you should know.”

He stares at you, not blinking for a few seconds. He opens his mouth and then shakes his head to himself and closes it again.

“I see,” he finally says.

“It’s been going on a while, and I didn’t want to leave you in the dark.”

“Uh-huh.”

“You’re not mad?”

“Nope! I don’t mind being in the shadows. I do some of my best work there.”

“Do you think it could go anywhere?”

“What do you mean,” he throws another can into his bag.

“Like, do you think I have a chance with him?”

Donghyuck turns to stare at you, deadpan. “Do I think you have a chance with Jung Jaehyun? The man who slept in your bed a few hours ago?”

“Yeah.” Your face is completely open and imploring.

He sighs, “I think you might have a shot, sure.”

“Why, though?”

“I don’t know. Just a hunch.”

The next game of the season is a big one. The team coming in to play is an old school rival, so it draws a crowd that contains even the less sport-inclined students. You manage to get a ticket set away, but it’s still tough trying to find a spot to sit. It’s first come first serve with seats since the gym isn’t big enough to have labeled arena seating.

Initially you had planned to use the extra time you had before the start to return Jaehyun’s chain, but it took you so long to make it from the parking lot to the gym and then to an open seat that there wasn’t any time left. Somewhere in between, you nearly get knocked over by the heavy current of fans from both teams flooding the space. The chain, once clutched in your hand, ends up around your neck out of fear that you lose it permanently.

You end up in the nosebleeds for the rest of the time. The players look like ants and if it weren’t for the large printed numbers on their jerseys, you might not be able to tell all of them apart. You text Donghyuck your location, and you see him looking towards the back rows at the beginning of the game, but he has to stay focused. You try your hardest to focus as well. At this point, you’re just about fluent in the sport that is basketball. But tonight’s game is hard to follow despite this. Jaehyun grabs your attention instead. He plays especially rough tonight, you note. He pushes hard across the court, even gets a couple warnings for defending like he’s on offense. There’s a fair amount of goals with his name on them as well. It’s exciting and you just wish your cheers could reach him.

More annoyance comes when the game finally ends. It’s a last minute shot by one of the other players who walked on this season that tips the game in your school’s favor. The crowd is deafening, even the ending buzzer is muted by their shouts. The bleachers shake under you with the force of fans running to meet their favorite players and generally gloat in front of the other team on the court. The shaking underneath you is terrifying enough to keep you seated until things have died down. There’s still probably a minimum of hundred people gathered on the floor, but you can at least step over empty concession bags as opposed to being stepped on by the supportive members of the hockey team.

It takes forever to find a single person you know. Of course it’s Donghyuck, who is in the middle of talking with some friends from off the team.

“Hyuck,” you begin to run over. When he sees you, you give him a big smile.

“No,” he responds simply as you get closer.

You slow down and let confusion wrinkle your brow. He offers no further verbal explanation but does give you a swift head nod in another direction. You follow the gesture and find Jaehyun at the end of the path. He looks a bit lost despite being with Doyoung and Johnny.

The fact that the others are there makes you freeze up at first, but the feeling of the chain laying delicately on your clavicle reminds you of what you need to do. Luckily, he sees you before the others do and he steps aside under the guise of getting a fresh towel. He waits for you to catch up once he’s out of their line of sight.

His voice is low, like he’s worried being too loud will make you change your mind about talking with him. But there’s an undercurrent of sincere happiness.

“There you are.”

“I was at the top row. I got here too late to sit where I normally do.”

“Ah. I thought maybe you couldn’t make it.”

“There’s no way I would be able to miss this one. Hyuck threatened to shave my head if I did.”

“That...sounds like him.”

“Yeah,” you chuckle. The nerves are getting to you a bit. You’ve never confessed your feelings to anyone before, and you’re not sure if Donghyuck was right about you having a shot.

“So, what are you doing—”

“I’ve been meaning to tell—”

You both start talking at once and then immediately clam up when you interrupt each other.

He gives the floor to you. “You go first.”

“Okay.”

You reach for the back of your neck and watch as his gaze follows the movement of your hands only for his eyes to light up in recognition.

“I wondered where that thing went.”

“You left it at my place. I put it on because I was scared I’d lose it for real. Sorry.”

He reaches out casually to thumb at the chain around your neck. “Don’t be. It looks good on you.”

“It looks better on you.”

The chain slides off cool against your skin and your fingers shake as you carry the chain over to him. Wordlessly, you reach up and loop your arms around his neck to reunite the chain with its rightful owner. Sweaty palms make it difficult to redo the clasp without being able to see it. It puts you right in his personal space for an awkwardly long time.

“I’m really sweaty,” he whispers.

“Uh, that’s nice?”

He laughs and it puffs off your temple.

“I don’t want to get you dirty, but I really want to kiss you right now.” The clasp finally snaps into place

“Oh.”

The way he leans in, the way his arms come to cage around your waist, the drip of the sweat from his temple down the hinge of his jaw. All of it is slow. As if to give you the space to withdraw if you wanted. But you surge forward into him. And for once it’s not awkward. You don’t know how long you stand there necking like hormonal high schoolers in a sea of people on the gym floor at a school dance, but—just like at the school dance—someone is bursting the gossamer thin ambiance just when Jaehyun’s fingers graze the back pocket of your jeans.

“If you look to your left, boys and girls, you can see two local horndogs engaged in a seasonal ritual” He karate chops a hand down the space between your faces, cutting the kiss off abruptly and nearly bruising Jaehyun’s nose. Meanwhile Taeyong snickers loudly from behind Doyoung.

“Do you have a death wish,” you turn to him with fire in your eyes. He backs up slightly, but attempts to stand his ground.

“Do you know how hard I’ve been working to set you two up?”

“What are you talking about?”

You turn to Jaehyun, who looks just as confused. The gears turning in your heads are practically visible as you and he put 2 and 2 together slowly. The random lies, the weird errands, the sudden party. The blank stares from Donghyuck every time the two of you were in the same room but refused to talk. It all adds up.

“You owe me sweet potato fries for the rest of your life. Maybe longer, I’m not sure yet.”

Donghyuck puts his arms around you and Jaehyun, pulling you with him as he heads out of the gym and towards the exit that leads toward the cafeteria.

“I can’t believe you...puppet-mastered us,” Jaehyun’s voice is airy with disbelief.

“I can’t believe you guys didn’t realize what was going on,” Taeyong snickers on the walk over. Doyoung snorts while lacing their fingers together.

“Yeah, the whole team was in on it.”

“You guys are one to talk.” Donghyuck turns back to give the two boys a humbling once over. “Don’t get me started on how hard it was to get you two losers together.”

Doyoung stops in his tracks, nearly tripping Taeyong in the process.

“What?”

#nct fanfic #nct scenarios #nct imagines #jaehyun fanfic #jaehyun fluff #jaehyun scenarios #jaehyun imagines

507 notes · View notes

thatonethimbo · 2 years

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‘‘what the jake doin’ ‘‘ Jake/reader (platonic, maybe) if any pronouns, would be they/them

(you have a vari but you can choose its gender and if it’s an alpha gleam, or a gamma, as well as an sa, I don’t judge lmao)

- also i tried not showing the pronouns or describing your vari so it’s easier to imagine yours as whatever

- not forgetting the fact i changed a small part, the box hits that dude’s head, he probs deserved it idk

- mmm, ll fic warmup

The night skies hung overhead, as you silently passed the trainers on the abandoned part of the highway. Some of them looked to you as you walked by, one finding themself not at all interested.

As you drew closer to Sepharite (sprite) Junkyard, you immediately pinched your nose as soon as you caught a whiff of the familiar (but terrible) smell.

Beside you, trotted your Vari, who was staying close to you for comfort, wary of the strangers whose dim shadows loomed menacingly. Stranger danger, after all.

Sometime earlier, a stranger took a few of your valuable belongings, racing out of the gate and into the route. You had limped after them, as they had one of their Loomians use a rather effective Tase on your leg.

And then they just simply chucked the stuff into the junkyard, before laughing as they raced off.

Why they did that, you had no idea. But hey, at least you had something to do with your time.

Admittedly, a terrible idea.

Thankfully, your affected leg had mostly recovered by now, but you still got a few tingles here and there as you began trudging through the garbage, gagging silently with your Vari behind you.

Hearing a wooosh noise, you quickly turn to the source of the noise, just in time as you catch sight of what seemed to be a yellow blocky-ring shaped- portal? In its centre, for a second you can see its swirling purple depths disturbed, rippling like water as a wooden box falls out-

-and right onto the head of a homeless man.

Taking the hit quite well, the man doesn’t drop to the ground as expected, instead, he looked down, quickly tearing open the box like he would for a box of chocolates.

His eyes lit up with joy, as he snatched something vari very familiar to you. An orange and black uniform, with the usual thin black vertical stripes and orange coloured emblem of an eclipse.

Before you could go into ‘‘flashback mode’‘, a term you had coined yourself as you were coming to grips with what had happened earlier in your life, the man turned, seeing you.

‘‘Hands off, I saw this crate first!’‘ He snarled, like he didn’t see your clothes, which would’ve been all fine and wonderfully clean had you not ventured into this area in the first place.

You backed off pretty quickly, startling your Vari who was about to fall asleep in a pile of garbage, following you as you returned to focus on what you came here for.

One thing to say, were you able to talk, as you caught sight of your items, was that they were better off staying where they were, stinking of garbage.

Seriously though, you saw a few of the gummies you were saving up for one of your other Loomians, now a full course meal for a Burroach. You tried creeping up on it, but it had screeched at you as you had approached, quite bravely for something its size.

And now, everything felt like it was falling down around you, as the full realization of the situation tumbled down on you like an avalanche. Despair dragged you through its depths, as you stood there, hopeless.

It took more than a week to gather all you had that was now with the garbage.

You were ready to break down into sobs.

‘‘Hey, you, what happened?” Hearing a somewhat familiar voice, you turned, eyes widening as you took in the appearance of the newcomer. His yellow eyes contrasted with his dark, spiky hair, face pulled into a worried expression.

Still, he wore his Eclipse admin outfit, a bit ragged and dirty in some areas, with small stitched-over holes in other parts, along with a torn black cloth around his neck.

He hadn’t changed that much.

Your best friend was here, but he didn’t seem to recognize you...

Did he?

Feedback is much appreciated

#loomian legacy #jake #dimensionman

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kessielrg · 3 years

Text

[Kingdom Hearts] Of Memes and Regrets

Summary: In which Lea has a guest star for his YouTube's next Let's Play, and she perfectly steals the show from him.... again. [oneshot][platonic LeaxOC (AxelxOC)]

Rating: K+

Word Count: 2,412 words

If you liked this story, please reblog!

---

Lea glanced at the timer placed by his monitors and nearly tisked at the time.

She was late.

With a rather tired sigh, Lea started to work on making sure his software was still working right. Maybe while he was fiddling around with stuff, Sabrina would join the video chat so they could get a session done. He knew he should have asked Roxas to join again. Xion would be great to bring in too, if she wasn’t too busy working on her next article for her school’s paper. But alas, his subscribers had spoken, and they wanted Miss Priss and her insatiable need to annoy everyone. Especially him, apparently.

Not that he could blame them, she was great on camera.

Lea hummed as he booted up the game they were going to play. It was a review copy he had gotten a few days back, and he was actually looking forward to bumping it. He would be the first to admit to not being a big fan of the original franchise, but the graphics were crisp and the controls were smoother than butter. He knew Sabrina would have an appreciation for it too; as far as he could tell, the female characters were dressed sensibly- not at all designed just for the male gaze. They could have some fun talks about it when she got here. If she got here.

With the game running as expected, Lea started screen recording. He got a few minutes down before turning on his webcam as well. His face appeared on the screen to his left, with the game and recording software on the right. It was a good time to adjust lights while he was at it. Once that was settled, he began recording from the webcam as well. Lea admired himself in the webcam feedback for a moment. It was always better to overshoot, even if you weren’t really doing anything more than vocal warmups and adjusting your lighting.

Lea cleared his throat a bit before going through with his intro. He kept his tone bright and energetic. It was bad form to go in this early at full blast, but if Sabrina wasn’t going to remember their agreement, then he’d have to make due.

“Hey everybody, welcome back to AxelotlGaming! I’m Axel, and we were going to have a guest. Turns out she’s not coming, because at this point, we are well past being fashionably late.” Lea moved a bit away from the mic before grumbling, “It would’ve been nice if she actually bothered to tell me when she wasn’t coming. Could’ve been halfway through a recording by now.” He grimaced before remembering that he was still recording, so he turned back to the camera with a wide grin. He realized he was going to cut out a lot of his annoyance in editing later if he kept this up. The show always goes on, and whatnot.

“With or without our guest,” he went on to say to the webcam, “We’ve been sponsored to play the new-”

He hated to admit that he jumped when the ping for someone joining the video chat chimed. Lea quickly ended his recording softwares and accepted the newcomer. A new face appeared on the same monitor he kept his webcam feedback on, and he grimaced at seeing them.

“You’re late.” he huffed. He swiveled his car a bit just to glare at her feedback directly. Lea then almost proceeded to get knocked out of his seat looking at her.

Sabrina was a natural beauty and knew it. She was always light on her makeup regimen unless she was going to be seen on video or photograph. Today she did not plan on disappointing; her lips were painted a deep red, her cheeks the faintest of pinks to give the illusion of being an absolute sweetheart, and even the color around her eyes make them look more expressive. It was rather impressive- she must have worked on that for a good hour just to make sure she didn’t look like a raccoon.

“And now you realize why I’m late.” Sabrina smoothly told him, folding her arms with a smirk on her face. Even through the webcam, she looked so in control of everything. Lea didn’t know if it infuriated him, or was genuinely impressed.

“Yeah, yeah,” he said with a wave of his hand. “But know this, princess; just because I have an arguably easy job on paper, it doesn’t mean I don’t keep a schedule too. Got it memorized?”

“Just hire an editor.” she told him in the least of caring tones.

“No way!” he argued back. “I’ve got a certain method to my madness, and I’m not going to have someone else get their fingerprints all over it.”

“What a funny way of saying that no one else is as deranged as you.”

“Enough talk,” Lea then said to her with a clap of his hands, “We should be halfway through a session by now. Start up the game and make it snappy.”

Sabrina gave him a little wave of her hand before doing as she was told. She must have known how late she was- usually when someone told her to do something, her instinct was to react with the opposite. As she did that, Lea also went over his recording equipment and made sure he was recording as well.

“I’m ready when you are,” he decided. “Are you recording everything on your end?”

“Looks like it.” she agreed. Her eyes looked elsewhere for a moment- likely to check if everything was running smooth enough. When her eyes went back to the webcam, she settled back a bit in preparation for the next hour or so of recording.

“Are you doing the intro today?” she asked, gently placing a hand under her chin.

“My show, isn’t it?” Lea smirked. Knowing that she was ready meant it was time to start recording again. About time, too.

“Alright princess, put on your video face.” he warned her. “We’re getting serious in three… two…”

Both of them shifted in their spots slightly to appear more presentable. Lea gave them a few more moments of getting comfortable before going through his intro.

“Hey everybody, welcome back to AxelotlGaming! I’m Axel, and today I’ve got a very special guest. Special guest, why don’t you introduce yourself. Not that you need it, of course.”

“Of course.” Sabrina smoothly agreed, even twisting a piece of her hair. She looked at the webcam before giving a double wave to it. Her voice carried a perkiness never seen before as she said, “Hey guys! You asked for me, so here I am! Your favorite Lady Sabi here to show up, ah, I mean, play with Axel today.”

“So humble.” Lea playfully retorted. Sabrina only gave a wide -rather smug- smile in return.

“What are we playing today, Axel?” she cheerfully chirped. For a moment, Lea wondered if he was friends with a bubbly airhead instead of a pessimistic downer.

“We’ve been sponsored to play the new Blue Bomber MMO called ‘Renegade Chaser.’” he said, gesturing his hands to the side. He’ll edit in the box art during post. “Designed with old and new fans alike, Renegade Chaser can be played online and off with both multiplayer and single player modes.”

“Sell out.” Sabrina coughed into her hand.

“Yeah, well,” Lea mused, “Not all of us get free stuff just by looking pretty on Instagram. Of course, with almost a million followers at PrincessSabiAes2012, you’ve almost got enough influence to carry this channel on your own.”

“Nice plug.”

“Why thank you.”

“Bad rep for you though.”

“Why thank you.”

Sabrina let out a genuine laugh at his misfortune. But this was the kind of repertoire his subscribers enjoyed between them. Just hearing her laugh gave him a vision of a future comment along the lines of ‘hearing Sabi laugh at Axel adds 9,999 years to my life.’ Too bad the actual object of Sabrina’s -disguised- affection wasn’t on YouTube much, let alone have an account. Which was all for the best- he didn’t want to admit it, but Ventus got jealous real easy. Embarrassingly easy, depending on who you asked.

“Now that you’ve harassed me and we’re not even a minute in, how about we pop into game and see what we’ve got?”

“Let’s.” Sabrina agreed with a sweet little nod.

Lea stole a look at her as she adjusted some things on her end to make sure her game footage was being recorded. Lea chastised himself for being so focused on her. He needed to stop getting distracted by her Clark Kent-ing her onscreen persona. But the switch was just so… uncanny, to put it in the nicest terms possible. There’s no wonder that despite her near million followers, Sabrina had yet to be recognized by any of them in person.

Lea shivered before continuing with his show. Two minutes of recording down, another 58 to go.

. . .

You could tell Sabrina was having a hard time getting used to the game because for ten straight minutes she did nothing but harass Lea instead. Not that it wasn’t to be expected- she was a puzzle girl, not a shoot-em-up girl. That being said, once she figured out the controls, she was nigh unstoppable. She even managed to figure out the special weapons before Lea could. Of course he called her a cheater for it. As long as it was in good fun, who really cared- right?

Another disorienting thing about Sabrina; she kept going from her usual snark to bubbly sunshine in mere seconds. The true (or as true as she wanted to be) part of her came through when she was at her most frustrated. It was yet another thing that his regular viewers came to appreciate of her. A lot of viewers really hated her bubbly self, even though it was arguably when she dished the most one-liners. Lea knew she was actually having a good time when she let the side of her he usually saw come through. That little lady knew how to be a savage and thrived in it.

One such occasion happened during this session. While the two were playing around with the various modes the game had, Lea had found a one-on-one free-for-all that the two took to immediately. Sabrina got so into beating him that he had to talk directly to her or else all commentary would have gone flat. Every word that came out of Sabrina’s mouth was straight from her mind, with no conscious censoring in the slightest. Lea feared so much for her that he intentionally threw the match. He did put up a fight- but it was definitely one of their shorter matches. Sabrina didn’t seem to notice as the victory screen appeared for her.

“Yes!” Sabrina gleefully declared, slamming her hands into her desk before giving her chair a spin. As the chair slowly came to a halt, she threw one of her hands over her head and gave an absolutely satisfied expression.

Lea knew right away that the moment his viewers saw that reaction, there were going to be memes of it. He could practically see them now- a really poor screenshot of that slightly worrying pose she was making, Impact font saying stuff like 'when bae buys you tacos without asking' or 'when Lea's such a moron and makes winning easy.' He'd have to ask her for her footage. He could emphasize the moment to help make some of those insufferable jpegs look slightly better.

It wouldn't have been so bad, but Sabrina was already the source of one of his channel's memes. 'Scrub my feet, peasant' was a line uttered during one Monopoly match that did not go in Lea's favor. Sabrina had also made a rather memorable pose in her chair, coupled with a rather smug face. It became so popular that Lea had to get her permission to make it into a t-shirt. Both Sabrina and his viewers had yet to live it down; Sabrina wearing the shirt anytime she knew the two of them would be in the same room together, and his viewers still made comments that referenced the line.

Good thing she was more of an Instagram queen and not a YouTuber. Lea would probably lose half his subscribers the moment she actually posted videos of her own.

“Heh, I let you win, my lady.” Lea boasted. This realization came to Sabrina with a slow grimace.

“You did.” she said in disappointment. She then smirked at him (not at the camera, but him directly on the screen), before spitting, “There are other ways to flirt with me than making me look superior to you.”

“Oh yeah?” Lea snorted. “Like what?”

Sabrina then smirked like she was taking on a challenge.

“Oh Axel,” she purred into her microphone. Almost immediately, Lea could feel the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. “If you wanted a mistress to teach you how bad of a boy you are, you could have just asked. This doesn’t have to be hard.” She paused for a moment, just to make it dramatic. “Unless you want to be…”

Lea was dead certain that his soul left his body for a hot second. His face absolutely betrayed him, though. He looked away just to hide how red it was.

“Oh well, just look at the time.” Lea decided, already reaching for the keyboard key to finish the recording. “We’re all gamed out for the day. Thank you for watching!”

“But Axel, we still have ten-”

“Thanks for watching!” he loudly declared before smacking the keyboard key. Not long after, his head hit the desk in both relief and frustration.

“Are you alright?” Sabrina questioned, a teasing smirk still on her lips.

“God I hate you.”

“You gonna be alright with that nosebleed?”

“Shut up.” Lea whined.

Sabrina just laughed at him. To rub salt into the wound, she ended the video chat mid-laugh. It was far too effective in leaving a phantom image of her on his mind. Lea let out another groan as he thought about his viewers’ reaction. This was going to be an episode to remember, he had no doubt about it. It was likely going to fuel even more rumors that the two had the hots for each other- which was the last thing he wanted.

He really needed to stop inviting her back.

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hellowkatey · 3 years

Text

Febuwhump Day 26

Prompt: Recovery

Part 2 of Day 25: car accident (read part 1 here!)

Read on AO3

I Will Always Be Here: Part 2

The smell of antiseptic is making Obi-Wan dizzy. He stands in the doorway-- not of Anakin's room in the Hall of Healing, but of the door to the halls itself. From here he can watch the bustle of healers and padawans running about, all too pre-occupied with treating the sick and injured to pay attention to the bystander with red-rimmed eyes.

Except for one. A Mon Calamari in olive green and white robes, her silver eyes immediately falling onto him as she exits a room. Bant Eerin crosses the busy floors with ease, scanning over him in the usual healer fashion as she approaches.

"Hello Obi-Wan," she says, giving him a warm but tight smile. She moves to stand next to him, her back against the wall he's leaning against. "How is he?"

"Broken leg, dislocated shoulder, four cracked ribs, a hefty concussion, and lots of bruising and superficial wounds to go around."

She sucks in a breath. He can feel her gaze on him, but he stares forward.

"He's lucky," she says.

"No such thing," Obi-Wan sighs. "He shouldn't have even been there in the first place. I canceled our meditation for today because I had a headache. If I had just..." he lets himself trail off. Bant seems to take it upon herself to finish his sentence for him.

"You can't blame yourself, Obi."

"I don't blame--"

"But you do."

Obi-Wan draws in a slow breath through his nose and then lets it out again.

"You weren't there, Bant. I tried to stop the speeder as it fell but..."

"That takes enormous strength to overpower an out-of-control projectile. You did all you could."

"I couldn't stop it," his voice cracks like it did when he was a young padawan. Though his oldest friend is no stranger to seeing him shed tears, he isn't keen on drying in the middle of the halls.

"You did what you could," she reassures him, slipping her hand into his and squeezing firmly. "I saw the accident report. The height he was falling... Obi-Wan you very likely saved his life."

"We won't know that until he wakes up."

They told him Anakin's body is processing the trauma. He may sleep for a few hours or a few days, they aren't sure. It's the not-knowing that has Obi-Wan on edge. Though the reasonable part of his mind is telling him Bant is right-- Anakin would have perished in that ancient without his intervention-- he also is haunted by what could have been if he was not there. A shiver goes up his spine, reminding him of how numb he feels.

Bant's commlink goes off, paging her to her next task. She looks at him, as though asking permission to leave and do her job.

"I'll be okay," he says, giving her a small smile.

"I'll come to check on you in a bit," she promises. Bant pushes off the wall and starts to walk off to one of the rooms, but then she stops, turning around slowly. "I heard a rumor."

Obi-Wan raises an eyebrow. "The Temple does love spreading those."

"Two Trandosians walked into the Coruscant Police..."

"This sounds like one of those jokes--"

"They confessed to causing a horrible crash that a young boy was involved in. They were arrested on sight."

Obi-Wan stares back at her, nodding. "It sounds like they did the right thing."

Bant clicks her tongue, nodding back. "Though, I also heard they looked like they themselves were in their own accident."

"The Force works in mysterious ways."

"Hmm," is all she vocalizes before turning back around and continuing to her destination.

Obi-Wan watches her disappear into another room. Beneath the billowing sleeves of his robe, he rubs his thumb over the tender flesh of his swollen knuckles.

__________

Anakin woke up almost a full day after his accident. He woke up, surprisingly, not in pain, and to his Master sitting at his bedside looking as though he didn't dare sleep for the entire twenty-three hours. He was wrapped in so many bandages it was difficult to move but was assured even without them, his range of motion would be limited.

"This is going to be a long road, Anakin," Master Kenobi had told him while rubbing circles over the back of his hand. With all the drugs coursing through his system, even that was a hazy blur.

The pain came.

A few days later, when he was released from the halls.

He woke up in the middle of screaming while his mind replayed the progression of him falling hopelessly into the ground. He woke up feeling as though his body was being crushed, and as it turned out, it had been. Somehow seeing his leg in a cast and nearly every part of his body wrapped in bacta strips hadn't quite processed in his brain as being painful yet. Obi-Wan ran in in his night pants and undershirt twisted halfway around his body.

"Anakin what is--"

"It hurts," he bellowed, feeling like a baby for his childish whines, but his leg felt like it was being broken all over again and every cut and bruise on his arms, legs, and torso seemed to be on fire. Though his master is an adult with a beard and sixteen years of life over Anakin, he can see the inexperience and uncertainty in his tired face. He isn't sure he's ever seen Obi-Wan seem so lost, but his eyes flickering around the room searching for an answer that isn't going to be in a teenager's bedroom shows the mild panic.

"Script.. where's your medicine, Ani," he says, with feigned calmness.

"Fresher," he says, screwing his eyes shut. He hears quick footsteps to their fresher, and the water running. The next thing he knows there's a glass being pressed to his lips and a cool cloth wiping away the sweat that has beaded on his forehead. Anakin swallows the pills, hoping for immediate relief despite knowing he will have to wait. Obi-Wan leaves the cloth on his head, brushing his hair from his forehead.

"Breathe, padawan," he whispers. "I'm here."

It's words he's heard before, he realizes. When he was lying in the wreckage, somewhere in the in-between of consciousness and unconsciousness, he heard his Master's voice. It didn't make sense before. How could his master have been there?

But as his wreck has flashed before his eyes many times since it happened, something occurs to him.

"You turned the wheel." Anakin rasps.

"What?"

"You stopped the spinning. I heard you, Master." His room is shroud in darkness, only the dim light from the fresher to illuminate Master Kenobi's face, but it's enough to see the way he looks past Anakin instead of at him. "You were there."

"I really tried, Anakin. I was-- I wasn't strong enough to stop it."

The feeling of his pain melting away is a drastic shift. Anakin's eyelids grow heavy as sleep tries to pull him under. Before he does, he grabs his master's hand.

"I'm glad you were there, Master," he says, his words slurring into one another, but it's coherent enough. Sleep takes him.

Anakin still has a week before he's cleared again. A month out on medical, and he still has one more week. Though he's done four weeks of this already, a whole seven more days feels like forever. It's been a long month.

A very, very long month.

For all intents and purposes, Anakin thinks he's better now. He can walk on his leg, even jog if Obi-Wan isn't around to scold him for it. His bruises have all but faded, as has the pain. Why he has to wait so long to get back into his training is beyond him, and his master has offered no better answers than 'healer's orders, Anakin' or 'you may feel healed but some things take time'

Training to be a Jedi knight also takes time, but he doesn't seem so concerned about that, now, does he?

Anakin feels fine, and he won't fall behind for the sake of caution. Jedi take risks. When Obi-Wan leaves to go spar with Quinlan Vos, Anakin declines the invitation to come watch them, claiming he has some homework to finish. His master leaves--hesitantly. Anakin should have known homework was a poor excuse to pass up watching him spar, but he couldn't risk saying he had a headache or something and potentially push back his clear date.

He leaves the apartment, choosing the training sala that's the furthest from the knight's one. There are only a few other padawans milling about, most of them older that Anakin doesn't recognize. He chooses a station on the end that is difficult to see from the door.

The hum of his lightsaber is a sound he missed. He waves it around slow and steady to hear the buzz of the air around it getting caught in the energy field. Anakin raises it up into the first kata of form I and then moves through the different motions.

He moves through the motions, his body a little stiff but he remembers the positions well. After a few rounds, he fires up the training droid and turns it up to his usual intensity. Anakin bounces on the balls of his feet, feeling the first shot from the levitating droid before it emits from the electrodes. He moves his lightsaber to block it, imitating the second position of the form. Within seconds, the droid is sending out another shot, and then another.

While usually, this intensity is a warmup, Anakin quickly finds himself becoming overwhelmed by the rapid firing of the droid. His form quickly dissolves into frantic and sloppy blocks that send the shots in every direction. His cheeks burn a dark crimson, half from embarrassment and half from exertion at how hard his heart is beating right now. This was never so difficult! It's going so fast he doesn't have a moment to free his hand and grab the remote he stupidly left on the bench beside the sala. A few of the shots manage to break through his blocks, and he winces through the sharp jolts.

Come on, he thinks as he tries to concentrate on levitating the remote to him. The training bolts and electric shocks are distracting though, and the remote only shakes. He groans in exasperation, finally letting go of his lightsaber with one hand and stretching it out toward the remote. He is immediately bombarded with a rain of shocks that makes him stagger back.

But the remote finally soars from the bench, flying across the sala. Too fast. Anakin's eyes widen as it shoots toward him. He reaches out his hand but it sails past him and into the outstretched hand of Master Kenobi.

The training droid shuts down immediately, and Anakin drops to his knees, panting hard. He stares down at the ground, letting his too-long hair hang over his eyes so he can't see the disapproving look he is probably receiving right now.

"Padawan... what do you think you're--"

"I've done that level a hundred times," Anakin interrupts, staring at the deactivated droid. He has the sudden urge to cut it in two.

"You did that level when you were at the peak of your fitness," Obi-Wan says carefully. His voice is softer now. Anakin still doesn't look at him, but he hears him lower himself to the ground and sit across from where he kneels. "You are still recovering."

"I feel fine, though."

"Perhaps, but you must let yourself fully heal and then ease back into things. You will not be at the level you were before the accident. It will take practice, Anakin."

He finally looks at Obi-Wan. "I just want things to go back to the way they were. Where I could train and spar and stuff without feeling like a weak youngling."

"You will get there, Anakin. I know you certainly have the motivation to work hard and gain your strength back," he cocks his head to the side, his blue eyes looking over him carefully. "But you must also listen to yourself. Recovery from such injuries is not going to happen overnight."

"It's been a month!"

"Or even a month. There may be things you can never do as well again, and some things you will find could be easier now. Either way, you just have to adapt to the way things are now."

He sighs. His heartbeat is finally returning to normal and he slides down from his knees into a sitting position.

"There will be things I can't do anymore?"

"Well yes, take speeders out for joyrides being one of them."

Anakin rolls his eyes. "So I'll never fly again, is what you're saying."

Obi-Wan smiles and shakes his head. "I'm not an imbecile, Anakin. I know how much you like flying and I know you've been doing this for a while... thinking I don't know."

His eyes widen. "You knew?"

"Yes. Just like I knew you certainly weren't doing homework this afternoon. You'd be surprised the things I let you get away with."

"Let me?" he echos in awe.

"Beside the point. You can still take the speeders out, Anakin," Anakin jumps back to his knees with glee, a huge smile spreading across his face.

"Really, Master?"

"But you must tell me when you're going."

"Okay!"

"And always answer your commlink and keep your beacon on."

"I answer my--" Obi-Wan raises an eyebrow. Anakin trails off, his cheeks flushing. Okay fine, "I'll answer my commlink."

"Good. Then we have a deal." The Jedi Knight rises from the ground, looking down at Anakin with twinkling eyes. "Care to practice some Ataru katas with me, padawan?"

"You mean--"

"I figure some simple katas can't hurt more than the electroshocks from the droid," he smirks. "And I won't tell Master Che if you won't."

The padawan grins and jumps to his feet. Already, he feels a new pool of energy filling his body. The Master and Padawan ignite their sabers and synchronously them back into the starting position of form IV.

#febuwhump #febuwhump2021 #febuwhumpday27 #recovery #anakin skywalker #obi-wan kenobi #bant eerin #part 2!#because it was much easier to do a continuation than to make up another reason for needing to be recovering #work smarter not harder

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sage-sunset · 4 years

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music to my ears (2)

akaashi keiji x reader, college au

You stared down at your phone, surprised to hear from your newest acquaintance. Akaashi Keiji was easily the prettiest boy you’d ever met, and you felt your stomach flutter at the idea of going on a date with him.

“Good morning, Y/N. How’re you feeling today?” “Great, thanks!” You’d bought the new sheets, and it had worked wonders. Combined with some ointment and a benadryl, the swelling and rashes had gone down quickly. A quiet beeping on your watch reminded you that your lecture was in half an hour.

“I’m heading out, Yacchan. I’ll be in the practice room after, so I won’t be back until noon.”

“See you soon!”

You headed out, violin case in hand. Your lecture was for English, which was one of your favorite subjects. Not to mention you were reading Pride and Prejudice, which was one of your favorite Western books.

As you walked across campus, you felt a hand on your shoulder. You spun to see who it was, and your face fell.

“What do you want, Kuroo?” “Kuroo? Formal. What happened to Tetsu-” “Tetsurou was my friend. You’re just an immature asshole.” “Ouch.” “I have to get to class. What is it?” “He asks about you every day. Did you block him?” “Yeah, of course.” “Damn. That’s cold.” “You know what was cold, Kuroo? Him sleeping around with anything that had a vagina. I’m not getting back with that dickhead, so tell him that it’s over. It’s always been over.” He sighed, and before he could say anything else you turned and walked away.

_______

You thought about it during your entire class. Akaashi was very kind and respectful from what you’d seen, not to mention that he was gorgeous. It would be nice to get to know him a little better.

After class, you went into a practice room. You had it reserved for Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays at ten forty five until eleven thirty, and it was a nice one with a piano. You warmed up before moving on to your assigned pieces, beginning with part of Amy Beach’s Sonata.

On off days you practiced in one of the public ones, but those rooms were smaller and not as soundproofed. You spent an entire practice session trying to drown out the noises of a squeaky ass alto sax playing careless whisper.

Your fingers danced across the strings as your mind drifted away. Every time you played, you got sucked into another world, a world away from ex friends and toxic masculinity and itchy dryer sheets, a world where there were only gorgeous boys with a lyral allergy that asked you out to coffee.

As the timer ticked its final minutes away, buzzing once your time was up, you finished the piece. Scales and warmups were boring, just a way to get your fingers used to the feeling of playing, as if you could ever forget. But when you played a piece that you loved, it felt amazing.

You packed up, shutting the case and putting the sheet music back into your folder. A million thoughts raced through your head as you tried to put your mind in order. Being organized wasn’t your thing.

You had a baroque workshop at one, and then at four an art history presentation. You decided to get some quick lunch, but before that you realized that in your haste to make it to class and in your anger at seeing Kuroo again, you had forgotten to actually respond to Akaashi.

________________

You drummed your fingers on the table lightly, waiting for him to show up. It was about twelve, and you only had a short time to get to know him.

“Hello, L/N-san.” “Oh, hey Akaashi-san.” He sat across from you, and you blushed slightly under his gaze. Why was he so freaking pretty??

“So, what’s your major? You mentioned a workshop.” “It’s music theory and composition.” “You play an instrument?” “Yeah, violin. I can also play the piano and flute, but the violin is my favorite.” “I see. I’m not very talented with music, but I love to write.” “Are you a literature major then?” “Yes.” “Sounds fun. What do you like to read?” “All kinds of books. Western novels have been my interest lately.” “Which authors do you like?” “Agatha Christie, Charles Dickens, Ernest Hemingway, Jane Austen-” “Pride and Prejudice, right? And Emma?” He smiled, nodding.

“That’s right. Do you like those books?” “They’re classics. My mom used to read them to me, it was how I learned English. That and from listening to musicals.” “So, you like musical theater as well?” “Yeah! I like singing, and I like telling stories, so it’s the best of both worlds.” He nodded again, and you both chatted for a while before your watch started beeping again.

“Oh, class is in a few minutes. I’ve got to go.” “Before you do, would you like to go somewhere together? I had a nice time, and-” “I’d like that.” It slipped out, and you blushed profusely.

“Well, my roommate’s friends with a bunch of guys. They’re having a party on Saturday night, and maybe you could come.” “Oh, sure. Where is it?” “I’ll text you the details. I don’t want you to be late.” You smiled, grabbing your case and backpack before putting a ten on the table for the drinks you’d gotten. You didn’t really eat anything, but it was fine. You’d order takeout with Yachi later.

“I’ll see you soon, Akaashi-san.” “Call me Keiji, please.” “Then call me Y/N! Thank you for meeting with me, Keiji-kun!” You turned and left, feeling impossibly light. Going to a party with a guy who seemed into you… a dream. Saturday morning you had orchestra practice, but that ended at one.

The next class you were feeling inspired, and it translated into your playing. Kiyoko, one of your friends and a pianist (but not a music major, just someone who enjoyed it for fun), told you that you sounded better than usual.

Music was more beautiful when you had someone to share it with.

You stretched out on the couch, eating your Chinese as Yachi typed away on a paper. It was getting late, and you were both tired, so once she finished you put on a horror movie to fall asleep to.

“This one’s scary. What’s it called?” “As Above something something. It’s in the catacombs, I think-” Your phone went off, and you grabbed it, smiling when you saw the name but face falling when you saw what he’d written.

Yachi looked over your shoulder, and leaned her head on you.

“That’s good, don’t you like him? Are you gonna go?” You felt conflicted. A little sick. Tired.

“What’s wrong, Y/N?” “Omega Kappa, that’s where Teru-” “Oh. I get it. Crap.”

You sat in the darkened dorm room, staring at the message.

That was your ex’s fraternity.

#akaashi x reader #akaashi keiji #haikyuu!!#haikyuu x reader #college au #haikyuu college au

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happikattwuzheere · 4 years

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the one where gansey befriends a deer: the au

hey remember that time ronan dreamed up a deer that was described with language suspiciously similar to how adam’s described, because i sure do!!! anyway

OK.

ok. so. this au’s actually evolved a lot since its initial already-pretty-fleshed-out inception one sleepless night, so me talking about it’s gonna be more than one post, but here’s the first one well actually the second technically yesterday’s warmup doodles were also from this au but i didnt talk about it at all so

and I’m gonna start with more or less the same pitch I gave to a couple people on discord

SO. starting out: it’s standard fantasy times, vaguely medieval but no specific time period because I don’t care enough to be digging into that quite frankly, but it is somewhere in England where this is happening. Story starts with just Gansey, Ronan, and Noah. Fey are very real and known entities and there’s been a conflict in England between the fey and humans, if not in the whole country then at least in the lands that the Ganseys are the lords of but probably the whole island tbh, and Gansey’s not inherited the lands yet but he’s going to and wants to maybe find a peaceful resolution to the conflict. It’s not open warfare by any means but it’s been a big problem.

To the effect of solving that, he heads to some little village that I haven’t named but it’s right next to a known fey forest called Cabeswater. This village has avoided being stomped by the local fey because, despite witches not being particularly liked by the nobility of the time, there’s a big old coven (the psychics of Fox Way, essentially) situated right by this village that’s kept things in check. Gansey’s made his excuses to his parents about why he’s officially going there but really he wants to talk to the witches and get a better grasp of the conflict from the people actually dealing with it. He and Ronan set out from home together, pick up Noah along the way--who is not a ghost in this AU, he’s a fey who owes Gansey a life debt, that’s a whole other post and THIS post is mostly about gansey and adam--but anyway they get to this village and NOBODY gives gansey the time of day.

the witches don’t let him into their house because they don’t like the nobility right back thanks and the next time he tries to visit Cabeswater won’t even let him get to the coven’s dwelling, the one witch’s daughter who regularly stops by the village for supplies and to check if anyone needs anything has a big argument with him the first time he talks to her so that’s going nowhere, and, well, the villagers are polite, but they clearly don’t take him seriously. He’s just the lordling playing at things and potentially meddling in their business to them.

So he starts hanging out just barely within Cabeswater, even though he knows that’s not wise, because he finds this perfect spot by a stream, and he’ll sit out there and think and work on the journal he keeps of all his thoughts and plans, and one day while he’s there has a straight up Disney princess experience when a deer stops by the stream and seems incredibly unafraid of him. he cherishes the experience but accepts that it probably won’t happen again.

and then it does. several times. gansey’s losing his mind. this deer??? apparently likes listening to him info dump?? it’s very therapeutic and also very magical and he’s amazed

a few times in, he names the deer “Pryderi” after a character from a welsh legend, because “such a handsome creature deserves a princely name,” [[muffled blue laughing and whispering “princely” in the distance]], and he tells ronan and noah about this experience but ronan doesn’t believe him at ALL.

one time after gansey’s particularly upset at how bad his attempts at getting along with the villagers, Pryderi actually lets Gansey touch him for the first time and gansey cannot shut up about it to ronan who’s finally like “i think you’re bullshitting me about this deer thing. im coming with you next time” and gansey’s like “well he’s a deer he might not show up if a stranger’s around and he doesn’t come every time i go down there anyway” and ronan’s like “this sounds like a lot of excuses, dick, you’re not making me believe you any more with this” and gansey’s like “>8\”

but pryderi does show up, and gansey is delighted, and ronan stares really hard at him and then goes

and gansey’s like what? nooo. but ronan keeps arguing it for the duration of the visit and the deer actually starts to look annoyed and at the end ganseys like ok maybe but i doubt it. and then hes like “well since you are a fey apparently (/sarcasm) i ought to say farewell with respect” and bows very mockingly and then the deer makes direct eye contact with ronan and bows back and gansey loses his shit

gansey continues meeting up with pryderi but even while his infodumping still happens it does so now with the knowledge that He Does Actually Understand What Im Saying, he may be a fey but he seems like a friendly one and hey that’s way more than gansey thought he would get out here, and also this deer is his friend now thanks,

he, ronan, and noah (who’s amused by Pryderi but keeps his main thoughts to himself for now) make some excursions into cabeswater, but the thing is noah’s not really native to england, he’s from the european mainland, again i’ll get to it in another post sometime, but. he can sort of help navigate cabeswater but not all THAT well so they get lost a couple times, and every time it does happen pryderi shows up and helps guide them out. there’s some very funny moments of a very jealous ronan getting into weird conflict w/ a very smug deer

anyWAY one day there’s like a festival, everyone’s drunk because its the middle ages and there’s not really a drinking age, gansey’s making another effort to make friends with anyone, and this one guy about his own age is like “ok look here i’ll teach you the folk dance everyone’s doing ok?” and gansey spends the night dancing w/ a handsome stranger, yes he will recognize the irony in the morning, but for now it goes. well badly because they’re both drunk but it’s fun, and then the guy says “ah, fuck it, i’ll finish teaching you next time we see each other” and gansey’s like “thats a little forward but ok!” and the guy (adam. its adam) panics and leaves while gansey’s back is turned and gansey doesn’t remember that last snippet of conversation the next day nor can he quite recall the stranger’s face. ronan does, because he was watching and not sure which of the two he was jealous of, but neither of them has any idea who the guy actually was.

and then like, 3 days later, gansey falls asleep at the spot he usually hangs out in in cabeswater and wakes up in the early evening just in time to hear people yelling and for Pryderi to burst into view with an arrow in his flank. he collapses in a bush. gansey snaps into “protect friend” mode and gets the hunters off his trail by being all “oh a strange buck? i saw it pass that way over there friend!” and then when they’re gone he comes back and is all “alright pryderi they’re gone, let me just--” except pryderi’s not a deer anymore. it’s a boy.

(Adam. its adam. the deer is adam.)

gansey takes him home, gets the arrow out, noah’s like “i mean he’s not a fey, i dont know what turning into a deer is about but if he were fey the iron in that arrow would already have him dead. he might be partially fey but so little that he’s human in the ways that really matter”, over the next couple days they figure out that pryderi is in fact from the village and is a young man named adam parrish who’s been labelled a changeling and is assumed dead since he was yknow shot, gansey decides for now its probably best to keep him that way, but adam’s not getting better--apparently even having had the arrow in him as briefly as he did has poisoned him, he’s desperately ill and on the third day is finally like “get persephone” so gansey tries again (he’s tried several times over these days, they’d worked out that to have survived this long he must have someone else with a small degree of fey blood teaching him the ropes and the most likely suspects are the witches, but he’s hoping adam specifically asking him to will grant him permission enough to go in) and runs into a very frantic blue en route who as soon as he makes it clear he’s got adam is like “move your ass over on that horse im climbing on too”

they get persephone, who turns into a fox rather than a deer, she saves adam, everythings cool except adam’s pissy now because he cant go back to the village and he has to give up on the attempts he had in the works to get out of town by working his way out and he takes it out on gansey who doesnt deserve it because this friendship is a mess, he’ll feel bad and take it back eventually but thats yet more posts ANYWAY YEAH theres our starting point

(also worth noting: due to cabeswater being Right There, p much everyone in this village actually has a small degree of fey blood, adam just won the genetic lottery)

tl;dr adam’s a fey-blooded witch’s apprentice and he’s been the deer the whole time and thats the start of this au ty for coming to this ramble

#longpost #trc #the raven cycle #lolsketch #gonna make separate posts w/ just the art in a sec #anyway i love this au with all of my heart its extremely self indulgent #deer boy au #because thats what ive been shorthanding it to

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mirkwoodshewolf · 4 years

Text

It’s a kind of magic tour pt.1; Queen x reader

*Author’s note*

Hey guys wow been awhile since you guys got a Rock Angel update but I figure it’s time you all got an update, and good news, it’s A TWO PARTER!!!! Okay so here’s the deal with this chapter, it’s all one thing but I’ve chosen to break it up into 3 parts because this chapter is ALL about the It’s a Kind of Magic tour, the very last tour Queen did with Freddie. So this first chapter is strictly the Wembley performance, the next chapter I will post up is the Budapest events, and the last one is the very last show Freddie did at Knebworth.

So in this part prepare for some fluffy feels, and LOVEY-DOVEY MUSH!!! Not really any hard warnings, except for the swearing or two. And for anyone interested in watching the concert to follow along are free to watch it on this link----> Concert here

Taglist:

@plethora-of-things

@psychosupernatural

@waddles03

@ixchel-9275

@platawnic

@bohemiansweede

@onebigfangirlworld

@naturalswifty89

@starswin

@dj-lowkey

@isabella-bby

@labessieisallama

@5sos-wdw

@geek-and-proud

@queendeakyy

@simonedk

@kairosfreddie

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*July 11th, 1986. Wembley Stadium*

It was the hottest tour that Queen had ever done. In light of having just recorded some songs for a movie known as “Highlander” Queen came to the decision in calling their next tour the “It’s a Kind of Magic Tour”. A full on summer European tour filled with new surprises, new songs, and of course the partnership of the decade, for the Rock Angel was also in on the show as the supporting act.

So in reality it was really called Queen+Angel “It’s a Kind of Magic ‘86” tour. Tickets were filling up and had sold out quicker than any tour in the past for both Queen and the Rock Angel. One place in particular ran out faster than anywhere else, and that was Wembley Stadium, so the tour managers of both Queen and the Rock Angel worked out that they would do 2 nights performing at Wembley so that fans could get the chance to see them perform.

*My POV*

I was currently in my dressing room getting ready when I heard a knock at my door.

“Who is it?” soon peeking inside was the face of my loveable husband.

“Fanclub of the Rock Angel, party of two.” It was then Jack came in holding our baby girl in his arms. I smiled and turned towards them.

“Aww there’s my little girl. Ohh darling you’ve gotten bigger since I last saw you.” I cooed as I took my daughter in my arms and held her close. I kissed her cheek repeatedly making her coo and laugh.

“So baby about tomorrow when do you want to head out for our dinner date?”

“Oh Jack I don’t know. I’m scheduled for a full rehearsal all day tomorrow, and then the concert. By then I don’t know if I’ll be up for anything.”

“Then why not just a simple room service dinner and a bottle of champagne. Then I could make you a bubble bath and we could—get in together and……”

“Jack you dirty man. Not in front of our daughter.”

“Ahh she doesn’t know what all that means, do you sweetie bell?” Jack cooed down at her as he took her back and held her once more.

“I swear you’re as bad as Roger and Jensen mixed into one.”

“So how long do you guys got till showtime?”

“About ten minutes. C’mon why don’t we go and try to find the guys?” I asked him.

“When did she last have her bottle?”

“I gave it to her on schedule right before we left the hotel. So she should be good.”

“And how about her nappie? Does she feel wet at all?”

“You know I can never get used to that word, why do you guys call it that here?”

“Because we just do. And why did you Americans have to change it to diapers? I swear it almost sounds like you’re saying diarrhea.”

“That is not what it sounds like at all! Those are completely different words.” Jack tried to defend himself and for all Americans in that manner.

“Whatever, but seriously does she feel wet?” Jack felt around and he said.

“Oh yep, it does feel a bit damp. Must’ve done it on our way here.”

“Okay, c’mere love-a-bug. Let’s change your nappie.” I placed her on my loveseat couch and took off her dress so that it wouldn’t get wrinkled. Jack handed me the diaper bag and I took out the necessary things I needed.

Thank god for the Sensei-Veronica and her wise teachings about changing nappies. Cause boy when it came to changing her nappie, Kelly sure could throw a tantrum. She then began crying as I took off her diaper, her legs kicking in protest.

“No! No none of that now. We gotta get your wet nappie off of yah. Don’t want you to go smelling like pee all day do we? No I don’t think so.” She continued to fuss and kick her legs as I threw the soaked nappie away, applied the baby powder and medicine on her, before finally getting her into a fresh nappie and putting her dress back on.

“Aww see there’s our good girl, don’t that feel better?” Jack said as he picked up our girl while I grabbed my Red Special. We then left my dressing room and went down the hall where I knew Freddie and Roger’s dressing rooms.

Already from down the hall I could hear Freddie’s vocal warmups. Which made Kelly alert and her eyes widened as she reached out. I gasped and said as I took her.

“Who’s that? Who is that poppet?” I could even hear the faint echo of Roger’s vocalization and at that point she let out a “Bah” “Yeah that’s papa Roger and Uncle Freddie, shall we go say hello?” we then walked over to the dressing room but stayed hidden as to not ruin the surprise.

Freddie continued going up his scales in a scat like manner that he always did and that’s when I heard Roger go.

“Oooh!”

“Ohh-Ohh!” Freddie replied in a slightly higher octave.

“Ohhh!” Roger sung again before Freddie and him laughed.

“Well I see you guys are doing your little vocal competition as per usual.” I said as I came around with my family in tow.

“And I see you’ve brought the entire Kline clan with you.” Freddie sassed back at me. I grinned and said as I adjusted Kelly.

“Hope you guys don’t mind your smallest fan coming today.”

“Of course not love, you know we love it when she comes to see us.” Roger said as he came around and took his goddaughter in his arms. “Plus I thought that was her making all that fuss, for a moment I thought it was her mum.” I mockingly gaped at him. A wide, gummy smile spread across Kelly’s face as her godfather played the helicopter game with her.

“Happy to see her again Rog?” Jack asked.

“Of course, last time I saw this adorable face was the around Christmas time. So it’s basically been seven months, and she was still such a tiny thing. Kiddos growing like a weed.”

“So how has parenthood treated you both?” Freddie asked.

“She’s a blessing. I mean there are a few nightly wakeups but other than that she’s good.”

“Although she’s still scared of the horses over at Jared’s place. Anytime we go near them, screams her head off like a banshee.”

“Aww poor baby, did the mean ole horsies scare you?” Roger cooed as he brought her close to him and bounced her up and down gently while rocking her soothingly.

“Well I thought I was hearing a baby earlier but I thought my ears were playing tricks on me.” We turned to see Brian coming out from the tuning room, holding an acoustic guitar in his hand.

“Yep. Our mini-angel came to see us.” Roger bragged as he bounced her once more.

“What do you say lovebug? Wanna go see Uncle Brian?” I said.

“No she doesn’t, she wants to stay with god-papa Roger, isn’t that right my little lovie?” he said as he softly tickled her tummy with just his index finger.

“Oh no you don’t get to dictate on who she stays with. She loves all of you guys equally.” I proclaimed as I took my daughter out of his arms and walked over to Brian and allowed him to hold her. “Careful now Bri.”

“I know (y/n), I know this isn’t my first rodeo trust me.” He assured me as he held Kelly in his arms. Out of all the guys she was always entranced with Brian (probably because of the hair).

Sometimes she would reach out to touch it, and it goes either one or two ways either she tugs it, or she just holds a strand of his curls in his hand. The first few times she did tug at them, but then she relaxed and we told her not to pull it, but of course there’s the occasional pull and tug.

Luckily this time all she did was touch it and even stroke her hand down, almost like she was petting a dog.

“I swear Brian dear you’ve got that little girl wrapped around your finger, and I’m the one whose supposed to spoil her.” Freddie stated with a wave of his hand.

“It’s the hair what can I say?” Brian said as he handled Kelly very delicately and allowed her to take hold of his finger.

“So there’s no chance of you ever cutting it or even changing it, is there?” I asked.

“Not on your life my dear. Especially if this little one likes it, huh? Whatcha say Kelly?” she babbled and continued to grip onto Brian’s index finger. She even started to nuzzle herself into his shoulder. We all awed and that’s when I asked.

“So where’s Deacy? I’d figure he’d want to see his little niece.”

“He’s probably up backstage with his Deaklings as well as the rest of the Queen family.” Freddie replied as he stroked Kelly’s head softly.

“So everyone else is here?” asked Jack.

“Yep, Chrissie brought the kids, and Dominique brought Felix and baby Rory.” Brian replied.

“Well why don’t we head up there now, seems like we’ve got about seven minutes till showtime.” I said as I looked down at my watch. We gathered up our stuff and walked out of our dressing rooms from the bottom of the stage and headed up outside towards the stage entrance.

For some reason security almost wouldn’t let Brian through because he didn’t have a pass. So I spoke for him in the light of mentioning you can’t have Queen without their guitarist (and I may or may not have threatened the guard to let him through cause Brian was still holding my baby and I wasn’t gonna be parted with her for another second).

As the kids reunited with their parents and the crew took the backstage pictures that they wanted to get. I was sitting and watching as Jack stood beside Dominique as Kelly was entranced with baby Rory. Even with being six months apart, Kelly and Rory got along very well.

I was even imagining that when those girls got older, they were gonna be more than just cousins to each other. They would grow to be sisters.

“You doing okay love?”

“Yeah. Just—picturing what Rory and Kelly are gonna be like since they’re technically sisters by law.” I said with a soft smile as I turned towards my brother Deacy.

“Roger did luck out in making you the godmother. Seeing how you fit into the mother role so well with your own baby girl.”

“That or to just make it even since he’s Kelly godfather.”

“Or that too you’re probably right.” I hummed a soft chuckle before turning back. “You miss her when you go on tour, don’t you?”

“How could you possibly know that?”

“C’mon you’ve heard this time and time again sister dear. We know you too well. Plus I know firsthand how that feels. Remember I had my first child at around your age. So I know how hard it is for a first time parent to be away from their child for such a great lengths. But I have a feeling you’re feeling it much worse than what I did, cause after all I didn’t give birth to Robert.”

That finally got a laugh, a real laugh, out of me which made Deacy smile and he wrapped an arm around me as I said.

“I just—I don’t know how you guys do it every year. Every tour you all go on.”

“Having children puts things in a whole new perspective. Same thing with relationships.”

“I totally get your song now. The line ‘I’m happy at home’. It all makes sense now. Because did you know that I missed my daughter crawl for the first time ever?”

“Really? Kelly’s first crawl?”

“Yes. It happened during our show in Paris. Jensen and Jared came for a visit to our home in Napa, California and they were trying to get her to crawl. After hours of getting nowhere, when they had their backs turned, Jack came down from doing some laundry to see Kelly crawling across the floor. Of course poor baby ended up bonking into the couch but she crawled Deacy. And I missed it.”

“It’s hard missing those milestones. Believe me I would know. I missed Robert crawl for the Night at the Opera tour, during News of the World I missed Michael take his first steps. And my little girl Laura, she actually said her first word, and it was my name. Well title name, during the Hot Space tour. I was fortunate with Joshua but.... I can never take back the first experiences with Robert, my first child, or my only baby girl Laura.”

“Oh Deacy I—I can’t believe that. And here I am bitching about missing a simple crawl. Man I’m such a drama queen.”

“No you’re not. You’re just protective and loving mama bear, well mama lioness I should say. After all you had Kelly inside you for nine months.”

“Nine months and a week.” I corrected him.

“Oh yeah, that’s right.” We both softly laughed and he said as his hand came up and ruffled my hair a bit. “But there’s no doubt in my mind you’ll make it up to Kelly. And there will be plenty of milestones to come, because she’s gonna need someone strong to look up to, and I already know she has the best role model a kid could ever have.”

“When did you ever get so wise?” I asked him with a teary eyed glaze.

“Comes with the territory, and experience. You’ll get there one day.”

“Thank you brother mine, really this talk….it’s been the best relief I’ve had in a while. I don’t even think I could’ve talked about this with Roger or Brian.”

“I’m always here for you sister dear. And anytime you want to talk, I’m here for you.” He leaned his forehead against mine and I closed my eyes and drew in his strength.

After the whole family reunion; it was getting close to showtime. We were escorted by our team towards the stage, all five of us pumped up on adrenaline. Even though I wouldn’t go on till the guys started Under Pressure, I was still feeling the anxiety of going on stage.

“Good luck guys, I’ll see you all in a bit.” I told them.

“We’ll see you then darling.” Freddie said as he came up and kissed both my cheeks.

“You’re gonna kill it out there as always.”

“We try our best.” Brian said as he tuned his Red Special. As the opening for ‘One Vision’ began echoing through the speakers and we could hear the audience clapping along and cheering I knew it was time. The guys got into position and I waited backstage from my spot on stage where I would enter and I heard the roar of the crowd as Queen finally made their appearance.

As always Freddie was extravagant on stage, a living legend and a God amongst men. With songs like “One Vision”, “Tie your mother down”, and a surprise for both me and the audience two oldie but goodie songs of Queen, “In the Lap of the God (revisited)” and “Seven Seas of Rhye”, “Tie your Mother down” and “It’s A Kind Of Magic”.

During “A king of Magic”, giant balloons of the guys’ cartoon drawn selves from the album were floating and bouncing amongst the crowd and it was comical to see. Once the song was over Freddie starting doing his vocal echoes with the crowd. As usual they replied back to him with each vocalization that Freddie gave them.

If he held out a note, they did the same thing. But I was noticing that his voice didn’t hold the same amount of power as it used to, even kinda cracking but he still powered through it.

“I can’t go any higher than that. Aye-Oh! Let’s go down. Aye-Oh!” Either it was just due to age or just due to the fact he’s been working his voice so hard, but it surprised me that Freddie couldn’t go higher than he just did, cause just a year ago he was able to. But he still held a long “Aye-Oh” just like he did last year during Live Aid, which I admired. “Fuck you.” I grinned and shook my head.

“Ohh Fred you cheeky son of a bitch.” It was then Deacy began playing the bassline for ‘Under Pressure’. One of my roadies “Lucky” handed me my mic and he gave me a thumbs up and I mouthed a thank you. I shook my jitters out as Freddie and Roger began the song.

*Roger and Freddie*

Pressure pushing down on me

Pressing down on you no man ask for

Under pressure that brings a building down

Splits a family in two

Puts people on streets

Um ba ba be

De day da

Ee day da that's okay

*Freddie (Roger)*

It's the terror of knowing

What the world is about

Watching some good friends

Scream

Let me out (Let me out!)

Pray tomorrow gets me higher

Pressure on people

People on streets

Day day de mm hm

Da da da ba ba

Okay

Chippin' around

Kick my brains around the floor

These are the days

It never rains but it pours

Ee do ba be

Ee da ba ba ba

Um bo bo

De do

People on streets ee da de da de

People on streets ee da de da de da

I had my Red Special on hand, I took a deep breath as the two volunteers pulled back the slaps of the see-through curtains and I walked through the smoke and sung the next verse. And as soon as the cameras showed me, everyone was in a roar of applause as I came right up and stood next to Freddie.

And as agreed for this performance whenever I came in at the second verse, I would go up in my high, controlled alto range with Roger and Freddie backing me up before Freddie ended the bridge.

*Me*

It's the terror of knowing

What this world is about

Watching some good friends

Scream! (let me out)

Pray tomorrow higher

Higher high!

*Freddie*

Pressure on people

People on streets

When the bridge came out, Roger, Freddie and I sang in a mezzopiano volume before Freddie sang the rest of the bridge before Roger and I came in on the first “Why”. Then to show off my vocal range, I did a sorta ‘Freddie’ vocal with my why’s and adlibbed a bit. Before we ended back together.

All the while Fred and I danced around together, even sharing his mic at one point as I joined Brian on guitar.

*Me, Freddie and Roger*

Turned away from it all like a blind man

Sat on a fence but it don't work

*Freddie*

Keep coming up with love

But it's so slashed and torn

*Me and Roger*

Why

*Me*

Oh why.

Tell me why?

*Freddie*

Insanity laughs under pressure we're breaking

*Both*

Can't we give ourselves one more chance

Why can't we give love that one more chance

Why can't we give love give love give love give love

Give love give love give love give love give love

*Roger, Freddie and me*

'Cause love's such an old fashioned word

And love dares you to care for

The people on the edge of the night

And loves dares you

To change our way of

Caring about ourselves

This is our last dance

This is ourselves

*Freddie and Me*

Under pressure

Pressure

Freddie and I hugged and kissed each other.

“Ladies and Gentlemen the Rock Angel herself Mrs. (Y/n) Kline!” Roger spoke into his microphone. I bowed graciously as the crowd roared in applause.

“HELLO WEMBLEY BEAUTIES!” I then saw Rock Angel signs being raised high in the sky like a banner waving in the wind. I then heard Deacy strum and fiddle with his bass another familiar bassline.

“I’m feel a little boogie coming on, what do you think?”

“I’m feeling it to Fred.” I spoke into my mic before proclaiming to my dad, “HIT IT ROGER!!” He gave us a beat before counting into the microphone.

“1 2 3 4!” And it was then he and Deacy began playing “Another one bites the dust”.

“Hey! You both called me out.” Freddie spoke. I grinned at him and began playing alongside Brian as the crowd began going crazy and clapped along.

During the song it was like a little competition between Freddie and I. He would sing the first verse, then get the crowd rolling to sing the title of the song with Roger backing him up. Then it was me and Brian getting the crowd pumped up during the second half of the song. Then during the instrumental break, he and I would have a “Scat-off” which is basically all the ’be-boops’ or “de-ba-ba-boop” scats that Fred is known to do very well.

We would even have a competition between the guys and the girls to see who could chant the title out louder. I obvious led the girls and Fred led the gentlemen. Before the two of us would end the song together, and by the end of it all as the crowd cheered, Fred and I hugged each other once again.

After dabbing his face with a towel and I already needing to get myself wiped off from the summer heat as well as the beaming lights, I went up and stood by Brian who was up by the keyboard and he would tell me that now was the time when I would play his guitar part for their newest song, “Who wants to Live forever”. Fred took a sip of beer before saying into the microphone as he walked further up towards the edge of the stage’s catwalk designed specifically for him.

“You know something there’s—there’s been a lot of rumors lately. About a certain band called Queen, along with a talented female artist known as the Rock Angel. The rumors are that uhh—the rumors that we’re all gonna split up and—break our partnership, what do you think?” at that point the crowd began booing and crying out in protest.

It's true. I don’t know where or how it came to be. I mean I myself have heard the rumors about Queen cause to my knowledge, they are literally the longest band to stay together without fully breaking up. I mean yeah there was that break 2 years ago, but Freddie and all of us learned to forgive and forget because we’re family.

And families have their fights, but it’s those fights that keep us together. But now some of the press are saying that Queen is planning on splitting up, and that I may also be thinking about severing my ties with Queen. To fully go off and no longer want anything to do with them.

And it warmed my heart to see Freddie pointing to his ass before proclaiming.

“They’re talking from here!” I grinned and nodded as the crowd cheered. Brian placed his arm around me and I leaned my head against his chest and wrapped my arms around him. “My apologizes but I say what I want. You know what I mean. So forget those rumors, we’re gonna stay together until we fucking will die I’m sure.” The crowd cheered and I nodded. “I keep—I must tell you, I keep wanting to leave but the Devil Angel back there won’t let me.”

“Watch it Mercury.” I warned him into my microphone as the crowd laughed and cheered. He grinned cheekily at me before blowing a kiss my way and I blew one back at him, but also snuck in the finger.

“Also I suppose we’re not bad for four aging Queens and an eternal youthful angel, are we? Really what do you think?” the crowd whistled and exploded with an applause.

“I’d say you guys look great. Better than ever even, what do you all say?” at that point I heard some airhorns go off.

“But you my fine Angel. Serious folks some may not know but that angel right there, just became a mother for the first time ever just several months back last year.” At that the crowd went awe and I even heard some shouts of congrats and cheers, mostly from the women in the audience “And she’s positively glowing, what do you all think? Cause she’s been saying all tour how she wasn’t ready to come out just based off her body now.”

At that point the crowd all booed at the last part and I even heard some men shout out “YOU’RE STILL BEAUTIFUL!”

“YOU’RE A FINE GIRL ANGEL!!”

“WE LOVE YOU ROCK ANGEL!”

“Thank you all it really means a lot to me. At first I didn’t even want to do this tour but—it not only took these four misfits to get me back on stage, but all of your love and support. So I thank you all from the bottom of my heart. Thank you.” I blew the audience a kiss and whether it was the hormones I still had or just seeing all this support from thousands and thousands of people, I honestly got a little teary eyed.

I wiped them away so that I wouldn’t be crying on stage but I could hear the sounds of the crowd awing me. It was then I felt Brian give me a real hug and he said in my ear.

“You’re still beautiful (y/n). We all love you.” He gave me a kiss on top of my head, which showed up on the cameras and I continued to try and suck in my tears.

“Thanks Bri.” I said to him before we separated from each other. “Okay,” I spoke into my microphone, “Before you all truly make me cry. This is a new song of Queen’s ‘Who wants to Live forever’.” The audience clapped and that’s when Brian led in on the soft and gentle intro before Freddie’s voice entranced the audience.

Just like Brian had taught me the scales and notes for this song, I came in when necessary while he kept at the keyboard. When the solo came on, I walked up center stage onto the catwalk and performed the solo which had the audience cheering and whistling as Queen came back on the song.

I got to sing the backup vocals alongside the guys by the end of the song, Freddie sung out the last line as I gave the whammy bar a soft shake to make the last note of my Red Special vibrato a bit before we finally closed the song.

The concert continued with a couple more Queen songs before we did some of my songs like “Rock the World”, “Who I am”, “So good”, “Shallow” (accompanied by Roger, with Fred conducting the audience to sing along since he knew this song was special to me and Rog), and a new song from my recent album, a song I called “Rush”. After that, Roger, Deacy and I left backstage to change while Brian and Freddie took over the stage with “Love of my Life” and “Is this the world we created”.

After that it was time for a little close in personal bonding time as all five of us came down the stage, Rog with the tambourine this time, Deacy and Brian standing at each end, me standing between Rog and Deacy and Freddie (who was now sporting a police officer’s helmet) gathered around as we began to sing our ‘medley’ songs like.

“(You’re so square )Baby I don’t care”.

“Hello Mary Lou”.

And some new songs of mine, one of which I had dedicated to the guys called “Protecting me”.

“No One”

“Tutti Frutti”

Then there were the more popular songs of Queen like their famed “Bohemian Rhapsody”, the audience participation that was “Radio Gaga”, the groovy dancing of “Crazy little thing called love”, the head banging that was both “Hammer to Fall” and my famed song “Set it all Free” (which was more of the audience singing the song and all I did was sing the chorus).

By the end of the entire concert after singing the last two songs “Friends will be Friends” and “We are the Champions.” Freddie came out for the first time on stage in his kingly attire that consisted of a very long red and white robe and a king’s crown that had red velvet inside and had jewels that could actually rival the actual Crowned Jewels of her royal highness.

Like the true Queen he was, he held his crown out to the audience as the boys and I rocked out the final part of the song and once we ended the song, Deacy, Brian, Roger and I came down with Freddie and waved goodbye to the crowd.

“Thank you, you beautiful people. Goodnight, God bless you.” Then as a final touch to the end of the tour we decided to add something special. You know how in every Queen concert you hear their rendition of ‘God Save the Queen’, well for my second album, I included me actually singing Britain’s National anthem. And thanks to the brilliant mind of our sound department and sound mixers, they’ve found a way to combine the two versions together so it sounded like I was singing alongside Queen’s recording.

All for this tour.

As the five of us waved goodbye and I could hear them singing alongside me, I came up to Freddie who had actually placed his crown on top of my head and he bowed before me. I went along with the act by knighting him with his music staff before he stood up and wrapped an arm around me and the two of us walked out, waving and blowing kisses to the audience with the rest of the boys trailing behind us doing the same thing.

After all that, we quickly raced out towards the back where the cars would take us back to our hotel. So all of us gowned in our after concert robes, mine being a red with white wings on the back quickly raced out with my assistants by my side with towels or water as we quickly raced towards the cars.

I got in my car and as soon as I got in, my driver took off back for the hotel. When we all finally arrived, we all had a celebration up in Freddie’s suite with some drinks (non-alcohol due to the fact we had a show tomorrow) and food. It was a small family party really with all our loved ones surrounding us and congratulating us on yet another successful concert.

The next day it was the same thing all over again at the same place. But I began to notice that Jack was acting a bit strange today. He knew that today was our 2nd anniversary and yet he was playing it off like it was no big deal.

I mean yeah I told him I would be busy today rehearsing for today’s concert but I would’ve thought he’d at least wish me a Happy Anniversary. But here’s the catch, whenever I tried to talk to the guys about it, they also waved it off like it was nothing and told me to keep busy.

So I decided was going to get to the bottom of this.

“Now we sure she doesn’t know anything about it?” I heard Brian say.

“Oh she doesn’t have a single clue darling.” Freddie’s voice rang out proudly.

“Shhh! Fred lower your voice. Do you want her to overhear you from her dressing room.” Roger hissed.

“Too late!” I made myself known. They gasped and turned towards me all huddled together, almost like they were hiding something. “Alright spill it, what are you four Queen’s up to?!” I demanded.

“Up to?”

They all chorused out one at a time starting from Deacy, Roger, Brian then Freddie. Brian began stammering trying to find the right words while Freddie threw some accusations at me for thinking that they would be behind something devious (coming from the most devious one of the Queens, that was just rich).

“We want you to rehearse the drums for ‘Now I’m here’.” Deacy blurted out.

“That’s it!” proclaimed Roger. Soon I was hurried out by all four members with Brian and Freddie gently pushing my back or shoulders, while Deacy and Roger each had my wrists gripped in their hands as they proceeded to drag me away from the room. All four of them agreeing with Deacy’s statement.

“But I wasn’t told I had to do the drums in tonight’s show.” I said to them.

“Well things have changed darling.”

“Yep and you’re skilled enough to learn it.” Roger said as he handed me his drumsticks and kissed both my cheeks and nose. “Now go and practice at my kit love.”

“And don’t rush through it.” Advised Brian

“Take all the time you need.” Said Deacy.

“Practice, practice, practice.” Freddie proclaimed. I rolled my eyes and went on to practice at Roger’s drumkit. I waved them off and turned the corner to head up to the stage.

*3rd Person POV*

The four band members continued to wave so long to her, then when she turned the corner, Deacy muttered.

“You still think she doesn’t suspect?”

“Of course not Deacy dear, now c’mon.” Freddie turned with a clap of his hands. “She’s gone!” he proclaimed and that’s when her roadies, costume designers, hair and makeup team as well as Jack came out.

“You’ve kept her busy?” Jack asked.

“Yep. Got her practicing the drums. And she always struggles with ‘Now I’m here’ so she’ll be there for a while.” Said Roger.

“Excellent, okay everyone I’ve got your assignments. Hair and makeup, I want you all to make sure that tonight she looks her best, including waterproof mascara.” Jack explained.

“Yep, cause lord knows she’ll be bawling her eyes out once we execute the surprise during the show.” Freddie said.

“Costume designers, make sure she wears the dress I had picked out once Brian and Freddie begin ‘Love of my Life’.”

“Right-o Jack. And may I just say you picked out a wonderful dress for her to wear. It’ll fit her like a glove.” Her head costumer Phillipe said.

“Thanks, and roadies, you all are in charge of setting up the color themed lights for our dance, as well as the video projection of our wedding.”

“We’re on it Jack.” Said Lucky, (Y/n)’s head roadie.

“Okay now we don’t have much time, get going go!” Jack said with a flick of the pencil to the clipboard and the Rock Angel’s team all scattered to get ready. “And you guys will come out with the cake right?” he said to Roger and Deacy.

“You can count on us Jack.” Deacy said.

“Ohh she’s gonna be so surprised!” Freddie said with pumped up fists.

“And guys, thank you again for helping me plan this. After last year’s anniversary kinda going down the drain due to late rehearsals for Live Aid, I wanna make this up to her.”

“We’re happy to help you Jack darling, anything for you two.” Freddie said with a pat on his shoulder. Jack smiled at the frontman of Queen and said.

“Okay, before she gets even more suspicious, let’s head out and see if we can help the others.” The band nodded and they left the room and helped out around backstage.

*My POV*

As the hours ticked by, it was finally concert time. It pretty much ran the same way as it did yesterday with the songs in the exact order as we sang them yesterday.

But what was odd was that just before ‘Now I’m here’ which the guys told me I was gonna drum to, my roadies and agent pulled me aside and my wardrobe and makeup people began to fit me into something else. I was now sporting a wine ruched bodice high silt velvet dress.

The two spaghetti straps were snug against my shoulders and the slit in the dress only came up to my mid-thigh and was barely noticeable unless you moved and exposed it. I was also forced to wear 2 inch black heels and my hair was done up even curlier than before.

“Okay Phillipe what in the world is going on?”

“My darling I am sworn to secrecy I cannot explain.” He said in his heavy French accent.

“Then can you at least tell me where this dress came from?”

“Maybe from a secret admirer no?” he teased as he told me to look up and he applied some mascara on me. “Ahh and there she is our beautiful Rock angel is complete!”

“Oh wait one more thing,” his assistant Marie said as she came up with a wand and gave me some wings at the corner of my eyes.

“Oh brilliant Marie. Now then my dear, let’s get you back on stage.”

“But how am I gonna perform looking like this?”

“Oh don’t worry it mon Cherie. Now go out there and be beautiful. Kisses.” He kissed each of my cheeks before he and Marie shoved me out and shut the door.

“God what the hell is wrong with everyone today?” but I walked back towards the stage. When I arrived I could still hear the roar of the crowd and that’s when I saw the lights go down and a spotlight came onto Brian as I could hear him prepare to play ‘Love of my life’.

“This is the point where the guitarist gets to speak, now and again.” I grinned softly. “And today I don’t have very much to say except thank for you making this the hottest ticket we’ve ever seen. You’re great we love you.” He played a few more chords before then saying something that caught me off guard, “But tonight, tonight is something very special. And I’d like all of you to give a warm welcome back onto the stage the beautiful Rock Angel (Y/n) Kline.”

Oh god, with me looking like this I’ll be totally out of place but Phillipe and Marie went to all this trouble and work and I hate to disappoint them. So I slowly walked out from backstage and I could immediately hear the wolf whistles and proclamations of love. I smiled and waved before going up to Brian and I said.

“Tell me what’s going on right now May or I swear your Red Special will be missing by morning.”

“Just trust us darling.” He said to me.

“We’d also like to bring out another special person,” Freddie said as he came up beside me. “He’s the one who took this lovely Angel away from us, and was also the one who knocked her up.” I slapped his arm which made the audience laugh, “But he was also her bass player for a time, ladies and gentlemen give a warm Wembley welcome to Mr. Jack Kline!”

The audience cheered loudly as Jack came on the stage sporting a white button up shirt, dark grey pants, and his hair sleeked back. I looked at him and my heart went BOOM! But with that boyish grin, it also made my stomach flutter. He came up to me and took my hands in his and wrapped them around his neck.

“For you see two years ago today, was the day these two young turtledoves became one.” At that point the audience awed and was in a roar of applause. “So this song is dedicated to them, Happy Anniversary Jack and (Y/n).” Freddie said. Finally Brian began playing the final opening chords before Freddie began to sing “Love of my Life”.

All the while Jack took me towards center stage under the spotlight so that we could have a slow dance together. What was even more romantic was when Freddie conducted the audience to sing the song, and Jack stopped dancing and had the two of us look out as the audience sang.

“They’re singing to us baby.” By the end of the audience participation, I cupped Jack’s cheek and brought him down for a kiss which made the audience cheer and whistle.

*Freddie*

Love of my life, you've hurt me You've broken my heart and now you leave me *Audience*

Love of my life, can't you see? Bring it back, bring it back Don't take it away from me, because you don't know What it means to me

*Freddie and audience*

Love of my life, don't leave me You've stolen my love, you now desert me Love of my life, can't you see? Bring it back, bring it back Don't take it away from me Because you don't know What it means to me

You will remember When this is blown over Everything's all by the way When I grow older I will be there at your side to remind you How I still love you

*Audience*

I still love you

“He still loves you (y/n).” Freddie spoke as he came up to us which made the audience cheer.

“I love him too.” I said into Freddie’s microphone and as I kissed my husband of two years once more under the pink lights that shined down on us, the audiences whistled and cheered. The sweet sound of Brian’s acoustic playing and the warmth of my husband holding me in his arms as we continued to sway, had me feeling like I was in heaven.

It was then I took notice of the monitor and saw that there were pictures of us playing on the screens in a slideshow format, some of is were just us goofing around from the summer we met, to our first Christmas and birthdays together, then finally our wedding pictures.

*Freddie*

Oh, hurry back, hurry back Don't take it away from me Because you don't know what it means to me *Audience*

Love of my life *Freddie and Audience*

Love of my life Ooh, yeah

As the song ended, the slideshow ended with Jack and I at the wedding doing our first kiss as husband and wife. It also did a cute little editing of fireworks and a heart around the two of us before finally ending in elegant cursive writing.

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY JACK AND (Y/N) KLINE.

Jack then softly dipped me before capturing my lips with his and I gladly accepted the kiss. I stroked my hands through his hair and down his jawline before he sat me back in the upright position, as the crowd was in a roar of whistles and exclamations.

By this time I was in full on waterfall moment as tears kept pouring down my face. I hugged my husband before turning to Freddie and hugged him. He patted my back and kissed my temple then I turned to Brian. He wrapped an arm around me and kissed my other temple before saying.

“Happy Anniversary love.” I turned around and that’s when I saw Deacy and Roger coming out with a cake. The two of them grinning as they clapped along with the audience. I buried my face into my hands as I jogged towards my dad and brother and hugged and kissed them. Jack came up and wrapped his arms around me before kissing my cheek and the two of us stared down at the beautifully decorated vanilla icing cake with angel wings decorated around it with the words HAPPY ANNIVERSARY KLINES KLAN.

“As an added bonus; we’ve elected to give our beloved Rock Angel the rest of the night off to spend with her beloved husband who worked so hard to put this together.” Freddie said into the microphone.

“Wait what?” I said through the crowd.

“We talked about it love and after having to miss your first anniversary last year for Live Aid stuff, we want you and Jack to have what you couldn’t last year.” Roger said.

“But what about the audience?” it was then I saw Deacy go towards Freddie and Fred handed him his microphone and for the first time Deacy spoke to the audience.

“She believes that she should stay here and continue with the concert. Should she?” at that point the audience all hissed in rejection, telling me to go and be with the love of my life.

“Seems your spoken for darling. Now go on you two crazy kids. Spend your anniversary together.” Freddie said. I smiled and lowered my head when I suddenly felt myself being carried bridal style. Jack grinned cheekily at me before leaning forward and gave me another kiss and carrying me backstage, some of my roadies taking the cake back out.

Once we reached backstage, Jack set me down and wrapped his arms around me.

“I can’t believe you did all this for me.”

“How could I not? I know how devastated you were last year, so I decided to make it up.”

“But you know I had said we could’ve just made it up with wine at the hotel after the show.”

“I know that’s not what you really wanted. I know when you really mean something, and when you said that to me yesterday you were just trying to cover up the hurt you thought I would feel fearing we had to miss another anniversary because of your career.” Damn him, he��s just as perceptive as Brian and Deacy combined.

“Oh Jack, I love you.” I sobbed happily as I hugged him.

“I love you too baby, happy anniversary.”

“Happy anniversary.” With that we raced out of the stadium and caught a ride with my driver Louis.

“To Mazzello’s Italian restaurant Louie, and step on it. We’ve got special reservations tonight.” Jack said.

“Right away sir.” Louis said graciously before starting to car and getting us on the road.

We arrived at the restaurant around 20 minutes later and that’s when Jack led us inside after Louis wished us a Happy Anniversary, which we both thanked him for. Jack opened the restaurant doors for me and I thanked him in a posh tone before he followed in after me.

We went up to the front desk and Jack said the reservation name and the waiter confirmed it and escorted us up the stairs to the upper level of the restaurant. He then led us outside to the balcony sitting and it turned out we were the only ones there.

“Here we are signor, signora.” The waiter said as he set up our table with our menus. Jack allowed me to sit down first and he scooted my chair in before he himself took a seat.

Our waiter came in and Jack ordered us the special champagne they had going on sale for tonight and we both ordered our meals. Jack ordered the spaghetti with meatballs while I got the Fettucine Alfredo with a side of calamari for the both of us.

Once our food came and we both began to eat, it was then I saw the band come up to us and I heard the accordion player begin to play a familiar tune. Oh my god no way, it was then he began to sing “Bella Notte” from my favorite Disney movie, Lady and the Tramp.

“Jack you didn’t.” I said in awe.

“I knew it was your favorite movie. So…..shall we give it a go?” he said as he held up a single strand of spaghetti.

“What did I do to ever deserve you?”

“Just lucky I guess.” I then took one end of the spaghetti and placed it in my mouth as Jack did the same for the other end, till we both slowly came towards each other (timing it with the song just right) as our lips met in a kiss.

Like Lady did, I turned away and blushed thinking I couldn’t believe I had done my fantasy dream kiss. I felt Jack take my hand in his and he stared at me with those beautiful blue eyes of his. He leaned his forehead against mine as the two of us fell under the spell of the Italian singers singing to us.

After dinner the two of us took a romantic stroll under the moonlight in the park. The streetlights and the fireflies being our only source of light, along with the full moon and the stars.

As we walked along the sidewalk, guess the two of us were too dazed and entranced with each other to realize we were now walking on wet cement.

“Oh bugger!” I swore as I laughed embarrassingly.

“Not really, look.” He knelt down and drew a large heart with his first and last initial. I smiled and knelt down beside him and wrote mine in the heart underneath his. Then we imprinted our hands next to the heart before looking at each other smiling lovingly at each other.

Once that was done, we cleaned our shoes and hands off at a nearby sink and continued on our walk through the park. As we came to ‘Lover’s bridge’ we stared down at the small lake stream that flowed under the bridge and watched as two swans swam together.

“Did you know that swans are known to be monogamous?” Jack asked me.

“Really?”

“Yep. It’s even said that when they swim together, they can intertwine their necks into a heart. Which makes swans the sign of love.” Jack said as his hands cupped around mine and when I looked down at my hands, I saw that both his and mine made a heart with mine being the inner heart and his being the outer.

I looked up at him and he looked down at me. He slowly leaned down towards me, his lips softly grazing against mine, his nose nuzzling against mine.

“I hope we can last forever, just like those swans down there.” He whispered.

“I want that to my love.” I whispered back as we turned back towards the water to see the swans intertwine their necks together to form the famed heart shape.

We ended our walk by sitting on top of a hill that overlooked the rest of the park and had a great view of the moon in front of us. Jack and I spoke not a word as we turned to each other. Because truthfully there were no more words that needed to be said at this moment.

I loved Jack and he loved me. As the two of us cuddled close together to stare up at the moon and enjoyed what this night meant to us.

The night we became “And”, the day we became “We”, the day we became husband and wife.

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excusemyobsessions · 4 years

Text

Soccer team captain JB

GOT7’s JB

Word count: 2100 words

Scenario: From anonymous: “hiiii could you write a JB scenario type with him being the captain of soccer team and y/n being captain of swim team in their high school and both sport teams don’t like each other but they are secretly dating and no one knows thank you”

Genre: AU Scenario, Fluff, Soft, Gender neutral

Little note: This is very long, pardon me... Hope you enjoy it either way! (he kinda looks boyish in that gif, I couldn’t find a better one)

You’d always loved swimming. Ever since you knew yourself really.

As soon as you had been able to walk and talk properly, your parents had thrown you in a pool and you’d been hooked ever since.

As a child, you were always told how you’d make a great swimmer. You were disciplined, loved being in the water, and were a fast learner. You’d often hear your teacher at the time praise you to your parents. Of course, as young as you were, you didn’t really care. All you wanted was to be in the water.

As you grew up, things got more serious. Especially after you joined your high school swim club and became their captain. The truth was you were always unsure of whether you should be the captain but your teammates and the coach seemed to trust you fully. That trust only made you try harder to be a good teammate and to be a responsible person. Your parents were overjoyed as well.

That day was yet another practice day. You had practice three days a week but had full access to the pool every day.

You had all warmup exercises memorized by now so your coach’s voice was only another sound in the background as you held your elbow above your head, doing a good tricep stretch. That until you started hearing murmurs all around you when your teammates were just quietly doing warmup exercises before.

“They’re so shameless.” You heard from your left.

“Look at them sitting there again.” You heard from behind.

You looked back at your teammate who motioned with her head towards the bleachers when she noticed you had heard her. You allowed your gaze to travel to where she had pointed only to find most of the soccer team lounging comfortably on the benches. You couldn’t help the long sigh that came from deep within as well as the eyeroll.

The soccer club usually had their practices on the same days as the swim club, only they finished practice an hour before you even started. Which gave them more than enough time to shower, drop by the cafeteria, and then head to their lounging spot; the bleachers inside the gym. That would be fine, only you knew for a fact they were there just to annoy your team.

Even before you had become the captain of the swim team, both clubs already had an ongoing grudge. As far as you knew, it was exactly because of this very same behavior.

The soccer club had reclaimed the gym bleachers as their hangout spot a long time ago. Why? Because they could thirst over people in swimsuits after practice.

However, the swim club had reclaimed the field bleachers as their hangout spot. Why? Because they could thirst over people in shorts before practice.

Surely enough, it wasn’t just thirsting that happened during those hangouts.

From both sides, the feeling of annoyance by the other’s presence started to grow and develop, eventually becoming a desire. The desire to annoy the other club became gradually the reason why any of the two would hang out at those two specific spots.

You, however, had never engaged in such behaviors. In fact, you’d never been to neither spots unless it was to gather your team whenever they were running late.

“Ignore them, guys. Focus on the practice,” you told your teammates.

Soon enough you were all being scolded for not keeping your head focused on what you were doing, being this accompanied by some scorning and amused giggles in the distance.

You weren’t known for being a stern leader however, everyone seemed to respect you. As a result, when you shot a glare towards the bleachers, they quieted down for a bit.

After practice was over, you sent everyone away to the showers, telling them you’d check if everything was in place before you headed there yourself. You’d always do that every time you had practice.

As you were picking up a kickboard off the floor, by the corner of your eye you saw a figure come into the gym and head straight towards the bleachers. You peeked towards the bleachers, a little smile coming to adorn your lips although you couldn’t see anyone. That same smile remained upon your face as you went back to tidying everything up.

When you went into the locker room, you went straight to your locker to check your phone. Sure enough, there was a text expecting you saying “I’m here”.

With your heart beating excitedly against your rib case, you tried your best to conceal yet another smile as you got ready to take a shower, saying goodbye to each one of your teammates that were ready and started leaving one by one.

You waited for everyone to leave before you yourself left the locker room and headed straight towards the bleachers. There was a little blocked off area right at the top so you skidded up the stairs, not even your heavy gym bag tiring you up. On the last few steps, you could already see him.

Im Jaebum, captain of the soccer team himself, was sitting on the floor with his legs crossed under himself, earphones in, and a notebook resting on his lap. He was wearing his club’s tracksuit, with his hair freshly dried parted in the middle and freely falling over the sides of his face. His hair had gotten so long.

He noticed someone coming and lifted his eyes off his notebook, melting into a soft smile upon seeing you.

“Oh, you’re here,” he said, reaching up to pull out his earphones.

“Finally,” you huffed.

That earned you a little chuckle from him while you stepped over, dropping your bag and yourself onto the floor right next to him.

“How was practice?” he asked, half turning his body towards you.

“Tiring. Coach caught people messing around and decided to punish us all.” You sighed, dropping your head onto his shoulder.

“That sucks,” he said, resting his head on yours.

You let out a little hum in response.

“You?” you asked.

“It was peaceful,” he answered with a one-shoulder shrug.

You responded with yet another little hum, peeking towards his notebook and soon reaching for his hand that was resting upon the one open page to gently push it out of the way so you could see what he was studying.

“Your people were here again today,” you said after a while, moving your head so you could sit straight, which he also did when he noticed you moving. “Can’t you tell them not to come here?” you asked, looking up at his face, your voice already gaining a bit of a whiny tone.

“Your people were at the field again today as well. Can’t you tell them not to go there?” he responded calmly, he himself looking straight at you.

“I’ve tried!” You full-on whined.

“So have I,” he answered, his eyebrows lifting as he offered you a shrug. “I don’t think there’s much we can do about it.” He added, shaking his head.

You pursed your lips for a moment, eventually letting out a long sigh.

“Guess you’re right,” you agreed.

You watched his lips slowly curve into a soft smile and his sharp eyes become smaller, one of his hands reaching up to tuck your hair behind your ear. You couldn’t help but melt into your own smile, reaching for his hand so you could intertwine your fingers with his.

Im Jaebum, captain of the soccer team and yourself, captain of the swim team, had found yourselves utterly in love with each other.

You could still remember the first time you’d met him.

As captain of one of the main sports teams, you had to attend anything that was related to sports in the school, which meant being there for most of the council meetings. That day was the first time you’d be attending a meeting as the new captain.

You were well aware of which clubs were friends and which were not as you’d been part of the swim club for a while even before being chosen as their captain. Needless to say, you were already on the fence about meeting him.

You’d seen the captain of the soccer club several times before in the hallways. You knew he was a respected figure among the school for his integrity and friendliness. He was also quite popular for his looks.

As you weren’t one to take part in any club wars, you’d only heard about him from your teammates. Some didn’t like him, mainly because of the simple fact that he was the captain of that one team, and some others were impartial. However, you’d never heard anyone in your club specifically say they liked him. You had always wondered why.

You had never seen him in the gym along with the rest of the team when they came over specifically to annoy your team. You had always wondered if he had ever set foot in there with that specific motive. However, you yourself had never set foot on those specific field bleachers either. It just wasn’t something you agreed with.

You couldn’t lie, when you met him, his blatant friendliness caught you off guard. It was as if he didn’t know who you were or full-on ignored the fact that you were the captain of the swim team. He was as friendly with you as he was with every other team captain, even inviting you to sit next to him while explaining the captain of the swim team had always sat right there during council meetings.

He was so mature and friendly that there was absolutely no chance for you to have any unpleasant feelings for him. How could you dislike someone who was being so considerate towards you?

The more you met, the friendlier you got towards each other. At some point, you started exchanging little greeting nods in the hallways, which slowly started including the exchange of little smiles as well. After council meetings, you’d also sneak away to share a cold or warm drink, depending on the weather. You’d also often find him at the library.

He was an utterly curious character. A soccer player who liked to read books. Engaging in conversations with him, in a neutral territory and peacefully away from your respective teams and positions as captains, he’d tell you about the books he’d read and the classes he was taking and you’d find utter comfort in listening to him and discussing everything and nothing with him.

The way you two fell in love was quite natural, quite peaceful, quite visibly mutual.

Of course, you knew better than to be openly in love. The captains of the two sports teams that despised each other the most? In love? Everyone would go crazy. Who knew if they wouldn’t try to come between you two? Or if you two would even lose all credibility and respect?

Both you and Jaebum knew that was a sensitive topic and that you needed time to think of a way to break it to everyone. And while you tried to think of ways to do so, you’d just be together secretly. Although it was tiring and annoying to constantly sneak around to meet each other, there was also some sense of thrill to it. It was even funny at times.

“Should we go for a drink?” he asked you after a while.

Your fingers were still between his, his gaze as gentle as could be.

You hummed with an affirmative nod in response which caused a little smile to tug at the corners of his lips. He also nodded and gave your hand a gentle little squeeze before he let go of it to put away his things in his backpack. When he was done, he finally hopped up, stretching his hand back down at you.

“Come on then, captain,” he incited, with the cheekiest little smirk.

You couldn’t help but let out a little snicker at his cheeky self, reaching up to take his hand.

“Let’s go, captain,” you offered, with your own little smirk.

Both of you soon started laughing quietly so you wouldn’t be caught, Jaebum helping you up with a little tug.

And so, both of you captains threw your things over your shoulders and sneaked away to share your usual drinks.

Blog guide

#got7 #got7 jb #jb #im jaebum #jb au #got7 au #got7 scenario #jb scenario #request #excusemyobsessions

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colourthestarts · 5 years

Text

How Can Practice Matches Go So Wrong?

Y/n could not figure out who decided to start a practice match at 10am. On a Saturday. Just do it in the afternoon.

And then she realized.

It’s because it never ends.

She’s been here for two hours and both Nekoma and Fukurodani are both still at it.

“Mika.”

“Yeah.”

“When does this end?”

“I don’t know…” Mika was in the same position. Kuroo said it was a practice match. But these guys just kept going with occasional small breaks. She could also sense y/n patience was wearing thin.

When they first met up with Kuroo and Kenma everything was fine and they said it shouldn’t take long. Soon after they met with the Fukurodani team briefly and said polite ‘hellos’ then headed upstairs. After the warmup, few jokes and few beatings towards a very tall guy in Nekoma, probably a first year, the match started. Both y/n and Mika got into it. They talked about both teams and y/n did mention that Nekoma’s rhythm was really good and that Kuroo was a good leader. She also noted the ace and setter from the other team. They also worked good together.

Then an hour later a realization hit that they gonna keep going. And now they were stuck. If they leave it will be very rude and disrespectful, even if they were third years. But two hours in y/n no longer cared. She needed coffee and she was getting bored of just watching the same thing.

“Yeah… I’m gonna go get us coffee.” Y/n said while standing up and grabbing her purse and headphones.

“Seriously?” Mika whined. Although she could not argue against her decision. “I’ll come too!”

“Ahh no, I’m going alone I need a bit of a me time.” y/n answered calmly. She was not pissed and Mika knew it, she just wanted to be out of this situation for a bit. “Besides you dragged us here so basically it’s on you we are stuck here for the infinity. Want a frappuccino?”

“Yeah fine… and a brownie!”

“Sure. See you in a bit.”

_______________________________________________________________

Ten minutes later another set was finished. Kuroo was tired, not as tired as when they train at summer camps, but dealing with Bokuto’s spikes was a pain. Lucky enough Bokuto’s mood shifted downwards towards the end and his spikes were bad, but it’s not like the rest of the team is not strong. Everyone in Fukurodoni were strong opponents. But at last they were gonna have a thirty minute break before having another smaller warm up and having another few sets to go.

After the cool down, everyone went back to the bench to get towels and water. While Yaku was lecturing Lev in his more than poor receives and Bokuto went outside to get back his mood, Kuroo took a glance up where y/n and Mika were sitting. Scratch that. Y/n was not there. Where did she go? Mika, on the other hand, took this as an opportunity to complain.

“Jesus Kuroo you said a practice match! This has been going for over two hours! Do you want us to die here?!” He had to admit, he never anticipated this. Usually when girls are watching volleyball, they compliment how cool the players are. Not that this ever got to his head. Well it did a few times. But he had his own insecurities and he was realistic. Still full of confusion he answered.

“What? No! This is normal. We play against Fukurodoni all the time and its until we’re exhausted or hungry.”

“Clearly. You do know we got other stuff to do?”

“Like what?”

“…I don’t know… stuff… What does it matter?! You should have told me hold long this was gonna take!”

“Kuroo, girls don’t like waiting.” Nekomata sensei noted as he passed by.

“Sorry, I guess it just seems normal to us. You should go, I don’t wanna keep you longer than needed.” Kuroo hung his head lower as an apology.

“It’s fine. Y/n is getting coffee and snacks for the rest of this, she should be back in few minutes. So go clean up and eat to kick ass.”

Kuroo nodded and went outside for some fresh air. No need to overthink this and nothing bad happened. He just thought as someone who plays volleyball a lot. He knew that was fine and it appears the girls did too they just needed some breaks. So it’s all good. Tho it’s a shame he did not get a chance to chat with y/n, although he should focus on the practice match and he can chat proper later.

Turning a corner tho he was met with a direct view of y/n and Bokuto sitting on the grass and chatting. Bokuto appeared to be in a better mood then left which was great. But he was doing what Kuroo himself was supposed to be doing, talking to y/n. Despite that Kuroo wanted to turn around and find another place to chill, Bokuto noticed him and waved him to come over.

_______________________________________________________________

On her way to get coffee and then back to the gym y/n continued to ponder why she agreed to come with Mika. Regrets all the way. She could still be in bed. Not that watching volleyball wasn’t interesting, she has been a fan since her brother used to play. She went to their official matches, but was told not to come to practice ones. Now she knows why.

Just before turning the corner to the gym, y/n saw a guy from the Fukurodani team sulking on the grass. Think it was the wing spiker cause he was the only one to have hair like that. But it was not her problem so she kept walking… and then she turned back. Weak.

“Hey dude, what’s up with you?” But all she got was a mumble so she asked to repeat lauder.

“I can’t get my spikes through…”

“So you quit?”

“No, we’re having a break…”

“Okay, so what’s the plan?” She sat down too.

“What?” The guy for the first time looked at her. Jesus he looked miserable.

“Yeah… Like what do you wanna try to go through it? You know since it’s a never ending practice match you can just keep trying different things. Even if you fail, the more you try the higher chances are for you to get it right. Dunno.. like muscle memory?”

“So you’re saying my body will just do it on its own!?”

“What? No! Did you hear what I said? You decide what to do and how to do it, but the more times you do it the easier it will be to get it done faster and more effectively.” The guy pondered for a moment and then smiled. Very brightly.

“I think I get it! Thanks stranger!..ahh I’m Bokuto by the way, Fukurodani’s ace!”

“Y/n, Nekoma’s third year.” She said shaking his hand.

“So what are you here for? I saw you with another girl upstairs. Are you thinking being Nekoma’s managers?”

“Do I look like a person who wants to clean up after other guys messes?” Then she rephrased. “I’m not quite a helpful type. Nor do I have the patience. Mika, the other girl, was invited by Kuroo and I was dragged along.”

Bokuto remembered that Kuroo said he invited a girl he liked to watch the match, it had to be her friend. Speaking of which he just appeared around the corner so Bokuto waved him up. Noticing that y/n also turned and saw Kuroo, he seemed a bit down too. Is this the mood for today then? Usually he’s pretty alert and just a bit smug.

“I see you two have met.” Kuroo said with a smile.

“Yeah.. he looked down so I was like whatever I guess I’ll .. I don’t know … talk, distract? Something like that.”

“What?” Bokuto asked.

“You looked like a lost puppy and if it would be raining I would basically have to adopt you.” While Bokuto was processing, y/n stood back up. “Right, if I’ll stay longer Mika’s frappuchino will die on me and then she’ll cry so if you guys excuse me.”

When she was gone there was a bit of silence. Bokuto was still guessing when did he become a dog, while Kuroo realised that y/n was just being a nice person. Which was one of the reasons why he liked her. He realised there was no reason why he felt down, cause she didn’t seem annoyed at all. From her previous blunt remarks, he knew she would just say it straight.

“So it’s her friend that you like.” Bokuto stated.

“No it’s her Bokuto! Y/n is the girl!”

“Are you serious?!” Bokuto was shocked. This was not the type of girl that Kuroo would usually be smitten about. Not that he knew exactly, but she just seemed too… cool for him? “You usually like cute, shy, short girls that giggle a lot and she’s tall and like smart?”

“What does that mean?!” Kuroo irked. “Short girls are smart too and I like tall and smart girls too!”

“She seems too good for you.” Bokuto teased, he was clearly in a better mood. “This is it then! I’ll do my best to give you a hard time for the rest of the sets, so you’ll have to do your best and impress her!”

“What sort of logic is that?!” But Kuroo was ignored by Bokuto already dashing off and yelling for Akaashi. He wasn’t completely wrong either.

The rest of the practice went good, but by the end of it both teams were exhausted. When the clean up was almost done Kuroo waved for the girls to come down and introduced them to the rest of the team. Then Bokuto also appeared, introduced Akaashi and raved about him being a great setter. So Kuroo took the opportunity to ask if Nekomata sensei and Yaku, as the vice-captain, were okay with him inviting y/n and Mika to go eat with the team to which they both agreed. However, when he got back the pair politely refused and said that the team should do their own thing and have a good meal. The meal in itself was chaotic but not surprising considering both teams.

Kuroo almost chocked when Bokuto told him he got y/n number.

#haikyuu!!#haikyuu scenarios #haikyuu imagines #Kuroo Tetsurou #kuroo x reader

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rkmiya · 5 years

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☆ﾟ.*･｡ﾟ MGAS TRAINING TIME ˎˊ˗

sunmi wasn’t the happiest going into the next round of the mgas. her top pick was straight up eliminated. although her other three made it into the team, she was a little miffed to see that kenta of all people had made it into the nova team when she was sure that none of those band boys would make it (why they would aim for nova in the first place is beyond her). she eyes everyone, her clipboard in hand.

they each introduce themselves. sunmi purposely throws in “leader of future group and*roma” just to give that little extra kick of intimidation to show them that she was going to be hella serious about this. she didn’t get to coach in season 3, sadly. while nova still won, it probably would have went a completely different route had sunmi been in charge. now whether that’s good or bad, she’ll never know. she does know that now she’s not wasting the opportunity.

before the filming for the show she had done extensive research for each contestant. she gave them her own personal scores and critiques from previously aired episodes. sometimes her scores aligned with what the 5 coaches but often times they differed. sunmi went solely on her own notes when she chose the 5 that she did. at least one girl made it through.

“i’m going to be honest, i’m actually happy that i have most of the people i was interested in having on my team here. i think we can do a lot with this,” she says although she’s mainly looking at yewon, changbin and seunghun. she nods. “but, that doesn’t mean i don’t have comments for all. because i definitely do.” these are generally aimed at everyone to be fair. everyone got a comment: be it negative or positive. of the 5, jackson and kenta didn’t get the most phenomenal notes from sunmi. in fact, most of kenta’s notes were straight up critiques.

sunmi didn’t hate the poor kid. in fact, he seemed like he had a great personality. it always shined during his introductions but....that was usually it. it never showed on stage. it kind of faded to the background, really. it was a shame because kenta had that likeable personality but because his stages always were so boring to sunmi (plus the fact that he got no screentime whatsoever), she figured he was better off trying next year. she was not expecting that he’d actually make it to the next round. so she decides to start with his notes first.

“takada kenta,” she points to him. “you, i did not expect to make it past the next round. i didn’t even factor that into my notes. you fade into the background into obscurity far too much. you have the personality but it falls flat beyond your intros. i need you to work hard this week and prove me wrong. i feel like you have it in you but we can’t keep dragging it out of you. it’s too late in the competition, okay? so you must work hard.”

“choi yewon, i actually really like the fact that you have an acute awareness of your talents. same with you, changbin. you both are aware of your strengths and use that to your advantage.” she continues on this way, briefly going over her notes with them so they have an idea of how she’s feeling with each of their development.

sunmi wasn’t as hands-on with the decision making process as she assumes other coaches probably are. she watches, allowing them to brainstorm topics together. for some reason they seem to have it in their head that nova’s brand is mainly just dancing. they’ve been griping about having to push themselves beyond their limits. she’s even heard them trying to come up with other ways to make the performance stand out more. sunmi allows the conversations to continue a bit longer before intervening with some advice.

“i know you all seem to think that nova is nothing but creative stages and strong dancing but you have to look beyond that. nova has a variety of senior artists — use them as your framework. especially nova performances by trainees in the past. nova isn’t about doing something flashy for the sake of flashy-ness. i’ve personally gathered that nova has more of the brand of lasting impressions through memorable stages. doing something flashy and creative is okay as long as your stage doesn’t suffer for it. keep that in mind going forward.”

for the most part, sunmi feels like they have a hardworking group on their hands. they work together well and they communicate. it doesn’t take long for them to come up with a song choice and a team name (Polaris, sunmi smiles just a tiny bit as they decide the name) so sunmi feels like maybe they don’t need much hands on coaching. just mainly some pointers and refinement. as time went on, she realised she was wrong. she was fine with being incorrect if that means she can whip them up into better shape.

she and wendy came up with a training regimen for their vocals. sunmi tried to get them into the habit of not showing their mistakes when they’re doing full run-throughs of the dance. sunmi could see them and would tel them to fix it. she also tells them it’s better for them to not make mistakes as obvious. what if it was the main stage and they froze because they messed up? that wouldn’t go over well for them.

then came the issue of kenta. she told him before that he had the personality, he just had trouble translating it into the stage. as she’s teaching them the choreography and positions it seems like kenta isn’t getting it. it’s a little frustrating to say the least — especially because sunmi personally feels like kenta either shouldn’t be in the competition still or in the nova team specifically. but he’s here so she’s going to work with him until he gets sick of hearing her voice.

it seems like kenta usually needs the most help in regards to performance in general so sunmi takes a lot of time to review with him. “right now you perform and you just don’t exist amongst everyone else. you’re easy to skip over on stage because you don’t bring any of that energy of your personality into your performance,” she tells him. she doesn’t look pleased with what he had to show her. he’s almost boring to watch when he’s performing. it hurts to think that because he’s a bright kid. sunmi sighs.

“not everyone is centre material but you have to make due with the positions you have, okay? there are idols that aren’t the most popular in the group that have viral fancams because they have that energy that draws everyone’s attention. like luxe’s xayah recently had a fancam of hers blow up because of her energy on stage. it’s possible to get out of this box of being forgotten on stage.”

they go through the routine again, this time with sunmi recording him so they could review it together. again she’s disappointed. “you dance stiffly. like you’re clenched or something.” she actually wants to say he dances like he has a stick up his ass but she doesn’t need that going on television.

“let me tell you something: there’s a difference between doing a routine and performing. just like how there’s a difference between actually learning something and just retaining information to spit it back out for the sake of a test. I need you to go from just doing to the routine to actually performing. now the next time I see you, I expect improvements.” she leaves it at that for the day.

seunghun takes initiative and approaches sunmi regarding his own mistakes which she appreciates. he seems to be nervous for his dancing and sunmi understands it. she tells him he just needs to be refined but to come out of that headspace that dancing in general is somehow different than “idol dancing”. “dancing is dancing,” she tells him. “you know you have to get rid of those weird nuances you put in your routine that gives it a little extra texture, you know you have to be on count with your moves and sharp. you apply that to idol routines as well.”

in comparison to the other guys, sunmi is much happier with yewon’s performance. “I feel like you really know what you’re doing but you’re a good dancer as well. I want you to take more liberties when you’re delivering your lines. I know the ats member just really stands there and gives his lines but I need you to really make it more your own.” otherwise yewon’s rap lines would be overlooked easily as she’s just following the performance. “I don’t mean break out into a whole routine. just spice it up, okay? I need my attention on you solely when you deliver those lyrics.”

kenta improved a bit with his performance (thank god) but sunmi noticed when he was singing the bridge towards the end of the song there was something throwing her off. she didn’t like the way he was delivering the line. she stopped them from continuing and focused on kenta. “you sound too strangled here,” she tells him. “sound more melancholic without restricting your vocal chords.” she shows him by example, singing his “추억들이 마른 꽃잎처럼 산산이 부서져가” line. she tells him to follow suit. he isn’t quite getting it. a part of how he performs it makes her eye twitch. she shakes her head and repeats the line again.

kenta isn’t getting it.

they go back and forth a few times. every time she repeats the lines, the aggression in her singing is evident. “I need more feeling from you,” she tells him. “do it again from the chorus before the bridge. kenta if you mess up you’re going to do one of wendy’s plank sessions to help your vocals.”

by the end of the day, kenta seemed to have sung the line properly.

it was a long week. sunmi wasn’t able to go every day for long hours but she tried to keep in touch with them whenever possible. she definitely made time to see them before the final day. “I wanted to say that I’m proud of you all. no one in this team was perfect going into this. I hope all of you realise that. but I’ve seen so much improvement in a lot of you and I’m proud. remember our lessons, our warmups, our tips. you guys got this tomorrow. good luck team Polaris!”

#will format after work #not for points! just for canon #rkmga5 #rkmga5groups #solo

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troubleisfree · 6 years

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this is going to be like a very long, detailed, and mostly my personal observations and notes. as it was my first time seeing neymar and the brazil nt in person, i want to remember everything i can while its still fresh. it was a very exciting and at the same time surreal experience because i see those people all the time on tv games and now there they were few feet away from me...

i took the photos and videos. i am usually pretty good at that but i guess the excitement got the better of me because they did not come out fabulous. tumblr is being stupid with not letting me upload more then one video in a post, and i wanted everything together, so i ended up putting them up on youtube.

the hotel 9/3/2018.

so first i went to the hotel (very close to where i live) on monday 9/3. as it was labor day, i was off work and at a bbq/pool party abt 10 miles from home for the day. brazil nt was scheduled to leave the hotel for their first training at 4pm so i left the party early and, after some traffic drama, made it to the hotel little after 3.40pm. there were not too many people so i had a decent view but i also moved around a bit. some of the support staff was coming out already. a few minutes later, firmino was the first i saw, he waved and went straight to the bus.

then a group of marquinhos, douglas costa, fabinho etc came out together. only marquinhos paid any attention to the fans, waving and smiling but didnt stop.

then another group, including casemiro.

then alisson came out. he was really sweet, smiled, stopped with the fans, signed stuff. interacted the most of anyone else with the fans.

then another group - i think richarlison (idk him really), filipe luis, thiago silva. thiago was just as nice as alisson, stopped with the fans, signed stuff. he looked to me a bit shorter irl then on tv...

willian came out alone next.

at this point, it was almost 4pm, my excitement had totally built up and i was so anxious to see my boy ney. i started thinking that maybe he will get there separately cuz i hadnt seen coutinho and tite either. but there he was! coming out last with barely a minute to spare before 4pm (the timestamp on my photo is 3:58:59pm lol). he was the very last one to come out, chewing on something, with his typical swagger. he waved but didnt stop and the bus left as soon as he got on. he looked just as hot in person as on tv, the cameras dont lie lol. really handsome and very very sexy! i mean, i expected it, i have seen his photos lol but omg he looks so damn good you cant help those dirty thoughts! i felt like an absolute fangirl! this is neither here or there, but he looked to me a little bigger then i expected. just kinda...fuller?

i only took one photo of him cuz i wanted to look at him with my own eyes rather than thru the camera ;)

it was such an incredible experience seeing neymar and the rest of the guys in person so close that i was shaking after! like for real my hands were shaking, my legs were shaking. and i couldnt stop grinning for a good half an hour after. i went to the boardwalk to calm down a bit and just absorb the experience. people passing by probably thought im crazy or reading love letters on my phone or something cuz i just couldnt stop grinning but i didnt give a flying fuck what they were thinking - i had just seen neymar!

my notes and impressions:

1. OMFG I SAW NEYMAR FROM FEW FEET AWAY. just that, my brain was really way too frazzled to process any other impressions lol

the game 9/7/2018

so after some c. drama, despite my initial hopes, i had accepted that i am not going to go to the game. and then the day before i find out I AM GOING!!! i was so freaked out with excitement lol!!!

getting there was so frustrating! first i had forgot to charge my phone before leaving work so i only had like 30% which was nowhere near good enough for my plans of copious pics and vids. so i had to run into a bodega to buy a charger for the car. then for some complicated reason we had to leave from the ues and fucking DRIVE. crosstown. on a friday. at 6pm. straight thru freakin time square with its gazillion tourists. on top of rush hour. even though the schedule said 8pm, the tickets said the event starts at 7.30 and i wanted to be there early to see the warmups and at 7.02 we were still not even inside lincoln tunnel ffs! i was FUMING and ready to jump outta the car and start yelling at the other cars to get a goddamn fucking move on i got places to be people to see! just ugh. so frustrating. the only upside of taking so long to get to the stadium was that by the time we got there my phone was almost 100%...

anyway, finally at 7.25pm we got there and thru all the checks etc (my joke of a miniature purse was shown as an example to another girl with a slightly bigger purse and praised by security for being perfect size which pissed me off because of their dumbass rules it had is smaller then my regular WALLET ffs and it barely even fits my phone so in no way is it a ‘perfect size’ except maybe for dolls or tiny aliens. but they had the stupid clear bag / tiny purse rule in effect and all i cared at that point was getting in so whatever. still, fucking terrorists. obviously also for more important reasons than just being the cause of my having to have a tiny purse but yeah fucking terrorists).

the stadium was buzzing already. apparently the 7.30 start was for the warmups so perfect for me. this was the view from our seats.

when we got to our seats, the usa team was out already. and the canarinho was interacting with fans. and then brazil came out.

youtube

ney was warming up with coutinho

after stretches, he did some practice shooting. this one didnt go in.

after that the team went back inside and the canarinho came behind the barriers to interact with the fans (photo below especially taken for a.)

time for the teams to come out. for some reason the tunnel was on my side of the stadium but the benches were on the other side and they lined up there for the anthems. (again, for a.)

youtube

then the us anthem and, since we dont do things here on a small scale, the flag rolled out was the size of the whole stadium lol

in the first half neymar was playing in front of me. in the beginning of the game i took a few photos and then i stopped because i wanted to watch the game and see with my own eyes not concentrate on the phone... still, here they are

here is the penalty. i didnt catch it go in because i was looking at it happening rather then my phone. i also removed the sound cuz there was screaming when it went in lol. it was a VERY soft penalty btw...

youtube

my notes and impressions:

1. it was a friendly so not surprisingly, it was not an edge-of-your-seat game. still brazil dominated the crap out of the usa team. the difference in class and quality was glaringly obvious.

2. it was strange not supporting my country’s team. but only when i thought about it. otherwise my soccering heart belongs to brazil 100%, without a doubt.

3. watching a game live vs tv: both have pros and cons. again, after watching every week on tv, seeing these guys live in person is simply incredible. just absolutely surreal. like, they are moving, running, kicking right in front of you. you can hear the ball being kicked. feel the tension. see what they are doing without the ball. watch their interactions away from the camera. feel the power of the crowd. its just so much more immersive. at the same time, watching at home the curated game content is... convenient. you get closeups. you get facts from the commentators. your bathroom is nearby (i did carefully time my liquid intake that day to avoid venturing into stadium bathrooms and thank god it worked lol). so imo, watching a game on tv is not really that much worse then watching it live. i always felt like i am getting a completely filtered version on tv and it is filtered but it is not horrible. yes, you are missing out on stuff but its not a total loss.

4. the stadium was about 40% full, 32k of 82k capacity. but it felt more like 2/3, probably because on the other side many sections were not even open so most everyone attending was spread out in one long side and the two goal sides.

5. brazil fans were out strong! i’d say about 70% of the people were brazil fans, and of those about 90% had on brazil jerseys. yellow galore lol. the usa fans were constantly chanting but when the brazil fans decided to make the effort they drowned them out easily and completely!

6. the usa fans were in the section behind one of the goals. throughout most of the game i thought oh cute they are constantly singing their hearts out supporting their clearly outplayed loosing team. then they did iceland’s viking chant. yes, it is a cool chant but its iceland’s. idk why so many have been plagiarizing it! first portugal did it in the wc, then i saw another, and now the american outlaws (the usa ultras)... let iceland have its thing people. i did not appreciate it but no big deal. BUT then they did something that pissed me off - few minutes before neymar was substituted in the 80 min they chanted fuck neymar. i was not best pleased to say the least! lick sweaty balls jealous motherfuckers!

7. we did a wave that went around the stadium like 4 times!

8. there was a small group of 13-14yo girls right behind us that whenever ney touched the ball or looked our way screamed ‘neymaaaarrr, neymaaaaarrrrrrrr, vaiiiiiii, vai neymaaaaaaarrrrrrrr’. one girl in particular was especially shrill and vociferous in her dedication to ney. no sense of decorum whatsoever lol. my bf was smirking at me and was like why dont you go sit with them. i on the other hand was thinking that while i wouldnt go sit with them, if some of my tumblr girls were here.... well those girls wouldnt even know what hit them!

9. i would definitely go to a game again!

10. while the seats we had were really good, i wish there was an option to be even closer and still see the whole pitch. then again, for me it would probably only qualify as ‘close enough’ if im allowed to run along the sidelines lol. but then i wont really be able to watch the game. (hey maybe i can hang from the skycam hahaaaa!). yes, i am a neymar fan but i am also a fan of the game so i want both. i did not have any input in the choice of these seats but i think it was a good trade off - the closest where you can both see the guys and actual game. if i have to pick the tickets for the next game (hopefully i will go again some time!), i would be tempted by the lower levels but the barriers are pretty high so... i would probably go for the same - second level first row.

11. there was a guy sitting next to me with his date and he was trying to be all knowledgeable and impress the girl but half the stuff he was telling her was wrong lol! he kept pointing to douglas costa and telling her its firmino. i was cracking myself up listening to him talk complete bullshit but with such grand authority about technical game stuff.

12. at some point a loose ball ended up into the stands, some guy caught it, and 2 min later security came to take it away from him :/ why not let the guy just keep the ball?!? stupid. if it was me, i’d have made a fuss, maybe pretended that it hit me in the face and threatened to sue the stadium cuz they have not ensured the spectators’ safety or some such crap lol. see if they dont let me keep it to avoid a lawsuit.

13. the canarinho (for a.) - he was really great! interacting with the fans, dancing, hugging fans. really a fantastic mascot and absolute joy to watch! during the halftime he was out on the pitch, doing keepie uppies (in those shoes too!!! showing his brazilianness lol), and kicking balls into the stands

14. i was totally impressed by neymar. it was just so obvious how good he is and no, not because i am biased, which i admittedly am. i expected him to be good, duh, but to see it so clearly was amazing. he is not a fluke, he is the real deal. he stands out among even such quality peers as the rest of brazil nt! just something in the way he interacts with the ball, the way he moves, ‘sees’ his teammates without looking, turns on a dime, does the unexpected. i dont think he ‘thinks’ or ‘calculates’ at all his moves or that it is just a lot of practice, i think it is pure instinct in the moment, i.e. phenomenal natural talent. even though this was not one of his greatest games for sure, he just looked... special and different from the rest. most of the brazil players were displaying their clearly high quality but there is just something unique in the way neymar plays. even if you dont know who he is, what teams are playing, anything at all, you’d still pick him out and know that there is something extraordinary about this guy. if you unfocus your eyes so you see just all same yellow shirt figures, you would still be able to pick out which one is neymar. he did a bit of his skills and tricks and of course i wished he had done more. what i took away from watching him play live was that, in this average game, he looked as good playing live as he has in the past when i have watched his great games on tv. i dont know why. but watching neymar play live was an experience of its own. it felt like his average ‘live’ performance is as good as his great ‘tv’. i cant even imagine what it would be like watching one of his great performances live. while i dont feel im loosing so much watching games on tv vs live as mentioned above, i definitely feel that watching neymar in particular play live is on another level and im missing out when i watch him on tv instead of live. he is absolutely worth the price of admission. i was so disappointed in him for his wc antics but thats in the past now, and i have been reminded how right it feels to be his fan, not just for the nice things he does for kids/charity, his fun personality (and lets not forget the good looks, and oh boy they are SO GOOD lol) but his undeniably outstanding talent on the pitch. his game is just incredible. i hope he keeps healthy. i hope he gets his temper under control not just for a few games but for good. and i pray he always has the freedom to shine like he rightfully can. i am rooting for him to get the appreciation and acknowledgement he deserves, unadulterated by behavioral issues or personal drama.

ok, imma stop now. this post is huge, even by my standards.

#brazil nt #brazil vs usa #neymar #thiago silva #marquinhos #alisson #filipe luis #willian #roberto firmino #9-7-2018 #game

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