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anaid-queen · 1 month

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The Rolin Cut (3min) - a description of all scenes & all my thoughts

(observations as well as theories, mine and others')

as i'm dealing with every single quote and frame we see, it's under a cut - because this bitch is over 10k

Section 1: The Interview

Lestat's portrait (you know the one, the co-founder / Wolfkiller one) is completely engulfed in flames [starting off strong... Louis i see you!!]

Louis: "It is how it happened. I didn't think it at the time, but...yeah. Yeah." [would love to know what memory this refers to.... probably nothing too dramatic, if he manages to be somewhat collected about it? either that or, tbh... who knows. maybe he remembered smth correctly and then was gaslight into thinking differently?? it's not like we don't know someone who'd do that]

corresponding shot of Louis saying the above line in the present day, looking very contemplative [is he (relatively) collected, or is he barely holding it together? why can't i quite tell]

Armand: "May I make an observation?" [asking politely literally for the sake of politeness huh]

Louis: "I lost control of the interview." (AMC+ YT channel says this is Daniel but that's bullshit, doesn't sound like him & wouldn't work at all) [he's embarrassed, of course he's embarrassed, poor sweetie's immediately on the defense]

shot of Louis smoking ... at a bar ? [not sure what to make of this]

Armand: "Yes." [he's sooo fast to say this, god, he sounds almost desperate the way he hisses it... polite veneer OFF]

Louis: "He's skilled." [i know he's being defensive / trying to cover the cracks in his own armor, but i love that he's praising Daniel regardless]

Armand: "He wants you in piece for the privilege of putting them back together again as he sees fit." [ok savage accusation... and every bit of pain aside, projecting much, like HELLO]

Daniel walks into the nature room, where Armand already is, floating among the shelves reading; meanwhile a servant (Rashid?) brings Daniel his food [which begs the question... where is Louis? is Daniel really going to eat there, with his back to Armand, floating high in the room? i'm having so many thoughts y'all, and none of them are in the bible- ahem.]

Louis: "It's his job." [definitely defending Daniel now! baby ily]

Armand: "It's his drug. He's reveling in it." [god he really is soooo pissed isn't he. the harshest/meanest interpretation right off the bat.]

Armand: "You should end it." [and there lies the crux of it. he wants Louis to end the interview (because of course he does), and he's chosen to frame it as 'Daniel manipulates you / enjoys manipulating you, you shouldn't enable him'. wonder how far that's gonna get him...]

a shot of the curtain that's become as much of the trademark logo as the stylized name of the show itself

Daniel: "Session 10 - the vampire Louis and the vampire Armand." [he sounds so annoyed. sick n tired of these vampires]

shots of Daniel adjusting his glasses and the mic [trying his best to appear professional(ly detached) huh]

Louis: "You have our attention." [so generous! wonder if these lines of dialogue go together or not, they could but they could also very well not]

Louis and Armand sit next to each other on the couch; both are smiling slightly, but Louis appears to be challenging Daniel / trying to appear in-control, while Armand's smile is...indecipherable [he's sooooo obsessed <33 sorry not sorry it's all i can see]

Daniel: "Are you two going to finish each other's sentences for the whole session?" [ohhh he doesn't like it... i wonder why. probably because they annoyed him before (this conversation feels pretty cut-together at this point), but i like to think he feels weirdly jealous and doesn't know why :3]

corresponding shot of Daniel - he looks bemused / like he can't quite believe what he's seeing [question remains whether this is too much / uncalled for, or whether he even turns his discomfort down to phrase his question as politely (or unthreateningly) as he can - we really need the true context for this!]

shot of the past: Louis and Armand sitting on a bench, turning to look at each other as one - Louis smiles first, then Armand breaks out in a (happy? relieved?) smile [no freaking clue what scene this clip could be ripped from; but it's clearly supposed to emphasize how in sync they are (finishing each other's sentences, moving as one, making each other happy (?))]

Daniel: "We've been together 77 years, Daniel." [good narrative opening objectively... i'll withhold further comment for now]

shots of Louis and Armand taking a walk in the park and near some building (?) at night, still in the past [not sure if both are from the same scene (one long walk) or not, but the message is clear - they're comfortable together and have been for a long time]

still in the past, Armand kisses Louis' cheek, Louis smiles happily [out of context, a very cute moment, 50/10 no notes. in-context i've seen someone point out a possible relation to a later scene and called in a Judas kiss, and frankly i have no been the same person since]

Louis: "Shall we let the math of that settle?" [i still think this dialogue is very patched-together, but we obviously can't know at this point. he's definitely trying to convince Daniel that he and Armand are a unit, inseparable, why does he even question that. (yeah, right; he's definitely not just trying to convince Daniel.)]

Louis and Armand all but swagger into a room right after one another, Louis giving Claudia (presumably) a Look [they seem happy, and i've seen many people say "they just had sex" and attribute the Look to that as well - it's possible! but i somehow doubt Louis would be so brazen (by his standards) about to in front of Claudia (still assuming this is her); but i'm pretty sure Something just happened between them]

Claudia smiles at someone - fake? genuine? strained, in-between? - while holding a box of some kind under her arm [presuming this is indeed the same scene, it would make the most sense she's smiling at Louis in response. why is she there? are they meeting up? it looks like Louis and Armand are arriving to meet her. is whatever they're gonna talk about related to that box?]

Armand: "She's something, your Claudia." [clearly an overlayed line from the Mansion Massacre scene - but i wonder, not for the first time, how sincere he is being there. clearly he wants Louis to think he means it as a compliment, but could he? at least to a degree? would he be impressed with her, despite himself (his rules, his growing resentment)? a little like Lestat?]

Louis: "A spark in the dark." [still a line from the Mansion Massacre; and can i just say i will never ever ever get over how proud and happy he sounds (seemingly utterly unaware of how he's portraying his life as terrible and Claudia as barely making a dent in the overwhelming darkness of it all..... so typical Louis, really.)]

Claudia leans on a windowsill, raising her eyes to look at something/someone off-screen with apprehension (or disdain?) [no idea who she could be looking at, or when this is - i'll pose a totally wild guess and say either it's Armand or Santiago approaching her]

Section 2: Claudia & Louis

Claudia looking sad (and disheveled?), almost fearful, sitting in a sort of moving vehicle covered by linen (?) [hiding / travelling through Europe?]

Louis: "I wanna say somethin' to you. Our life is shit. It's been shit. It is shit. It's gon' be shit again. Stop feeling sorry for yourself. A shit life beats no life." [someone said Louis is channelling his own mother in this speech to Claudia (it can only be Claudia he's addressing). and i really don't have much to add there. something something generational trauma is a monster.]

a top-down-shot of a convoy of moving vehicles... military vehicles? [i can only guess, it's so dark i can barely see for shit, but maybe Louis and Claudia are travelling in a troop transport? it is wartime after all]

then, a shot we already know well - Claudia and Louis, in ragged-looking clothes (Claudia carrying a bag or suitcase) running away from a building, right before the back of it explodes [speaking of wartime! this is not a good time to be travelling Europe guys...]

Louis is watching a picture burn, in a room where pictures hang behind him on strings [is he burning pictures? if so, of what/who? and the flame looks strangely disconnected... does he have the Fire Gift already? while it would be cool if he discovered it here, i doubt it, because he would look much more surprised/shocked. but what IS he burning? the idea that he's trying to photograph his hallucinations of Lestat but is presented over and over with empty frames really stuck with me...]

Louis and Claudia walk through dimly lit streets, still looking ragged, paying no mind to the rain beating down on them [no idea when or where this could be, sorry]

Claudia crawls out of a hole in the ground, looking extremely ragged and soot-covered and desperate (?), a fire burning somewhere on some trash behind her [either revenants or wartorn Europe; with the fire, i'm cautiously guessing wartimes, but what is Claudia growing out of? looks more likely to be a grave than a bunker, but the fire and the soot would fit with war...]

Claudia, in fancy, all dolled-up blue outfit, ripping down a string with photographs on it and throwing it to the ground in a rage [likely connected to a later scene - she's mad at Louis, and takes it out on his pictures. this still being under the "life is shit" monologue is also very telling... ]

Louis sitting alone on a bench, the camera positioned as if someone's watching him through the bushes but we don't see anyone [what time is this? IS someone watching him? don't ask me!!]

another shot we already know, of Claudia staring at some huge fire, Louis beside her - she still looks ragged, but not despairing anymore, her face a mixture of shock and (very cautious) joy [someone said Louis just burned the revenants...? but i confess i don't know anywhere near enough about that section to make a guess myself. it would work with Claudia being both relieved and shocked (at what's Louis's capable of), though.]

Louis: "And where we're going now, can't be running away again!" [i have turned this bit over in my head again and again. what the hell does he mean? does he just crave stability this badly, or is this a dig specifically at Claudia? his tone of voice almost seems to imply that... but what happened that made him feel this way! is this really about killing Lestat...? or smth else since that we haven't seen? what he says after this implies that they already met the revenants, but surely he can't blame her for leaving them behind?? is he just desperately trying to put his foot down like 'third time's the charm come ON now'. in any case though it's terrible foreshadowing... they "can't" leave, huh?]

Louis and Claudia in rags approach the Panthéon in Paris [at a guess they just arrived in Paris, and are marvelling at the sights / are simply overwhelmed, after everything they've been through]

Louis, standing next to a big wall and a lantern, waiting for a figure from the right to approach [we can't see who it is, but a later scene that seems to be going very well with this one shows us it's likely Armand]

Section 3: The Théâtre des Vampires

Louis: "We're gonna to find others like us. We can't be the only good ones out there." [and this is the bit i said that implies they already met the revenants and that's what Louis is referring to; others "like them" aren't just vampires, but functioning, non-feral ones]

members of Armand's coven bow to Claudia and Louis [part of a clip we've already seen, i believe - this should be when Armand introduces them to the others]

in a big room with at least five coffins at it, it's bedtime - everyone's shutting their lids, but we only get a glimpse of Armand who shuts his last (behind each coffin is also a small area with what i assume are personal effects?) [of all the things i didn't expected, it was the coven having a communal sleeping room... and Armand to be right among them! but maybe i should have ?? idk, i think it's weirdly precious in any case]

a very VERY ragged-looking lady is licking something off her black fingernails [either a revenant or someone even more insane - considering the voice-over is still talking about "good ones", i'm betting on revenant for now, but once again who the hell knows - i sure as heck don't! all i know is that she could likely be the same lady who seemed to be clawing at Louis in an earlier trailer... is she licking his blood off her fingernails now? no... the scenes have totally different lighting. but maybe this is her MO?]

someone we only see a hand of operating a projector (could this be a cinema setting?), someone else looking into the same room from a window beside them [apparently the character is called Tuan Pham and he's part of the coven, but that's all we know so far]

Santiago: "Welcome! We here at Théâtre des Vampires delve into the underbelly of the human soul." [he's clearly presenting the show to the human audience, he's got his showman voice on; and it's certainly fun to hear how it's being pitched to the bewitched audience!]

a shot of a figure on stage, viewed from the back and lit from the front, slowly raising their (his?) head to the light, followed by a shot of Santiago raising his head up to an overhead light - i'm going to cautiously assume those belong together (you never know) and both are Santiago (you see part of the gear from a different trailer where he flew on his back, too) [i'm mostly stuck on why he looks so...apprehensive, you could almost say? like, he could just be bowing out after a show, i can't say for sure. but wouldn't be smile a smug smile? or look extra menacing? and not...this, this almost-afraid expression? i wonder if there's going to be a confrontation in an empty theatre.... horror movie style]

we briefly see boots lift off the stage (whose is impossible to tell) to a few shocked faces in the audience [just gonna assume this is still Santiago, because frankly why wouldn't it be]

someone with Santiago's hair (i can't quite make out his face, but it's likely him) is riding a motorcycle and being quite passionately kissed by a woman sitting on his lap [no idea who the woman is / if i'm supposed to recognize her, but i'll assume she's a vampire as well - and because i cannot assume the worst every second in my life, i will just say right here, to both of them: good for you!]

a stage production - we see a projected background, showing a meadow, a dead tree and three (apparently living) skeletons of humanoid-looking bird creatures, and in front of it are two actors, one with an axe standing in the back and one with a scythe walking towards the bird-things (?), dressed in a hood like Death (the creature closest to him seems to be shaking in fear) [once again no idea who the person in the background could be, or what this play is supposed to depict, but it reminds me of an earlier trailer - it seems to be the same scene, with the same two people and projected backdrop, just minus the skeletal creatures. and in that other trailer, the hooded Reaper was clearly visible as Santiago, and he seemed to be casting the axe out of the other guy's hand with the Mind Gift?? so he could be a victim...]

then there's a reused scene - a group of eight vampires in similar plain clothing crowding around (about to devour?) a red-haired lady who screams in terror; they quickly pull her under [is this part of a theatre performance? it looks very choreographed, and not very efficient... also the lighting? i will say stage for now. also, the woman looks suspiciously like Madeleine, but i doubt it's her. i've seen someone theorize that this is Madeleine's sister, and Madeleine comes to seek out the theatre after her mysterious disappearance...]

Santiago: "We do horror shows so we can eat people!" [skipping over how cute i somehow found this because that's for another essay, i wonder who he's talking to? he's so exasperated! who's not getting the concept / who does he think is not getting the concept? it's Louis isn't it]

corresponding shot of Santiago saying (shouting) the above line, while throwing away a script (?) he held in his hand [is he angry at a change in script, maybe? does he want to go back to the good old days when it was simple(r), and not do whatever is written on the pages he just got? all possible!!]

Section 4: Lestat (x9)

an almost black-and-white (black and warm beige) shot of Lestat strutting through a..backstage area?, taking off his coat - lit from the outside so only silhouettes are visible to us [first thought: diva! :D second thought: wait is he in a hurry or is he angry...]

Armand: "Lestat Lestat Lestat Lestat Lestat Lestat Lestat Lestat Lestat!" [100/10 meme. all i have to say. he sooo can't stand him <333 yes obv i know this is about him being annoyed with Louis constantly thinking (and at the time, as this seems to be the first interview, also talking) about him. but also. 100/10 meme.]

corresponding scene: Armand is clearly very annoyed at Louis; we don't see much of the room they're in, but the window has been taped over with newspapers to block the incoming sunlight [again, i maintain this is during the first interview; basically nothing else makes sense. also, Armand seems to be wearing the same shirt and undershirt (?) as he did at the bar, minus jacket. (his hair is super mussed though... i assume he ran his fingers through it a LOT before he had this outburst)]

Lestat eats a piece of paper... VERY enthusiastically [if this isn't a hallucination i'll eat some paper myself. it's even weird for a hallucination tbh :'D though extremely hilarious]

Armand: "There is no scripting Lestat. You cannot script a hurricane." [i've seen one person suggest this is pre-trial, but i doubt that honestly..? who would Armand be talking to then, and in so contemplative a voice, too. my best guess (which also isn't good tho tbh) is that this is during his early-ish days as an actor. and i still have less than no clue who Armand would be talking TO.]

a short frame of Armand's face, contorted in...rage? despair? he's yelling, and gesturing with his right arm (though that's not clearly visible) - his fangs are out a little. there are two guards, presumably human, in background [whatever the HELL is happening must be extremely emotional, to make him lose control in public and even bring out his fangs!]

Lestat, in his red Wolfkiller cloak, is sliding backwards on a cobblestone road - apparently thrown by the figure he glances at despairingly (who we can't see defining features of). there are humans (?) in the background paying the scene no mind, but someone with nicely done-up hair (with a bow!) is standing next to the person who (presumably) push/threw Lestat, and is watching [it's not difficult to assume the two scenes happen exactly in this order, and that Armand telekinetically yeeted Lestat (his overcoat seems to be the same) - and the other person is very likely Nicki...]

Lestat, in make-up and a very fancy outfit, is lowering a mask from his face with a pleased (?) smile - a theatre performance [i've seen multiple theories on what role he's playing here, so i'll reserve my own judgement - i have no idea :'D]

a very fancily dressed audience very excitedly claps for something... with one figure absolutely not fitting it between the pastels and the finery: Armand, in dark rags, not clapping just staring, seemingly half in shock [another two scenes very likely to belong together - Armand seeing Lestat for the first time, perhaps??]

what can i say about this shot. it's the trial, that's what it is. a big audience, Lestat swaying down the center column between them, Louis, Claudia and Madeleine (Claudia in her yellow dress) tied up behind him on the stage. Santiago in a wig (presumably presiding as judge). the film running on the stage wall behind everyone shows burning picture frames (?) [someone suggested that the pieces of paper displayed on the stage in a display case are pages from Claudia's diary, and they're being used as evidence - that would be a clever twist, though i wonder how they'll match that up with the present (remind me what was missing from her diaries again? not all/most of the patricide plot, right?). i also want to say something about Claudia's yellow dress, but i won't, because it would not really add anything here. if you know, you know.]

Lestat bites into Armand's wrist and drinks. he is dressed relatively well (is that a bow in his hair?), while Armand seems to be in rags. they are underground (catacombs?). Armand appears to be watching with fascination, while Lestat sighs and closes his eyes in bliss. [i have so many goddamn questions about this. more than about any other clip tbh. this does NOT happen like this in the books, not even remotely. and why is Armand in rags? that would indicate this is quite early in their relationship ("relationship"), right? i guess they're really changing up a LOT...]

Louis and Armand in a room with big windows, a lit desk with pictures hung beside it, and a painting on an easel - Louis is holding Armand from behind while Armand also reaches for him, clearly an erotic/blissful moment between them [two things here - theme of Louis' lovers getting over their trauma associated with their dream craft in his presence (/ for him?), and theme of That Embrace... only that Louis isn't the one being embraced this time !]

Claudia: "Let me guess, he's your companion finally. Picked another one over me!" [we can only guess what led up to this, but Louis probably tried to justify something Claudia didn't like by giving an argument a la "but Armand" - because while her rage and resentment are very understandable, i doubt they were triggered just by Louis choosing to date Armand; if everything else was going well for them, why would she mind? no, at a guess, Claudia wants to leave the theatre behind (for whatever reason), and Louis doesn't want to leave Armand. and just like that, her worst fears are realized...]

shots of Armand and Louis, sitting down (?) smoking together - the camera is zoomed so closely to their faces you can't see anything else [if my memory doesn't deceive me, this clip was already shown in an earlier trailer]

the clip belonging to Claudia's line - she's all dolled up in blue, and absolutely furious at (who we can't see but only presume to be) Louis [as i commented earlier, during the scene where Claudia ripped down a string with pictures dressed in the same outfit - these probably belong together. i assume whatever Louis responded to her here only served to make her even angrier... or did she tear down the pictures even before this? she kind of looks like she's about to storm out, though the clip cuts before it can become quite clear]

Claudia, still in the blue doll outfit, apparently posing as a living advertisement for the theatre - having a small altercation with a white man, and clearly very, VERY annoyed at the entire situation [which i 100% understand - i've seen several people call for the head of whoever put her on advertisement duty, and i've also seen theorized that that dress/look was chosen for her so that she appears more appealing; more childlike. all in all, extremely fucked, i'd be just as mad if i was her.]

Section 4: You should fear the other one

Daniel: "Paris sucks." [audio from the Alice clip we've gotten before - and CLEARLY what Claudia was thinking in the scene it's voiced-over to]

Louis: "That's not the point she was making." [still from the Alice clip, and most definitely what she meant Louis...]

Daniel: "Fuck these vampires." [he's quoting - and it should be no leap to assume he's quoting Claudia, she does not like the role (evidently) assigned to her at the theatre]

the corresponding scene where Daniel reads from an old notebook (very likely one of Claudia's diaries) [as above - he's quoting Claudia. though i have to say i don't quite know what to make of his facial expression after he reads the line aloud... provocative, or genuinely thoughtful? knowing Daniel, probably a bit of both, but mostly the former]

Daniel: "I wanna get out alive!" [alright, someone's definitely scared! more than he's ever been before, or at least, more than he's ever appeared to be before. i wonder how long he's been pretending for, or whether something very specific pushed him to this point... i strongly presume the latter]

corresponding shot of Daniel saying that with a desperate sort of expression, and a mystery man he's speaking to just out of focus - he looks like he's trying to convince the man (who only turns to look at him during the sentence), and not much can be gleaned from the surroundings (there's a yellow curtain or partition ?) [my best guess is that Daniel is seeking council on how to best proceed in the dangerous position he's gotten himself into, though who he may be speaking to is impossible to say for sure at this point]

mystery man: "You fear Armand. You should fear the other one." [two things to unpack here - firstly, it's almost obscene how much i relish the thought of Daniel being scared of Armand; i want to scream "BABY!" from the top of my lungs lol. but secondly... are we all in agreement that 'the other one' is Louis? because i've seen at least one person theorize he means Lestat... but surely not. surely not?? if Lestat suddenly showed up in Dubai, i have a feeling a lot things would happen, but not Daniel stepping out to talk about it with someone else... no, this is about Louis. who, may i just remind those doubtful, has nearly killed Daniel at one point before !]

close-up of Daniel's face, an indecipherable expression on it, but clearly some kind of deep emotion is being felt [several people apparently seem to see him having earbuds in...? on my life i swear i don't see them, but whatever he's looking at or listening to (or, of course, remembering), it seems to be very intense. if he's indeed reviewing some kind of material or another, people have put forth him watching some of the tapes he made with Armand back in the day... and ngl i would dissolve into a big puddle of tears on the spot, goodbye cruel world, so i'm rooting for that!!]

Armand gives a very meaningful Look [another bit from a trailer we already saw - i dubbed it bedroom_eyes.png then already, and i am unafraid to do so again. (i also said then how hilarious it would be if Daniel didn't catch his meaning at all... if this expression is being put in direct relation to Daniel being SCARED of Armand, honestly i would just freaking die XD what are you scared of, boy? being gay??)]

mystery man & Daniel, corresponding scene to the man saying the abovementioned line - you can now see his face and more of his clothes, he wears a suit and tie, very thick-rimmed black glasses, and cropped grey hair [it's no secret one of the most heavily debated aspects of this trailer is the identity of this mystery man played by Justin Kirk. he seems perfectly cut out to play Marius, but this look (as well as (apparently) being a human aware of the existence of vampires) made many feel he could only be playing David. however, lately there has been a post pointing out that Marius also wears a similar look at one point in the books, confining his signature color (red) to his pants... i for one know what i'll be watching for in particular when this exact scene flits across my screen!!]

shots of Louis throwing a glass of blood at a painting [people smarter than me have tried to figure out the meaning, i'll withhold my judgement here]

Louis: "You're not here, I'm just fucked in the head." [ngl, Louis, if your hallucinations try to ARGUE with you / make you feel like you have to argue with them - you're already at a bad stage of things!! (if indeed he's seeing a hallucination - i'd just about cry if he said this to the real Lestat when they finally reunite, and he just can't believe it...)]

Louis walking down a street (presumably) in the past [brief scene that at least i can glean nothing from]

hallucination!Lestat birthing a fleshy bird (?) out of his throat wound, trying but failing to speak as the creature screeches [something something the bird in Nicki's mind, the birds speaking to Paul... the bird now birthed from Lestat in Louis' hallucination cannot be a coincidence (also this is from the same scene where Louis finds ("finds") him lying crucified, right?)]

a sequence of shots - Louis snarling in anger, fangs out, flips a table with a tape recorder and some beer and other things on it, attacking young Daniel; they crash down on the floor out of focus, just after the tape recorder falls to the ground [i guess Daniel just asked for Louis to turn him into a vampire!! or rather, told him he doesn't even understand the meaning of his own story, as seen in ep 1x07 and later in this trailer as well]

Louis blowing smoke out of his mouth, possibly in a café in Paris (?) [just saying that because it reminds me of the café he sat in with Claudia talking about his new picture-taking hobby]

Claudia: "You're stronger." [she's talking to Louis as we'll soon see, and i have too many thoughts about what she could mean. what happened that made her asses him in this way? is he drinking human blood now? did he do something drastic she hadn't expected him capable of, and she wonders at what changed? there are simply too many possibilities to say]

shots Claudia and Louis sitting next to each other on two armchairs with a lamp between them, talking - corresponding to the previous and following lines between them [again no idea when this happens or why]

Louis: "Ah yeah?" [he's not looking at her as he says this, and his tone holds ever so slight of a challenge - he's not flattered, quite the opposite - it's almost like he doesn't want to hear her words at all (by their track record, presumably because they're making him uncomfortable - and *that* they presumably do because they are true...)]

Claudia: "Harder, too." [she's relentless, especially if she wants something, or wants to figure something out - she wants to know something about Louis, something she didn't get to witness anything but the result of, i'd wager]

Claudia: "But you gotta give up something to get something." [aaand there it is. at my best guess, something changed in Louis, and Claudia wants to know what it is - specifically, what he gave up for that change.]

shots of Claudia holding an umbrella, watching Madeleine through her window lighting a match (and sewing? there's a sewing machine next to her in any case) [once again re-used, but i won't grow tired of seeing them; they're lesbians your honor!!!]

Louis and Claudia drinking from Madeleine's throat from both sides as she stares at the ceiling, gasping quietly [this now (apart from the deviation from text, now apparently they're both her makers..??) makes me particularly worried in regards to the quote still overlayed on it. could Claudia be talking to Louis after he (/ they) turned Madeleine? did Armand indeed force him, and Claudia notices the change (the loss of the last of his soul, as he says in the books) now and wonders at it? that would be quite ironic... and INCREDIBLY painful]

Section 5: You and Me, Me and You

Louis: "It's you and me. Me and you. You and me. Me and you. You, and me!" [he's swearing to Claudia, as we'll soon see (and that also makes the most sense) - but the quote is obviously hijacked to portray multiple significant relationships for Louis, as per the montage it's set to]

corresponding shots of Louis and Claudia sitting across from each other in a moving vehicle, covered by a sheet of whatever linen (?) vehicle covers are made out of [judging by the way they look this is still wartimes... and judging by Claudia's expression, she's not buying Louis' fervent declaration. my personal theory is that this happens just after they escaped the revenants, but there is no way to know. it seems to be the same scene from earlier in the trailer though, where it's set to Louis "our life is shit" speech]

Armand and Louis standing across from each other (several feet apart) in the middle of a big road, not looking happy [someone suggested this could be a sort of break-up... i'll withhold judgement, but whatever it is, it sure seems serious]

Armand and Louis standing very close, Armand's hand cupping Louis' cheek - only for Louis to move sideways and walk away, seemingly disgusted or heavy frowning for some other reason, as Armand stands almost frozen [probably the same location as the previous scene (judging by a neon light visible behind them), and whatever Armand tried to say or do to salvage the situation, Louis is not having any of it. extended version of the very short clip we got in an earlier trailer, where some people feared Armand may be putting Louis to sleep - worries set aside! Louis is not falling, that's just the perspective making his evasive movement look odd]

Santiago, seemingly sitting down (he's only visible from the chest up), in a wifebeater and suspenders, muscles on display and hands offscreen, staring indecipherably at... someone. [is it Louis? the next scene, as well as the voiceover, sure seem to imply so. and no i can't even begin to theorize on the why.]

Louis staring up at something or someone, clearly conflicted in some way [it reminds me of the moment they showed as his reaction to Lestat's portrait in the first trailer, though it's clearly not the same clip - it's also very unlikely that he's looking at Santiago though, because Santiago was very well-lit (like he's on stage or smth) and Louis' clip is very dark, and people are moving blurrily behind him which wouldn't be the case in a stage setting. nonetheless, cutting these two clips together with that audio strongly implies a close connection between him and Santiago, which would be all kinds of interesting...! (especially after all the theories that the wink from an earlier trailer spawned)]

Louis in the present day, smiling very fondly (almost mischieviously?) at someone off-screen [is it Daniel? again, the next clip implies this, but i've ceased trusting almost any editing in these trailers (if i ever did to begin with). then again - who ELSE would he be smiling at this way? no one it could reasonably be would fit... he's not looked at any of his lovers like that, at least not since his early days with Lestat]

Daniel is looking at Louis, something between doubt and the beginnings of a smile on his face [or maybe the two scenes do belong together here? at least in Daniel's shot, you can see Louis in a blurry outline. i wonder what they are discussing? whatever it is, it has Louis emotional and Daniel still on the side of doubtful... so nothing new really :'D only Louis' emotional cadence being positive is very new, and therefore very interesting indeed]

a shot of Lestat, still clearly a hallucination with a throat wound and white shirt [duh, this can't be a montage of Louis' significant relationships without Lestat!]

and the quote finishes up on Louis speaking the last words in that same moving vehicle - all but spitting them in his conviction, really [one can only guess what's got him so riled up - is he trying to convince the ever-doubtful Claudia, or himself?]

Daniel: "I mean you don't understand the meaning of your own story!" [did they really take the same quote as heard in the tapes on the show (evidently, the provocation that made Louis attack Daniel), but removed a word? there's an "even" in there in ep 1x07! sorry, i notice this shit :'D]

corresponding clip of Daniel yelling this at Louis in his 'shitty apartment', newspapers covering the window still visible [3...2...1... cut to the earlier clip of Louis throwing the table before fucking launching them both to the floor (and yk, attemping to drain Daniel of every last drop of blood)]

Louis, on the floor, looking beaten, face contorted in pure agony, staring at someone just out of focus of the camera (Armand ? it's impossible to say for sure), being picked up and taken away by an older man [i'll say it this way: no idea who the old man is, or who exactly Louis is looking/pleading to, but i can really only imagine one scene that would have him come apart at the seams this badly...]

Louis: "NO!" / sobbing [even without the corresponding clip, hearing his voice drag out and then break over that one-syllable word would've been agonizing. all i have to say to that, really.]

another reused shot, this time the one of Armand leaning on a railing (in the theatre?) and crying, seemingly alone in the room [to quote someone else: 'the look of a man who couldn't prevent it'. coupled with the previous clip, that interpretation seems increasingly likely... this could well be Armand post or during Claudia's death]

Armand: "I failed Louis once in my life, it wasn't in San Francisco." [now this one is very interesting - i've seen many theories on it, but personally what i think far likeliest is the most obvious one: that Armand is trying to sugarcoat/reframe Claudia's death in front of Daniel (but also in front of Louis, of course, always) - either maintaining his claim that he could not prevent the events (but had nothing directly to do with them), or admitting his agency in it but glossing over it as "whelp, i did something i knew was going to make Louis unhappy, i was a terrible boyfriend there for a hot second, but i regret it deeply and it was only that one time!!" and trying to keep it contained in that fashion. also not to be ignored here though is the rest of the sentence... i can only presume he was asked about something in San Francisco (maybe something he regrets / something directly relating to a 'failing' in his & Louis' relationship?), and he tries to say 'nah that wasn't bad, there was only one other time that was bad'. or is this just a transition of topic after they've talked about something in San Francisco? in any case, he is talking to Daniel, and Louis (likely) isn't present, and they're mentioning San Fran. i am not vibrating with excitement, you are!!!]

another re-used clip - the one of Louis looking extremely tough and confident, blood splatters on his face [people have said he just set fire to something, which could be true... in any case, he seems to be feeling very confident, and not very haunted or devastated or overly angry... so my bet would be on the revenants for that.]

someone with white (?) hair walks through the streets of (i presume) Paris at night, carrying a big bag over their shoulder [from behind, it's impossible to say whether that is Santiago, or someone else with silver fox-y hair... could be that old man we saw pick up Louis for all we know! (and putting that together with a certain other clip... i still have the people in my air yelling that Louis has been put in a sack...)]

Louis grabs Armand to kiss him; judging by the blurry green behind them, they could be in a park ? [this could be the "leaked" (= fan-recorded) kiss that went around on twitter a bit ago... that's just about all that i have. i saw someone theorize that this is a break-up kiss, which would fit with the microsecond glimpse we get of Armand's eyes looking sorta glassy... but irdk, i'm also withholding judgement here, no idea]

Section 6: *screams*

Lestat: "Ha!" / yells [weird enough by itself... but much weirder yet with the scene it's attached to]

corresponding scene of Lestat having his little outburst... standing next to Louis, who is frowning heavily at Armand (next to the camera, just out of focus) - they all appear in a gallery that smarter people than me have interpreted as the Louvre [so Lestat is not only haunting the narrative, but Louis & Armand's dates as well! at least he is when Louis is upset... as others have pointed out plenty before, he could well be manifesting every time Louis feels he can't express / has to suppress a certain emotion, and that's why he acts so extremely when he appears. and i for one would love to see that!!]

a red-haired woman, very likely Madeleine, has her hair cut with silver scissors by an unseen person, and has her mouth open screaming in pain/terror [people say this is prep for... you know... and i'm strongly inclined to believe them. i do however have a sickening feeling on top of all the sickening feelings at play here... the way the scissors wiggle, there? together with how extremely her face is contorted? i doubt she's fully screaming in fear... it looks almost like the person holding the scissors is either intentionally, or very uncaringly, cutting into her *ear*.]

young Daniel, looking very pale/sickly (?), appears to get thrown into a concrete wall - hard enough for pieces of it to come crumbling out after the impact [now this is more than curious - is he freshly drained? did Louis yeet him? or rather, did Armand yeet him away from Louis? he is wearing the same shirt he was wearing for the interview, and while Louis first fed from him lying down (well - smushed to the floor), Armand could well have pulled them both up and then removed Daniel from the danger zone (so to speak) by force (and obv, moved to deal with Louis first, before his victim). seems plausible enough for me! (just, whatever you do, don't think about the possible brain damage he could've gotten from that, or the connection between brain damage and Parkinson's...)]

two figures we can only presume to be Louis and Lestat are walking up some very fancy stairs, with Louis holding a flashlight; meanwhile, someone we can only presume to be Armand is floating straight up in the middle of the frame, apparently taking a shortcut next to the winding stairs [Google wasn't exactly helpful in trying to figure out whether this is the Louvre or not, because no staircase i could find precisely matched this one - don't tell me this is a full-scale rebuild of what it looked like back in the day?? :'D - but for now, i will assume that this is indeed in the Louvre. and in any case, the main question is, What The Fuck Are You Doing, Armand?! are you trying to give Louis & Hallu!Stat some space? the whole night-dark place some truly creepy atmosphere?? sorry i'm more yelling than actually theorizing, but i've gone over this so many times and i have no goddamn idea why in the world Armand would just float upwards like this except for how he's an absolute and complete weirdo (affectionate; but affectionate and weary :'D)]

Armand: "I was in love." [yet another hotly debated line - who could he be referring to, many wondered? to me, it seemed obvious from the start - he can hardly be referring to anyone but Louis, not in so blasé a tone (even if he might be acting). admitting love for anyone else - Daniel, or god forbid Lestat - would be a much bigger act for him, and therefore not happening so easily in conversation (imo). also, it's pretty clear he's using that as an excuse/justification - this could very well come up as Daniel is confronting him about something he's done to or in relation to Louis!]

Daniel: "You buy that?" [while this clear provocation could be in response to almost anything (that is talked about with both vampires in attendance), let's pretend for a second it is indeed not cut together with the previous line for the fun of it - just imagine Armand trying to justify something he did by claiming he did it out of love / was crazed by love, and Daniel directing that right over to Louis so brazenly. where would we be without Daniel, truly.]

Lestat, sitting down, holding a cigarette (in what looks like the past to me), absolutely melting with laughter [ok, putting this right after Daniel's question is the clearest bait i've ever seen - by the scene backgrounds alone these two clips couldn't possibly go together. whatever is going on, this is just ("just") the signature crazed Lestat Laugh..!!]

Louis: "Back to hell with you!!!" [yes, the exclamation marks are necessary, he's all but howling it after all - the only logical conclusion to who he's addressing being, of course, our dear friend Hallu!Stat. i guess he's really had enough of him now!!]

the corresponding scene, which features a POV not previously seen (far as i remember) - Louis is angrily yelling directly at the camera, even grabbing it and throwing it to the ground, so presumably grabbing the person he's yelling at. and all that in public! at a café, or at least out in the streets (of, presumably, Paris) [the easiest/closest assumption is that he's trying to grab Hallu!Stat after he's said smth particularly provoking... but what if Louis is actually grabbing some poor uninvolved human who he's mistaking for Lestat (maybe overlayered with a hallucination)? now that would be extremely interesting, and explain the strange POV better too - because that would be the plottwist then revealed to the viewer, likely in the same moment as it hits Louis]

a continuation of a scene from earlier in the trailer - Lestat in his red Wolfkiller cloak, charging at (presumably) Armand, full of rage; while interestingly, the humans behind him appear to be frozen [did he stop time? did Armand, in order to deal with the scene better? in any case, i appreciate the frozen pedestrians, because their positioning is what makes me so sure this is Lestat getting back up from his first run-in with Armand repelling him (as opposed to the reason that Armand threw him on the cobblestones to begin with). i wish him the best of luck, he does seem to have a lot of fury going for him... unfortunately, so does Armand, from what we saw earlier]

a brief shot of Louis screaming, with his face split in a nasty wound - this too is a scene reused from an earlier trailer [people have pointed out it's the same wound he received in ep 1x05 at the hands of Lestat, which makes this very likely to be one of those revisits that have been promised to us... i will hold back on any & all theorizing on what could possibly be revealed there, really, all i want to see is what happened during the brief moment of silence where Claudia couldn't see them. anything else i'll let myself be surprised by!]

another reused clip, this time of the bloodied woman falling from the ceiling onto a prepared blanket on the wooden floor [everyone's working theory then the same as now was/is that this is a victim being tossed through the stage's trap door for later disposal]

a very close close up of a pointy-toothed mouth screaming, seemingly covered by some kind of cloth - also reused [aaand that's where the theory that Louis gets dragged away from (you know) and trapped in a sack came from... can't say i can't see what people mean ! though it would have to be some formidable cloth indeed, to hold even a weakened/"vegetarian" vampire...]

someone (Claudia? impossible to be sure, but who else would it be) sits beside a corpse (one of three visible in the frame) on the frozen ground, and rips out and tosses the corpse's heart - right towards the camera [while people who had seen the full trailer said this scene was even more gory there - with the heart impacting the 'screen' and sliding down - this is already plenty vicious... i wonder why she does it? just anger, or is there a method behind it? could it possibly be related to the revenants somehow?]

Section 7: Pieces

Louis: "Pieces of my life, gone. I knew who I was without those pieces." [started with truth & reconciliation, and now we're here... challenging every 'truth' Louis thought he knew about himself. but this, crucially, does not seem to refer to mainly altered memories (regardless if altered by denial or by outside force) - was/is he actually unable to access whole chunks of memories like Daniel? and if so, why? Armand can't beat the allegations much longer, i'm afraid..!]

Lestat puts his fingers in Armand's hair (specifically, the bow in his hair), and leans up into him for a kiss - the shot cutting barely a frame before their lips would touch [now there's a billion and one things to say about this... but one would be that i highly doubt this is their kiss from the books. for one, Lestat initiates it, for another... that bow. i pointed it out in (who-we-presume-is-)Nicki's hair earlier, and...well. if you were Armand, infinitely powerful in the Mind Gift, and your crush absolutely refused to entertain the notion of smooching you because he's already seeing someone? well, there's a solution to that...!! there's many "solutions" to that, obviously, one more horrifying than the last, so frankly if this is how they're gonna play it here, i won't complain... though i don't actually think they're going to downplay or omit *ahem* certain canon events that are severely worse than a dastardly case of impersonation could ever be - if that is indeed what we're even seeing here. because if it isn't, well, there are about a dozen more theories waiting right around the corner!! from 'he's about to dramatically reject him like in the musical' to 'he's trying to buy Louis' freedom' to 'in show'verse, they actually dated for a bit'. guess we'll just all let ourselves be surprised!!!]

a seemingly ordinary apartment (Louis' apartment in the 70s? impossible to be sure), Armand is staring at something (someone?) off-screen with an indecipherable expression, while a blurry figure in the background is levitating on a chair [so much to unpack here - the blurry figure can hardly be Louis, he doesn't have the Cloud Gift, but then who is it?? and the location, plus Armand's attention being so thoroughly occupied... several people theorized he's watching over the drained/recovering Daniel here, and possibly catching feelings in real time?? but at this point we can't possibly know more about either occupant of that apartment/frame]

two blurry figures walking along an underground tunnel, the figure closer to the camera lighting a fire in their fingers - a reused scene, we know the person ahead is Louis, and the person behind is likely Armand (as we've seen what's very likely the same scene shot from the other perspective in an earlier trailer) [the theories here range from 'Armand first meeting Louis' to 'Armand teaching Louis self-defense', to various more]

one more reused scene - this time of Louis smacking Lestat's head into a wall so hard it leaves blood, and him seeming to enjoy it greatly [as he'll always enjoy any emotion he can elict from his Louis <3 question is only whether Louis is abusing a hallucination, a real person (!) (see above), or whether this will be a flashback... or the future?]

a shot of young Daniel, red-faced and ugly crying [there is absolutely no context, and the background is way too blurry to assume anything but that he's inside a building - people have theorized that this is when Armand tells him that he'll have to / he will take his memories, and while i can't fully rule that out ofc, i've grown increasingly doubtful that Armand took his memories in any sort of a rational act or after a detailed conversation, so...i cast doubt here! no idea which other scene Daniel could be crying this badly in, though... maybe it's not because of Armand at all?]

scene corresponding to the quote - Louis in the present day, with red-rimmed eyes, shaking his head in slight confusion (refusal? upset-ness?), talking to a blurry figure who appears to be Daniel from the silver-y outline we get [he seems... no longer happy to have taken the interview, that's for sure. but not angry, nor (completely) overwhelmed... he's just cracking open, and surprising himself with how much he's leaking all over the place.]

Section 8: Memory Is The Monster

the show's signature curtain, reading "Memory"

Armand strolling up to meet an indiscernable figure in a park, wearing the same outfit (or at least hat) we saw in an earlier trailer [is he meeting Louis for their park bench date? this seems to be the same scene as the bit earlier in this trailer, where Louis waited under a streetlamp - just from the opposite perspective. not 100% sure though]

Louis, Claudia, Madeleine and Armand clinking glasses together at a restaurant or café; Claudia is wearing her yellow dress, Madeleine a jacket (?) in a tasteful dark red, and it has all the vibes of a double date [now we could focus on the absolute sweetness - or the absolute horror - of the idea of this actually being a double date. but since this post is already more than long enough, i'll only bring up the two major things i've seen people theorize are connected to this... well, mainly one thing, two scenes. one thing: the trial. two scenes: the trial scene (duh), and - the cheek kiss from early in this trailer. the trial for obvious, yellow-dress-related reasons; though Claudia could obviously just be wearing the same dress for multiple occasions, that would be a really strange production choice particularly in this matter - and Madeleine seems to be wearing a dark-red skirt on the stage of the trial earlier, and a blue blouse (and the color of the blouse peeking out under her jacket in the date clip could well be a light blue). Louis could also well be wearing the same outfit to the trial later, just minus the jacket. which brings us to the theory that that sweet cheek kiss... could be the Judas Kiss of this story. Louis' and Armand's outfits from the cheek kiss scene seem to match the ones in the date scene relatively well, and the context would work perfectly. picture it: Armand arriving just a little bit later than the others, apologizing with a charming smile, kissing his sweetheart and sitting down - and no one asks questions about where he's been...]

Claudia is blindfolded, and sitting on a chair that is being lifted by various members of the theatre coven as the rest stand around and clap and cheer - she is laughing with absolute delight [the absence of Armand and Louis from this rite (at least as far as we can see) is striking, but Claudia seems perfectly happy - like she has finally found her place to belong, where people love and accept her just as she is. (now if only that were so easy.....)]

the show's signature curtain, reading "Is"

Santiago floating (speeding? speed-floating) through a tunnel [no idea where he's going, no idea what's going on... but ngl, a bit hilarious]

very close close-up of Louis in the modern day [straight-up no idea what we're supposed to read out of this, sorry, pass]

Louis in the darkroom, rubbing his eyes [he looks like me when i'm overtired again... which a vampire shouldn't get, though!! so whatever he's developing, it's clearly really getting to him... (the theory that he's trying to capture Hallu!Stat on camera is well-known at this point, yes?)]

the show's signature curtain, reading "The"

a shot of an incredibly overly bright room (sunlight not just streaming in but flooding it), flowers in a vase in the middle and Claudia on the right side of the frame, smiling broadly and wearing her yellow dress [very VERY clearly a memory / hallucination, from the impossibility of it alone but also simply the theme of overly lit clips usually being hallucinations, often of dead or lost loved ones. and if there's any doubt remaining that this is just that... may i just point to the yellow dress again]

Louis hugging Lestat, really pressing into the crook of his neck and splaying one hand on his back like there's nowhere he'd rather be [to many, surely THE clip of the trailer - spawning untold speculations of whether or not we'll actually get to see them reunite, in the flesh, and happily within this very season. i for one... am sorry, but i cast #doubt. i just don't know how they would fit that narratively. i would love to be wrong though, i truly truly would!!!]

a shot of Lestat, his hair perfectly splayed out in little golden waves and his throat totally bloody [it could be belonging to one of the scenes we already saw, i.e. the Jesus-on-the-cross-pose one... when he comes abruptly up from that pose, he does seem to have similar wounds and hair]

the show's signature curtain, reading "Monster"

yet another scene we already know - the books (and plenty of glass splinters) coming crashing down around Daniel as he's sitting at a desk with his laptop and microphone etc. in front of him [and i still can't unsee the theory that his arms are tied in this scene... it's like Schroedinger's Rope, i can't be sure he is tied up and i can't be sure he isn't! but no matter that, the main question of all is of course what caused that extreme bookcase breakage we see there?? many people's money seems to be on Lestat, one way or another, but i really don't know. not the faintest idea.]

Santiago baring his teeth [and ngl... looking just a bit too goofy with it :'D no idea what the context could be. i just hope he's playing and that this isn't his actual attempt at being intimidating!!]

Armand: "ENOUGH!" [so that WAS what he was yelling! good to know. still wondering what the fuck got him so mad... i can't wait :33]

the scene where Armand hits the table and all the vampires sitting alongside it drop unconscious, reused but extended now - at the end of the table, off the right side, the camera captures someone pulling at Santiago's tongue, at a clearly painful angle [and who could that be but Louis? question is only what the hell happened to make him do that specifically... that is a cruel and unusual punishment..!]

the camera moving over a bridge in Dubai (?) at night [no idea who could be leaving or arriving there - anybody's guess. Daniel leaving for a short while? Louis leaving forever?? something or someone entirely else??? don't ask me!]

Daniel: "Memories just keep bubbling up." [i did not giggle at this... you don't have witnesses, you can't prove anything. i'm just so happy he's remembering!!! (on a more serious note, i have a feeling like he's talking to a friend or someone else he trusts, but not Louis (or Armand)... he sounds too thoughtful for that, i don't think he'd let his guard down like that around them. just doesn't seem the vibe. i could be wrong ofc!)]

Louis: "I want this… to remember…" [the first and likeliest guess would be that he's saying this to Daniel - affirming, almost declaring, that he chooses the pain. chooses knowing over sweet, numb oblivion. but a horrible little voice asks me... what if he's saying it to Armand? pleading with Armand to *allow* him to remember, against Armand's better ("better") advice? ('no, you don't want that...')]

scene corresponding with Louis brave declaration - he's nodding, but he's crying (we see the first blood tear spill), and looking like he's barely holding on by a thread [no matter the precise context - he is being incredibly brave, no longer hiding from his worst memories, but walking towards them with a seeing eye. he is embracing the pain, finally recognizing it's better than just letting it all fester and rot, and i for one could not be prouder of him <33]

shot of Louis smoking a cigarette leaning on a bar - likely the same scene or from the same scene as the clip where early in this trailer [i'm gonna be honest with y'all - i have no idea what might be significant about this one. it's a full circle tho! i guess :'D]

#loumand #loustat #armandiel #devil's minion #claudeleine #interview with the vampire #shit i'm never doing again: this #any/all future trailer analyses will be SHORTER

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n1ghtcrwler · 2 years

Text

Explaining my Departure

I've tried to focus on my writing but it hasn't clicked and every time I try to my mind comes back to this so I think I just need to get it out of my system before I can get anything of note done. But to do it I'm going to tell a story because of who I am, fundamentally, as a person.

A couple years ago, on twitter, I came across this writing podcast that billed itself as a community for all writers and got all this praise from people I was following for being super supportive of writers in general, and I checked them out and started following and interacting. Some months later they had a contest, in which writers were encouraged to upload a video of themselves reading a chapter of their book. The person with the most likes on their video won; I don't remember the prize, but I could see the numbers on my video and others and knew that I wasn't getting it. So when they had the live episode where they were going to announce the winner, I was there more to show support and cheer along with everyone than out of any expectation that my story would get mentioned; by this point, they had a few times called for people to share info on their books in replies, and had highlighted a few books each time, and to date mine hadn't been acknowledged, so that was what I expected.

But then they announced early in the episode that they were going to show a bit of each video that had been entered and give comment on the chapter, and I got kind of excited. It would be after they accomplished some other business, you know, put that stuff at the end so people watch the whole episode, so I spent the next hour curious what they would say about my story (since my book didn't have chapters as such, but rather short stories, I had read one of those). A big part of the conversation was on the nature of critiques, and the hosts went out of their way to talk for a little while about how obsessing about first lines was a bad method and no one respectable should judge a story by the first line.

They got to the chapters, hitting each one in the order it was originally submitted, and pretty quickly fell into a rhythm. For each video, they would play the first paragraph or so (roughly guessing by how it sounded), highlight something they liked about it, talk about how many likes it got, and then move on. Mine was in the latter half of the ones they went through. They played the first sentence and then immediately stopped it. "Does that first sentence hook you?" one host asked the other. "No, it doesn't," the second host replied, and they went straight to the next video. No listening beyond that, no further comment, nothing good or even neutral, no statement about how many likes it got. Just one statement that the first line didn't hook them, a criteria they had just condemned not a half hour earlier, and then jump ahead to the next. I thought maybe they were getting tired and wanted to speed things along so I watched the rest to see how they treated the remaining videos; every single one got the first paragraph or so, highlight something they liked about it, talk about how many likes it got, and then move on treatment.

I was hurt and angry. The lack of mention prior to that moment hadn't really bothered me, but now that they had finally acknowledged my work only to shit on it? That they broke their own standards just to insult my story and literally no one else's? I went back through our interactions to see if there was anything I did that may have caused offense to warrant such blatant and public disrespect and found nothing. I asked other people who were more emotionally aware than me and not connected to the situation to do so, and they found nothing. I debated for a week whether or not to bring it up, but ultimately decided that it wasn't worth it (just as it hasn't been worth it to name them here). The conclusion I drew was that this simply wasn't a place my writing was welcome, so I just left the community and went about writing my second book.

Now, I don't get much feedback on my books, but it is overwhelmingly positive. Having done more than one year of events now, I've had complete strangers excitedly returning to my table looking for the second book while raving about the one they bought the year prior. I get messages about how good the story is and demands that I hurry up and get the next book finished so they don't have to wait as long to continue. The bulk of negative feedback has been one of two things: people who told me it was too scary for them to finish, and that one podcast dismissing it out of hand. And what I learned from all of this is that it isn't my writing that's the problem (though there is, obviously, room for improvement and always will be), but finding the audience who will appreciate the stories I'm telling. It isn't worth my time to keep trying to find my place somewhere that doesn't have room for me. When a place makes it apparent that my stories will not get respect or traction there, it is better to take the hit and turn my attention elsewhere. I am slowly finding my people through this process, and I love every encounter with them.

Writeblr has shown itself to not be the place where I will find my people. I have spent years here literally giving my story away, tagging people who asked to be tagged in updates, engaging in the community to the best of my ability. I don't know if it's my story (genre? tone? style?) or myself (I can't keep up with tag games or the weekly events that seem to happen every single day now and I don't do visuals much), but I've tried, and it hasn't clicked. I have watched as mutuals write and reblog post after post about how we all need to be supporting one another and reblogging is the bare minimum around here and get praised for being so supportive of all the writers on the site while my story that I know is crossing their dashboards every single week day continue to get no likes, no reblogs, nothing. I've seen posts about how people aren't being ignored by the community, their posts just get lost in the noise, but that's bullshit. Every single post, literally hundreds of posts, from one specific person gets lost in the noise? No matter what time of day it goes up? Despite the lack of algorithm, despite doing everything everyone here says to do to break through the noise? Not one post gets through?

Don't fucking lie to me.

I'm not discouraged enough to stop writing, leave tumblr entirely, or stop trying to boost the stories I find on my dash. My stories will continue to get published, things will continue to go onto my blog for others to see and probably ignore, I'm still open to be on tag lists if people want me to see what they're doing; but Writeblr clearly isn't the place for my stories and it's exhausting and painful trying to find a place here. So I'm done trying to figure out how to connect with it. It isn't worth my time or energy to watch every attempt at connection fall flat anymore. I have stories to write and an audience to find. See you around.

#writeblr #writblr

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kittytheartist · 2 years

Note

I know I know~ I love my angst~

That's literally my favourite thing to read!

I think of so many full slow burning AU's when I'm just trying to make a single one-shot but I end up questioning, "Wait how is this a thing?" Or "Why does he have these motivations in the first place?" and it turns into a series so I can explain it all without to many lose ends but I have so many things I'm writing at the moment that starting something new would be hard for me.

#5.1

Yeah and I was thinking about making Tsukasa and Kou friends of some sort because they both were turned mermaids in the same year. Kou did have a hard hard time trying to settle in while Tsukasa first had the time of his life when he was first turned but after the realization hit him he was a mess freaking out while Nene tried to keep him from doing something reckless.

Have you ever read Wings of Fire: The lost Heir? If so (or not) y'know how the queen in that story is very paranoid about having her eggs killed and broken? Yeah that but with Akane's mother in this one. Mermaids are born from eggs just like normal fish. Akamom(that is what I'll call her) has so many eggs all kept in a royal nursery not in the main kingdom but a hidden palace farther in the deep sea. Her batch(es) before Akane had all been killed and the royal guards were also sentenced to death too for failing to protect her kids. Except the maidens who keep the eggs clean and make sure they are comfy because as the queen says, "Women can do no wrong unless it is seen personally by me, the king, or one of our personal staff. If it is seen by anyone else they are immanently innocent." Once Akane's litter, which was also the last litter because she was to old enough to make have another one, was made and an attack came and killed all of his unborn siblings except him because one of the staff maidens hid his egg as the 'un-hatching' neared.

Nene was actually a born mermaid. She was born from a kingdom maiden who wasn't allowed to have child because she had to watch over the kids in the nursery. She was also the one who hid Akane's egg so he could live and was praised for her smart thinking. But when she was exposed by the kings private staff member for having Nene when she wasn't allowed to, she was sent in front of the king and queen. The queen forgave her instantly and said that she can have a child for saving the life of her child that no man could. When Nene was growing up, a lot of merfolk came up with rumors about "Oh her mom stole her from the queen herself... That's one of the queens daughters..." Those rumours can not be proved true or false unless she's put on land. But going to the upper land is forbidden and only acceptable when it is used as a punishment such as having the 'criminal' dried to death in the steaming hot sun or dehydrated. She isn't liked much by her own people nor does she know her father. She was assigned Akane's personal assistance when he was found and brought back to the kingdom after years of searching. She can't let him out of her slight at all cost. She even sleeps in the same room as him. Privacy? What's that? It took a while for Akane to warm up to her but he'd rather have her watching him then 30 staff. And later when Kou and Tsukasa came she was also assigned to make sure they settled in nicely, which was not easy. She trained from a young age to be able to manipulate some water so if anything happens in the future she might be able to attempt to sink a ship...

And now going to Akane's running away thing. Because as soon as he hatch he was basically chained to his mother all the time, one day at his cleaning (which was the only time he was un-chained) ran away from home and to the surface world. No one knew where he went and because he was the only living heir, they spent years looking for him (which y'know... IS LIKE SEARCHING EVERY BEACH AND EVERY INCH OF THE OCEAN SO NO WONDER IT TOOK YEARS). Once they spotted him, as he was arguing with a little girl, who was about his age, they wasted no second and snatched him up right in front of that little human girl.

This was a more knowledge that I just thought of! And if you want I can share more with you about this AU? Thoughts and feelings and do you have any ideas that could make this more interesting? Such as with any characters or what not?

hi Anon again<3

I loveeee your ideas!! and are you a seasoned AkaNene shipper?....🥰 very strong in your ideas(and YamaKane)

but the background of mer Akane is very interesting, and Nene being his basically babysitter, but Akane running away was interesting, must have been horrible being chained, I'd wanna run away too jsjsjsjs

but I REALLY need to know what Kako and Mirai are because I NEED the clock keeper dynamic skixbdjdnduxbxbd

I wouldn't mind more asks about your au, and it reminds me of a comic called castle swimmer...

but I'm sorry I have not read the book but I get the gist of it and what you mean.

but the AkaNene must be like what happened after the severance arc, how Akane said he could finally trust her, although I'm not sure of mer prince Akane would say it out loud without having a main reason of verbal confirmation. but Kou having a horrible time adjusting is upsetting to think about. and Tsukasa being excited at first but then realizing about his brother and missing him, it'd be like baby Tsukasa in the red house without him knowing it's a price. idk your rants are interesting Anon, your au is fun!!

but I can tell you're an angst fest

but I love angst too ahsshshd I don't mind at all😭

#tbhk #jshk #tbhk au #jshk au #toilet bound hanako kun #jibaku shonen hanako kun #akane aoi #aoi akane

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damianogender · 2 years

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heyy did you know that uhm. not every single little opinion piece immediately makes someone either "woke" or an evil bigot... there is way more nuance to people and their thoughts and opinions and feelings other than a single paragraph or even a sentence they chose to express at that moment that you have no context for whether the context be about their past experiences or whatever they're going through currently or whatever....... you don't have to agree with everyone who expresses their opinion on someone or something in a way that makes sense. like agreeing with someone else's opinion is obviously fine but actually sit down to think about it for yourself instead of getting caught in the hivemind of tiktok-joke-template-like comments of praise or condemnation.... do you understand what i'm trying to say? like this is not a post complaining about the cancel culture or anything literally all i'm trying to say is that when did we become so purist and self-righteous and unempathetic

#i'm not vague posting about anything i've been seeing more and more posts like these lately and it's annoying me so much #tldr: go touch some grass #i need to get off my phone and touch some grass too #strangers on the internet shouldnt have an effect on my thoughts n feelings enough for me to write a whole ass rant post to be able to relax #i am becoming sooo self aware im so proud of myself #same thing goes for people's actions too but for some reason i forgot to add that and now im too lazy to edit the post #i know i said im going to tocuh grass but i just saw another one and.. internet nowadays is just ppl hearing words from each other #and repeating them for funsies huh #like literally every single person has an opinion on everything but no one can do enough critical thinking to form a coherent thought #i'll shut up now

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wonhoarctic · 3 years

Text

obsession | yandere genderbend!changkyun (sangah)

word count:

genre: yandere and smut (with a minor fluff at the end)

pairing: yandere!sangah (changkyun) x fem!dom!reader

request: hi!! how are u doing, love? hope u are well! can i request a a little bit of yandere genderbeng!changkyun (aka sanga) x dom female reader smut? like, sanga is a little bit obsessed and the reader finds it so adorable? thank u ❤️

a/n: hi love!! sorry for taking that long with the request, i wasn't feeling well, but i hope this is what you wanted, i made it quite long just to have some mentions of sangah being a yandere, and added some teasing and kind of a punishment, i hope you still like it and it's what you wanted!! this is my first time writing something with dom!reader and a sapphic smut, so if there's something i'm doing wrong, you can also correct me please!! good reading anon!! <3

contains: mentions of yandere, mentions of threatening someone and hurting them, jealous, sub!idol, smut galore, femxfem, like, sex toys, dirty talk, very slight overstimulation, edging, spanking, fingering and etc, slight mommy kink

(i haven't found any gifs of her, unfortunately, so here's a pic of sangah)

"minji, hey!" you went to talk with the girl, smiling as she smiled too, showing her dimples "would you like to pair up with me for this assignment?"

"dior came to ask me the same thing, so, i'll see, if she gets another partner, i'll love to be your partner, because i don't want to make any of you sad" she smiled

"oh, okay! when you find this out, please, come and tell me! i'll see you later" once minji leaves, you see sangah, the quiet and innocent girl you always had a crush on going to talk with her

minji is popular... damn, i think i'll have to do it alone you thought, but, instead, what you see is kind of........ unique

im sangah was threatening her not to get near to you... because she

haves a crush on you, and you could hear something along the lines "y/n is mine. don't even think of touching her or i'll beat you. she is going to do it with me, don't try doing anything with her. stay out of my way." kind of creepy, but you still think is pretty cute of her, though

"y/n!" minji called, she looked pale, she must be terrified "i'm sorry, dior didn't get a partner so i'll have to do it with her..."

"i see" you smiled "it's okay! we can do something together next time!"

she said something you didn't really paid attention on, and you came to talk with sangah, who blushed the moment she saw you nearing her desk

"hey! sangah, do you want to be my partner in this project?" she blushed in the instant she saw you nearing her sight

"u-uhm... ye-yes... sure..." she smiled

"how about you meet me at the end of the classes and then we go to my place to do it?"

"sure! i'll see you there! bye, y/n~" her smile was brighter, probably she was happy...

cute, you thought, her little obsession for me is cute... but i have some ideas

the classes ended faster than you thought, and when you saw a smiley sangah, you couldn't help but smile too, especially when she eyed minji and left out an irritated huff, grabbing your arm

the two of you did actually a great job, actually, you finished the assignment earlier than the expecting, but, letting sangah leave your house wasn't in your plans for another hour

"so... i saw you talking with minji earlier," you started, and her body tensed at the mention of the girl "what were you talking about?"

"u-uhm... i-it was nothing..." sangah murmured, but you were confident about getting this girl to yourself today

"nothing" you mocked "so... threatening her to stay away from me is nothing now, huh?" every word coming out of your lips had you approaching more sangah's face

"i-i..." when she finally got the guts to say something, you interrupted her

"and stalking me was also nothing, right, sang? you think i didn't noticed that... but i actually did" you laughed lightly, seeing her body still tense "but don't worry, love, i also have a huge crush on you... i think your little obsession is cute~" you cooed, and sangah's face lightened up with your last words

"a-are you serious?" it was all she could say

"of course it is, baby" you grabbed her by the waist "but you're such a bad girl for doing those things to minji..." whispering very near to her lips, you kissed sang before talking again

it was a slow and sensual kiss, so slow that you could tell sangah was impatient for more, especially when your hands went straight away to her boobs, playing with them through her shirt and bra without breaking the kiss

"i think i'll have to punish you, baby" you finally finished your sentence, and sangah's body shivered at those words "strip for me, baby"

she did as you asked, but, as her bratty self, sangah couldn't help but tease you while stripping, squeezing her breasts together, and sliding her panties off slowly.... painfully slowly, you grew more impatient at every single move of her

"enough" you growled "from now on, i'd like you to call me mommy, okay?"

"yes, mommy" she was quick to answer, and you smiled, laying sangah gently on the bed, hovering her well-built body

"such a good girl you are... but this won't do to erase your punishment..." you laughed, running your thumb over her lower lip "mommy's going to play with that pretty little pussy of yours a bit, be a good girl and keep your hands to yourself, otherwise, you'll not be allowed to cum"

saying that, you got a baby blue vibrator, and a blue rope, just in case of her not obeying you

"alright baby, you can moan as much as you want, i have just one rule; keep your hands to yourself. understood?" stroking your hair, you asked her, who eagerly nodded, already too hot and wet to handle

"yes, m-mommy" when she started to answer your question, you used her distraction to start moving the vibrator against her folds, earning a moan in-between her words

sliding it up and down her folds, you spread her legs a bit more, just so you could fuck herself with it, hearing sangah's moans increase even more, and for a second, she almost broke your ruler, but remembered what you've said

"good girl, you're such a good girl, listening to me so well..." you praised sang, who almost came "no, baby, i can't have you cumming yet, i can feel you're close... but i want you to wait a little.... can you do this for mommy?"

she nodded eagerly, waiting for your next command, her eyes never leaving your frame, while you searched the room for a toy

"baby, i'm going to fuck you, but, for you to be ready for my cock, you'll need to finger yourself........ will you be a good girl and play with yourself for me?"

"i will, i promise" she said, getting on all fours as if you'd fuck herself, but instead, she toyed with her clit a bit, moaning lightly, just to feel her own wetness, before slipping not one, but two fingers on her tight entrance, letting out a loud moan, making you smirk

sangah was really a good girl, in that case, a good slut, obeying you just to receive some please, but you knew that girl would do literally everything for you, you knew sangah could kill and die for you, and that made your smile increase even more, while you put the strap on

the toy itself had a vibrating dildo inside, so you'd be pleasured while you were fucking sangah

"alright, enough, you're close again, aren't you?" you grabbed her hair, and she moaned a little 'yes' "i can see your pussy contracting around your fingers..... are you that eager to get fucked, baby? you're such a slut.... my good little slut" you slapped her ass harshly "would you like if mommy fucked you right now?"

"yes, mommy, please! for the love of everything holy, please, fuck me!" she moaned, even if she wasn't touching herself, she was contracting around the air, her pussy ready for your strapon, and the sight made you inhale some air, controlling yourself not be so harsh with your sub at that moment

you tried your best to contain your emotions as you penetrated her entrance with the phallic object in your waist, slowly inserting the whole length in her cunt, hearing a loud and whiny moan

"what, baby? am i too slow?" you teased her, still going in a very slow pace, so she could get used, but it looked like sang didn't wanted that, as she was already being whiny

"mommy..... please.... i know you want to punish me, but please, do it by making me have problems to walk tomorrow, i beg you" she moaned, and that was when i knew i could stop trying to take care of her by not hurting my girl

"you're so cute begging me, sang~" i cooed, starting to fuck her the way i could, feeling the toy vibrating inside me, making me moan as well

my moans and low groans were nothing compared to the girl, who was moaning loudly and making me laugh about desperate was she to cum

"can you wait for mommy, hm?" i started to thrust even faster, feeling my own high start to show up "or are you going to be a slut and come all over my cock without even thinking of me?" grabbing her hair roughly, sangah moaned from both the action and the piercing pain in her scalp, connecting her back to my bare chest, the feeling of her back rubbing against my sensitive nipples made my body crave for even more, and my thrusts began to be sloppier, the vibrations against my core being relentless

with few more thrusts, sang squirted all over the phallic object, and not much longer, the vibrations brought me to my own orgasm

pulling out from her, both of us panting and sharing smiles, i discarded all the toys we used and put them in a place so i could clean them after

"next time, i may be even stricter to you, if you try to threaten my friends... but it was cute, though" i laughed, laying down on my bed while cuddling the girl "you know, i'm already all yours, baby~"

#monsta x imagines #monsta x fics #monsta x smut #monsta x #monsta x i.m #monsta x changkyun #changkyun #i.m #changkyun imagines #changkyun scenarios #changkyun smut #i.m scenarios #i.m imagines #i.m smut #changkyun x reader #i.m x reader #sangah

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deceasedanddesist · 3 years

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eyes off you ( hermione granger )

this is for kelly’s 3k writing challenge!! @anchoeritic ily kells<3

pairing: hermione granger x slytherin!reader ( half blood prince )

gender neutral! reader ( if there is a mistake or i accidentally used she/her pronouns let me know and ill fix it! )

warnings: small mentions of abuse at home, other than that just fluff and awkwardness.

notes: inspired by the song ‘eyes off you’ by prettymuch, the lyrics are bolded and italicized. y/n is the biggest simp. please ignore my grammar mistakes and my horrendous sentence structure. this also gives off major jily vibes, so do what you will with that information. I kinda went off with this I'm so sorry if it starts to get boring. images are from pinterest.

word count - 1.9k

hermione granger was a stubborn girl, that was one thing you knew for sure. when the two of you first met she had been adamant on hating your guts, excessive flirting and all. it was your persistence is what really got through to her; like starting to hang out in the library because you knew she would be there, and helping her pick up her books when some asshole seventh year—adorning the same infamous emerald green you did—tripped her up in the hall ( although not before threatening the bugger in her honour first ).

at the end of the day, the little acts of service were the things that made hermione swallow her pride and finally go on a damn date with you. at first, harry and ron were in utter shock that the girl was even considering going on a date with “the enemy” as they oh-so-subtly put it. but she just told them they were being overly dramatic, and that their input into who she decides to date was simply inadequate. so was it ever the surprise that one day when you finally worked up the courage to ask her, she actually said yes.

“are you serious?” you had expressed your complete disbelief of the words you just heard come out of the curly haired girls mouth.

“yes y/n, i am dead serious.” she had echoed back to you, looking thoroughly amused.

you were astonished, the girl that you quite frankly couldn’t take your eyes off of since fifth year actually agreed to go out with you. the gryffindor girl specifically that you had set your sights on, ignoring the warnings from your friends and backlash from your family, it had all paid off. becoming more defiant with your family last summer was no easy deed, but you knew the yelling and even the hitting was better than whatever they were scheming up for you this summer. lord voldemort was getting even closer to making sure he had a solid, fucked up, but loyal fanbase and you knew you would soon be a part of it if you didn’t get your shit together. you pretty much had a foolproof plan to get the hell out of your psycho household, you just needed to wait for the right moment to act on it.

amidst all of this, you knew it was dangerous to get involved with a muggle born, and you knew you were being selfish by risking yours and hermione’s lives. but there was something about her. the way she would make you feel when your insistent nagging got her lips to turn up just a little bit, or when you did something particularly embarrassing and finally got a boisterous laugh to erupt from her mouth in the middle of potions ( snape was not happy with the two of you ).

so you knew it was dangerous, you really did. but as soon as you saw hermione in the corridor right outside of the slytherin common rooms, waiting for you like you had anxiously asked her to after dinner yesterday, you knew you were down bad. you knew you were down bad because as soon as you saw her face drop when draco malfoy approached her, your heart lurched and you basically sprinted to where she was standing. she was in the middle of telling malfoy to shut up when you slid up beside her and threw an arm around her shoulder ( because protective instincts.... duh! ), somehow managing to simultaneously tell him to “sod off” and flip him the bird while hermione sunk into your side like there's no place she’d rather be.

as the two of you ran off, you couldn't help but mutter into her ear “mione, i'm not sure.....but i think his father will be hearing about this.”

you had a feeling that the laugh she let out was one you’d be hearing in your dreams for a while.

“so, where would you like to take me y/n.” she spoke, the air of the previous laughter still heard in her voice.

“tell me anything you wanna do.”

she hummed “i don't know. how about the three broomsticks?”

while you were mulling it over, she slipped her hand in yours. your head immediately turned to meet her eyes.

there's no touch or feeling

pleasure or pain

anything like the way you're runnin' through my veins

the sudden affection had you choked up, and you had to clear your throat before continuing “um, that sounds great.”

as soon as the consent left your lips she was dragging you up the road and into the warmth of the pub, where madame rosmerta greeted the two of you at the front door. hands still intertwined, you ordered two butterbeer before wandering off into a booth. it was cozy, and you found yourself ravishing in the feeling of it all; going on hogsmeade dates, holding hands, and curling up in a booth with your drinks. it wasn’t long before you and hermione were mindlessly chatting about anything and everything, falling so deeply into conversation. only breaking out when you make her laugh, or when you go speechless at the broad smile that completely lights up her face, something that you noticed was specifically reserved for silly stories about harry and ron or her parents. you hoped that someday she would be able to talk about you with that marvellous smile on her face.

“you’re staring.” she looked adorably embarrassed at the sentiment, heat rising to her cheeks.

“I just can't take my eyes off of you.” it was a bold ( albeit true ) statement, and hermione swore to merlin you looked like you never meant any other utterance more.

“that's very generous of you, but i'm afraid i'm not that attractive.”

you looked at her in complete disbelief, “okay, okay, i’m going to wholeheartedly disregard what you just said,” taking a pause for dramatic effect “because you are the single most beautiful girl i've ever laid my eyes on, hermione granger.”

if the girl wasn’t blushing before, she was now. the way she was scrunching up her nose was the cutest, and you found her obvious inability to take a compliment quite charming. it actually boosted your own confidence, and you found yourself wanting to shower her with praises for the rest of your life just to see her reaction over and over again.

“what?” you teased, a sly smile making its way onto your face, “don't tell me potter and co deprive you of the flattery you deserve.”

the way she tilted her head and had her eyes narrowed ever so slightly told you everything you needed to know, she watched as your eyes widened in shock but shook it off because of the awkward air that was suddenly formed over the topic.

you were quite literally panicking, what if you just ruined everything? curse your slytherin ambition, you must’ve gone too far with your allusive comments. hermione hadn’t talked for about five minutes now, opting to finish her butterbeer, and the energy full of endless conversation dissipated long ago. your mug was still half full, sitting in front of you. you were just sitting there, staring at it, frantically searching your brain for something to talk about but you were fucking blanking. you were failing at pretty much the only thing you pride yourself on, and it happened to be the thing that got hermione to even go out with you in the first place.

once hermione was finished nursing her drink, you decided to speak now before she decided to make up an excuse to leave. “I'm sorry if I went too far, I do that sometimes and I made you uncomfortable, and i'm so sorry.”

then, she did the one thing you would have never even fathomed. she laughed. the girl was chortling, her head thrown back and when she finally came down from her fit she had tears running down her face.

“I'm sorry,” she said, noticing your eyebrows furrowed in concern “i've just never had someone apologize for complimenting me.”

you let out an anxious chuckle, “well you did kind of stop talking there, i figured i hit a nerve.”

“oh no! i just used to, um, fancy ron and he hasn't complimented me nearly as much in 6 years then you’ve had in an hour.” she stumbled over her words a bit as she spoke, evidently uncomfortable discussing her previous crush on weasley.

“well,” you dragged on, “i think you deserve all the flattery in the world.”

you swore to salazar slytherin himself her smile lit up the whole room, and your heart swelled when she reached over the table to grab both of your hands and link them with hers.

“how about we go for a walk, the black lake maybe?” the suggestion brought your attention to how dark it had gotten outside, you estimated that you had about an hour till the sun set. you smirked.

“I see you’re trying to snag a sunset kiss by the black lake, granger.”

your smirk turned into a full on smile as she got flustered once again, biting her lower lip.

“it's absolutely barbaric that you would allude to that, l/n.” the sarcasm was clear in her tone as you both erupted in a fit of giggles.

leaving the three broomsticks hand in hand once again, the two of you made your way down to the lake. you take off the sweater you were wearing to spread it across the grass for you and hermione to settle yourselves on. it wasn't very big, but neither of you seemed to mind as you snuggled into each other against the nights breeze. your arm making its way around her shoulder as she wrapped her arms around your waist and rested her head on your shoulder.

you two watched the sunset in silence. it wasn’t awkward like a few minutes ago, there wasn’t a need to fill it with dialogue, it was completely comfortable. hermione adjusted under your arm and turned her head to look at you, the sudden change in direction making a few curls get caught in her glossed lips. before she could even lift her arm, you were already there, brushing her hair behind her ear. your hand found its home behind her neck as you angled your head to brush your nose against hers, her lip unconsciously making its way in between her teeth again.

you took a sharp breath and spoke, “every little thing you do drives me wild.”

“are you gonna give me that kiss, or keep talk-”

you could feel her words melt away against your lips as you took action and pushed her head towards yours. her hands tightening around your waist and her soft sighs as your lips connect act as reminders that she wants this as much as you, and you are so damn thankful that she leans back in after you separate to take a breath.

and the sun sets with the two of you, hanging onto each other like you were each others lifelines, previous thoughts about your family or the stupid slytherin/gryffindor feud are long gone by now.

you decide that you can deal with all of your problems in the near future, because now you have hermione safe in your arms, and that's more than enough motivation for you to stay right where you are.

#kelly's 3k wc !#harry potter #hermione granger x reader #gender neutral reader #hogwarts #hogsmeade #this is my first like writing post so please be nice to me #I'm sorry if this is shit #i tried #plz give me constructive criticism #i need it

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itsclydebitches · 3 years

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Hey there! Admittedly I'm a little bit nervous since this is my first ask, but I'll try to not be too rambly.

So, recently the main subreddit, r/RWBY, made a ban on active users of the r/RWBYcritics subreddit. As a result there's been discussion around bad-faith criticism in the latter subreddit. What are your takes on bad-faith criticism?

For me personally, I think a bunch of people are misusing the term "bad-faith" and using it as a way to shut down criticism, but I'm curious to hear your thoughts on it.

Hey there, everyone! We woke up to some drama this morning, huh? And hello to you too, Tortoise! I'm so glad you decided to send in an ask, even if it's following some pretty tumultuous events...

Right, I'd like to start with a story. The story of how I personally don't spend time on Reddit, but I have plenty of friends who will occasionally cross-post something for me to see. Yesterday (or the day before? Idk time is meaningless) a friend told me about a post — which, significantly, I'm now having trouble finding — that covers RWBY's inconsistent writing and the fandom's tendency to try and explain away those missteps. They'd thought I'd be interested because I'd just had a conversation here on tumblr where I made that exact point to someone who, also significantly, vehemently disagreed with me, but in a very civil fashion. Given everything going on, I feel like this side point needs emphasis: we debated, we did so in a sometimes heated, but nevertheless respectful manner, it was clear neither of us was going to sway the other, and the conversation ended. The two "sides" of the community interacted without Armageddon coming about.

But back to the purpose of this tale. I went to take a look at this point and found that it no longer exists. There's just some vague message about it not obeying the subreddit's rules. "What happened?" I asked. "Why'd they take the post down?" "People were getting too heated in the comments," my friend replies. So, given that the comments were still visible, I proceeded to read through them, expecting personal attacks, slurs, harassment, etc. Any number of things that would justify deleting the post itself to put an end to such behavior. Instead, I found a thread of people having a conversation. Was the conversation heated at times? Sure. Did one or two individual posters edge into the realm of petulant, "No. You're wrong and stupid" responses? Yes. Was any of this remotely what I was expecting given the post's removal? NOPE.

"This isn't allowed?" I said. "Well then what is? People were being civil! Or at least as civil as hundreds of strangers ever get when discussing a series they're passionate about online."

Then, this morning, I hear that the entire critic subreddit has been banned.

So to answer your question, Tortoise, I don't actually think that "good faith" criticism exists. Meaning, it's not just that fans are misusing the term "bad faith criticism," but rather that there is no unified, agreed up method of writing criticism that will meet their standards. It's not possible and we know it's not possible because fans have been trying to meet those elusive standards for years:

A fan posts nothing but praise for RWBY until changes make them criticize the show as it is now. Their entire body of work is dismissed as the product of a "hater," despite the overwhelming gap between positive and negative reviews.

A fan posts a review that's a pretty balanced mix between praise and criticism. They're dismissed because it's still too much criticism.

A fan posts a review that's 99% praise with 1% criticism. That's still too much, with fans focusing on the single problem they had with the work and using it as an excuse to dismiss the entire review out of hand.

(As an aside, the argument that critics are "obsessed" with only saying negative things and that the only problem here is that they're "too" negative ignores the argument that... RWBY has a lot of flaws nowadays. Few are willing to acknowledge the possibility that it's not fans insisting on making things up to be mad about/ignoring the good parts of the show, it's the that show is, as of now, legitimately more of a mess than it is a praise-worthy product. If I'd been writing recaps in the Volumes 1-4 days, my work would have been skewed far more towards the positive. The critics' stance is that RWBY has gotten worse, which yes, results a higher volume of critical posts. To say nothing of how criticism takes far longer to explain, likewise resulting in posts focused primarily on that side of the divide. I really enjoyed the image of a crying Jaune reflected in his sword. I did not enjoy that moment's context. Saying that you liked an animation choice is a one sentence thing. Explaining the complexities of Jaune securing emotional moments, the problems with Penny's second death, the hurt many fans experienced watching an assisted suicide, etc. takes a whooole lot longer. Hence, you get massive, multiple posts about these nuanced topics and fewer, smaller posts about the details that are working well.)

A fan talks about a topic that has been metaphorically banned by the fandom as a whole. They have something good to say about Ironwood. They dislike something about Blake/Yang. They enjoyed Adam as a character. They have a problem with Ruby's leadership, etc. There's a whole list of topics nowadays that will result in an automatic dismissal, regardless of the point the fan is trying to make or how well they make it.

A fan talks about the minority representation of RWBY — its black characters, its queer characters, its disabled characters, etc. — and as a result has something to say about the biases and missteps of those writing these characters. This is considered an attack on the writers and, therefore, automatically bad.

A fan talks about how they enjoyed RWBY as it was years ago and is having trouble reconciling the dark, complicated story with the simple, hopeful one we started out with. This is seen as an attack on Monty's vision and an unwillingness to accept that "everything is planned."

A fan does as asked and ensures that their post is meeting all the requirements of "real" criticism. They have an argument to make. They have a point. They provide evidence. They recommend a solution. They keep their tone respectful. They don't attack the creators. They provide disclaimers in every single paragraph about how they do not hate RWBY. It doesn't matter. They're considered too negative.

I have, quite literally, seen every one of the above examples on multiple occasions. I have had many of the above accusations leveled at my own work. When fans say that they're fine with criticism provided it's not "bad faith" criticism, they don't actually have a specific post-type in mind; a checklist of behaviors another fan can emulate and, provided they do that, no hate will come their way. Or, if an individual fan does actually go, "Yeah. That criticism I'm fine with" that response is in no way universal. One person's "They make a good, civil point" is another person's, "Omg stop bashing the show!" Because "bashing" has come to mean everything from curse-laden insults towards everything RWBY has ever done, to posts that just happen to say something other fans don't agree with.

It's a rigged game. There is no way to post criticism about RWBY in an agreed-upon, appropriate manner. This recent ban is proof of that. I think it's incredibly telling that almost immediately after I was going, "Wow. A pretty calm debate about the flaws of RWBY in the main sub. That's great to see," all posters from the criticism subreddit were banned. The main sub literally just had the sort of criticism that they claim to accept — people respectfully posting analysis-based arguments resulting in calm debate — and yet they implemented the ban anyway. I'm not going to pretend that I've never gotten too heated on my own posts, never made snarky comments when I'm frustrated, never used exaggerated reaction GIFs that can come across as insulting... but I'd say on the whole my RWBY work is precisely the sort of "good faith" criticism that other fans are supposedly looking for. I never make an argument I don't think I can back up with evidence. I try to allow for the nuance and differing opinions of complicated topics. I try — even if I don't always succeed — to write in a clear, respectful manner. Yet none of that work has stopped people from telling me I'm a "bitter... raging asshole," a "deranged, delusional psychopath," telling me to set myself on fire, threatening to smash my head in, or just messages to straight up kill myself. If someone like me who legitimately works hard to create fair, defendable criticism and who only ever posts on a personal blog that people can easily block, who never engages in debate until someone else starts it first, never seeks out other fans I disagree with to harass them about what they like... if someone like me is still a "bad faith" critic who "deserves" that kind of hate mail... then what kind of criticism do people want?

Nothing. That's the answer. No criticism whatsoever, of any kind, no matter if it's delivered respectfully, is making a good point, whatever. That's why "RWDE" was created. That's why the critic subreddit was created. The community at large has demanded a complete separation between Praise and Anything That's Not 100% Praise, which has now resulted in this ban. Any other explanations we see are excuses, which becomes glaringly obvious when you look at the mods' supposed reasons for implementing the ban:

"Constant arguments with r/RWBY users" - As opposed to the arguments surrounding things like shipping that never, ever happen?

"Vote manipulation and comment brigades" - The subreddit with 3,000 participants, with around 200 on at a time, is manipulating the votes of a subreddit with 155,000 participants, with over 1,000 on at a time? Those numbers just do not check out. If a positive post is downvoted, or a critical post upvoted, maybe that's because large swaths of the community actually agree/disagree with that assessment, not because the incredibly smaller group is somehow manipulating things.

"Attacking and harassing those they disagree with" — Again, as opposed to those non-critics that never, ever harass people? This is an individual problem, not a community problem. Both critics and non-critics have their sub-groups acting in ways they shouldn't. If anything, the main sub will have more individuals harassing other fans, simply by virtue of being so much larger. As the above examples attest, it's not other critics who have told me to light myself on fire and, just to be clear, the asks I've responded to are a miniscule number compared to the amount I've received. I delete the lion's share for my own sanity and to save my followers from reading the really graphic threats.

"Months-long NSFL spam brigades" — I am, admittedly, not sure what this is referring to. Spamming of NSFW content? If so, that's also an individual problem.

"Homophobic, transphobic, and racist attacks towards our users" — See the above points. Again. If someone is being homophobic, transphobic, or racist, then yes please, ban them. Don't ban an entire community for the actions of a few. It's like walking into a store and banning a customer for causing a scene... but then also banning everyone else who happened to be shopping at the same time. It's guilt by association.

The silver lining to all this? The community as a whole isn't pleased. At least according to the main subreddit comments and a few individual voices like MurderofBirds. Despite the increase (from my perspective anyway) of critical voices post-Volume 8, criticism of RWBY is still very much seen as taboo. As this ban showcases. But it's really reassuring to see so many fans, critics and non-critics alike, going, "This was a mistake." A community is meant to include all aspects of engagement: praise, criticism, and the gray area between. If anything, fans like the mods of the main subreddit should be creating a separate subreddit that is specifically for praise. In the same way that there should have been a tag for RWBY praise, rather than trying to eliminate any and all criticism from the main "RWBY" tag. The majority of fans, even those who claim to hate critics and all they (presumably) stand for, recognize that a blanket ban of all criticism is not the way to go, especially when "criticism" has come to have such a staggeringly broad definition. If you want your RWBY experience to be nothing but sunshine and roses (ha), then cultivate your own internet experience to reflect that. Create your own pockets with rules about how this is the space for praise and if you're not up for praising RWBY right now, don't interact with us in this particular space. Don't try to make the entire community — the main tools used to discuss the show online — conform to your preferences. As established, there is no "good" criticism that everyone in the fandom will accept, which just leaves a fandom with no criticism at all. I'm glad to see I'm far from the only one who, when presented with that extreme, is going, "Nope. No thank you."

#rwby #mymetas #suicide tw #rwde

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ambivalent-anarchy · 3 years

Text

You've Got Moves (Part 2)

Masterlist

Part 1

Gender: Female

Pairing: Peter Parker x reader

Warning: None

A/N: Better late than never, right?😂😂 (wow 2 fics in one week that's crazyyy) Also I put one of my favorite comedy tiktoks in the dialogue soooooo oops? Also Harry and Ned are wingmen who share one brain cell and I like it that way

I might make one more part to this but idk

---------------------------------------

It took 7 months for Peter to ask you out.

It took the time for MJ and Asher to become a couple, homecoming to go by, MJ and Asher to break up, winter formal, midterm exams, MJ and Asher to get back together, and Christmas to go before Peter Parker gathered the guts to even consider thinking about asking you out.

Scared wasn't even the word for it.

Harry Osborn, the new transfer student, laughed at how nervous Peter was at lunch. "Asking girls out is easy, Peter. I do it all the time!"

"You say it like it's the simplest thing on earth," Peter dreaded, to which Harry shrugged.

"Because it is! You just ask. How is it that I've only been at this school for 2 months and I've had more chicks than both you and Ned combined?"

"Hooking up is not a hobby of mine. That's why," Peter retorted with a pitifully unintimidating glare.

Harry shrugged with his shit-eating grin. "It's not my fault the girls and gays can't resist these lips."

Ned chimed in as he threw a french fry into his mouth. "Peter, this isn't like Liz last year. You and [Y/N] are already really close, dude. I'm sure you can just ask her. Who knows? She might say yes!"

"But what if she says no?," Peter groaned. "Then I'll just be one of those people she avoids and barely talks to out of awkwardness." He shifted in his seat nervously. "I don't want that."

"But if you don't say anything then you'll always regret it," Ned pointed out.

Harry sighed and rolled his eyes. "Peter, pull out your phone."

Peter raised his eyebrows in confusion, but followed Harry's instructions.

"Go to her in messages and say 'hey let's get dinner'." He smiled. "See? Simple."

Peter opened your messages in his phone and stared at your profile picture.

'You can do this, Peter. You can do this.'

He bit his lip. "Okay but should I say, 'let's get dinner' or 'do you want to get dinner'?" Seeing Harry's impatient face, he explained himself. "I just feel like those two sentences have completely different vibes, y'know?"

Harry glared at him. "Are you really about to have us telling you what to tell your crush like a bunch of girls?"

Peter didn't know how to answer that question seriously. "Uh...yes?"

Harry pondered the question for a small bit before simply shrugging and answering. "Hmm, go with 'let's get dinner', so you'll sound all confident and assertive."

"Okay."

Before Peter could press send without thinking twice, Ned stopped him. "Well, actually now you sound a little aggressive, man."

"Really?," Peter asked with a wince, immediately erasing the message.

"Yeah, I mean the last thing you wanna be like is the guy that's all like 'let's get dinner' like you're some kind of caveman."

Peter groaned. "Oh no, definitely not."

Ned ate another fry. "You want to ask her to dinner, not tell her to dinner."

"I'll go with 'do you want to get dinner' then," Peter said with a nod.

That one didn't sit well with Harry. "No Pete. Cuz now you sound like a pussy."

Peter slammed his phone onto the lunch table. "This stuff is tough!"

Ned turned towards Harry. "No but listen. The last thing Peter wants to do is come off as the overly masculine type that's all like 'let's get dinner cuz I'm the breadwinner, bitch', y'know?"

Harry shook his head. "Yeah but women also love assertiveness. You have to know what you want."

Peter stared at the table, desperately wanting the conversation to be over. Why would he even go to these two for relationship advice? Harry was the king of hookups and Ned's relationships never lasted longer than a few weeks. What was he thinking? For a guy with a 4.5 GPA, he sure did feel stupid.

"I got it!," Ned exclaimed. "Okay. Text her this. 'Dinner would be something that I would enjoy taking you on, but only if YOU were also interested in attending the meal'." He held his hands up for praise.

Harry nodded. "Mhm. Perfect balance. And the more words the better."

Peter just stared back at them, wondering where he'd gone wrong in life. "...no.... I'm not gonna send her that."

Harry shrugged. "Welp,' he sighed. "I guess some people just don't want to be helped."

So close to slamming his head into the table in front of him, Peter felt a tsunami of relief hit when he saw Asher walk into the cafeteria.

Asher was your best friend. If anyone knew the proper way you'd want to be asked out, it'd be him.

The second Asher noticed Peter looking at him, he made his way over. "Hey Peter. What's up?," he asked as he found an empty seat.

Harry spoke up before Peter had the chance. "Hey Ash. Pick one. 'Let's get dinner' or 'do you want to get dinner'."

Asher thought for a second. "Depends on the girl," he said before taking a bite into his apple. "-but 'do you want to get dinner' is nicer. Why?"

Harry slammed his fist on the table. "Damn it!"

"Yes!," Ned cheered.

Asher looked around the table. "Okay, by why?"

Harry and Ned went quiet and looked to Peter, who was staring anywhere to avoid eye contact. He began to mumble pitifully."I....I-i wanna.. I wanna-"

Harry and Ned spoke up, already tired of the conversation not getting anywhere. "He wants to ask-"

"-I wanna ask [Y/N] out!," he blurted, feeling his cheeks start to burn when Asher's smirk turned into a wide grin.

"Well it's about time!," he exclaimed. "She's been crazy about you since you met."

"Really? She has?," Peter asked. That wasn't even in the realm of possibility in his mind.

Asher nodded. "She's always going off to me about how-" he mocked your higher pitched voice. "I've been dropping him hints since, like, foreverrrr!"

"Seriously?! She has?"

Ned laughed. "Well Peter. She has been calling you cute since the day she met you..."

"But I just always thought it was the friendly kind of cute, y'know?," he rambled. "Not the boyfriend type cute!"

"How many girls are out here calling you cute for you to make that assumption, dude?," Harry asked.

Asher sighed. "So this is what it's like to have low confidence." He shook his head and gave Peter a disappointed look. "I can't say I like witnessing this, Pete."

"Just-" Peter groaned and squeezed his eyes shut. "Just tell me what will work, okay? I need to ask her out perfectly."

Asher tilted his head in confusion. "She's a simple girl. You just have to straight up ask her out. What's the confusion there?"

"That's what I said!," Harry yelled.

"You know he's got to make it difficult for himself for no reason," Ned pointed out.

"Okay can we all talk about how terrible I am at this after you help me?," Peter begged.

"...yeah."

"Sure."

"Ugh, fine."

Peter sighed. "Alright. So?"

"What are you going for?," Asher asked. "Like a gift or something?"

"I just want whatever's the absolute best way to ask her out."

Asher pinched the bridge of his nose. If he was gonna set you up with your crush, he wanted it to happen right.

"Okay," he said, staring Peter in the eyes with a new sort of intensity. "Think about your best moments with her. Now pick something special from all those moments and voila! You'll have it!"

Peter nodded and stared at the ground as he thought for a while about everything he'd done with you since the beginning of school. You were truly the most extraordinary, most confident girl he'd ever met.

Every time he'd thought you couldn't get more perfect, you'd just show him another side of you that was better than the rest. He always stayed endlessly impressed and most of all, he felt as if he didn't have to try too hard with you. He could be himself and mess up as many times as he could manage and you still stuck around, showing him that there needn't be any worries.

And your style? Fuck, you could make anything work for him. You were the only one who could get him out of his comfort zone and in front of a camera, for something as frivolous as a TikTok. But he'd always do it, and even find the fun in it, because it made you happy.

"Remember how we freaked out that first time when she called you cute, Pete?," Ned said. "She said that you were cute and that you only had to put it use!"

Harry laughed. "This girl is literally giving you the instructions, Peter. Take them."

"Hmm." Peter looked up with a smile and snapped his fingers. "I got it."

You tossed popcorn into your mouth and snuggled yourself further into the blanket. "Ash, how can you even say that? 'It' is a horror movie!"

"Yeah, technically," he retorted. "But there's literally not a single part of the movie that's scary. It's more of a drama than anything else."

"You realize the clown phobia rate skyrocketed when the movie came out right?"

Asher scoffed. "Uh, your point? It's not my fault some pussies couldn't sit through it. Still a drama. The story definitely played with your emotions more than your fears."

"Whateverrrr," you laughed. "I can't deal with you."

"Pennywise literally got up and did this," he said before breaking out into Pennywise's dance. He laughed as he kicked his legs out. "What kind of horror movie has this crap in it?" He stopped when he felt the full force of you throwing a pillow on his face. "Ugh!"

"Sit down and get under the covers, idiot," you hissed. "I wanna keep watching these HORROR films."

"Whateverrrr," he drawled out, mocking you. He sighed and plopped down next to you, grabbing a handful of popcorn after.

When school was getting suffocating, marathoning horror movies with Asher were a must. He had an endless repertoire and all the time in the world for his best friend.

Halfway through 'It: Chapter 2' though, the movie was the least of your focus and instead was TikTok.

What could you say? The app was addictive.

It was a big, entertaining, completely useless collage of everything every no-name had to offer, from stupid debates to cringey POV's to fun dance routines.

You tried to hook every friend you could on it. Asher, of course, already knew about it since it first came out and he, of course, had thousands of followers because most of what he posted was random thirsts traps whenever he was feeling hot, which was always. And thirsts traps are always in high demand for the people on TikTok.

You tried to hook MJ on it, but she'd already decided that she didn't like it before even giving it a chance. Even the messy, political side didn't reel her in.

Of course then there was Peter, who didn't know was TikTok even was before he met you. You made it your sole mission to get him hooked, but you'd since given up on that. It was a lost cause. The only time he probably ever saw TikTok nowadays was when he was doing dances with you before gym started. He let you put the app on his phone but he never used it. You wouldn't even put it past him to have deleted it, but it was whatever. TikTok had started his friendship with you, so needless to say, it'd done an amazing job in your life.

Plus your followers were always asking about him. All of the "omg couple goalssss" and "you guys look so cute together" served as massive confidence boosters. A girl can dream, right?

You shifted over a bit when you felt Ash getting closer and closer to you.

When he moved over again, you scooted away, only for him to get closer again. "Ash, what is your deal?"

"Easy there," he chuckled, backing up a little. "I'm looking at the phone, not you."

"You've been all up in my phone all day, what's up?"

"I can't tell you," he shrugged, a sly smirk stretching across his face. "But," he pointed to your tiny screen. "Some idiot is taking wayyyy too long to shoot his shot."

"Shoot his shot?" You gasped. "Who?"

"I'm not at liberty to say," he said with a smirk.

"Nooooo," you whined. "If someone has a crush on me you gotta spill! C'mon, please?"

He laughed and repeated himself. "I'm sorry, but I am not at liberty to say!"

"Bullshit! Who is it? C'mon! C'monnnnnn!"

He shrugged and this time you knew that he was dead set on not giving up the mystery guy.

"Ugh," you pouted. "Fine. Let's just finish the stupid movie."

"Kids next door, battle stations!!!!"

And now it was sometime after midnight. The popcorn was all gone. The movie was done and now you were watching old cartoons so that the horror movie wouldn't be the last thing on your mind before bed.

Looking over, you saw that Asher didn't need any cartoons like you did. He was already passed out, snoring as loud as ever.

Grumbling in boredom, you stared at the wall, trying to connect the tiny dots in the designs. It was like something was officially keeping you from being able to fall asleep.

*Ding!*

At the sound of your phone receiving a text, you sat up curiously. Who was texting you at this hour?

You smiled when you saw that it was Peter.

Pete: hey y/n

You were about to send him a quick,"why are you up this late" text, but he kept typing.

Pete: pls dont judge me too hard for this

With that completely vague warning, you furrowed your eyebrows, concerned.

Y/n: whats up r u okay

He sent you a link next, which confused you, but not as much as when you actually pressed it.

It led you to TikTok, and the video was waiting to be pressed to start. Peter was standing in the middle of the screen with one of his typical corny sweatshirts on. The caption at the top read: "For [Y/N] Only". Smiling already, you quickly pressed play.

You slapped your hand over your mouth. "Oh my God."

"So he finally got the guts, huh?," Asher mumbled, having woken up from the loud music on your phone but was still half-asleep.

"Oh I'm sorry, did I wake you?," you asked. You turned down your phone.

"Don't worry about me, you just got a boyfriend," he chuckled, moving to lay down so he could get to sleep again. "Text him back for god's sake."

~~~

Y/n: its been almost a whole year and youre still so cute when you make those

Pete: haha thanks

Pete: uh

Pete: i really like you y/n

Pete: do u think you'd wanna go out with me or get dinner sometime?

~~~

"He asked me out," you gasped. "Ash, he asked me out!"

Asher rolled over and groaned. "I thought that was already established? Jesus, you two couldn't possibly be moving any slower."

You rolled your eyes. "Fuck you."

"Nah, you're with Peter now," he laughed. "You're gonna have to fuck him instead!" That comment earned him another pillow to the face.

You looked back at the messages and sent a tiny cute one. You smirked at the new idea of what was about to happen and turned it off before going to sleep.

~~~

Y/n: kiss me at school tomorrow and find out

~~~

Didn't do a third edit cuz I got lazy but I'm pretty happy with the turnout anyway. Thanks for reading!

Tagging: @allegra-writes, @allegra-soleil, @yumings, @hey-its-grey, @spideyyeet, @sunkissedspidey, @tommyunderoos, @chaoticpete, @snarky--starky, @sovereignparker, @thesherlockianavenger, @bubblebucky, @kelieah, @eridanuswave, @ithoughtthiswastwitterbutfr, @kidney9-9, @gwenvrse

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straycat-writes · 4 years

Note

Hello! I'm so glad you're accepting requests, you are one of my fav writers 💞 could you write some fluff headcanons of how Poe & Ranpo would deal with having a crush on someone?

[Aw, that's so sweet of you to say! I'm glad to hear it ❤️]

HAVING A CRUSH -

Edogawa Ranpo:

For Ranpo, it’ll start with a strange affinity towards you. At first, he dismisses it casually. You’re just the least annoying person at the agency, that’s all.

But then he finds himself wanting to spend more and more time in your company, lounging around your desk, preferring to take you along with him on cases, and such.

"(Y/n), let's go get ice cream."

"Do you want to try some of this awesome new candy I bought?"

"My emergency stash of snacks is empty! (Y/n), we have to restock it now!"

His constant excuses to be near you have not gone unnoticed. Literally everybody in the agency knows that the detective is crushing on you, hard. Dazai and Yosano even have a bet going about how long it'll take him to realize it.

Still, being the rationalist he is, he tries to explain it away to himself as you just being a little more charismatic than others.

It takes him a while to realize that the butterflies wreaking havoc in his stomach whenever he's near you have nothing to do with your charisma.

It’s quite weird for him, really. The way he can't stop thinking about you, or the way your smile makes his heart flutter in his chest. He can't figure out any rational reason for that.

When you praise him for his intellect, instead of smiling smugly like he usually does, he's reduced to a blushing mess. Coming from you, compliments mean twice as much.

That one time you told him he has beautiful eyes, he didn't stop bragging about it to others for weeks.

Will share his snacks with no one but you.

Aside from Dazai, you're the only other person who can hold his attention for more than five seconds.

It's a long time before he takes Yosano's advice and finally plucks up the courage to ask you out.

"...(Y/n)?"

"Yes, Ranpo? Do you need anything?"

"No... it's just - will - willyougooutonadatewithme!?"

He says it all at once, afraid that the courage will leave him, and so fast that he's almost sure you didn't understand a word.

But then you smile at him.

"Finally. I thought you'd never ask."

Edgar Allan Poe:

Poor darling is already such a disastrous ball of anxiety.

Normal social interactions are hard enough for him. Having a crush on someone would be a Herculean task.

You'll often find him looking at you contentedly out of the corner of your eye, when he thinks you're not looking.

But turn around and look at him in return and he'll panic and clam up or get out of there altogether.

You can see him trying his best and making deliberate efforts to talk to you, but the farthest he has ever got before freaking out is asking you about your day.

It's adorable, really.

If you shoot even a light smile in his direction, he blushes so furiously you think he'll combust on the spot.

The only people who know about his crush on you are Karl and Louisa.

Remembers every small detail you've ever told him about yourself, no matter how trivial.

Will leave a neatly wrapped present on your desk on your birthday, but will never own up to doing so.

All his writings and poems have lately turned to be about you, because you're literally all he can think about.

Finally, when he feels like he'll go crazy if something isn't done about this little crush of his, he devises a plan.

You were just about to leave for the day when you see Karl scurrying up to you with something held in his mouth. You lean down and pet him on the head as he drops the object at your feet.

It's a single long-stemmed rose, along with a rolled up sheet of parchment paper. On it, there's a single sentence written in neat cursive.

"(Y/n), will you please go out on a date with me?"

#edogawa ranpo #ranpo x reader #edgar allan poe #poe x reader #headcanons #crush #fluff #bungou stray dogs #bungo stray dogs #imagines #bsd

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yoongimingle · 3 years

Text

Parallels | Chapter 3

Chapter 1!

Chapter 2!

Synopsis: What if BTS weren't famous? An AU where 7 men in their 20s are all on different paths in life, but there are parallels in their separate lives that lead them to crossing paths again and again. They're 7 men who all just really need a friend, and end up with 6 friends that make life a bit less miserable.

7 boys are super angsty and need some comfort in life and they all provide through various chance meetings.

Tags: angst, mention of panic attacks and suic*de

Author note: okay so idk if this chapter is kind of...messy, to anyone reading this? But I'm super proud of it and how things linked up so I really hope you enjoy. Plus now I'm 3 chapters in I can thicken the plot more

Seokjin

“There’s film crew outside the restaurant today so you’d better work damn hard, Seokjin because this could be great business for me if the actors and crew come in and eat here, so I wanna see you at your fucking best,” Sunghoon lectures, tone angry and irate already, at what? 10 in the morning? Fuck this. Seokjin thinks to himself. Standing in the doorway to the restaurant, still wearing his jacket and not even inside the building yet as he literally arrived no more than 15 seconds ago and was greeted like this.

“Good morning,” he blinks, waiting for Sunghoon to actually let him into his place of work. Seokjin suppresses the bubbling anger at the fact that his boss wants him to work super hard today or whatever but is literally blocking the entrance to the building until he, what? Agrees to this nonsense? Of course he’ll work hard, he does every single day, Sunghoon has known him for years.

“Were you listening to me?” Sunghoon chides, finger pointing a little too close to Seokjin’s face for comfort, who leans back away from it carefully.

“Yes, I understood,” anger is bubbling more and more. He needs to keep it at bay, if only Sunghoon would let him enter the stupid building, that would be a start.

“Good, and next time reply to me properly when I give you instructions, don’t need any of your good morning shit,” Sunghoon spits as if Seokjin saying good morning to him was offensive or something. “Get in,” he waves dramatically at the door, scoffing, rolling his eyes as if Seokjin had just turned up 2 hours late with some lies and excuses or something.

“Thank you,” Seokjin sighs, walking straight past his boss who’d now moved to the side but was staring Seokjin down as he tries to remove his summer jacket to hang it on the coat rack. He has to resist the urge to spin around to face Sunghoon and bark out a ‘can I help you?!’. He suppresses, again, now moving towards the kitchen to begin opening duties, ready for whatever lunch rush they’re going to get from this film crew at midday when they open. Seokjin was not looking forward to this.

The next 2 hours go fast as he busies himself with food prep, cleaning, and anything he can think of that’s going to make the next 10 hours go somewhat smoothly. It was looking promising, until his entire day was suddenly ruined with one sentence.

“Seokjin, you’re on the bar today,” Sunghoon states matter-of-factly.

“How come?” Seokjin replies, trying not to sound whiny about the request.

“Because...I said so, Kyuhyun’s working in the kitchen today, I got extra staff in because of how busy we’ll be, do you need a reason? I’m your boss,” he scolds. Ah Kyuhyun’s in today, so what Sunghoon means is that Seokjin is in fact a lot faster on the bar than Kyuhyun, so he wants him there because of how busy it will be. Of course, he won’t say that because that would be praising Seokjin, and Sunghoon never praises Seokjin under any circumstance.

“Understood,” Seokjin grumbled with a nod, leaving the kitchen to get behind the bar, ready for a terrible day of serving customers instead of hiding away in the kitchen doing what he’s best at, bar days were terrible days, he’s a chef not a mixologist.

Sunghoon was right, the film crew were here in full glory, crowding the entire restaurant, and after 3 straight hours of pure rushing to make drink after drink, it’s finally Seokjin’s turn to have a lull to clean the bar and take a breather.

It’s 3pm and everyone is either finishing meals, or random stragglers are coming in for a late lunch, meaning Seokjin only has to make the odd drink every so often, which is mainly just pouring a cola or something.

Seokjin eavesdrops on a table just in front of the bar where a man who looks not too much younger than him sits, possibly a part of the film crew now just getting a break, Seokjin guesses by the lanyard around the man’s neck.

“Do you know what you’re having?” his colleague, a Waiter, asks the man.

“Uh yeah just the kimchi fried rice starter and a water please,” he returns politely, closing the menu in front of him, some sort of disappointment welling in his eyes, yet he also looks mildly happy, it’s strange.

“No main?” the Waiter asks.

“No, thank you.”

“Not a problem, I’ll be right back with the water.”

Sunghoon appears next to Seokjin, doing his rounds about the restaurant no doubt, schmoozing with rich looking customers and scolding the staff- mainly Seokjin- for things that aren’t their fault. Except the staff he likes, of course, they’re safe here.

Sunghoon leans into Seokjin, too close for liking, Seokjin tries to back away as soon as he can feel Sunghoon’s alcohol breath on his neck.

“Cheapskate at table 7 there,” the tipsy owner scoffs, rolling his eyes toward the young man.

“He’s still a customer, regardless,” Seokjin says, trying to sound professional, when in reality he wants to punch his boss square in the nose for his behavior.

Sunghoon snorts, shaking his head “yeah but he’s not exactly my target clientele, kid’s barely spending 8,000. Just shy of it in fact, cheapest dish on the menu and all,” he rolls his eyes again, now leaving an angry Seokjin at the bar alone again, watching Sunghoon slide back to the table of wealthy customers he was originally drinking and schmoozing with, trying to get more business out of them like the sleazy bastard he is. Seokjin watches as the 5 customers guzzle through the 3rd champagne bottle of the afternoon, feeling so special because the owner is sitting with them and even took one of the bottles off the bill, as if they need a discount.

Seokjin looks back to the man at table 7, playing on his phone while he waits for his tiny meal. He looks sad, not as in sad right now about something in particular, but he has sad eyes. The anger rises through his core again at what Sunghoon said, he resists the urge to smash something, anything, he hates this place with a passion and having a full blown mental breakdown while at work and losing his job is a huge worry.

He skims over the cocktail menu, trying to find the most expensive cocktail on the menu until his eyes reach the champagne raspberry spritz, ah of course, the expensive champagne Sunghoon buys from some overpriced supplier to win over wealthy customers with. Seokjin looks over to his boss again to psyche himself up with anger, seething silently at their 3rd champagne bottle sitting on the table like a centrepiece.

Within the minute, Seokjin has whipped up a champagne raspberry spritz, being extra generous with the champagne measurement this once, and he strolls triumphantly with it around the bar to table 7, the young man looking up at him with big eyes.

“You like cocktails?” Seokjin asks, earning a well deserved ‘I’m sorry?’ because in all fairness that was for sure out of the blue.

“I made you this, have it on the house, just don’t mention it to anyone, and when you want to pay for the food, come to me not anyone else, okay?” Seokjin confirms, relishing in his petty revenge. It’s not even that bad, but doing something just to spite Sunghoon makes him feel almost warm inside, mixed with the adrenaline it’s almost euphoric.

“Thank you?” the man says in a confused, yet grateful tone. Seokjin nods, and hurries back to the bar. Making eye contact with the man every so often after what he must have felt was a very strange event. Some random barman gives you a fancy cocktail for no apparent reason; you’re going to be confused. It felt so great though, watching the young man sitting there happily sipping his free expensive cocktail.

It’s a win-win situation as Seokjin has the delight of both seeing the poor man enjoy something lavish, and also knowing that he’s drinking a little bit of Sunghoon’s money. It’s the little things like this that give Seokjin something to live for each day.

Seokjin continues quietly fulfilling his bar duties, waiting for the man at table 7 to finish up his small meal and fancy cocktail so he can come to Seokjin to pay for the food, a plan that he had figured out and ready to put into action.

The time finally arrives and the young man is walking gingerly to Seokjin, bank card in hand.

“Hey, you ready to pay?” Seokjin asks brightly.

“I am,” the man nods, looking for the card machine.

“Just one second,” Seokjin stalls, waving the man off as he fiddles with the till quickly. He adds the starter and cocktail, then writes the cocktail off as on the house. Keeping the stock correct and knowing full well that if he just throws his copy of the receipt in the bin, Sunghoon gives too many free drinks to wealthy customers to notice, knowing that they’ll come back more often and spend way more money than the drinks are worth. This leaves only the starter to pay for, and the extra meal that Seokjin is now adding to the bill, his plan almost ready.

Seokjin looks over to the table that Sunghoon is mingling with, pleased that his boss is in fact facing the other direction entirely. He crouches down behind the counter, rifling through his bag for his own bank card and sliding it subtly to the young man in front of him, who looks completely lost at this point.

“Use this,” Seokjin mutters, nodding towards his card, “I know the amount is more than you had but just use this to pay, then meet me around the back of the restaurant in 10 minutes if you don’t have to rush back to work.”

The man nods quickly, still not really understanding but going along with it, tapping Seokjin’s card on the reader before sliding it back over the counter to him, bowing slightly with a confused but genuine ‘thank you’.

“10 minutes,” Seokjin reiterates, turning back around to look busy again for the sake of any possible prying eyes, leaving the man nodding slowly before turning around to exit the restaurant and wait around the back with a bit of confusion.

Seokjin glances at the clock, now calling over to the closest colleague to let them know he’s taking a 20 minute break. He knows he’s definitely entitled to more than 20 minutes on a 12 hour shift but he doesn’t have the energy to fight with Sunghoon over it, especially considering he lets the staff eat and drink pretty much what they want on shift simply because he can get more work from them this way.

Removing his apron and ruffling his hair in some sort of attempt to cool down from the heat in the building, Seokjin makes his way to the kitchen before going out, quickly throwing together the meal he added to the man’s bill, knowing it was something pretty much ready to go within 5 minutes. He decanted it into a plastic to-go tub and exited the building through the back to meet the man from table 7, who was waiting there ready.

“Hey,” Seokjin greets as he approaches him, grateful that he had the sense to wait in a shaded spot. “Here, this is for later.” Seokjin hands him the container of food.

“Is this what you added to the bill you paid for?” the man gasps, looking as if he’s trying to blink away tears.

“Yeah, you seem like you could use it, it’s not a pity thing, just wanted to do something nice,” Seokjin smiles, happy with his good deed. He knows he doesn’t exactly make bank himself, but this kid looked like he needed it more.

“Wow- I, wow, thank you, that’s- that’s really kind of you?” he stammers, not sure how to handle himself under this sort of sudden kindness.

“It’s nothing, really, I hope you enjoy it! What’s your name?” Seokjin asks, leaning against the shaded wall to the opposite building of the restaurant.

“Taehyung,” he replies with a grin.

“I’m Seokjin, or just Jin if you like,” Seokjin returns, earning a slow nod from a still mildly confused Taehyung.

“What was the cocktail about then?” he asks simply. “I mean I was so grateful, it was truly delicious, but-?”

“Honestly? It was to spite my boss, well not entirely, you looked like you needed cheering up, but I could kill two birds with one stone, you know?” Seokjin admits, chuckling to himself at his win that probably seems so insignificant to the man next to him.

“You don’t like your boss?” he asks.

“Not at all,” Seokjin furiously shakes his head, thinking about everything Sunghoon has put him through, scowling to himself with hatred for the man.

“How come?” Taehyung asks, growing curious, this boy likes to ask questions Seokjin thinks, growing rather fond of him already.

“He’s just disgusting. I’m overworked and underpaid, constantly shouted at, verbally abused while he’s striding around the restaurant schmoozing and getting drunk with rich customers and ignoring everyone else, he gives them free bottles of champagne as if they need freebies, knowing that they’ll keep coming back and spending even more money than the champagne is worth. I mean yeah the guy knows how to get business but he sure lacks any human compassion because fuck caring about other people, right? Nevermind me working my ass off just to be treated like SHIT,” Seokjin finishes his rant, slightly out of breath and almost laughing at his little outburst. “Sorry,” he adds, “it felt good to tell someone.”

Taehyung stands beside him, leaning against the wall. He stares at Seokjin, mouth slightly agape before he purses his lips and pats Seokjin comfortingly- maybe slightly awkwardly- on the back.

“Can you quit? Must be better than putting yourself through that?”

“It’s a tricky situation,” Seokjin confesses, hoping Taehyung will leave it.

“I understand,” he nods politely, catching on quickly. “Well here, give me your phone and I’ll put my number in, if you ever need to rant to someone just text me, or even phone me. It’s the least I can do for your kindness today.”

“That would be nice,” Seokjin pulls his phone from his pocket, trying to hide the fact that he’s feeling kind of giddy about making a friend. Seokjin is used to having no one because he’s too busy to make friends, works too many hours, doesn’t really go out to bars or anything social, this was happy.

Taehyung creates a new contact on Seokjin’s phone, naming it ‘Tae’.

How cute.

Seokjin liked Taehyung already, he feels a little less alone in the world and it’s beautiful. He would like to tell Taehyung more about his life one day, the stuff that he keeps bottled up inside, maybe telling a friend would prevent a complete breakdown, and Taehyung has that vibe that makes you want to spill all your secrets to him, he just feels trustworthy.

“Thanks, I appreciate that and will definitely text you soon!” Seokjin assures, sliding his phone back into his pocket. “So are you working with that film crew?”

“Yeah, only as an extra though so it’s nothing special but it’s something, I get to partake in 18 episodes,” Taehyung grins, looking real proud of himself.

“Wow! That’s awesome, that sounds much cooler than being part of the crew, you can see yourself on TV!” Seokjin enthuses, feeling so comfortable chatting to Taehyung like this.

“It’s pretty cool,” Taehyung agrees.

The pair chatted, and chatted some more, starting to lose track of time until the back door to the restaurant swings open, a drunk angry looking Sunghoon towering in the door frame.

“Break is over Seokjin, you've been gone 22 minutes, you’re here to work so get in before I fire your ass. What the fuck are you doing with him?” Sunghoon slurs, now gesturing toward Taehyung.

“I was just leaving,” Taehyung nods toward Sunghoon politely, backing away slowly. “Text me, okay?” he whispers.

Seokjin looks between Taehyung and Sunghoon, wanting so badly to just run off with his new friend, do something crazy and fun for once. He daydreams about ditching this job right here and now, and wants to fall down and sob on the floor right this second at the fact that he just can’t.

“Coming,” he mumbles, nodding to Taehyung in agreement to text him, who is looking up at him with big concerned eyes as he backs away back to his film crew, knowing full well this is the boss that Seokjin was talking about.

“Hurry up, you’re late enough,” Sunghoon snaps, aggressively waving him into the building and slamming the door shut behind him. “You know that guy from table 7?”

“No, we met today, he’s part of the film crew and we got talking on our breaks, okay?” he says in an exasperated tone. Wanting to just get back to work because the alternative is kicking and throwing everything in this kitchen around, punching Sunghoon in the face, and collapsing to the floor in floods of tears before running away from this place forever, and possibly stopping by a very high bridge to jump from on the way home because home wasn’t even any better than this.

“Fine, just get back to work,” Sunghoon slurs, waving him off drunkenly. Seokjin silently obliges, gathering his composure and returning to his job like he does every day, never letting his walls down.

Seokjin fucking hates his life.

Jungkook

Jungkook sits in his car, parked in the car park to the Gym, sending a quick text to his Mother letting her know that he’s on his way home now and will meet her and his Father at the restaurant.

He’s not sure if he’s entirely up for a family dinner tonight, after a hard day of training- both clients and himself- all Jungkook really wants to do is crash on the sofa and watch Youtube. The more he watches other gaming channels, the more he learns about what it’s going to take to be successful on his own channel. Besides, his favourite artist ‘Agust D’ had announced a new track coming out this very evening, which was the most unexpected news and Jungkook wanted to be ready to listen upon release, which wouldn’t be happening in the middle of a noisy restaurant.

Jungkook adored supporting a small, underground rapper. The bigger your fandom, the less personal it can feel, and having Agust D himself reply to every single one of Jungkook’s comments felt special, it made him feel something for once other than sore muscles. Jungkook couldn’t wait to be the owner of a huge youtube channel, and finally tell the world to listen to this guy.

After a short drive home, Jungkook heads into his apartment for a quick shower and a freshen up, clock watching as he goes so as to not be late to the 7 o’clock dinner reservations, a bit of a rush considering he finished work at 6 o’clock and needs to drive to the restaurant too.

It had been months since he had seen his parents, and things had been left on a very sour note last time Jungkook visited them, making him wildly nervous about this evening.

6 months prior:

“What do you mean you’re breaking up with her?!” Jungkook’s Father asks in a slightly raised voice, disappointment welling in his eyes.

“Kookie, she’s such a good woman for you, I think you’re being hasty. Are you not happy? Did something happen?” his Mother reasons, tone calmer than his Father’s, more Motherly.

“Everything happened!” Jungkook shouted, hands shaking already, “she forced me into the personal trainer job, I never wanted this! You know I would never do this job! She’s emotionally blackmailed me this entire time because she wants me to be the boyfriend that she wants, not who I really am. I've stayed quiet this entire time and put up with it but I’ve had enough,” Jungkook rants, slumping back into his parents sofa miserably.

“What are you talking about? You have a good, stable job with a stable income and you’re good at what you do, so she encouraged you to get the job, I wouldn’t call that emotional blackmail-”

“It’s not like that!” Jungkook interrupts, sitting up straight again, feeling tense under the piercing gazes from his parents sitting on the opposite sofa, “she made me do this job because she wants a wealthy, muscle-man of a boyfriend. I had my own dreams! She kept threatening to break up with me and take the dog with her if I don’t get the job, and I got scared of being lonely, but I can’t deal with her anymore, she just wants more and more from me and I’m paying for absolutely everything, how’s that fair?”

“Jungkook, you’re the man of the household, and when you two give us Grandchildren you’ll have to get used to providing-”

“I DON’T WANT CHILDREN WITH HER I HATE HER,” Jungkook screams as he rises dramatically from the sofa, towering over his parents, “DID YOU NOT LISTEN TO A WORD I SAID?”

Tears were now falling freely, he didn’t want to cry in front of his parents but he couldn’t hold it back anymore, it was out of his control.

“Fine, what would you do without her? What’s this big dream of yours?” Jungkook’s Mother now chimes in, Motherly tone gone.

“I’ll be a gaming youtuber, you know this, I’ve told you about it since I was 13!” Jungkook cries, his parents now scoffing in unison.

“Oh not that old thing, grow up, Jungkook. You’re not still holding onto that nonsense, surely?” his Father scolds, also now standing up from the sofa, “get out,” he points toward the hallway to the front door, Jungkook immediately takes up the offer, stomping out of the living room, out of the front door and slamming it angrily behind him.

Present day:

Jungkook hasn’t spoken a word to his parents since that day 6 months ago, unwilling to be the one to make the first move on getting back in touch. Until the text came through this morning from his Mother stating that they’re going to book a table at a local restaurant for them all at 7 o’clock, as they would like to ‘reconnect’.

Jungkook can’t tell whether they want to apologise or not, but feels good that they were the first to break, because he for sure wasn’t going to be the first after that incident. He calms his nervous brain by telling himself that they thought about what they did, realised that they ostracized their son, and wanted to bury the hatchet, and Jungkook is happy with this thought. He did miss them, admittedly, they’re his parents, but that day 6 months ago was unforgivable at the time.

After one last look in the mirror, Jungkook is ready to head out, pulling up google maps on his phone as he walks out to the car, not entirely sure where this place is, just knows it’s some fairly decent restaurant not too far from either his or his parent’s home.

Jungkook can feel his leg shaking nervously as he drives, simultaneously wanting to get there and get the initial awkwardness over with, yet also wishing he would never arrive because of the initial awkwardness.

It takes around 15 minutes of driving through the city, and Jungkook feels that twang of butterflies in his stomach when he sees the restaurant sign, knowing he’s here. It’s 7:06 so no doubt his parents are already here, which makes him more nervous at the thought of having to awkwardly walk to their table, not sure how to greet them, but he was too slow for getting there first.

Jungkook nears the entrance, he can feel his heart starting to pound a little but has a word with himself about how they’re just his parents, and it’s going to be fine. 6 months had just felt like such a long time, and as guilty as he feels- he started to get used to a life of not seeing them- terrified that a similar argument would take place if he ever saw them again. After all, they were the ones who told him to leave their house that day, he was willing to stay and reason once he finished his shouting fest. It’s not his fault they made it so tricky for him.

“Ah, hey,” Jungkook greets awkwardly as he approaches a small 4 seater table, sitting himself down opposite his parents who were both staring back at him with polite smiles.

“Hi, Kookie,” his Mother begins, turning a little soft at the sight of her son and breaking the ice, “how have you been?”

“Yeah, good,” Jungkook replies casually, concerned about keeping small talk to a minimum at this stage.

“How’s work?” his Father asks, most likely wondering if Jungkook did something crazy like quit his job to focus on the Youtube channel, no doubt worrying his son was swimming in unpaid bills.

“Yep it’s good, still at the same place,” Jungkook assures. His parents both visibly sigh in relief.

“Thank you for coming,” his Mother says, placing her hands on his, “we really missed you and we were just hoping you would want to reconnect with us, maybe things could go back to the way they were before?” She offers kindly, melting Jungkook with the old classic Motherly warm smile.

“Of course, I’m sorry I didn’t text you first, I was just in a weird place and trying to find my footing,” Jungkook partially lies, really he was angry at the two of them and didn’t want to talk to them again for a while, but guilt was filling him now and he didn’t have the heart to tell them how he really felt.

“Well I’m glad to hear you’re still getting on with things well and are earning yourself a stable income,” his Father chirped, making Jungkook begin to feel frustrated that his job was the only thing that mattered to them, but it’s okay, he doesn’t live with them, as long as he just enjoys a meal and gets through the evening it will be okay.

“Can I get you any drinks?” a passing Waiter offers.

“We’ll have a bottle of your most expensive red wine and four glasses please,” Jungkook’s Father requests, making Jungkook do a double take.

“Four?” he queries.

“I’ve invited a guest,” his Father shrugs as if it’s nothing. Jungkook doesn’t even get to ask who until his parents are waving someone over from the entrance behind him, he spins around in his seat and is horrified to see his ex-girlfriend. He stands up quickly in protest, knocking the table with his knees slightly as he does, causing people to look round at him with frowns.

“Sit down, Jungkook,” his Father scolds.

“What’s she doing here?!” Jungkook demands, not complying with the request.

“Don’t make a scene,” his Father hisses, waving him to sit down immediately.

Jungkook wants to cry, what’s his abusive ex-girlfriend doing here? Why did his parents invite her? He has so many questions but is too angry.

“We told you we want things to go back to how they were, things were good, Kookie. She’s ready to reconnect with you,” his Mother smiles but frowns, growing concerned over the potential situation that’s about to kick off.

“Things may have been good for you, but not me, what about me?!”

Jungkook’s Father stands up and reaches over the table to grab Jungkook’s jumper sleeve, tugging him down into the chair. His ex arrives at the table and takes a seat next to Jungkook as if nothing’s happened. Jungkook turns away from her in his seat, making brief eye contact with the bartender who looks away quickly, pretending that he’s not watching the scene while he buffs a wine glass with a cloth.

“How are you, Areum?” his Mother asks kindly to the woman next to him, as if nothing ever happened and they were just meeting up for a little chinwag. Jungkook scoffs at hearing her name again, how can a girl so ugly on the inside be blessed with a name that means beautiful?

“Jungkook, turn around and say hello,” his Father whisper-shouts. Jungkook felt childish, but his level of anger at this situation was through the roof at this point, so he continues to sit facing away, his shaky leg making the table wobble; earning a light kick in the leg from his Mother opposite him.

A Waiter brings the fancy wine over, pouring each occupant of the table a small glass and asking if they’re ready to order food. Jungkook decides to insist that he’s not hungry, a complete lie as he’s just finished work an hour ago, but he plans to finish his small glass of wine and drive home ASAP, gladly knowing he can’t even accept another drink offer because he needs to drive. His parents give up with his stubbornness, and order their food, Areum also ordering a meal- being assured by Jungkook’s parents that she can have whatever she likes and it’s on them- this makes Jungkook seethe inside.

“Just to make you aware,” the Waiter remembers before walking off, “we’ll be having live music tonight from 7:30 right there next to your table, so if you’d like to be moved to another table where you can talk easier I can sort that out, it’s only quiet cocktail piano though.”

“We’re fine here,” Jungkook snaps, not meaning to snap at him, just thinking about how some music might shut everyone up and give him something to focus on that’s not this terrible meeting with his unsupportive parents and abusive ex. “Thank you, though,” he adds, feeling guilty for the snap.

“No problem,” the Waiter smiles, clearly not naive to the family drama that was unfolding in front of the entire restaurant. At least the guy working behind the bar near this table had some entertainment tonight, and god knows the pianist will have a show when he arrives. Jungkook doesn’t want it to get nasty, but if Areum and his parents test his patience enough before he can finish the wine, it won’t be pretty.

How could they do this to him? He’s not surprised particularly, just disappointed. Mainly in himself because he’d actually thought his parents understood his viewpoint and just wanted to move on, no burning bridges.

“You two need to talk I think,” Jungkook’s Mother offered, smiling apologetically at Areum, who waved her off in an ‘it’s okay’ manner. How dare she act all cool and nonchalant when the last time they spoke she was thrashing about trying to hit him in the bedroom of their apartment.

Jungkook thinks about the dalmatian that Areum took with her when she left, he still misses his girl every day, she’s a good dog, he wonders how she’s doing. She’d be much better off with Jungkook than Areum, he’d even been the one to pick her out and grow attached to her first, not to mention he paid for food, vet bills, toys, everything. It was the only way; Areum threatened leaving and taking the dog with her so many times that he eventually had to give up the fight and tell her to go. He wants his dog back so bad.

“Okay fine we’ll talk, how’s Bella?” he blurts out, now turning toward Areum, who laughs in return.

“6 months apart and all you can ask about is the dog?” she scoffs, still laughing a little.

“Jungkook,” his Mother warns.

“Yes? Tell me how my dog is,” he demands.

“I’m not here to talk about a stupid dog, who by the way isn’t yours, now lets talk properly. I’m willing to talk this through,” Areum offers, completely dodging the dog talk.

“Bella isn’t stupid,” Jungkook folds his arms, looking away from Areum again, deciding either she tells him about his baby or he doesn’t talk.

“Jungkook, grow up,” his Father groans from across the table, already exhausted with how this is panning out, but Jungkook doesn’t understand how he could have been stupid enough to think this would go well.

Right then, a young man with platinum blonde hair turns up, clearly carrying a stage piano in a case, putting it down by the wall just opposite their table so he can set his gear up there ready to play.

“Look, there’s the entertainment, he can take the heat off this circus going on right now,” Jungkook comments pettily, receiving another light kick from his Mother under the table.

Jungkook watches the man set up his piano and speakers, finding it much more entertaining than listening to the awkward small talk his parents were making with Areum, happy that they’d given up on him for a minute or two.

Once set up, the pianist begins to play some low, easy listening cocktail piano music, creating a nice atmosphere in the restaurant, almost making Jungkook forget that he’s at some sort of weird toxic family get together right now. It was beautiful music, Jungkook tried to zone out to it, taking appropriately sized sips of wine while doing so, glass thankfully almost empty.

“Are you ready to talk,Jungkook?” Areum quips as if this whole meeting isn’t a big deal at all.

“Are you ready to tell me about Bella?” Jungkook retorts, Areum rolls her eyes.

“Why are you so fixated on the dog? I’ve come all the way here to fix things together, you were the one who kicked me out yet I’m still here!” she whines, pouting like a small child, Jungkook feels sick.

“I didn’t kick you out, I took up your offer to leave like you kept threatening to do anyway, now tell me how my dog is. I miss her okay? Sue me,” he sneers, still not willing to fully face her until she answers his questions.

“Oh but you don’t miss me?”

“How is my fucking dog?” Jungkook snaps, not willing to play this game for much longer.

“I gave her up for adoption, okay? Happy?” Areum admits, sighing dramatically.

“You what?!” Jungkook yells, causing the restaurant to fall into an almost silence for 2-3 seconds, the pianist awkwardly continuing his set.

“Jungkook calm down,” his Mother warns sternly, eyebrows raised at him like she used to do when he was a child.

“I couldn’t afford to keep her, it wasn’t fair,” Areum reasons, trying to move on to another topic quickly.

“I could! You should have left her with me!” Jungkook says, still angry but more toned down, not even able to believe what he’s hearing. Where’s his Bella? “Which adoption shelter?”

“Ugh it doesn’t matter! She’s probably been adopted by a nice family already, everyone loves dalmatians, now drop it,” Areum argues, Jungkook can feel her gaze piercing into the side of his head, unwilling to look at her even for a second.

“We’ve been talking to Areum,” his Father begins, now becoming clear that this has been well planned and calculated, “and we’re all willing to compromise. If you two get back together, Areum is happy for you to reduce your hours a bit at the Gym, and work on your Youtube nonsense with the extra free time just as a side hustle, as you’ll have Areum’s income to help pay the bills.”

Jungkook wants to laugh, and if he wasn’t so pissed, he would.

“She works now does she?” he snarls, not believing what he’s actually hearing right now.

“Yes, I’m a babysitter, thank you,” Areum turns her nose up. Jungkook does laugh this time, just a little, earning his 3rd kick of the night from his Mother, he balls his fists up to suppress flipping out at her.

“And, why exactly do you think I would agree to this? I don’t need your permission to do my ‘Youtube nonsense’ thank you very much I’m a grown man with my own life, maybe I’ll even quit my job and focus full time on it, it’s more money than personal training after all,” Jungkook lies through his teeth, of course he’s not going to do that, he’s already planned how to do it, he just enjoys watching his parents squirm at the notion. It was a little payback for everything they’ve put him through tonight.

“Fine,” Areum laughs “you do your Youtube nonsense all you like, but neither me nor your parents will be here to pick up the pieces when it fails.”

“Fine by me,” Jungkook snaps back.

“Fine,” Areum repeats, “don’t know what kind of success you’re expecting with a name like GukkieGames anyway!” She laughs aloud. The cocktail pianist that Jungkook had almost forgotten about plays a very obvious bum note, panicking while trying to pick the tune back up.

Jungkook looks over to him, noticing that he’s now staring at Jungkook with big eyes. Not that Jungkook can blame him, this drama has been going on for long enough tonight.

“She’s right,” his Father now chimes in, hands clasped together on the table, “you go ahead and ruin your life with this insane dream of yours, but just know that if you choose this route, we are no longer your parents.”

Jungkooks heart falls from his chest, right down to the pit of his stomach, he wants to throw up immediately, but stays stoic.

“I- I see,” he stammers out, desperately trying to sound unbothered, also ignoring the fact that Areum is clearly getting a kick out of this.

At this point the Pianist has unintentionally slowed the music, clearly listening in while trying to muster a passable tune as he does. The barman also continues to buff glasses that have definitely been buffed twice already, intensely watching the drama unfold, even other customers are tuning into the scene that’s been bubbling away for a while now.

Jungkook starts to feel pressured from all the eyes on him, swigging the last sip of wine and deciding that he has to make a choice now.

He lets the contained rage out, standing up dramatically and pushing the table away from him, yelling his piece before storming out.

He leaves quietly, letting his anger out away from the restaurant.

He tells his parent’s that he was only bluffing about quitting his job, telling them he’s going to continue with his life as it is, and that he’ll text them in the morning.

No option is perfect, and agreeing to his parent’s terrible plan is completely out of the question. He never wants to see Areum again, that’s for sure, but does he burn a bridge with his parents, right here, right now? He went the last 6 months without seeing them, and it was fine, but they didn’t disown him that day and it was only natural that he would eventually receive contact from them about meeting up. Although he was so disappointed that this was it.

The entire restaurant is pretty much fixated on their table, trying to continue their conversations quietly to mask the fact that they were all curious at the show unfolding in front of them, people love drama after all, it’s human nature.

Jungkook stands up calmly, knowing he has to decide right now. His parents look up at him curiously, he can tell they can’t predict his next move.

“I guess you don’t have a child anymore. Goodbye.”

He knows he’s guilting them on purpose with the use of ‘child’ instead of ‘son’. He knows that he’s tugging aggressively at his Mother’s heartstrings, but his Father was the one that suggested this and his Mother hadn’t protested, so as far as Jungkook is concerned; his parents chose to make their bed so now they must lay in it.

Jungkook’s heart hurts so much as he walks solemnly to the door, deciding against looking back one more time, simply because his Mother’s face might break him. The entire restaurant is watching, no one even attempting to hide it at this point. He wonders what his parents and Areum will do now, since they’re still waiting for their meals.

He doesn’t actually care, he just wants to get to his car and cry, but his heart is too heavy. It’s pulling him down so much that he barely makes it to the low stone wall that lines the front garden area of the restaurant before he’s clutching his chest, willing away the panic attack that threatens to spill out.

Jungkook slowly falls to his knees, he feels so dramatic right now but everything feels so heavy like there’s an anchor forcing him down, making his legs too weak to continue walking. He’ll be okay in a few minutes, he just needs to calm the hyperventilation before he can pick himself up and make it to the car again.

It’s so hard, everything hurts, he can’t recall a time he’s ever felt this devastated. Is that it now? Does he no longer have parents? He knows he’s a full grown man in his early twenties but his parents are his parents, is this really what it’s come to?

“Hey, try and breathe,” a low voice says quietly behind him, a hand now on his back. The voice is nice, it's really familiar and that comforts Jungkook.

“Thank you,” Jungkook mumbles, panic attack narrowly avoided as the hand rubbing his back slowly calms his body.

“I saw what happened and stepped out for a quick break, are you okay?” the voice asked, it sounds so familiar.

“That’s good of you,” Jungkook whispers, still kneeling on the hard floor, head bowed with hair in his face. “I’ll be fine.”

“Okay, I have to go back in soon, I just couldn’t let you leave like this knowing what happened,” the man patted Jungkook’s back before standing up and offering a hand out. Jungkook saw the gesture through his bangs and took it, letting himself be pulled into a standing position, legs a little shaky.

“Here, I wrote my phone number down, I know you don’t know me but I’d love to talk, if you need someone, you know?” the man offers kindly, now offering Jungkook a napkin that he’d written his number on, which Jungkook accepted easily.

“You sound so familiar,” he ponders aloud as he pockets the napkin. The man in front of him has a strange glint in his eyes, purposely avoiding Jungkook’s comment.

“Just, text me?” he emphasizes, looking Jungkook straight in the eyes as if trying to convey something, Jungkook nods quickly in response and watches as the man begins to walk back to the restaurant.

“Wait, what’s your name?” Jungkook calls out, spinning around to face him.

“Yoongi!” the man calls back to him, not turning around to do so. Yoongi? He can’t recall anyone with that name. Maybe Jungkook doesn’t know him after all.

Yoongi

“Thank you for coming along to see me play,” Yoongi smiles warmly at Namjoon, who is sitting across from him at the table he spent the enitre evening sitting at, drinking and enjoying the music; and the drama.

“Don’t mention it! When you said you’d landed this gig here I realised it would be a great chance to see you in action, I love music,” Namjoon beams, looking happy with the friendship he had blossomed so quickly with Yoongi.

Yoongi felt incredibly guilty that he wasn’t sure if he even liked Namjoon only yesterday when they met, the man had been so kind.

It surprised Yoongi a lot when Namjoon had come back to the music room at the end of the day to ask Yoongi how the day went, it surprised him even more when he casually told Namjoon he’d landed a last minute gig playing some background music at a restaurant the next night and Namjoon replied ‘oh awesome, where are you playing? I’ll drop in’. And he did, he even stayed for the entire set, enjoying a night of drinking and listening to the music, which Yoongi didn’t think was even that interesting to listen to. If only Namjoon knew what kind of music he was putting out as Agust D, would he even enjoy it?

The restaurant was open for another half an hour and as much as Yoongi wanted to go home, he knew he should stay for a drink with the man who’d just sat and listened to the entire thing. It was his own fault that he stayed up the entire night previously, furiously writing his new track ‘To My Fans’, he had made the mistake of announcing his new work on his 93 follower Twitter account, so that he would definitely have to commit to it, especially considering the tweet instantly received a like from the twitter user that he is sure must be Gukkie. The backing track for it wasn’t anything special, he had mostly reused old samples that he had made over the years while bored, they came in handy. The lyrics though; he was very proud of them, maybe they were rushed, but frantic writing can often turn out beautiful.

“Was that kid okay? I saw you dash out to find him,” Namjoon asks, concerned after watching a terrible family drama pan out right in front of him.

“Mm, he was okay, just needed some comfort,” Yoongi hums, still reeling from the shock of meeting his number 1 fan. He knew it had to be him, after the girl with him yelled that comment about ‘what kind of a username is GukkieGames’ something clicked in Yoongi so hard that it almost made him mess up the entire song he was playing.

He had searched the internet quickly in-between songs, playing mindless tunes with his left hand while using his phone under the piano in his right hand, on search of anyone else with a similar username, but there was no one, this was the guy. He didn’t have the heart to tell the poor guy, it was the wrong timing. As much as it probably would have made Jungkook’s night better knowing who he just met, the kid looked like he was about to implode from emotion and he couldn’t shock him like that. He had figured out his name is Jungkook pretty quick from the amount of times his parents said it, and realised where the username had stemmed from, breaking Yoongi’s heart even more when he realised Jungkook wants to be a gaming Youtuber but is being shattered by his family, maybe this is why he has no uploads on his channel.

Yoongi feels more nervous about releasing his track when he gets home now, he mentioned Gukkie in the lyrics, working his name cleverly into it so that he can say thank you to him for being his fan for so long, but he’s since met the man himself, so now what? Will Jungkook make the connection alone? Texting him after the song is released, asking if Yoongi’s who he thinks he is? Maybe he could put something in the video description like ‘it was good meeting you tonight, Gukkie, let’s meet again’ or is that cheesy? He mentioned Mint Green Porsche guy in the lyrics too, but it’s all up in the air whether he will get in contact or not, however it’s exciting regardless.

“Someone’s deep in thought, you okay?” Namjoon asks, head tilted and brows furrowed.

“Yes, sorry, late night last night, got lost in thoughts, thank you again for coming tonight you really didn’t have to.”

Yoongi really is grateful.

“Stop thanking me,” Namjoon laughs, “I needed a night out and I genuinely really enjoyed it. I’m worried about that kid though, his parents just disowned him in the middle of a restaurant!”

“I know, it was pretty crazy,” Yoongi agreed, mulling over whether to drop his entire life story to Namjoon or not, but realising now is maybe not the moment. He feels pretty confident in the fact that he’s made a new friend out of Namjoon and will tell him one day, just not yet.

“Did he seem stable?” Namjoon asks.

“Not at first, but by the time I left I was pretty sure he’d be okay, I gave him my number in case he needs someone,” Yoongi confessed, not originally planning on revealing that detail.

“Oh really? That’s nice of you,” Namjoon hums, taking another sip of whatever he was drinking from a glass bottle.

“Yeah, he might not even text though,” Yoongi lied, feeling pretty confident that Jungkook would text him.

“Maybe, it was still the right thing to do though,” Namjoon assured him. What a nice guy Yoongi thinks, wondering how his life sort of went from solitude to making 1 possibly 2 friends in just two days. Maybe this was the start of a different lifestyle? Maybe life was no longer going to be waking up, teaching piano, eating alone, making anonymous music, then going to bed. This might be the start of a more fulfilling life.

Yoongi finishes up his drink and makes his way home, getting as many funny looks on the train back as he did on the train there, piano strapped to his back like a guitar but bigger.

It was a good workout for sure, but it wasn’t ideal, he needs to save up for a car really, and accepting one-off gigs like these was a pretty good way to do it.

Once home, he gets ready to release the new track at 11:43pm, narrowly avoiding releasing it after midnight meaning it’s practically a day late. Of course he hadn’t intended to release it this late at night, but he really had to stay with Namjoon after what he did, and he didn’t regret it.

He gets everything ready to post, writing the description last. He does his usual thing of writing a bit about the song and what it means, writing about the equipment used to produce, he isn’t even sure if Jungkook reads the description down this far because it’s not anything interesting, but he leaves a short line right at the end reading: ‘Gukkie, let's meet again’.

He presses upload, knowing he doesn’t have time to mess about if he wants to upload it today, luckily his internet connection does well and uploads nice and quick, his computer notifying him of the successful upload.

6 minutes pass since releasing the track, they feel like the longest 6 minutes ever, but Yoongi realises it was worth the wait as soon as his phone pings twice, 2 beautiful notifications adorning his lockscreen.

‘New donation from: GukkieGames’

‘1 new text from: unknown’

Chapter 4

3 notes · View notes

iwannafuckyexiu · 5 years

Text

A TEASE A DAY BRINGS YOU CLOSER TO YOUR DEATH 004

DAMN OCTOPI AND OLD MAN hei hei hei, development on fighting yes.

"I'M—COMING THROUGH THE DOOR LIKE A NORMAL PERSON!" the door glides to the side and All Might comes sauntering through with a peculiar pose, and instantly, the class livens up with thrill.

"KYAAAAA!"

A fangirl (or fanboy?) squeal resounds in the room, mingled between the sound of the students chatting and All Might speaking.

"Izuku was that you?"

"No, it was me."

—an actual conversation that happened, between Izuku and someone.

"So class, I'm your Foundational Heroics Studies teacher!"

"WOOOOOO!"

"We'll be building up your hero foundations through various trials," he explains as the students restlessly move and talk in the background — in which he pays no mind to, "and the first will be the battle trail!"

"Now, go get changed into your hero costumes that you should have given in the blueprints to before the school year began."

"And don't forget that from now on ..."

"You're all heroes!" jabbing his fist in the air, All Might tells them.

、、、

"Woah, her cleavage I'm—" coming out from the changing rooms and setting foot into the battle trail grounds, Y/N's eyes can't help but wander around at everyone's hero costume — first setting eyes on the rock-n-roll girl's revealing clothes that divulge literally half of her boobs.

"The hero course is amazing! " a kid that looks like he's stolen a gisaeng wig exclaims a distance away whilst he makes an effort to look under girls' skirt by pretending to crouch on the ground, rooting about for something he's lost (his sense of shame).

"I second that," Y/N dips his head along to agree before something else deflects his focus away again, "like damn, his abs wow—"

"Oh shit, Izuku you look fuckin' good with that spandex suit."

"Iida, were you inspired by Gundam or something?"

"Man, Uraraka rocking that astronaut suit."

"She definitely looks like the type of girl I'd go for — independent, adorable and pure." If he's fully straight, of course.

"Eh? Your costume's white?" Denki pinches the shoulder patch of your costume, scrutinising up and down at it, inquisitive. Cocking a brow, he lifts his head towards Y/N and questions unsurely, "wouldn't it be ... too obvious at night?"

"This?" Y/N signals at his costume by tugging it, he chokes on his saliva a little as he tries to explain the reasoning behind the colour scheme, "it's because I aspire to be like Kaito Kid."

The bay of his lips yanks into a sardonic smile, continuing his sentence, "—a dumbass thief who wears white even at night and still doesn't get caught."

"Thief?"

"I mean—like, the part where he doesn't get caught," clarifying before Denki envisages too much, Y/N chortles and bristly slaps his back with his palms.

"Ohh."

All Might then comes into everyone's view, brawny and Herculean as always, he gives a concise explanation of what the class will be doing for their lesson today. Everyone vigilantly hearkens on him to not miss even a single word, eyes riveted on his towering outline.

"We're going to be doing a two-on-two team battle!"

"One team will be the villains who will guard a nuclear weapon they intend on deploying and the other team of heroes have to stop them."

"If the heroes manage to capture the villains or reach the nuclear core before time runs out, they win! And vice versa for the villains."

The students set about hurling never-ending questions at him, in which All Might answers most with effortlessness and proficiency. And subsequently, after the Q&A session, All Might fetches out a box from probably his universal pouch and begins having the class get assigned to groups by consecutively taking out a note that has a letter labelled on it.

"Ay, I'm with you guys!" he parades the note in his hand as he saunters towards tail guy and the pair of levitating gloves in the air. "Anyways we haven't really spoken right?" Y/N curls his lips into an amiable grin, he lends a hand forth to their direction.

"Well, I'm L/N Y/N and my quirk's mainly on jumping around and escaping so ..."

"Ah, I'm Hagakure Tooru!" Warmth spreads through his palm as she holds his hand, the girl zestfully introduces herself as well as shaking Y/N's hand at the same time, "my quirk is—my quirk is, well ... basically my form."

"Wait are you uh ... you know," questioning as he points at the area between the gloves and the shoes, prudent not to touch her skin by a fluke, Y/N exempts his curiosity from his mind that has been incinerating for quite a while.

To Y/N's embarrassment, Tooru's actually rather frank and open, she doesn't mind much about the fact that she's undressed before a horde of people. She hoots with laughter and says with no burden, "Hahahhah, yeah!"

"Brave," Y/N asserts the title of 'even shameless than the grape kid in a good way' to her internally whilst he poses up a big thumbs up for her.

"What about you?" Hagakure twirls to the tail guy — from the looks of the direction her shoes and gloves are pointing towards — and questions him.

"Ojiro Mashirao and my quirk is my tail."

"It looks sturdy and strong!" Hagakure chirps up, she bends lower to the side to observe the rattling tail even closer.

"I bet it can just swoop people away in one lash," Y/N adds and makes a 'whoosh' din from his lips to mimic the situation.

"Ahah," to the two's praises, Ojiro only humbly chuckles and evades commenting by stating, "but it looks like everyone in this class is very capable."

"True."

All Might selects Team A and Team D to go for the first round of the battle trials, Team A with Izuku and Uraraka being the heroes and Team D with Katsuki and Iida acting as the villains. Izuku's entire body literally wavers for a second when his eyes meet with Katsuki's crimson irises that are igniting in the enthusiasm to fight.

This is going to be a heated battle, with Izuku and Katsuki on opposing sides — Katsuki is most likely going to be aiming the majority of his offences towards Izuku, but the latter is not going to back down this time at the looks of his determined posture. But Iida and Uraraka are not to be underestimated too, with Iida's admirably logical mind and Uraraka's quirk — which can be a deciding factor to their victory or defeat.

Not bothered to sprint over to Izuku, Y/N only yells from his spot, hands cupped around his mouth, "Good luck, Izuku!"

"I'll get you a tub of All Might endorsed ice cream if you win!" he adds, triumphant with the bashful expression he received from Izuku when he feels shrewd and bitter gaze. The point of his ears burn up as he faces the gaze and he mentions, "And you too, Katsuki!"

"The latest Playboy magazine!"

"The one with Midnight posing in it!"

"FUCKING SHUT UP! " and Katsuki finally hollers for him stop talking, in which Y/N just grins at him with rascality, disregarding that his face may be a bit flushed from the recalling the event yesterday.

In the surveillance room whilst the heroes and villains enter the battleground, armed and mostly prepared. A voice passionately commentates on the fight as if it's a football match whilst it happens live.

"And they get ambushed by Katsuki around the corner!"

"Ooh! Izuku counterattacks and Katsuki is down on the floor!"

"Uraraka runs away! She heads towards where Iida is!"

"Back to Izuku, he also runs from a pissed off—I mean angered Katsuki!"

"And Iida brightens up Uraraka's day by performing his act of a villain!"

"Oh oh oh! Uraraka giggled which attracted Iida's attention!"

"And he—mmphMMfph!"

"Please shut up Y/N, we want to watch in peace," the owner of the hand (Y/N should mention that it is well cared for and very smooth) speaks into Y/N's ear from behind — bad idea.

The sudden tickle along his ears ripples shudders down Y/N's spine and on his natural tendency, he clenches his jowl. And tragedy occurs.

Albeit the gnaw wasn't as nasty as Denki thinks, it still hauls out an unpleasant yelp from his lips. Jerking his hand that already has a flushing teeth mark on it by the side, face distorted into a twisted yet hilarious expression, he turns to ask the creator of the mark, "Don't most people lick instead of straight on biting the hand?"

"Instinctive reaction."

"Instinctive," Denki repeats after him doubtfully, one hand clutching the other that's still slightly throbbing in pain.

"Nice job, Izuku! And you too Uraraka-chan!" Y/N swings his hand in the air, waving at them as he shouts at the green and pink silhouettes from afar.

"Despite the hero team winning, does anyone know why Iida is the best player of this battle?" All Might questions the class all of a sudden, and complete silence welcomes him. But eventually, a familiar girl with her familiar cleavage strides forth, lifting her arm up to answer.

"Yaoyorozu?"

"Ooh, it's that girl again!" Y/N whispers to Denki beside him, "her hairstyle stays the same no matter what." Denki raises a brow as he eyes the girl standing out from the crowd, and nods in agreement.

"Bakugou and Midoriya's attacks were too reckless, as they were large-ranged and should not be used indoors. Uraraka didn't keep her guards on in the middle of the fight, which could've been a weak point that the villains can swing at, and her last move was too absurdly dangerous as it's a warhead she's going for; even if it isn't real, she should take it as if she's personally on the scene," Yaoyorozu explains in depth in front of everyone,"All those make Iida stand out with his great adaptation to the situation as well as his development of a counter strategy for his opponents — which should be the most logical thing to do to maintain safety of citizens, the warhead, and himself."

With that utmost intricate explanation, All Might commends her for it, giving her a big praise and thumbs up — because he really didn't presume that she'd observe so much and be able to fully put it in complete sentences.

"Yaoyozoru-chan's explanation just makes me want to go try myself now!" Tooru exclaims as she convulses in excitement, eagerly wagging her gloved hands around.

"And next is Team B versus Team I!" All Might declares.

"... ahahahah, I swear I didn't mean to jinx it."

As Y/N ambles in the direction of the towering structure with Tooru and Ojiro, they begin discussing their battle strategy against the hero team. Y/N waves for them to close in and says, "come closer." Tooru and Ojiro follow suit.

"So you know the ice guy," Y/N starts in a hushed tone, levelling his finger at half and half boy who is a great span away but unmistakable with his exclusive costume, "he's probably the main one we should defend the most — not saying we shouldn't look out for the octopi guy but yeah."

"Why?" Tooru asks even further like the curious person she is.

"The quiet ones are always the strongest," to her question, Y/N answers in an unfathomable manner with his hands latched behind his back. "I mean, look at shy boy Izuku," he holds an example with the broccoli head who's very likely the most unexpected person within this class of freaks.

"Ohhh."

"So ... maybe Hagakure-chan you hide on the window ledge near the warhead, Ojiro you defend the thing down below, and I'll chase the heroes down?"

"Yosh!"

The two stay on their guards in their area whilst Y/N leaps onto a window sill in the vicinity of the entrance to the building. He sits on his haunches there, spying for the hero team that may be closing in. Their figures venture towards the structure containing the warhead, Y/N prepares to prance down on them when he sees octopi guy back off and ice boy raises his arm up as his icicles gradually disperse into the entire building.

"Oh shit, don't get stuck in his ice!" Y/N screeches into the intercom hastily, before vaulting over the frosts heading in his direction and dashing to the warhead for more enforcement.

"Too late, we're already stuck."

Muttering obscenities under his breath, he laces his fingers through his locks, dark brows furrowed up. "Can you guys try to get off?" He waits for a second then the intercom hisses and Ojiro's neutral voice comes through from it.

"No."

"Then I'll try my best to stall 'till the timer rings," Y/N proposes as he wrings his hands to get them ready for battle and rake over his sleeves and costume to make sure that the weapons are there.

Y/N slinks around, making sure not to remain on any surface of the place too long to avoid being frosted. And as he discerns the single hero, half of his body in rime whilst he steps forth into the room that contained the warhead. Y/N casts off the closest wall with the tip of his feet, hands reaching below to seize his hidden weapons, he propels an abundant of slim needles at the boy with one hand, then slashes at him with his dagger in the other!

"I hope I don't land a cut on you, don't want to hurt that face and body!" Y/N tries to maintain a laid-back and mellow tone but the taut-lipped smile on his face sells him out.

The ice boy doesn't respond and neither does his face — just as aloof and distant as always. He dodges the dagger cutting through the air and at him by sliding to the side with his ice-make slide and he winches up a hand to solidify the needles in the middles of the air in ice. With the simple flick of his wrist, keen icicles materialise and speed across towards Y/N on the roof beam.

The latter's features fade dim as he springs off the beam and pounces forth to ice boy, leg hefting higher to give him a direct kick to the chest. But ice boy retaliates, grasping onto Y/N's ankle with his right hand. A crisp tingle soon sprouts up Y/N's leg, he curses at the wonderful sensation whilst he attempts kicks ice boy forty-five degrees in the head with his other leg like a whirlwind.

Attempts, keyword there.

A deafening ring chimes throughout the entire structure, indicating either that the time has run out or the hero team has won. Y/N's head snaps towards the direction of the nuclear warhead they were supposed to defend, and octopi guy perches beside it, his some of his tendrils still clinging to the missile.

Clearly, the hero team has earned their victory.

"Damn it!" Y/N slaps his thigh in frustration on the way back to the surveillance room, "sorry guys, I couldn't stall enough time."

"It's fine, we couldn't too!" Tooru pats his back, a cheery grin tied to her lips, just as upbeat as she always is even after their loss — which Y/N responds with his own smile.

Back to the surveillance room, Y/N stares at the ceiling in lack of interest whilst All Might expresses his comments on their performance during the fight (but he still has to listen to avoid All Might suddenly going like: "what do you think about yourself?"). His eyes drift in the direction of the sulking (??) wheat head, glinting in mischief.

After the next teams step out of the room and onto the battlefront, Y/N lurks behind the horde in front of the cameras and prowls towards Katsuki by the corner of the room. He puts a hand on Katsuki's shoulder.

"So, brothe—"

"Fuckin' screw off," Katsuki interjects Y/N before he begins talking bullshit, shrugging off the hand on his shoulder.

But Y/N takes no mind towards Katsuki's annoyance, saying, "It's okay man, I lost too! And not gonna lie, you have shit teamwork but you just gotta cooperate man."

Seeing that Katsuki's still unmoved, he adds with the arch of his brows, "I'll still get you the Playboy magazine? The one with Midnight and Mt. La—"

"I don't want to play with your measly games right now," Katsuki slowly utters, the veins streaming along his neck poking up, he rolls his eyes. It seems, that he's rather more fearsome when he's impassive, keeping in his rage, than directly shouting at you, letting out his anger.

"Alright, I'll leave you to it then," Y/N gives in, he swivels around, ready to leave when he remembers that he has to say something, "a-and about uh y'know ... that. I swear it was because you turned your face."

"So it's not my fault!"

And he runs away.

Katsuki jerks his head towards the direction he ran away to, clicking his tongue.

"Tsk."

、、、

"Heyy, you were really good just now uh ... yeah!" Y/N shrieks on the streets as he pursues ice boy who's just some distance in front. Propping onto ice boy's arm for support, he coils down to his knees, heaving in and out deeply to catch his breath."

"Todoroki Shouto."

"So that's your name!" Y/N hops up then he grins with roguishness and grapples an arm around Shouto's shoulder — in which the latter tenses up at, "it's a pretty good fit for your quirk and personality — cold on the outside and hot on the inside."

"Oh."

"Well, I'm L/N Y/N," he says into Shouto's ear, his breath lightly prodding against the latter's skin. "Do you wann—oh shit, I'm late for my shift," Y/N catches a glimpse of the clock placed within a store and realises, the excitement on his face droops. He licks his lop anxiously as he tells Shouto, "Sorry, looks like I can't walk home with you now."

"But here," Y/N fishes out a piece of card and pen from his uniform pocket, he hastily scribbles on it then hands it to Shouto, "have my number." Shouto's hand hovers mid-air for a while before he takes the card into his palms, but his eyes and face remain the exact equable expression the entire time.

"You can call me if you have any problems — not saying you can't call me anytime but yep just call me!"

Y/N spins around on his heel to leave but all of a sudden he turns back again, putting on a greasy smirk, "And don't worry, I'll have your number too if you call me."

And he sprints away because he's five minutes late to his job and he needs that cha-ching for a living.

"...hah."

Shouto wedges the piece of card in his pocket and continues walking along the streets.

、、、

"Hey, you!"

An old man with some lengthy ass beard stops Y/N by the side of a dojo, he's attired in a set of aikido uniform just like the others within the dojo.

"Ah?"

"Yes, you!" the old man points at Y/N with his finger and says.

"Uhuh?"

"You know how to fight without your quirk?"

"Yes?" Y/N answers, uncertain as it has been a while since he's engaged in conflict without using his quirk or even fight with the other rascals on the streets.

"Then get in! We need one more person!"

"Why ...?"

"To spar in pairs!"

"Do I have to pay?" Y/N shifts his head closer to ask the old man since he isn't gonna do shit that he has to get hurt from and pay for it!

"No."

"I'll do it then!"

Y/N plods behind the old man as they enter the dojo, the old man — or dojo master — questions him some basic shit while he searches for something in the storeroom, "Have you fought someone before?"

"Of course," sneering at the ridiculous question, Y/N creases his arms across his chest and continues waiting for the old man.

"Okay then, now put these on," the old man tosses him the thin stack of clothes, which Y/N supposes should be the uniform, "be quick because it's your turn soon."

"Okay, okay!"

Now donning the sheer uniform from the old man, Y/N steps forth to the matted ground and goes into preparation stance, arms guarding the chest and feet firmly planted on the floor.

Before fighting the guy just opposite him Y/N turns to ask the dojo master, "Do I just fight him with any way?"

"Do you know any martial arts at all?" the dojo master questions him in return, sitting by the side with his legs folded below his knees and hands laying atop his thighs. Y/N shakes his head then does the dojo master continue, "then just do whatever you want as long as you either knock him out or get him out the square in the end without using your quirk."

"Alright then," a grin seething with enthusiasm rises along his lips as Y/N cracks his knuckles and stretches his neck.

Y/N charges at the man opposite him and glide to the right to give him a blow to his side. But his opponent reacts, he instead bends to the side to dodge the kick then hoists his arm up and strikes for Y/N's head. The latter ducks down so the punch misses, yet the man raises his leg up at full speed almost immediately, chopping it down straight at Y/N's shoulder!

"Ah! TSSSSSS!"

By instinct, Y/N's hand rapidly clasps onto the man's ankle and jerks him down by force. When the man's on the ground, Y/N copes with the ache on his shoulder whilst he straddles the man's waist and locks his arm the neck, other hand compressing the man's free arm to the floor. A foot remains fixed on the ground as Y/N's other leg straightens out, so as to when the man struggles, he just twists his legs around to keep the man secured in his grip.

"Stop stop stop!"

"Am I not supposed to do that?" Y/N loosens his arm around the man's neck and twists his head to gaze at the dojo master who has halted the match.

"No, but I'll let it past. Just don't do it again."

Y/N gestures an 'ok' sign to the dojo master, getting upright to his feet, one of his shoulders sags to the side as he rubs the bruise for a brief few seconds.

And another round begins.

"Woah, that was intense," limbs spilling across the floor, Y/N's chest swells up and down as he remarks. Droplets of sweat gradually pool in the region just below his head as the remnant of the adrenaline from before gradually lulls down.

"Kid, get on!" the dojo master calls whilst he kicks Y/N's limp body, "your turn again!"

With wide eyes, Y/N lifts his head towards the dojo master's direction in a rigid fashion, body too sore to move and voice too hoarse to yell at him, "Wait what again?!"

"This is child abuse!"

"Shut up, I'll get you supper after!"

"Yes sensei!" instantly, Y/N's eyes flare up in the shape of donburi comically and he's well and up again, ready to fight!

Turns out, after two hours, his stamina is now completely vacant and so is his self-confidence in his combat skills.

"I just realised how rusty my sparring skills are," Y/N mutters on the side, head dangling down as his hand reaches up to knead at his temples, back slumped against the wall right behind.

"Yeah, so you better keep coming."

"Oh sure—wait what no," his lips slightly agape, he pinches the bridge of his nose, firmly rejecting the dojo master.

"I'll treat you to dinner every week on this day for you to come."

"Deal."

"Ay old man, why though?" Y/N remembers to ask him whilst he helps clear up the dojo with the dojo master after the night sparring lessons have ended.

"I've seen you fight around the back alleys here before and I thought you had potential."

"Oh, I've always thought that too until I realised not really."

"Just practice more and increase your speed then you'll be fine."

"Oh okay."

"So keep coming."

"Alright alright, don't need to keep repeating!"

TO NOTE

i'm already out of ideas in five chapters lmao what

NOT PROOFREAD

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