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jennifer-jeong · 1 month

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Okay so first, I really love your LnD fics (patiently waiting for more of your amazing works) 🥹🫶 and hear me out...

Reader who is reincarnated as a Fae being and has been alive since. But the thing is, her wings had been clipped off (with the use of silver chains, meaning she's vulnerable against silver) for a century and is in Linkon city since she feels that part of her (her wings) are somewhere hidden in the city (Think of Maleficent live action ig where her wings were taken from her) and meets the guys and so on :)

HI ANON THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR ASK AND YOUR KIND WORDS FJDSKLAFJSDL;A I APPRECIATE IT SM!! TY FOR INTERACTING!! I’m so glad to hear you like my fics and I promise more are on the way hehehe please do request me again if you have more ideas!!

I hope I did your prompt justice! I definitely did think a lot about maleficent when writing this hehehehe

[Fluff + Angst] [Love and Deepspace Boys x Fae!Reader] Angel

CONTENT Angst to fluff, gender neutral reader, mentions of violence, blood, trauma, torture, healing alongside them, mutual pining between you and the boys, happy and open ended endings! ALL CHARACTERS ARE 18+

Your wings were a pretty and pearly milky white. Your wings resembled those of high flying birds. They were thick enough to allow gliding and also strong enough to give you lots of control in the air. They were iridescent in the sun and carried you high in the bright sky. The air was thin but more refreshing up there. You played with clouds and soared through the endless blue. It was freedom. It made you feel alive, warm.

It was your gift, but unfortunately, it was on someone else’s wishlist.

You’d never been a spiteful being, nor had you ever hurt a fly. But when silver chains ripped your flesh and tore your muscle to take your wings, severing your very soul from your body. When they destroyed your forest, your home, your family, your heart. You swore to make them suffer.

You were powerful and hunting these fools down was nothing difficult for you. The problem was hunting without your wings, your best weapon.

The lack of mobility and being forced to fight on the ground made it so that you could maim the weak ones, but you could never reach the ones who profited off the suffering of you and your people.

Linkon city is where they were. You knew this. You could feel your wings there. You also knew that you’d need to hide, figure out who did what and how to get your damn wings back. It would take time, but time was all you had as a fae. You’d do whatever it took to make them pay.

It’d take years, but it was worth it.

2 years later and you’ve already made moves to apprehend (and torture) a few key figures, always leaving them in front of the police station when you were done. You still had so much good in you and it always prevented you from killing. But it made you seethe that they were filthy fucking rich from what they stole from your homeland. They sold your resources and displayed your bodies, your wings, like they were trophies. Life was still cold and depressing for you but you did manage to make some friends in Linkon. They’d even help you with your mission. You only trusted them with the information because they had similar goals.

XAVIER

Xavier was a local policeman you had met a few decades into your plot when you were hired to help with the case. He was coincidentally also investigating illegal hunters and black markets selling goods stolen from other civilizations such as yours. It was a big ring of crime and he was determined to end the atrocities that were being committed in it. Meeting you was just extra motivation on top of his already relentless drive for justice. You became investigative partners since you were both capable in combat and often investigated the same people anyways.

Xavier was kind, gentle, quiet, and stronger than he let on. He always worked without expectation of reward and you appreciated that. You just wanted justice and he wanted the same. It helped that he didn’t seek publicity because it would’ve made your life harder since you were probably wanted as a vigilante from before. Xavier taught you his philosophies and you realized you’d been consumed by your desire for revenge, unable to enjoy life outside of it. You admired him for his morals, so you learned from him, and it made you two grow closer. He was more than happy to help, it was so rewarding to see you slowly become your bubbly self that he guesses you lost a long time ago.

He had his suspicions that you might be fae. The man was smart but he played his cards carefully, he always held them close. He acted aloof with you and pretended to not constantly stare at the back of your shirt, trying to see if you had imprints of missing wings on your shoulder blades. He also figured that your motivation for wanting to crack these cases came from somewhere. If he also managed to figure out that you’d been behind some of the previous mysterious arrests, he’d turn a blind eye. He knew your actions weren’t crimes. He felt glad that you got them back for what they did to you and your people.

After a few years of planned raids and dozens of arrests, one of the recovered items from the warehouse was a beautiful pair of wings. Still buzzing with magic, craving to feel the wind again. You felt them when they were being transported to the police HQ. The surge of energy that continued to approach you made you hold your breath and bounce your leg out of pure anxiety. Xavier put a hand on your shoulder to try to calm you down. He’d already figured out what was going on just by looking at you. You didn’t need to say a word. It was something that slowly came naturally since you two spent so much time together. You smiled and he smiled warmly back. You were in the middle of panicking because Xavier was still touching you when you were presented with your missing soul, your wings. You requested to view the “evidence” privately with Xavier and wasted no time in feeling your delicate wings with your fingertips again.

Xavier stood behind you, his right hand found its way to your upper back. He finally traced the outlines of your cut wings. It made you gasp at first, but you trusted him. As he continued to feel them, you shivered. They were scars, they were more sensitive. He stepped to your side and you turned to partially face him, his hand sliding off of you. You looked into his eyes and your longstanding feelings for Xavier were making their presence known by heating up your face, flushing your cheeks. You swore you saw a slight tinge of red on the tips of his ears too. He spoke to you in his familiar voice that you loved so much. He decided to tease you slightly.

“I think I always knew that you’d have wings, you were too perfect to not be an angel.”

ZAYNE

Zayne was a surgeon you’d met one day when he treated your wounds since you collapsed outside the hospital. He discovered the scars where your wings used to sit on your back. You were high off the morphine when he checked your back for more injuries so you barely even realized.

He questioned you but not in the way you expected. You thought he wouldn’t know what they were or try to take advantage of you. But instead he asked what you knew about the hunters that took your wings. He already knew exactly what happened to you just by looking. He was involved in cracking down on research related to Fae and Lemurians since there were people trying to fuse their genetics with these races to gain their beneficial traits such as immortality.

He knew some things you didn’t know and vice versa. You both began working on this together, investigating research facilities, interrogating suspects, and fighting only when needed. You were unstoppable and the law didn’t plan to ask you to let up. You both hand delivered them collectors and shadowy figures that had hid from the police for so long. When you fought, Zayne could both heal and attack from afar while you rushed them head on. You were unafraid because you believed in your partner, your trust in Zayne only grew as the years went on.

Early on, Zayne encouraged you to let go of the spite, the revenge. You knew he was right when he said that they did not benefit you in this. He saw the rage in you and could see that it was hurting you, mentally and physically. You listened, you knew better. You stopped the relentless tortures and instead, let the collectors rot in jail, but not before you got in a few good punches. Zayne watched you slowly come out of your shell again, actually taking the time to enjoy the little things in life instead of being hyper focused on revenge. He’d be lying if he said you weren’t one of the most rewarding patients he’d ever had.

Working with your partner was definitely quite the rollercoaster. He was always so professional and mature but would also randomly tease you as if you were kids, albeit with a fully deadpan expression. Zayne was reserved and often came off as cold but he made you so warm. You knew he was an extremely compassionate and kind person under his exterior and you admired him for it. Zayne also adored you in the same way. You had gone through so much pain and suffering but you still smiled and shined like the sun.

Over time you adapted to live without your wings but after one specific raid on a collector’s mansion, you knew exactly what the collector’s prized possession was because it belonged to you. You could feel your wings. They still surged with energy and upon seeing them when you went to do follow up investigation, you immediately called to them. They flew towards you and you inspected them, almost not believing the scene in front of you. Zayne stayed close ready to support you, especially if you were to fuse with your wings again, he knew it’d be hard to keep them hidden and it’d just bring up so much previous trauma.

You turned to face him slowly, leaving your wings behind you. You hesitated. Not letting your wings fuse with you yet. Zayne looked into your eyes, trying to comfort you with his presence. After a few seconds, Zayne held out his hand, you took it. His skin was cold but somehow it made yours burn, the heat spreading through your body as your face warmed up. He spoke quietly to you, telling you to take your time. You closed your eyes and took deep breaths, your thumb slowly caressing the back of Zayne's hand as he did the same back.

Zayne had always been good at comforting you with his words, maybe it just came naturally since he was a doctor. Regardless, you knew it was exactly what you needed right now. You didn’t know what you’d do after you got your wings back. Would you go home? Would you continue this mission with Zayne? Would having your wings make it harder? Would it make it easier? You confided in Zayne as you spoke your thoughts out loud. Once you were done, you were overwhelmed and he could tell. He started his reply with a sentence that filled you with warmth, hope, and a little bit of giddiness. He speaks, teasing you a bit at the end, his face flushing.

“It doesn’t matter what you are or if you have the wings or not, you’re beautiful and you should follow your heart… especially if it’s here.”

RAFAYEL

Rafayel was a painter “looking for art or inspiration” that you met at an underground event where illegal goods were being sold, but you quickly figured out it was a front. Rafayel was a Lemurian, you sensed it immediately since you weren’t human. As a fae you had the ability to sense certain things, and so did Rafayel. Upon meeting each other at an art exhibition, you quickly exchanged information and agreed to meet up again the next day. You almost simultaneously revealed that you were both after the hunters that destroyed your homes when you finally got to chat alone.

The two of you start to frequent more underground events, both of you being well connected and hiding your true intentions very well. You use the events to gather information and then put your plans into action when your targets are alone. It worked amazingly well, you were both extremely skilled and efficient at what you did. It slowly chipped away at this network that shamelessly destroyed your beautiful homes.

Rafayel was a bit of a loose cannon. The man was so sweet and bashful one second and deadly serious the next. He was so gentle with you but didn’t hesitate when there was business that needed to be done. He could easily switch it on and off too. You were just glad you were on his side of this war.

Both you and Rafayel were out for revenge but something about your partnership changed you two. You both slowly helped each other heal, confiding your worries and traumas in each other. You were still both ruthless when it came to apprehending the people who did you wrong but the tortures stopped and the warmth returned outside of the violence. You two actually started to make good memories and live life instead of just trying to survive. You’d often watch the sunset over the ocean together, it was peaceful and you’d chat about anything and everything.

Eventually, after dozens of raids and missions, Rafayel finds weapons that used to belong to his family at the same time you find your wings again. You kept quiet until the mission was done, knowing you could feel your wings but not wanting to startle Rafayel. You looked at the weapons with him, you put your hand on his back to show your support for him. His eyes stayed glued on the knives and his face was a painful melancholic expression. You rubbed circles into his upper back with your thumb, hoping it could ease some of the pain caused by resurfacing memories.

After ensuring that the weapons would be sent to his personal studio, he continues to explore the mansion with you, following you while you find your wings. You communicated to him about your wings and he knew this would be tough for you too but you were both glad you had each other in this moment.

When you saw your wings in a display case at the end of one of the hallways, you bit back tears. It was a lot to take in. You passed millions of dollars worth of paintings to reach the most priceless thing in this whole building. Rafayel lags slightly behind you, wanting to give you a moment. You turn to face him, telling him that you don’t know if you want the wings back or not. Would they make you complete again? They can’t bring anyone back, can’t take away the pain. You couldn’t hide them like Rafayel could hide his true form, would it be a nuisance?

Rafayel makes his way towards you as you ramble, clearly distressed. He quickly envelopes you in a hug, letting you cry lightly into his chest, a painting of Lucifer on the wall next to you. You stay like that for a while. When he finally pulls back, he cups your face with his hands. You were his fallen angel, he wasn’t always great with his words but he truly spoke from the heart when comforting you like this.

“You never needed these wings to be complete, you’re ethereal with or without them. You’ll always be my angel, no matter what.”

Thank you for reading!

|| MASTERLIST<3 ||

#love and deepspace x reader #lads x reader #l&ds x reader #xavier x reader #xavier fluff #xavier angst #zayne x reader #zayne fluff #zayne angst #rafayel x reader #rafayel fluff #rafayel angst #love and deepspace fluff #love and deepspace angst #lads fluff #l&ds fluff #j's silly ramblings #j's asks

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noneorother · 20 days

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The art director & the Good Omens book cover tier list of doom, part 3

Part 1 l Part 2 l Part 3

I am your resident Art Director/Good Omens enthusiast, and welcome to my completely meta-free book cover tier list. Listen, making a book cover is HARD. I should know. But while we salute these artists for their hard work and time, I think we can all admit that once in a while, the vision is just not on. And on very rare occasions, publishers seemed to have managed to commission the cover art directly from hell... here's where we left off last time:

21. Labas zīmes, Latvian cover

Our boys are back! And they are so ready to join the Dead Boy Detective agency. I would say that Latvians don't wear much tartan, so Argyle might seem like a similar print, but it just seems so... not Good Omens. Much like Crowley's flying purple people eater tail and Aziraphale's Conan the Barbarian sword, we're straying into niche AU fan fiction territory here. I mean, it's not *wrong*, but it certainly ain't right, either.

Tier: Does the Job

22. Bons Augùrios, Portuguese

Let me start by saying this cover is so close to being in the blessed category. The layout and spacing are divine, the imagery is simple and whimsical, it reflects the humour inside the gravitas to give you an idea of the *feeling* of reading Good Omens. So few of these covers have gotten this aspect of good design right. Honestly, I would slow clap if it wasn't for that random FLAME JIZZ stuck to the bottom right hand corner of the book. Who's idea was that? Dagon's?

Tier: Great

23. Semne Bune, Romanian cover

I admire two things about this cover: 1) Their utter commitment to a clean 3-colour palette and comprehensible layout. 2) Symbolic demon giving a principality head joke RIGHT ON THE FRONT COVER. This designer had balls. cotillion-sized balls. Now, does Aziraphale's sword have a sentient rooster tassel that watches said head-giving in horror? I sure hope not, but I don't see how that could be allegorical so, I'm torn. I feel like this goes in two categories for completely different reasons. And seeing as I'm in charge around here...

Tier: Great & Not so Good (Omens)

23. Semne Bune, Romanian cover cont.

Compared to the last cover's gigantic double-entendre, this feels so tame and logical. The text is centred and balanced. There's breathing room, and we have wing symbolism! I've never seen a cover try to split Terry and Neil's names like that, which is a fun twist but BY GOD that center line is not straight near the right end of the feathers and it is sending this cover straight down to Does the Job. It's grounded there forever.

Tier: Does the Job

25. HYVIÄ ENTEITÄ, Finnish cover

In this list, having something actually *relevant* to the main plot of the book and not mangling and main characters really puts you in rarefied air. All the motorcycles are book accurate which means somebody read something! Would I have ever picked the empty parking lot of Famine's restaurant as a subject worth a cover? Absolutely not. But the sick 80s lightning tips it into "fine" territory. The text is yellow. It's pretty.

Tier: Does the Job

26. Head ended, Estonian cover.

My face after staring at this cover for ten minutes and finally realizing that this is Hastur and Ligur waiting around for Crowley to pull up:

The artist's face after watching me do that:

Do I even need to rate this? It's called HEAD ENDED. I don't know how to be funnier than that.

Tier: WTF

27. Dobry Omen, Polish cover

Some good points for trying to be original with the layout of the title by drawing a custom pitchfork "Y", but the heinous kerning and the fact the whole text block is not even centred kind of makes me take all the points back. I feel like we're pretty heavy on the demonic, extremely light on the angelic in this take. Maybe it's because on his death bed the lead guitarist of White Snake will finally admit to having designed this cover in his spare time.

Tier: Not so Good (Omens)

28. Good Omens, Hungarian cover

If I told you this designer did not read the book, and instead just watched the trailer of The Omen (the movie) and vibed this heinous brown carpet swatch into existence, you would one hundred percent believe me. I can't even talk about the faux belle-époque font right now. I am irrationally angry.

Tier: WTF

29. Good Omens, Bulgarian cover

WHO. IS. DADDY. WIZARD?? Is all I can think when I look at this cover. Aziraphale & Grommet are recognizable enough, and you could make the case for telescope monkey being Adam, but I need to find this cover designer and shake them until they tell me who this deranged Gargamel is supposed to be. I must know.

Tier: Bad

30. BELAS MALDIÇÕES, Portuguese cover

After all we've been through on this list so far, this truly sucks. It's not even weird. It's just puce text layered atop text to create a great yawn of a cover. Shout out to the designer of the Diablo PC game font, I hope you got paid.

Tier: Bad

Part 3 roundup:

#good omens 2 #art director talks good omens #go season 2 #good omens #good omens fandom #tier list #good omens analysis #book cover #cover art #gomens

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wistfulcynic · 11 days

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how bridgerton season three could have prevented its mondrich problem

it's pretty clear that Bridgerton S3 has no idea what to do with the Mondriches. Without the Duke of Hastings there to anchor them to the main storyline they're just sort of adrift. In principle, the show's choice to ennoble them via their son is a good one, unfortunately there is a key flaw in the execution that makes the whole thing fall flat.

here's how that could have been prevented.

first we need to delve a bit into some trivia about British peerages. The hereditary ones are in descending order of rank: duke, marquess, earl, viscount, baron. A duchy (the title and land holding of a duke) is big and has a big name to go with it, usually the name of a county or city, eg Cornwall, Cambridge, Sussex, Westminster, Devonshire, among those titles currently held. Dukes are either members of the royal family or very high ranking hereditary nobles. Duchies come with a lot of land, which in the 19th century meant farms, tenants, country estates, etc etc. They're a Big Deal.

why is this important? Well, it's not, really. Regency romances have always played fast and loose with noble titles and Bridgerton in particular features some frankly absurd ones. However, even with that understood, the title the show chose to give the Mondriches' son, Baron of Kent, is especially ridiculous.

Kent is a county, a pretty big one. Baron is the lowest rank of nobility. Hereditary barons' titles usually refer to a town or smaller land areas. But the biggest reason Baron of Kent would not be a thing in the 19th century is that Kent is and historically has been either a duchy, a march, or an earldom, frequently royal ones. The current Duke of Kent is a cousin of the late Queen.

so why bother making up a Baron of Kent in the first place when the Duke of Kent is right there? Bridgerton is pretty aggressively ahistorical but there is actually a real historical basis for that. The royal dukedom of Kent was awarded in 1799 but then in 1820 the duke died without an heir and the title became (temporarily) extinct.

how perfect then, for the title in its Bridgerton iteration to be inherited by a distant relative of this royal duke, so distant that he's the son of a working class family. That would make the house and jewellery collection that came with their title--both far too opulent for a baron--much more plausible. It would also give Queen Charlotte (another character the show mishandles) something to do besides pout about how dull the season is. Imagine if she decided to take under her wing the boy who inherited her late cousin's title. Imagine the potential for conflict with the boy's parents, the struggle they would have balancing their new (massive, remember duchies are big) responsibilities to their tenants along with their role in society and how that would vibe with their identities and their roots. Instead of the basic boring snobbery of "you can't work in a club and be an aristocrat" the Mondriches could really cause a stir by bringing working class ideals into a hidebound ancient duchy. They could clash with the queen and with the other nobles, they could inspire some valuable change. And as the parents of a duke there would be very few people in a position to look down on them. They would really be able to do pretty much whatever they wanted and the exploration of what that might look like for regular people, good people, abruptly thrust into a position of near-limitless money and power, well. It has so much potential.

it would be interesting at any rate.

#bridgerton #bridgerton season three #will mondrich #alice mondrich #bridgerton meta

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faceless-es · 7 months

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Thoughts On Milgram Characters

(This is pretty lighthearted and doesn’t go too deep into them as characters, just silly thoughts that pop into my head)

Haruka - I kin this man. Ever since I saw Weakness and was hit by a fucking bus of relating to later being hit by a fucking train from All-Knowing and All-Agony. (If you all are curious I wrote an entire note on all the lyrics and how I relate when I first watched it and basically trauma dumping, may show it if demanded) Besides kinning him I feel a lot of empathy and attachment for him. Do I condone his actions? Hell nah, but I just want him to have therapy and love. I rest my case.

Es - I love them. (I don’t know if I kin them or if they’ve just taken over my very being but-) There’s never been a snarky 15 year old in fiction I have adored more. I love their personality. The sudden changes in their personality with the bell and such leads me to be very curious about them, and also deeply concerned. Their lack of memory does the same. I worry for their future. I worry for them. The theories don’t help. Don’t hurt them, please. I want to take them and carry them away. Also, they are very much gender. Their voice is also very gender.

Fuuta — Our silly little gamer boy. I love him. He’s cocky, but he also is remorseful. He’s reflective and realizes his actions were not just. He’s smart. He calls shit out. He has good intentions. He’s snarky, fiery, but kind and passionate and willing to learn. He’s very reasonable, like if I were a prisoner in MILGRAM I wish I would be like him. His actions make so much sense and I applaud him for it. He doesn’t deserve this shit. He’s been wronged. I love him, a lot. Everything about him. I want him to have happiness. I also love his voice.

Kazui — Our dearest gay(?) man. I love him. (I say that a lot, don’t I?) I want him to take me under his wing. I love him. He’s so fatherly. He’s so fucked up. He’s the dearest. I’d love to talk to him and help him accept himself. I’d also recommend therapy. Our dear man, he’s so attractive too. But that’s besides the point, he’s also just so goofy. I love him. He deserves to live a good life and be loved for who he is.

Shidou — Our lovely doctor. I feel like he’s very misunderstood in the community, so many people say he’s an organ harvester, when he would just ask families to pull the plug and donate organs to other patients. He’s often painted out to be some crazy mastermind, I may just be dumb but I don’t see that to be the case at all. I think he’s lovely. He may be a bit of a mystery but I still love him. He doesn’t seem to be an ill-intentioned person at all. He also deserves therapy. I’d love to help him. Poor guy.

Yuno — I love her a lot. I love her personality, no matter if it’s “cold” or not. I completely stand by her. She deserves the world. I feel she needs therapy. She’s amazing and I love her sassiness and bluntness. The way she calls shit out as it is. She’s great.

Mikoto — Oh, dearest! This man, I love him. I love him more and more each day. Every theory I read about him leads me to have more and more empathy for him. God, I worry a lot for him. I hate how much he’s sexualized. I hate how he can be misunderstood or demonized. He doesn’t deserve any of it. I want to take him far, far away from it all. He needs therapy. I want him to be okay. I fear for him. I want to give him a big hug, and tell him it’s okay. God, I love him and his complexities as a character.

Mahiru — Oh, dearest. She had such hopes and happiness all shatter. Poor girl. She needs therapy, for sure. I feel bad for her. She clearly didn’t know what she was doing was wrong. I really hope she will be okay. She doesn’t deserve such pain.

Amane — She may be a bit of a brat, but I’ve grown to care for her more the more I learn. Poor girl has been traumatized so badly, I feel so bad for her. I do not agree with the way she uses her religion, but what can you expect? She was raised in a cult, it’s all she’s known. This poor girl, I want to hold her close. She needs therapy. She’s 12 for gods sake. I wish she didn’t have to go through all this. I hope she will break free from the cult. I still am angered by how low her vote has been, seems many people dislike her. I get that her personality is not great, but you have to take into account her circumstances.

Muu — Ah, our manipulative rich girl. I can’t say I like her, since that’d be a lie, although her songs are absolute bops. Yet, I don’t despise her, I just very much dislike her personality. She’s manipulative and self centered, perhaps partly due to her upbringing. She was likely a bully herself too. Not good vibes from her. Does she deserve to be thrown into some torture chamber prison for that? No, of course not. Also, Muu, stay away from Haruka. I’m warning you.

Kotoko — Ah, the savior complex vigilante. If you couldn’t tell by that, I don’t like her much. In fact, her self righteousness gets on my nerves a tad. She judges anyone and everyone freely based solely on her beliefs, yet she always is in the right somehow? Don’t like it. Although, the way she is a parallel to us the audience is genius. Really makes you think, huh? I’ll give her that, she makes me think. I wish she’d get off of her high horse though. I can sense there’s some deep insecurity in her, perhaps that’s why she does this. She is interesting, and could become a better person with work perhaps.

I hope no one is offended by this, these are just some thoughts that popped into my head when thinking of them. It’s pretty lighthearted. I mean no disrespect, all the characters are morally grey! I just have my own biases and therefor like some more than others. Thanks for reading it you did!

#milgram #milgram project #haruka milgram #es milgram #kazui milgram #shidou milgram #fuuta milgram #yuno milgram #mahiru milgram #mikoto milgram #muu milgram #amane milgram #kotoko milgram

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hxhhasmysoul · 2 months

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the blatant didactic nature of the gojou's racist comment scene

the way people talk about the racist comment gojou made is baffling to me. completely baffling.

gege seems to have lefty leanings and jjk is pretty lefty too. it's not super lefty, it's not fully enlightened on all possible fronts, not even close to as left as most tumblr fandom would want to be or imagine themselves to be. most of you fail miserably because you are averse to self-awareness and interrogating your own internalised bigotry and it plays a huge part in the outrage about chapter 255.

jjk can be easily criticised from the left. very fucking easily, but most of the fandom just doesn't know how and any criticisms they make on how jjk handles lefty issues usually fall so fucking flat and honestly often veer into into criticising jjk from a right wing and fundie religious pov. that's just the truth, i've personally dissected some of such takes, mostly about the performative feminism in the fandom that is aggressively terf flavoured.

so i will do some more mild lefty critique in the context of the recent gojou flashback. by explaining to the loud functionally illiterate part of the fandom what gege likes to do in the story. like what very basic, unsubtle things gege does in the story to push their lefty leanings. so this is as much a critique of the text of jjk as it is of the fandom.

______

jjk's target audience are japanese teenagers. idk if gege thinks they are writing mostly for boys but i wouldn't be surprised by that, that is the stereotype, even though i think a lot of teens who aren't boys passionately read shounen titles too. especially something like jjk that aggressively panders to the not straight male gaze.

what gege did with gojou making the racist comment, they'd done before with toudou and megumi. and with yuuji and ozawa. i mean the very unsubtle rhetorical didactic technique they used. gege took their presumed teenage male reader by the hand and led him through a basic lefty concept.

(they also tried to do it with momo and nobara and mai but that one is such a mess and honestly a failure because gege mushes in too many topics and really doesn't stick the landing on some, that it fails to be a simplistic didactic moment like the other ones. it'd be too much of a tangent to go into it)

megs & toudou aka gege explaining to teen boys how not to end up someone akin to an incel

when toudou asked megumi his type, as readers are very clearly led to understand that megumi's point of view is the correct one.

megumi's answer about character being what matters gets clear approval from the two girls present. gege points to the teenage boy reader, look, if you want girls to think you’re okay, think like megumi.

and toudou is very clearly written as cringe, as a guy who tries to be edgy but simps for an idol. there is a stigma in japan against men who obsess about idols because they are considered immature, unable to handle having interactions with other humans and forming parasocial relationships instead. so toudou's rejection of megumi's thinking is put into context. his behaviour puts women off, and shouldn't be taken seriously because he's likely a virgin, too afraid to talk to a real woman.

the attempt is good, but not perfect. because the social ridicule men like toudou get is really annoying, because it's just trying to shame them into being "normal", and it doesn't address the underlying societal and cultural issues that lead to men turning to parasocial relationships for emotional fulfilment. so i'd say 8/10. pretty high because toudou at least was like: don't be homophobic.

ozawa & yuuji aka gege explaining to teen boys how to be a borderline decent human being, and to people with low self esteem due to cultural shunning that they deserve more than basic human decency

gege does the same thing with yuuji and ozawa. ozawa has deeply internalised her fatfobia and turned it into self hatred. she develops a crush on yuuji because he considered her attractive. yes, i think yuuji is generally great and would make a partner happy, but ozawa's primary motivation is that he's normal about her. this teaches the reader: yuuji is the best one among the boys because he's not shallow and fatphobic. but also with ozawa not pursuing yuuji when she got slim, it shows people like her not to settle for the bare minimum of being treated with basic decency. it would've been better if ozawa didn't turn slim because i've seen cis male fans really gloss over everything else, but it's not a completely meaningless attempt. it's just like 5/10.

gojou & miguel aka gege explaining to teen boys how certain widespread stereotypes are actually bigoted

gege has gojou say an openly bigoted thing, get instant push back for it from the affected party and apologise to the person he hurt. it literally teaches the reader, we all have biases, we all are ignorant about things, even the people who the society elevates and puts on a pedestal. and when that happens, when our ignorance is pointed out to us, when it hurts someone, we should not argue, we shouldn’t treat their push back as a personal attack, we should just simply apologise. there's no attempt at gojou apologetics in the text. 10/10, the best of gege's attempts.

racism and colourism and cultural chauvinism are prominent cultural and societal issues in japan. japan also has huge issues with abelism, misogyny, queerphobia, fatphobia to name the biggest ones i can think of. but also these issues are pervasive in all other countries around the world, just to varying degrees. there's no country that is perfect on any of these, some are objectively better on some, but never all, than others and some market themselves as better but are actually fucking awful.

one of the most globalised things is bigotry, it spreads like wildfire. but it also spreads in ways that most people don't understand. you need to be taught critical thinking and reading comprehension and actually taught that they can exist in the first place to pick up on these things, no one is born with these skills and knowledge. if people never encounter stereotypes like "black people are naturally stronger" challenged or discussed, they will not know that 1. they are not true, 2. that they are actually harmful. because on the surface it kinda looks like praise, and people will propagate it thinking that it's praise. gojou isn't trying to insult miguel, his apology makes it clear. he lived in a culture where this opinion was widespread and never thought about it, it vaguely sounded like praise to his ignorance. it doesn't mean that what he said wasn't racist because his intentions were good. i've written before what i think about using intentions to excuse shitty behaviour, i've actually written about it specifically in the context of how the fandom treats gojou's shitty behaviour.

we all have these internalised bigoted opinions in ourselves, not because we're all bad people but because we're surrounded by them. as children we initially trust adults until we learn better that not everyone should be trusted. or that some people can be trusted about some stuff but not everything. so we take what we hear from them at face value. same with the media that we’re all bombarded with. someone has to teach us to notice these things. (if you think you're morally pure and only have good opinions it means that you've not worked through much. there are so many complex issues in our cultures and societies that it's impossible not to have blind spots. but also it means that you're closed to evolving your opinions. many views that used to be progressive 20, 10 years ago are not seen as such anymore. certain interpretations are proposed, seem good but get challenged, and usually turn out to be reductive. believing that there’s some finite and established set of morally good opinions means that you just want a cheat sheet to perform moral purity to get societal brownie points, you’re not really interested in reality)

we need to first learn that we have the biases we do and then also be open to interrogating our preconceived notions, to be actually capable of shedding them. we need to not take personally being called out on it.

but that's hard. the morality policing that is so pervasive online leads many people to never wanting to be wrong. because others will be horrid about it and will never forget. there's no incentive to get better on issues, or grapple with one's own biases when many people online will never accept the idea that someone can make a mistake, be corrected and take that correction to heart and do better from there on. you have one chance to get it right and then well, morally impure brand forever.

and this is one crux of the issue with fandom's reaction to the scene in 255. gojou is shown to have a racist blind spot and happily regurgitates a racist comment. and what happens next doesn't matter. the fandom has decided that gojou is forever tainted because he wasn't fully enlightened to begin with.

what gege did is one of the best ways a story can be aggressively didactic about something like this. show a person doing a bad thing and then show how to sincerely apologise. no apologetics, no relativism, very short, to the point.

but in this day and age, with how people perform leftism through media consumption and fandom, this is met with vitriol. and that's fucking scary because it will make it toxic for others to attempt stuff like this. all of you misinterpreting this so aggressively is actually harmful. idk how much of this will get to gege and other mangaka but it might make some of them believe that it's better to never touch any societal issues because it's not worth the backlash, most of which stems out of either actual lack of reading comprehension or malicious misinterpretation. because gege did it correctly and the fandom just will not accept that.

to the rabid and loud parts of the fandom, gojou having this flaw is either:

the author is just being a dick to their character, therefore the true gojou that lives in his fans' heads is not racist.

or what gojou did actually wasn't racist uwu, or his intentions were pure uwu, it's not that important and you're overreacting.

or gege is racist for even mentioning racism... some of you really think you are leftists and then parrot this tired far right tactic: i'm not bigoted, you're bigoted for mentioning bigotry...

and all of these, all of these completely miss the point of that scene.

this is one of the 3 recent gojou scenes that i think are meant to be redeeming for his major flaws selfishness and insensitivity, and the only one that in my opinion actually works.

the one that is completely garbage and confusing is the one with gakuganji, gojou seemingly is trying to appoint someone to provide structure to the rebuilding after the whole sukuna debacle. like i think it's meant to show gojou actually taking responsibility for his failures (the whole mention of yaga) and show practical concern over futures of the people in his care. previously he kinda showed responsibility over what happened to riko and getou but it was all kinda mired with him getting a power up, and him really still being an irresponsible and selfish guy later on. and all he had to offer the teens he recruited as child soldiers was some "better jujutsu society" that very pointedly lacked on any fucking details as to what it could've been. and him ceding responsibility onto gakuganji, one of the pillars of the previous system really kinda shows hoe vacuous gojou's ideals were. -10/10 on the redemption attempt.

the one that feels very tone deaf is gojou telling ijichi that he trusts him the most. ijichi literally thought that gojou could hit him a few months before that. ijichi a lower ranking person in a hierarchy, believed that a higher ranking person could hit him. the kind of bullying and disrespect that leads someone to believe that is serious, honestly gojou and ijichi kinda remind me of an abusive family dynamic, where the abuser sporadically and irregularly drops some kindness to confuse the victim and make them not leave. and the last act of kindness just doesn't feel that meaningful. 0/10 on the redemption scale.

but this with miguel? a 10/10 redemption moment. gojou isn't prideful when his racism is called out, isn't trying to diminish what he did, isn't avoidant. he apologises. that's it. this is why it actually is a very simple argument against the "gege hates gojou" bs.

that "gege hates gojou" is stupid in general, because it's basically based on the belief that giving a character flaws means the author hates them. and this stems from far right moral purity ideologies that a lot of people have never challenged in themselves. that's why there's so much harassment and vitriol over finding out people put on a pedestal have flaws.

gojou is flawed. each and every one of us is flawed. we all have biases and blind spots and internalised bigoted views, many of which we don't realise we have because we usually don't think about those topics. that point is what we do with that, how we react to realising that a thing we had as some background belief is actually a harmful stereotype. if it's just in our heads then interrogate it, where did it come from, maybe there's more shit like that in our minds that we need to tackle. if we say it, then acting like gojou is actually the way to go. apologise, if necessary do more remediation, and then interrogate where it came from.

having bad opinions doesn't make anyone an intrinsically immoral and impure person. what they do when those opinions are challenged and how they act / what they say next time is the mark of their character.

so many of you moral purity fuckers, who deem themselves leftists, want media to be morality plays. want media to take you by the hand and show you right from wrong. and when an author actually does that, the exact thing you claim you want them to, it literally flies over your fucking heads.

#jjk spoilers #jjk leaks #jjk 255 #jujutsu kaisen #jjk #gojou satoru #jjk miguel #racism #bigotry #this fandom makes me lose brain cells #why do you people even interact with stories if you have no fucking reading comprehension #find a different fucking hobby #or learn to read

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lostcauses-noregrets · 7 months

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SnK Final Episode thoughts

A few thoughts about the final episode of SnK now the dust has started to settle. Although it was the anime that first got me into the series, I’m really a manga first kinda fan, I enjoy the anime, but it’s always been a nice addition for me. Also, while I was very ambivalent about the ending of the manga and had a LOT of things to say about it at the time, I’ve more or less made my peace with it. All of which is to say that I went into the final episode without any particular expectations. I was excited to see the series draw to a close, hoped they wouldn’t mess up Levi’s ending, and was curious to see the much touted changes.

I have to say, I really enjoyed it. The action sequences around the Attack Titan were breathtaking and the rumbling was genuinely horrifying. The pacing was good and it felt a lot shorter than the 90 minute running time. The voice acting was fabulous; Yuki Kaji, Yui Ishikawa, Marina Inoue and Hiroshi Kamiya really knocked it out of the park.

Jean and Connie were really touching. I loved the way that they kept harking back to what it meant to be a Scout. Reiner was fabulous too. I had a lot more sympathy for him by the end of the episode than I’ve had throughout the series. The expression on his face when Jean said they were all Scouts was really moving. Pieck is my best girl, as always, but I’m afraid I still haven’t warmed to Annie, I guess I never will. Gabi seemed to be a lot less prominent than I remembered from the manga, but her scenes with Falco and Levi were great. It’s no secret that I’ve never been fond of Armin, however I thought he came across really well in the episode. His conversation with Zeke in paths made a lot more sense and was actually really touching, Kudos to Marina Inoue for her amazing voice acting.

Levi was perfect in every single frame. You really got the impression that he was fighting with every last fibre of his being, despite his catastrophic injuries, and of course he never forgot his vow to Erwin. The moment when he finally killed Zeke was *chef’s kiss*.

Levi’s final salute was absolutely devastating. I completely choked up watching the subbed episode on CR, even though I’d already seen the raw and had been capping the scene all day. The final image of Erwin and the Wings of Freedom fading into the mist had me in pieces. The choice of theDOGS as the soundtrack for this scene just added to the pathos as Erwin’s character song, Hope of Mankind, is an arrangement of this track.

The change to Levi’s ending was very unexpected, but I really liked it. I’d always wondered how that city at the end of the manga survived unscathed. It seemed more realistic to see Levi, Onyankopon, Gabi and Falco in the refugee encampment. It’s also fully in keeping with Levi’s compassionate character for him to be contributing to the reconstruction efforts, and of course it all ties in with what we’ve seen of Bad Boy. (It’s also pretty much exactly how I imagined Levi’s post war life in The Permanence of the Young Men.) Seeing Levi handing out sweets to children who bear such a close resemblance to Ramzi and Halil was really touching. I’ve seen some people complaining that the lollipop scene was a jarring note of humour that seemed out of place, but I didn’t see it like that. I interpreted it as Levi remembering children like Ramzi, and perhaps even recalling the trauma of his own childhood. I’ve seen some interesting discussion on twitter linking Levi’s reaction to the clown in Marley to the few sketchy panels of Bad Boy and suggesting that rather than being pissed at being mistaken for a child, Levi was triggered by something traumatic that happened in his own childhood. Isayama rarely draws anything unintentionally, so we’ll have to wait and see.

Having said all that...much as I enjoyed the episode, it didn’t change my opinion of the ending (which you can read here if you’re a real glutton for punishment). I really appreciated the change to Armin’s dialogue when he confronted Eren in Paths. The scene in the manga where he thanks Eren for becoming a mass murderer for their sakes still leaves a bad taste, so that change was greatly appreciated. I also liked the fact that Armin said they wouldn’t be the heroes Eren wanted them to be, though in actual fact this is the role they take on. The fact that Armin and the others were so quick to forgive Eren still really sticks in my craw, if anything, it was even more jarring in the anime after seeing how hard they had fought to stop him. The same goes for Armin telling Mikasa to find a good place for Eren to rest quietly. I’m sorry, but I’m not sure Eren deserves to rest in peace.

Eren himself was pathetic in every sense of the word, just as he is in the manga, but I think he explains his fucked up rationale a bit more clearly in the anime. I have seen some criticism that Eren is a poor villain because he lacks any coherent ideology, other than some vague nonsensical notion of “freedom”, but that’s the whole point. Eren isn’t a tragic villain or an evil genius with a masterplan, he really is just a kid who had too much power and didn’t know what to do with it.

There’s nothing I can really say about Mikasa, she was as dignified and tragic as she is in the manga. However I thought the connection between the Founder Ymir and Mikasa was, if anything, even more obscure in the anime. I can’t help wondering what anime only fans make of it. I’m also not sure I liked the way the anime handled the extra scenes at the end. It was quite clever to include them as the credits rolled, but it did rather lessen their impact. I think I’d have preferred to see them full screen.

I know there’s been a lot of criticism with the way MAPPA animated the characters, particularly in comparison to JJK, but tbh I have little patience with that. With the notable exception of Levi, SnK has never been a pretty boy anime so the comparison to JJK seems misplaced. Although I will always prefer WIT’s style, I think MAPPA did a good job of incorporating some of Isayama’s art style in the animation, particularly the exaggerated facial expressions he sometimes draws.

And finally on to that scene with Erwin. The level of outrage at the way Erwin was drawn in the scene where Levi recalls his vow was quite something. I have several Anons in my inbox claiming that MAPPA have a deliberate anti-Erwin bias, which is nonsense. Admittedly MAPPA’s Erwin does suffer in comparison with WIT’s season 3 Erwin who was magnificent, however even WIT didn’t manage to draw Erwin consistently. I think some fans have been quick to forget just how wonky Erwin sometimes looked in earlier seasons of the anime. Also as I said in this post, it’s important to remember that Levi is in the depths of despair when he remembers Erwin at this point, as he has convinced himself that he has failed him. Erwin always looks beautiful and serene when Levi remembers him; this is the one exception. The bleak expression on Erwin’s face is a reflection of Levi’s state of mind, not some hidden agenda on MAPPA’s part. If we’d had soft shoujo Erwin in this scene, it wouldn’t really have conveyed Levi’s despair. The fact that we did get a close-up of the most beautiful soft shoujo Erwin at the end is hopefully enough to appease the critics.

So thems my thoughts. If you’ve had the patience to read to the end of this ramble, thank you. However you look at it, it's been a wild ride and I'm very grateful to have been along for the trip. One last word for people who are concerned the fandom will die now the season has ended. Don't worry, it won't. It will change, but change is inevitable in fandoms. However the characters and story that Isayama has created are easily compelling enough to capture fans for years to come.

#snk final season #lostcauses meta #snk

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wanderersrest · 6 days

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Some (Not So) Idle Thoughts On Mobile Fighter G Gundam

Before you begin reading: Do note that I have two companion pieces that I'll be referencing throughout this post, namely a small aside on the "Real vs Super Robot" debacle and a prequel highlighting what's going on in the world when G Gundam begins airing.

Good evening, everyone. I'd like to tell you a story. A story about a man set on a mission of revenge. tale. This is a tale about martial artists of all nations fighting it out on the grandest of arenas: the Earth. This is a tale about how a pair of young adults learn how to love not just themselves, but each other. Most important of all, this is a tale about a man who learns what it means to overcome even the most traumatic moments of his past in order to become a better man.

This is Mobile Fighter G Gundam. More specifically, these are my random thoughts about this series. And full disclosure: I grew up with G Gundam being my first entry into the Gundam franchise, as I was just a little bit too young to really watch Gundam Wing when it aired on Toonami.

G Gundam Is Just As Political As Every Other Gundam Series

Contrary to what a lot of people think, G Gundam is just as political as any other Gundam series. To give a quick summary, G Gundam is set in a time when the majority of humanity has fled to the space colonies above due to the how polluted the Earth has become due to war. In order to change this, the nations come up with an alternative to war: the Gundam Fight. There are just two problems with this:

Most of the people who fled to space were rich. And in case you're wondering, the first episode clears something up immediately: the poor were left behind on Earth.

The Gundam Fight uses the Earth as the battlefield. Which is fine if you're rich. But if you're poor...

This doesn't even touch on the motivations of THE UNDEFEATED OF THE EAST, MASTER ASIA, whose goal to seize control of the Devil Gundam stems from seeing how much damage was caused from the Gundam fight, which is pretty understandable as far as I'm concerned. This also doesn't touch on the fact the Shuffle Alliance and allies consist of people from all nations (specifically Japan, America, China, France, Russia, Sweden, and Nepal, among other countries), to say nothing of the fact that the nations of the world eventually come together to fight the Devil Gundam.

What a Lovable Cast of Goofballs

Nothing really pulls me into a show quite like a good cast of characters. And boy does G Gundam have quite the cast. Taking a page out of older mecha shows like Mazinger Z, G Gundam presents us with our protagonist: the hot-blooded samurai Domon Kasshu. Joining him on his mission to find the Devil Gundam are his mechanic/doctor/love interest Rain Mikamura and a handful of fellow fighters and support crews that make up the Shuffle Alliance.

I think part of what makes this cast so entertaining to watch is the fact that this series pulls a lot from Hong Kong action films and wuxia epics. It's why there are all of these crazy fighting techniques and action sequences that wouldn't look to out of place in something like a Jet Li or Donnie Yen film. Heck, THE UNDEFEATED OF THE EAST, MASTER ASIA is named after the popular wuxia character Dongfang Bubai (Literally the Invincible East in Chinese; this is why Master Asia's title in Japanese is Touhou Fuhai, as Touhou Fuhai is the direct translation of Dongfang Bubai into Japanese).

Another part of the cast's appeal lies in the fact that, despite this series having some out there Mobile Suit designs, the characters themselves are not actually stereotypical (or if they are, they tend to be portrayed in a more positive light). Take, for instance (and probably the most talked about example of this), Neo America's Chibodee Crocket and the Gundam Maxter. Gundam Maxter is notorious for being one of the more out there Mobile Suit designs in the series: A Gundam that is made to look like a football player, carries a pair of six shooters for ranged weapons, a shield that is used more as a surf board, and has shoulders that can also double as boxing gloves (the chest piece also flies off to give Maxter more of a boxer look). Chibodee, meanwhile, looks to be like a stereotypical American at first. He's loud, flashy, reckless, and just as much a hothead as the King of Hearts himself. Chibodee is also a street rat who, through his keen talent for boxing, was able to achieve the American Dream. Not only that, Chibodee also has a strong moral compass, which is also how he comes to meet his field crew.

I think I'd also be remiss not to talk about the King of Hearts, Domon Kasshu. Yes, it's an absolute blast to watch the man beat up anyone and everyone who gets in his way. But I think it's also touching when, after running into THE UNDEFEATED OF THE EAST, MASTER ASIA for the first time in the series, he breaks down crying due to the fact that, outside of Rain, Domon doesn't really have anyone else to go to when it comes to expressing his trauma. That's why MASTER ASIA'S betrayl towards the end of the Shinjuku arc hits as hard as it does: one of the very few people you could trust turns out to be a villain. Of course, things get more complicate once you find out what MASTER ASIA'S true goals are. It is so satisfying getting to see Domon grow so much in the first half of the series, and the payoff is that the second half really lets us enjoy some of the goofier aspects of Domon's character.

Really, I could go on about just about all of the characters. Like how Sai Saici is probably one of the best characters after Domon and THE UNDEFEATED OF THE EAST, MASTER ASIA, how the series gives us a pretty reasonable version of the love triangle by introducing probably one of the best characters in the series: Allenby Beardsley or the fact that Rain is already a great love interest (and just a great character in general) that knows how to put up with Domon's nonsense, especially once they get to Neo Hong Kong. Heck, I didn't even get to talk about the best Char Clone, Schwarz Bruder, who will show up at random, laugh at Domon, teach him a lesson, refuse to elaborate, and leave. I also feel like I'm doing a disserevice to THE UNDEFEATED OF THE EAST, MASTER ASIA by not talking enough about him. Like the fact that he doesn't ride his horse Fuunsaiki like a normal human being. No. Master Asia STANDS on top of Fuunsaiki. And you know that Fuunsaiki is built different because he gets his own Mobile Fighter, complete with his own suit up sequence. I would talk about them more, but we'd be here forever. So we have to move on, both for my sake and for yours.

What Everyone's Been Waiting For: The Hot-Blooded Action

I don't think I really need to explain this one. G Gundam just has some really good action sequences, even if it relies on a lot of stock footage. I'd honestly be more impressed if this series had better animation, especially considering that G Gundam is a 49-episode series. And really, that's what people love about G Gundam, regardless of whether they think it's just dumb fun or if it's some bespoke series. It knows that it's very different from most Gundam series, so it leans into that. A lot. Part of what makes this series such a treat to watch is seeing it carve out its own name in spite, or maybe because, it is a Gundam series.

The other part is that, by revisiting the older style of mecha stories, you do get some really cool setpieces. And man, when G Gundam is at its best, it's at its best. There really isn't much else to say here. G Gundam just knows that people like cool action sequences.

G Gundam Gets Referenced More Than Its Brethren

I would like to start this off by saying that I only found out that Amphibia references G Gundam while I was writing this post.

Anyways, that gif is important here, because in my opinion it kind of highlights G Gundam's legacy. Because in my mind, it shows that G Gundam has resonated with a nonzero amount of people. I know this because my last two posts currently have the most amount of notes, and they're both about G Gundam in some fashion.

But more to my point, it often catches me off guard just how often this series in particular gets referenced. This is especially striking when you remember that a lot of western fans talk about how important G Gundam's successor, New Mobile Report Gundam Wing, is. And while I would agree with that notion, I do think that Wing's importance outside of being how introduced a lot of western fans to the franchise is minimal at best (full disclosure: I am not a big fan of Gundam Wing especially due to how idiots like Professor Otaku talk up that series while trashing G Gundam, so I'm probably understating just how important it was), which is funny, because G Gundam gets referenced a fair bit in comparison (at least I think it does; I'm not about to verify this because I'm not that insane... yet). Here is a sample of some of the G Gundam references that I know of:

Regular Show's Brilliant Century Duck Crisis Special references a lot of mecha shows including G Gundam. The G Gundam reference here is when Benson suits up, which is ripped straight from Domon's Shining Gundam suit up sequence, complete with the ass shot.

There's a trainer in Pokemon Red & Blue that, when they spot the player, shouts "Pokemon fight! Ready, GO!"

Speaking of Pokemon, the Sun & Moon anime has an entire episode dedicated to G Gundam (which isn't surprising, since one of the banned in the US episodes has a reference to the original Gundam), complete with both Meowth creating a Devil Gundam-like machine, all while Brock and Olivia defeat said machine using a Z-move reminiscent of the Sekiha Love-Love Tenkyouken.

Nanbaka has a scene where one of the main characters defeats an opponent using the Erupting G*d Finger S*kiha T*nky**ken.

Gintama's Bentendo Owee arc has a store manager who's basically a dead ringer of Stalker. He even does the "Gundam Fight! Ready, GO!" pose at one point.

This doesn't even touch on the fact that this show is pretty quotable. Things like the Shining Finger/Erupting God Finger quote, the UNDEFEATED OF THE EAST motto, "...with the help of KYOOOOOJI!", MASTER ASIA'S quote about becoming more than just the UNDEFEATED OF THE EAST, and my personal favorite: "Except this time, I am a WANDER BUG!!!" are often quoted on the Internet whenever people talk about G Gundam. Heck this doesn't even touch on my personal memories of seeing (and even participating in) Reddit comment threads that were just the UNDEFEATED OF THE EAST motto.

(See? Guy even has his own version of the hyper mode!)

This also ignores the greatest form of reference: the fact that other works may have been directly inspired by G Gundam. This is going to be a bit more tenuous I think, but in my opinion, you can see this series' influence in shows like The King of Braves, GaoGaiGar. I'm convinced that Guy Shishioh is what happens when you take Domon and turn him into a cyborg more or less (It helps that their voice actors, Nobuyuki Hiyama and Tomokazu Seki respectively, are considered to be two of the most hot-blooded performers of the 90's). Guy even has the friend to all children shtick that Domon has, which isn't surprising since GGG is supposed to be for children primarily. You can even see G Gundam's legacy in shows like Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, where the antagonist Lordegenome is often joked as being a disciple of THE SCHOOL OF THE UNDEFEATED OF THE EAST due to him bodying Simon with his bare hands (while Simon is still piloting Lagann). Heck, I won't say who it is due to spoilers, but there's also a Disgaea character who's based heavily off of Domon. Like the fact that I'm making this comparison alone is a spoiler, so I'm keeping it vague so as not to spoil everything.

Final Thoughts: A Maligned Series With a Lot of Heart

Mobile Fighter G Gundam is a series that is often looked down upon due to the fact that it is a traditional mecha series in a franchise that is all about being a military robot series. That line of thinking is a real disservice to G Gundam, as this series is one that has meaningful messages it wants to convey. Those messages being:

Humans have a responsibility to take care of the environment, even if and especially because we were the ones to cause harm to it.

There are no easy ways to solve complex problems, and taking shortcuts can lead to more problems.

It is okay to be angry, but do not let that anger consume you.

And because this is sports we're talking about: Cheaters never prosper.

This doesn't even touch on the fact that said messages are very much in line with what a lot of the franchise has to say. But because G Gundam trusts that its audience aren't a bunch of idiots, the series doesn't beat the viewer over the head with its morals (although MASTER ASIA does have a not-so-thinly veiled rant about how Japan is now in ruins even though it was once a financial juggernaut, almost as if the country had some sort of economic crisis happen around the time G Gundam aired *cough*), but it does understand that beating the viewer over the head with these morals is not going to help.

I think this is why I've seen people push back on the concepts of Super Robots and Real Robots, especially the latter. I hadn't touched on this in my original Real vs Super Robots post, but part of the problem with Real Robots in particular is the fact that it is basically just "Not Super Robots." If you look at the original Gundam, it still has a lot of the usual tropes that were in shows like Mazinger Z or Getter Robo. The RX-78-2 Gundam is a one-of-a-kind machine that is made out of a super alloy (Lunar Titanium) that makes it all but indestructible, carries one-of-a-kind weapons (the beam rifle, the beam saber/javelin, and the hyper hammer), and is treated as an almost supernatural entity on the battlefield (hence the moniker "The White Devil"). Heck even the much harder Fang of the Sun Dougram has the smaller-but-still-big Dougram jumping over other mechs like it's about to go for a slam dunk in a basketball game. Do these facts diminish the types of stories that Gundam and Dougram are trying to tell? NO.

It is this dangerous line of thinking, the idea that all mecha shows must be either "Real" or "Super", that helps fuel people's idea that G Gundam is a bad series. The fact that people do not like this series because of how different it is from the rest of the franchise ignores the fact that, really, it's still a Gundam series. Just like how The Last Jedi is still a Star Wars movie, or how Xenoblade 2 is still a Xenoblade game. It is a wild notion that, in my opinion, shows that people who say things like that are doing so out of some twisted doctrine that says that Gundam can only be a serious war story. I am happy, though, that G Gundam is finally getting the reappraisal it so deserves. I have a general aversion to rose-tinted lenses when it comes to media, and it always makes me happy knowing that Mobile Fighter G Gundam is still just as good as, maybe even better than, I remember it being as a child.

Special Thanks & Notes

I'd like to thank all of the people who have been waiting patiently for this post as well as the people who made all of the gifs I used in this post. I didn't really think people would be interested in what I have to say about G Gundam until I posted the "Real vs Super" post, so it means a lot to me to see people react so positively to what I had to say in that post as well as the G Gundam context post.

As for what to expect next, I'm going to take a break from mecha stuff for a little bit. I'll still be writing posts, don't get me wrong. I just want to branch out a little bit from mecha, and I'm going to start out in small steps. I do have something of a primer on Gintama that I'm working on, so look forward to that. I'm also going to try post sillier things every now and then like my Getter Robo post (which unfortunately got buried under the original G Gundam post), so also look forward to that. Who knows, maybe I'll talk about Xenoblade at some point along with my love of Zeke von Genbu, THE BRINGER OF CHAOS. Or maybe Pokemon, and how Rowlet is objectively the best starter.

But once again, and most important of all, thanks for reading.

#anime and manga #mobile fighter g gundam #mfgg #g gundam #the east is burning red #mobile suit gundam #gf13-017njii God Gundam #gf13-017nj Shining Gundam

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spectralsleuth · 8 months

Note

Saw you were lookin’ for some asks dont mind if I do 👀

To start off, I’m such a big fan of your writing! I genuinely look forward to every single update of yours and find myself rereading a lot of work in the downtime. You are such a good writer!! My never ending praises aside, here are some asks!

-You incorporate OC’s into your fics so seamlessly! They feel so natural in your fics that I legit get excited anytime they show up (srsly can’t wait for Lou Jitsu vs Hidden City, Sal’s my boy) lol how do you find the right balance when introducing and maintaining OC’s in your fics? I feel like that’s a particularly difficult balance beam to tread but you absolutely crush it.

-A previous ask you answered about Cass and Raph in LSoW got me thinking; how do the brothers handle humans crushing on them? Would they be receptive or dismissive? Do they develop crushes on humans- and if so, how is that perceived (by family or the general public)? The drama 👀

Last ask, I promise:

-I absolutely loved your crossover with Empathy is Learned! Got anymore crossovers planned in the future? Oooor if you could do a crossover with any other fic, which one(s) would it/they be??

Thanks for taking the time to even look at this! I hope these are some fun asks for ya :) I hope you have a lovely day!!

Omg thanks so much... I'm so happy people enjoy my writing it's crazy to me. I've written before, but it's always been just for myself so I never really know if it was good or not. (Years of text based DnD is to thank lol.) (Okay I got carried away answering this so sorry in advance.)

On OC's:

I got a lot of comments on LSoW from people who say "generally I don't like OC's BUT-" which is so funny and flattering. Because I am absolutely one of those people who don't care for OC's in fic.

Let me be clear: I LOVE that people write self indulgent self-insert of OC based fic, where they make the craziest off the wall story etc. Every time a fifteen year old writes a story about the cringiest Mary-sue/stu self insert, or non canon character, an angel gets its wings and I mean that one hundred percent. It makes me so happy I literally grin when I see it. I HOWEVER generally filter out the OC tags on AO3 when I'm looking for something to read myself.

So when I started posting LSoW I was expecting to get maybe like, 100 kudos MAX, maybe one comment or so. Which is great! I love writing niche fic just for me, and one other person who I assume I must be drift compatible with. I just could not figure out a way to write the story I wanted without a few OC's- Rise didn't have a big enough character catalog for me to draw from!

When I went to write the OC's, I knew that they had to have a very simple backstory, that was also very fleshed out. (Xander and Sal have full family, Dr. Heo and Carter have full jobs and history together, etc.) For another contradiction I wanted them to be interesting enough that someone reading wouldn't just be skipping ahead to when they weren't present, or just simply plowing through to get past the part where they were doing exposition. They had to be enjoyable! While also forwarding the story!

They also had to be distinct. Anyone who's ever watched a Whedon show or movie (Buffy, Firefly, Avengers-) knows what I'm talking about. It drives me nuts when the characters in a show are constantly the funniest person in the room, with the same personality traits, and the same girl boss/badass tendencies.

(Fandom challenge Impossible: Give a female fan favorite character another trait besides 'girlboss/mom/lesbian'. I'm dead serious.)

(Also a disclaimer: I LOVE making jokes and doing bits. I FANCY that I'm pretty funny, and I love making people laugh. But you can do that without making it a character personality trait. For example: Xander doesn't really crack any jokes in LSoW! He's just funny because we the reader know more about the situation and his thoughts than he does.)

But the BIGGEST THING I kept telling myself while writing the story, was DO NOT TAKE AWAY FROM THE TURTLES. Because the whole point of the story is the turtles! And Yoshi! The OC's are there to facilitate that. It's a hard balance to hit. I have all sorts of touchstones I keep in mind while I'm writing, and that's a big one.

(A SUPER good example of this done super well is @faiakishi 's Bella from Dawning of the Hour. She's a great OC that's super interesting, and a super important narrative element, but she never detracts from the main story. Big Bella fan here lmao. There's also the rest of the OC's/interpretations of franchise characters (TIGERCLAW), but Bella stands out as truly original.)

On the Turtles dating Humans:

(CW: CSA mention, SA mention, non graphic talk of minors dating etc.)

I actually talked a lot about this to @/tangledinink in feverish discord chats lmao.

When the boys were growing up they got a very detailed talk from both Yoshi, and their Doctors. ONE: Because nobody will know better than themselves if something was medically wrong with their bodies, TWO: The boys are all intersex (minus Mikey) and they had to understand that there was nothing wrong with them on TOP of the turtle thing, and THREE: Because Yoshi knew the boys would be getting a lot of attention, and you never know what kind of attention that form will take.

THE BEST WAY to protect children (any child) from being sexually assaulted or abused, is making sure they know what that abuse LOOKS LIKE. You don't have to make them terrified of being sexually assaulted, but them knowing how their body works, and also how to say NO and set boundaries, will combine to help make them safer.

Yoshi didn't know what would happen in the future and in a perfect world the boys would never leave his line of sight, but that's not always how things happen. (In a Short Season, Xander parroted Yoshi's instructions before going out to make sure the boys knew what to do if someone grabbed them (in any way) and it was to bite and be loud.) So the boys grew up knowing their bodies, knowing how to say 'no', and knowing that there was probably going to be people out there who would treat them as a novelty, and who wouldn't be appropriate to them as celebrities OR non-humans.

(Remember Emma Watson having to deal with that countdown to her turning 18? Or any other amount of child stars who had to deal with adults being predatory to them.)

But ALSO THIS IS HAMATO YOSHI. His sons are HANDSOME and HEARTBREAKERS! Leo has dated a lot but never anything seriously, and his inability to be intimate with anyone but family kind of puts a damper on any more permanent relationship. (He is gay.) He's the number one turtle people ask out because he's the most approachable. Because he made himself that way!

Donnie is in a sort of relationship with Kendra. (THIS WILL BE A FIC I'm working up to it lmao.) I have a head canon that Yokai and other empyrean based creatures are capable of having rivalry based relationships. IE Yoshi and Draxum in the canon show, the unhealthy dynamic between Yoshi and Big Mama, etc. (Caliginous relationship) Donnie is in a puppy love version of that with Kendra, while also lacking the context of yokai society to understand why he wants to punch her very badly, but also if anything happened to her he would die. They hate each others guts and also she was his first kiss. She is not a nice person I am not a Kendra apologist she's terrible I love her. (Donnie is bi!)

I know a lot of people head canon Mikey as ace, but he is a thirteen year old child you don't have to be head canoning him as anything. it is the very rare 13 year old who knows their orientation, and even if they DO I bet you donuts to dollars it will change eventually. This is normal and healthy. Mikey in LSoW has had puppy crushes on boys, girls, teachers, Violet, the mailman, Adam, and Rupert Swaggert. (Eugh eugh eugh.)

Raph is absolutely irresistible to the entire student body and is completely unaware of it. He's not stupid but he's face blind and bad at picking up subtext in conversations. He's gone to multiple people's houses and spent the whole day with them, without realizing they were trying to make it a date. (Raph is bi.)

All the boys have considered identifying as girls since their Dad is the martial arts equivalent of David Bowie and Fine With That, but have settled (for now) on being boys (age 10 the last time they considered this) because quote 'Lou Jitsu and Jupiter Jim are boys and they're awesome' unquote.

They don't get any fucking privacy for their relationships, and Leo in particular had a very bad experience that closed him off from dating big time. (Stamps 'THIS WILL BE A FIC' on this as well.) But also, as of the LSoW canon they are like, 12-14 and not doing a lot of dating ANYWAY. They are BABIES.

(Enter Casey Jones)

ON CROSSOVERS:

I have one crossover with my white whale of authors (you know who you are) I have pecked at with them that I think everyone will go fucking nuts for and love, but I won't mention it in case we can't get it off the ground! (A completely okay and normal thing to happen lmao.) I think that one will end up happening though because I am too excited about it, even if it's not any time soon.

I am super open to crossovers and cowriting, especially since writing with Li because I learned SO MUCH it was like speed running improvement.

The thing is it has to fit! There's some crossovers that wouldn't have a lot of substance because there's not really a lot to cover. When it came to EiL for example, there was PLENTY to cover and do, it was so fun! But other fics might not have a lot we could do for each other. (At least, not until I get some more world building done.)

That being said I do love talking crossovers with other creators it's so fun...

If you guys ever want to use my OC's feel free, just ask me in advance! I don't mind pings.

THESE ASKS ARE FUN THANKS FOR SENDING THEM I feel like you just threw a steak into my zoo exhibit. I am recharged and rejuvenated my crops are watered my skin is clear. This felt very pretentious to write I am mortified.

#ask #chealsieseysie #LSoW #rottmnt #tmnt #tmntau #IM SORRY ABOUT THE INFO DUMP #my fic #my writing

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byunbhyunz · 1 year

Text

Bitten by a Spider

Pairing: Chanyeol/Reader

Genre: fluff, smut, Halloween!au, comicbookfan!Chanyeol

Rating: 18+

Warnings: smut, dry humping, oral (female receiving), handjob (kinda), sex, hot Chanyeol.

Author’s note: This is the first smut I’ve ever written, so please forgive me if it’s not so good!

Word count: 11,670

A lot of jokes starts as “A man walked into a bar”. Well, this is not a joke, but a story which easily could start with “Deadpool and Black Widow walked into a bowling alley”. And I bet you can’t guess the punchline – if there’s even any.

Going bowling was common within your group of friends. You usually went at least two times a month, and to be honest you were a pretty average player (that’s what you told yourself), only striking once in a while (mostly if some miracle happened), but the most important thing was that you would have fun together.

That was the plan for tonight too. Going bowling and having fun. The only difference was that all of you were wearing a costume for the sake of Halloween, and your friends have signed all of you up for a competition in your local bowling alley.

Your palms were sweaty as you made your way down the streets. Although Seohee, your best friend, complimented your choice of costume, you felt very conscious of your body in the tight, black suit. You dressed up as Black Widow. No, not as Natasha Romanoff, more like Yelena Belova. Actually you loved her character, you even bought a blonde wig and an almost perfect copy of her costume from one of the comics. Luckily for you a big, glasses-like equipment was part of the outfit, so the upper half of your face was covered and no one could see how big your eyes grew from being so nervous.

Your friends joked around about winning the Halloween competition, and despite the tempting promise of free food, none of you really expected yourselves to win. You really weren’t that good. But maybe Lady Fortune will side with you just this one time.

Walking down the usual way to the alley, people looked at your group curiously. There wasn’t that many people dressed up, so you stood out from the crowd.

Men tended to check out your and Seohee’s body. You were stuffed in a tight costume, which hid every part of your skin, but exposed your lines and curves just as much. Not like you had anything to hide. But once again, you felt thankful for the costume for hiding your eyes too.

Seohee was the opposite of you. She was a fairy, her dress tiny, showing a lot of skin, which she covered in glitter. Fake wings bounced on her back with every step she took. She looked gorgeous, and on top of that she was an amazing bowling player.

“Ah, Y/N, I can’t believe you! You said you will dress up as a comic book character, and here you are, making men turn their heads after you!” Seohee pouted at you, acting as if you just killed her cat right in front of her. “At least leave some for me too, I might need someone to walk me home and comfort me tonight if we lose.”

“Then you should start looking now!” Songwoo chimed in your conversation, cheekily looking at the girl and you. “Y/N can barely score on her good days.”

“Hey! I beat you last time.”

“Yeah, because I was playing with my weaker hand.”

“And who asked you to do that?” You tried to defend yourself, but everything was a vain attempt. You were the worst player among your friends, and they loved to tease you about it. Well, this is what friends are for, aren’t they?

“You.”

Before you could say anything, Seohee grabbed your wrist and made you stop in your track. Songwoo stayed behind with you too, curious about the girl’s sudden exclamation.

“I understand everything now!”

“That’s a pretty big statement for you, Seohee.” You hid your smile in your hands as you heard the boy’s words.

“No, I mean, Y/N’s costume,” she held a big pause before continuing, making herself sound more dramatic. “It’s supposed to distract us from the fact that she sucks at bowling.”

“Hey, not you too!”

You shooed her away from you, but she just grabbed you by the shoulders and hugged you close to herself. Defeated, you shot dirty looks to Songwoo instead. He was eyeing you up and down; you could almost see the wheels turning in his head. You already felt tired from his idea, and you haven’t even heard it yet.

“Maybe… maybe you could walk up to the other teams when they try to bowl and distract them. You can’t score many points, but they wouldn’t either. It’s a win for everyone.”

“Except for me, of course.”

“Collateral damage.” He waved at you hastily, as you finally started to catch up with the others again. “Happens in every war.”

You really wanted to say something nasty and not so lady like to him (in all honesty, you wanted to swear at him like a sailor), but were stopped by someone shouting loudly close to you.

At the edge of the pavement someone wearing a Deadpool-costume was sitting peacefully and leaning their back against the wall behind them. You couldn’t see their face because of the famous mask, but it seemed as if they were looking at you. Then the words coming from them confirmed that too:

“Hello, Widow! Long time no see!” It was definitely a man. His words sounded lazy, you sensed that he was smiling behind the mask.

Your ears heated up, but they were hidden under the blonde wig. Seohee nudged your side with her elbow and whispered:

“Do you know him?”

“Doesn’t sound like anyone I know,” you shrugged, then replied to the man, giving into his game: “Wade Wilson! Not expected to see you around here.”

“What can I say? Heard you would be here, and I couldn’t refuse to come. I still remember the time when you sewed my head back on my neck, or was it just a special fantasy of mine?”

Suddenly Songwoo stepped between you two, holding his hands out in the direction of both of you as if he was trying to stop a fight from breaking out. His head snapped from you to the mysterious guy, then back to you, and again, back to him.

“Hold up! Do you know each other?”

“No,” you said at the same time he said ‘yes’. Turning to him bewildered, you doubted yourself for a second. “Wait, do I know you?”

“Of course, you’re my sweet Black Widow! Do you not remember me, Yelena? God, you’re hurting my feelings.”

You smiled and laughed at him. He was really good at playing Deadpool’s reckless character. You felt a little happier about dressing up as Black Widow. This man saw you as your costume, not for the body-line it gave you. It felt much better than receiving all those looks every other man gave you on your way here.

“We should go.” Seohee’s face scrunched up in a frown, her hands constantly motioning toward the bowling alley. “I have a feeling the others will make us pay for the food if we’ll be late. And I’m not gonna pay for everything because of the Deadguy.”

“Deadpool,” and once again, you spoke at the same time as the man sitting on the pavement.

“Okay, that’s just keeps getting weirder. Especially if you don’t know each other in real life.”

You sighed, slightly waving at the stranger, who saluted at you and even had the audacity of blowing you a kiss through his mask. Only the smooching sounds and his hand gesture gave away what he was trying to do. You caught it with your hands, thinking how you will probably never see him ever again in life after tonigh. So why not have some fun, and play into his acts?

A hearty laugh came from him as you waved goodbye.

The bowling alley looked nothing like it used to on a normal Friday night. Lights were low, neon figures and signs hang from everywhere just like various zombie, bats, spiders and ghosts. There was real-looking cobwebs on the scoreboards, the workers dressed in orange uniform, which made them very similar to a pumpkin. Cute pumpkins actually. One of them smiled at your group, Seohee more than happily returning the gesture. You couldn’t remember the worker’s name, and you were too far to read his name tag, but from his face you knew that usually he was helping your group out with the food and shoes if one of you left them at home.

Sometimes even you couldn’t believe why on the earth did you invest in bowling shoes, when your skills weren’t so great, but you did anyway, and today you thanked your past-self for it, because they seemed to be out of shoes. There was a lot of people tonight, despite it being Halloween. All of the groups dressed up as various characters and figures, you even saw a big someone wearing a ridiculously big SpongeBob costume (from their height he seemed to be a man, but you weren’t so sure). It didn’t look like cardboard, it seemed realistic from what you could tell. You also saw some other Black Widows, but they all wore the read-haired wig from the movies. You being the only Yelena so far.

“Thank God, they made everyone sign up beforehand for the contest, I don’t think we could even come in if it weren’t for it.” Songwoo dropped down on the seat next to you, starting to change his shoes too.

“Do you think we have a chance?” you asked absentmindedly. Scanning the area, your eyes seemed to be looking for something or someone, but didn’t know what exactly. You sighed, when failed to find it.

“With your skills? No. But even if you were the best player on our team, we still wouldn’t. I’d say we can maybe win one or two games, but from what I know about the other groups, they are way better than us.”

You nodded, tying a double knot on your shoelaces.

Low music hummed in the background, but the chatting of the people were too loud for you to realize what kind of song was playing. You only heard the low bass running through your veins, the drum’s vibration seeping in your legs from the ground.

You looked around once again, and a red and black suit caught your eyes, but then quickly disappeared in the crowd. Then Seohee came back with Minji, the mom of your group, both of them holding drink in their hands. Actually, Minji was holding two in her left.

A group had to consist five players – no more, no less –, which was lucky for your five-membered group. No one has to be left out, and you didn’t have to find one more person to play with for the promise of free food.

The fifth member was Yeonjun. The maknae in your group of friends, and your secret wild-card. He was short and skinny, the only one still going to college, and at first glance one would believe he can’t even lift a ball, but this couldn’t be further from the truth. Songwoo might disagree, but the youngest was definitely the best player among you. And his favorite thing to do was teasing you for sucking at bowling, which you let him do, because somehow he always made you forgive him right before you would really scold him. Maybe it was because he was too cute for his own good.

“Ah, noona, can you not play so bad this one time? Pretty please?” Think about the devil and he shall appear. Without real force you kicked your leg in the direction of Yeonjun, but he jumped away fast. “Is that a no?”

“That’s an ‘I’ll kick your ass if you don’t shut up’.”

“But, noona, you would never hurt me.” He sat down on your other side, and looked at you with big puppy eyes. When you said nothing he grabbed your hands, giving a light squeeze to your fingers. “Right?”

“Stop bothering Y/N, Junnie. There will be a point where even you can’t act cute enough for her not to kick your ass. And I might just help her by holding you down while she does it.”

You snickered at Songwoo’s words, who didn’t seem to care much about your bickering, his mind already focusing on the upcoming game. He stood up and started stretching a few steps from you. The maknae let go of your hand, but immediately hugged you tight, whining too close to your ears for your liking:

“That’s not true! Tell him, Y/N, that it is not true!” When you said nothing, he let go of you, disbelief making his eyes look rounder. “Are you siding with him now? Would you really kick my bottom?”

“When you are annoying me? Like right now? Without further questions.”

The place was hot from all those people being stuffed inside, so you took the half-mask off and put it away in you purse. Yeonjun scooted closer to you on the seats. This time you put a hand on his shoulders, mostly to held him back from hugging you again. Yes, he was a cutie pie friend, who usually used his cuteness to his advantage, but you really preferred your personal space to be kept to yourself. At least that’s what you told him all the time, but he just never seemed to listen, and was always hugging you.

Although, Yeonjun was like this with all of your friends. Hugging, holding hands, clinging to someone was the way he showed his love and appreciation, so you let him. In secret, you even enjoyed it, but never in seven hells would you admit that. You just bickered with him, made disgusted faces and grumbled when he hugged you, but nevertheless, you let him.

“Ladies, gentlemen and other entities, thank you for coming! Our tournament for finding the best bowlers in Seoul is starting right now. So I’d like to ask the first two teams to quickly warm up, enter their playing names and let’s start the first round! Team Scavengers and Team Bloody Suckers, you’re the first ones!” A familiar voice came from everywhere, booming from the loudspeakers; the owner of the bowling alley doing his best to speak like a ringmaster. “Now, everyone, because of the high interest, we have a long night ahead of us, but keep in mind that the winner team’s members will be enjoying free food every time they come for half a year.”

The area around the two middle lanes cleared out, people and players giving place for the called teams. The music got even quieter, merely hearing any sound from it now, but the crowd cooled down too. Everyone focused on the two teams as they walked up the front. Then you saw the same red and black suit from earlier, and Seohee shouted behind you:

“It’s freakin’ Deadpool!”

Her voice was loud, and you were pretty sure people even on streets could hear it. If they not, ‘Deadpool’ definitely did, as he turned around to look for the source of screaming. A lot of people looked at her as well.

You felt your face became red as you stared at Deadpool. You regretted taking the half-mask off, when you caught the guy turning his head in your direction, but not moving for a few seconds. Then his body relaxed and waved at you. Or maybe not you, but you couldn’t be sure, since his face was still hidden behind his mask.

“Hi, Tinkerbell! Hi, Yelena!” He shouted back in a ridiculous, high-pitched voice. His friend hit his shoulder, bending in half from laughing. You smiled at him, carefully waving back, feeling a little more comfortable, but the blush didn’t leave your face.

“Do you know him, noona?” Yeonjun whispered in your ear. Your eyes were still locked on the strange guy as he turned away hurriedly. His teammates all dressed up as the Avengers. Their opponent were vampires, giving off Dracula vibes.

The maknae nudged your side, bugging you for attention.

“I don’t. We just had a brief and weird conversation outside.”

“About what?”

“The guy is a comic book nerd too,” Seohee chimed in. She shooed Yeonjun away a little and sat on your lap. “I couldn’t decide whether he was flirting with Y/N, or just showing off his nerdy knowledge.”

“Probably both.” Songwoo finished his warm up, and dropped back next to you, his hands sneaking on the back of your chair. That’s when you finally realized that they were teasing you again, and had enough.

“Oh, God, when did this become a ‘Let’s be affectionate with Y/N!’ competition?”

You tried to push Seohee off of your lap, but she just laughed and stiffened herself, making your task harder, almost impossible. The two guys on your sides snickered, not helping you a bit.

“That’s enough, guys! Let her be! And don’t be naive, Y/N, you know how they always tease you after you let Yeonjun hug you for once.” At Minji’s words the two boys put on a serious expression, but their eyes still shined mischievously. You mouthed a ‘thank you’ to the older girl, and she raised her glass, nodding along with it. You snorted when she winked at you with a smug look on her face; with her crossed legs and pose she almost looked like the Godfater’s reincarnation. It didn’t help that she dressed as a Men in Black agent. Probably she could lead the mafia smoothly, but would always complain about being afraid her people getting hurt. A fascinating scenario it would be.

“You are really shameless, noona! Winking at Y/N after telling us not to tease her,” Yeonjun muttered under his breath. The older girl either not heard it or decided not to hear it as she turned to the starting match. You also focused your attention on the two lanes, where the game went on.

You looked at the screen that showed the names of the players (or rather the names they chose to go by), and scrunched your nose. There was Thorroro, Golden Man, Hulkanator, Hawknose and Loey Wilson on the Scavengers team. They were all creative except maybe for the last one. You scanned over them, connecting the faces to the names. When you got to Deadpool, you groaned loudly. How can a guy with that witty talk, he showed you earlier, chose such name? What the hell is a Loey anyway?

But you had to give to him, he looked nice in that Deadpool suit. He looked tall with broad shoulders, cute butt, and long legs. You often forgot your eyes on him, gaze wandering up and down his body. He caught you watching a few times, head turning to your direction from time to time, waving to you when you didn’t look away fast enough.

As the game went on, you had to admit to yourself, that he was a great player. He bowled a strike twice, and always collected his spares nicely. You were nowhere near his league, so you hoped that if in some miraculous way you’d win your first game, you won’t have to compete against them.

But Lady Fortune didn’t listen to you. The Scavengers won. Your team – the Sassy Weirdos – won too, not thanks to you, of course. You could barely score, and your ball for spares ended up in the gutter. But you still won, and had to compete against Scavengers. Just like in a cliché teen movie.

“We can say goodbye for free food now.”

“I’ll buy you whatever you want next time we come, okay?”

“Or you could just play better for the promise of free food.”

You smiled at Yeonjun’s pouty expression, and pinched his cheeks. He whined in pain, holding his face in his hands, and he sounded so fake.

“And you still wonder why are we treating you like a child.” Songwoo patted his shoulder with sympathy, but he was grinning widely at the maknae.

“No! You simply treat me wrong!”

“Hey! I bought you candy yesterday and always take you out to eat when you whine so much about school work!” Seohee joined to your conversation too.

“Then you should do it without me having to whine for it.”

“Come on, baby Junnie, don’t act like that in front of the grown-ups,” Songwoo teased him more.

“Noonaaa! They are hurting me!”

The maknae ran to your back, only the top of his head and an accusing finger sticking out behind your shoulders, which was pointed at your friends. At this point even the other team was laughing at his antics. Your eyes went to the mysterious Loey-guy, who still didn’t take off his Deadpool mask, but you definitely could hear his laugh. The sound warmed up your insides, made your head dizzy.

“Noona, you should protect me,” Yeonjun poked your side with his other hand, his voice more sulky than ever.

“Am I really the right person for that?” You fired back at him. “Hm, baby Junnie?”

“Oh my God!” He finally said in his real voice. His forehead met with your shoulder as he gave up on winning any of you to his side. “I hate you all right now.”

“No, you don’t. You are just sour, ‘cause you didn’t get what you wanted.”

“See? I told you he’s a child.”

This time the maknae didn’t rebel against Songwoo’s words, just muttered some profanities under his nose that only you could hear. You decided not to comment on them; it would risk another whiny tantrum from him.

“Seohee, you’re first up,” Minji said, as all of you settled in the seats designed to your lanes.

She picked a pink ball, and with a perfect posture she bowled a strike. Stunned silence filled the air, and you already knew what she was gonna do. Turning around, she walked back to your seats with dangerously swaying hips. Her last bullet was blowing a kiss to the opposing team’s next player, a man dressed as Thor.

Murmurs went around in the crowd, everyone wondering how could the Scavengers beat you, what their plan would be, but you knew that they didn’t need one. Obviously your team had you, the clumsy one, who lost the points the others just gained to your advance. Seohee’s perfect strike will mean nothing in a few minutes. You all knew that, and couldn’t understand how did the crowd forgot your bad performance from the previous game.

The other weakling on your team was Minji. She either bowled a strike with her ball or it ended up in the gutter, there was no in between. Unfortunately the gutter was the more frequent option. And even with her crazy luck or curse, the others barely ever teased her about it. Maybe because she would really kick their asses, if they did so.

In a haze, you watched your friends play, one after the other, until it was your turn. You relaxed your stiffened posture as you stood up, feeling a lot of gaze on your back as you walked up to choose a ball. Picking and holding up a bright orange one, you tried to look confident. That is, until a booming voice called out to you.

“Go, Yelena!” You turned around, but already knew who that voice belong to. Not much to your surprise, Deadpool was waving at you enthusiastically. He even bowled a strike when it was his turn, and now he is encouraging you!

“Shut up, dude! It’ not the good time the flirt with her!” Someone shouted back at him from the crowd, making you blush furiously.

You decided to concentrate on your task, but was stopped once again as Loey-guy talked again.

“But she’s in love with me! She even sewed back my head to its place. I tell you, it was love at first sight!”

“Maybe she did it backwards.”

“I’d like to ask other players and viewers not to disturb the player during their turn,” came the owner’s voice from everywhere, but it was too late for you: your face already beat a tomato with its redness.

Taking a deep breath, you finally felt peace washing over your body. Ears turning deaf to the sound from everyone else, you only focused on the ball and the pins far from you. You took one step, two steps, three steps, your body bending in the learned form, fingers firmly letting go of the ball. Then your body immediately shot up and bent to left, hoping it would make the ball go more to that side than the right. You knocked down three pins. No, four. Well, it wasn’t that bad, you just have to collect the spares.

You picked a black ball this time, doing everything again, but when you tried to make it go a little more to the left than the first side, it ended up in the gutter on the left. Taking a deep breath, your head hung low. You knew you weren’t good, but it was different from playing only with your friends. There was a ton of strangers watching how well you did, their gaze turning you into a sweaty ball of nerves. Inhaling another deep breath, you straightened your back; on the lane next to yours Iron Man was preparing for his turn.

Minji and Yeonjun sent you a smile as you walked back to the seats, which were already rearranged on both teams’ side. Your seat’s back was turned to the back of the one where Deadpool sat. Your sour mood increasing a little when you noticed that his stupid mask was still on his head. Why couldn’t he just show his face? Wasn’t it too hot in here to wear a mask and a suit for hours?

“Wasn’t that bad, noona. It could have gone to the gutter immediately. At least you scored us some points,” said the maknae. You gave him a short nod, eyes on him, but all the nerves in your body was focused on the man behind you. His presence was overwhelming. “And who cares about free food? You guys can buy me meals all the time anyway.”

“Shut up, baby Junnie,” you shot back at him, but there wasn’t any edge in your voice.

“He’s not wrong, though.” A deep voice came from behind you.

You turned around in sync with the maknae, your face mere inches away from the masked face of the Loey-guy. He smells nice, you noted to yourself.

“Who is he, noona?” He asked once again, as if he was expecting a different answer than last time.

Yeonjun’s whisper was useless when you were sitting so close to the person he was talking about. The masked face turned in his direction, and the younger boy immediately leaned back a little to gain some space between themselves.

“I have no idea,” you said in a normal volume.

“You can call me Yeol, but Handsome God would be much more preferred.”

So this is where the Loey came from, you thought, he just wrote it backwards. You wanted to make a witty response, but your brain left you with nonsense thoughts. Like how his arms looked strong under the suit. And the tone of his voice was really nice, he easily could be a narrator for any movie. You would listen to it all the time. But still, that stupid mask…

“Yeah, we can’t confirm that since all we see is a mask. You could be the ugliest hyung in this whole place, actually. I bet noona would be disappointed if you had the scarred face of Deadpool, and still try to flirt with her.”

Yeol didn’t correct the maknae when he referred to him as hyung, or the fact that he was trying to flirt with you.

“He’s not flirting with me,” you said after a long pause, gaining a disbelieving look from Yeonjun and Yeol’s attention. In reality, you thought too that he was flirting with you, or tried to, you just wanted confirmation of it. So you tried to use reverse psychology. “Right?”

“Yeah. I’m totally not flirting. It’s just that my friend thinks you are cute,” he shrugged, not turning his head away from you. For some reasons you felt disappointed. This was not how you thought it would go. Hoping that it wouldn’t show on your face, you turned your gaze to the current player. Songwoo just collected all his spares, but the gap was only growing bigger between your teams.

“God, if you say that you are the friend, I might hit someone.” Despite his words and disgusted expression, you knew that the maknae was enjoying himself.

“Well,” Yeol said slowly. “I definitely not gonna say that now. But you might be right.”

“So you really were flirting with me.”

You even surprised yourself with how calm you sounded. On the inside, you were freaking out. Your heartbeat fastened up, palms getting sweaty, but feeling a little sour about not seeing his face yet. Looks aren’t everything, yes, but they did matter somewhat. Also, he was witty.

Yeonjun stood up. It was his turn soon, and he always spent some extra time picking out his ball.

“What did you think I was doing?”

“Being loyal to Deadpool’s crazy character?”

“Oh, that too, but it was mostly flirting.” A long, sticky pause. You held your breath, not knowing what to say. “How about this: you forget my lame confession about flirting with you and I teach you how to bowl better.”

“It wasn’t lame. And I don’t think there is any hope for me. All of my friends tried their luck with me, and I still can be happy if my ball doesn’t end up in the gutter.”

“But I haven’t tried yet. I’m the best bowling player in Seoul.” He leaned a little closer, as if he knew that his presence would make you dizzy enough to say yes without thinking.

“Okay, but I want to see your face beforehand.”

“Aw, I can’t just take it off here.” His voice was whiny, maybe he was even pouting.

“Why not?”

He leaned closer. If that silly mask wasn’t on his face, you would feel his breath on your face. Now you could only see how his chest rose and fell. His scent got stronger, filling your senses. It was an earthy smell mixed with some cologne. You couldn’t take off your eyes of him.

“People would see, you know, and then the mystery goes away.”

“That’s plainly stupid. I bet it’s goddamn hot in that suit and mask. And the people here probably don’t even care about your face, they just want to see how you play and how many point you score to your team.”

“But you care.”

You didn’t have the chance to answer or react. One of his teammates called out to him, referring to him as hyung, and he stood up with the speed of lightning, leaving you wondering about his words.

He was right, You cared about what he looked like. There was a rough image of him in your mind, but your wanted, no, needed to see him. You didn’t want to go home tonight without getting a full glimpse of him. And apparently he knew that very well.

After bowling a strike once again, he came back, sitting down on his previous spot and turning to you with his upper body. Suddenly, you wished you left you own half-mask on, so he would be in the same position as you. Rolling a blonde lock of the wig, you looked at lanes where the game took place. He stayed silent, but still could feel his eyes on your skin, your face.

The scoring board said that you were more than forty points behind. Nothing that couldn’t be turned around in a normal game, but it was your turn. That gap will only decrease by a few points or stays the same.

“When you’re letting go of the ball, don’t stop your arm in front of your chest. It might look cool, but you’ll be more precise of you fully follow up the movement.”

He’s tone was serious for the first time tonight, and you nodded at him with a surprised look. Then relaxing, you smiled.

“Is the teaching starts now?”

“No. I need a good reason for meeting you again,” he said it so casually, as if it was as obvious as his flirting tactics.

Instead of saying anything, you walked to your lane after picking a ball. It was red, and felt a little heavier than the previous one. You thought about the usual movements of your body during bowling, then reminded yourself about Yeol’s advice. Fully following through the movement with your arm. Doesn’t sound too hard.

“You can do it, Y/N!” Minji shouted behind you, making you nearly drop the ball. A solid laugh came from here and there as you lifted the red thing to your chest again.

You did everything as you remembered, and when it came to letting go of the ball, you purposefully raised you arm over your chest this time, not stopping it in the middle, as Yeol said. The ball knocked down six pins. You picked an another ball, repeating the same routine as you did, combined with Yeol’s advice, and to your own surprise you knocked down the remaining pins too.

Staring down at your hands in horror, your teammates ran up to you, cheering and hugging you, Yeonjun even asked how in the hell did you do that. You shook your head, not knowing what to say, only grinning like a mad woman.

Sitting back down, Yeol held out his hand for a high-five, his head slightly tilted to one side. You grinned at him, hitting your palm to his. He quickly grabbed your fingers with his glove covered one and squeezed your hand, then just as fast as it happened, he let go. Your smile slowly disappeared, and you had to shake your again to not read too much into this.

“Not bad. Now you just have to fix your posture a little more and you’ll be fine.”

“And you want to help with that too?”

“Yes.”

“Good. Then take off the mask,” he chuckled at your sudden demand. This time he turned away his head to look somewhere else, contemplating your words. But he leaned closer, you noticed.

“So this is what it’s really about, huh?” he said, and your heart sink to your stomach for no reason, palms getting sweaty.

There was something in his voice – like he just solved the mystery of your existence, and finally found out everything about you. Or you just really started to read too much into things. Still, you felt nervous.

Then somewhat quieter, he continued: “You want to get into my pants.”

You snorted, and turned away from him, but leaned back on the chair anyway.

“You’re ridiculous.”

“I don’t hear you say no.”

You refused to answer or react, but felt him close to you. Probably leaned to your ear to tempt you more, and this way others won’t hear anything. Crossing your arms over your shoulder, you pouted, looking like a child who didn’t get what they wanted. At the same time you were conscious how the movement pushed you boobs higher up, making them look better. Did he notice?

“Is he bothering you?” Songwoo asked, his eyes going back and forth between you and Yeol.

“Tries,” you said.

“No,” he said.

“Okay,” Songwoo responded, then turned away, shrugging his shoulders.

Answering at the same time made you look at him, which was a big mistake. You immediately forgot about Songwoo, because Yeol’s face was indeed really close to yours. If it wasn’t for that stupid mask, you could have kissed him. Not like you were bold enough to kiss a stranger in public, who successfully swept you off of your feet, but he was… mesmerizing.

“I take off the mask, if you honestly admit it.” The raspy, low tone made you braver, feeling like an invincible woman. You looked down at the place on the mask where his mouth was supposed to be, hoping he would catch the sign. You heard him gulp.

“Admit what?”

“You want to get into my pants.”

“Isn’t the same goes for you?”

“True, I want to do the same. So?” You insides clenched at his confession. Pressing your thighs together, you straightened your back.

“Fine. I might want to get into your pants. There, so when can I take it off?” you whispered, eyes lingering between the mask and his suit-covered chest, not making it obvious which one you were talking about.

“Fuck,” he muttered with feelings, suddenly leaning away, leaving you breathless and confused.

The rest of the game went by in a blur. Yeol didn’t talk much to you afterwards, but always sit on the same chair, the closest one to yours. His head often turned to you. It felt like he was trying to say something, but didn’t how to put his thoughts into words properly. With each passing minute, a knot formed in your throat, not so sure about the whole thing anymore.

He seemed to be into the flirty back and forth between you two, but on the other hand he didn’t talk to you since you admitted that you were sexually interested in him. Was it even a good idea to hook up with a total stranger, whose face you haven’t even seen yet? He could be a murderer for all you knew. But what kind of murderer would sign up for a bowling competition with his friends on Halloween, dress up and act like Deadpool? It didn’t make any sense.

In the end, your team lost by a lot of points. You had to go back to a table in the back, so the next game could start on the two main lanes. You wondered if you should go up to Yeol and say something, or ask him what’s gonna happen next, or how this thing would go down.

Scavengers won, so he still had to play at least one more game, even more if they were really good.

“Do we stay and watch the other games?” Songwoo asked all of you as you gathered your drinks and bottles from the table to give place to the new players.

“I have more glitter on my body than a stripper. I didn’t do it for us to stay just an hour then go straight home,” Seohee frowned at the boy, who stuck his tongue out in response.

“I don’t think they hire fairies as strippers.” “Maybe they do in kinky clubs,” Yeonjun chimed in, then nearly poked a hole in your ribs with his elbow. His eyes grew wide as he looked behind you, pointing at a tall man in red and black suit. “I think your superhero, who flirts awfully, is looking for you. Do you want me to stay with you, in case he tries with something weird?”

“It’s okay. He won’t try anything I wouldn’t want anyway.”

The maknae opened his mouth to respond, but Yeol finally caught up with you. He looked at Yeonjun than at you, then back at the boy again.

“Oh, right, I still have to walk our stripper fairy back to her club, see you later, noona!” He spoke faster than you could comprehend his words. Taking your drink and purse away from you, he turned around, grabbed Seohee by her arm, who lingered behind with you, and dragged her to the table, where Songwoo and Minji already put their stuff down.

He cleared his throat, and for a few seconds none of you said anything. You could feel your friends staring daggers into your back, and when you looked at them to check if you were right, they quickly turned away, pretending they were doing something entirely else.

“So you wanted to see my face.”

With that, he got your full attention. Taking a deep breath, you nodded. He held out his hand, and you put yours into his, the gloves warm under your touch, his hold confident. You felt your body becoming lighter, like you were walking on clouds, as he led you away from the main area straight to the restrooms.

It felt just right holding his hand. Your head felt dizzy with excitement, as you followed him until he stopped in front of the men’s restroom, first shoving only his head inside, listening and checking if someone was in there. After deciding the coast was clear, you went in. Hearing the lock clicking behind you, you got got more nervous. Why does it felt a much bigger deal than just him taking off his mask?

“So what is Yeol short for? Is it a nickname?” you asked, when he didn’t say anything, only leaned his back onto the wall next to the hand dryer.

“It’s Chanyeol, actually.”

“Nice to meet you, Chanyeol. I’M Y/N.” Your voice sounded too formal to a situation where you basically were supposed to plan a hookup. He must have found it weird too, because he laughed; voice bubbling, the kind which made you smile. “Now that we are done with introductions, need help with that?”

Taking a few steps closer to Chanyeol, until you were standing in front of him, you pointed at his mask.

“Definitely,” voice raspy, deeper than you’ve ever heard, luring you even closer to him. “But I have to warn you: you might not get a chance to take a good look at me.”

Bold with your actions, you took the final step, closed the distance between the two of you, basically pressing yourself to him. You hummed at the sensation. His body felt warm and firm under the suit. You slowly lifted your hands, fingers quickly finding the edge of the mask. Voice coming out as a whisper, you asked:

“And why is that?”

“If you tease me like that,” his palm slipped to your hips, pulling you closer; his body not just firm anymore, his cock pressed hard against your stomach. “I won’t be able to hold back, and just kiss you right away.”

You smiled smugly, feeling confident and powerful, you pulled his mask upwards. Despite the circumstances, a chuckle slipped past your lips as you struggled with the fabric. It was like taking off plastic gloves of your hands: difficult and time consuming. A whiny ‘ouch’ left his lips a few times, but after his ears got out of the way, it was easy.

With the mask in one hand, you leaned back a little to finally drink his features in, and save them in your memory. And you didn’t have to be disappointed.

He was nothing like you imagined. Plump lips slightly opened, a freckle on his nose, three other on the right side of his face and two more on his jaw, near his ear – his ears, which stood out a little, giving him a little childish look. Brown locks of hair, fluffy, although damp from being trapped under the mask. They were a little wavy too, the kind which makes you want run your fingers through it repeatedly. And his eyes… Fuck, his eyes were fixated on your lip, a hungry light flickering in them.

One of his hands left your hips, and snaked up on your back, making you lean close to him. Your noses nearly touched. His breath fanned over your face. You swallowed hard, your mind filled with thoughts about what those lips could do to you in bed.

“So? What do you think?” His voice came out low and thick with lust, making you shiver.

“Would it sound bad, if I said that I just want to get you out of that stupid suit more than before?” He looked stunned by your sudden confession, but then the next moment he collected himself and smiled at you warmly.

“You are reading my mind.” Licking you lower lip instinctively, you watched him follow the movement with his eyes, even heard him groan. “Can I kiss you a little? Just to get a taste before going back out there?”

Instead of answering him, you stood on your tiptoes and kissed him. The moment your lips touched, his arms tightened around you, as if he tried to melt you into himself. It made all your thoughts run far away from you, and you didn’t even want them to come back if it meant that you could kiss more.

Chanyeol kissed you carefully, not trying to cross any invisible lines, but his hands constantly roamed around your body, making your blood boil and making your skin tingle. It has been some time since you’ve been with a man, and his hardness pressed between your bodies made a knot form in your stomach. You were getting aroused just by thinking about what he could do to you if all these clothes wouldn’t separate you.

A moan slipped past your lips when he licked them, then dipped his tongue into your mouth, tasting you fully.

A loud knock on the door startled both of you, the kiss cut too short for you liking.

“Come on, man, I have to take a piss, just let me in already!”Someone said, rather upset being stuck outside.

You felt you face turning from embarrassment, and Chanyeol’s ears tinted with the same color, although his eyes were wide from want. You slowly wiped away a little saliva from his lower lip, not knowing what to say. You felt breathless, you body begging for more kisses, more touches.

When the knocking repeated, you left the trance-like state, shaking your head and stepping away to go out, and probably embarrass yourself. He didn’t let you too far though, One arm snaking around your lower back, the other unlocking and opening the door, but only after wiping your skin under your lips with his thumb.

“I messed up your lipstick,” he explained.

A man dressed as an alien blinked at you in surprise, then quickly overcame the fact that you probably made out in the men’s bathroom, and barged in, going straight into the closest stall.

You scanned the place, looking for your friends, feeling too nervous to talk to Chanyeol about what just happened, or what could happen later tonight. Your legs still wobbly, you sighed. Chanyeol cleared his throat next to you, and your friends seemed to be nowhere in sight.

“I meant it, you know.”

“Which part?” you asked absentmindedly, fearing to look him in the eyes now, that you finally got rid off the mask. You looked down at the material in your hand, considering whether to give it back to him, or to take it with you.

“Where I said that I want to teach you to play bowling properly later on. And the ‘getting into your pants’ part too.”

The more you stared at him, the more his ears stuck out, even his fluffy hair couldn’t hide them. His eyes looked pure and convincing, when you looked into them. You held out the mask to him.

“I’ll be with my friends, until you finish,” you said, and smiled when confusion washed over his face. “The only question is: are we gonna go to your place or mine?”

“Shit, shit, shit,” he whispered as he grabbed your hand with the mask and pulled you to his chest. It happened so fast, you could barely register that he kissed you again, he let you go before you had the chance to kiss him back. “Did you really just asked whose place we should go?”

“Yeah. I thought that was the whole point.”

“Well, yes, but I never really thought my flirting would actually work.”

“We just made out literally five minutes ago, basically felt up each other, and you still think that I don’t want to hook up?” You were genuinely stunned. Was he playing a game with you? But the look in his eyes was so innocent, it couldn’t be that he was only toying with you.

Fortunately, there wasn’t many people around you, most of them were watching the games, only a few wandered around to go to the restrooms. Looking around, you waited for his response.

“I never really did this before. I mean hooking up with someone I barely know.”

“Oh. Well, if it helps, I don’t do that often either.” Your gazes met once again, and you smiled at him encouragingly, a little cheekily. “Only when a handsome guy, who dresses up as Deadpool, flirts with me lamely on Halloween.”

His shoulders lowered a little. After exhaling loudly, he returned you smile.

“Does it happen often?”

“That’s my first time,” you shrugged. Stepping closer to press your body to his again, savoring the feeling. You placed a hand on his chest, the other was still held captive by his hand. His hot breath fanned over your face. The knot in your stomach tightened, you had to press your thighs together, when he licked his lips in anticipation. “So, whose place it’s gonna be?”

“Do you live close by?”

Scavengers lost in the next round. Not because Chanyeol played terribly on purpose to end it faster, but the other team was truly better than them. They almost made it look like a game between professional players, it was a sight to remember.

Chanyeol’s balls were fast and accurate, the only sign that he wanted to end it soon. He often stole glances in your direction, where you sat with your friends. His face was hidden by the mask again, but your heart still beat faster whenever he turned to you.

Of course, your friends, especially Seohee and Yeonjun, tried to get you spill the tea about what just happened with the ‘Deadpool-guy’, as they called him (you kept his name to yourself), but you refused to say anything. While changing your shoes back, you hinted that you wouldn’t be walking home with them tonight, and might leave a little early, which was just adding fuel to the fire. Questions thrown at you faster than bullets, only stopped for a few seconds to breathe. You looked at Songwoo and Minji, begging for help with your eyes, but the girl looked back at you with surprise in her eyes, and the boy… well, he smiled like he was having the time of his life.

“Oh, stop it already!” You shushed them, when you finally had enough. “He seems nice, not a creep, and he’s interested in me too. So what’s so bad about hooking up with him? Seohee, you tell me all the time that I should find someone too.”

“Well, yeah, but didn’t mean that you should take home a complete stranger.”

“You do the same from time to time.”

Seohee opened her mouth, but words didn’t come out so she just shut it. Her eyes scanned your face, looking for something, and when she found it, a smirk appeared on her lips. She nodded, mostly to herself, then proudly said:

“You already made out with him!” Instinctively lifted your hand to your lips, remembering Chanyeol mentioning the smudged lipstick, and that was enough for Seohee, she pointed an accusing finger at you. “I fuckin’ knew it!”

Yeonjun snickered next to the girl, then his gaze wandered somewhere behind you for the second time tonight. After poking Seohee, she looked there too.

“You know what? I would take him home too,” the girl whispered cheekily, and looked into your eyes. “But promise to call me if something goes weird. I’ll call you in the morning, and if you won’t answer, I’m gonna march in there and cut his dick off.”

“Or worse,” the maknae added.

“We’ll talk in the morning,” you agreed.

Rolling your eyes, you turned around to check if they were just teasing you or Chanyeol was really coming to your table.

Well, he was coming. Tall, broad shoulders highlighted by the suit, the mask openly mocking you with hiding his face again. You already got a taste of him, now you couldn’t wait for more.

Abruptly, you stood up, realizing that if Chanyeol reaches the table, he’s gonna meet your friends, and they would probably make some jokes about you. He shouldn’t hear those kind of jokes, he might change his mind about going home with you or teaching you to bowl better.

Quickly gathering your stuff, you threw some money on the table, asking your friends to pay for your drink from it and said goodbye to them, all that before Chanyeol could come near them. As you walked to him, someone wolf whistled behind you, and you refused to turn around and check who it was. It sounded like Seohee anyway.

Chanyeol tilted his head, when you met him halfway, neither of you knowing what to do. A smile appeared on your lips at your own shyness. It seemed to ease his mind, grabbing your hand, and walking in the direction of the entrance.

“I have to admit, you’re a really good player.”

He turned to you, his hold tightening around your fingers.

“You haven’t seen everything yet. I just wanted to get over it fast. It’s a pity that we lost, but…” He trailed off, wiggling his eyebrows at you suggestively.

You walked back on the same path you came to the bowling alley, except this time you weren’t accompanied by your friends, but a handsome man, who still hid his figures behind the mask. You put back the glasses, hiding the upper half of your face too. You wished he would pull up his mask a little and kiss you, but was thankful he didn’t, because when he did that back in the restroom you nearly lost your mind, getting wet and moaning into his mouth.

His hand held yours firmly, sometimes turning his face to you, but quickly turning back watching the street in front of you.

You smiled at his antics. It only made sense when you glanced down at his crotch. His erection was straining against his suit. The same need and want must have running through his veins too. Luckily to him, there wasn’t many people out on streets, who would have noticed it.

Hands trembling a little while looking for your keys in your purse, as your reached your apartment, you let yourselves in. Chanyeol followed you closely up on the stairs, his palm often reaching for your hips, stroking your ass while he was there. You chuckled, not saying anything, just stopping and feeling him press up against your back, then running away from him a little. His laugh echoed in the hallways.

“You have a nice place,” he said as you finally arrived to your apartment.

After taking off your shoes and putting your purse away, you didn’t know what to do or say. You felt awkward, just standing in the small hall area. You watched as Chanyeol sloppily put his shoes next to yours, then finally took his mask off. Hair fluffier than ever, eyes shining and dark. He licked his lips, ruffling his hair sheepishly.

Hesitantly, he reached his hand out for you, gaze literally devouring you, and you just had to give in to him. You wanted to.

One hand snaking around your lower back, the other taking off your half-mask, throwing it next to your purse. Then his hand came back to your face, fingers running along your hairline, or more like the wig’s hairline.

“It’s a wig, right?”

“Yes.” You helped him taking it off, then pulling off the thin fabric too that held your real hair in place. As it came off too, dyed red locks flowed down, laying on your shoulders.

“Who knew life would follow the comics?” he asked, distracted by your hair.

“What do you mean?”

“Deadpool fell in love with Yelena Belova as Black Widow, but later on they found out that it was Natasha Romanov in disguise all along.” He twirled a lock of hair between his fingers. The redness seemed to be flying around on his palm smoothly.

At the same time you couldn’t take your eyes off of his lips. Lust took over you, body moving on its own as you pushed him against the door and kissed him deeply. He was only surprised for a moment, then he kissed you back just as hard.

It was much more needy and lustful than the one back at the bowling alley; teeth clashing, tongue fighting for dominance, hands roaming wherever they could reach on each other’s body. He could freely grab your ass now, shoving your hips together, his length pressing to your crotch and stomach, buttons on your suit biting harsh into your skin.

Lips busy kissing, hands busy unbuttoning his damn suit, that he looked so good in, but wanted him to take off. A long exhale escaped you when finishing with the buttons your fingers didn’t reach bare skin but the cotton of a t-shirt. He chuckled, voice resonating through your body as he leaned away a little. With half-lidded eyes he looked down at you.

“Don’t be too surprised that I have a men’s stockings underneath too.”

“Are you serious?” you asked, hands already dipping deeper in the suit to confirm what he just said.

God, he really was wearing a thin stockings. Since you went that far, you reached one layer further and deeper, caressing and grabbing his cock. He inhaled sharply, eyes closing for a second, then moaning loudly and bringing your face up for another kiss.

Massaging his erection slowly, you got wet from the noises he made. He was vocal, humming and groaning in your mouth, even whining when you did something he especially enjoyed, like running your thumb over his tip, smudging some precum over it, or cupping his balls, squeezing them lightly.

“The suit was hurting my skin without it,” he whispered after a long time. “Shouldn’t we go inside?”

“Yeah, we should.” But none of you moved for a long time.

Leaving your lips, Chanyeol kissed down on your neck, unbuttoning your suit along the way, and leaving a burning trace of skin behind. You tried to continue undressing him with your free hand but it just didn’t work out. Not really wanting to separate from him, you were hesitant but took a small step back. He looked at you questioningly, body instinctively moving to close the gap fast. You held out a hand to hold him back, making him more confused. You smiled at him.

“I can’t take off your clothes if you keep kissing me like that.”

It turned his pout into a smile too. You pointed behind your back, then spoke up again:

“My bedroom is this way.”

Grabbing your shoulders he flipped you around.

“Lead the way, Y/N.” Your name sounded sinful coming from his lips. Tone low from want, you leaned into his touch as you marched into your room.

He wasn’t looking around, when you turned back to him; no, his eyes were fixated on you, your body, your face. Your stomach tightened in excitement.

No one ever looked at you like that. As if he was a thirty man stuck in a desert and you were a glass of water. His gaze made you just as intoxicated as his kisses.

Time and tension seemed to slow down, now it was more important to enjoy the moment than getting fast to the main part. You lead Chanyeol to your bed, making him sit on the edge, then finally peeled him out of his suit. A simply gray t-shirt hugged his upper body, a few tattoos littering around on his arms, veins popping out here and there. Fuck, he looked good. You stood between his legs. You noticed his stomach twitching, when you reached for the hem of the gray fabric, trying to pull it off in one swift movement. He held up his hands. With his ears sticking out, arms high up in the air, he looked like a child.

He had a really nice body. Toned arms, fine outline of abs, firm muscles hard as you caressed his skin. Nipples a shade darker than his lips, hard and pointy. You wanted to taste every inch of his body, knowing if he was as delicious as he looked.

He stopped you when you went for his pants, making you look him in the eyes.

“My turn,” he said.

He motioned for you to climb on his lap, caressing your thighs as you got on the bed and him, then firmly pressing you down on his lap. A soft moan escaped you as your core made contact with his length. It was hot and hard even through your clothes. His fingers, that were busy getting you out of the suit and revealing your bra-covered chest, halted in motion as you started grinding against his cock. You couldn’t hold back yourself anymore. You clenched around nothing, when he thrust his hips upwards, his hands working faster in getting you out of the black material.

Head buried in his neck, you suck bruises on the soft skin, and his shoulder and chest too, littering purplish spots on him.

“It’s okay, don’t stop,” he muttered when you stopped at a particularly loud whine from him, thinking it was because of pain. “I like it.”

You didn’t even notice when he unclasped your black bra, only feeling the cool air hitting your breasts.

“Fuck, you are beautiful,” he said, before his mouth closed around one nipple. Your breath hitched as he sucked, even bit down a little on it. Your hips moving in a slow rhythm, hoaxing soft sounds from him. “I won’t last long if we keep doing this.”

“Than better get naked fast,” you whimpered, not really trusting your voice anymore.

Clothes seemed to disappear afterwards, he undressed you with caring hands, but throwing the clothes without looking. His fingers dig into your skin when he pulled your panties off, a simple yellow cotton one, nothing special, maybe just the wet spot from your arousal on it. He looked up at you from between your legs, leaning on one hand, the other hiking higher and higher up on your thigh, until he reached your slit. Eyes dark with want, he asked:

“Do you want me to eat you out a little?” Then pressed his thumb down on your clit, drawing circles on it.

He took your whimper as a yes, because he didn’t wait. Only wetting his lips, and with that, his mouth was all over you. He kissed you down there like he did with the lips on your face: deeply, enthusiastically and with a lot of tongue. He had to put his arm on your stomach to hold you down, as you kept moving around. It was too much, the knot in your stomach growing bigger and bigger with every lick of his tongue.

Suddenly, he stopped, blowing air on your core, the coolness making you shiver.

Getting rid of his suit, pulling stockings and pants down in one go, your mouth watered from watching his cock spring free. It was long with a pink tip, a vein running along it, and hard. He smiled at your expression, hair messed up, sticking to his forehead. Chanyeol climbed above you. Resting one hand next to your head, he grabbed yours with the other and guided it to his length. It twitched when you wrapped your hand around him, the tip shiny with precum. Caressing his face with your free hand, and pulling him down for a kiss completely melting under his lips. Squeezing with your fingers, he rolled into your touch, his breath tickling your ear.

“Does it feel good?” you asked sheepishly, when he exhaled shakily.

“God, yes, fuck, I just…” he trailed off. “Do you have a condom? I want to be in you. Like right now.”

You squeezed his length again, his whimper echoing in your ears, then reached to your nightstand. You remembered putting some condoms away in there, thinking it might come handy in the future. You thanked your past-self for being mindful enough.

It wasn’t an easy task, though. Chanyeol kept kissing your body wherever he could reach, all while rutting himself against your mound, not missing grinding against your clit each again and again. Your hands trembled, accidentally pushing a book off the nightstand, but in the end you found what your were looking for.

After sitting up, he ripped the package and rolled the condom down on his cock. Your chest rose and fell quickly. Watching him, your hand slipped between your legs. After wetting your fingers with arousal, you drew eight-figures on your clit. You clenched hard again on nothing, waiting to feel him in you.

“Okay, okay,” he mumbled, shuffling around in between your legs. Digging his fingers into your thighs, he pulled your legs wider apart, fully exposing you.

Settling comfortable, he slid the tip on your slit up and down a few times. You were more than ready for him. Finally sinking into you, you moaned loudly. Both of your eyes were locked on where you connected, watching as he disappeared in you inch by inch. Your back arched up as he bottomed out. He stretched you out well, you needed a few moments to get used to it; he didn’t look that thick at first glance. He was long too, filling you up fully.

His groaning grew stronger as he pulled out, then buried in you again. Then repeated it a little faster, a little harder. You whimpered when he pulled out, tip almost coming out, but never actually leaving your pussy.

“Can I try something?” He panted, lying down on you and kissing you.

Grabbing the closest thing you could found, you wrapped your hands around his arms, muscles rock hard under your touch. You could only moan, forming words was a complicated task with him nonstop pounding into you. He put his free hand under your head, holding himself up on his lower arm. Fingers getting lost in your hair, massaging your scalp, he repeated his question.

“I need you to answer, baby.” The petname made you sink further into oblivion, but he brought you back by slowing down his movements. He pulled out infuriatingly carefully, and pushed back even slower, but harshly whipped himself into you at the last inch. “What do you say? Can you put your leg on my shoulder for me?”

You nodded, swallowing hard as he picked his pace up again. Pushing himself up, his fingers snaked around your left ankles and pulled it over his shoulder just like he asked. You didn’t even came yet, and you were fucked out already. Skin glowing form sweat, hips moving as if he was dancing, you felt like exploding. This way he went deeper, hitting at a different angle, heat growing faster in your lower abdomen than before. You would come soon.

Lifting your hips, you welcomed his with every push. Chanyeol turned his head to your leg, kissing and biting down on your ankle to mute down his groans a little. It was no use, he was still as loud as you anyway. It was game over for you when he licked his fingers, putting them on your clit, sloppily drawing circles and pushing down on it a little.

“I’m gonna cum,” you gasped, right before your hands fisted in the sheets, eyes widened as white hotness run through your body. You clenched hard around Chanyeol’s length, only soft ‘fuck’ exclamations leaving your lips.

He pushed your leg back down on the bed, falling on you, slamming his cock harder and deeper if that was possible. His muscles flexed under your touch when you splayed them across his back, then going down, squeezing his ass. You watched him closely, his eyes fluttering shut, smooth skin painted with hickeys made by you, wanting to remember it forever. Probably even make new memories like this with him.

Chanyeol moaned into your ear, kissing you once more. He shuddered in your arms. You could feel his length pulse in you, his body collapsing on you. His skin was hot against yours, lips kissing a wet trail across your jaw to your mouth.

His kiss was slow and comfortable, not driven by lust anymore, simply tasting you and exploring your mouth thoroughly. Cock soft, he pulled out of you. Chanyeol shivered when you took the condom off of him, throwing it out in the trash near your bed.

“It was good for you too, right?” he asked somewhat sheepishly, as you lay back next to him. His hands were instantly on your body, not teasing, just holding you. He blinked slowly. Lips dark and wet with saliva, you wanted to kiss him again.

“Yeah, one of the biggest orgasms I’ve ever had.”

“One of?”

“Let me keep my pride, okay? I can’t say that I had the best sex ever with a man we barely know each other.”

“Well, if you come with me on the bowling date I was talking about earlier, then we can get to know each other better.”

“Wait!” You shifted up to your elbow to look at him. “You meant a date when you talked about teaching me bowling?”

“What else could I have mean?”

“I don’t know.” Shivering as he dipped his fingers between your legs, teasing your sensitive clit and slit, his other hand hugging you to his bare body.

“But I can promise, if you go on a date with me, I’ll eat you out afterwards. Twice.”

Fuck, why does he have to sound so hot? You were getting wet again, soaking his fingers as he pushed one in you, moving it sensually in and out. A moan was threatening to slip out. You clenched when he added a second finger, waiting for your answer. You weren’t lazy either, palming his cock, feeling him grow hard again in your hand.

“I’ll say yes if you fuck me in the shower.”

“I’m in,” he said, then brought you in the bathroom in his arms, to fulfill his part of the deal.

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