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#but the ordinary people who try to stop it take the damage

alicerosejensen · 9 months

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No time to die

Warning: Death of the reader; injuries; mention of blood; implied parting with Leon; Old leon; Fem!reader

Synopsis: he should have decided on his feelings before telling you about love. He should be taking care of you instead of running after Ada again, but now he will have enough time for this activity.

A/N: Sometimes I write about Leon's slippery ass. Well, I really had disturbing thoughts again.

If you were given a choice on whose hands to spend the last minutes of your life, you would never have chosen the hands of Leon S Kennedy.

In fact, you would rather lie in a pool of your own blood, moving away from him as far as possible, leaving dark scarlet streaks behind you, than let him help you. After all, despite all his love for this man, he caused you a very strong pain. Even stronger than what you feel now, when you try to get to your feet leaning on torn palms, spitting out a thick foam of blood.

Well, ordinary civilians can hardly resist a giant bioweapon that has crushed a bunch of people like bugs up to this point, but if Ada Wong was only slightly knocked down by a blow, which caused her to lose consciousness for a while, then you were thrown with such force that the organs inside seem to have turned into porridge.

But at that moment you didn't care anymore. The pain pierced every cell of your body and the only desire in your head was just to hide from it somewhere. Leon and his endless love for Ada didn't care anymore, but this pain will always remain in your heart. After all, he came to her aid and not to you.

You started coughing up blood. From every breath it became increasingly unbearable to breathe, and then you lost that fragile balance that you found for a couple of short seconds, collapsing on shards of glass that crumbled under your weight. Everything swam before your eyes. You didn't have the strength to curse anyone because all you wanted was not hugs and a declaration of love, but for this painful hell to end faster! A grunt escaped from your throat when someone tried to turn your body over and provide first aid, but only blood splattered out of your mouth.

"God," Leon's partner looked at you with big frightened eyes, trying to think of something, but stopped when you gathered the remnants of your strength and grabbed her hand, looking at the gun in her holster.

The last mercy for the dying.

"Please..." your hoarse, very quiet whisper begged Helena to "finish it"

Tears flowed from red eyes mixing with the blood that was on your face. From this pain, the vessels in your eyes burst and it seems that the only way out was a kind of voluntary euthanasia by a bullet in the head and not waiting for your body to stop fighting death before the damaged organs stop working themselves.

And then Helena's loud voice was heard calling Leon to finally break away from his beloved and pay attention to the dying you. If your condition were better, you would spit this very blood in his face. However, he really ran up to you after a couple of seconds, laying you on his lap, trying to do everything carefully so as not to cause additional pain. You didn't really want to spit, but you accidentally soiled his face when he stroked your hair.

Crimson thin rivulets slowly poured out of your nose and you closed your eyes a little at a new outbreak of suffocating pain that filled your whole body reflexively clinging to Leon's hand. His skin showed signs of broken nails, but he didn't seem to mind. It was unbearable for you to take even a small breath; even one attempt was accompanied by a bloody, foamy, painful cough at the edge of your mouth. It was like Hell.

Leon seemed to be looking for something that could help you, delay death, but Helena already understood everything. Anyone who saw you would understand that the injuries you received were not compatible with life.

“Please don’t...please,” Leon muttered, trying to stop the scarlet stain spreading under your chest. “Baby, I know, I know it hurts, but be patient.”

“Leon...” his partner called quietly, hinting that it was pointless.

And at some point you noticed Ada looking at you without pity, without disgust, without any other emotions. Just another corpse that crossed their path. Wong only had a couple of scratches. She did not writhe in agony and Leon would quickly find solace in her immediately after your death, this thought made your body gather its last strength and with a tearing cough look at the man in front of you, in whose eyes you could see fear for your life. On your last breath, you decided to hurt him before you die, as punishment for what he did to your heart, crushing it like a paper ball, and then tearing it apart, throwing you pathetic scraps... Well, that's how you saw it.

Leon caught that look, something in it even scared him, but your next words, which were the last, were forever imprinted in his memory and on his heart. Because you knew how painfully he endures the fact that someone hates him. You pulled your hand out of his and with hatred hissed something that was not even true in essence. It's just that at this very moment you wanted him to understand what pain he caused you with his love for Ada Wong.

"I... ha-te... you"

Everything inside Leon snapped in the same second. His love for Ada has remained a pain in your heart, but... the same pain will remain in him. The last breath, and your eyes, which he loved so much, glazed over, and your mouth remained slightly ajar. Ada... she didn't say anything, but was she surprised? Leon grabbed your hand again, trying to feel at least a weak pulse, but the words you said were pounding in his head, making tears flow from his eyes.

"No," he whispered softly, unable to believe what was happening. You couldn't die in his arms like that and you couldn't say those words. You had no reason to say those words to him! "Come on, look at me, I'll take you to a safe place. They will help you"

Helena put her hand on his shoulder, realizing how it hurt him in the end. He doesn't even have the opportunity to leave your body in a safe place and all he and Ada could do was watch him stroke your cheek with one hand holding your shoulders. The pose is exactly similar to when he defended Ada in China, only she was able to survive and you unfortunately did not.

"It's not your fault... no one is to blame for her death," Ada only said. She felt sorry for him " And her words... Leon..."

"She was not herself," Helena picked up, looking at Leon silently

Ada at some point correctly decided that it was out of jealousy. Just the last time to prick a loved one knowing that he will keep these words to himself for a long time. But they didn't have time for mourning and tears, however, even she didn't have the tongue to tell Leon to leave you here. So she just asked for his jacket and wrapped you in it, believing that you really would like it - to be enveloped in the fragrance of a loved one before death.

now was simply not the time and place to grieve, but even she did not understand the meaning of the words you said. After all, Leon really left her for you. Ada couldn't give him the stability and love he needed. Their complicated relationship hurt Leon in a way, but with you he became a normal person. She understood this, so she calmly retreated, because neither he nor she had ever felt sincere love for each other. Leon found this bright feeling in you by breaking off even short dates with her forever, and all Ada could do was really help him later.

Your death was committed out of place and all three of them understood that from Leon now only the shadow of the former man will remain and he himself will wallow in alcohol constantly replaying your dying words on repeat.

You really shouldn't have told him that.

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heesdreamer · 1 year

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anything else

PAIRING ➩ hyung line x reader

SUMMARY ➩ life brought you four boys at different times, somehow knowing when you needed them most. how could you possibly choose?

WARNINGS ➩ sexual content, um they’re very punk so piercings, fights, etc

WC ➩ 12.7k

AUTHOR NOTE ➩ so this one’s a little out of the ordinary but i hope you like it because i do despite the issues it gave me lol. little reminder that you can request additional scenes or specific scenarios you’d like to see but i don’t think ill just write a “part 2” also i originally started this as a specific member one shot try to guess who she was going to end up with! (NOT PROOFREAD)

There were three rules you religiously followed when it came to hooking up with people and any sign of them even slightly bending and you were gone before your side of the bed had even cooled.

The first one was the most simple and the one people had a problem with the least, no exclusivity. You didn’t want to belong to anybody and considering the crowd you ran with seemed just as against commitment, you didn’t find yourself having to argue this point a lot.

Your friend group had been close since a young age, only adding on a few additions as you all got older and branched out into different social circles, some of you bringing back worthy contenders into the main group of people. But for the most part things remained tight between you all and you liked it best like that, knowing the scandal that could unfold if some of your weekend activities were made public knowledge.

You’d met Jake and Sunghoon fresh into elementary school when they moved into the house next door, Jake’s parents taking in Sunghoon pretty much full time to the point he had his own bedroom in their house. You’d learn over time as you got closer to them that his home life was shaky and he slowly and slowly stopped going home at all as the years passed.

Jake caught your attention from the first night you’d seen him, standing on your porch in front of his parents legs with a scowl on his face and messy hair.

The same scowl he had now as he leaned back against the couch you were sat on, groaning and settling his feet into your lap. Jake wasn’t necessarily the troubled kid your parents had made him out to be, growing concerned and warning you away from him once they realized he had caught your interest. He was more sensitive than he let off and could do more damage with his clumsy feet and the way he threw his whole body into a laugh than his fist, but his bark was always a lot bigger than his bite.

You liked him immediately.

You’d spent the first few months of knowing him watching him from your porch and he tried to learn how to skateboard, seeing him fall and scream words that you’d only ever heard your parents say when they were particularly stressed about something.

He’d fall off the board a few times and you’d watch him stand back up, knees and hands bloody from smacking against the concrete. He didn’t pay any mind to it and you wondered if he felt any pain at all.

When you were 16 years old, you let him take your virginity. You’d spent the previous hours leading up to that drinking on a random week day, Sunghoon having thrown up in the kitchen sink and then falling asleep sprawled across the cold tiles.

You were both young and drunk, extremely stupid, and his handsome face was rambling about something that had happened in detention that pissed him off when you sloppily fell forward on your hands and kissed his sneering face.

It wasn’t good and it definitely wasn’t romantic but you trusted Jake more than anybody on the planet, with Sunghoon following at a tight second place, and you didn’t regret it the following morning. Jake, of course, showed no sign of awkwardness and if you didn’t sleep with him yourself you would’ve had no idea anything had even happened between the two of you.

That’s what you thought at least, quickly being proven wrong over a hungover breakfast when Sunghoon immediately sniffed the two of your out and bluntly announced it in the middle of the quiet restaurant.

That was your favorite thing about being friends with Sunghoon, you absolutely never had to worry if he was telling the truth or sugarcoating things to protect your feelings. He couldn’t care less how you reacted to his honesty, as long as he told you exactly what he was thinking.

Sometimes when Jake had little outburst of anger or isolated himself from the two of you, Sunghoon staying temporarily at your house during those times, you got stuck in your overthinking about him. If he actually liked being your friend or if you were just leeching onto him and he was tolerating your company for convenience.

You never had to think about that type of stuff with Sunghoon, directly opposite to Jake in the way he handled his emotions. You figured that’s why they managed to be so close for so long, their differences balancing each other out.

It became apparent to you that Jake had a habit of befriending people different than him when you finally graduated from high school and all entered college together (Sunghoon had been accepted to better schools but he didn’t want to miss out). It had only taken a week of classes before Jake was showing up to lunch dragging a boy you hadn’t seen before behind him.

The boy looked nervous and you watched them as they approached, getting the urge to push his round glasses back up the bridge of his nose.

“Made a friend.” Jake was declaring as he swung his leg over the tables seat and smiled at you and Sunghoon. He looked back at the boy impatiently and patted the spat next to him, implying he wanted him to hurry up and sit down.

“If he kidnapped you let us know.” You were addressing the boy, a bored tone in your voice at Jake’s antics. “Sunghoon can hold him down while you get a head start.”

He looked like he didn’t know if you were joking at first, eyes going to Sunghoon who had looked up from his plate and was observing the stranger with his usual stony face. Then Jake was bursting out into a laugh loud and you cracked a smile, extending a hand towards the boy who relaxed slightly.

Lee Heeseung was a stark opposite to your trio, even more so than your usual dynamics. Jake explained he had befriended him because he was smart and you were all struggling, minus Sunghoon but he was less than helpful when it came to helping you out with academics. Immediately following up and saying that he seemed cool too when Heeseung shot him a hurt expression at his shallow reasoning.

You found Jake’s influence over people very interesting from somebody who was unaffected by it for the most part. You wondered if people were partly fascinated by him because they carried the very human urge to fix things that they deemed broken.

You’d seen it on random people who’d been in your life, classmates and week long girlfriends who’d came and went quicker than you could memorize their names but it was especially noticeable in Heeseung, more apparent as the years went by and he remained in your lives.

It was hard to remember when exactly in time he had stopped being so quiet, stopped being so kind and dedicated to his studies and started to become a bit more like you and your friends. You felt small pangs of guilt when you’d come home to your shared apartment and see him sitting on your couch in a haze, missing another important class that just six months ago he would’ve broken into a nervous sweat over.

Still, he was an adult and capable of making his own choices.

“This is a terrible choice.” Your voice was mumbling today, watching him as he was perched on your bathroom counter with his back pressed against the mirror. You were stood between his knees and staring at his face with a disappointed look.

“You’d do it for Jake but not for me?” He was complaining, trying to get on your good side.

You fiddled with the metal stick in your hand and glanced down at it. Last week you had drunkenly fulfilled Jake’s request for a home style eyebrow piercing, amateurly piercing his smooth skin and ignoring Sunghoon’s groans of disgust at the blood dripping down his forehead.

“Jake’s an idiot.” You sighed and pressed the sharp point of the needle into your thumb for a second. “That’s why I don’t care if he looks like an idiot.”

“When’d you get so motherly Y/N.” Sunghoon’s flat tone was ringing from behind you and you looked over Heeseung’s shoulder at the mirror, seeing him leaning against the doorway and watching the scene play out.

“I don’t know, I guess something about cleaning after three boys in their 20’s for four years does that to a person.” You were sarcastically responding, bitterness in your voice. His mouth quirked up into a half smile and you grinned at his reflection.

You looked back at Heeseung who was watching you with excited expectant eyes, bangs pushed back so you could have clear access to his eyebrow when you inevitably fell for his begging and negotiating. You hummed at his expression and stood on your tiptoes, pressing forward to kiss him.

He wasn’t at all surprised by this, or unnerved by the fact Sunghoon was standing right there and still watching the two of you even when his hand came up to hold your hair.

Bringing you back to your original point and the most important things to you as you entered your young adult life, your three rules.

No exclusivity was the most important to you for multiple reasons, the main being the fact it made your skin crawl for anybody to consider you something they owned, something they had any say over. And more selfishly, you’d quickly realized after sleeping with Jake that you liked sex.

You didn’t discover this through him, in fact after the first time you slept with him, the two of you never once spoke about it. Then three years later at a college party you were tipsy and dancing together, pressed tightly against his front and you weren’t sure if it was the alcohol running through you or the way he looked under red lighting but you suddenly found yourself desperate for him.

So you let him fuck you against the wall of a grimy frat house bathroom and tried not to think of the consequences with him panting into your open mouth and roughly tugging on your hair.

It’d been three years now and you’d still yet to feel any negative effect from that night, waking up the next morning to bruises on your skin and him sleeping off the liquor soundly next to you.

It almost drove you crazy how normal he was about it, how normal he continued to be every time he was coming into your room at night to let off steam or pushing against you in the kitchen. At a young age you admired the way Jake handled tough situations but as an adult it weighed heavily on your mind, not being able to get a read on his emotions.

So when he had walked into the living room after a late shift at work and caught you pressing Heeseung into the couch, mouth moving against his and his shirt thrown onto the carpeted floor, you aren’t sure why you expected him to care.

He froze for just a second, mirroring the way Heeseung did from underneath you. You sat up to look at him in the doorway, breathing heavily from your spot in your friends lap. He watched you for a few seconds, holding your worried gaze, before he was smirking slightly and walking down the hall towards his room.

Much to a distraught Heeseung’s displeasure, you were too thrown off by his reaction that you immediately hopped off the boy and you didn’t sleep together.

Still to this day you hadn’t ever fully had sex but you’d built up a casual habit of intimacy in other forms, including, and the one you did most frequently, kissing him. You liked the way he sent you a text when he couldn’t sleep, coming over to lay on your chest and get some rest and you liked sitting in his lap in a packed car and letting him rest his head on your shoulder.

So the first rule was silently installed and despite your initial confusion at Jake’s careless reaction you eventually found yourself thankful for how normalized it was in your small group to find comfort in each other in different ways.

The second rule started right around the time you met Jay.

It wasn’t often you yourself made friends outside of the boys, despite your frequent stops at parties and clubs you tended to stick near one of the three or make light conversation with somebody who knew one of them and you by association.

So when you brought home a boy after a particularly hazy night, spending an open weekend smoking on some random frat boys uncomfortable couch, it was a big shock to your roommates and best friends.

An even bigger shock when the next morning he was shirtless in your kitchen, cooking breakfast suited for five and acting like the scratch marks across his back weren’t an obvious tell to what you had been doing the night before, just a few feet from where they’d been sleeping. (Or not sleeping considering your lack of volume control.)

Somehow Jay had understood your friend groups dynamic without needing it explained, automatically fitting in and proving himself an asset both to the boys who happily devoured every home cooked meal they’d been missing out on, and to you.

If you need a distraction, an outlet for you to forget temporarily everything weighing heavy on your mind at night, you could call Jake over to your room or barge into his no problem. He wouldn’t ask questions, he wouldn’t give advice, he’d understand your silent need and pin your down and help you pretend for a few hours that things weren’t as bad as they were.

But that was where he was comfortable and you never experienced tenderness with him during those moments, not that you were complaining while it was happening.

Jay was similar to Jake in personality, although a lot less angry, but opposite to him in the way that he treated you during your time together.

So you established rule two in a whisper against his chest as he slept soundly, hand moving in slow soothing circles on your arm. You were absolutely not allowed to catch feelings.

You were reminding yourself of this now as you moved against Heeseung’s mouth, stomach pressed into the bathroom counter and the feeling of his knees on your sides. You pulled back from him and smiled at the way his soft pink hair was covering his eyebrows again, pushing it back so you could get a look at the area he wanted you to pierce.

“If she hits something important and you can’t move that side of your face you owe me 20 bucks.” Sunghoon was remarking from the doorway, still unphased by the kiss or the fact Heeseung’s lips were red and glossy now.

“Facial paralysis and short on cash? What kinda bet is this?” Heeseung was smiling over in his direction and you pressed his skin together softly, squinting your eyes to try to find the best angle to send the needle through.

You could hear the front door opening and closing, sound carrying easily in the small apartment. You weren’t sure which of the other two boys it was, despite the fact it was originally just you, Jake and Sunghoon living here the other two had gradually stopped going home over time.

Jay still had his own dorm, less than twenty minutes from your apartment since you lived right off campus but for christmas you’d gifted him his own key on a lanyard with your faces on it. As for Heeseung, you weren’t exactly sure when he had started living here but he was a permanent fixture now, bouncing between the three bedrooms and the couch.

“Are you guys ever going to be doing anything normal when I get home?” You could hear Jake’s tired voice getting closer, sounding half amused and half annoyed.

You imagined the latter emotion was due to the fact you were hogging the only bathroom, slapping Heeseung’s bare chest when he turned his head to look at the approaching Jake and messed up your measurements.

Heeseung smiled apologetically in your direction, leaning back down to kiss you again. You kissed him back for just a second before pushing his chest so he would sit still, eyes catching Jake’s in the mirror now that he was standing in the doorway with Sunghoon.

They were hardened as he looked at you and your expression fell slightly, not knowing if he was just in a bad mood in general or if you had done something directly to piss him off. As much as you cared for the boy, he was completely unpredictable in his mood swings and sometimes it was best to just leave him alone until he found an outlet for his anger. Sometimes said outlet leading him straight back to you.

As much as they both were judging you and Heeseung as you situated yourself again, they both watched with interest and let out sharp hissing when your shoved the needle through his skin. It came through the other side and you were relieved to see he wasn’t bleeding nearly as much as Jake had.

“I didn’t even feel it.” He was remarking with a small frown, like he was looking forward to the pain.

“It’s going to bruise.” You were explaining to him, having gone through the process yourself already twice. “You’ll have a black eye for a few days.”

“That’s kind of sexy though isn’t it?” He was smiling down at you, the needle still in his eyebrow and he groaned in pain when he tried to quirk it seductively in your direction. You laughed softly stop him and heard Sunghoon chuckle dryly from behind you.

“If she found black eyes sexy she’d just need to sleep with Jake more.” Sunghoon was saying, catching on to what Heeseung was implying with his comment.

“If she slept with me she’d never be able to fuck Jake again, black eye or not.” Heeseung joked back and you looked at Jake in the mirror again, jaw twitching slightly at the comments regarding him. You knew the boys were just having fun and typically he would know that too. You figured he must be in an extra bad mood.

You shushed Heeseung with a small shove to his chest, cupping his face to hold him still while you interchanged the needle for a small piece of jewelry with two balls on either side. He leaned into your touch and quieted down, stopping his jokes so he didn’t accidentally mess you up.

“Does it look good?” He was whispering once you’d put it through, trying to stay as still as possible.

It did look good, better than you’d originally thought it would and surprisingly nature on his kind face. You were reminded of the kind boy with fluffy black hair and big round glasses you’d met at the start of college and your heart softened slightly. As different as he looked aesthetic wise, he was still peering down at you with doe like eyes waiting to hear words of approval.

“You look hot.”

——

Sometimes you missed being a freshly turned nineteen year old, away from home for the first time and just getting by on gas station meals. You missed the free feeling that came with curing a hangover with more drinks and finally getting home from the night before after the sun has already risen.

You still carried some bad habits now that you were slightly older, in your last year of college and only now legally allowed to engage in all the things you’ve been doing since middle school but other things were overwhelmingly different.

“Literally what the fuck is the difference between a red and green pepper.” The reason for your thought process was speaking now and you looked over to see Sunghoon angrily glaring down at a piece of paper.

You wanted to laugh at the fact that he was having a rare show of extreme emotion at something as simple as a grocery list, but you held back. You walked closer to him and leaned against his arm, looking at the list Jay had sent with the two of you after he had gone through all your cupboards, becoming more and more appalled at every empty one.

“Aren’t you meant to be the smart one?” You muttered to him and he stuffed the list into his pocket, looking down at you from where you were still leaning against him.

“Maybe I’d know how to cook better if I hadn’t had such awful influences growing up.” He looked annoyed, face flat as he watched you but you knew him well enough to understand he was teasing you.

You took a step away from him with a sigh, scanning the aisle and shifting the basket that you were holding in your hands.

“Influence, singular.” You reminded him, excluding yourself from his comment. “Don’t complain too loud, I feel like Jay can hear you from the house.”

He looked amused at that and you started to walk down the aisle again, bumping into each others sides. As different and foreign as it felt, you were having fun with him. It was strangely domestic to be grocery shopping on a random week day. If you were lacking the dyed hair, piercings and specific clothing style, you imagined you’d look like a regular college couple with normal responsibilities and living situations.

“I’m sure he can. Everybody is so uptight there these days.” His voice was still light and flat as he voiced his concern and you frowned slightly, agreeing with him. “Is the sex not good?”

You shoved him once you processed what he was implying and he groaned, nearly knocking over a display of cans as he tripped over his foot. He steadied himself and gave a half smile down in your direction at your angry expression.

“I’ll have you know sex with me is amazing.” You were suddenly aware of your loud volume when an older woman passing by the aisle you were stood in gave you a disgusted stare, speed walking past you when you offered her a small apologetic shrug.

Sunghoon didn’t respond as he grabbed something off the shelf, tossing it into your half full basket and turning on his heel to head back to the front of the store where the registers were, now that your list was fulfilled. You followed him to the self checkout where he took it from you and started to scan the items slowly.

“I wouldn’t know.” He was saying after you’d gathered up the plastic bags and started to walk outside towards the bus stop. You were glancing over at him and cocking your head in confusion. He looked down at you and shrugged. “How sex is with you.”

You were beyond used to his bluntness and the fact it sometimes created uncomfortable situations, other times hurting your feelings even though at the end of the day you were always thankful you found out things from him first and directly. So you were only half thrown off at his comment.

And he was telling the truth.

You always wondered what he felt about the fact the two of you strictly didn’t sleep with each other or ever even do anything non platonic. You knew he would tell you if you asked but for some reason you never did and you never wanted to talk about it, this being the first time he’s brought it up on his own.

Truthfully you weren’t sure why you hadn’t. Sunghoon was probably the most stunning person you’d ever seen in your entire life, so pretty that you were genuinely taken back sometimes when you saw him doing casual acts around the house.

Not to mention how much hotter he was considering his usual attitude and demeanor. He was already strong in the literal sense but he felt sturdy and solid in his calm direct approach to things and you liked the way his dark eyebrows always stayed unmoving on his inexpressive face.

You think maybe it was a weird complex thing. The thought of sleeping with not only some, but all of your closest friends on a regular basis made you have a strange sense of insecurity. You knew they liked you and cared about you and if you decided one day to never touch one of them again that way, they’d accept it immediately and not treat you any different. You were their friend first before anything and you felt reassured in that despite your occasional habit to overthink.

“Do you ever wonder why?” You decided to ask him the thing you were curious about directly, knowing he wouldn’t judge you.

He took a second to respond since you were approaching the bus stop. He grabbed the bags you were holding and added them to his pile, setting them down on the bench as you stood together and waited for it to arrive. Eventually he was turning to peer down at you with a small look of amusement.

“Saving the best for last I guess.”

——

The third rule was one that needed no discussion, undeniably the one that needed to be honored above all else.

Sometimes you forgot about it, especially it’s importance. When you were at home and it was just you and the boys, you felt comfortable and hidden away in your little bubble of a world. Things were unconventional, maybe a little dingy and immoral at times but there was never any judgement and never any type of conflict you couldn’t work out with all of you together.

So when you left this space you were struck with the reminder that things were not like that in the real world. There was consequences to your actions and considering you were still in college and surrounded by your peers and gossip most the time, most your consequences were social.

You were currently sat on a couch at a party, a common occurrence still despite you not being at the age where you wanted to be black out drunk every saturday. You still liked to have fun, or at least watch the boys have fun while you sat and smoked.

It made you feel good to watch them feel good. You liked the way Jay danced with strangers, a bright smile on his face and you liked watching Heeseung chat animatedly with people standing near the kitchen, almost forgetting how shy he used to be. Sunghoon was typically with you or off somewhere doing… whatever it was he did.

You normally didn’t see Jake until the end of the nights, having to drag him away from an argument or a full out fight at least once a week if his attitude called for it. You were always amazed at his ability to have a problem with absolutely anybody.

So you were slightly surprised at the fact he was sat next to you on the couch right now, a hand on your thigh and his side pressed against yours tightly. He was passing the joint back to you and letting his fingers linger against yours when you went to grab it from him. You could feel him breathing against the side of your face and you almost wanted to laugh at how fucked up he was this soon into the night.

Sunghoon was on your right, similarly pressed against you but he seemingly wasn’t paying any attention to you. He was scrolling on his phone and occasionally watching the people drunkenly dancing on the floor infront of you.

“What was with your mood the other day?” You were speaking out a cloud of smoke, face curling into a grimace as you coughed and nudged Sunghoon to take it without looking, keeping your eyes on Jake. You blamed said smoke for being the reason you asked, normally you’d avoid it knowing it could go one or two ways with him.

“You worried?” He lazily smiled over at you and you felt his hand squeezing your thigh as he spoke. Thankful he hadn’t gotten defensive at your question, you leaned into his space slightly and shrugged.

His eyes were darting sideways suddenly and you followed his gaze, seeing a girl across the room watching the two of you. Her eyes were low and hazy as she took a sip of her cup and you glanced back at him in confusion. He kept his stare on her, either not noticing you were seeing him or not caring. His eyebrow was cocking in her direction and he squeezed your leg again.

You frowned slightly and leaned away from him, feeling your back bump against Sunghoon’s side and ignoring the noise he made.

From your knowledge, Jake didn’t sleep around a lot. He never brought girls back home with him and you or one of the other boys were there almost every time he went out, he stated once he simply couldn’t be bothered to do small talk every single time he wanted to fuck something. Even if the thought of him fucking somebody else when you were sat next to him bugged you a little, you had no right to say anything. However the fact he was only touching you as some form of flirting method with some random girl made your stomach flip in disgust.

You smacked his hand off your bare thigh, Sunghoon’s head turning at the sound, and scoffed at him. Now he finally turned his attention back to you, eyes sparking with slight anger and a challenge.

It was clear to you now that he hadn’t gotten over whatever was bothering him before and you frowned at the harshness in his eyes.

You scooted away from him slightly, now fully pressed up against Sunghoon to the point you were nearly halfway into his lap. Jake shook his head at your reaction, letting out a mean humorless laugh and standing from the couch, disappearing into the crowd of people.

“The fuck is his problem.” Sunghoon’s sudden voice caused you to jump slightly and you felt his arm move so it was resting on the couch behind your head, helping him get comfortable now that you were a lot closer.

“Your guess is as good as mine.” You frowned and shifted in your spot slightly, not understanding what he was possibly so upset about. You didn’t recall anything happening but then again, Jake didn’t always seem to need a reason to lash out. “He makes no sense to me sometimes.”

“I think Hee pissed him off.” Sunghoon was telling you and you were slightly surprised at the fact he had also caught sight of Jake’s reaction to Heeseung’s comments in the bathroom.

You looked over at him to find him already watching you, heads so close your nose brushed against his.

“Why would he care about that?” You were still frowning as you spoke and his eyes were looking down at your lips before meeting yours again. You’d never been this close to Sunghoon before and you were starting to think about the conversation you’d had at the grocery store.

“Maybe he’s worried Heeseung was right.” He said it like it was obvious but that confused you further.

“That still doesn’t make any sense. He knows I fuck Jay and he’s never cared about that.” You were reasoning your side of things but Sunghoon seemed pretty certain in what he was saying.

“Jay doesn’t fuck you like Jake does.” His voice was nearing a whisper as he spoke and you tensed for a second at his words. He was right of course, he always seemed to be, but you weren’t quite sure how he knew that in the first place.

He was staring at you intensely, somehow more intense than he usually looked, and you had a feeling he also knew that you were thinking over the things he had said to you at the bus stop. His hand that wasn’t around your shoulders was coming over and resting at your knee, pulling your legs forward so they were over his and you were halfway in his lap. You took the hint, lifting your butt up off the couch and moving forward so you were fully sitting on him.

He hummed softly in approval, looking up slightly now that you were sitting on him and above him. It didn’t feel weird or too new being this close to him. Living in the same small place and growing up together didn’t leave much room for privacy, you’d seen each other in different states of undress and slept together in beds on dozens of occasions.

Yet it was different all the same. His eyes were more narrow and hazy, a clear want in his expression and he was watching you with interest as your eyes studied his features from this angle.

“You think he’s worried Heeseung will make me feel better?” You continued on your conversation in a low challenging voice, trying not to flush when he was putting one hand in your hair and the other around your waist to keep you steady in his lap.

“Maybe.” He was mumbling, distracted now. “Or maybe somebody else.”

The implication in his words were obvious and a heavy tension settled over the two of you as he spoke his mind. His multiple shows of confidence made your skin feel hot and you had completely forgotten about the girl and Jake’s random attitude.

“I want you to show me.” You spoke bluntly, knowing he liked it best when you did that. He didn’t respond, quirking an eyebrow at you like he was expecting something. “Please.”

He let out another hum as you quickly pieced together what he was expecting and delivered it, your voice soft raising an octave and you leaned against him. You wanted to kiss him or have him touch you, not minding who saw.

“Rule number three.” He was basically whispering against your lips as he spoke and you frowned at his words, mind spinning and hazy from both the weed and the heavy tension between the two of you.

So it took you a second to understand what he was trying to say before you gathered your thoughts and immediately deflated in disappointment, knowing exactly what he was implying.

Rule number three clearly stated that the most important thing in your friend group was that nobody, and absolutely nobody, was allowed to find out about the things you did. It had actually been Heeseung who suggested this become an official rule, not just a silent acceptance. He wanted a firm promise that the entire campus wouldn’t figure out you were essentially all spit buddies.

You imagine you were already slightly teetering this line with the way you were perched on Sunghoon’s lap, especially with how rare it was he was seen interacting with somebody so openly and how obsessive his fan club could be. But you were sure it could be brushed off as the drunken need to have contact with somebody.

“Are you rejecting me?” You made sure to quirk your mouth into a small smirk so he would understand you were just messing around with him, waiting for him to take the bait.

“I’m actually trying to take you home.” He confirmed what you were thinking but for some reason hearing him actually say it made your cheeks flush.

You looked down at him for a few seconds, not saying anything just yet. Your eyes were going around his handsome features as you felt your resolve completely sway and shatter.

The two of you didn’t speak for a long time after that, not when you stood from his lap and took his hand in yours and not when you started to make your way out of the party. You briefly met Heeseung’s eyes as you pushed through the crowd with him behind you and he continued to watch you with a clouded expression until you were out the front door and into the cold outside air.

You didn’t speak when he whistled for a taxi, feeling less than sober as you leaned into his side in the backseat and pressed a kiss to his neck as he muttered your address to the driver.

He didn’t touch you the whole ride other than a hand on your hip and you were growing impatient and desperate, moving your mouth and teeth against his warm skin while he occasionally squeezed your side. If you cared a bit more you would have felt guilty for the driver regarding the loud noises filling up the otherwise silent car.

But your head was spinning with desire and you almost didn’t even realize the car was stopping and you had gotten out until Sunghoon was pushing open the door to the apartment.

The second you were inside your back was hitting the wall. He wasted no time and immediately was pressed against you, kissing you feverishly. You moaned against his mouth, hands going to his dark hair and making sure he couldn’t pull away from you.

You were drunk off excitement and lust, clumsily walking forward until his legs hit the couch and he was falling onto his back, taking you with him.

He laughed into this kiss and you smiled at him, pulling away for a second. You were suddenly hit with the fact that you were making out with Park Sunghoon, your childhood bestfriend who you’d gone over a decade without touching once. He seemed to be having a similar thought process, eyes darting around your face and back to your mouth.

You kissed him again and he groaned, hands clumsily sliding down your back before grabbing the back of your thighs and pulling you up slightly so you were more on his lap and not sprawled on top of him.

Your hips were moving instinctively at the new position, rubbing against him and drinking in the way he cursed into your open mouth. His hands were moving to the top of your thighs, kneading them as a form of relief and your breath hitched when his thumb accidentally dipped forward and pressed too close to your underwear.

He froze at the noise and pulled out of the kiss to look at you. His eyes went down to your puffy lips and then back to your low hazy gaze that was watching him as you panted. He pressed his thumb down again, purposely this time as he held your stare.

He smirked slightly at the way you immediately rocked forward, mouth parting in a soft whine as he kept his hands just a few inches away from where you needed them.

“Ask me.” He was leaning forward to speak, pressing his mouth against yours and you felt his tongue snake between your open lips. You unfroze at the feeling, closing your mouth around him and sucking his tongue softly while he waited for you to respond.

“Touch me.” You eventually breathed when you couldn’t take it anymore, your voice whiny and bordering on a beg.

“So now you want me to touch you?” He was humming mockingly, eyes darkening softly at your request. As attracted to him as you had always been, you never took too long to think about what Sunghoon would be like in bed. You should’ve guessed he wasn’t going to be easy on you, a mean tone to his voice.

“Please.” You were too desperate to show any dignity, grinding down into his lap again and kissing messily against his jaw. “Please I want you to touch me so bad Hoon.”

“So needy for a whore.” He was whispering the words but you caught it loud and clear, breath catching at the word. He noticed your reaction and you heard a smirk in his voice when he started to speak again. “Three cocks isn’t enough for you, right baby?”

You were nodding your head, sitting up slightly to look him in the eyes and make sure he knew you were agreeing with him. He smiled fully at this and kissed you softly, caressing your cheek and nodding along with you mockingly.

“I want you to speak.” He was repeating with a soft voice, directly contradicting the hard expression on his face.

“It’s not enough.” You were rushing out and you felt slightly embarrassed at how slurred your words were, not thinking clearly. “It’s not enough, I need you.”

He seemed momentarily pleased by your words but he didn’t say anything, still not moving his hand and just watching you. Your gaze fell down to it’s placement and you felt another wave of need pass through you at the sight of his large hand and long fingers resting just close enough to the end of your skirt to fuel your imagination. You put your hand ontop of his and looked at him, feeling satisfied when he didn’t tell you to stop.

You slowly moved his hand with yours, pushing your skirt up onto your waist so he could have a clear view of your panty clad lower half sitting in his lap. His breath hitched slightly and you suddenly were curious how often he had done this, if ever. You seemed to just now realize he’d never spoken about being with anybody and knowing him, that would be something he’d casually mention like it was no big deal.

You were distracted from this train of thought when he was suddenly kissing you again, your hand leaving his inside your skirt and coming up to hold his face so you could deepen the kiss immediately.

Before you could process the movement of his hand, you felt his fingers pressing against your underwear. His hand was practically cupping your entire core and you bucked into it instinctively.

“You’re so cute like this.” He was smiling into the kiss and curling his fingers so they were pressing against you harder, you were embarrassed at the way you pathetically held onto his broad shoulders and practically sobbed at the feeling.

“I’m always cute asshole.” You were pushing out, voice breaking. He laughed softly and kissed your cheek, a weird show of affection that almost caused you to pause your movements and question him about it.

He seemed to notice your change in demeanor and for the first time in a long time, you saw him look visibly thrown off and embarrassed. You quickly forgot about it when he was grabbing your hips and turning your bodies so he was on top of you now.

You didn’t think about it for the rest of the night.

——

“What’s going on with you and Hoon.” Heeseung’s tired voice was mumbling above you in your bed and you frowned against his chest although he couldn’t see it.

“What do you mean?” You were laid against him, leg thrown over his waist and hugging his chest. Your room was warm and silent, perfect for a nap before he started to speak.

“He brought you home the other night.” He was explaining in a weird tone. You could hear his slow heart beat and you picked your head up off his chest so you could look at his expression, eyes locking on his bruised eye for a second. “Never seen you guys do that before I guess.”

He was holding your gaze with soft eyes and you felt a bit worried at the hurt in his features.

“Yeah.” You didn’t explain any further, knowing the simple answer would tell him what he wanted to know and what he was asking without asking. You didn’t have sex with Sunghoon but you did go home with him. “Why?”

“What’d you guys do?” He asked, his hand coming up to push your hair behind your ear and rub against the smooth skin of your cheek.

You didn’t say anything for a few seconds, trying to think about how much you wanted to tell him about that night. You shifted in your place on him, basically laying on top of him with his hip between your legs.

“He fingered me.” You answered him bluntly and his eyebrows shot up, a small amused smile appearing on his face at the information. “And we just kissed alot.”

“Oh, you kissed a lot?” His voice was teasing and you were overwhelmingly glad that his weird expression from earlier was gone. He sat up slightly so he could lean closer to your face, pressing a small kiss against your lips and sitting back again. “Was he a good kisser?”

You groaned at his nosy line of questioning, laying your head down on his chest so he couldn’t look at your flushing face. You could feel him laughing with the vibrations against your forehead.

“He better be considering he watches us all the time.” He was continuing on and you picked your head up quickly, eyebrows furrowed in an accusatory stare.

“You like it when he watches us.” You pointed out and he shrugged with a small smile. You were the telling the truth, something he admitted to you during a particularly tension filled make out session you had at a party a year or two ago.

Sunghoon had been a few feet away from the dance floor, leaning against the wall and keeping an eye out like he always seemed to be doing. You were too caught up in kissing Heeseung to notice, his hands on your hips pulling you into him as you half danced half grinded into his leg.

“Our guard dog is watching us.” He was whispering into your mouth and you opened your eyes to look at him in confusion, finding his eyes over your shoulder. They were low and hazy, arousal apparent at the observation.

“Tell him to cut it out.” You were half whining, upset his attention wasn’t fully on you and too out of it to process his reasoning for saying it wasn’t because he was feeling uncomfortable. Quite the opposite you’d quickly realize.

Heeseung hadn’t responded verbally, instead keeping his eyes over your shoulder open as he grabbed your chin and pulled you in for a wet sloppy kiss, moving his mouth against yours deeper and deeper in a lewd display.

Thinking back on it now you shifted ontop of Heeseung, arousal flaring up at the thought of him keeping strong eye contact with Sunghoon that night. You wish more than anything you had been in sound enough mind to look back and see what his expression was, if it changed at all.

“So he was good then.” He hummed softly and cupped your face. His expression was a bit guarded again and you frowned causing him to mirror your frown in confusion.

“Why are you so curious?” You asked him softly but your heart felt tight and heavy, fearing you already knew what his response would be.

“Why not?” He shrugged again but it looked more awkward this time, like he was trying to fake casual. “You already know that I’m i-.”

“Don’t.” You cut him off quickly, freezing on top of him and you suddenly felt the urge to get off the bed. You didn’t because you didn’t want to hurt his feelings but you felt a sick wave wash over you when his eyes deflated looking into yours. “Don’t say it.”

You weren’t stupid and you knew Heeseung had feelings for you. It was obvious from the first year you’d spent together, back when he was still nervous and didn’t talk as much. He’d follow you around like a lost dog and listen to you speak with big wide eyes like every word was important to him. You ignored it at first because you figured it was just because you were the first girl he’d really spent time with, it would just go away with time.

You admit you still feel guilt sometimes now regarding the way your relationship progressed. Kissing him and letting him hold you while you slept together probably did nothing but sink him in deeper and confuse his feelings now that they mixed with arousal and want.

But you did love Heeseung. You loved all the boys and you wanted them to be happy and feel cared for no matter what. And selfishly, you liked how much he liked you.

He still, after years of having time to get sick of you, looked at you like you personally hung the stars. He made no move to hide the way he felt about you but you’ve warned him before not to say it. You reminded him of the rules and what it would mean if you heard the words yourself, how you wouldn’t be able to do this with him anymore.

He didn’t respond to your interruption and you laid your head back on his chest hesitantly, feeling relieved when he wrapped his arms around you and squeezed you in a hug.

You still felt sick with guilt. You hoped he knew that you loved him too, even if you’d never say it yourself or allow him to. But things were far more complicated than being two friends inlove with each other and you weren’t willingly to pop your bubble just yet.

——

You were sat on the kitchen counter, watching Jay attempt to coach a simple meal prep, when Jake slammed the front door shut.

All four of your heads turned in his direction, Heeseung slowly halting mid vegetable cut in confusion. Jake looked over at the feeling of being stared at and glared in your directions, taking in the sight of everybody packed into the small kitchen.

“Hi.” You hesitantly greeted him. You weren’t sure if he was angry again or if this was his current resting face. “Do you want to come help? Jay’s trying to show us how to…”

Your words slowly trailed off as you watched him start to walk away, down the hall towards him room. He completely ignored you and you felt your heart sink.

Jake had mood swings, he was rude to strangers and he didn’t talk about his emotions or personal thoughts as much as you wished he did but he had never been this angry at you for this long and you still had no idea what was causing it. You always felt special at the fact he seemed to have a soft spot for you, outside of sex he was always gentle and showed you he cared about you in little indirect ways.

You felt a hand on your knee, rubbing it softly in an attempt at reassurance and you looked to see Jay’s worried expression watching you carefully. You imagined the other two had similar looks on their faces but you didn’t check to verify this, sighing softly and giving him an attempt at a smile to signal you were okay.

“You should go talk to him.” Sunghoon’s low voice was muttering and you looked at him now, meeting his expressionless face.

“She’s tried already.” Heeseung sounded annoyed and was shaking his head, eyebrows furrowing. You wanted to smooth out the crease in his forehead and remind him to be careful because his piercing but you stayed still. “He’s just in one of his moods.”

“No it’s different.” Sunghoon was responding, still watching you and you suddenly remembered what he had said about Jake at the party. You wondered if he knew more than what he was telling you or if he was just making his usual observations.

“If I go in there he’s either going to ignore me or tell me to fuck off.” You shook your head in denial, slightly anxious at the thought of confronting an angry Jake. You knew he’d never hurt you, or any of your friends, but that didn’t mean he didn’t have a habit of saying harsh words for the sake of shutting people up. Even if he didn’t necessarily mean them.

“Then you can come back out here and watch a movie with us.” Jay shrugged like it was an obvious solution and you smiled at him because it honestly was.

As much as you wished Jake would calm down and join the four of you, you knew that regardless you could lean back on your friends and find comfort in them.

“If I’m not back in half an hour, save yourselves.” You were joking with them as you left the kitchen towards the bedrooms. You smile immediately dropped when you rounded the corner, feeling nervous for how many ways this conversation could go wrong. You reminded yourself again that this was Jake, the person you loved and trusted most in the world.

You kept repeating this to yourself as you knocked on his door, soft taps as you shifted from side to side and waited for him to open it and invite you. The door was swinging open and he was glaring down at you, one headphone dangling out of his ear.

“Why are you knocking?” He mumbled and turned to sit back on his bed. You felt stupid after his comment, considering he was right and you’d never had to knock on his door before.

“Didn’t know if you wanted to be bothered.” You shrugged and sat on the end of the bed near his feet, anxiously picking at a loose thread on your sleeve. He was watching you with a guarded expression.

“Well are you planning on bothering me?” His tone caused you to frown and look down at your lap.

“What did I do?” You felt slightly childish for your disheartened tone but you truly didn’t understand why he was treating you so bad. You glanced at him when he didn’t immediately respond and his face softened at your sad expression.

He sighed softly, taking his other headphone out and leaning back against the headboard. You watched him from the side of your eye as he patted the spot next to him and waited for you to climb fully onto the bed.

You hesitatingly did what he said. You didn’t want to acknowledge the fact it was rare you spent time in Jake’s bed with your clothes on. He wasn’t like the others in terms of cuddling or taking naps together and you slightly appreciated the show of vulnerability.

“You didn’t do anything.” He was saying once you were situated. You weren’t sitting that close but your shoulders were pressed together. His legs were laid out flat down the length of the bed and you were sat hugging your knees as they were pulled tight to your chest for comfort.

“So why are you being so mean.” You voice broke slightly and he swayed a bit into you, bringing your attention to him.

He was holding his hand out, palm up, on his lap and you looked at it for a few seconds in frozen shock. Jake was blankly offering you affection and comfort and you were starting to get worried something was really wrong for him to be acting so out of character. Still, you took his hand in yours and waited to see what he was going to say.

“I think I’m losing my mind.” He was laughing as he was saying it but it was dry and humorless, a sad heavy tone to his words.

You didn’t say anything and gave him a second to explain, squeezing his hand and trying not to think about how strange it was that he started to rub yours with his thumb in smooth circles.

“I think you’re making me lose my mind honestly.” He was turning his head to look at you for a second and your eyebrows furrowed in confusion. “I’ve noticed it for a while but I think Heeseung being a dickhead really made it a sure thing.”

You felt like you were holding his breath as he spoke, still not sure where exactly this line of conversation was heading towards. You felt a tightness in your chest at the thought he might suggest you stop sleeping together, or even worse, you stop being friends.

Maybe hearing Heeseung directly mock him in a way, woke him up to the fact they were both involved with you.

“Then he told me you left that party with Sunghoon and I didn’t think I could ignore it anymore.” With every word he spoke you were becoming more and more certain your current arrangement wasn’t working out and he was about to completely remove himself from it.

“What can I do to fix this?” You were squeezing his hand as you spoke. You respected his comfortably but the thought of Jake not wanting to be with you anymore and thus pulling himself even further from your tight knit group made your stomach lurch.

He let out a soft laugh at your statement, shaking his head and leaning into you again so you swayed slightly to the side.

“You didn’t do anything wrong.” He was explaining his reasoning for the laugh and still shaking his head. “I know the rules and I fucked up, it’s my fault.”

This confused you even further. What rule was he implying he broke? He could be saying he’s longing for exclusivity but he hasn’t broken that yet even if he is finding himself insecure or jealous and you highly doubt he’d told anybody about your arrangement considering he barely talked about it amongst the five of you.

“What are you talking about?” You urged and he slowly looked over at you again, an expectant and nervous expression on his face like he was waiting for you to piece it together any second now.

When you finally did you felt the breath get knocked out of you, your hand going limp in his and your mouth parting in a shocked exhale. He grimaced at your reaction but he didn’t move or pull away, letting you process the fact that he was seemingly saying he had developed feelings for you.

“I know you’re inlove with Heeseung… or maybe Jay I’m not sure but I just needed to tell you.” His voice was strangely vulnerable and for the first time in your life you were saying him look upset and out of control, his mouth moving faster than his thoughts as he rambled on. “I’m sorry I’ve been such a dick that probably didn’t help my case at all, I was just freaking out.”

You didn’t say anything for a while and tried to decide how honest you wanted to be in this situation.

He was right and you weren’t denying it anymore, feeling more and more suffocated everytime you felt your heart warm or your stomach tighten with happiness around one of the boys. He was right about who you were in love with and he was also wrong that you weren’t in love with him.

If anything, you had loved Jake first and most passionately. You’d been glued to him since the second you saw him on your front porch and you’ve stuck by him despite his bad habits and people constantly warning you that no good could come from a boy like that. Because good did come from Jake for you and you’d always been sure of that even when things were messy.

When you first moved in together and you had barely enough money for rent, Jake was working multiple odd jobs late into the night to make sure you all had meals on the table and you didn’t have to worry about missing too many classes to try to individually support yourselves. You were a family and you shared resources because you wanted to see everybody thrive together, not just one person or one pair.

Jake was the type of person who befriended Heeseung without a second thought because he looked lonely and nervous and he was the type of person who you still felt you needed to see at the end of a hard day even after all these years passed.

So you think a large part of you always knew you were in love with Jake, maybe that was the reason you’d established the second rule in the first place. You never thought he’d date you or even really see you as somebody he could do that with, normally teasing each other or sitting in comfortable silence outside of when you were having sex.

You let yourself bury it down deep, to never be unearthed, and you watched him continue to be the funny and out of the box boy he’s always been.

He didn’t need to know you loved him, you didn’t need to make things weird or ruin such a good thing while it had managed to survive everything else thrown your way. So to go through all that and now hear him say the things you’d been biting your tongue on for over a decade, you felt a bit breathless.

Your first instinct was to tell him he was wrong and that you did love him, more than he could ever know. But he wasn’t wrong and you felt bad lying to him.

But you also weren’t sure you could bring yourself to tell him that you loved the others too. You were barely processing it yourself, you knew of people who had multiple crushes or even multiple partners but somehow throughout this whole arrangement, you never considered being able to be with all of them at the same time.

On the other hand, you also never considered having to choose one of them.

Heeseung was the light you needed in your life. Things didn’t feel hard around him and you could just have fun and bounce off his intoxicating puppy like energy. And you knew he truly loved you, certain of it for the first time in your life.

He never rushed you to be with him or implied he was upset that you always stopped your hookups before things got to that point. He was patient and warm.

Jay was similar to him in that aspect but he had an added sense of being grounded that Heeseung lacked. He’d always make sure you ate on days you couldn’t find the space to remember and he took care of the other boys just as eagerly despite not knowing them for as long as you had all known each other.

Realistically Jay probably had figured out you loved Jake, being kind enough to never bring it up and only giving you vague advice when you inevitably found yourself teary eyed in his bed looking for comfort. It wasn’t a rebound thing, or seeking what Jake didn’t give you in him, you just genuinely felt most comfortable and safe when you were around him.

Sunghoon had been the most recent development for you.

He was always an anchor in your life, both as unruly kids and misbehaving teenagers. You knew nobody would ever be as important to you as him but you hadn’t fully considered the idea of being with him in the extra way that dating required.

Yet you hadn’t stopped thinking about what it felt like to kiss him and more importantly your mind had been replaying the gentle way he kissed your cheek. You’d never seen him with that look in his eye before and you wondered how long he’d been looking at you like that without you noticing.

“I am in love with Heeseung.” You finally responded to Jake now, turning on your knees so you could fully face him as you said the heavy weighted words. His face dropped at your sudden statement before he was slowly nodding in acceptance. “But I’m in love with you too.”

He didn’t say anything when you said this, face unchanging like he was waiting for you to deliver the punchline of a joke.

When he realized you were insanely serious, your eyes teary as you anxiously chewed on your lip and rocked slowly back and forth on your knees, a self soothing action you didn’t even realize you were doing, his face changed.

“Oh.” His one worded response made you feel sick and your watched him with desperate eyes as you waited for him to continue. “Somehow I didn’t see that coming.”

You groaned softly at his attempt at a joke, leaning forward so your head was hitting his knee and you were able to grab his hand that he had left loose in his lap since you abandoned it.

“I’m sorry.” Your voice broke in a cry and you looked down at your conjoined hands, not be able to see his confused expression for another second. “Do you hate me?”

“Hate you for what? Why are you sorry?” His voice was smooth and calm, taking you by surprise as he cupped your cheek with his free hand and lifted your head so you were looking at him again.

“Sorry for falling inlove with people you’ve spent your whole life with? What’s wrong with that?” He was reassuring you and you imagined you looked extremely confused and thrown off because he smiled softly.

You shook your head through your tears, face scrunched up as you tried to make sense of what he was saying to you.

“You don’t care that I’m inlove with somebody else, with all of you?” He didn’t look at all surprised as you spoke, bringing up the fact it was more than just him and Heeseung.

“I mean it’s definitely a surprise but it makes sense when I think about it.” He was shrugging and weirdly casual, almost like he was just relieved to have his feelings reciprocated. You never treated him any different even when you started sleeping with Jay or forming your strange relationship with Heeseung. He was starting to think you had way more than enough love for all of them.

It was silent for a few seconds as you both looked at eachother, observing the multiple pieces of new information you’ve just brought to light.

“Do they know?” He was asking after a bit, voice so soft it was almost a whisper.

“I’ve never said it until now.” You suddenly flushed at the reminder you had just casually done the one thing you swore you never would. He gave you a smile that looked prideful, like he was prepared to brag he heard it first. “I think if any of them know it’s Hee.”

“Because he’s obsessed with you.” He said it matter of factly, always teasing your friend for his obvious feelings towards you.

You half laughed at his joke, not fully being able to relax at the thoughts of how many different ways this could go wrong. Jake was okay with it but who knew how the others would react and even if they accepted it for now, you knew a relationship like this wouldn’t be easy or conventional.

You had no idea what you were going to do and you were starting to feel yourself cry again, squeezing Jake’s hand absentmindedly. He was scooting forward on the bed so he could wrap his arms around you slightly, rubbing your back.

“Maybe I should bring them in here and we can have a talk. Does that sound okay?” He was whispering and you were nodding your head before he even finished talking, knowing that was the best idea.

He pressed a loving kiss to the side of your head before getting up and disappearing out of the room.

You felt worse at his absence, scooting back against the headboard now that you were alone and sniffling softly as you anxiously waited for him to return, this time with a lot more company. You were trying to think of what you were going to say but nothing was coming to you and you realized you were just going to have to wing it.

That idea was completely blown out of the ball park when you actually saw them, following swiftly behind Jake with varying levels of worry and distress on their faces. Minus Sunghoon who seemed calm, more so than usual, and almost expectant.

They silently sat around the bed and you felt your heart warm slightly seeing them all together like this, knowing it could potentially be the last time you did if things were to go as wrong as you were expecting. Jake was scooting back into his spot beside you, Jay following so he was on your other side. Heeseung climbed into the middle of the bed and hesitantly placed a comforting hand on your knee like he wasn’t sure it was appropriate.

Your gaze locked on Sunghoon’s as he sat on the end of the bed, slightly distanced from the rest of you.

“Do you want to say it or should I?” Jake was murmuring from beside you and you appreciated his nice gesture, willing to take the heat of voicing it out loud.

“She should say it.” Sunghoon was immediately disagreeing in a stern voice and all of your eyes went to him. You noticed a slightly hurt look in his eyes and you were beginning to think he didn’t know as much as you assumed he did. “If you guys are together now, she should be the one to tell us.”

He immediately proved you right in your assumption, clearly misreading the situation and coming to a false conclusion.

You felt a heavy guilt and sadness wash over you at the thought of how he must’ve been feeling this entire time, sitting and thinking you had chosen Jake after just sending him mixed signals by hooking up with him. You wished he wasn’t sitting so far away so you could reach out and touch him but now you understood why he was.

“We aren’t together.” You were shaking your head and Jake nudged your side gently with his elbow, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively with a smirk and trying to lighten the situation. “Okay well maybe we are apparently but it’s more than that.”

You looked over to see their reactions and if anybody had caught on to what was happening yet. Heeseung was looking down at his hands with furrowed eyebrows, betrayal and sadness radiating off of him but Jay on the other side of you almost looked happy for you, a soft calm smile on his face.

“I want to date Jake.” You started to explain, hands coming out in front of you in slight frustration for your lack of words. You decided to just say it outright. “But I want to date Heeseung too, and also Jay. Sunghoon you too.”

Similarly to how it was when you said this to Jake earlier, the room fell silent and you almost bodily cringed at the way the words seem to just hang in the air obnoxiously. You wanted to curl into a ball and not move until they all left the room.

You didn’t want to look at their expressions, not sure you could handle the confusion and possibly heartbreak on their faces at this news. You were still figuring that this was going to be the end of it all and knowing you were sitting here and tearing apart your family for the selfish sliver of hope they could accept your feelings was crushing you.

“I mean,” Jake was clearing his throat from next to you and you glanced at him expectantly. “Feel however you guys feel but, just for the record, I’m okay with it.”

“What?” Sunghoon’s voice sounded just as upset as it had before you clarified and you forced yourself to look at him. His body was turned towards you guys now like he wasn’t sure he was hearing you properly. “How could you be okay with that?”

“Personally I don’t think it’d be that different.” Jay sounded casual next to you and you turned your teary eyes towards him just in time to see his shoulders fall from a nonchalant shrug. “I’m basically already dating Y/N while she’s with you guys so what’s the major shift in adding an official label to it.”

“She may be with you guys but she’s not with me.” Sunghoon was scoffing and you looked at him again, slightly hurt at his angry words. He wasn’t one to lose his temper but you imagine the fact it’d only been a new development between the two of you was making it harder on him than the others, who had plenty experience being with you. Both alone and in pairs.

“But I want to be.” You were telling him as earnestly as you could, scooting forward slightly so he’d keep his attention on you. You wanted him to see how sincere you were, not wanting him to feel like a last choice. “I’m not saying it just so you’re included, I really mean it.”

“It’s always been you and Jake.” He was spitting, looking more frustrated at your closing distance. “After all these years suddenly you notice me?”

The other boys didn’t say anything, understanding this was something that dated back before their addition to the friend group. You didn’t speak immediately either, professing what he was trying to say.

Sunghoon was displaying insecurity you’d never seen from him before and you felt a wave of guilt at the fact you’d never even considered it to be something he’d feel. If he had any feelings for you other than sexual, he’d done a good job at hiding it but you felt shameful that he had apparently felt left out or like you’d picked Jake over him at some point.

“You’re crazy Hoon.” Heeseung was finally speaking and Sunghoon dropped your gaze to look at the boy. You couldn’t see his expression since he was looking over his shoulder to face your upset friend. “I knew she was inlove with you guys the day I met you all, atleast you had a shot.”

“Are you not listening to what she’s saying?” Jay suddenly sounded annoyed and you could feel him tensing next to you.

The room got quiet again as you all looked over at him. You were starting to feel like you were getting whiplash from the constant focus changes, mixed with the different statements and scenarios suddenly being confessed.

“You all had a shot, and guess what it landed dude.” It was weird hearing Jay sound so fed up but as he implied earlier, he clearly has been observing this long enough to know it without being told, having entered the group most recently and spent alot of intimate time with you. “She loves you all, us all.”

He was looking at you as he said the last two words, correcting himself with a small smile on his face. You tried to return the warmness in his eyes despite the tears still clouding your vision.

“You love me?” Heeseung was talking again, sounding breathless like he had just fully processed what was happening. His eyes were big and round and you felt your heart warm at the sight of him. You knew suddenly that no matter what happened now, you had made the right choice.

“Of course I love you.” You said it to him more directly and he looked overwhelmed for a second before smiling softly at you and nodding.

“For what it’s worth, I don’t necessarily need to be making out with you idiots but I do love you guys too.” Jake was shrugging from beside you and you heard Jay snort a laugh on your other side at his casual comments.

“This is actually what you want to do?” Sunghoon was finally talking again but he looked and sounded a lot less angry, still having a slightly guarded expression on his face.

You looked at each boy carefully, all laying together in different ways on Jake’s bed and your heart felt full and happy, most of all safe. They’d been your family for so long and you didn’t want to be anywhere else, with any of them missing or somebody different in their place.

“More than anything.”

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gingerbreadmonsters · 8 months

Text

bourbon

or: you know, like the kind you have with tea!

gn!reader, no content warnings, literal actual crack. now look what you’ve done! happy birthday to our wonderful zo - please direct all damages claims to our recently-opened ‘how dare you’ division at @zozo-01 . hope you’re having a gorgeous day - have a slice of colin on me! for those who may not know, i am actually english, so make of that what you will. love to rae for dialect consultation and hotline tag assistance, for the proof if proof were needed that neither the atlantic nor pacific can stand in the way of discord mischief - because we've now tried them both! darlin having an absolute mare in 1600 words or less.

“Darling?”

God, you’ve got to stop going to bed so late. What time is it?

“You up yet?”

Sam’s voice. Mmm. But he’s not here next to you - he sounds like he’s over by the door. Eyes still closed, you wave one arm vaguely in his direction in a feeble attempt to persuade him back into bed with you. “No.”

He laughs, walking over to take your hand, but unfortunately standing his ground when you try to pull him down. Stupid vampire strength.

“Nice try, darling,” he says, and it sounds… weird, somehow. “But we said we’d be round at Milo’s at half eleven, and we’re not about to be late again.”

The more he speaks, the stranger he sounds. What’s wrong with him? There’s definitely something funny about it, but you can’t quite put your finger on it.

“Did you-” Blearily, you crack one eye open to look at him - he looks just the same as ever, handsome even in the darkness of the blackout curtains. “Wait, what did you say?”

Sam rolls his eyes good-naturedly, and the sight is so beautifully familiar that it’s almost enough to make you wonder if you really just didn’t hear him right. Then he opens his mouth, and nope, you were right. There’s something wrong.

“I said, they’re expecting us at Milo’s at half eleven, and it’s almost quarter past ten.” What sort of fucked-up fever dream is this? “Now, are you getting up, or am I carrying you?”

The words don’t come, staring up at him in abject confusion, your mouth just hanging open as you try desperately to make sense of what he’s saying. Why does he sound so - so-

“...Darling?”

-so English?

After a few seconds of bewildered eye contact, he seems to gather that you’re currently incapable of human speech, and lets go of your hand.

“Right then,” he says, and it’s starting to make your head hurt a bit. “I’ll be downstairs when you’re ready, then.”

“Yeah.” You nod, plastering on a cheery smile and hurriedly starting to sit up. “Yeah, I’ll, uh - I’ll just be a minute…”

He disappears out the door and you listen as he goes down the stairs and into the kitchen, before reluctantly dragging yourself out of bed and walking over to the wardrobe. What the hell is he doing?

Your first impulse is to say that it’s a prank, that he’s putting on an accent for fun, to try and mess with your head or something. But that can’t be it - Ash and Milo have dragged him into enough of their truth-or-dare games for you to know firsthand how awful he is at accents, and he’d never be able to keep it up for more than a sentence or two, least of all with a straight face. There’s no magic you’ve ever heard of that could make this happen, and people don’t just wake up talking like a completely different person, do they? So is it on purpose? Does he know what he’s doing?

Unsettled, you finish getting dressed and head into the bathroom to brush your teeth and wash your face. Maybe that will make things a bit more ordinary, right? You’ve just… woken up on the wrong side of bed. You must just be hearing things. Hopefully, when you go downstairs, everything will be back to normal.

“There you are, darling. All alright?”

You’re in the kitchen. Everything is not back to normal.

It doesn’t smell like coffee. Hazily, you let Sam nudge you into a chair at the dining table, numbly accepting the offered glass of water and bowl of - is that Weetabix? God, you haven’t had this stuff in ages. It’s still as cardboard-y as ever, but you’re not really paying attention. Someone’s feeling unusually chatty this morning, it seems, and it’s starting to seriously throw you off now.

“-and he was going on about something Vincent said - have to admit, half of it was in French so I only got the gist, but-”

A pause, while he takes a sip of his Earl Grey. Your head is going to explode.

“But anyway, apparently it all went a bit pear-shaped - he said he’d had to leg it downstairs ‘cause Alexis had caught him nicking gum off her desk, but there’d been a delivery downstairs, right, and-”

“Are you okay?”

He stops, taken slightly aback, and you realise that you’ve said it out loud.

“You just - you-” Hastily, you try to clarify, hands waving awkwardly in front of you as you speak like it’ll help. “Your voice…”

He has the gall to look confused. “What about it?”

“Oh, you know!” you say through a mouthful of Weetabix. “The accent?”

“Yeah, I… I know,” he replies, like you’ve just told him the sky is blue. “I have one.”

“Not that one!”

Sam takes another sip of tea, utterly bemused. “What other one would I have?”

“But you’re not - you’re American!” Frustrated, your spoon clatters against the empty bowl as you dump it in the sink to wash up later, and you cross your arms as you turn to face him across the kitchen. “You’re literally from Mont Blanc!”

“...Yeah?” He seems to be taking the impromptu interrogation in stride now, raising an eyebrow in what he probably thinks is a playful challenge, but to you it’s reading more as wilful ignorance. “What about it?”

You take a deep, calming breath. It… well, it sort of works.

“Sam.”

“Yes?”

Hopefully, the smile you’re putting on looks a lot easier than it feels, like you’re playing along with the joke. “You can stop doing the voice now, I get it.”

He blinks. “The… voice.”

“Yeah.” Your head is starting to ache, ever so slightly. “The whole British thing.”

“British? But I’m not…?” He finishes his tea, setting the mug down on the countertop behind him, head tipping to one side as he looks at you. “What do you mean?”

“You’re American.”

“Yes,” he says, “Which really shouldn’t be news at this point, darling-”

“And you’ve never lived in the UK.” To be honest, you’re mostly just thinking out loud at this point, but he replies all the same.

“Yes.”

“And you’ve never even been to England before.”

“Well, unless you count a stopover in London on the way to France - must have been… ooh, five, six years ago? Oh, it was wonderful, William wanted us to visit some of his old m-”

“So why are you talking like that!” you wail, thoroughly confused and head aching even worse than before. “It’s not - you - you don’t - aarghh!”

Fuck this, fuck this whole stupid game, fuck this trip to Milo’s house for whatever birthday party bullshit he said he’d do - you’re going back to bed. Now. Sam tries to catch your arm as you pass him, stomping back out of the kitchen and clutching your head in your hands, but he catches sight of your too-sharp teeth and clearly thinks better of it. Good. You’d never actually bite him like this, but it’s just what happens with wolves.

He calls out after you, but you don’t hear it - everything’s just a blur of sound that washes over you in a strange, dizzy wave. In the end, you don’t even make it upstairs, throwing yourself down on the loveseat and grumpily hiding under the blanket draped over the back.

It’s pleasantly warm under here, and everything makes sense. It’s all normal. Nobody says weird things, or talks in some weird voice that they’re not supposed to have. It’s quiet, and it’s dark, and everything is back to how it should be.

Absentmindedly, you realise that you’ve shifted through your pyjamas. Never mind. It’s nice like this, curled up on the soft cushion, nose tucked neatly under your tail. Comforting. Safe.

No sound except your quiet breathing, no light except what little bleeds through the softness of the blanket. Nobody here but you.

There’s nothing to worry about.

There’s nothing going on.

It’s all going to be absolutely f-

“Darlin’, you - woah!”

It takes your eyes barely half a second to adjust to the light, clawing the blanket aside with a low snarl at whoever dares to come and annoy you, but-

“Easy, there!” Wait, this isn’t right - you were downstairs a minute ago. How are you back in bed again? And you’re human again - but you didn’t shift back, did you? “Jesus, you damn near took my head off…”

So caught up in your confusion, you barely even realise what's different now.

“Anyhow, now you’re up, you’d best be gettin’ dressed,” Sam says over his shoulder, turning to leave. “Milo wants us round in an hour, and unless we want another dressing down from Marie, we probably ought to be there on time for once.”

Before he can get too far, you reach out and grab his hand. You don’t really know why. It just feels right.

He looks down at you with a smile, pleased, if a little confused. “You okay?”

“Hmm?” Shaking your head slightly, you’re just happy to hear him. “Yeah. I’m fine.”

“You were pretty noisy, from what I heard,” he laughs, thumb stroking slowly over the backs of your fingers. “Didn’t know you were a sleeptalker. Havin’ a strange dream or somethin’?”

“I, uh…”

A deep, calming breath. It smells like coffee.

“Yeah, well. Something like that.”

masterlist

this is an original work by @gingerbreadmonsters - please do not repost or misattribute

#redacted asmr #redacted audio #redacted sam #redacted darlin #redacted crack #redacted fluff #ginger writes #gingerbreadmonsters

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jamiesfootball · 5 months

Note

Woke up still thinking about this post that was specifically designed simply to hurt us. But what I can’t stop thinking about is the imagery of it:

“He never knew how it was that his dad could ruin everything as quick as upending a box, shaking out the bits of Jamie - smacking the box for good measure to knock out all the stubbornly clinging fists - until he was nothing better than something his dad went and spilled on the floor. A fucking pile of Legos for people to dodge around less the sharp pieces of him prick the the soft padding beneath their feet.”

Thinking about this thinking about Jamie makes me feel just as shattered. And Jamie thinking about Doctor Sharon:

“Jamie was going to walk back into her office with the crumpled up portions of himself bundled in his arms, and she was going to frown, polite and quiet and judging while Jamie lined up all the pieces in front of her, trying to explain to her what he'd done wrong and begging her to show him how to make it better.”

The imagery of Jamie begging her to help put him back together is so heartbreaking it makes me wonder who I can beg to help put me together after reading this???

As usual, well-fucking-done my talented friend. You have such a way with taking ordinary words and turning them into shanks designed to puncture pieces of my soul.

AND THIS IS JUST A PROMPT. MY LORD.

Everyone else please contact me if you’d like to be a part of the class action suit I’m starting for emotional damage.

NICE TO MEEEEEEEEEEEEE

Insert standard Youtube apology here for the emotional damages. If it makes you feel any better, I've been staring at the other whump prompt you sent and I have an idea....

#whump prompt #fic testimonials #jamietarttsnorthernattitude #thank you friend!#also gonna clean it up and post it on ao3 for easy archiving #my fic

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aingeal98 · 7 months

Note

its me, still peeling cass like an onion. do you think cain had like, evil doctors on call? ig he probably handled most first aid himself, but like... the possibilities of an Evil Dentist enchants me. on a slightly more serious note, if they existed and they did any surgery on her, it was probably without sedatives or analgesics of any kind. reason 19468 why cass' pain sensitivity is stupidly fucked up

I love this ask so much. My first thought was like hmm maybe Cain blackmailed decent professionals into doing it because learning it all himself would be too much and evil people could try and double cross him. But honestly I think someone with a moral compass would always be more of a risk even if you're threatening their family like they could one day snap and try and take everyone down with them because the ethics just got too much for them to bear. So his best bet would probably be getting evil doctors and evil dentists who have zero morals and REALLY love their job. And Cain's like hey do you want a really fun test case where you'll be payed really well and can do literally whatever you want with your spare time as long as you don't damage this one girl permanently and I'm convinced it has a benefit? And you also have to use your medical knowledge to keep her healthy, but you can throw in as much pain as you want if that's what floats your boat.

Evil Dentist is a delightful thought. Most kids grew up with the tooth fairy. Cass grew up with a man in a lab coat who would collect her baby teeth for "experiments" and in return he helped deal with cavities and general oral hygiene. The first time her mouth went numb at the dentist she probably panicked so hard because wtf why are they drugging her? They're supposed to just fix her teeth! Where is the extreme agony and drilling? Where are the tests to see which nerves in her mouth can make her faint when forced to experience high levels of pain?

Cue Barbara and Bruce sitting outside in horrified silence contemplating this new aspect of her childhood they've just learned about. And the fact that there's a random dentist in Macau that may have her baby teeth and could be cloning her right now.

("We should fix that right? Cain probably killed him but we should track him down just in case?"

"She has a doctor's appointment right after this. Let's just try and get through that alive first.")

And if Cass isn't used to anesthetics, hospital visits and surgery must also be so annoying at first like OK I have shrapnel in my stomach. Get it out. Why do I have to be sleeping for this wouldn't it be much more helpful if I'm awake to make sure you're doing it right. Alfred stop feeling sorry for me this is a good thing. Makes me more competent.

Most of the time I think she probably wouldn't reference it too much because she's seen ordinary hospitals and how Leslie works in the clinic. She knows that her childhood medical treatment was uh... Not Normal. But sometimes it slips out when she's trying to be comforting.

Steph: My mom might have to get surgery to deal with her stomach acid problem and I can't lie, it scares me a little.

Cass: Don't worry. The stomach is messy and warm but it doesn't hurt that much when it's cut open. Not compared to legs and arms.

Steph:

Steph: You know what? I think I'm going to just go ahead and change the conversation topic

#dc #cassandra cain #asks #tw child abuse #tw medical horror

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narcissistcookbook · 8 months

Note

okay......anime. I'm sending a lot because I'm not entirely sure what you like? perhaps none of these? please ignore it as needed haha I am mainly getting it out of my system.

SERIOUS FARE - drama, action, adrenaline, feelings

Cowboy Bebop (1 Season, Complete) - slick, gritty, moody, jazzy, impeccably animated. neo-noir space-western about a crew of oddballs on a little spaceship just trying to get by. sometimes goofy, sometimes sad, always a favorite.

Chainsaw Man (1 Season So Far) - an impoverished, immature young man whose dreams include "eating some nice food" and "touching a girl" finds himself swept up in a career that allows him to do both those things and more, to varying degrees of satisfaction. also he can turn his body into chainsaws. it's coming-of-age it's horror it's action it's more found family it's good.

Violet Evergarden (1 Season, Complete) - some controversial choices were made for the adjacent movie, but the show is so good even standing alone. a traumatized child soldier slowly reconnects with her emotions by writing letters for other people. that's basically the whole story. made me cry a lot.

THE FUNNY PAGES - for when you need a laugh!

Spy x Family (1 Season, 2nd Incoming) - a delightful situational comedy set in Definitely Not Cold War Germany about a spy, his cover wife whom he does not know is an assassin, and his adopted daughter whom he does not know is a psychic. featuring moments of genuinely compelling found family connection.

Monthly Girls' Nozaki-kun (1 Season, Complete) - a girl summons the courage to confess to her crush. a series of misunderstandings ensues and doesn't stop ensuing. more mistaken identity goofiness, a cast full of charming dumbasses, and some insights into life as a manga artist. also another bangin theme song.

TOASTY'S TOP 3 - my absolute favorites

Vinland Saga (2 Seasons, 3rd Seemingly Confirmed) - you follow me so you are probably at least aware of this and whether it looks like something you'd enjoy but I have to include it. a viking-era tale of trauma, war, revenge, redemption, masculinity, religion, politics, philosophy, and more! season one is the prologue, where the antagonist is (imo) the secret main character. season two answers the unmitigated violence of season one with the povs of normal working people who end up as collateral damage, and also pays off one of season one's earliest setups in a huge fantastic way imo. it's idealistic without ever failing to acknowledge the pain that comes when idealism meets reality. I love it.

Run With the Wind (2 Seasons, Complete) - there aren't a whole lot of sports anime for older audiences, but this is one of them and I rewatch it on a yearly basis. you have to kind of slow yourself down for it--most shonen sports anime are brisk, high-octane fun-times, but this one (a college-age series about the most Underdog of Underdog Track Teams) really takes its time building up the characters and environment, and chemistry between the dual opposites-attract leads is so heartwrenchingly beautiful. they complete each other! they love each other! what does it mean to run? why do we run even if we know we can't win?! the answers to these things are found within each other!!

Mob Psycho 100 (3 Seasons, Complete) -slapstick, drama, mindblowing action scenes--this is another one that needs a little time to start showing you what it is, but there's so much heart in this dang show. a hymn to all things mundane and ordinary, a rumination on the dangers of suppressing one's emotions, a story about a middle schooler who tries not to use his Unlimited Psychic Powers and a fraud exorcist who pretends to have powers but doesn't. absolutely worth the watch.

BONUS LIGHTNING ROUND

Shirobako (a stressfully/excellently accurate anime about the anime industry, the only cute-girls-doing-cute-things show I like), Keep Your Hands off Eizouken (weird girls making amateur anime in high school), Blue Period (for if you want to have an existential crisis about ART), Kaiji (Squid Game before Squid Game), The Great Pretenders (Robin Hood-ass confidence artists pulling off HEISTS), Haikyuu (my favorite younger-audiences sports anime, get hype for VOLLEYBALL), Beastars (the Furry One, gorgeous 3d animation, dark and weird and wild), and Neon Genesis Evangelion (surreal horror sci-fi/fantasy, "mechs" vs. apocalyptic "angels", I haven't seen it but it's a standard and also I've been told not to watch it while depressed)

ANYWAY thanks for receiving this absolute infodump, do what you will with it!!

okay but honestly i didn't know cowboy bebop was one and done, i can commit to that

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xoxo-ren-xoxo · 9 months

Text

The Hermitcraft Heroes & Villains AU (HHVAU)

Heyyy it's me Ben back with another hermitcraft au I'll never write but could talk endlessly about! This time we hit the ground running with a classic (or not-so-classic) heroes and villains AU :D

TW/CW: hermitshipping, medical gore (non-graphic description), implied child abuse, mind control, cults, aliens & fungi/mould, alchohol/drinking

Disclaimer: I've read quite a few hero/villain stories in this fandom, so some of these ideas might not be super original! Thank you to the lovely folks on discord who helped with this!

Premise: In the city of Blackstone, heroes and villains take to the streets to fight, engaged in a constant battle for control. The Hero Bureau, overseen by the mysterious Watchers, takes in powerful individuals and trains them to protect the city, while villains and vigilantes are free agents.

Despite the fighting, most heroes and villains have a few key rules they try not to break. Revealing someone's secret identity is a total no-go. Even upon arrest villains' identities are often kept quiet. The city must remain standing, also, so most villains do not aim for utter destruction. It is a careful balancing act of an ecosystem, some may say, that keeps the city afloat.

Pssst. Send me asks to get writing snippets. More (long descriptions) under the cut!

Villains

Grian "The Mother Spore"

Powers: flight, mind control, mycelium spores, mushroom & mould manipulation

Started as an ordinary bird hybrid and architecture student before becoming infected, chosen to be The Mother Spore for an infectious and invasive alien fungus

The mycelium controls his mind, though he is lucid, it simply convinced him to protect and spread the fungus to take over the world, and now he acts on that one goal

Used to be very driven and have a big plan for his life, has no personal goal now, using his creativity and energy entirely to provide for the spores

Lives in a secret hideout in a dense forest outside the city, has grown mushrooms and mycelium around the base to keep unwanted people out

Tends to target small isolated towns, wiping them out overnight

Some have called him the 'angel of death' because of his wings and general death-omen vibes

Kills people to use their bodies as mushroom food

Can control people's minds by connecting them to the mycelium network, an alien hivemind

Occasionally becomes lucid and is afraid of what he has become

Still yearns for something, some kind of human connection, despite his thoughts being basically erased and replaced by the mycelium, it's complicated

Fun fact: as a civilian and in his personal life, Grian uses he/him, but as The Mother Spore, she uses she/her

Ren "The Dog" / "The King"

Powers: shapeshifting, enhanced smell, sight, strength and hearing

Former member of the Hero Bureau, turned villain

A dog hybrid with the unique ability to shift his form into a huge wolf creature

Now works with villain GOAT (Doc)

Mostly focussed on kicking butt and doing thievery but also intent on stopping the Hero Bureau and associated people, big on revenge

Not a fan of The Mother Spore but content on leaving her alone so long as she doesn't descend onto the city (he values his life)

Shifted from dog theming to king theming when going from hero to villain, hates being called ‘dog’ or anything like that

Monster form can go out of control / feral and hurt people

Monster form side-effect of killing his energy + damaging his ‘human’ form

Fun fact: he likes shiny things and good music, and has a collection of (mostly stolen or thrifted) trinkets in his house

Doc "GOAT"

Powers: he's just really good with technology and genetics… like, weirdly good, everything else is part of his own experiments

Unethically experimented on himself, stole expensive tech from high-security labs

Comprehensive list of Doc’s unethical self-experiments:

Hybridization (goat) - an illegal practice used to gain hybrid features, by messing with his own genetics using new tech to give himself goat horns, patches of fur, goat ears + hoof hands

Cybernetics (failed) - tried to attach cybernetic modifications but his body rejected them and caused them to malfunction badly, paralysing his arm and half of his face

Cybernetics - replaced his paralysed arm + parts of his face with new cybernetics now created from materials his body wouldn’t reject, the tech is woven into his body making the two inseparable and dangerous to damage

Chemical Alteration (failed) - drank a serum meant to make him stronger but it failed, instead colouring his fur green

Hybridization & Cybernetics (butterfly) - gave himself part-organic part-cybernetic butterfly wings, because he wanted to fly and this was the most sensible solution

Started out as a curious science nerd, became a criminal through illegal experimentation, resorted quickly to stealing tech to aid his curiosity and further experiment on himself

Once labelled a criminal he turned to more high-profile crime, revelling in being a ‘supervillain’

Refers to a ‘Hivemind’ occasionally when conducting experiments, assumed to be something to do with his cybernetics- an inherent mental connection to the internet due to the cybernetics connected to his brain?

Hates HotGuy. Wants to know HotGuy’s secret identity so bad. Actually a little bit obsessed with HotGuy. Hey man why have you got all that HotGuy merch.

Ren is his bestie / partner in crime / actual partner.

Swears HotGuy started this weird nemesis thing they have going on. Will not elaborate when asked.

Actively wants to murder The Mother Spore. Because she's annoying and gross.

Fun fact: he does not get along well with other scientists. Kind of like a really hostile cat.

Cub

Powers: blessing of the Vex

He was raised in a cult which worshipped the Vex, kidnapped as a baby with his parents murdered

Raised alongside Scar, who defended him a lot as a child- they had a close relationship but it never went anywhere before Scar left at 17

The cult was very manipulative and unethical, with Cub killing his first person at age 18- he was outspokenly against it as a child but grew to accept the cult

The cult disbanded when he was around 30 (ish) after the supposed 'day of blessing' from the Vex passed with no apparent payoff- Cub fled the following chaos and ended up in Blackstone

With a lot of skewed morals and fascination with the human body, he begins tricking or straight up kidnapping civilians in order to test the limits of their lives. He approaches this all quite clinically, cutting people up and experimenting on them

Fun fact: Cub is blessed by the Vex, it just doesn't 'show'- he has an array of magical qualities that make his work and life easier without him realising

Cleo "Zombie"

Powers: zombie curse

Former powerless hero

She was once best friends with Pearl when they were in the Hero Bureau together, but everything changed after Pearl accidentally read her future and told her

Pearl insisted that Cleo would be cursed, and begged them not to go out on a mission, but this only angered Cleo, hating the fact that their future might be set in stone

To change the road of fate, Cleo sought out the curse themself, only to fulfil the prophecy and become cursed

In a last, desperate attempt at getting one up over Pearl, she publicly revealed her secret identity, forcing Pearl to live in fear

Now a minor villain, mostly just set on taking down the heroes out of spite

Fun fact: besties with Joe Hills, occasionally guts him for fun (this will make more sense later...)

Tango “Architect” / “Baffler” / “Dungeon Master”

Powers: spacebubble creation, magical architecture, games!

He just likes to play silly games!

The silly games in question are murder games, he creates them in pocket universes and picks civilians up from the street to play

They die a lot

Secretly friends with Zedaph and Impulse, who run through his games (death-free) for fun

Generally seen as a poor excuse for a villain, being referred to as the "Baffler", which he hates

Fun fact: can make beasts. Keeps making beasts.

Heroes

Scar "HotGuy"

Powers: … he can shoot arrows real good and has a cool utility belt, never-ending optimism

He's HotGuy!

Your friendly neighbourhood superhero (if, by neighbourhood, you mean city and surrounding districts)

Is a vigilante and not affiliated with the Hero Bureau but works with them a lot

Has a gay thing going on with Grian despite all the spores…

Has another gay thing going on with Cub

Yet another gay thing going on with Mumbo

Please stop trying to kiss villains, Scar

Tragic backstory: was raised in the Vex cult alongside Cub, who he became friends with very quickly. He stopped the cultists from hurting Cub, receiving his scars in the process. Cub also protected him, refusing to allow the cultists to sacrifice him once his disabilities made themselves known, but Scar left the cult and became a hero at age 18 after refusing to sacrifice someone

Does not trust the Hero Bureau because of the cult stuff

He’s very popular with civilians, but nobody knows his secret identity- he is scared of being tracked down or stopped by government / local authorities because of his vigilante nonsense

Fun fact: he is an ambulatory wheelchair user who also utilises crutches and leg braces on the battlefield, allowing him to be stealthy and quick when it matters most at the cost of his energy and pain in his personal life

Pearl “Moonwitch”

Powers: can see someone’s future by touching their skin- most powerfully during the new, full, and half stages of the moon phase, trained in combat, debated ability to change the future / contact otherworldly fate beings

Part of the Hero Bureau, one of the higher ranked heroes

Very good with animals, to the extent that people thought she had animal powers

Her hero persona started out as a very goth / witchy type, but she switched to a more cozy theme when she became more popular

Doesn’t often go into the field to fight villains, but is sometimes needed for backup- usually she stays at the Bureau and uses her powers on captured villains and occasionally on heroes before they go out on missions

Her identity is no secret, unfortunately revealed in a pretty dramatic fight with Cleo which led to Cleo becoming a villain

Due to her identity being revealed, Pearl is very careful and never travels alone unless she has to, and she moved out of her apartment to live at the Bureau, making her extra protective of it

Good friends with heroes Gem and Impulse (they call themselves ‘soup group’- no one knows why)

Does not like using her powers, she has been forced to witness a lot of bad stuff that she then had no ability to stop / change

Fun fact: Used to be friends with Grian before he became The Mother Spore, tried to convince him to apply for sidekick tryouts at the Bureau (after seeing his... quite bad future accidentally) but he refused, claiming he wanted to focus on his studies and that the mysterious Watchers creeped him out

Gem "Life-bringer"

Powers: healing, injury absorption, invincibility

Despite having healing powers, she absolutely kicks ass in a fight, which she keeps trying to explain to the Watchers (they do not listen)

Tends to be sent into battle after a fight is over to help heal civilians and heroes (though she will heal villains too)

Can't die from using her powers but is hit with the pain of the injuries she absorbs

Part of the soup group! They get soup on Thursdays.

Xisuma "Voidwalker"

Powers: walking through walls, turning invisible in shadows

I just included him here because he has a weird thing going on with Keralis

One of the higher-ups in the Hero Bureau, simultaneously knowing too much and not enough- doesn't necessarily agree with how things are run

Impulse “Gargoyle”

Powers: demonic, stone skin, electricity powers

Lots of friends, some of them not so heroic, some of them like soup

Really just a hero for the pay benefits

False “Golden Eagle”

Powers: highly skilled in combat, flight

Weird little friendship with Ren, which often evolves into them fighting in the middle of the city

Has very sharp talons, but isn't actually a golden eagle hybrid- she's a red-tailed hawk

Zedaph

Just the Hero Bureau's local mad scientist!

He is not normal

Neutral/Civilian

Mumbo

Powers: he is a vampire. Sorry.

Acts like he was turned in the 60s, but in reality he was turned only a decade ago, just really into both hippie and suit-and-tie aesthetics

Drinks blood, I mean he is a vampire what more do you want… but generally against killing people (yay?)

Weak in the sun and gets sunburned very easily so he has a parasol, holy water and silver burn him too, and stakes are deadly

Best friends (...) with Grian, knew him before the whole Mother Spore business and stuck with him despite it- stays in the forest with Grian a lot because of the excellent levels of tree coverage that blocks out the sun

By virtue of being a third wheel, he knows Scar too, and often has to act as a messenger between the two when they get into arguments (this happens often.)

He is really into travelling and often leaves the city to go to see other towns and such, brings back souvenirs for his friends

Due to being genuinely undead, he is immune to Grian’s alien mycelium- yippee!

Mumbo buddy can you please talk about your feelings we can all see you staring at HotGuy and fawning over Mother Spore come on dude

Fun fact: a really good engineer- he was doing that as his career and stuff before the whole vampire thing. Still loves to geek out about engineering nonsense every once in a while and also likes to invent things (that rarely work)

Joe Hills

Powers: immortal, can sense when someone else with powers is nearby (NOT a spider-sense…)

He has lived several lifetimes, by this point, usually skipping town after a few decades so as to not seem suspicious

Always says ‘well this life is my favourite by far’

However, he has a pretty poor memory, so don’t ask him about any life but this one

Runs a live podcast which covers the daily goings on of heroes and villains across the city- made easier by his inexplicable ability to be in the right place at the right time, always first to the scene of a battle ready to record

Used to be an informant for the Hero Bureau, but wasn’t officially part of their ranks, more like an anonymous tipper

Has some insane gay thing going on with Cleo, let’s just call them friends for now

They’re roommates

Knew Cleo before the whole curse thing, stuck with them when they became a villain, cut all ties to the Bureau and started leaning his content slightly against the Bureau (but still in favour of vigilantes and against outright murder)

There is something wrong with him I think

Fun fact: when he’s at the scene of a fight, he makes silly quips and commentary at the parties involved, while safely standing to the side, often live recording his podcast. No one likes this. Multiple villains have tried to kill him for being annoying, but y’know… immortality. Death doesn't hurt him as he has no evolutionary need to feel pain.

Keralis

Powers: hypnosis

Runs a bar/club in the middle of the city which heroes and villains frequent (though it tends to be more popular with villains)

The club is a neutral zone, no fights can happen there- if someone tries to start something, Keralis can and will use his hypnosis on them

Club might be a front for a mafia don’t worry about it

Fun fact: do not look him in the eyes

Beef “Butcher”

No powers

Works cleanup jobs for villains, referred to as “Butcher” both because it’s his day job and because of how many bodies he disposes of

Beef… is probably not his real name, anyway

Heroes dislike him generally, but he makes a lot of problems disappear

Known to take up any cleanup job if the pay is right, but has a rule against killing anyone- bodies are perfectly fine, he’s even down to help with kidnappings and hostage situations, but he will not kill- believes killing is the last straw before a person becomes a monster

Bull hybrid. Yes, his day job is awkward. He enjoys it, though, the little weirdo

Has been called on by some less-moral heroes to help with cleanups that are too much of a mess to fix the ethical way

Fun fact: good friends with xB and Keralis, regularly calls on them to help him with cleanups, but does most of the messiest work himself. Though Keralis is very helpful for dealing with living witnesses

Main Plot

The main story follows HotGuy as he attempts to make the Hero Bureau look bad by solving more crime and catching more bad guys than they can. He also wants his friend, Grian, to come back from the 'bad' side. However, when Cub shows up in the city, all hell breaks loose and HotGuy ends up getting captured.

Once Cub finds out who Scar is, a lot of conflicting feelings happen (Cub still tries to cut him open, but he puts him back together again) and HotGuy is left unconscious in an alley. There, he's picked up by Mother Spore, whose murderous (but also gay) advances on HotGuy worry Grian enough to seek out Cub himself, willing to go under the knife to remove the spores from his body.

Meanwhile, after her fight with Cleo, Pearl starts to doubt the Hero Bureau. She begins to question the Watchers, no longer trusting them, especially when they tell her she can't leave because her powers are too strong. She enlists the help of some friends, Impulse and Gem, to get to the bottom of the mystery and expose the Watchers.

Subplots

Tango feels shunted, labelled as a 'villain of the week' for his rather ineffectual traps and tricks, so he takes it upon himself to steal other people's powers to make his games more deadly and terrifying

Ren and Doc are doing classic supervillain things, like, building freeze rays and stuff

Joe Hills keeps picking up vital information on his podcasts, and soon a fanbase arises trying to figure out the mystery- this later becomes helpful information for Pearl & Scar

Keralis' many adventures in dealing with drunk-off-their-arse heroes and villains (he has many stories to tell)

#hermitcraft #hermitshipping #hermitblr #hhvau #hermitcraft au #tw child abuse #tw mind control #heroes and villains #long post #au posting #ben chats shit on the internet

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clubwnderland · 1 year

Text

⤷⋆⋆ 𝑮𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝑴𝒊𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒈 ♡

[This plot contains abuse, violence, kidnapping and mentions of injuries and blood. Read at your own risk]

Life has been good.

Nothing could really go wrong.

Jangmi smiles as she checks her phone, reading the shopping list as she walks through the grocery store. She had been wanting a dinner with those close to her so she had told Jongin and Channie to come over for dinner, it being a while since she saw the couple and she batted her eyelashes at Chan to get him to come around too. She still owed him for cooking dinner for her a few times lately so it just made sense to do it all at once.

“Oh,” someone walks into her as she was turning down the aisle and she’s immediately apologising, “I’m sorry, oh my, let me help.” She puts her phone into her pocket and crouches down to pick up a few loose items. “I should have been more aware!”

The man chuckles, shaking his head as he takes the bag of crisps from her. “Don’t worry, I wasn’t paying attention either.”

Her ears twitch slightly as she smiles and bows, not noticing his eyes flickering to the soft white fox ears on top of her head. If she had then she would have seen the way his lips twitched slightly before returning to neutral when she stood up straight. “I hope I didn’t damage anything,” Jangmi chews her bottom lip and looks down the aisle, “maybe you should replace them just in case. I’ll buy those ones so nobody can buy something—“

“It’s okay,” he cuts her off, “if you’re really sorry, you could buy me a coffee later.”

She smiles apologetically, “I have plans, I’m sorry. Please let me buy you new ones instead.” She grabs the bag from him and heads down the aisle and grabs another bag while he followed her around.

The man, a foreigner she could tell, seemed pretty interested in her plans later but the fox didn’t think too much of it. She’s used to people paying attention to her or getting caught up in her due to her being a hybrid but she’s also just as good at brushing it off.

Heading home, Jangmi didn't notice anything out of the ordinary. The sun is shining brightly, the birds are singing and the hybrid is super excited to have dinner with her friends and have game night. There is nothing out of the ordinary for her as she walks into her apartment and throws her key into the bowl, humming a happy tune.

"What time is dinner, little fox?" The Alpha speaks on the other line, music faintly playing behind him so she knows he's still at work.

Jangmi starts to pull out the ingredients and places them on the bench, "around seven. Are you going to make it, Alpha?" There's a slight pause which Jangmi quickly fills by smiling and saying, "it's okay if you're busy! We can always reschedule!"

She can hear the blonde wolf shaking his head on the other side of the phone call, "no, I'll be there, little fox. Do you need me to bring anything?"

Jangmi's phone dings, a notification. "Mm, whatever you want to contribute! I have everything here for dinner so maybe something to drink?" She checks the message, a text from Jongin saying that he's just getting dessert for tonight with Channie. "Yeah, Jongin and Channie have dessert so just something to drink!"

Knock, knock.

As she talks to Chan, Jangmi hears a knock on the door and heads over, telling him about what she has planned for dinner and being adamant that she's able to handle it herself. As much as she loves his help in the kitchen, Chan's been at work all day and she wants to be able to give back to her friends who are making time for her. "Hm?" She hums, confused, "oh, there was a knock on the door but nobody is—" As she was about to close the door, someone stopped her and pushed it open with enough force that Jangmi falls backwards and drops her phone.

She doesn't try and retrieve the device, scurrying away as quick as she can but screaming in pain when the intruder stands on her tail to keep her from escaping. Jangmi struggles, shouting for the man not to touch her, to take what he wants just don't... don't touch her while Chan calls her name on the other end of the phone. Another notification dinging as Jongin had replied but everything is ignored as she fights for her life. Fights for her freedom.

Life has been good. Too good.

Nothing could really go wrong... could it?

#post: jangmi #tw: violence

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rinelica · 1 year

Note

i have really enjoyed your yuki and mai analysis but because tumblr likes to mess up image resolution a lot of the smaller text was quite hard or even impossible to read on much of it

id quite like to actually read all of it because i really enjoyed what i could read. all the art are very cute aswell. your work is really fantastic.

Thank you very much!! Ah, this really is what I was scared of... I'll drop here everything that might be hard to read, hope it'll help :

Original post :

ZUN's comment :

In case the pic still is unreadable, here's the link to the wiki page, use the search tool on this page by typing "Yuki" to find the ask faster :

Part I :

Shinki : "I am the god of Makai. Therefore, little Yumeko isn't a golem or anything like that, she's an ordinary Makai person."

PCB phantasm stage, Sakuya : "Hell is not as scary as Makai. Oni, compared to devils, are nothing at all."

IN profiles, Remilia : Devils, including vampires, are a race unconditionally hated by both humans and youkai. That's because all these girls are self-centered and selfish. (note : Reimu's MS ending confirms that)

MS, Marisa

Shinki : "Do you think bogus human magic can stand up to me?"

Marisa : "Isn't calling it "bogus" a loser excuse?"

Shinki : "Hmph, how impudent!! I'll show you real magic."

Marisa : "Oh, I'm so happy ♥"

UFO, Sanae B

Shou : "Makai is, with such a terrible demonic atmosphere, a world unsuitable for most living things. However, some youkai train there and humans can learn magic."

I wonder what Alice told to Akyuu (speculation) :

Akyuu : "So what kind of magician are you?"

Alice : "Oh I just learned magic as a kid."

Akyuu : "Ah, that makes you a human magician!"

Alice : "... Haha, yes..." Better not scare Gensokyo's humans off...

Part II/

Yuki : "You bastaaard! You bastard, how dare you!! I'm serious now!!"

Before fight :

Mai : ......?

Yuki : We'll be your opponents ♥

Yuuka : I see, two at once. Sounds fun ♥

Yuki : Whether it'll be fun depends of your skills ♥ Of course I want it to be fun.

Yuuka : Oh my ♥ Go on, give it a try.

After fight :

Yuuka : Thank you ♥ It was fun in its own way.

Yuki : Who exactly are you...

Yuuka : I ended up pretty far into Makai. I wonder how long the way still is.

Yuki : Right here is...

Left :

-> shows no care about your rampage or you reaching Shinki

-> simple bullets

*taunts*

just want to have "fun" (beat people up)

"the stronger the enemy is, the longer the fight will last, the funnier it'll be" mentality

as a result, she lacks seriousness

-only gets mad when she takes things personally (her ego or Mai hurted)->

Right :

-> impulsive, act before thinking

-> very passionate about what she cares

but is quick to forgive if showed some respect (Yuuka)

Part III

Mai : "... Not bad, you."

Protag : "!?"

Mai : "Now that the burden is gone, I can finally be serious. And this time, I'll definitely beat you bastard!!"

Marisa = magician. average in Makai.

Reimu = weird human on a flying turtle.

Yuuka = what???

Yuki : "Welcome, guest from another world ♥"

Mai : "......!"

Yuki : "I will guide you to a world where you shall rest for eternity ♥"

(totally a spirit who should in theory be able to deal some spiritual damages ->)

Mima : "Alas, that's the world I come from..."

Mai : "...!? I see, is that so..."

Mima : "Therefore, I will on the contrary be the one who'll take you there."

Mai : "Yuki, stop saying nonsense, I'll beat her..."

Mima : "You sure look eager to go."

Yuki : "How irritating! Mai, let's beat her!!"

Mai : "Understood... ♥"

Later...

Mima : "As promised, I'll guide you to the other world."

Yuki : "Mercyyy"

Mima : "But the other miss is waiting for youuu ♥"

(Yuki cries)

Mai's only sentence unique to Mima's scenario has nothing to do with death :

Mima : "Let's leave the weaklings alone."

Mai : "That's super frustratiiing!"

Left :

-> doesn't talk much

-> at least shows concern about you trying to reach Shinki (Reimu script)

lets Yuki do whatever she wants

cautious

somewhat analyses the situation

-"I can finally be serious"=> sounds like she, unlike Yuki, would rather be serious from the start->

Right :

-> can actually be pretty talkative

-> is salty when Yuki's plan backfires

sounds saltier toward you

is she only quiet against new foes?

Part IV

Speculation on why they weren't serious :

Mai : "It sounds serious... Maybe we should go all out this time."

Yuki : "Nooo, there's barely any intruder who manages to go this far!" It's been ages!

Mai : "...... fine."

#lore post #clarification #not the actual original post

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tathrin · 1 year

Note

gigolas for the "send me a ship" meme?

...I don't think I've posted anything like that? Certainly not recently enough that I have any idea what you're talking about anon, I'm so sorry. This is the most recent thing that anyone I follow has posted that fits that criteria, so that's what I'm going to respond using because idk where else to go looking for something to use. If you're looking for a response to something else please send me a link or a more specific tag so I can find it?

who’s the werewolf and who’s the hunter

Legolas seems the obvious choice for the hunter motif with the archery and forest stuff, but tbh I think I'd rather go the other way on this one because Mirkwood = great place for cryptids and monsters. So we'll have Gimli be the monster hunter, and he can still use his axes (silver-tipped of course) only of course he's always been more thoughtful and poetic than just any old hunter, so it doesn't take him long to realize that there's more going on than it seems when he walks into that little village in Dale. Seems like the werewolf that's been "terrorizing" them only started doing so when they went after him first, and this weird skittish feral creature doesn't seem like he actually enjoys hurting people — although oh boy will he if he gets pushed to it, as Gimli discovers when he accidentally stumbles on the real source of the problems in Dale that the shy werewolf was being scapegoated for. All of a sudden there's a wolf between him and the biggest fucking spider he's ever seen and it's snarling and oh shit. Oh shit, he has feelings now. Gimli's uncles are never going to let him live this down.

who’s the mermaid and who’s the fisherman

Yeah I feel like if there's a "weird creature" involved, then the weird creature is going to have to be Legolas, sorry to be repetitive. But. Gimli is just trying to mind his own business and have a simple, ordinary life on the shore, and this fucking fish-man keeps popping-up to pester him and sing and oh my gods does he ever stop singing? And when did Gimli start liking the damn songs? Capsizing during the storm is entirely Legolas's fault, because if Gimli hadn't been so damn distracted by all the fucking songs and flirting he wouldn't have been so behind on his catch that he'd have gone out in that weather, so getting saved by the damn fish is just what Legolas owes him for creating this situation in the first place, really. (Anyway surely there's a better way to keep someone from drowning then giving them air via kisses, right!?) Dammit. His uncles are never going to let him live this down.

who’s the witch and who’s the familiar

Okay and this time we're going to reverse things, and Legolas isn't the weird creature...he's the weirder witch. The witch in the woods, people call him, but they say it in a very different tone than the one they use when they talk about the witch in the other woods, the pretty light-dappled one with the golden leaves. People are so judgemental about things like growth so thick no light gets through, and fungus growing up the sides of your cottage, and spiderwebs thick enough to spin cloth from, and rivers that put you to sleep for three days...and, well, the spiders can be a problem, yes, but only because their natural predators have been hunted nearly to extinction. So they're running rampant, and it's not good for the balance of the forest, so they have to be culled now and then or it's going to throw the whole ecosystem completely out of balance. It's not Legolas's fault that the old book he found for Spider's Bane was damaged in a fire sometime during the previous witch's tenure, and that part of the instructions were unreadable. He thought he was just going to summon a few magical stone-bears who would eat some of the spiders. He didn't realize he was binding himself to a familiar...or that said familiar would start looking less and less like a bear and more and more like a person the longer he was there. He certainly didn't realize that the stone-bear was doing it on purpose, because it had taken a fancy to Legolas. It was supposed to be a semi-sentient magical construct, not a...not a person! With feelings, and thoughts, and the ability to tailor its own shape to suit its whims (it wasn't even supposed to have whims!), and the most fantastic beard that Legolas has ever seen...

who’s the barista and who’s the coffee addict

Gimli is quite happy working at the coffee shop, thank you very much everyone who thinks it's funny to make jokes about his English Degree In Coffee ha ha. The owner is nicely chill (all the weed probably contributes) even when Gimli has to get curt with problem customers. He gets to work on his novel in between busy periods, and most of the really annoying would-be-customers go to the corporate shop down the street instead of this hole-in-the-wall that serves real coffee, thank you. Of course, the owner also seems to know veritable tons of the weirdest people, including Gimli's own uncles (how old is he, anyway?) which he didn't discover until after he'd been working there for six months and Fili came in shouting "Yo, Gandalf, how's the rugrat doing?" and embarrassing him half to death, thanks. Honestly it would be a perfect job if it wasn't for that weird-ass perky blonde who drinks way more caffeine than can possibly be healthy even before he covers it in twenty ounces of whipped cream and sprinkles, ugh. He's in there all the time, so much so that Gimli forgot he was there when he started muttering plot-points out loud, which blondie apparently decided to treat as story-time, and now he comes in every day asking for the next section and sure, it's helping Gimli actually get the damn thing written if only to stop blondie from pestering him, but he's pretty sure he's going to strangle him in a month and even Gandalf isn't a chill enough boss to be chill with that, Gimli is pretty sure, and...and then he gets just the worst rejection letter from that poetry zine, and he can't stop crying at the counter, and suddenly blondie is hugging him and offering to "show the editors the error of their ways, no really it's gotta be fixed if they rejected you because your stuff is so good, Gimli! And that's not okay. I'll get some of my pals, we'll ride over and explain things to them and—" and the kiss didn't mean anything, Gimli was just sad and confused and tired, and now blondie's bringing him flowers when he comes in, what the fuck—?

who’s the professor and who’s the TA

I think I'm skipping this one because I'm not a fan of the power-dynamics here, sorry. I'm sure lots of people have written lovely fics with this sort of premise that manage to find a way to balance them (or to lean-in on the power-imbalance taboo) but I'm gonna. skip it. sorry.

I think having them be professors of rival departments would be lovely, though. So substitute that, there we go.

who’s the knight and who’s the prince(ss)

Maybe I'm getting lazy at this point, but I'm just going to go with Prince Legolas of Mirkwood, and Gimli son of Glóin, noble knight of Erebor. There have always been monsters in those woods, but they were little things that could be dealt with relatively easily as long as one knew the proper techniques and took the proper precautions. (Gimli had never seen a castle with anti-spider fire-netting before. It was...unsettling, to say the least.) But then bigger, nastier things started being sighted. Then rumors spread of some sort of witch, some sort of Necromancer, lurking in the forest, likely in the ruined tower in the south. The queen took a company of soldiers to investigate, and never came home. Distraught, King Thranduil forbid any of his people from going near it—but the monsters kept coming, kept getting worse. So he put out a call for knights and battle-wizards, and knowing the riches of the Woodland Kingdom, many came.

Not many Dwarven Knights were interested, there being too many years of bad-blood between their people and the elves, but Gimli was young and eager to prove himself. He figured that he would be able to easily dispatch whatever monster had the flighty, feckless elves in a tither, and take his renown and his treasure home in a fortnight or so. The sight of so many warriors returning bloody and reeling, or not returning at all, was disquieting...but Gimli was young, and bold, and once the elvish prince accidentally insulted his honor and his courage there was no way he was going to turn tail and go home now, no sir! Of course, the prince was just frustrated because his father wouldn't allow him to risk his life going after the Necromancer himself, and lashing-out at Gimli because Gimli was unlucky enough to say the wrong thing at the wrong time—but it still happened, and it happened in front of the entire damn court as well as all the experienced warriors who'd come for their chance at the treasure and the glory too, and there's no way the story isn't going to get back to Gimli's uncles and they'll never let him hear the end of the time he got into a shouting-match like a child with a fucking elf-prince. Ugh. At this point, it would almost be a mercy if the Necromancer did kill him—but at least if Gimli's the one who does the job, he'll be able to reclaim at least some of his dignity. So he leaves early, hoping to beat the next round of knights to the tower by himself.

The last thing Gimli expected—or wanted—was for the fucking prince to follow him...!

who’s the teacher and who’s the single parent

Tough, because I'm honestly struggling to see either of them as a parent, but I'm going to go with Gimli as the dad here. Probably for something between kindergarten and third grade; I feel like Legolas would be best suited as a teacher for little kids. He's got the optimism and the energy and the complete willingness to go sit in the mud puddle beside them and listen very seriously to their long and incoherent stories and act like he's understanding every word (and honestly he somehow probably is, he's like the Kid Whisperer). Gimli is still struggling to get little Moli to open-up to him two years after the kid's parents died and left their single nephew juggling sudden parenthood and shared grief. When Moli comes home from school not just smiling but chattering, Gimli thinks it's a miracle. The miracle turns out to have a name, and that's Legolas. Unfortunately, Gimli doesn't realize that until they've already ended up as PTA Enemies For Life over an argument so stupid that frankly Gimli can't even remember what it was. Something about jewelry and the dress code, he thinks? Ugh, Legolas might be great with kids but that's clearly his only skill. Whatever, Gimli can deal with him for one school year. Unfortunately, he has to deal with him all the time because Moli adores the asshole. Well, fine. Gimli can do this, for the kid. He can do this. It would be a lot easier if Legolas wasn't every bit as pretty as he is annoying, dammit...

who’s the writer and who’s the editor

Whoops I probably should have read through all these before I started writing them, huh? Already used the Gimli Is A Writer on the coffee shop one, oh well. Anyway: Gimli Silvertongue is obviously the writer, because his skill with word-smithing is literally canonical. So Legolas is the keen-eyed editor working for Mirkwood Publishing, and he falls in love with the author behind the novels long before ever meeting him in person, and he certainly didn't expect a short, hairy slab of muscle who looks like he does caber-tossing as a daily warm-up when he pictured the guy who wrote all these sweet, soaring, poetry-riddled stories, but. well, everyone says not to judge a book by its cover (although Legolas knows how important good cover design is, thank you, and always sulks a little over that saying because hello are you paying attention?) so maybe he shouldn't have been so caught off-guard when he failed to accurately judge the author by the interior...now he just needs to figure out to get un-tongue-tied enough that he can go talk to the guy whose over-use of semi-colons he's spent literally hours arguing over, shit.

*********

Anyway, I'm sorry if this isn't what you wanted, anon. But thank you for sending it in (or...sending something in, at least, oops) because it actually ended up being a lot of fun to answer. Hopefully you enjoyed it too, whether it was what you were actually looking for or not! And if it wasn't, feel free to clarify what you were really after and I'll try again. Sorry!

#gigolas #gimleaf #ask meme #gimli #legolas #aus #shipping #gimleaf aus #long post #my writing #my stuff

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inverseinvert · 1 year

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DGM Danny Phantom WIP

Prologue

AO3 link here

For a while, Amity Park had been debating going worldwide with ghosts. There had been full scale council meetings discussing the matter, with votes and paperwork and everything! (A few younger members of the public had even tried to segue the meetings into repealing the Anti-Ecto Acts, but got ignored by the much older council.)

The main thing stopping progress, however, was credibility. Or rather, lack thereof.

While yes, the Doctors Fenton had papers published in ectobiology and cryptozoology—that anyone could access with a quick internet search—and a few videos had made it to YouTube, the town was largely seen as a tourist trap and a hoax.

Regardless, Amity was determined to go public. They'd take professional videos, update their website, whatever they had to do to prove to the rest of the world that ghosts existed.

But all those plans came to a screeching halt when an emergency alert broadcast worldwide.

Their need for funding, aid, and support against the nuisance of a ghost infestation became inconsequential in the face of true monsters.

Demons.

Akuma.

Hundreds of thousands were dead, thousands still missing and unaccounted for all over the world.

Originally, it was declared a series of bombings and terrorist attacks; but each incident was too varied. News agencies tried their best to sweep things under the rug and governments were clearly shaken; but amateur videos pushed through. Clips flooded the internet, showcasing the devastation as several dozen mechanical creatures descended with cannons, spewing poison and death.Killing without discrimination.

When it became obvious that this was no hoax, that the governments of the world could no longer deceive their citizens—there were just too many videos, too many witnesses—an emergency broadcast was published.

"The New World Alliance may seem ill-prepared; but I promise you, they're not." A dark-haired Asian stood behind a podium, white beret and coat (accented by black) reflecting brightly in the spotlights. Microphones from news stations around the world crowded his face like a pack of hungry dogs as he glanced down through grey glasses at a sheaf of papers.

Even viewed through the screen of a television, the air of gravity was almost palpable.

“My name is Komui Lee and I'm here because I'm the Chief Officer of the Black Order's European branch. Opperating under the direct command of the Vatican, the Black Order has been defending the public from the Akuma threat for close to a century. We've managed to keep collateral damage and loss of life to a minimum. Until now.” His voice turned melancholy, face drawing downward. Eyes staying locked to the teleprompter, he reached for a large ivory mug and started to lift it. Hand faltering just inches above the table, Komui's frown deepened.

The cup was significantly lighter than it should be.

“We are aware that in this instance we have failed in our due diligence; and for that, we ask your forgiveness.” At this, he set down the empty mug and took a deep breath, pushing his shoulders back and holding his head high.

“We come to you in the hopes that you will understand the good work that has been done up until now and ask that you support our exorcists. In the interest of this, please try your best to stay out of harm's way and report any Akuma sightings to your local police or our helpline which should be displayed at the bottom of your screen.”

Attention shifting back to his documents, the worn man—who clearly had been running on pure coffee alone for at least the past week—began to list general safety procedures: what would be required for people to avoid attacks and what to do when they happened.

Lifting his eyes, he ended the speech with, “I must stress that this is not a constant danger. Do not panic and do not engage with these creatures. Ordinary weapons will not work and they take specialist training to combat. Please let the professionals do their jobs. It is, after all, what we're here for.”

He swept a hand left and gestured to the two individuals standing at parade rest beside him.

The shorter of the two had strikingly similar facial features to Komui, but softer, suggesting a relation to the man. Her hair was also marginally lighter and fell all the way to her shoulders. The woman's older partner, by contrast, had legs for days and a sharp expression, with long, blonde bangs hiding an expansive, jagged scar that surrounded her one visible eye. Clinging to her shoulder was a monkey that vaguely resembled a silvery marmoset, regarding the room with massive pupils.

Both women's outfits were made from a thick, black cloth, their accents and embellishments unique to each individual. They may not have matched perfectly, with one showing little skin and the other leaning more fanservice-gothic-lolita, but like a rook and a knight in chess, it was obvious they came from the same set.

“All exorcists will be wearing uniforms like this when on active duty. Please leave them to their work and do not interfere.”

“Thank you for your attention. We will not be taking questions at this time.”

Finished with the announcement, Komui gathered the paper sheets off the podium and aligned them with each other before placing them under an armpit. Gripping his mug in his other hand, the head Supervisor turned to the camera and dipped forward in a curt bow. As he exited stage left, the two women accompanying him copied the gesture and followed their boss off screen.

When compared to the outside world, Amity Park suddenly was "A Nice Place to Live".

The quaint city enjoyed their haunted reputation, its many shops filled with gimmicky graphics and souvenirs. The citizens knew just what to do in a ghost attack and weren’t truly scared. Either the spectres would move on or Phantom would rescue those truly in harm's way.

No one had actually died in a ghost attack, despite many close calls, and ghosts could be reasoned with. They had personalities and morals (no matter how many people said otherwise).

Their town could never function the way it did if they had Akuma in place of ghosts. The idea of it was downright sickening.

Akuma were fiends of true horror and demise. A distinctly alien mindset that could not be related to in any way. Trying to make light of them was nothing short of stomach-turning to anyone with sound ethics.

So Amity Parkers forgot about trying to ask for help. They’d made it this far on their own and would continue to do so for as long as possible. Government resources should be spent on helping those actually in need. If staying off the map prevented more deaths, then so be it; they could muddle through.

They just hadn’t considered that the ghosts might reach out publicly before the humans would.

Please let me know what you thought. No promises on updates or when they might happen as I am still unmedicated for my ADHD 🥲

Also interested to see what people want to see.

MASSIVE thanks to @weshney for their incredible editing skills. They made sure this was actually legible.

#danny phantom #d.gray-man #d gray man #danny phantom crossover #komui lee #lenalee lee #klaud nine #lau shimin #dp x dgm #dpdgm #dp dgm #my art #my writing

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liebe-herrgott · 11 months

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Every word SnowFlame has ever said in The New Guardians and Catwoman.

The New Guardians #2

First freak who comes any closer is a dead freak. Jeezus, you people are strange! Last chance-- Turn around and take your freak show back on the road! Challenge accepted! I am SnowFlame! Every cell of my being burns with white-hot ecstasy. Cocaine is my god and I am the human instrument of its will! A blow like that would have sent any ordinary man reeling! But I am no ordinary man! I can see that-- and I intend to savor our combat to the fullest! You see before you a man on fire! A man who craves any excuse to burn brighter! Any excuse! I feel no pain, Ram, although I relish your feeble attempts to inflict it! How long do you think your silicon chips can stand up to my psycho-kinetic flames? Don't you understand yet? I burn with thought-- accelerated thought generated by my fantastically heightened mental senses! The more you fight back -- the more you fight back -- the more you fan the fires of my high -- and the stronger I become! But to my regret, I have a job to do. Places to go. People to see. As you can see, people… I never patrol… these jungles… alone. Your visit to Nueva Grenada has just been… Terminated! OPEN FIRE! Bury them-- before they start to stink! With all their personal effects intact! In my jungle, we respect the dead! OPEN FIRE! … Do you know how many bags we have to sell to the dealers, Manuel, to buy a Rolls Royce? Ten, Manuel! A paltry ten bags! MOTHER OF GOD! Where are the lookouts? Give up? Give up the ultimate exhilaration-- the divine rapture-- the euphoria of electricity that now surges through every molecule of my body? Give up? I would sooner choke on the soil from your boots, Guardians! AHHHHH! May this fire burn everlasting! Now I am a true god--! Strike them down, my children! They seek to steal your life’s blood-- they seek to destroy your God! But you will not let them-- for within all of you burns the same rage-- within all of you burns the same fire--! You don’t hide your anger very well, warrior! I thought your kind was supposed to be inscrutable! Feel the heat, silicon man? When I am finished -- there will be little left of you but a pile of melted circuits! (glugg x2) Not just yet! Fool warrior--! My fire cannot be extinguished!

Catwoman #23

As I live and breathe-- it’s the cat herself, Selina Kyle. Your personal chauffeur is here, baby. The one, the only… SNOWFLAME. It’s been a while. What’s your damage, Selina? Not happy to see me? Got everything I need, baby: a bitchin’ ride, the threads, the tunes… And an unlimited supply of powder. Life couldn’t be better. Thanks! Wrote it myself. The key to faking your own death-- explosions. If the blast takes out enough people, no one is gonna sift through the rubble to identify body parts. I give these rats everything they need-- food, clean water, fair wages. This place was totally harsh before I showed up! And they repay me by lying. My men keep disappearing, and the workers are blaming it on some half-baked legend. They’re trying to scare us off. The kids are even dressing like cats at night, as if that’s gonna freak us out. Kisin is just another boogeyman. Everything in life can be solved with a bullet or a bump. I don't care who or what is messing with my business-- I’ll find them. Speaking of bumps, wanna get the party started before the auction? You’re not here to party, and you're not here for me… Why are you here baby? I know you, Selina, and I’ve seen that look before. You’re on the hunt… But it’s not for something at my auction. Always. But I’m not wrong. This is Isla Nevada, baby. Everyone who comes here is either running away or hoping to find something. I think you're searching. No idea. I’ve never quit long enough to find out either way. Home sweet home. Mi casa es su casa, baby. The auction is tomorrow, but tonight is all about chillin’ at the gala. And remember… You’re on my island now. You’re among friends, you can let loose. Stop pretending to be someone you’re not. Maybe that’s your problem: you’ve been a housecat for too long… You’ve forgotten what it’s like to take off your collar and let your claws out. Ladies and gentlemen: welcome to the first annual, invite only, totally exclusive SnowFlame auction! Tomorrow night we’ll have some gnarly items up for grabs… Like the talisman of Arok the Magnificent! Even if you don’t want to claim the throne of Gorilla City for yourself, this will look so rad on your coffee table. We have a vial of water from the Lazarus Pit, the famous codpiece cannon, a decoy White Lantern ring.. And the item you’ve all been waiting for… The List. Compiled by the world’s greatest crime-fighters, this list has every shred of intel they’ve collected on… Well, people like you. The bid starts tomorrow at-- Not now. Um, sorry guys, I gotta step out. Interrupt me at my own party. This better be legit.

Catwoman #24

You don’t look happy, baby-- Why you trippin’? I thought you were all about the ice? So what? Armand, what the in the blue hell happened to my lights?! Yes, I can see that-- I need to know why the power went out! Get on your radio and find out where Hughes and Campbell are-- they’re supposed to be guarding the generator! Sanchez, behind you! Don’t bounce yet, guys! Come back! We have some gnarly items up for grabs! Come on, the codpiece cannon is still available! Ross, seal the gates-- and find out who’s guarding my office! Dammit, Selina. Send a crew up there now! I’ll try to talk some sense into Catwoman. What is she doing to me?! Storming my compound, killing my men?! What do you mean she escaped?! She’s a woman with a whip and a catsuit-- you have machine guns! Damn it, she has my list-- I know it! We’re running on backup power, and soon all my emergency lighting and my laser grid will go down. Find out where that panther disappeared to and put a bullet through it-- I’ll handle Catwoman! A woman with a whip is kicking an entire security team’s ass… Disarming her can’t be that hard! You come into my house, destroy my business… You’ve crossed the line, Selina. You’re forcing my hand. This is going to hurt you a lot more than it hurts me. You might wanna stand back a little, because… You’re about to feel the heat of SNOWFLAME! I hope this isn’t all you’ve got, because these cheesy old tricks aren’t going to cut it. You’re looking a little sluggish, baby. I think you’ve lost a step. Here, let me get closer and give you a little pick-me-up. Euphoric? I tend to have that effect on the ladies. This is adorable. You’re gonna sniff that nasty green dust the jungle rats cooked up to come down off your high? Nice try with the antidote. Killing my buzz doesn’t drain my power. I can still dish it out, and I can still take a-- My nose! I was taking it easy on you, but now I’m going to crush your- GHAAAAH! How did… What was that spear coated with?! D-don’t kill me, Selina! This isn’t you! Wait… come back, baby! I can change! Give me another chance! Don’t leave me here with-- 1269 words, 6900 characters.

#i fuckign love snowflame so much im so fucking normal about him #snowflame #every word #comic books #i wrote down every fucking word please help me

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pinksilvace · 1 year

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I simply cannot stop thinking about Phillip Wittebane and his motivations. We know two pretty undisputed pieces of information:

Phillip's beliefs were largely shaped by his upbringing

Phillip was raised almost entirely by Caleb

I see these points often discussed separately, but never together. Phillip believed what he did because Caleb was probably the one who taught him those beliefs. Ultimately, the more I think about it, the more I wonder if Phillip's faith in Caleb was stronger than his faith in God.

There's so much we don't know about the brothers' relationship, but if Phillip ever got his hands on a Bible, it was probably because Caleb was the one to give it to him. They were orphans that moved to Gravesfield, presumably for a better life (somebody made a parallel between Camila and Caleb that explains this assumption much better than I ever could), in a time where anything that seemed out of the ordinary was at a high risk of persecution. What would the people of old Gravesfield think of two children that look nothing alike wandering around on their own and calling one another brothers? How could they prove that they weren't, themselves, witches?

By being devout, of course. This is just a theory, but Phillip's strong beliefs could easily be a result of trying to fit into his new home - that, or Caleb encouraged them for his and Phillip's safety.

It's made clear through the Hollow Mind paintings that Phillip adored Caleb. Side note: it's interesting that, of the memory paintings released outside of the episode, these are the only ones free from marring.

We know from a few different episodes that these images, when damaged, represent damage to the memories themselves. This is extremely significant, as every single one of Phillip's memories (in-episode) are damaged. He even has a false mind palace filled with false memories that he must believe to some extent. To reach this point, something happened that shook his entire world view - something that led him to quite literally lose his mind.

Phillip is still pretty young when Caleb decides to follow Evelyn to the Demon realm; I want to say he's in his late teens, at most. If we take into account the theory that Caleb was the one to inform Phillip's beliefs, OF COURSE Phillip would blame the witches for Caleb's defection.

In the preface of Daemonologie (a dissertation King James I penned in response to public superstition re: witchcraft), it's stated that

I say and prove by diverse arguments, that Witches can, by the power of their Master, cure or cast on diseases: Now by these same reasons, that proves their power by the Devil of diseases in general also proves their power in special: as of weakening the nature of some men...

In the beginning, it is extremely likely that Phillip maintained the assumption that Caleb was just falling for the wiles of witches and demons - not just because he wants to assume "the best," but because Caleb would have been the one to teach him that this is what witches do. The conflict doesn't come from the fact that Phillip doesn't listen to Caleb; the conflict arises from the fact that he does.

Phillip lives in the Boiling Isles for a significant length of time before he ever turns on Caleb. We'll never know what was happening in his mind during this period; we'll never know if his resolve remained absolute, if he ever began to grow more sympathetic toward witches, or what. However, we can guess that Phillip was still respecting Caleb's will to an extent, as during this time, he explicitly goes against the Bible.

Exodus 22 clearly states:

Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live.

(I'm using the 1599 Geneva Bible for this quote)

The thing is, Phillip does let a witch live, likely due to Caleb's wishes. This is the next image we see in the sequence of his memories:

Though it is never explicitly confirmed, it's likely that Evelyn is supposed to be pregnant at this point. If so, it means that Phillip must has been living (somewhat) harmoniously in the Boiling Isles long enough for

Caleb and Evelyn to form a committed relationship, conceive, and for the bump to be noticeable

Phillip's beard to have at least a year of FULL growth, which doesn't typically sprout from a smooth face all at once

Phillip to have discovered and studied at least a few glyphs (see next image)

Phillip could have been living in the Boiling Isles for years. We just don't know how long. This is the point, however, when he stops conceding to Caleb's wishes - when he considers Caleb corrupted enough to only reach salvation through death.

By the time Phillip turns on Caleb, he has already made magic a part of himself. His curse has already come into effect. He may have even reaped his first palisman by this point; we don't know. Some of this evidence could point to the idea that he was on track for a change of heart before he saw the extent of Caleb and Evelyn's relationship. What if he and Caleb really did want to become a part of the Isles? What if he performed a lot of his research for Caleb? What if Phillip sees Caleb's murder as salvation for both of them - for Caleb, because he became corrupted, and for himself, because he almost did as well? Wouldn't Caleb be proud of him if Caleb was in his "right" mind?

We don't know. We'll never know. These are all just theories based on pictures.

There's a lot of blank room in the lore here, but sometime between Caleb's death and the events of canon, Phillip's mind kind of... collapses. It destroys and rebuilds itself. The fake mind palace comes into being while many of his real memories are part of a forest that has burned to ash, the memories burned along with it.

In-canon, it's hard to say how much Phillip believes his own excuses and his own telling of history. It's implied a few different times that he experiences psychosis (first with the voices of the palismen, later with the ghosts of Caleb and the Golden Guards). We don't know what reality looks like to him, but we can guess that this snap came from either a) Caleb's apparent change of heart, or b) Caleb's death.

By the end of the show, Belos is unable to judge why his actions and beliefs are wrong. I don't think it's because he clings onto those beliefs for his own sake; I think it's because he clings onto them for Caleb's. If Belos is wrong, Caleb was wrong.

Thus, circling back to the thought I had at the beginning of the post: Phillip's faith in Caleb supersedes his faith in God. Rather, Phillip's faith in God largely stems from his faith in Caleb.

When he creates the grimwalkers, Phillip is attempting to bring back the first version of his brother. He wants the Caleb who raised and protected him, the one who guided his devotion. What he gets instead is the Caleb enamored by witchcraft, every single time. He doesn't understand why the first one refuses to show itself.

It makes one wonder if, while teaching Phillip to be devout, Caleb hid his own theological ideas, knowing they would be unaccepted in Gravesfield. There's no evidence for or against this.

Again, this is all theoretical, but I like this concept for the extra layer of tragedy it brings to the Wittebanes' story. The idea that Caleb's influence is a big part of what led to his death is one that seems relatively unexplored.

#fern muses #yes I have finals next week. yes I am thinking about this instead #the owl house #I don't think I've written this much in a tumblr post since I outlined sonic 06 as a musical lol

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inkribbon796 · 7 months

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Egotober 2023 Day 31: Jumping at Shadows

Summary: After a fight with Google, the heroes see through an illusion and spot something that gets them talking.

A/N: Birthday for Google.

And with this another Egotober is done.

Prompt: Happy Halloween

Chapters: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31

There was a crunch of metal as Silver was thrown backwards into a pile of pipes. Google standing on the other side of the construction area.

They had been doing a quick patrol of the city in preparation for making sure it would be safe for treat-or-treaters to go out tonight.

Silver had been minding his own business, and had seen Google in the area. Google had looked at him but was minding his own business. Google hadn’t done little more than stare at them when he saw Bob and Wade in costume.

There were no humans around to attack, and the heroes kept their distance. Then suddenly he attacked, he looked over at something and then shot his nanites at Silver.

The attacks blindsided Silver for a bit for how unprovoked it seemed. But they were fighting now, so that’s what Silver had to do.

Silver was keeping the bulk of Google’s attacks but he had to stay close to Bob and Wade because Google was actively trying to attack them as well. It was keeping Silver out of the air.

Which, in turn, got Silver thrown into a pile of pipes.

“Just because I have superstrength doesn’t mean you can cut me in half,” Silver groaned as he got up, Google just watching him. “Doc’s gonna ask if I’ve gotten my tetanus shot again.”

Silver was just looking at Google who seemed to just be standing there, like some terminator on standby. As if he was waiting for something.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw Wade running towards him.

“Drowned?” Silver asked.

“We need to get out of here,” Wade said as he grabbed Silver. “Now! Dark’s going to show up. Gatling!”

Bob was over to them and immediately summoned a bubble shield and began to roll them away.

“What the hell man,” Silver said, flying up with Wade to keep himself from going dizzy rolling around.

“I saw a kid, maybe one of the ones the guy was talking about,” Wade said.

“Then, why are we here?” Bob stopped them.

“Because he’s going to go into a rage, and Google was just there to throw us off the scent. Google loves hitting a moving target, but he was keeping you from getting a bird’s eye view?” Wade said.

“Because he’s a robot?” Bob said. “What do you mean you saw a kid?”

“I mean, I didn’t at first, but I think I saw through some kind of illusion,” Wade said.

“Then we need to go back, maybe he was trying to reach out to us,” Silver said.

“Nah, he looked like he was about to attack us, I saw the look in his eyes, he was looking to take a piece off of us,” Wade said. “I’ve been in one too many fights to mistake a scared kid from an angry one. Google was chill, he was fine. He wasn’t even looking after people. He was waiting for that kid to show up.”

“Okay, okay,” Silver said. “Gatling, let me out.”

Bob did and Silver shot off to the construction area to look for Dark. He could hear the faintest ringing of where Dark’s echo had been.

Dark had been here, but Silver couldn’t see him. He couldn't even see this “child”, or even Google. The damage was still there, but now Silver was the only person left.

So he was left to head back to his teammates, and then to head back to the base after an argument. Silver whatever to get the kid out of Dark’s control. The very idea of it ate at him. He’d tried to fly as close to the Manor and the warehouses as Dark’s illusions and wards would allow before Dark appeared to run him off. Dark’s most violent displays were always around the Manor, but that wasn’t necessarily out of the ordinary. The Manor was the heart of the demon’s territory.

Silver would not let Dark get away with this forever. He’d figure out what was going on in the Manor, or he would die trying.

Post A/N: I wanted to put J.J since it is his birthday as well in this but much like yesterday’s the fic wasn’t cooperating. But have a Google.

#Egotober 2023 #Superhero AU #Masks and Maladies #Silver Shepherd #Googleplier #Wade Barnes #bob muyskens

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marshmedow · 1 year

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Time Traveler AU!

See for explanation:

Warning: Major Character Death

“Deuce! Come on, you can’t die on me yet!” Ace Trappola cried out. He clutched onto his lovers body where it laid in his arms, desperately trying to ignore the debris from buildings falling around them, trying to ignore the screams of children just searching for their parents in this mess. He’s doing anything to keep Deuce alive.

It wasn’t supposed to end up like this. Ace supposes it never is, though. Who wants calamity to strike their loved ones? Psychopaths, that’s who.

Ace is a lot of things, but he is not a psychopath.

They were shopping for bubbles. Tomorrow was their wedding and Deuce wanted bubbles. So, they rode into town. It took a while for them to find a shop that sold bubbles, but they did! Ace would give up absolutely everything he has just to see the smile that was on Deuces face when they finally found them again.

They were walking out of the shop, just joking around. Like they always do. The two never were ones to take things seriously. Especially Ace himself, who joked around more than anyone Deuce had ever known. They were cracking jokes. A sense of normalcy that was always welcome.

Until it wasn’t quite normal anymore.

Ace isn’t sure what happened or why, but there was an overblott. While Ace is used to overblotts by now, he was quite shocked for it to happen out of nowhere. So shocked that he didn’t register Deuce running over to the scene until he was already out of reach.

Deuce running in to help isn’t anything out of the ordinary. He is a policeman. A Magical Law Enforcement Officer to be exact. He deals with things like this everyday, which is why Ace isn’t worried.

At first.

Ace watched as Deuce fought the overblotted mage. They looked to be young, at least in high school. A prodigy like Riddle Rosehearts, Ace assumed.

Much like with Riddle, everything in this kids path is getting destroyed. The only difference being that Trey isn’t here for damage control.

Debris was falling left and right. Ace watched as rubble shot down and crushed the cute little store they had just been in less than ten minutes ago. Deciding that standing around and doing nothing is stupid, Ace started using wind magic to push the falling sediment safely away. But, Ace could only push away so much.

The other Magical Law Enforcement Officers had eventually showed up, though not before that whole street was wrecked. Not before that little overblotted prodigy wounded Deuce with magic. Or maybe it was the falling rubble that hurt him. Ace isn’t sure. He ran over and scooped Deuce into his arms, taking a moment to assess the damage done to Deuce’s body. Ace feels guilty for not helping more.

“Ace,” Deuce’s voice is pained as it comes out. “Ace are you okay?”

“Am I okay?” Ace could almost laugh. Deuce never had known any type of selfishness. Not since Ace met him, anyway. “Yes, I’m fine! Now stop closing your eyes! You can’t die on me yet!”

“Ace.”

“No, you listen here! Our wedding is tomorrow, and I did not search ten different stores for bubbles just for you to die before we use them.” Ace took off his shirt and used it to cover what looked like the harshest gash on Deuces abdomen. Deuce laughed at Ace’s complaint, regretting it a second later when he accidentally sucked in his stomach. “You can’t walk down the aisle with people blowing bubbles if you’re dead. I refuse to marry a corpse.”

“Ace. I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be sorry, be better.” Ace wishes his voice was as calm as he wanted it to be, but he knows how shaky he sounds. With how frantically Ace is clasping at anything to help Deuce, it’s a shock that his sentences are still coherent.

“You tried so hard for this, and I ruined it. The day before our wedding too.”

“Deuce? What are you talking..?” That’s it!

“You finally made a timeline where I can live and be with you, then I just die anyway.” Deuce starts to cough. The pure pain from moving is enough to bring tears into his eyes. Tears that roll down his cheeks and fall to mix with Ace’s in a puddle on the ground.

But it’s okay! Ace has an idea.

“Sweetheart, you’re a genius.”

Deuce wheezed between coughs to try to get enough air to speak. “What? What do you mean?” The pure weakness in Deuce voice is enough to kill Ace, but it’s okay. Ace can fix this.

“I’m reversing time again.” Ace said resolutely, obviously not looking to be persuaded to not go through with this.

“Ace, no!” Deuce didn’t care how resolute Ace was. He couldn’t let Ace do this to himself again. Deuce isn’t going to remember Ace if he goes back, but Ace will remember him. He doesn’t want Ace to have to live through Deuce not knowing, not loving him anymore. Not when they’ve come so far since Night Raven. “Please just let me go.”

“I’m sorry, baby, but I can’t.” Ace looked Deuce in the eyes, with tears streaming down his face. Ace wants this. He wants it so badly. All he ever wanted was to be with Deuce. And he will be.

No matter how many tries it takes to finally make this right. Make their life how it should be. Ace will never stop trying until it’s perfect.

“Ace! You can’t just go back,” Deuce coughs, weak and hoarse, “every time I die. Will you ever let me go?”

“Yes. I will. After you and I have lived our lives and we can both die. When we can die together, married, and with a thousand memories on our minds. That’s when I’ll finally let go. But until then, I can’t lose you. I can’t let you die again.” Ace is sobbing now. He’s clinging onto Deuce like he’s begging. “Please, sweetheart. Let me do this for you.”

“Ace. It hurts.” Deuce couldn’t hold on anymore. Even if he continued to disagree, Deuce knew that Ace would reverse time as soon as he died, anyway. Deuce was too tired to futility argue.

“I know, baby. I know.” Ace closed his eyes as he took deep breaths. A bright light flashed, and as soon as Ace opened his eyes, he braced for impact.

“I summon thee, something heavy!”

#deuce spade #twisted wonderland #deuce twisted wonderland #disney twst #twst #ace trappola #ace twisted wonderland #ace twst #twst ace #adeuce #hunting season #deuace

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