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jiangwanyinscatmom · 3 years

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The funniest thing is JIANG CHENG HAD MULTIPLE CHANCES TO DO THE RIGHT THING but every time his jealousy and resentment towards wwx won. Are we gonna forget that his jealousy for wwx is the main thing that jin sect used to separate wwx from a little "support" he had left

Whuuuut? But he tried so hard during the biggest turning point! 🥺

Jiang Cheng’s brows were knitted. He rubbed the vein that throbbed at his temple and soundlessly took in a deep breath, “… I apologize to all of the Sect Leaders. Everyone, I’m afraid you don’t know that the Wen cultivator whom Wei WuXian wanted to save was called Wen Ning. We owe him and his sister Wen Qing gratitude for what happened during the Sunshot Campaign.”

Nie MingJue, “You owe them gratitude? Isn’t the QishanWen Sect the ones who caused the YunmengJiang Sect’s annihilation?”

Within the last few years, Jiang Cheng insisted on working late into the night every day. That day, just as he decided to rest early, he had to rush to Koi Tower overnight because of the thundering news. He’d been suppressing some anger under his fatigue since the beginning. With his natural competitiveness, he was already quite agitated since he had to apologize to other people. When he heard Nie MingJue mention the incident of his sect again, hatred sprouted within him.

The hatred was directed at not only everyone who was seated in this room, but also Wei WuXian.

Lan XiChen responded a moment later, “I have heard of Wen Qing’s name a few of times. I do not remember her having participated in any of the Sunshot Campaign’s crimes.”

Nie MingJue, “But she’s never stopped them either.”

Lan XiChen, “Wen Qing was one of Wen RuoHan’s most trusted people. How could she have stopped them?”

Nie MingJue spoke coldly, “If she responded with only silence and not opposition when the Wen Sect was causing mayhem, it’s the same as indifference. She shouldn’t have been so disillusioned as to hope that she could be treated with respect when the Wen Sect was doing evil and be unwilling to suffer the consequences and pay the price when the Wen Sect was wiped out.”

Lan XiChen knew that because of what happened to his father, Nie MingJue abhorred Wen-dogs more than anything, especially with how intolerable he was toward evil. Lan XiChen didn’t say anything else.

But he's such a wonderful diplomat, who had no way of protecting his brother. Curious how he doesn't expand on what he means by that debt and just lets the hate about the Wens take over even though Lan Xichen tried to get more information even though it would have helped to show Wei Wuxian was not power hungry.

Taking this opportunity, Jin GuangShan spoke, “Sect Leader Jiang, this was supposed to be a matter of your sect. It wouldn’t have been appropriate for me to barge in. But now that things are like this, I’ll have to caution you on the topic of Wei Ying.”

Jiang Cheng, “Sect Leader Jin, go ahead.”

Jin GuangShan, “Sect Leader Jiang, Wei Ying is your right-hand man. You value him a lot. All of us know this. However, on the other hand, it’s hard to tell whether or not he actually respects you. In any case, I’ve been a sect leader for so many years and I’ve never seen the servant of any sect dare be so arrogant, so proud. Have you heard what they say outside? Things like how during the Sunshot Campaign the victories of the YunmengJiang Sect were all because of Wei WuXian alone—what nonsense!”

Hearing this, Jiang Cheng’s face was already quite dark. Jin GuangShan shook his head, “In an event as important as the Flower Banquet, he dared throw a fit right in front of you, leaving however he pleased. He even dared say something like ‘I don’t care about the sect leader Jiang WanYin at all!’ Everyone who was there heard it with their own ears…”

Suddenly, an indifferent voice spoke up, “No.”

Jin GuangShan was in the middle of his fabrication. Hearing this, he paused in surprise, turning along with the crowd to see who it was.

Lan WangJi sat with his back straight, speaking in a tone of absolute tranquility, “I did not hear Wei Ying say this. I did not hear him express the slightest disrespect towards Sect Leader Jiang either.”

Lan WangJi rarely spoke when he was outside. Even when they debated cultivation techniques during Discussion Conferences, he only answered when others questioned or challenged him. With utmost concision, he overcame, without fault, the lengthy arguments of others. Apart from this, he almost never spoke up. And thus, when Jin GuangShan was interrupted by him, he experienced a far greater shock than annoyance. But after all, his fabrication was exposed right in front of so many. He felt a bit awkward.

The good thing was that, not long after he felt awkward, Jin GuangYao came to save the day, exclaiming, “Really? That day, Young Master Wei busted into Koi Tower with such force. He said too many things, one more shocking than the next. Perhaps he said a few things that were along those lines. I can’t remember them either.”

His memory could only be equal to Lan WangJi’s, if not better. As soon as he heard it, Nie MingJue knew that he was fibbing on purpose, frowning slightly.

Jin GuangShan followed the transition, “That’s right. Anyhow, his attitude has always been arrogant.”

One of the sect leaders added, “To be honest, I’ve wanted to say this since a long time ago. Although Wei WuXian did a few things during the Sunshot Campaign, there are many guest cultivators who did more than him. I’ve never seen anyone as full of themselves as him. Excuse my bluntness, but he’s the son of a servant. How could the son of a servant be so arrogant?”

He never believed at all what Jin Guangshan was saying, and he was only jealous because Wei Wuxian always overshadowed him and shouldn't have. Wei Wuxian only ever cared about showing off like he said and never took Jiang Cheng's feelings into account and cruelly ignored him for everyone else. Obviously Jiang Cheng wanted to stand up for Wei Wuxian like Mianmian and Lan Wangji, but he had no power (never mind that Lan Wangji and Mianmian had a lesser position in all of this and despite being mocked tried to be heard and keep Wei Wuxian from being blackened). What? Noooo, he's not at all buying into what Jin Guangshan is saying about his own first disciple he's always expressed faith in Wei Wuxian.

With him having brought up the ‘son of a servant’, naturally there’d be some who connected it to the ‘son of a prostitute’ standing in the hall. Jin GuangYao clearly noticed the unkind stares. Yet, his smile remained perfect, not at all faltering. The crowd went with the flow and voiced their complaints.

“In the beginning, Sect Leader Jin asked Wei Ying for the Tiger Seal with nothing but good intentions, worried that he wouldn’t be able to control it and lead to a disaster. He, however, used his own yardstick to measure another’s intents. Did he think that everyone is after his treasure? What a joke. In terms of treasures, is there any sect that doesn’t hold a few treasures?”

Ignoring the rioting voices behind him, Lan WangJi stood up as well and exited. After Lan XiChen understood what happened a few moments ago, hearing how the direction of their discussion worsened, he spoke up, “Everyone, she is gone already. Let us settle down.”

Now that ZeWu-Jun had spoken, of course the people had to give him some face. In Golden Pavilion, one after another, they began to denounce Wei WuXian and the Wen-dogs again. They all spoke with passionate hatred, letting their indiscriminate, irrefutable loathing dance in the air. Using the atmosphere, Jin GuangShan turned to Jiang Cheng, “He’s been plotting for a while to go to Burial Mound, hasn’t he? After all, with his skills, it wouldn’t be too hard to set up a sect of his own. And so, he used this as a chance to leave the Jiang Sect, intending to do whatever he pleases in the bright skies outside. You rebuilt the YunmengJiang Sect with so much work. He’s got a few controversial traits in him to begin with, and still he doesn’t restrain himself, stirring up so much trouble for you. He doesn’t care about you at all.”

Jiang Cheng pretended to stand his ground, “That probably isn’t that case. Wei WuXian has been like this ever since he was young. Even my father couldn’t do anything about him.”

Jin GuangShan, “Even FengMian-xiong couldn’t do anything about him, huh?” He chuckled a few times, “FengMian-xiong just favored him.”

Hearing the words ‘favored him’, the muscles beside the corners of Jiang Cheng’s mouth twitched.

Jin GuangShan continued, “Sect Leader Jiang, you’re not like your father. It’s just been a couple of years since the reestablishment of the YunmengJiang Sect, precisely when you should be displaying your power. And he doesn’t even know to avoid suspicions. What would the Jiang Sect’s new disciples think if they saw him? Don’t tell me you’d let them see him as their role model and look down on you?”

He spoke one sentence after another, striking the iron while it was still hot. Jiang Cheng spoke slowly, “Sect Leader Jin, that’s enough. I’ll go to Burial Mound and deal with this.”

Jin GuangShan felt satisfied, speaking in a sincere tone, “That’s the spirit. Sect Leader Jiang, there are some things, some people that you shouldn’t put up with.”

After the gathering ended, all of the sect leaders felt that they received a terrific topic for conversation. They walked quickly as they discussed with all their might, their passionate hatred still burning strong.

No this is not Jin Guangshan taking advantage of Jiang Cheng's well known complexes over his dad and Wei Wuxian. He is not using the fact at all that Jiang Cheng hates that people flock to Wei Wuxian naturally to set off Jiang Cheng's complex about being seen as lesser than Wei Wuxian in anyway. Jiang Cheng was powerless after all to stand up for Wei Wuxian's reputation and help.

#mdzs #mo dao zu shi #lol two prides #at this point Jiang Cheng made it clear his sect leader reputation was what he cared about

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thoughts-on-bangtan · 3 years

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Which member do you think is the most supportive of VMIN?

Admin 1: For a change I’ll be the one that’ll use comparatively few words since I don’t have that big of an opinion. As much as I enjoy joining in on the jokes about how Jimin is the president of the Namjinists (due to his April Fool’s Day joke tweet from years ago and other such things), I’ve never given much thought to who among the members might be the most supportive of vmin.

But perhaps I’d say it could be Hoseok due to his general fondness of both Jimin and Tae as individuals but also as them together, how he said his favorite song off of MOTS7 is Friends and even sung it during the FESTA karaoke with the iconic (very suggestive and heavy on the implications) hip thrust during Tae’s “hey, Jimin, oneul” part. I’m sure you know exactly what I mean. Also if we consider that Jimin and Hoseok were roommates for a long time, I guess it wouldn’t be too far-fetched of an assumption to make on my part that surely they had a number of deep late night talks over the years, and chances are Jimin would’ve sought out advice from Hoseok during one of them, perhaps even confided in him about his feelings for Tae (regardless which ones, both would be valid and something you’d talk about with a close friend).

Another option might be Namjoon, since he’s the leader and thus certainly the person who would have to know about such developments within the group for obvious reasons, but also it seems like Namjoon sought out consolation and advice from both Jimin (like that scene in BV4 around the bonfire off to the side from the group) and Tae (like the story he told at 5th Muster Seoul (?) about how he was kind of sad/feeling off so he talked to Tae before the encore and what Tae said made him feel better), meaning they are more than close enough to bring up certain topics with each other. So, based on that, it doesn’t seem too much of a stretch that he would stand up/look out for them if need be in conversations with BH etc.

That being said, regardless of how we interpret vmin and their bond, I think it’s safe to say that all the members are endlessly supportive of them, just like they are with any other duo within the group, though it’s easy to see that they do highlight vmin at times as something…special. A bond that’s noteworthy, stands out, even within a group as close as they are.

Admin 2: Chances are that what I think and am about to say might be a bit controversial. At the same time I’d like to note that this is only my personal opinion and theory, and not some kind of proven fact, yes? Perhaps no one will agree with me, but after putting many thoughts into this and looking at different content and events that have transpired over the years, as well as some other factors I’ll explain later, these are the conclusions I’ve drawn when it comes to the members and vmin. Furthermore, I don’t want to negate/comment on other ships since those don’t really play any role in this the way some might assume.

I think it’s important to remember that BTS basically exist in two version (though they are closely intertwined):

1: the idols on screen, who stand on stage, who share their music with us, who film content and who, to a certain degree, play a role, keep up an appearance that’s part honest and part mystery.

“I think V can show parts of Kim Taehyung and parts of V, but Kim Taehyung can’t show V. Kim Taehyung is Kim Taehyung. Kim Taehyung is someone who’s still filled with a lot of curiosity and he’s inquisitive about a lot of things. There are so many things he wants to do. Also I think there’s so many things he is curious about.” – Tae, Break the Silence: Persona

2: the real-life humans with private lives, private friendships and personalities that are similar but not quite the same as what we know and see.

Both of these are real in their own right, and both of them influence each other in more ways than one. So, when we look at vmin in the context of both, the question of support and showing certain things and how those affect version 1 and 2 are tricky, multifaceted and much more complex than some imagine or present it as. Because the moment we assume private life vmin are real, that sort of swift in dynamic ultimately also affects their work and demands adjustments from all parties involved, especially the other members. A large portion of what they do and say on screen or anywhere that we can see it is, to a certain degree, planned or has been discussed prior.

More below the cut since this kind of got long:

In one of the Break the Silence episodes Namjoon spoke about how with the more recent tours they haven’t been really able to do as much “free style” stuff (as in moving freely around stage and being silly, that sort of thing) between songs with choreographies, as opposed to how it used to be in the early days, since much of the show is perfectly timed and planned down to every little detail and every single light surrounding the stage. Much the same way everything else sure is, too. Look at RUN, even there you can notice them looking at printed out pages that surely contain a short storyboard of how the episode should more or less go in general terms, since that makes editing and keeping things cohesive much easier, especially since BTS are seven people, therefore seven moving independent variables.

Keeping all of this in mind, I’ve come to the conclusion that, in my opinion, the biggest vmin supporter is JK, followed by Hobi and Namjoon. I don’t mean, by any means, that completely idiotic theory some have created that one ship hides another, because that isn’t at all what I am going for with this. Of course Tae and JK are T*ek*ok (a subunit name they’ve after all created themselves though that context of that moment has long been changed by people) and Jimin and JK are J*ko*k, and depending on the demand (from a PR point of view as well as those of fans) and situations, those ships are utilized/highlighted in certain ways to achieve certain things. With this I don’t mean to belittle the actual real-life bonds between the real-life members, merely the “fantasy” versions created in large parts by shippers.

But that isn’t what I mean. Let me explain.

There are several situations that I think support my theory/opinion, past and more recent, but for the sake of fresh memories that we’ll all be able to recall, I’ll use more recent ones. During their vlive when BE and Life Goes On were just released, the one where they wore PJs, had pizza and that cardboard cutout of Yoongi, there was a moment when Tae was supposed to put lipstick on Jimin. He pulled Jimin close with his arm around his shoulder while Jimin giggled and playfully pretended to try and push him away or stop him from doing it, despite seemingly holding on to his top to keep him close anyway. While that was happening, the other members checked what they were doing and notably JK, upon seeing what vmin were up to, moved a few steps away closer toward the cameras and stood as though between vmin and said cameras while holding that silver screen thing used for lighting in photography (I’m not sure how it’s called). Maybe I’m reading too much into it, but seeing as Namjoon, who carried the Yoongi cutout, joined him, it seemed like they were trying to hide vmin, which of course didn’t work out since the producers simply switched to a different camera.

This might be me going temporarily delulu but toward the end of that sequence there was a moment where we couldn’t see much of vmin save for the tops of their heads. At some point Tae made a move with his head which some (including myself) have interpreted as a potential smooch (as in an actual one or just him pretending/doing the motion of it, that’s up for debate) which caused Hobi to break out in loud laughter.

A second example is day two of MOTS ON:E when it was time for Dynamite. Usually vmin just walk past each other doing something funny or interacting in some way, but on that day instead Jimin pulled Tae closer, enough so that their foreheads touched, and they looked at each other in quite a meaningful way. At the same time JK stood right behind them, since he’s the one that opens the song, and watched what was happening. Just like with the above example, he stepped toward them and put his hand on the back of Tae’s head in a gesture that I interpreted as a form of safety measurement that IF vmin were to potentially do something…risky, he could intervene by quite literally pulling them apart/stopping them. This moment of course has been twisted and manipulated in many different ways to, for example, showcase some supposed jealousy or alike, but I think that’s just plain stupid.

I’d also like to show you a few other pictures that I think show us the kind of dynamic he really has with vmin, how he watches (over) his hyungs with affection and support, so to speak:

(the following pictures, left to right: JM, JK, TH)

The sole fact that three maknae ships can exist simultaneously, while vmin might be the likely one to be real, in my opinion shows that everything between the three of them must be more than okay, that there’s harmony and understanding between them, everyone knowing their place/role exactly, that there’s no jealousy or other negative emotions involved. Even more so when we consider the stakes that come with it all, at the top of it all being money, not only for the members but also BH (including everyone who invested money in stocks, as well as all their employees that need to be paid). And the fact that BTS aren’t rookies anymore, but instead they have a big and very relevant role in a broader sense when it comes to influence, power, and fame.

Look at how professional they are when it comes to being idols and everything that entails, including shipping. Just look at how despite Tae’s Weverse comment to that one shipper, and the conversation in In The Soop, they played their roles so convincingly that no one who is in favor of that ship is willing to believe them or consider that perhaps they were wrong. But, this is more of a topic for another post, so I’ll leave it at that.

Looking at all these moments, bigger and smaller ones, gestures that some didn’t even notice or did but interpreted in a completely different way for their own reasons, it brought me to the conclusion that JK is their biggest supporter.

Just like Admin 1 said, I also think that Hobi and Namjoon are big supporter as well. Although I can’t for the life of me remember the piece of content where he said this (if anyone knows, please do let me know), I recall a moment where Namjoon spoke to Tae and said that he’s his responsibility, which made me wonder if that perhaps meant that Namjoon gave his vote of confidence about Tae (and vmin) to BH or agreed to keep an eye on him/them to keep them in check. But that’s just a thought/theory.

At the end of the day, whatever our opinion may be, we have to remember that we know very little about their private life, a tiny percentage if even, so it’s important to stick to/pay attention to/based our opinions on the original material and what the members say, instead of taking into account edited videos on YT or opinions influenced by others agendas, but that, too, is something to be discussed in a different post.

Thank you for this interesting question!

#answered ask #answered ask by admin 1 #answered by admin 2 #vmin #bts #bangtan sonyeondan #a little discussion on the dynamic within the group in a vmin context #jimin #taehyung

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gossipgirls · 3 years

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Hi, I’m not sure if I make complete sense, but I always felt that B and S were similar that they used the labels ( Queen B and It Girl “) their world gave to them to hide from their insecurities. Also, who do you think truly knew the real Serena past the “sunshine Barbie” facade? I would say Blair and Eric

blair (she also fell for it at times - she’s the one we got the name “sunshine barbie” from after all - but that was due to her jealousy rather than because she didn’t see serena as a compelx person lol) and eric for sure!

carter baizen is the big one here; this is the basis on which anybody who ships them ships them. i think nate really did see through it all, definitely saw her at her very worst and loved her anyway and tried to break through, but she kept him at a bit of a distance.

and kind of an oddball answer but... chuck. in a twisted way (because when is chuck not twisted). in the first 2 seasons we saw a chuck that was deeply interested in just about every character’s dark side. he LOVED to see people be bad, A) because he felt that was what authenticity was (everyone knew how frivolous and fake their world was, but he always seemed much less willing than his peers to play that particular game, perhaps because his family was the only one that was New Money lol), and B) because it made him feel less alone in his own badness. i wish i could find it, but i read something once that suggested the reason chuck pushed her so much is because before she left, they were a kind of companion to one another; they both drank and did drugs and hooked up with strangers. nate and blair were all tame and prim, chuck and serena were the wild ones. he might have taken comfort in the fact that someone else was in the same boat (i think she took comfort in this too). but then she comes back and suddenly she’s “better” and he feels left behind, perhaps even betrayed, and he very much wants bad serena back. this is, of course, much more selfish than the characters listed above lol and he was almost TOO aware of her complexity and capacity for darkness. but i do feel they were always similar people and that she always took comfort in the fact that nothing would ever be too bad to go to chuck with (like in s1! “dan i understand, but what’s so bad you can’t even tell me?”) and that there would never be any judgment there.

#answered #anonymous #serena van der woodsen #chuck x serena #chuck bass #also lily but she's her mom so duh

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ryqoshay · 3 years

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Happy Life: Fallen Angel vs. Little Demon

Primary Pairing: YohaRiko Words: ~3.4k Rating: G AU: Angelic? Time Frame: Between Riko’s 2nd and 3rd year and Yohane’s 1st and 2nd year of high school Story Arc: Stand Alone

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Author’s Note: Inspired by a somewhat recent SIFAS Daily Theater translation. I will link to said translation in the follow up post.

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A knock sounded at the door.

Riko quickly shoved the doujin she had been reading under her pillow. “Yes?” She responded, grabbing some sheet music from nearby on her bed.

“Riko, dear.” Mrs. Sakurauchi said, as she opened the door. “Your friend, Yohane-chan, was it?”

“Yoshiko-chan?”

“I believe she left this.”

Riko recognized the device in her mother’s hand as Yoshiko’s phone and sighed. “Yes, that’s hers.”

“I tried calling her mother already, but it seems she was called in to work and is unable to get ahold of her daughter to tell her.”

“I see…”

“So, I was hoping you could bring it to her?”

“Me?”

“I’m not sure how else to get it to her, or even tell her that it’s here.”

Riko sighed. Perhaps some of the fallen angel’s luck rubbed off on her. It was probably bound to happen at some point or another, what with the two of them spending more time together as of late.

“Alright.” Riko agreed, sliding off her bed.

As she made her way down the stairs to the front entryway, Riko considered the events leading up to her needing to deliver the forgotten item. Yesterday, she had noticed Yoshiko a bit out of sorts, even for the purported fallen angel. In an effort to cheer up her friend, Riko had offered to have her come over to visit Prelude. Thankfully, the tactic had worked well. Yoshiko had perked up immediately and had been quite enthusiastic in her time with the young dog.

The three went for a walk before returning to Riko’s home for a warm meal prepared by her mother. From there, the two girls watched a movie together, while Prelude spent the entire show curled up in Yoshiko’s lap.

At some point, Riko had noticed the time and wondered aloud if Yoshiko would be able to make the last bus back to Numazu. Yoshiko was confused by the question and had to check the schedule. Riko had wondered if the younger girl had bothered to check the schedule earlier. To Yoshiko’s dismay, she had already missed her bus. Thus, Riko had ended up offering to let her stay for the night and pulled out the guest futon.

After another movie, the two turned in for the night. Riko had noted, with a bit of jealousy, that Prelude chose to sleep on Yoshiko’s futon instead of Riko’s bed or her own dog bed. In the morning they went for another walk and enjoyed a quick breakfast before Yoshiko headed back home. Unfortunately, without her phone, it would seem.

At least it was early enough in the day that Riko wouldn’t have the same problem returning home as Yoshiko did yesterday, she thought as she took a seat in the bus.

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“Ah, Riko-chan.” A voice called from behind her.

Riko startled and spun. “Oh, uhm… M-Mrs. Tsushima.” She said upon recognizing the blue-haired woman. “I thought… My mother said you were at work?”

Yoshiko’s mother paused for a moment. “Oh dear, I believe there must have been a miscommunication. I said I was on my way home from work. It was just a minor emergency that I was able to address quickly before returning.”

“Oh, well… I came to bring Yoshiko-chan’s phone.”

“Yes, I figured as such. That was very kind of you. My daughter should be grateful to have such good friends. Elsewise she would have had to retrieve her lost belongings on her own.”

“She’s helped me in many ways as well.” Riko said, remembering the events leading to her getting past her fear of dogs.

Mrs. Tsushima smiled. “Well as thanks for today, why don’t I make something for lunch, if you don’t mind eating a little early, or later, if you intend to stay for a little while.”

“I can stay for a little while.” Riko said. “I don’t have any other plans until later this afternoon.”

Mrs. Tsushima nodded and let them into the complex. Inside, they took the elevator up several floors and walked down the hall to the Tsushima apartment.

“My daughter is likes to stream when she is home on the weekend.” Mrs. Tsushima explained as they removed their shoes in the entry. “So she’s probably in her room.”

“Thank you.” Riko nodded and headed toward her friend’s room. Streaming? She thought to herself. Perhaps she shouldn’t stay until lunch. She was about to interrupt Yoshiko’s session and wanted to keep the interference to a minimum if possible.

Upon arriving, she knocked on the door. No response. She knocked again.

“Yeah, Mama, c’mon in.” a voice called from within.

“Uhm, actually, it’s…” Riko started as she opened the door.

“Wha?!” Yoshiko startled from her seat at her desk. “Riri?!” She dropped the controller she had been holding. In her attempts to catch it, she fumbled, causing it ricochet off the edge of the desk and hit her in the face as she leaned forward. “Kyaa!” She cried, recoiling in such a way that her chair spun, and she slid off onto the floor. “Ughn….” She groaned.

“Yoshiko-chan!” Riko rushed forward and knelt beside the younger girl. “Are you alright?”

“Yeah, I’m…” Yoshiko pushed herself up enough to see her screen and sighed. “I lost…”

“Lost?”

“My match.” Yoshiko accepted Riko’s hand and pulled herself up to her feet.

“I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine.” Yoshiko shook her head before smiling strangely. “Though perhaps as punishment, Yohane should have Riri play a match.”

“Eh? Me?”

“Kidding.” Yoshiko chuckled. “Unless…”

As Yoshiko straightened her skirt and halo, Riko turned to the screen. Sure enough, the words “You Lose” were displayed in English overlaying a camera slowly orbiting what Riko assumed to be the two competitors in the match. The one on the ground was surely Yoshiko’s character and the one posing was whoever had won.

There was also a flood of text scrolling up the side of the screen.

“Eh?” Riko blinked as she recognized her name among the scrolling text. Or rather, Yoshiko’s nickname for her, accompanied by a myriad of emojis and other icons she didn’t readily recognize.

“Hey!” Yoshiko suddenly said, leaning forward toward the camera. “What have I told you all about Riri? Only Yohane is allowed to use that name bestowed upon one of her favored little demons.”

For some reason, Riko wasn’t surprised when the text sped up and the frequency of her nickname being typed increased.

Yoshiko growled something Riko didn’t understand but retrieved her controller and took her seat again. “Sorry, Riri, the horde sometimes doesn’t listen to their mistress when they get too excited.”

“And they’re excited… to see me?”

“Of course!” Yoshiko grinned. “Who wouldn’t be excited to see someone as wonderful as Riri?”

Riko felt heat rise in her cheeks. “A-and they know about me and that… nickname?”

“Well yeah, Yohane takes great pleasure in telling her little demons about those she favors most, such that some may ascribe to ascend to such greatness as well someday.”

Riko couldn’t help wondering what sort of details about her friends Yoshiko might share with her followers. Hopefully nothing too private. Still, despite the embarrassment, she couldn’t deny that it did make her feel good that Yoshiko held her in such high regard.

“A-anyway, you forgot this at my place this morning, Yoshiko-chan.” Riko held out the phone.

“Wahhh!? I didn’t even realize!” Yoshiko grabbed the device. “Thank you, Riri! Thank you!” She paused for a moment, apparently realizing she had once again dropped her persona. She cleared her throat. “And as a token of gratitude, Yohane shall rescind the punishment.”

“I thought you were just kidding about that.”

“Well… the horde seemed to think it was a good idea.” Yoshiko admitted, jutting a chin toward the screen. “But Yohane doesn’t want to force one of her favored little demons to do something she doesn’t want to do.”

“I never said I didn’t want to.” Riko pointed out. “I was just a little surprised by the offer. And, I’ve never played a game like that before, so I’m not sure how good I would be.”

“It’s not a matter of how good you are.” Yoshiko said, pulling open a drawer from her desk where she retrieved a second controller. “It’s about having fun.” She handed the device to Riko.

“Oh, uhm… alright.” Riko accepted the controller.

“Go ahead and grab that chair.” Yoshiko motioned in the general direction. “I’ll get things set up for a local game.”

Riko nodded, slid the chair next to the other girl and sat down.

“Alright, quick rundown of the controls.” Yoshiko indicated each button, named it function and added a small tutorial about combo moves.

Riko swallowed down her nervousness, telling herself it was little different than being on stage in front of an audience. Except the audience was watching through a camera. So maybe it was more like a PV? Except it was live. So… somewhere in between?

“Yohane shall go easy on Riri for the first couple matches.” Yoshiko said as she selected a character, an angelic girl with one black and one white wing. “Oh, the next guy over is a good beginner character.” Yoshiko pointed toward Riko’s selection.

“Alright.” Riko made her choice of a muscular man with classic anime-esque spiked hair and a very strange sword.

“Ku ku ku.” Yohane chortled. “Fallen Angel Yohane verses Little Demon Riri! Heaven or Hell! Dual 1!” She intoned, mimicking the game’s announcer surprisingly well. “Let’s Rock!”

Riko fumbled through her first combo and was disappointed when Yohane blocked the first blow and followed up with a counter. Yoshiko giggled and tripped Riko before backing off.

“This is Riri’s first match, so of course Yohane is going easy.” Yoshiko said. “I thought I already made that clear.”

Riko assumed she was responding to something she saw in the endlessly scrolling chat but wondered how the other girl was able to read it while concentrating on the game.

Riko made another attempt to attack and got a little excited when the first two hits managed to connect. But, no surprise, Yoshiko turned things around quickly and delivered a devastating combo that wiped out more than half of Riko’s health bar. Riko grunted and attacked again, only to be countered yet again.

“Slash!” the game and Yoshiko said in unison.

“But…” Riko started to protest.

“Yohane said she would go easy.” Yoshiko explained as though reading Riko’s mind. “But she didn’t say she would just let Riri win. And besides, that was just Round 1. Oh, here we go…”

Round 2 proceeded in a similar manner to Round 1 and it wasn’t long until the overall match was won by Yoshiko.

“So, do you wanna keep using that guy or try someone else?” Yoshko inquired as the character selection screen came back up. “Oh, you can also choose alternate costumes by using different buttons.”

“I see.” Riko took note. “I think I will use him a little while longer, until I learn more.”

“Alright.” Yoshiko nodded. “Well, I’m going to change things up and use her.” She moved her selection box to a short girl wielding a ship’s anchor as big as her. “She’s one of the hoard’s favorites.”

The second match, not surprisingly, went about the same as the first. However, Riko did find herself highly amused by the colorful sea animals that appeared during the special moves Yoshiko used. She could see why the audience liked that character.

Then it happened.

Riko’s eyes widened as a huge pink whale, breached across the screen to crash down over her character, along with a tidal wave of water. The remainder of Riko’s health bar was destroyed and the match was over.

Hearts, whales and other emojis flooded the chat and Yoshiko giggled.

“Heh, managed to actually pull it off again.” Yoshiko said with a toothy smile, seeming to forget her fallen angel persona again.

“What was that?” Riko asked.

“One of her super moves.” Yoshiko explained.

“It was very… cute.”

“I know, right?”

“Even if I did take a lot of damage from it.”

“Well, again, it is one of her super moves.”

“Can I try her next?”

“Of course!” Yoshiko excitedly turned her controller toward Riko. “It’s not the most complex combo, but I sometimes struggle to get the timing right when in active play.” She demonstrated the button sequence.

Riko nodded, selected the anchor-wielding girl and the next match began.

----------

“Oh, is that the time?” Riko asked, happening to notice Yoshiko’s alarm clock out of the corner of her eye.

“Hm?” Yoshiko turned her attention to where Riko was looking. “Oh… heh… I guess we have been playing a while, haven’t we? Time flies like an angel when you’re having fun, huh?”

“Mm…” Riko nodded.

The two girls had been playing, almost nonstop for over three hours. Riko barely remembered Mrs. Tsushima delivering a lovely, light lunch of mini sandwiches and crudités; easy finger food for gaming, as Yoshiko had described it.

During the session, Riko had started to learn how to skim chat with the side of her vision as her primary focus was on the game. As such, she was eventually able to join in on the conversation. She wasn’t nearly as good as Yoshiko, and missed some things and misunderstood others, much to every else’s amusement. Still, she found that the interaction enhanced the overall experience. And she now had a better understanding as to why Yoshiko loved streaming so much.

“I suppose I should at least get up and stretch a bit.” Yoshiko said, standing and raising her arms above her head.

Riko grimaced as she heard several joints pop.

“Eheh… Sorry, Riri…” Yoshiko offered an amused apology before twisting her shoulders to cause a cacophonous cascade up her spine.

“That… can’t be good for you…” Riko mumbled.

“This mortal shell can get a bit rickety at times.” Yoshiko finished by cracking her neck. “I look forward to resuming our practice sessions as it provides a good reminder to stretch properly. Though I do wonder who will take up Dia’s place as taskmaster.”

Riko chuckled. “She wasn’t that bad.”

“Hrm…” Yoshiko leaned forward to check something on the screen. “Ne, Riri, do you have any plans for dinner?”

“Yes, Chika-chan and I were going to write get some early drafts in so as to possibly have a new song or two before the new school year.”

Was it Riko’s imagination, or did Yoshiko’s expression change, strangely, for the briefest of moments? If she had blinked, she may have missed it.

“Ah. That sounds like fun.” Yoshiko’s normal…? smile returned. “Maybe sometime later.”

“If I may ask, was there something in particular you wanted to do or somewhere you wanted to go?”

Yoshiko pointed to where she had been looking a moment ago. “That’s the total donations I’ve received this stream. It’s more than I normally make. A lot more. And I believe that is because Riri agreed to join us today.” She paused and read several messages affirming her theory. “And I wanted to show my appreciation.”

“I see. Thank you for the offer. Uhm…” Riko reviewed her weekend plans. “Tomorrow night, I’m having dinner with my parents… But I’m free around this time, so…”

“I can do lunch.” Yohshiko offered quickly. “I was going to stream again, but I can move that to any other time.”

“Or we can eat lunch again like we did today.”

Yoshiko blinked. “You… want to stream with me again tomorrow?”

“If you’re alright with that, yes.”

Now that was unquestionably a genuine smile. Yoshiko’s eyes sparkled and her shoulders drew up with excitement. “Of course!” She cried joyously. “Riri is always welcome as a guest… no, better yet, co-host!” She turned to the camera. “Didja hear that everyone!? Riri is gonna come back tomorrow and join us again!”

The chat exploded again with emojis.

Riko couldn’t help smiling as well. It was a little embarrassing being the center of such commotion, but Yoshiko’s excitement was as contagious as it was adorable. And she wanted to see more of it. She liked seeing this side of Yoshiko.

Not that the fallen angel thing was bad or anything, but… Right now, Yoshiko was her happy human self. She wasn’t getting hurt or sick, losing or breaking anything, or anything else the fates decided to torment her with, and make Riko worry about her wellbeing. Yoshiko was happy. And that made Riko happy.

“Anyway, I had a lot of fun today.” Riko said, getting up. “Thank you for that.” She turned to the camera. “See you all tomorrow.” She offered a small parting wave.

“I’ll see you out.” Yoshiko popped up as well. “Be right back, my little demons. Then we’ll see who else is brave enough to face Yohane in combat.”

Still giddy with excitement and bubbling about plans for tomorrow, Yoshiko escorted Riko to the door. From there, Riko bid her farewell to the Tsushima family and headed home for the day.

----------

Riko’s brow furrowed and she grunted in frustration. Another match lost. She sighed and set her controller down on her desk.

Or rather, it was actually Chika’s controller. While the two of them were composing in Chika’s room, Riko had noticed the device and asked if Chika had the game she had played earlier that day.

Chika did not actually own the game but had been able to show Riko where to obtain it for herself, as well as order her own controller. In the meantime, while awaiting delivery, Riko was able to borrow Chika’s device, which Chika also showed her how to pair with her laptop.

So now, several hours later, Riko was practicing for the next day’s stream.

Suddenly, a notification popped up in the lower corner of her screen. Riko leaned forward and moved the cursor to click on it. A new window came up with a message.

Sventa: Greetings

Sventa? Had that been Yoshiko’s screenname? No, Riko was pretty sure it had something to do with a fallen angel. Actually, that literally was her screenname, Riko remembered, TheFallenAngel. Perhaps this was one of her other friends? Maybe Chika? She didn’t have the game, but she had the program through which it was installed and run.

YuriYoukai: Hello

YuriYoukai: Is that you, Chika-chan?

Sventa: No

Sventa: I do not believe we know each other

Sventa: But I am a fan of Yohana-sama’s streams

Sventa: Are you the same little demon Riri that appeared on Yohane-sama’s stream today?

Riko paused, wondering if she should confirm.

Sventa: If you are, I wanted to say that you made for a very fun stream

Sventa: We got to see a rare side of Yohane-sama because of you

Sventa: You are obviously someone she cares for deeply

Sventa: She talks about you and some of her other friends a lot

Well, Yoshiko had admitted as such earlier. Riko wondered again what all Yoshiko talked about with her followers.

Sventa: But this was the first time she’s brought one of you onto her stream

Sventa: And it was fun to see her having so much fun

Sventa: So thank you for that

YuriYoukai: You’re welcome.

Riko wasn’t quite she sure had really done anything worth thanks, and she had fun as well, so… Well, she had thanked Yoshiko herself, so maybe this individual just wanted to do the same.

Sventa: And now you are playing this again

Sventa: Practicing for tomorrow?

YuriYoukai: I didn’t win a single match against Yoshiko-chan

Sventa: That is true

Sventa: But Yohane-sama is an experienced player and you only started playing today

Sventa: Still, I must say you showed great potential

YuriYoukai: I still can’t win now

Sventa: But you are having fun, right?

YuriYoukai: Yes

Sventa: That is good

Sventa: And more important that how good you are or how much you win

Riko chuckled as she remembered Yoshiko saying something similar.

Sventa: Still, perhaps I can offer some advice?

Sventa: The character you used today was my first favorite when I first started playing

Sventa: And I would be happy to recommend some other characters as well

Sventa: Even the one I know Yohane-sama struggles against

Sventa: Perhaps you can catch her off guard

YuriYoukai: There is a character Yoshiko-chan struggles against?

Sventa: The game is a complex set of Rock Paper Scissors, with every character having strengths and weaknesses

Sventa: Some of these strengths can be exploited against the weaknesses of others

YuriYoukai: I see

Sventa: A skilled player can still work around it all and win

Sventa: But if they are not expecting their opponent to know certain things, they will not be ready for them

Sventa: I think it would make for a really fun stream if you were able to surprise Yohane-sama like that

Riko smiled. That did sound like fun.

YuriYoukai: Alright

YuriYoukai: Teach me what you can, Sventa-sensei

The other player invited Riko to a network game and the two started playing.

----------

Author’s Notes Continued in Followup Post

#YohaRiko #YoshiRiko #Sakurauchi Riko #Tsushima Yohane #Love Live Sunshine #Happy Life #fanfic #Tsushima Yoshiko

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regrettablewritings · 4 years

Note

Hey can I please get a, j and K from the fluff alphabet with the phantom aka Erik aka og aka my recent character crush? Thank you so much!

Okay, but this is the last fluff alphabet. Stuff is under the cut

A = Attractive (What do they find attractive about the other?):

Honestly, Erik is drawn to anyone who won’t treat him horribly. It’s sad, but absolutely true. Given his presumed lot in life, Erik hasn’t really been allowed too many opportunities to be especially picky. But going by his motivations, there are generally two stand-out things he seeks in a person: That they be adequate in looks, and that they don’t treat him like shit.

Before you criticize him on the temerity of the former, let it be known that it ties in to why he does so many of the things he does; why he demands a salary, for example: At the root of it all, what Erik wants is to have a normal life. Sure, he also wants said life to include his works being embraced the world over, but it’s more so on the grounds that he wants to do so as an absurdly talented but otherwise normal man. Particularly in the face.

He only accrues his wealth so that one day, by some grace of miracles, he will be able to join that world above him. And when that day comes, he will be prepared; he can afford a house and fill it with lovely things, including a lovely wife. One whom he can spoil and treasure and whose arm will link with his own as they walk through the park on Sunday evenings and who will love him as dearly as he shows his love for her . . . Really, for all that Erik does, it’s as much for his hypothetical wife as it is for him.

But given how hard he’s fumbled in the past, he really can’t afford to be especially picky. In addition to this, how beautiful he finds someone is also heavily influenced by how they treat him: To Erik, to be shown kindness is to see the kindness of God. However, please note that at this point, he’s almost certainly accepting of even forms of pity; just please do not reject him or treat him as a monster.

Of course, your kindness is what set him off but to Erik’s credit, he had learned to be better since the last time: He learns about the importance of having an ever-patient partner, especially for the likes of him; he learns that for as frustrating as it can be, there’s something good in having a significant other who’s not afraid to put their foot down or call him out on his unintentional moments of arrogance; he learns how to value himself more, to not accept pity as an accepted form of tolerance if it could be helped. But most of all, he realized just how much nicer it was to have someone whom he could actually discuss with, someone who was capable of forcing him to better himself by valuing what they had to say or what they thought.

Given how long he’d only had to think for himself, it’s a bit of a force of habit on the Opera Ghost’s part. But, given the proper guidance and adjustment period, it’s not one he altogether minds letting go of. Over all, what he’s attracted to in you is that you have a hold over him. And given the sort of life he’s led up to this point, it feels nice to be held.

Thankfully, you were much simpler: You liked the enigma that was the Phantom of the Opera. It took you ages to so much as pry out his name despite the fact that he’d been so willing to share with you his music much sooner. Frustrating, yes, but you couldn’t help but find yourself intrigued by it all, intrigued by his world away from worlds you knew. You loved how complex he was, being so dominant yet vulnerable, so competent yet in need of guidance. You loved how in spite of everything, he was incredibly learned for a man of the era, how his library consisted of no shortage of foreign literature and music books filled to the brim with his notes.

You loved how everywhere you looked, even after learning his habits, his interests, his joys and sorrows, there was always something more to learn about your lover. In short, you loved everything that made Erik, (literal) warts and all.

J = Jealousy (Do they get jealous?):

. . . You know damn well that Erik gets jealous. This man’s possessiveness, in fact, is ripe enough to drive the plot of a story – and has! However, it might be proposed that we generally are not completely aware as to why Erik displays territorialism as intensely as he does. And in my honest opinion, it comes down to two main reasons which continuously entwine with one another: That Erik is on the autism spectrum, and that even without that, Erik’s life has made him consequently overprotective.

On the subject of the former, without making a lesson out of this, it’s not uncommon at all to select a person you’ve essentially “invited” into your life and attach yourself to them. A sudden change of that, depending on the person, could prove distressing – like, say, a potential threat suitor taking your attention off of him, getting a bit too close to you for the Phantom’s comfort, and so on. As Erik sees it, you’re his person, and frankly he isn’t fond of sharing. You’re a part of his life now, one he especially doesn’t want to have changed.

Going off this, it also helps to remember that Erik’s life has been incredibly unstable for the most part. Him living on an underground lake located in a labyrinth beneath a Parisian opera house has actually been the most structured his life has ever been! The only thing that has accompanied him all this time has been that monkey-shaped music box, so it’s fair to assume that he’s since developed a bit of . . . avidity. What few things life has given him, he intends to keep by as many means as necessary. Sometimes (at least in his mind), those means can just mean pulling pranks about the opera house so that a single, untalented performer doesn’t ruin the establishment’s reputation. Other times, it means flinging balls of fire at those whom he deems are threats.

He knows that, in the end, you’re far from pleased but he just can’t help himself: You’re one of the only good things that have graced his life, let alone one of the only ones that appears willing to stay -- he’s grown accustomed to having you around and if you were to suddenly, well, not be because some handsome, rich, talentless, impudent child had gained your attention, then he would be devastated! So much so that he might act on his aggressions . . .

(Though, let it be clarified that it is not your job to better Erik. Voice your disagreement about his desires, as these are not meant to justify his antics; only explain them. He’s thankfully since learned to be somewhat more agreeable than before, so it isn’t impossible to make him yield.)

K = Kiss (How do they kiss? Who initiated the first kiss?):

If you were expecting the world’s most secluded man to be a naturally-gifted kisser, than you are sadly and extraordinarily mistaken. Erik’s kisses are wobbly and uncertain, as though he were unsure of where to put his lips (which he is). It was like that the first time you’d kissed, and it’s safe to assume they’ll continue to be of similar nature for a while with some dosage of insecurity in them or another.

However, you couldn’t have wanted for anything more. You see, the first time the two of you shared a kiss, it had been a bit of an effort of both parts. It’s honestly hard to determine whom the proper initiator had been: One might say it was Erik, as he had been the one to hover so closely to you; all you had been doing at the moment was leafing through one of his books on poetry whilst taking up residency on his lounge. However, another might argue that you were silently yet intentionally ensorcelling him when you glanced behind to find him staring at you: You did, after all, grace him with a shy yet warm smile. But then again, Erik’s eyes bore into you with the same hunger and pleading as a pup demanding attention (and perhaps a snack) from its master -- there was simply no way to misinterpret his longing!

But then you invited him over, voicing how “standing over there looks far lonelier than sitting right here” might’ve been. But then, perhaps, Erik was too eager in his footsteps, too brisk in spite of his thundering heart? Or were you well aware when you insisted he scoot closer to you so that he could read along with you? Whatever the case, his figure remained stiff as it sat next to you, leaving a painfully thin but painfully there wall of silence between the two of you. You could just barely feel the faintest brush of the very fiber of his clothes against you. But what you swore you felt much more vibrantly was . . . this sense of need.

“Erik,” you spoke, shattering the quiet, “I’m afraid I’m having trouble deciphering this . . . Would you mind . . .?” Your voice trailed as you lifted the book only enough for him to see. However, it would only be enough for him to see if he made an effort to move even closer to you. He parted his lips; you could hear the beginnings of an effort to deny you, only for him to rescind. It was not in his nature, as Erik was coming to find, to deny you the sound of his voice or his attention.

The threat of a shudder racked your body as the fine threads of his jacket scratched against your arm, the slightest hint of Erik’s nerves trickling through them. He was just close enough for you to register his warmth, what little he tended to give off anyway. It was perfect.

Craning his neck as far as he would allow himself to, Erik obliged you:

“Till, ho,” his voice recited, low but clear. Warm yet distant.

“Astarte bright Rose o’er the shadowy vale And filled the whole deep night With crystalline low light, White, tremulous, and pale.”

Tremulous, you noted. Much like himself. Much like the endless night he so dominated . . .

“Then on the star-lit bank,” he continued, “Dreaming of what love’s bliss is, we --” He paused. He furrowed his brow before releasing it once more. You dared to believe that the Opera Ghost was blushing!

Tremulous indeed, he tried to start once more, “W. . . we . . .”

“’Trembled,’” you assisted, a hint of a smile playing on your lips.

“Mm,” he hummed, far too flustered to consider making it tuned. “W-we . . . trembled . . . and we sank . . .” He sighed heavily, the end in sight.

“And thro’ her lips I drank Her soul in rapturous kisses . . .”

Once more, the Phantom exhaled heavily, albeit more so from embarrassment than before. He didn’t recall adding that piece to his library, not that it wasn’t something he wouldn’t normally own. Still, the thought that he had exposed himself in such a manner, much less to you . . . It was inappropriate to say the least! Against his already buzzing nerves, he spared you a glance to determine the amount of damage he might have caused your relationship.

To his surprise, you didn’t appear to be very flustered, if at all! In fact, you appeared to be intrigued. Very intrigued, if one were to gain evidence in how you appeared to be leaning in ever so slightly. If Erik had ever questioned what the flames of Hell might have felt like, he would have dared theorize they felt as his burning face did in that moment.

“‘In a rapturous kiss’,” you repeated. He wasn’t certain how to reply; he only offered a curt nod. You blinked, almost sheepishly.

“Erik . . .” you breathed, “would you . . .?”

“. . . Y. . .” The word never came out. Not because it had been sudden, but because the man was simply unable to even process even a one-worded sentence. It was all, in fact, very slow in movement: From how he inched in closer; to how you leaned in further; to the way your eyes fluttered shut; to how Erik, almost childishly, struggled to determine the proper angle at which to make the connection.

It felt like an eternity and yet fleeting all at once. And yet, the kiss did happen. Messily, awkwardly, and not nearly anything like the poets in Erik’s book might have written.

But, oh, was it nonetheless tremulous and tender, yet burning.

Rapturous.

Thank you for being patient!

#erik the phantom x reader #the phantom of the opera x reader #POTO #phantom of the opera x reader #the phantom of the opera imagine #the phantom of the opera imagines #regrettablewritings #fluff alphabet #fluff headcanons #poem is from 'flowers of passion' by george moore btw #specifically this one is titled 'song'!#what a coinkydink right?

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meridiansdominoes · 4 years

Text

Showers of Starlight

Incoming blyla incoming blyla incoming blyla

This issssss the sequel to ‘Catch the Rain’ that was posted a few weeks ago! @thatfunkyopossum HAPPY BIRTHDAY UR MY FAVORITE <3

(this is like, 6k words?? Is that okay to post in this weird tumblr format?? It’s gonna be mad long... well idk,,, but here it is anyway on ao3 too in case you don’t want to destroy ur dash with a long post heh

ao3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24758554

Aayla finds her Commander standing out on the little balcony, dressed in civilian clothes and staring out into the city. Night turns Coruscant into an endless sea of luminescence. Air lanes become lines of shooting stars pressing onward in the darkness. Skyscrapers around them glow with the light of thousands of residents inside, creating trails of brilliance that ascend up towards the black sky.

By the time Aayla arrives at the complex that serves as the temporary housing for her officers while they’re on leave, the sun has disappeared from the sky, and she’s mentally exhausted. A full report to the Jedi Council takes effort and energy that she has to fight to produce, but she is required to give her debriefing before she can get some rest herself. She’s relieved that it’s over now, but there are still a few things to take care of. Her men need to be fully settled, otherwise Aayla won’t be able to sleep well tonight. She knows that Bly will take care of things, but she needs to verify their wellbeing for herself for her own peace of mind. Here on Coruscant they’re finally safe, and she has to remind herself of that somehow.

Though visiting Bly to check on the men isn’t necessarily a bad thing. If anything the thought makes some of her exhaustion leave her as she steps into the lift that will take her up to her Commander’s quarters. The journey upwards is smooth and quick. When the doors open on the correct floor, Aayla steps out and immediately finds one of her officers in the hallway, clad only in his blacks.

“General!” Captain Brine says in surprise, blue eyes widening. He snaps off a quick salute automatically. The effect is dampened slightly by the pillow he has tucked under his other arm. “What are you—oh. Looking for the Commander?”

Aayla nods. “Are you well, Captain?”

Brine shrugs.

“Well enough, sir. It’s a bit odd to not be on the ship, but the rooms are nice. Though the pillows leave a lot to be desired. I had to go find myself a new one.”

Aayla huffs out a tiny laugh.

“I’ll take your word for it, Brine. Could you direct me to Bly’s room?”

“The last one on the left, sir,” Brine answers without hesitation. He meets her gaze carefully, something unreadable flashing across his face. “He’ll try to keep working instead of getting some rest like he should. Maybe you can help him where I can’t.”

Aayla blinks at her Captain, but before she can fully make sense of the words Brine is already retreating towards his own room. He closes his door behind him, leaving Aayla alone in the hallway. She sighs and makes her way to the end of the hall until she stands in front of the very last door on the left.

It isn’t locked. The door slides open when she knocks lightly on the durasteel. She steps inside. The rooms that Brine had described as ‘nice’ are small and spartan in design. Nice is not the word Aayla would have used, but they’re a step up from the barracks to her men. There are three tiny spaces all hooked together—a small reception area, a tiny unused kitchen, and an even tinier bedroom. Aayla can see through the entire apartment.

Bly is nowhere in sight, although his armor is neatly stacked on the table in the little kitchen. Aayla hesitates for a moment, confused, until she notices the transperisteel door flung open against the far wall. Cream colored floor-length curtains hide the actual doorway from view. She makes her way through the apartment and pushes the curtains aside.

Coruscant is far too polluted for its inhabitants to see the stars that stretch above them through the smog. For some residents, the brilliant night is the closest they will ever get to seeing space around them. It is beautiful, in its own way. From the balcony of Bly’s window it seems as if he is poised on the edge of a glittering nebula, watching the colors swirl in hypnotic patterns and glitter quietly in the dark.

Bly is framed by the ambient light of the city. Aayla allows herself to just watch him for a nanosecond. She can’t see his face, but the light plays off of his tan skin in such a flattering way that she can’t avert her gaze. There’s a datapad in one of his hands. She raps lightly on the wall to alert him to her presence. He turns a little too fast, free hand jerking down to his side for a weapon that isn’t there right now. Once he’s seen her, he stiffens a little bit into a loose attention. One eyebrow raises slowly.

“General?”

Aayla doesn’t respond immediately, mostly because her brain stalls as she finally takes full stock of what he’s wearing.

He’s dressed in a loose white shirt with a low neckline that reveals his collarbone and the hint of a gold tattoo over his chest that disappears under the fabric. Her eyes pause on the smooth skin of his neck before she forces herself to drop her gaze—but that just makes things worse, because without the usual armor smoothing out the lines of his body she can see every muscle in his arms. His biceps are... impressive. She spends a moment just... drinking it in, because who knows if she’ll ever get to see this ever again. The tight black pants completing his outfit certainly don’t help her concentration.

Bly coughs suddenly. She glances back up to look him in the eyes. Now that she’s already thinking about such details, it’s hard to stop. The splashes of gold against the slant of his cheekbones is distinctly alluring. Aayla struggles to pull her thoughts out of the downward spiral and grimaces inwardly. She’s left him standing there for a heartbeat longer than necessary. She quirks one lek in a hasty greeting.

“At ease, Commander. I just wanted to ask you if the last of the reports have come in yet.” Aayla steps out onto the balcony to join him. She does, in fact, have the self-control necessary to keep her gaze from roving across his exposed skin this time, as tempting as it is.

Bly’s body language loosens. He leans against the railing again and taps at his datapad, scrolling through a list of reports. She can see tiny pinpricks of light reflected from the city skyline in his eyes. Aayla settles herself against the railing next to him as well, content to wait as he runs through his mental checklists.

She reaches out with the Force and grounds herself against his presence. It’s always bright and soothing and mellow to her in a way that she’s never felt before, not even among Jedi. She’s drawn to it. Today his mind is smooth, pulsing gently with peace and relief to finally be on leave. It’s rare that she gets to feel him in that state of mind. Bly is always concerned about something—about the men, about a campaign, about hyperspace routes, about shipping documents… about her.

Perhaps he thinks he is subtle, but Aayla sees far more than he realizes.

She notices when his gaze lingers on her, when he hesitates with his mouth hanging open as if he wants to speak before closing it and marching stiffly away. She notices when he bristles with anger and places himself between her and the foolish males that do not see the lightsaber in favor of inspecting her curves. She notices the fleeting smiles that cross his face when he thinks that she isn’t looking.

She wonders if he’s ever noticed the similar expressions that cross her own face.

There has been an odd tension in the Force lately. It’s a steady buzz, just present enough to nag at her as if ordering her to pay attention to something. It doubles whenever she speaks with her commander. Aayla thinks that she understands why now. Perhaps. Tonight is as good a night as any to either confirm or dispute her theory… if she is brave enough. If she is wise about how she approaches the subject.

It’s a risk, but it’s one that she’s willing to take. Determination floods her veins.

Bly sighs and looks up from the datapad with a nod of approval.

“I’ve got every report, sir. We’re good to go. I’ve even got the ship’s maintenance schedule here.” He grins wryly. “If only it were like this every time. The crew have sent all the records to me quicker than usual so that they can be off duty faster.”

Aayla chuckles.

“It would spare you a large amount of stress, at the very least,” she comments in amusement. Bly rolls his eyes.

“Force forbid,” he mutters. There’s something so easy about standing next to him, about the civilian clothing, about the casual conversation. Aayla feels a strange pang of jealousy. How easy would all of this be if they weren’t soldiers, if she were not a Jedi? She’s never doubted her purpose before, but Bly is the catalyst for many such thoughts.

Bly lifts his free hand to rub at his face. She glimpses a line of gold curling up his arm, disappearing into his sleeve. She reaches out to touch it without even thinking, brushing her fingers along the line and marvelling at how his something that should feel metallic and cold under her hand is warm and soft instead. She traces the tattoo higher, stopping just before she reaches the barrier of his sleeve. Part of her wants to follow it further. The thought abruptly makes her mouth go dry.

“It suits you,” Aayla tells him honestly. He freezes up. For an instant, she feels muscles bunching under his skin. She pulls her hand away quickly, afraid that she’s crossed a line, and reaches out with the Force to check if she’s offended him in any way. Perhaps the tattoo is in memory of a lost brother, or a hard battle that he hadn’t wanted to remember right now—

When she brushes Bly’s mind she finds it full of static. His thoughts are racing almost too fast for her to make sense of them. After a moment he seizes them and wrestles them into submission. He swallows once and nods at her politely.

“Thank you, sir,” he says. Calm, controlled. If she hadn’t glimpsed his thoughts she wouldn’t have known any better. But she does know, and the realization makes amusement and perhaps a hint of mischief course through her. If this is how he reacts to a simple compliment, she can’t imagine how he would be if she were to—

Force. Enough of that.

“Have the men gotten settled?” she asks quietly, retreating away from his mind for the time being. He straightens at the question, shoulders drawing back.

“Yes, sir. They’re alright.” Then he winces. “They’re… excited. We haven’t gotten a good amount of leave in a while. I was thinking of drafting an apology letter to Fox tonight, just in case.”

Aayla laughs.

“They deserve to have their fun,” she comments, leaning against the railing and staring out at the skyline in front of them. “We’ve had a busy few months.”

Bly drags in a deep breath and exhales slowly.

“Yeah,” he agrees quietly. “They were getting tired. This will be good for them.”

“And for us,” Aayla adds. He hesitates, unsure of how to respond. She takes the opportunity to lean over him and pluck the datapad from his hand. A protest rises on his lips, but she shoots him a look, and he bites his tongue. “You deserve rest just as much as the rest of your men do, Commander.”

He nods in reluctant agreement, resting one elbow against the railing and slumping a little. He isn’t completely relaxed, but it’s more than he had been a few moments ago. Improvement.

Silence settles over them. It isn’t uncomfortable—on the contrary, it’s peaceful. A light breeze stirs through the air. Aayla glances up at her Commander, squaring her shoulders a bit. There is an opportunity here, a chance to act. She takes it.

“What would you like to do after the war, Bly?”

He blinks at her, taken aback. To be fair, she’s never asked him something like this before. During the heat and smoke and fire of a campaign she’d never felt as if it were an appropriate question to solicit. She watches him consider it. He glances down, picking at the loose white shirt as if suddenly unsure of himself.

“I’m not sure, sir,” he answers slowly. “I was created to be a soldier. I can’t really imagine myself doing anything else with my life. What… what would you like to do?”

Aayla hums.

“I suppose I will continue to be a Jedi. Though it will undoubtedly be strange. We’ve taken the roles of Generals so easily. Many will struggle to leave it behind.”

His expression flickers as something unreadable passes across his face.

“Will you?”

She falters.

Aayla will struggle. She already knows that, as surely as she knows that the sun will rise in the morning. Perhaps a few years ago that would have concerned her, but today she accepts it and wonders, not for the first time, if she even will want to leave it behind. Not for the power, not for the thrill of command, but for the men. For Bly.

The Council would be appalled to hear that. Quinlan Vos would be thrilled.

“I will not leave my men behind, even if the title of General is removed from me,” she tells Bly firmly. It’s so easy to be honest with him. It’s part of the reason why they work so well together. She sees something in Bly ease a little at her words.

“That’s good, sir,” he says. Without warning he tenses again, taking a shallow breath. “I don’t necessarily know what I want to do after the war, but I do know that it wouldn’t be worth my time if you weren’t there as well.”

Her heart stutters in her chest. He turns his face back to the skyline, as if immediately berating himself for the comment. Aayla resists the urge to reach out with the Force and find the true meaning of those words, to understand everything left unspoken there.

“In that case, I would welcome your company,” she responds quietly. Bly shifts his weight just a little. Some of the strain eases from his shoulders at her acceptance. His words hadn’t been an offer, not exactly, but it had been a bold statement—especially for Bly, who understands his priorities and selflessly resists the feelings that he so clearly wants to act upon. Aayla senses conflict in him, a constant battle between remaining stoic and throwing all caution to the wind.

It would be a lie to say that she did not feel the same thing.

There is a chain of command. There is a Jedi Code. There are rules, both dictated and not, that must be followed. In all her life she has never found herself wishing that it were not so until now.

Bly pulls away from the railing of the balcony, taking a step back. His tattoos gleam like liquid gold across his arms as he moves into a different light.

“I… I’ll get some rest then, General. You should too,” he suggests carefully. Too carefully. She is consistently impressed by his restraint. If it weren’t for his careful self-control she would have fallen a long time ago, but he balances her out perfectly in that as well as everything else. She doesn’t want him to leave yet.

She catches his arm as he tries to turn away with her own hand. Both of them freeze. Aayla looks down at her hand and is suddenly fascinated by the way the blue of her skin contrasts with the warm brown of his.

“Bly. Stay with me?”

She doesn’t have much right to ask that of him. It’s his room, after all. But Aayla doesn’t imagine the little tremor that runs through his body as he pulls his arm away. She lifts her head to meet his gaze and is stunned by the storm of conflict in his eyes.

“General… I don’t think…”

“Stay,” Aayla repeats softly. She ever-so-gently brushes at the edge of his mind again to make sure she isn’t pressuring him. She won’t force him into something he genuinely doesn’t want to do.

Bly’s mind is always so welcoming to her. She doesn’t even think that he’s aware of how readily it opens to her, of how easily it shares its secrets with her. For that reason she chooses to keep her distance for the most part, because she refuses to take advantage of him in that way. If she must reach for his thoughts, she keeps the connection as shallow as possible.

On occasions she’s seen his mind flare brilliantly when she’s nearby until he stuffs the light away under a grey shield of professionalism. She catches glimpses of it when he’s not being careful—when they’ve won a campaign and the men are celebrating in a fever, adrenaline and relief and the thrill of success spinning through the air. When she tells him that her recklessness had indeed been part of the plan and he only responds with an eye-roll and a fond chuckle. When he changes an entire battle strategy because she makes a single offhand comment about how she’s worried about destroying a beautiful forest.

Never once has she felt his mind grow heavy and dark with the sick lust that so many other men succumb to when she approaches. When desire does escape from the deeper recesses of Bly’s mind it is only visible for an instant as a bright flash of heat before he shuts it down without mercy. His respect for her is tangible even without a glance at his thoughts.

Right now, his mind is hesitant. She can sense that he wants to stay, but he is afraid as well. He’s worried for what he might do if he does remain, for what she might think, for what the men might say.

If only he could see into her mind. Aayla thinks a bit wryly that he wouldn’t be as afraid if he could feel her own thoughts on the matter.

“I would like it if you stayed,” she reiterates, just so that he understands that this isn’t an order, isn’t something that he’s required to accept. “Though you are welcome to get some rest if you wish.”

It’s a dangerous game that they’re playing. The attraction, the want, is mutual, otherwise it wouldn’t be as potent as it is. Aayla is tired of ignoring the bantha in the room. War takes and razes and tears down everything in its path. For once she wants to take something for herself.

Bly clenches his jaw and nods once.

“I’ll stay,” he acquiesces quietly. In the distance, faint police sirens become audible. Aayla can’t help a tiny smirk at the way Bly’s expression turns pained.

“There are millions of life-forms living nearby, Bly, I’m sure the men are fine. They probably don’t have anything to do with it,” she teases. He rolls his eyes.

“If I don’t get some sort of complaint in the morning I’ll be extremely surprised,” he grumbles. The grumpy amusement on his face is so utterly endearing that she steps forward without even thinking about it.

“Bly…”

His name comes out of her mouth with more warmth than she’d intended. He closes his eyes and takes a deep breath.

“Aayla.”

She shivers. Her name rolls off of his tongue in the most delightful way. She draws a little closer to him, just enough to be intruding in his personal space. When he finally opens his eyes to look at her again she can see his defenses crashing down, crumbling as she reaches out to trace her fingers along the gold across his cheek.

He swallows hard as if bracing himself and reaches out a hand. His fingers brush against one of her lekku tentatively. She makes a soft noise of encouragement, and his touch grows a little more firm, sliding up to rest just at the junction of her skull. Aayla sighs. She leans forward and rests her forehead against his.

That makes him pause. His eyes go wide, as if he’s only just realizing what he’s doing. He jerks away from her so fast that she briefly loses her balance. The absence of his touch, as fleeting as it had been, makes her chest ache.

“Aayla, I—General. General, Force, this isn’t—I can’t. You have your—the Code, and the regs—”

Aayla exhales.

“And what if I wanted to choose, just for a moment, that they did not exist, Commander?” she asks him. “The time for hesitation is over. I will not sit in silence and wait until the war takes even you from me.”

Bly’s expression contorts. The edges of his Force presence go jagged.

“It isn’t that simple,” he forces out. “We could pretend all we want, but that wouldn’t change the rules.”

“Some would say that the rules are outdated,” Aayla counters. She feels a sharp flash of frustration. It’s tempting to let it stew and grow, but she does her best to let it go.

“That doesn’t matter, sir. We couldn’t ever… if anyone ever noticed, you would be stripped of both your rank and your title as a Jedi Master. I won’t be responsible for that.”

She mulls over his determined words with a sad fondness. He would give up everything he ever wanted just to keep her safe.

“Fortunately, you are not responsible for that,” she replies smoothly. “I am quite capable of making my own decisions. If I were to be expelled from the Jedi Order it would be because I chose that path.”

He stares her down, horrified. Then he narrows his eyes and sets his jaw.

“I would rather have you with me—with us, with the battalion—as a General and nothing more, than not have you at all.”

Aayla’s frustration comes back, stronger this time. She frowns at him.

“As I told you before, I will not leave my men behind, even if the title of General is removed from me. Nor will I leave my men behind if the title of Jedi is stripped from me. This is a risk that I am willing to take.”

Bly grimaces and tips his head back, sighing at the sky.

“Sir, regardless, I’m not—I’m not worth that risk. I’m a clone. This isn’t just inappropriate, it’s unfair to you, and I can’t—”

“That is not what I believe,” Aayla interrupts sharply. She feels just a jolt of anger, of outrage that he’s been conditioned to think like that. The emotion is difficult to banish. “You are worth far more to me than you could ever realize.”

He twitches and looks away fast. The rise and fall of his chest comes quicker now. His mind undulates with uncertainty and fear. The uncertainty is understandable, but the fear—that, she doesn’t understand. She steps close to him again and watches him tense, glancing at her as if worried of what she’ll do.

“What are you afraid of?” she asks in genuine surprise. She is just as new to this as he is, after all, and she wants answers. Bly lets out a stuttering breath.

“I don’t know,” he rasps. The words ring with honesty. An idea flits on the edge of Aayla’s mind. She reaches up to touch his temple. Despite everything, he leans into the touch.

“Let me see,” she requests. For a long moment, he doesn’t say anything, just stares into her eyes. Ever so slowly, he dips his head in a small nod. Aayla closes her eyes.

When she reaches for his mind, his thoughts all but pull her inside. In an instant she’s deeper into his psyche than she’d originally meant to go. All of his emotions roll over her like a wave. She tries to pull away from them, but it’s too late, and she gets thrown into a whirlwind of sensation—

It’s overwhelming. The first thing to hit her is a tide of devotion so fierce that it feels like a firestorm against her own mind. A distinct longing is next, waxing and waning in strength as he struggles to keep it in check. Then there is a devastating clash of loyalty and restraint and desire and helplessness that makes her head spin.

In the center of it all, she sees herself.

It isn’t what she expects at all; isn’t even close to how she imagines herself in her own mind. She stands against an infinite stretch of darkness, lighting the way with her lightsaber outstretched as a brilliant blue beacon. She can sense Bly’s instinctual inclination to follow regardless of where she will lead—even if it means death, even if it means something worse. Through Bly’s eyes she is glorious and powerful and ethereal. Except then there is a sharp contrast, because she fights with all the vigor of a warrior but then she turns to look at him and everything goes soft and suddenly he is overcome by admiration and fondness and a hesitant, tentative love—

Aayla reels back. She struggles to stay above the sea of affection and desire and passion that follows after her doggedly, as if it can’t continue to exist without showing her everything now that she’s stumbled across it. She is jolted to reality. Both of her hands are curled tenderly around Bly’s skull. His eyes are squeezed shut.

She trails her gaze over his face. Aayla is flustered and panting. She had known that he feels something for her, but she’d never realized to what extent. His self-control is even more impressive now that she’s caught a glimpse of what he truly thinks.

“Bly—you—?”

He blinks his eyes open and immediately lowers them in shame.

That won’t do at all. Determination swells in her heart along with a strange sensation of desperation, because she’d known, but she’d never truly understood. He’d kept the full extent of his feelings carefully locked away, and when parts of it had escaped they had only implied a mere fraction of what was really going on inside his head.

She wants—needs—him to understand that it goes both ways.

When she enters his mind again, she lets Bly’s emotions wash around her instead of hitting her full force. She sinks deep, catching glimpses of memories and snippets of sound—

A battlefield shouldn’t be alluring, but with fire swirling around her and sparks drifting past them, she’s more glorious than anything else he could ever imagine.

He wishes that he could express the sensation that he feels whenever she looks at him like that, how his heart seems to swell three sizes and continue expanding until it’s all but bursting out of his chest.

Blue. Blue. Blue. He can’t get the color out of his head, can’t stop his eyes from trailing over her skin and noting all of her visible scars, can’t focus right even though he knows that he needs to concentrate.

She makes a bad call. Not even the best Generals are without fault. Brothers die. For all that he admires her she is still flawed, but somehow that doesn’t detract from how badly he wants her, from how much he cares. She is imperfect and scarred but he loves her all the more for it, for how she fights to become better with every breath she takes.

It’s raining. She looks happy. She looks at peace. Her eyes are bright. She’s beautiful. He wants to reach out and touch her. He aches because he can’t.

Nothing will ever come out of his feelings but he will content himself with the fleeting sensations of joy he finds when she presses her spine to his in the middle of a battle and fights with absolute certainty that he’ll be there to guard her back.

Jedi aren’t immortal and that has never been more obvious now. She is sick and miserable and tired. He convinces her to leave the bridge under his command for the day and go get some rest. When he drops by her room to update her on the Separatist’s movements she is sprawled out on her bunk, mouth hanging open and drooling. It is possible the most unflattering view of her that he’s ever seen. He hardly cares. He sits next to her anyway, a grin springing to his lips as she stirs and blinks up at him, surprised at his presence. There’s nowhere else that he’d rather be.

He hadn’t been created to love. Sometimes he wishes that he had been.

There. Hidden in that thought Aayla finds hints of darkness. She catches a hold of the trail of insecurity she had originally intended to follow and chases after it.

Chain of command aside, Jedi code aside, anything he feels for her is foolish. Bly is not unique, not special despite his rank. Even if there were no restrictions he has millions of brothers who all look the same, so why would she pay any attention to him at all?

He is Kaminoan property. There is no place for love in his purpose. He barely even understands the concept even though he knows the word. He couldn’t possibly offer her what she wants, isn’t worthy to even try. He’s just a clone, nothing more.

It hurts her to feel how deeply those thoughts are woven into his mind. She tugs at them carefully and feels him lurch. Somewhere in the real world she feels hands clutching at her shoulders, but she can’t focus on that right now.

She won’t be able to replace the thoughts, can’t destroy them as much as she would like to. Instead she presses her own thoughts over his, carefully so that he can sense every detail.

Gold is enthralling to her now. Her eyes get stuck on it automatically. She can only think of armor and tattoos and eyes and tan skin—and a steady presence beside her that she wouldn’t trade for the galaxy.

They are alone and desperate and fighting. Aayla pushes herself to move faster, to fight harder, to continue even though her limbs are shaking because she won’t let him die, not today. It would hurt more than anything to replace a battalion but it would tear her into pieces and leave her incapacitated to lose Bly.

It’s raining. She coaxes him to step into the open and tilt his head upwards. His Force presence goes still and calm as he stares up into the clouds above them. Raindrops settle in his hair like tiny glass orbs and scatter across the tattoos on his cheeks. She wants to reach out, she wants, she wants. She senses that he does too, but then he pulls away and she marvels at his control even though her chest contracts in disappointment.

He stands against a hailfire of blaster bolts, unshaken, grounding her along with the rest of his brothers, pistols blazing. She draws strength from his courage and pushes forward. She trusts him with her life. She knows with unshakable certainty that Bly will have her back.

It’s late. The hangar is empty except for them, seated on top of a LAAT with the hangar bay doors thrown wide open to show wide-open space above them. When she turns her head over to look at Bly she sees a wide-eyed awe on his face. He marvels at how different the stars look from here than on Kamino. His joy is tangible. Aayla only has eyes for him. She feels warm and happy and light in a way that she’s never felt before.

He smiles at her fondly and she feels faint suddenly, as if the single breathtaking, handsome, devoted expression is enough to stop her heart.

Love is dangerous because she is a Jedi. But she looks at him and decides that she doesn’t care.

Aayla lets him feel and see and understand every inch of her yearning, every ounce of her awe. His entire mind quakes under her touch. She feels the knot of darkness shiver and unravel a bit. She can’t get rid of it just yet. That will take time. She dares to hope that she’ll get the chance to try soon.

She comes back to herself. Bly’s hands are trembling on her shoulders. When she makes a soft noise of concern he wrenches them off of her and presses his fists against his sides.

“Aayla,” he groans, and he sounds absolutely wrecked. Like he’s seconds from falling apart. His eyes are bright and wide. They’re practically glowing in the dim lighting.

“I want you,” she tells him firmly, forcing every bit of blunt honesty into her voice as she can. She brushes her thumbs across his cheekbones and then lets her hands drop. “This is worth the risk to me, Bly. But it is up to you.”

She puts the choice in his hands and half expects him to turn away, to mull over everything he’s felt, to hesitate again.

He does not.

Instead, he makes a strangled sound, leans in, and presses his lips to hers.

It’s the last thing she’s expecting. She nearly stumbles as a result. His panic spikes into the Force until she grabs his shoulders and kisses him back.

The Force surges in a flare of heat and electricity around them. Bly exhales shakily against her. The brush of their lips is light and tentative. Aayla gathers herself, curling her fingers into the fabric of his shirt and deepening the kiss. Their mouths slant together. One of Bly’s hands finds her lekku again and strokes it gently. Her knees go weak underneath her at the pleasant sensation, at the feel of his mouth against hers.

When they break apart, Bly is gasping like he’s dying and can hardly believe his own audacity. Aayla feels heat crawling up her neck. She can’t stop panting either, and she doesn’t know what to do with her hands.

She’d hoped to get this far, to help him see that he’s worth it, that this is a risk that she’s willing to take, but she hadn’t expected any of that. This is unfamiliar to both of them.

“I—I didn’t—I—” Bly stammers out, and Aayla just blinks at him, because she isn’t doing much better.

Neither of them say anything for a long moment. Aayla can’t tear her gaze away from his face. He’s still so afraid, but she can see his mind weighing all of the options, struggling to make a final decision.

The pinprick of cold on her forearm makes her jerk. It’s followed by another on her lek, and then another on her forehead.

It’s raining.

Bly sucks in a sharp breath.

It rains once in a blue moon on Coruscant. It isn’t unheard of, but it isn’t common either. Aayla remembers a memory from a forest planet months ago, etched into both of their minds with striking clarity and sentiment. Slowly, Bly tilts his head back until he’s looking up into the sky.

She had shown him that. It sends a thrill down her spine to watch him remember, to feel his Force presence go from raging indecision to solidifying into careful determination.

The raindrops are growing bigger. She can hear them clattering against the balcony around her. A droplet splatters against her nose. She reaches out to brush the water away and goes still when Bly reaches for her hand, threading their fingers together as if he’s afraid that she’s going to change her mind.

“It’s worth the risk,” he whispers, like a prayer. She smiles at him. After a heartbeat, he returns it. “I want... I want you too.”

His words make Aayla feel giddy, like she’s soaring, light as a feather and free as the wind. The rain comes down around them. It would only take a few steps to enter the room and dry off but neither of them move.

She wants to kiss him again. The relief and elation she feels as she realizes that she actually can now is heady. His lips are still parted ever so slightly. When she leans in again, he meets her halfway.

It doesn’t matter that they’re going to get drenched. It doesn’t matter that there’s a chain of command or a Jedi code. It doesn’t matter that there’s a war going on and sometimes it’s safer to not get attached.

She focuses on Bly and finds peace in the rhythm of the rain. It’s worth the risk.

#fanfic #blyla #clone wars #Aayla Secura #commander bly #oh i'm so weak for them #wow jaymes congrats i'm addicted and it's your fault XD #writing

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moonflowerlesbians · 4 years

Note

Hi! #87 please? I know fluff is not your cup of tea but... i really like the way you write dani and jamie

I love fluff I just seem to only be able to write angst lol.. until now! Please enjoy some fluff. I hope it’s ok :)

send me prompts pretty please?

Dani is delightfully warm.

She’s sitting comfortably in a boring booth at the back of the boring little pub in Bly with her enchantingly boring gardener, and it’s all so wonderfully mundane that she allows herself to forget the world for just this one night. This one boring night, with these boring drinks, and this self-proclaimed boring company that Dani is finding to be anything but.

Jamie’s laughter comes easily, and it flows over Dani like a warm bath, soothing her aches and pains better than any salve. They’re tucked into a booth in a shadowy corner of the pub, the owner of which Jamie had promised won’t judge them for sitting too close for the social standard so long as their coin is good. The comment and the casual tone with which Jamie had spoken had caught Dani off-guard.

For the first time, Dani had been struck by her own inexperience, and she had thought guiltily about her lack of consideration for the logistics of being with someone that lay outside of “normal.”

But, now, with Jamie’s arm draped casually over her shoulder, this feels like the most natural thing in the world. It feels like Dani has found her place.

Oh, so this is how this is supposed to feel.

“Oi, you with me?”

“Hmm? Oh, um, yeah, yeah, I’m here,” Dani says, meeting Jamie’s amused grin with one of her own. She thumbs a bit of condensation on her glass. To the ambivalent observer, the gardener seems nonchalant, unbothered, the way she always does. It’s something Dani has come to admire about her.

But, Dani, who, face flushing, would never admit to studying Jamie under penalty of death, notes the tension in her jaw. That Jamie’s index finger, semi-permanently tinged with potting soil no matter how hard she scrubs, is absently picking at the skin on her thumb. Her Chuck Taylor bounces ever so slightly where it’s crossed over her knee. Dani’s brow furrows when she follows Jamie’s line of sight. A woman has just walked in and taken a seat at one of the stools, striking up familiar conversation with the bartender.

“Who is that?” Dani’s curiosity is innocent enough. She’s hardly left the manor since arriving in Bly. The only townsfolk she’s met are those who are also employed by the Wingraves.

“No one, Poppins,” Jamie dismisses.

Dani tilts her head. She’d meant the question as a sincere inquiry of identity, but Jamie appears to take it to mean who is the woman in relation to Jamie. And, now, Dani, insatiably attentive, is determined to find out.

“Well, now you have to tell me,” she pokes. Perhaps, if she had not been two drinks in, she would not have been so bold. But the warmth in her stomach and the heaviness of her eyelids and the sheer joy of not having to think of sleepwalking children have combined and made her brazen.

Jamie’s surprise glints in her eye and lingers in the gentle quirk of her upturned lip. She leans in so that her breath tickles the shell Dani’s ear. “That,” Jamie whispers, “is my ex-girlfriend.”

Oh.

Dani’s heart drops in her chest, and she can’t quite help the pang of irrational jealousy that shoots through her. It’s foolish, she knows, to assume Jamie sees this, this thing, that they have as anything more than an easy stint. Jamie fancies boredom, her simple life at Bly, but to Dani, this is electric, like every atom in her body is buzzing after being shocked. The complexity of her rising emotions threatens to overwhelm her. Surely, this connection is mutual. It must be. A circuit requires a positive and negative charge for energy to flow.

When Dani leans in this time, Jamie smells faintly of ale and cedar and a scent Dani can’t identify but finds that she adores all the same. “Well, you better kiss me so she sees.”

Jamie murmurs something along the lines of, “Don’t have to tell me twice,” before their lips meet.

When they break apart, Jamie’s hand cups the back of Dani’s head, her pinky tracing soft lines along Dani’s neck.

“I really like you, you know.”

Dani hums. “How’s that for boring?”

“Dani Clayton, you, darling, could never be boring,” Jamie says with finality. “Though, I should probably tell you she’s not my ex.” She looks to the woman at the bar.

Dani pulls back. “No? Then why-?”

“I was only jokin’. Would’ve explained if you’d given me a second more. Can’t say I’m complaining, though.” Her eyes flick to Dani’s lips, and she watches as Dani casts another sidelong glance across the pub. “Jealous, are we?”

“No!”

“Have’t got anything to worry about, I promise you. Not really my type, anyway.”

“And what is?”

“My type?”

Dani nods, settling back into their earlier, easy rhythm.

“Ah, well, I s’pose I’m rather fond of pretty blonde au pairs.” Jamie winks and plucks at the sleeve of Dani’s brightly patterned blouse. “Even if they dress like somethin’ a kindergartner drew up.”

Dani swats her hand away. “Rude.”

“You wound me.”

“You lied to me.”

“And I’m very sorry about it.”

“You’re an ass.”

“So they tell me.” Jamie’s smirk is cocky. She relaxes back into the wooden bench, arm still draped loosely around Dani’s shoulders. There is space left for Dani, which she gladly fills, tucking herself neatly into Jamie’s side in their darkened corner of the room.

This is how it’s supposed to feel.

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aka-indulgence · 4 years

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Going off anon now that I'm more self confident lol. What if, hear me out, reverse little mermaid (or maybe not so reverse?? Oh well, we'll go with it I guess) mc is human and black is still merskel. Instead of kidnapping her he puts the spell on himself that he's gonna get legs but gotta kiss her before the sun sets on the third day. Maybe red is still the prince? and has been courting mc on the beach and she's been showing interest as well. And black is having none of it!

(oooh now I kinda wonder now which anon you are klejmskjs)

The other little mermaid au ask that I went ballistic on

So this starts off very similar to the fic. Black’s known you for awhile... Perhaps he’s even saved you from drowning when you got a bit too close to the waves and was brought out to sea by the tide. He managed to touch you and admire you, but knowing he’s a sea monster, he ran before you could see him... And he’s been wishing to have a moment like that again.

You remember him only a little bit, and now on top of enjoying the view of the sea to relax and take your time- now you’re even more drawn to it, remembering that stranger that saved you, looking for him, wondering if you’d just imagine him. Black watches you all the time- he has no idea that you were looking for him, but he’s been wishing to get so much closer to you. This time it’s Black that has the Part of your woorld~ Part of the story hahahah

So things go on regularly, and instead of planning to kidnap her he’s concocting a spell that can give him legs. So let’s say instead he makes a deal with a sea witch/wizard (that’s supposed to be him) since he’s the magician, he can make himself human legs, just that it’s pretty complex to do. The reason he has to kiss her in less than three days is because in order for the magic to work, he has to have a kiss of true love so that his soul would get a boost per se, to make it his magic more permanent.

Black has been biding his time, (and since he’s not as kidnap-py as he originally is, let’s say he’s less... Drastic in his methods) worrying how he’d approach you... Until he sees someone else on the beach.

Red doesn’t have to be a prince, like the other ask. Maybe he’s just a regular ol’ sailor guy, idk. (do I have a thing for sailors? I’m just questioning myself this as I’m writing this eksmlkes) But he does have a sort of title to himself, and he’s been interested in this peasant girl (or... something similar). He’s planning on courting you and has started getting closer to you, visiting you on your sea-viewing. And you look pretty interested in him too, reacting to him very well when he puts an arm around you and leans in close.

When Black sees this, his jealousy spikes, and he realizes how no, he’s not willing to give you up to anyone else! So he makes the decision then and there to turn his tentacles into legs he can use on land, and appears to her lying down on the beach. Being the kind of human she is, she helps him out. He wants to break it to her that he’s the one who’s saved her- but like the choosing to have legs, Black waits for the right time to say it. He looks much different than he did then anyways.

You give him respute in your home, which is something he enjoys very much... makes him feel like he’s married to you or something, and of course he makes moves on you, knowing the 3 day limit. But... Of course it wouldn’t be that easy to make her kiss him immediately- especially when Red finds out about this new competitor.

Black’s “tendencies” from the original fic appears with competition, and they both make much bigger efforts in having her to take their hand instead. And Black isn’t just competing against Red- he’s racing against time as well. So he gets more of his terrifying tendencies by the 2nd and 3rd day...

Red’s had his suspicions on Black since he first met him. He appears on the beach one day and reacts very well to you while and acts almost like he knows you. No one knows who he is, and Red had made guesses that he’s not a land-dweller. By the 3rd day he challenges Black for you, and Black gets even more desperate to stay on land, with you, and-

Again. Two skeletons are fighting for you. You have no idea why they’re so aggressive and scary when they fight each other... Wonder what would happen at the end of that 3rd day... If you didn’t kiss him and he turns back into a cecaelia...?

#ask #TDtLU asks #TDtLU #I'm still thinking about that little mermaid au btw #gahhh its... its a fun concept to play around with #and i'm thinking of writing a bit with it...#that asker? you know who you are- i'm getting ready for you ;)#also i really like the concept of sailor red.

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darecruit · 3 years

Text

First Look at Open Arms, Chapter 17!

Chapter 17: Repercussions

Jack walked back into the house after putting the burgers on the grill and was taken aback by the total chaos going on around him. Lexi was talking in angry bursts punctuated by loud tears, no doubt from the near-perfect, bright red handprint emblazoned on her cheek. Sarah was doing her best to comfort the distraught girl while Diane was yelling to be heard over the pair. John was doing his best to calm everyone, and poor Quinn and Frannie were off to the side, just trying to keep out of everyone’s way. There was no sign of Shelby or Rachel.

Just then, the front door opened and Shelby stormed into the living room. “I’m going to kill her!” he heard his youngest sister say, stabbing at her phone and then bringing the device to her ear. Her face darkened as she lowered it again and began furiously typing on the screen.

“Shelby? Rachel? What’s going on? Someone needs to start explaining, now!” Diane’s voice called from behind Jack. He turned in time to see his mother stalking towards him. She sidestepped him without a second glance, her gaze zeroing in on Shelby. “Where’s Rachel?”

“Of course I’m mad!” Shelby said out loud; it was clear to Jack that his sister hadn’t realized she had an audience. He watched as she shook her head and then took a deep breath before typing something more.

Thinking quickly, Jack reached a hand out and stopped his mother mid-step. She opened her mouth to protest but he shook his head. Shelby had brought her phone to her ear again and this time, sounded like she was actually talking to Rachel. “Let her be,” he said, easily turning his mother around.

“I need to help, Jack. Rachel’s run off and we don’t know where she is. We need to find her,” Diane argued, craning her head to stare back at Shelby. Jack couldn’t help but follow suit. It was then that Shelby noticed them and moved into the hall where she was blocked from view.

“She can’t have gone far. And Shelby looks like she has it handled. If she needs our help, she’ll let us know. C’mon, Ma,” Jack’s was the voice of reason.

Directing his mother over to soothe Quinn and Frannie, Jack’s next stop was his father. “Hey Dad, can you keep an eye on the burgers for me?” That done, he moved to his wife and daughter.

“Hey, bug, what happened?” he asked, wrapping an arm around the girl’s shoulders.

“Rachel happened!” came his child’s angry reply. “She was going off on Quinn for no reason—Quinn’s just tryingto be her friend but I heard Shelby say Rachel’s been acting bitchy to her all week and she’s probably jealous or something. Rachel doesn’t have friends at school and no wonder, if this is how she acts! So I called her out on it and she hit me!”

Jack blinked several times in quick succession, all the while shaking his head slowly, trying to process his daughter’s rushed explanation. His wife seemed to catch the drift much more quickly as he watched her eyes narrow and become stern.

“Language, Lexi—and that was a private conversation between your aunt and I,” Sarah scolded. “You know better than to eavesdrop on someone’s conversation!”

“How am I the one in trouble? Rachel hit me!” Lexi argued back.

“Yes, and her mother will correct her for that. As your mother, I’m more concerned about you and youractions,” Sarah said in a steely voice.

“That’s not fair! I wasn’t eavesdropping, I just overheard while I was taking stuff out to Dad. Not myfault you two were talking where someone could hear everything!” came Lexi’s snippy retort.

“Hey, watch your tone,” Jack warned. “What you heard wasn’t meant for your ears—that’s what your mom is getting at. And you’ve had trouble in this department before, young lady, so I’d knock off the ‘tude if I were you.” He leveled her with a look and a pointed finger—his signature ‘I mean business’ move.

Lexi huffed and crossed her arms over her chest, looking away from the matching angry frowns on her parents’ faces. She was the victim here, face still stinging where Rachel had slapped her, and they wanted to get on her about some accidental information gathering.

Jack shook his head and met his wife’s eyes. One simple look was all it took to convey a multitude of thoughts—Sarah was his rock and she would handle the situation with Lexi, keep Diane occupied if needed, so Jack could find Shelby like he wanted and offer her his big brother services, whatever that may be. Jack gave his wife a loving smile, leveled his daughter with one last warning glare, and then left the kitchen in search of his sister.

“Well, I think we both know you’ve more than earned a spanking—but it’s not the end of the world—” Jack heard Shelby say into her phone as he came up behind her. He made sure to make some noise so as not to scare her. Shelby turned, her expression guarded (no doubt assuming it was their mother instead) and relaxed when their eyes met.

“Baby, I’ve told you before, I will not let you get away with deliberate wrong-doing—and you’ve done a lot of that today,” she continued. Jack was able to hear Rachel crying on the other end and his heart went out to both mother and child. He could tell that Shelby was frustrated and sad—no parent liked the discipline part of their job—and Rachel was clearly distraught.

“Tell me where you are, Rach. Let’s get you home and—”

A thought occurred to him and he placed his hand on his sister’s shoulder. She looked up and then held a finger up to wait. “The park, okay. I’ll be right—”

“Let me go get her, Shelbs,” Jack spoke then. He had a gut feeling that Rachel needed someone on the outside to talk to before coming home, and it wouldn’t hurt Shelby to have some time to collect her thoughts.

“Honey, Uncle Jack is going to come get you, okay? You wait there for him, he’ll be less than five minutes,” Shelby changed course, understanding her brother’s need to help. It was the big brother in him and Shelby couldn’t deny the calming presence he had on her—Rachel could benefit from that same energy in this current moment.

Jack let out a sigh of relief, his hand moving to his sister’s back to rub up and down as she ended the call with Rachel. He could feel the moment the tension left Shelby’s body.

“Thanks, Jacky,” Shelby said tiredly. “I’m so sorry about—” She waved her hand around vaguely. “—this. I don’t know what’s gotten into her. She’s been acting up all week but I never thought she’d…I promise I’ll have her apologize to Lexi. I’ll take care of her behavior too. I can’t believe her! I’ve been on her recently for her rude behavior—though I don’t think any of that was really on purpose—but this—THIS—is deliberate.”

Shelby was speaking nearly as fast and furious as his daughter had only moments before—the complexity and speed at which a woman’s brain functioned would never fail to astound Jack. He knew Shelby was speaking more to herself than at him, but he felt the need to interrupt her regardless. “Easy there, killer,” he said. “Lexi isn’t completely blameless in all of this. She let slip that she heard some of what you and Sarah were talking about before. I’m sure that had something to do with Rachel’s outburst. And anyway, Shel, kids fight. I’ve found it’s easier to let them figure it out themselves—nine times out of ten it blows over as quickly as it started.”

Shelby scoffed. “Did you get a look at your kid’s face yet?”

Jack smirked. “Yeah. Yeah, I did,” he said. “Rachel’s got an arm on her—that’s not even her dominant hand.”

“Jack!” Shelby gasped.

The older Corcoran sibling couldn’t help but laugh; he thought he saw the corners of Shelby’s mouth quirk up. “C’mon, Shel. I’m just saying, maybe it’s not all as bad as it looks right now. Let everyone calm down and we can find out the truth and go from there.”

“Rachel’s still in a lot of trouble,” Shelby said, her mood darkening. Rachel had a lot to account for, no matter what else happened between the girls. And whatever had pushed things over the edge, the fight had been brewing within her daughter for more than a week now. Whether it stemmed from Rachel’s growing jealousy or perhaps even another subconscious test of the rules and boundaries, Shelby knew she’d have to prove to her daughter that she was here, there was permanence to her presence, and that there would always be consistency and security wherever and whenever she was involved.

Open Arms * Open Arms * Open Arms

Tucked away in the shadows of the playground’s wooden turret, Rachel felt every bit the captured, isolated princess, waiting for either a brave prince to rescue her or else the dragon to come finish her off. The experience wasn’t anything like in the stories. Her face was hot and sticky from tears and sweat—no fairy tale princess ever had to deal with things dripping from their nose or into their eyes. No, their tears were always delicate, beautiful—not this ugly, oozing mess that was Rachel’s reality.

The rumble from a truck pulling up, followed by the slamming of a car door brought Rachel back to the present. She twisted, getting to her knees, and was able to remain unseen while looking out of the little window of her tower. She saw Jack coming closer and couldn’t help but wonder…was he the prince, or the dragon?

Why did he come for her anyway? Shelby had been ready to come get Rachel when suddenly, she was told her uncle would instead. Why? Was she in trouble with him too? She did slap his kid in the face, after all.

“Rachel? It’s Uncle Jack. Where are you, kid?” Jack called out over the playground. He didn’t see his niece anywhere.

Rachel ducked down as her uncle closed the distance between them. She didn’t think he had spotted her yet and wanted to keep in that way for as long as possible—at least until she could figure out if he was mad or not.

Jack caught movement out of the corner of his eye, from the rightmost tower of the play castle. It was the biggest tower and had a ramp leading up inside. Following his gut, he easily climbed the ramp and ducked his head inside the structure. “Hey, Rach,” he said, and the small teen nearly jumped clean out of her skin. “Sorry, didn’t mean to scare you, pal,” he added, easing himself into the spot next to Rachel. He cracked the seal on the water bottle he had brought with him and handed it to the sweaty teen.

Rachel eyed him cautiously, but took the offered drink with eagerness. Her throat hurt from all her crying and she was burning up from the overwhelming stuffiness inside her hideout. After several long gulps, she lowered the bottle from her lips and then wiped her mouth against the sleeve of her shirt. Her eyes flicked back to her uncle, who was staring at her with a patient calmness she wasn’t expecting.

“Aren’t you mad?” she asked, her tone more forceful than she had intended, accusing.

“What?” Jack asked, his surprise evident both in his voice and on his face. “Why would I be mad?”

Rachel scrunched up her face in disbelief. “Didn’t you see your kid’s face?”

Jack let out a bark of a laugh; Rachel’s response was nearly identical to that of her mother’s not ten minutes ago. It was wild, really. The look his niece gave in response only made him laugh harder.

“Why are you laughing?” Rachel demanded, defensive. She had the gnawing suspicion that she wasn’t aware of a joke being made about her. “I slapped Lexi, you know.” She wasn’t sure why she was offering up that information, if by some miracle her uncle didn’t know about it, but his laughter was unsettling. She needed him to be serious.

“I know,” Jack nodded, sobering at the teen’s expression. He could tell she was upset and on edge and, at the moment, he was only making it worse. “I saw her face. I know you slapped her. I’m not mad at you, Rach.”

“Why?” Rachel couldn’t stop herself from asking. “Mom’s mad at me,” she added as if that decided it all.

Jack sighed and ran his hand through his hair. “Yeah, well…” he paused, deciding his words carefully. “Your mom’s a lot newer to all of this than I am. I’ve had seventeen years’ practice. Kids fight, and sometimes it gets physical. More often than not, it blows over without any interference on our end.”

Rachel frowned as she considered her uncle’s words. He was definitely more easy-going about this than her mother was…whether that was naturally his nature or because, like he said, he had more practice at it was up for debate. She knew without a doubt that there would be interference on her mom’s end…and Rachel would feel it on hers—Shelby had already said as much.

“Besides, I know Lexi and she’s no angel. She’s my daughter, after all,” Jack tried for levity and wasn’t all that surprised when he fell flat. He opted for a more matter-of-fact approach—it seemed that’s what Rachel needed right now. ��I know she heard some things she shouldn’t have and used that information against you. So I understand your anger and why you lashed out. I’m not mad about that, kiddo.”

Wary brown eyes met his blue and he tentatively wrapped his arm around small shoulders; he smiled when Rachel relaxed against him. “That’s not to say I want you slapping her or anyone else whenever someone makes you angry, but in today’s case, I get it.”

“How come you came to pick me up instead of Mom?” Rachel asked. Her mom was all set to come get her—she had asked and pleaded with Rachel over and over to tell her where she was so she could pick her up. Then all of a sudden, she said Jack would pick Rachel up instead. Why?

Rachel felt her face drain as a thought occurred to her. “Is…is she too mad to want to see me? Does—oh, God—does she not want me anymore?”

“Rachel, no,” Jack said, his heart breaking for this child in his arms. He drew her closer to him, wanting to ground her. He could tell her thoughts were miles away.

“Are you taking me somewhere?”

“Rach—”

“Where am I gonna go? I don’t have any more parents to—”

“Rachel!”

Rachel jumped at the stern rumble of her name. Her uncle’s voice was so deep, especially in that tone he just used. It sent a chill up her spine. “Y-Yes, sir?” she squeaked.

“Hey, pal,” Jack breathed, his voice low, soothing. He hadn’t meant to scare the poor girl, he only wanted to get her attention and stop her panicked thoughts. “Easy, sweetheart. Deep breaths, okay?”

Rachel followed her uncle’s directive, focusing on her breathing. In. Hold. Out. Repeat. After several repetitions, she felt her heart start to slow, as well as her mind. She opened her eyes that she didn’t remember closing, and zeroed in on the water bottle she was still holding. She was suddenly very sad, and very thirsty. She finished the water off in two big gulps.

“Better?” Jack asked as the girl set down the empty bottle. She sighed and nodded.

“My dads used to bring me a glass of water whenever I was sad. It happened so often that eventually I couldn’t tell the difference between when I was sad and when I was just thirsty,” Rachel said.

If Jack thought his heart couldn’t possibly hurt any more for his niece, he was grossly mistaken. Not knowing what to say in that moment, he simply held her.

“Your mom isn’t mad at you, pal. I wanted to come get you. I thought you might need someone to talk to who wasn’t as, uh…involved. It has nothing to do with your mom not wanting to come herself—of course she wanted to. And she would never send you away, not ever.”

“You don’t know that. You can’t,” Rachel all but whispered. Jack heard it though, every word.

“Of course I can! I know for a fact that if even by some strange twist of fate your mom even thought about sending you somewhere, I would come kick her ass. I can do that, you know, big brother and all. Ben and Lauren would too. And if they didn’t, Nana and PopPop definitely would! Nana would be on her with her slipper faster than you could blink!”

Rachel’s mouth twitched upwards and she let out a small giggle in spite of herself—the image of her mother being chased around the house by her slipper-wielding Nana was too good!

Jack let out a relieved sigh; he got a smile out of the girl—finally! He disentangled himself from the hold he had on his niece and readjusted. It really wasn’t comfortable in this small enclosed space. “C’mon, time to get out of here. It’s hella hot and I’m getting claustrophobic.”

Rachel’s stomach dropped at her uncle’s pronouncement. The amusing mental image of her mother in the hot seat soured and was immediately replaced with her own very real predicament. She watched her uncle climb out of the tower and suddenly felt claustrophobic herself; her dread was quickly filling every available space in her once-safe hideout.

Not wanting to be alone in that oppressive space, she quickly scurried after her uncle’s retreating back. She accepted his helping hand down the ramp and onto the mulch-covered ground. “Uncle Jack,” she started, feeling the familiar prickle of tears in her eyes. She blinked to clear them. “Do you have to…I mean, can we not—” She let out frustrated breath and kicked at a bit of mulch with her foot. “Please don’t take me home yet. I—I’m not ready.”

#open arms #new #chapter17 #Jack Corcoran #Rachel #Shelby #Corcoran family

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dragons-bones · 4 years

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FFXIV Write Entry #29: Stormsong

Prompt: paternal | Master Post | On AO3

Well, this did not go where I thought it would, and certainly isn’t crack. But I think I like it?

Anyway, SPOILERS for The Sorrow of Werlyt through the quest “Sleep Now in Sapphire” as well as the Omega Raid story line.

A late summer storm had roared up the coast, driving the residents of Terncliff inside their homes and the Ironworks engineers and Resistance soldiers down into the magitek facility. Most were in their commandeered bunks—at least those not on patrol throughout the town—while waiting for the storm to pass, but for the engineers at least, there was still work to be done in the warmachina bay.

For a given definition of work.

Valdeaulin rolled his eyes as Cid Garlond and Synnove Greywolfe’s shouting echoed down the hangar. He couldn’t fathom the reason why Greywolfe was here, for all that she had taken it deeply personally that she hadn’t been involved in the G-Warrior’s development; something to do with the warmachina’s systems, perhaps, or the recovered pieces of the Sapphire Weapon, currently in one of the secondary bays. He could follow her ranting about aetheric principles to a degree, but the similarities between thaumaturgy and arcanima rapidly ran dry when the arcanist also dabbled heavily in engineering.

From his spot close to the exit out towards the bay, at least, the pounding rain and crash of thunder mostly drowned out the engineers’ row (Greywolfe was standing atop the G-Warrior’s shoulder, yelling down at Garlond as they both shook their fists and waved wrenches at one another for emphasis, the other Ironworks employees not reacting to them at all). If he closed his eyes, he could imagine for a moment that rain was falling on the stone roof of his home rather than sheet metal, that the cool wind blew in from the dark depths of the Twelveswood, that the voices he heard were those of his wife and daughter. But then something would crash in the hangar, and he would be drawn back to reality.

With an annoyed sigh, Valdeaulin opened his eyes and resumed his work on a map of the region surrounding Terncliff and heading towards Werlyt. He didn’t have to do it, but there was precious little else for him to do with the weather so foul and the hunt for Gaius’ wayward foster children and their Weapons project temporarily halted. And it would make the lives of the Resistance patrols easier, at least.

He was making notations on one copy about the local patterns of aether for any Resistance mages—eerily dead, but with the occasional strange spot he could sense of high activity that might be a natural golem, or a pocket of minor elementals—when he heard footsteps trotting towards his position. His ears twitched and he looked up, eyebrows going up despite his attempt to remain stoic.

His time with the Order of the Twin Adders had been relatively short—perhaps two years, if that—but Rereha Reha had been notorious well before she and her sisters-in-arms had stumbled into bearing the mantles of Warriors of Light. Valdeaulin hadn’t served in her unit, but he had seen the fallout of some of her “shenanigans,” both good and ill, and his commanding officer had spoken of her with fond exasperation. Like him, she was an outsider to the Twelveswood, but for some unfathomable reason, she had been permitted beneath its boughs by the Elementals to live and learn in Gridania.

She hadn’t changed much, appearance wise anyway, since that time he had last seen her before Operation Archon: devious, almost smarmy grin, pink hear dyed with streaks of white, skin astonishingly blemish free despite a career outdoors that he had once overheard a Gridanian noblewoman hiss over in a fit of jealousy and left him struggling to disguise his laughter as a cough. She still favored sky blue for anything that wasn’t a uniform, going by her leather coat, but her usual matching stockman hat with its jaunty feather was suspiciously missing.

And…was that a hatchling dragon in her arms?

When the lalafell came to a stop before him, he grudgingly said, “Lieutenant Reha.”

“Ooooh, that’s Captain Reha now, Sergeant,” Rereha said, just shy of cackling.

Valdeaulin nearly dropped his pen. “Dear good gods, why do they keep promoting you?” he said in disbelief.

“Mostly to make me someone else’s problem,” she chirped, easily hopping up onto a stack of crates next to him. The dragonet in her arms croaked reproachfully as it was jostled, but she merely patted it on the head and continued, “I think the plan is to get me high enough that it forces Grand Marshal Brookstone to retire already. I am also, apparently, quite good at getting the job done even if it means someone goes prematurely grey from shock, mortification, or both.”

“That sounds like a quote,” he said.

Rereha held a finger up to her lips in a ‘shush’ gesture, smirking, and waggled her eyebrows.

Valdeaulin shook his head and, to use one of Severa’s favorite phrases, decided to bite the bullet, gesturing to the dragonet. “And who’s your friend there?”

If he hadn’t once been the father of a precocious daughter (one who would be about the same age as this hedonist bard had she lived), he likely wouldn’t have noticed the very brief widening of Rereha’s eyes in the classic children’s expression of oh shite. But he did, and he kept his face studiously blank of anything except polite interest while the lalafell smiled bright and wide—too wide, just a hair—and said, “Oh, this little guy?”

She held the dragonet, a yalm long from nose to tail by his guess, up for inspection. He had black eyes, apparently all pupil, or perhaps his irises were true black, as well. His head was head was wedge-shaped, with fan-shaped protrusions on either side of his head of similar shape to his wings. The closer look showed that his scales were tiny; from a distance he had almost appeared smooth-skined. He was dark green, shading to a paler shade on his belly, and the undersides of his wings and ear fins, plus his extremities, were pink.

The dragonet was, quite frankly, adorable, despite the unsettlingly powerful glare. Something about his aether niggled at him, though; he could have sworn he had encountered it before, but that couldn’t be possible…

“I had heard you and the other Warriors of Light had brought peace between the Ishgardians and the Dravanians,” Valdeaulin drawled, “but I didn’t expect it had extended to babysitting.”

“Dragonets do what they want,” Rereha said with a sniff. “He usually stays in Anyx Trine, but occasionally he comes wandering to find us and beg for bacon jerky.”

The dragonet perked up at that word and he craned his neck and head back to chirp at Rereha imperiously.

She sighed. “Yeah, yeah, I got the goods.” She set the dragonet in her lap and slung her pack off her shoulder.

As Rereha rummaged around in her bag, Valdeaulin said mildly, “Does he have a name?”

“Hm? Oh! Yeah,” she said, popping her head up and triumphantly holding a wrapped packet. The dragonet began hopping impatiently, wings flaring, and Rereha shoved him out of the way, but he merely took that as an invitation to hop onto her head, lean over, and croak angrily in her face. She poked his nose and said to Valdeaulin, “He’s, ah, Deeh Sohm.”

His parental bullshite detector, as his Trisselle had called it, noticed the ever-so-slight hesitation, but as before, Valdeaulin didn’t comment on it. As hilarious as it would be to make Rereha Reha squirm, he assumed whatever it was that was causing her to react like someone with their hand in the biscuit jar, it some sort of Warrior of Light business.

Instead, he merely nodded, and went back to notating the map. Rereha, meanwhile, hurriedly unwrapped the waxed paper to reveal a pile of jerky and began breaking off pieces. For every piece she passed up to the impatient “Deeh Sohm,” she popped one into her own mouth, apparently as ravenous as her small companion. The jerky vanished completely into their stomachs in no time at all, and both dragonet and lalafell belched in satisfaction. A lick of blue flame accompanied the dragonet’s.

Valdeaulin did not comment, though he did briefly wonder if Lisie would have stayed as shamelessly irreverent had she grown up. The thought only hurt a little, this time.

Apparently now that snack time was over, it was time to sleep the food off: Rereha yawned once, laid down with her head pillowed on her back, and promptly passed out, in the manner of many soldiers and adventurers who learned to sleep whenever and wherever they could, with an inelegant snore. The dragonet, briefly dislodged from his perch atop her head, instead stomped down to her stomach, kneading it like a cat before he curled into a ball, wings tucked close.

Valdeaulin shifted just a bit on his own seat, shuffling back to make himself a better windbreak for the occasional stormy gust that howled into the hanger.

Suddenly, the dragonet’s aether signature…changed.

Valdeaulin very, very slowly raised his head, eyes wide. Before, the dragonet’s aether had felt dim, the faintest hum of a repeating tune of power, fitting for a creature that looked so young.

Now, though.

Now, it was a chorus of complex harmonies, of rhythms and tone and melodies that somehow blended into a coherent whole. It was heavy with the weight of antiquity, nearly crushing with how narrowly it was focused upon himself.

The dragonet stared at him, and now he would swear that fathomless, midnight gaze saw through him, right to the very heart of his being, weighing and judging and knowing. A loud, grumbling hmmmmmmm, almost two-toned with reverb, echoed in his mind.

Rereha snorted, though she didn’t wake entirely, and she patted the dragonet on the head. “Go t’ sleep, Dad,” she slurred.

Slowly, the ancient awareness folded itself away, bit by bit, until the dragonsong was muted once more to that simple cascade of notes of earlier. The dragonet blinked at him, yawned, and tucked his head under his wing to nap.

Valdeaulin stared at the pair for long moments, before resolutely returning to his work.

He did not want to know.

#ffxivwrite2020 #final fantasy xiv #spoilers #ffxiv spoilers #5.3 spoilers #werlyt spoilers #valdeaulin #oc: rereha reha #midgardsormr #dt's writing

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btsandvmin · 4 years

Text

I ship Vmin.

I got a bunch of asks regarding ji/kook again and despite me feeling very tempted to just ignore it all together because it really isn’t what I want to do I decided to write a rant in response in stead. I am sorry to my followers and to the person who sent all these asks, I am sure you didn’t mean anything bad, so please forgive me for being quite rude and blunt in this post.

I don’t really want to indulge and make people ask more about other ships because as I have said many times it’s just not what I want to talk about. But, I got a lot of asks and it made me frustrated so it resulted in a rant from me. If you don’t like to read about other ships or if you feel like getting aggressive because of other shippers just ignore this post.

I repeat one more time. I know about other ships and their theories. Not everything, but enough to acknowledge they do have weird things that could be real. And enough to notice and see when they have moments without having to watch analysis. I know but it doesn’t interest me. If another ship is real then another ship is real and I am wrong. But please stop coming to me to either get confirmation that “vmin is real/superior” or “X ship has these moments and are more real”.

I feel I need to explain what I personally see as the flaws with most believers in ships and how they analyze and feel confident in them being right. In particular I will speak about ji/kook but this could literally be any ship at all. Vmin too. I don’t want this to be seen as a vmin vs. ji/kook post, but it might look like that simply because Vmin is my preference. Everything in this post is just MY POINT OF VIEW. I could be crazy wrong and use completely false logic, but this is the way I see things and I don’t expect everyone to agree.

Anyways, please be nice and don’t read this at all if you are easily triggered.

This is really messy, I am sorry.

First of all, all big fandoms act the same and do analysis about ships they like. It starts out as a preference (if you admit it or not) and gets rationalized for various reasons. 'I didn't use to ship but they are different' or whatever reason and then you find others with the same ideas and all agree together. You get more convinced because you get validation from others and at the same time get more content to prove you are right. The bigger the ship the more people analyze every detail and thus end up finding pieces that fit their narrative. It's also easier to dismiss things that goes against your beliefs the more secure you feel about your ship. This is literally how it works for everyone who believes in a ship (or conspiracy theories in general). The odds of you being right are very slim. No matter how many people join the group and preach the same thing.

Most things BTS do they do with all members or at least many others. Few things are exclusive and thus how can we know it means one thing when one ship does it and another when your ship does? For most people it’s simply because it has a different vibe or tension. It's really like that though, just your own feelings. Only the things your ship does are special. And even if something they do is unique it doesn't really prove anything, because all relationships can work very differently. Basically to begin with most shippers/believers think their ship is special or different. They can't focus on all dynamics and see what they want to see. They add the pieces that fit into their existing narrative, and if something suddenly doesn’t fit they come up with a fitting excuse.

You will see for most ships the amount of moments will vary, be up one month and down the next. Have a great year suddenly followed by less moments than they are used to. A lot of people even go from believing in one ship to changing to another ship because they suddenly have more moments. So it looks more real because the amount of moments. At least to some fans, who clearly jump between ships or feel insecure when their ship suddenly have less moments.

Fans of ships also get emotionally involved as if they are partly living through their ship. Happy when they get moments but worried when they don't. Like it has to be something wrong if they suddenly have less interactions on screen. Some even go as far as getting worried from one day to another when BTS or certain members can have millions of reasons for their behaviour. And that's another thing. Everything the two individuals of your ship does must be related to the other person. If A is sad it means maybe he fought with B. Every little thing, word or interaction is proof and people get so invested they can't see anything else. If everything is possible proof, with the amount of things we get, of course it will be possible for almost any shipper to pick the parts that sound good and fit what they want to believe.

This also works for insecurities about other ships. Every interaction of a rival ship hurts or makes you feel uncertain about your ship. Either you ignore it, try to convince yourself your ships makes more sense, or you feel bad about it. When in reality it's usually mostly about focus and I would argue no relationship in BTS being shown more would ever mean another one is suffering. At least not because of a ship being real. Relationships aren't competitions. For me who ships Vmin I have seen things both from tae/kook, ji/kook and many other ships, even straight ones, that makes me think Vmin is probably not real, or that these other ships could be real. But I have seen this with more ships than one, which says a lot. And I have things about Vmin of course as well that I think makes other ships less likely. That’s why it’s important to remain unsure but open. A lot of ships probably cancel each other out.

If vmin isn't real, they aren't. But because I believe in BTS's words and actions I can feel happy knowing Vmin feel they are soulmates. I can be happy because I truly think their actions and their love for each other is genuine. No matter what kind it is, and no matter if they are together with someone else or not.

I have seen theories for basically all ships in BTS and from many other fandoms, and they all bring up similar things, have weird reactions or moments that they apply their own meanings to. I do the exact same thing, only I don't act confident about it but keep it as speculation. I am making a huge Vmin analysis because I want to show it can be done and that Vmin have weird moments too. I do find their behaviour odd or I wouldn't have reacted. But I'm just like everyone else who do shipping analysis and have a bias towards my own preference. That’s why I know I can be wrong and that's why it’s important to not act like I have the facts.

In the end we still don't know, and we should be okay with whatever might prove to be real. For me one very important thing is that I want to trust and believe the things the boys says. So even if it goes against my ship or what I want, I will trust it. Like how Jimin and Taehyung didn't seem to meet at all during their break. But that also means that I do trust it when Jimin and Taehyung call each other soulmates and when Jimin says he wants to be with Taehyung even after their careers are over. So to begin with this mostly removes the idea that a ship would be played up for any other reason than it's something they like to do and are comfortable about. Basically fanservice exists, but nothing is so played up it's completely fake. Which means I also don't think anything Ji/kook or any other ship does is fake. I personally think Jimin is a person who likes to tease JK and that their bickering is misinterpreted. I think Jimin likes to rile up JK by pushing himself close etc. It's also possible Jimin does things because he knows fans will react, but these things still are done because they find it fun, not with some secret agenda.

The only way I think it is possible to "hide a ship with another ship" is by doing similar things or shippy things with all or several members or to in certain times perhaps distract from a ship by doing something with another member. But still only things they would feel comfortable doing. This is the important part. I don't think any members would do something they themselves, a possible secret lover or the other members would feel uncomfortable with. This is why jealous JK is basically impossible to me to the degree ji/kookers make it out to be. Same with jealousy in general. There could be some, but too much isn't really something to be happy about. If one half of your ship can't touch or interact with another person without being jealous that's just not healthy. The fact that fans want jealousy to prove a ship to begin with is just toxic to me. For me if these things are real (I don’t think they are but they could be) I don’t think I would be able to stay a fan. Because it would mean BTS go out of their way to do things that aren’t authentic despite feeling uncomfortable about it just to fool their fans. If BTS are lying (because they certainly are in some cases) I think they simply tell white lies or omit parts of the truth. I don’t want to think they make up whole relationships or behaviors to create a different image than reality.

Now I will go into a bit more detail about ji/kook and my personal reasoning behind why I think they are a bit weird if they are real. And some of the problems I see with some ji/kook narratives. I know people are complex and there could be many factors I don’t know about or think about, and that I could be completely wrong or partly wrong. But at least I accept that possibility. So again, don’t try to come to me and convince me of another ship or talk about why they are weird. I really don’t need to hear it. Anyways, about ji/kook and at least the way most ji/kookers seem to explain ji/kook...

The first thing is that I don't see ji/kook being very careful. And though I don't know for sure I would think a gay relationship within the biggest idol group in the world would be something to be careful about. Not just for their own sake, but for the whole group. Especially if we look at the Korean society when it comes to lgbt+ in general. I mean, a lot of the ji/kook moments rely on either ji/kook wanting people to know about them and showing actual hints, or them not being careful at all and accidentally exposing themselves. Most of these moments make ji/kook look either dumb or willing to risk everything for people to know about them. If they want to be together, wouldn't it be more important to feel safe and not get exposed than showing off to their millions of fans? Especially at the height of their career? Of course they are young and could want to be able to show their relationship. But consider the actual consequences if it got out.

Some things ji/kookers claim about ji/kook include:

Sharing rooms and staying in the same room even when one person is doing a live. When they could easily just leave for a while to not risk getting exposed.

Getting special engagement rings and getting seen at the store together as well as talking pretty openly about it. (This was also debunked even by ji/kookers I think?)

JK threatening Jimin with showing a picture of himself with a hickey and talking about it openly during a live and then actually proceeding to post said picture. Just them giving hickeys at all seems like a pretty dumb move.

Ji/kook always sharing a car because they live together. Because everyone already knows they are together. Also that they share it even when BTS are all going to the same hotel because they can't be apart even for a second? (Forget the fact that they don't always share a car and in Korea JK more often seem to share with Hobi.)

Ji/kook celebrating their anniversary. They have pictures of them celebrating it with members at the dorm and post pictures together on twitter to show fans. Because they have to give hints.

How Jungkook calls Jimin without hyung or speaks informal sometimes means they are together. But when Hobi does it to Yoongi it doesn't mean anything?

Ji/kook going on a private trip to Tokyo yet showing it off through official channels and getting to talk about it and even getting specifically asked about it during interviews. Doesn't seem very private to me. Again, I suppose ji/kook needs to share their love with the fans and Big HIt is kind enough to help them.

Following that there is having Jimin be center in other gcf and even have Jimin himself joke and say he is the "main actor".

JK getting tattoos that says JM and Jimin matching JK's tattoos with his own. (Also the number 13 is about ji/kook, not BTS debut date).

Big hit giving ji/kook the unicorn photoshoot to help people see them specifically in a lgbt+ positive way. (Forget the fact that BTS and Big Hit has done other lgbt+ positive things or hints for many years.)

“Jeonleous” and his tongue poking his cheek out of annoyance every time Jimin breathes next to someone else. Let's ignore the fact JK has a ton of nervous habits, that the tongue thing could mean many different things and that he also does it when neither Jimin nor Tae are present.

Ji/kook is real because they are always together. Which would imply both of them spend all their time together and need the other person’s constant attention? This again feels more like fans’ wanting to glorify possessive behavior. If they are together all the time, wouldn’t it be better to tone things down a little while at work when a million cameras are filming their every move? I think Ji/kook are close, like spending time together and are comfortable in front of cameras because there isn’t much risk involved.

And many, many, many more. Sorry for sounding bitter about these things. For real, some things could be true, I don't know. I guess ji/kook could be real, but if they are they don't act like it's something to be too careful about. At least not from what I see. Could they hide behind fanservice or rely on people never finding out enough to expose them? Absolutely. But seems a bit risky. Also in contrast, why do Vmin (the best friends) act so weirdly and careful about some things?

People who come to me with proof for ji/kook or other ships and say 'if you only knew or looked at them you would see'... But no. More or less every single thing a ji/kooker have ever tried to come to me with as proof I already knew, at least to some extent. Other things I have looked up because they have tried to show me. Some things have also been debunked. And not once has it been actual proof. It's always a moment that could easily be interpreted incorrectly. The closest thing would show ji/kook are close and maybe they have shared rooms. But proving ji/kook has shared a room doesn't prove they are married. We know Vmin has shared a room many times too and we know Jimin seems to hate being alone and loves to crash the other members' rooms in general. When Jimin or Tae says they want to share rooms I believe that and from what I have seen it seems Vmin has shown a preference to share rooms over any other ship. So if ji/kook is real, in BV4 when they had the chance to decide where to sleep why did Jimin and Tae end up together? To fool fans? Because suddenly ji/kook sharing rooms would be too suspicious? At least it doesn't make sense if JK gets jealous of everything so the extreme jealousy is definitely not a thing to use as proof.

Sure there are odd things and theories that could make sense, but the same goes for other ships too. So please if you are insecure about your ship then maybe just let it be. Why do you have to come to me to try and find a reason to either believe or not believe?

People also claim to have inside information and it spreads. Mostly about ji/kook, but for other ships as well. There are rumors of Taehyung having some on and off relationships. Or people saying Big Hit made fake dating paparazzi shots of Jimin with some woman to make him less suspicious. Of Taehyung being homophobic and anti ji/kook. Some sources also say different things. Some of the same people who shares this info also get things wrong or use edits mixed with real information. But never has anyone been able to produce something that could be actual proof for their claims. It could just as easily be put together by good storytellers. Just because some things prove to be right I don't think these people are reliable sources. Because the information always come from second hand sources who say 'someone close to bts' or 'someone at big hit' etc. told this other person who told me.

Also, why should I trust someone who claims to love a ship and say they have proof for it, and call themselves a supporter, when they are trying to out a couple who aren't out? Something which could have devastating consequences if it got public. And yet many do exactly that, try to show the truth and expose them, but somehow never show the things they claim make it indisputable? All of these people who knows the truth, who has the receipts and use stalker pictures, not a single one wants to show the actual proof? Because somehow that is crossing the line? But all the other things aren't? Also if this information is spread so easily, how come no one who gets to know this would feel angry by seeing them be gay and try to expose them for real? All of them just happen to be understanding supporters?

In the end I can't believe these things because they have no proof and some things they say just doesn't match with the things BTS show us. So while it could be truth to it and I could be completely wrong, I will personally rather base things on what I see myself than on hearsay. I watch and listen to BTS and do my own analysis based on the things they say or do. That’s it. If I am wrong I am wrong and then that's fine. That’s why it’s speculation and theories, and not proof.

The ji/kookers also seem to have pretty different timelines, but most agree they have been interested in each other since at least 2014 (mostly Jimin) and that they got together either in 2016 when JK became legal, or around 2017-18 when their moments seemed to skyrocket. Alternatively this was when they told the members but they had been hiding it for a while already. Anyways my point here is that many also say them getting together is the reason for Vmin and Tae/kook changing. Which I could buy, except where in this timeline did Vmin actually change in a way that makes sense for ji/kook?

For me I think Vmin did seem to change around 2016, when they were basically glued together yet avoided vlives and seemed to become a bit more careful. We even have Jimin and Tae themselves talk about this time as when something changed for the better between them. For me they way I see it if Vmin has something between them I feel they get lost in each other sometimes, which is why when they noticed this behaviour started to be a bit careful around each other. Something we still see today though they seem to constantly push the boundaries.

Just looking at Vmin's behaviour I don't think ji/kook being real explains it. For example to me it seems Vmin have been avoiding being live together since 2016, doing all kinds of odd things to excuse or avoid it. I could be wrong, but let's say Vmin avoid vlives for some reason. Now, let's say they avoid it because ji/kook is real. If Vmin can't have a vlive because of JK that would imply JK doesn't trust Jimin with Tae, or if Tae doesn't want to do it that Tae doesn't like ji/kook together to the point it affects his relationship with the both of them. In some way it would be ji/kook effect Vmin so much they can’t do something they both can do with other members. But if either is true then why would Vmin still have other moments? And why would both Jimin and Tae call each other soulmates? Would JK not be annoyed with all these other things? Or would Tae be completely fine with saying Jimin is his soulmate but refuse to do a live with him? And why would Vmin's intimacy seem to gradually get worse? Why would they force themselves to hold hands in public when Taehyung himself said in 2016 that doing that with a man would feel weird. To redirect from ji/kook? But the only reason they would have to redirect from ji/kook to begin with is because "they are so obvious". Wouldn't it make more sense to just be careful, rather than to have to force themselves to do something neither party wants to do just to blend in better? This is why ji/kook being real doesn't explain vmin to me. Because if ji/kook are so prone to jealousy, why do things to show their relationship that then lead to them having to force things that they don't want to do to be less suspicious again. It's just a weird narrative for me. Of course ji/kookers could be wrong about some of these things but ji/kook could still be real. But personally vmin still act odd when I look at them.

To me it comes down to the fact that Vmin has a lot of weird behaviours, and most of them could be explained by them being careful or private and unsure about what is ok or not to show. Or with them being fairly carefree and hiding behind their friendship label because they know some things are ok to show. Or sometimes even being so lost in each other or happy or sad that they they can't help themselves. And also that things seem to have changed over time, so slowly people got used to their behaviour and accept it as normal between them. Vmin sang a song about them being soulmates and everyone praised them for being such great friends and even "breaking the norm" of how two male best friends usually express themselves and show intimacy.

Ji/kook being in the same room while one of them are live vs Vmin trying to avoid being live together. For me out of these two narratives (because neither is proven) Vmin seems more likely to have something to hide. And if they have something to hide, it seems more likely to be them being too close than them having fallen apart or JK hating them together so much they don't dare to be best friends. Because first I don't think they are that good actors, and two I see no reason to fabricate lies. If so it makes more sense to omit some parts of the truth. If Jimin and Taehyung says they are soulmates, then that is what they are. If they are best friends I would expect them to want to spend time together, and yet there are enough weird contradictions here for haters to believe Vmin is fake, because they never hang out etc.

For me ji/kook has a great bond and they love spending time together. It seems easy and carefree. I believe it when JK says he keeps no secrets from Jimin. They love to bicker and tease and I think they know fans ship them. What I don't see is them being careful, or vague or having excuses. I also don't see the members acting particularly careful in regards to ji/kook moments (there are possible exceptions, but I have seen 'careful of shipping moments' with many members and ships). Even Jin saying "are you guys a couple" or other similar to comment on ji/kook seems like an odd way to try and expose them. It's like they don't care at all if they touch upon something rather sensitive. Which makes me think it's not something sensitive. So, to me the conclusion I come to is that if ji/kook is real it's not a big issue if they get exposed. Either they really think they can get away with anything and rarely feel nervous, or they simply don’t care if people find out.

With Vmin I personally feel there are things. And I know it's just my feeling and interpretation. I think Vmin says some things and then act the opposite sometimes. I don't see why having a live together is a big deal. I don't see why Namjoon loves to point out that they are 'such good friends' all the time. I don’t understand why they push each other away sometimes, or stop doing things when cameras are on them etc.

Of course Vmin has a ton of moments too. Even to the point people don't ship them because 'they show everything so openly'. But that's where I disagree, because while Vmin does show a lot, they also act careful or weird a lot. They are oddly private and has some contradicting things that have even made people think they hate each other or that Vmin is fake.

I don't understand why Ji/kook can have a rainbow themed photoshoot and publish a short movie from their private vacation with a song from a gay artist when Tae isn't allowed to sing his Christmas song with Jimin because the lyrics are basically 'too gay'. I also don't see why Taehyung would want to sing a romantic song with Jimin if he knows ji/kook are together. I don't understand how ji/kook can go out to dinner openly or go ice skating together when Vmin who are supposed to be best friends haven't been seen publicly together for years. If ji/kook who are an actual couple can do it, then so should Vmin. After all, they are saying they are best friends and we sometimes get to hear them or the members mention how close they are or when they have done something. And yet we see Namjoon or Hobi or their other friends with them much more often than with each other. It's because of this people even dare to claim Vmin isn't as close as they want us to think. But then we are back to not being able to trust them again, and I just don't see BTS going this far against their own messages to fake a relationship. Thus I come to the conclusion again that Vmin are simply more careful and private. Because if they are truly best friends they should like and want to spend time together. Basically, because I need to trust BTS for me to even like them I will believe Vmin are soulmates and best friends. But if they are, why are there so many strange things, and why do they seem to be reluctant to be seen alone together? It’s just one example, but I think you get my point.

And again I am not saying Vmin don't have things that might seem like them trying to expose themselves. Like the Christmas song for example, why would Tae even mention it? But to me it's more like he said it out of frustration and he also tried to play it off as no big deal. And same with Tata, I think Tae thought it was sneaky enough to be safe to say. In ji/kook's case it's just blunt. And they know people watch their every move too. Vmin we have actually seen be careful. Not to mention now Vmin can literally hold hands in public and sing they are each other's soulmates and people don't even blink because of their platonic label. But they built up to that gradually.

I mean of course we have bias and I will think Vmin is superior in various ways because of that. But in the end for me I can't shake how I feel vmin's and the other members' reactions to vmin would at least make more sense if vmin is a couple (or has something to hide or feel insecure about showing at least) than if ji/kook is. Though I really think if there is something there it would be super risky to act on it at all and I doubt they would. I still say no ship being real is probably the most likely, but Vmin seems to walk that thin line between friends or romantic more than any other members. And it’s something we have seen more and more of. Like Vmin notice things are okay and then feel more comfortable showing them. Looking at their personalities, their behaviours, how intimate they can be and the fact that Vmin seem to be the closest according to other members and even having the label of soulmates I say Vmin makes the most sense. This is based on what I know myself because I have seen it or heard it from the members. Others will disagree and that's totally fine. I simply base this on the small portions of their lives we get to see, or not see.

Lastly I will answer all the asks I got in regards to ji/kook, but very very briefly because I think I said most of what I wanted to say already. I am pretty sure they are all from just one person, and your English is a little rough, so I apologize if I might have misunderstood something. Anyways, here goes.

Once again with obvious reasons, but I think they look more obvious because you have seen and heard more people talk about it. There are weird moments for sure, and ji/kook definitely have some theories that could make sense, but I wouldn’t say it’s obvious. Or everyone would ship ji/kook.

Also I find it interesting that you think Jimin had a crush on Tae. Personally I always felt it seemed more like Tae was the one with the crush. Beyond that, it’s possible I suppose, but it sounds more like a fanfiction if I am being honest.

If Ji/kook is dating and Vmin is there to cover, why would JK be jealous? If he knows it’s to help him and Jimin? And if it’s a problem, why use Tae as a cover? Why Vmin? Why not do it with another ship where JK wouldn’t be as jealous. Because clearly Hobi and JK can do whatever and sleep cuddled up. Why would it be neccessary for Vmin to get involved specifically? Especially if it makes people uncomfortable?

As for Saipain it looks a bit weird for sure, but I repeat, wanting to share a room doesn’t make a ship real or Vmin would have been real between 2013-2017. It’s possible they shared or wanted to share a room, but they could have other reasons to no want to show it than them being a couple. This would again also imply they are fairly open and probably out to a lot of their crew, aka not very careful.

I think people dismiss tae/kooks bond too much, all members are close and we know the two of them has said they are close and even have deep talks. Just because we don’t see them a lot on camera doesn’t mean they aren’t close. That being said I do actually agree and think Vmin and Ji/kook seem closer, but that’s based on what we see, and we don’t see everything.

I know ji/kook more than a little… And Vmin do spend time together, it just takes them actually talking about it for us to even know about it. Like in the recent vlive with Namjoon, Hobi and Tae where Tae revealed Jimin was actually with him in London 2018 when they took pictures at night. We had no clue, and if Hobi hadn’t said he didn’t remember and Tae had to explain it more, we might not have gotten to know Jimin was there either.

I do agree Vmin seem to be apart a lot and that they didn’t meet during the break etc. But if we use the break as an example, Jimin was gone for most of the time only meeting JK briefly, and yet when they filmed BV4 it seems Jimin was pretty needy and keeping close to Tae like he really missed him a lot and needed to be close. They even chose to sleep in the same bed together when ji/kook just as well could have done it if Jimin just picked a different room. But no, he even changed from the room he wanted because Tae liked the other one.

It’s complicated for sure, but maybe we are all just over analyzing and making things complicated? If you learned more about ji/kook have fun with that. I am honestly not interested. If there ever is a ship that comes out as real I will support it and I will be ok, until then (and I doubt such a day will come) I will enjoy Vmin as soulmates.

Also if JK is jealous of Tae despite them knowing each other for so many years, then ji/kook probably won’t last. Because being jealous because your boyfriend spends time with his best friend just shows you don’t trust your boyfriend.

I have no idea if Sweet Night has anything to do with Jimin, but if it is isn’t it kind of shitty to write a song to show you are in love with your best friend if said best friend is together with your other friend and co-worker? Especially after having a song with your best friend about how you want to be together forever and are soulmates? No wonder JK is jealous with a narrative like this.

The end of that interview is just Jimin being Jimin and teasing as usual to me. It’s similar to when he is fishing for more compliments from Namjoon. Maybe it’s something, but I personally don’t see much in it.

Also if Jimin is using Tae, and especially if Tae is uncomfortable then that is some real sad reality so I see why you would be sad. Strange though how Tae seems to be the one who thinks he doesn’t give enough in their relationship and calls Jimin an angel and the warmest person he’s ever met. Maybe Taehyung is just bad at reading people and don’t mind being used? But that seems to go against his otherwise very rebellious personality. Or maybe he is refusing to play along and that’s why people say he seems to be so cold towards Jimin, but then they have some serious problems they need to sort out because that isn’t healthy.

Vmin have different personalities. For me I think Jimin is loud with everyone and that’s why he allows himself to be loud with Tae too. Meanwhile Tae used to be super loud about his relationship to Jimin, but has tried to tone it down or hold back. Just my theory of course, but there are also times Jimin is the one pushing Taehyung away, so their weird push and pull behavior is something I find hard to explain. Also if Tae doesn’t want to, and if ji/kook get jealous about it why would they try to force Vmin to begin with?

Vmin/kook is weird. Maybe they all do have some drama of weird feelings that need to be resolved, but honestly we will probably never know. And it’s not really something we should need to know either. For me I enjoy all of BTS, and I especially love the bond between Jimin and Taehyung. I love BTS because they are so genuine, so if I start to think they are lying to us to the extent some of these theories would require then I would probably stop being a fan. As you say I refuse to think Vmin’s love is fake, because there is too much to show the complete opposite. You don’t have to try and ease me into a possible future where we learn another ship is real and not Vmin, because as long as their love is genuine I will still love their bond. Also, I always preach we should be open to whatever might be real, so obviously I am aware I could be wrong and Ji/kook could be together. I have said so many times. So again, please don’t feel the need to show me other ships to convince me another ship is real or makes more sense. It’s not what I am here for.

I know many will be sad/disappointed if their ship isn’t real, that’s why we shouldn’t get so fixated on having the right answer to begin with. Not everyone can be right, can they? We should be able to love Vmin without needing to have their relationship be romantic. Just try to enjoy and appreciate them together and the love we know they share.

I honestly didn’t understand this very well, maybe I am too tired. But again, many ships have moments that doesn’t make sense or that look awkward. People just zoom in and interpret some moments a lot more than others. As for Ji/kooks jokes/fanservice I do think it is mostly them trying to rile each other up for fun. They want to get a reaction, but the other one tries to resist. Usually this is Jimin directing it towards JK and getting close physically while JK tries not to react like some sort of showdown, while JK seems to go more for actual teasing like “Jimin is tiny” or playing “Lie” to rile Jimin up. Anyways, I see a lot of teasing between ji/kook for sure, but maybe that’s why they don’t seem like a long term relationship to me as well. Unless they have a kink to do that only for cameras or something. If Ji/kook is real then they shouldn’t have to tease to get attention so much if you ask me, at least not after being together for years. This is why Vmin being more diverse and soft, and their change from their younger more rowdy relationship is the kind of development that at least I personally see as more likely with a long term relationship where both parts grow and adapt together.

Not saying Ji/kook hasn’t gotten close and don’t have really intimate and sweet moments, they do for sure. But their main dynamic seem to be teasing, which makes them an interesting ship for sure, but for me at least less likely to be real.

There you all go. I did something I have avoided for a long time, which is doing direct comparisons and reasons for why I put one ship above another. Please don’t use this as a chance to hate on either relationship or shippers who don’t agree with you. I am sorry for this mess, and I might actually remove it later because I am not sure this is something I want on my blog.

Please, just remember, I have my reasons to ship Vmin. Other people have their reasons to ship other ships. It’s mostly about preference and focus, so let’s just try to enjoy our ships without having to worry or get involved with “rival ships”. Because BTS all love each other, so we should trust in what we see and enjoy it no matter what they might try to keep from us.

Thanks if you managed to read all of this and are still here. This was me being frustrated. Sorry.

I ship Vmin. Simple as that. 95z is love. Good night.

#vmin #btsandvmin #shipping #BTS shipping #vmin analysis #Btsandvmin ask #Btsandvmin answer #my post #rant #sorry

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in-tua-deep · 4 years

Note

how about: dance, little, blue, and candle?

dance:

“Might be a better method,” Jaskier allows the avoidance since he doesn’t exactly love thinking too hard on his sister’s death anyway, “They’d never see it coming.

Jaskier’s fingers dance across his lute, a quick bust of complex melody as his face contorts into a frown.

His fingers dance across his lute, but he plucks no sound from the instrument for the moment. There are a thousand songs on his lips, of jealousy and longing and heartache, and if he lets any of them out into the world he might crumble into a million pieces.

little:

“I’ll have you know that I am making it my business. We’re supposed to be bonding, Five. Family bonding.” He fluttered his eyelashes at his littlest sibling, making the kid scowl.

“I have far more worldly experience than you, so maybe if you could find it in your black little heart to describe it, then I could help out.”

“A tackle hat and nothing else.” Klaus grinned as Five’s face twisted even further into disgust. Five was such an innocent little flower at times and was remarkably easy to wind up.

Their little fight seemed to have attracted the attention of the rest of the family as they came to see what all the fuss was about. Or perhaps they were just coming over to witness Klaus’s untimely demise since no one had any illusions on who would win a fight between them, thirteen-year-old or not.

Five nodded, widening his eyes just a little and blinking innocently in a way that would have totally helped them during the Meritech incident but that Five would probably never deign use outside of the family because he was a little shit like that.

The bed is soft and foreign and Five kind of a little bit hates it.

The itching sensation fades a little bit, but doesn’t go away entirely. “What did you even say to that kid?”

“I told her to go away.” Five says, flexing numb fingers to try and get sensation back into them. He’s starting to feel a little bit floaty again, more distant.

He’s just - he’s curious and a little bit spiteful and he wants to get the lay of the land before he goes any further with the plan that is only half formed in the back of his mind.

But the woman just raises her eyebrows imperiously, and looks at him in a way that makes him feel like the abashed little boy he isn’t.

She smiles at him again, but it’s a little sharper this time. “And you are?”

“I’m Number Five,” He announces, smile sharp enough to cut, “The Deadly Little Thing.”

It’s interesting for Five, hearing his own thoughts reflected back at him. The way he sees people, their little lives so inconsequential in the long run. So short and limited. He shifts on the bed, a sort of discomfort crawling down his spine. He never realized until hearing it out loud how… callous it sounded.

Five, folded in his hiding place with arms wrapped around his bony knees, can’t help but feel a little spiteful. She didn’t worry about you the seventeen years you vanished, the insidious little voice inside his head whispers.

Sometimes Five thought his sister was more than a little blind to manipulation that wasn’t as straightforward as her power was. Too blunt, too honest, too sincere in her efforts to repair their broken family.

Five winces, pressing his face into his knees. He doesn’t need his eyes to hear the conversation, after all. But it’s - interesting to see just how… little? His siblings think of him?

He doesn’t want his family to ruin this for him. He’s surprised and a little guilty at the thought, but - if they knew he had a friend they’d want to meet her.

The simple joy he’d felt what must be only mere minutes ago had evaporated, leaving everything feeling cold and a little bit hazy around the edges.

And oh, the accusations he’d overheard make his chest hurt, and if he thought he had a heart he’d say it might be breaking a little bit.

An insidious little voice in the back of his mind hisses at him to save it, to spread it out over the course of a few days. That he needs to conserve the calories for when he needs them instead of stuffing himself all at once and risking starvation later.

blue:

It was a gorgeous day, with blue skies and a gentle breeze that ruffled the long grasses artfully

Five breathes in the cool evening air and listens to his brother ramble and watches his other brother glow blue like a realistic star wars extra and he thinks.

He doesn’t even notice her, actually. Which is a big oversight on his part. So when a voice calls out, amusement plain in its tone - “Are you lost?” - he jumps about a foot in the air and vanishes six feet to the right in a flash of blue light.

Maybe having them agree over this is worth the ball of dread sitting low in his stomach, making him shiver with adrenaline and sending blue sparks racing down his arms and tingling against his skin.

A spark of blue ripples down his arm, something that happened whenever he was anxious but had always claimed was out of eagerness. That’s probably why Luther’s eyes widen and he lunges forward to grab onto Five’s arm to prevent him from jumping away.

“Five?” A voice comes from the side and Five turns his head. Ben, glowing blue and looking puzzled, but with no Klaus in sight.

---

and none for candle!! ;v;

#ask game #wip game #there were way more instances of little but i have a limit rip #didn't realize how much i use little in my writing smh #Anonymous

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tiaragqueen · 5 years

Text

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✂ Pairing: Yandere! Gon Freecs x Reader

✂ Word Count: 1,8k

✂ Trigger Warning: Killing, blood, yandere theme

[Edited]

***

This boy is too precious to be a yandere, so he’s aged up in this one-shot.

If you like my writing, please support me on ko-fi!

“Jealousy is the jaundice of the soul.” - John Dryden

Sometimes, you wondered if it was your fault that this happened to you. You wondered what would happen if you weren’t so nice to him. You wondered what had gone wrong with him. You wondered what would happen if you didn’t accept his invitation. You wondered what would happen if he didn’t befriend you. You wondered what would happen if you didn’t fall for that bright smile of his.

And, most of all, you wondered how long has he been developing this sick feeling called ‘love’.

It couldn't even be called love as much as an infatuation, but Gon didn’t know that. He was a simple-minded guy. What he felt in the moment, he experienced it wholeheartedly. No half-assed displays, no poor attempts of hiding, and no lying. His emotions laid bare for everyone to see, and while it was a good – even admirable – quality, you’d learned soon enough that it could be a bad thing too.

A vice, you could say. It seemed to be the only flaw in his otherwise near-perfect appearance. You didn’t mean that he was pretending to be not, either. Again, Gon wasn’t fake. There was absolutely no reason for him to do it because his real personality was much more attractive.

Well, you just didn’t know any better. You just weren’t aware of his true personality. Because humans are complex creatures, and you’d only seen one facet – one layer – from him. One side that he showed to you only, unbeknownst to you. Because he was smart like that. Because you’d unknowingly underestimated his intelligence. Because you took his cheerful demeanor at face value.

But you couldn’t change him, could you? You weren’t some kind of skilled manipulator. You weren’t a liar that could easily twist him with sweet words. You were a good girl. You were a kind girl. You were a gullible girl. No amount of tears, prayers, and screams would ease the regret of being so stupid, so naïve as to believe that Gon was the same as you. That he was a good man. That he was a kind man. That he was a normal man. And no amount of tears, prayers, and screams would change your predicament for the better.

You were stuck here, in this small room bearing nothing but a bed and a chain around the bed pole to keep you attached. To prevent you from running away. To keep you with him always.

Had you done something to attract him? Had you done something that had set him off the wrong way? Had you done something to warrant such... attention from him? Was this the punishment for being too nice, too compliant, too innocent? You wondered and wondered, but you never came to a single answer. A single conclusion. A single explanation to give your muddled mind a rest. Some much-needed break you deserved. Some respite to prepare you to face the consequences of your actions. Of your responses.

You didn’t know, and you hated this. This ignorance, this optimistic mind that had only thought the best from people, this childish brain that refused to believe that there were people who could – and would – take advantage of you.

Sure, Gon had never taken advantage of you. He was such a good friend, such a cheerful guy that you couldn’t help but adore. However, he had also abused your trust in him by luring you into his trap disguised as a pure invitation of two friends hanging out.

And it was pure, indeed. At least, at first. You both watched your favorite movie and chatted about everything and anything that came to his mind until the topic of a crush was mentioned. You were curious about whether or not he had someone to like. That, and because you had a bit of a crush on him too. He was friendly, resourceful, determined, and adventurous. You didn't doubt that he could effortlessly convince an enemy to be his ally. Not to mention, he was a skilled Hunter. Anyone would be lucky to have him as either partner or lover.

Gon had blushed when you asked that bold question and answered in a shaky voice that you rarely heard from him. “I-I have, actually,” he said.

“Oh, who are they?”

“You.”

It was a straightforward reply in contrast to the lingering blush on his tan cheeks; one that left you flushing as well. You looked down shyly when he took your hands from your lap and stared at you with an earnest yet tender gaze.

“If it’s possible, I want to go out with you.”

You opened your mouth to accept him when reality crashed in. Gon was a skilled Hunter, and quite a popular one at that. That meant he wouldn’t be able to hang around for long. It didn’t count the other times when he’d disappeared to God knows where, too. You liked him, sure, but you didn’t think you could handle a long-distance relationship. And you feared that you would be a liability to him, because who knows how many enemies did he have? They could use you against him, and the last thing you wanted was to be a burden.

“I’m sorry, Gon. I don’t think I can,” you whispered, smiling ruefully. Like rejecting him was the same as rejecting yourself from having an opportunity to accompany him. And that was true, in some way. You rejected your best friend, and you couldn’t bear to see the pain in his eyes. Those brown, wide eyes that you often got lost into. Those brown, wide eyes that let you see the purity of his soul.

“What? Why not? I thought... I thought you liked me too.” He frowned and glanced down the floor. You got a feeling that his expression leaned more into confusion than surprise. As if he’d thrown off guard that you didn’t reciprocate his love like he’d expected to. As if he couldn’t wrap his brain to the fact that you didn’t accept his heartfelt confession. As if he somehow knew that you’d long liked him romantically despite his obliviousness.

“I do. I do like you, Gon. It’s just... complicated, okay? You can’t stay here for too long, and I’m not prepared for a long-distance relationship.” You squeezed his hands in an attempt to comfort him through the heartbreak that you’d created by yourself. “I’m sorry, Gon. I hope you understand that a long-distance relationship isn’t as easy as in movies.”

Gon slowly released his grasp on you and dropped his head. You bit your bottom lip, already missing the warmth. But you didn’t deserve it, did you? Because you rejected him, and you didn’t have a right to do lovey-dovey things with him. Things that you’d love to do to him.

Was it the right choice? Perhaps, you should think it over again. Perhaps, you should take it back and let him show you just how amazing of a boyfriend he could – would – be. But it was too late for that, and there was no saving you from your looming doom that left from his lips.

“Is it because of him?” he inquired, shadow concealing his eyes. You looked up, confused about who was the person in question. “That guy... Your ex.”

You furrowed your brows, wondering how he could come to that conclusion. After all, you’d explicitly stated that you weren’t ready to date him. “Um, Gon, you know that I’ve broken up with him.” you tittered.

“But you still harbor feelings for him, aren’t you? I knew that much; I could see it from your eyes. The way you always shot him a lingering glance, the way you always sighing when you thought I didn’t hear. I heard it, you know? You still love him, and I hate it.” He clenched his fists so tightly the knuckles turned whitish. For a split second, you pondered what would happen if you keep holding them. What could've happened to your hands had he didn't release them? “I hate that I still can’t make you look at me. Just for once, I want you to look at me the way you look at him. But it’s still not enough, is it? It will never be enough. Not unless I have you, not unless I ask you to. Because you’re nice like that.”

“Gon, w-what are you talking about?” you stuttered as you slowly backed away from his darkening aura. “I... I don’t understand.”

“Be mine.”

A bead of sweat fell from your temple as you blinked in confusion and fear. “Huh...?”

Gon snapped his head towards you, frowning in such a way to let you know that he would take none of your bullshit. It was so intense; he might as well be glowering at this moment. “Be mine, or else he’ll die.”

Your jaw dropped almost comically, unable to process the meaning of his words. Of his threat. Because there was just no way that he had just threatened you, right? No, you refused to believe it. Your sweet best friend didn’t threaten you. He couldn’t possibly find it in himself to speak such... such malicious thing. To you, out of all people.

“I... Gon, you can’t do that. That’s... that’s just wrong.” you explained slowly like a mother teaching her son that killing is bad. Killing is a crime and you didn’t want to see him behind the bars. Or worse. You shuddered at the thought.

“I can and I will. You know that, [Name].”

Yes, you did know. You knew more than anyone that Gon would stop at nothing to achieve something; to prove something. You just... didn’t expect him to stoop this low.

Well, it wasn’t as though you knew everything about him, anyway. Because if you did, then you would surely notice his constant glare towards your ex and how overly sweet he was being to you. It was sincere, though, as painful to admit it.

He grabbed your hands and force you to look at him in the eye. To look at the warmth that slowly disappeared from his eyes, revealing a pair of hardened pupils underneath. To feel the dogged determination from his grasp to never let you go. To make you realize the depth of his feelings and the severity of his threat.

“If you reject me again, then I won’t hesitate to kill him.”

This was all my fault, you thought to yourself as you listened to the sound of the front door opening and closing. To the rushed footfalls that approached your locked room. To the clicking of keys unlocking the door. To the strokes of his bloody hands – figuratively and literally – brushing against your cheeks. To the light, feathery kiss on your forehead.

“You have nothing to worry about,” he reassured you, ignoring how you pretended to be asleep in his presence and the silent tears that leaked through your fluttering eyelids. If he did notice, then he made no effort to call you out on it. He probably took it as a sign of you submitting to him. “We’re finally together now, and nobody will be able to separate us.”

However, he failed to realize that your main worry was and would always be him.

#Yandere gon #Yandere gon freecs #Yandere hxh #Yandere hunter x hunter #Yandere gon x reader #Yandere anime #Yandere imagine #Yandere scenario #Yandere one-shot #Gon x reader #Gon freecs x reader #Yandere gon freecs x reader

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