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sehodreams · 2 months

Text

a good girl's paradox

TW and Tags: plus size!coworker!reader x coworker!lee tang (he changed his name to Gyeong-su in the episode), mentions of violent acts (stalking, killing, bullying), smut, p in v (with protection), fingering, oral sex (f receiving), suicidal thoughts, trauma, related to the series but it changes the storyline for the fic purposes, unclear descriptions of the place (Busan) because I have no interest into learning more geography for a fic.

WC: 10K

Summary: Everyone goes to that province to hide, and you’re not the exception, but it’s also said that everyone wants to leave, and perhaps, you’re the exception to that.

Comment: Sorry guys I know I have a lot of requests and other drafts waiting, but I love this man so much I couldn’t help it, I started it yesterday and finished it today because I've been having so many problems finishing other fics and decided this was not going to be one of those half done. It's long so there are definitely mistakes, please be kind, again, English is not my first language.

Feeling the ocean breeze mess up with your hair and leave little particles of salt on it, you sat over the bench and watched the sun appear over the horizon. It was incredibly calm, and beautiful, and you inhaled the aroma of the sea in front of you, an aroma your mother used to love when you were younger, always carrying you in her arms to take you there and watch the sunrise together while eating marmalade and butter sandwiches.

You stopped completely going there once she passed away, and everyone knew why you tried to avoid its existence as if it woke up all the melancholic memories you had with her.

The truth was, you always hated it, and you stopped completely going only because you had no reason to do it anymore. You could make your own decisions once she wasn’t around anymore, and your father never cared enough to keep you company even on important events, so for as long as you could, you just didn’t go.

However, now that you saw it in front of you, you did remember some moments with your mother, her smile, and her excited voice telling you to wake up and watch the sun appear.

‘’Fucking sea’’ you said once the sun completely stayed up there, an orange light showering the whole scenery making it even more breathtaking, but still hating it.

You stood up, grabbed the suitcase handle, and walked alongside the sea, trying to catch a cab in that part of the countryside little city, different from Seoul, which was always awake, you saw how only a couple of people were walking around there, and most of them where fishers getting ready for work, or maybe they were coming back, but you, a city girl your whole life, didn’t know.

You found a taxi not much later and telling him where you were going, the driver rolled his window even more, and giving you a good look, he nodded for you to jump in.

‘’It’s not far from here’’ he said, and you nodded, not feeling like talking much with him. ‘’When you leave, don’t let them charge you too much, never pay more than 15 dollars for any cab, and never go to the sea at night.’’

That last sentence caught your attention, sounding like advice but with a hint of uninterest, assuming that you were going to leave one day.

‘’When I leave?’’ you asked.

‘’You’re going to a rented apartment, I know that building, we know everyone here, and you’re a city girl, I can hear it in your voice, all pretty and clear, something happened to you there so you came here to hide, it’s always the same thing, but your kind never like it here enough to stay’’ he answered sure of his statement.

You looked out the window, the sea was blue, pure, immaculate, and the sun wasn’t orange anymore, a clear sky showing the clouds up there, which you could see reflected into the sea.

But it all looked so grey to you, after all, a beautiful thing like that one still killed people every now and then, fishers who tried to make a living, tourists curious of what was deep inside, or simply people who tried to refresh themselves with the cool temperature of it in the summer, so you nodded.

It was beautiful, a dream, but you would never fall in love with it, if you never did it before even with the memories of your childhood, why would you do it now?

‘’Thank you’’ you said, agreeing with him.

You’d never like it enough to stay.

Still, you kind of appreciated his words after living there for almost a month.

Something you never forgot was how that driver, only with that short conversation, helped you so much, because it was true, you never had to pay more than 15 bucks for any cab, and every time the drivers tried to take advantage of you because of your accent, you only had to spit a short fuck off before they called you a bitch and accepted your bills before driving away.

At first, it was hard, you had never cursed in front of another person and you felt almost sick whenever you did it, but after deciding no one knew you there enough to have the right to judge you, or reminding yourself to just say what went through your mind to not punish yourself later with an I should’ve done something different, you started to feel better with your life there.

Also, he had been right about city people hiding there.

There weren’t many, but they were there, and it was incredibly easy to recognize them.

Apart from the dialect, which was pretty much obvious, there was just something about them that screamed I’m not from here that you always noticed.

Perhaps it was the way most of you were programmed to be colder than most of the countryside people, always being respectful and polite, but always lacking that warmness they had, most of them treating each other like friends or family, while all of you were from the exterior, uninvited guests that one day would leave, and knowing your place, all of you said thank you, hello and goodbye without smiling or eye contact.

It wasn’t that bad for you thought, you had already told yourself to not be involved with people at all if it wasn’t necessary to avoid useless problems, but again, you were only a girl, and Gyeong-ah was just a girl too, and girls, as much as you tried to deny it, feel easily alone.

You met while buying groceries, and you knew immediately she was from Seoul because instead of choosing the detergent almost all the residents there bought, which had a powerful, almost heavy aroma of flowers to mask the sea smell, she chose the softer version without aroma that most girls that lived alone in Seol used to not mess with your perfumes.

You didn’t wear perfume, you never liked it, but you recognized the brand as if it was general knowledge taught at school.

‘’You’re from Seoul’’ you said before you could think it, and it wasn’t a question at all, it was a fact that she, when she heard it, couldn’t even deny because she recognized you too.

‘’You too’’ she said, and suddenly you had a friend.

Just as city girls, you two knew how to talk to each other, never crossing lines and being as cordial as you could, wanting to know but never digging too deep unless you were sure the other deserved to know delicate information about yourselves.

In a month you became best friends, and you started to like to live there, the grey color the area had wasn’t as grey anymore, taking a brighter variation now, almost becoming white, as white as her ceilings, or as the smile she sometimes showed you.

Both of you had really white teeth from performing as perfect city girls before arriving there, religiously visiting the dentist to get expensive treatments at least twice a year and using the famous toothpaste that girl group promoted on TV between music shows, with the phrase ‘’a pretty smile is a pretty heart’’ pushing half the population to buy it, effective, an incredibly overpriced.

Both of you stopped using it, but you respected how it still showed its results.

‘’The supermarket is opening a new position as a cashier, you could come if you want, you receive discounts as an employee’’ she said to the air when you were rambling about almost not having enough savings.

Even if it was the countryside and rent wasn’t even half of what you paid before, with everything you spent after unsuccessfully trying to fit the beauty standards when you lived there, your savings weren’t enough to live unemployed for too much time.

Next week you, instead of waking up to take a little walk before breakfast, now got ready to go to work and be a useful human being to society again.

And with that, both of you took a step further into your friendship, being able to reveal, after drinking a couple of beers, why you escaped from the city.

Gyeong-ah told you everything, from the pretty sequence of how she and her boyfriend met, to then what he did to hurt her, and how she suffered until she had to go through all those surgeries before she moved to Busan.

You told her everything too, how your boss pushed his hand under your skirt, how you reported it and how everyone looked at you as if you were crazy, ‘’She’s the one that reported the sexual assault case? She should be grateful anyone wanted to fuck her’’, and how, being completely alone, you were bullied until you had to quit.

‘’I was the first place in my class’’ she said.

‘’I closed the best deal the company ever had’’ you said.

Both of you cried until you fell slept together on her bed, and only woke up because both of you had to get ready for work.

It didn’t take long for you to get used to your new job, you were already a seller before arriving there, you knew how to talk to people and how to fake a good smile, charming customers into buying products they didn’t need and quickly gaining the manager approbation, because, after all, as everyone said, you were a good girl.

Sadly, Gyeong-ah didn’t have the same luck, and you understood her, she studied to do something different with her life, and you did it too, but she was younger and never had to learn how to make people love her before because she was incredibly gorgeous, but now that beauty wasn’t as useful anymore, and not knowing how to pretend as much as you, she couldn’t gain the appreciation you did, getting more scolds than praises.

It was on one occasion that her inexperience got her into a big argument with a client, and sadly you saw the first crack of your friendship appear.

That client was demanding a refund for a product without the receipt, and you wanted to run to her and repeat how you also couldn’t find the purchase on the system, but that woman was screaming so bad you got flashbacks of your boss’s wife screaming at you to take back the complaint, how her husband would never touch a disgusting pig like you (calling you that when she was as fat, to not say more, than you), and how you should just ruin your own life if you wanted to ruin someone’s.

She had the same voice tone, and even looked exactly like her, with dark red lipstick, a failed perm and all those cheap accessories, she was her spitting image.

You couldn’t move, watching the situation happen from afar, feet stuck to the floor and hands shaking, you repeated inside your mind to go and help her, to take her side, but you couldn’t, and making eye contact with one of the boys from the fish section when he walked in front of you, you closed your eyes to ignore the situation and not feel as pathetic as you did.

Later, when your break came, you went out to breathe as much air as you could, and trying to erase the memory of the past moment from your mind, you tried to think what could you do to apologize to Gyeong-ah.

Out there, between a couple of cars, in the middle of the immense parking lot, you tried to hide so no one saw you spiraling into a thousand thoughts, and there, almost breaking down, you stopped yourself from doing it when you saw the guy from before talking to that woman.

It looked as if she wanted to discuss with him too. He was beside her car, and she started to get closer to him while talking, you couldn’t hear it, but you saw her mouth moving as fast as before.

You were about to get closer to hear them, but you stopped once you saw a disgusting string of saliva being spit on the concrete by him.

It was so long and thick that you didn’t doubt it was a consequence of all those cigarettes he smoked every day.

You didn’t smoke, but Gyeong-ah did, and sometimes the smoke got impregnated in your clothes, so you could easily identify the Marlboro smell of the pack the two of them chose all the time, but he, unlike Gyeong-ah, had a smell a lot stronger.

Your thoughts were left aside once you saw the woman moving around nervous and he trying to take her phone. What the hell, you thought, and you were about to intervene when the woman jumped into her car and drove away.

Making eye contact with him again, he watched you for a couple of seconds before he turned around and completely ignored you, continuing to smoke his cigarette in peace.

‘’I don’t have time for this’’, you whispered to yourself and walked inside to talk with Gyeong-ah and not overthink anymore.

The first crack wasn’t deep, she said she understood it, and you hugged before finishing your shift and going back home to drink and badmouth that terrible woman, especially you, not thinking much of the woman from the supermarket, but of your boss’s wife.

She laughed while hearing all the insults you had about her appearance, going to sleep with a smile on her face and telling you that she would understand if the situation happened again because it wasn’t your fault, or hers, it was theirs for not understanding you two.

Little cracks continued to appear on the frame of your friendship, but it was still solid enough to survive everything.

At least, until Sangnim appeared, and completely smashed it to leave no trace of it.

That fucking bastard, as you used to call him, ruined everything with his existence.

The minute you saw him you knew something was off with him, you couldn’t help but notice small details when the two of them gave you a lift home, sensing the aroma of a perfume you used to smell a lot in Seoul inside his car, it was impossible Gyeong-ah was the only woman riding it, and you tried to slip a question without looking suspicious.

‘’Sangmin-ah, do you have sisters? I can’t believe how much you understand my Gyeong-ah’’ you said with a smile.

He made eye contact with you through the mirror and showed you a wide grin.

‘’I don’t have any sisters, but you’re so sweet, I really try to take care of Gyeong-ah as much as I can, she deserves it’’ he answered immediately.

‘’You’re right, she deserves it’’ you repeated, still smiling.

Shut the fuck off, you contained yourself from saying that out loud, nodding and looking around to find any other clue.

You couldn’t find anything, but he was definitely a cheater, and you, not having any solid proof, didn’t know how to break the news, so you pretended to not know anything to find the correct moment to say it.

Still, you left little comments every now and then, not blaming him, but leaving a trail of doubts around, doubts that sadly were never enough for Gyong-ah, fracturing too much your relationship.

You even thought that maybe you were exaggerating too, maybe deep inside you just tried to find a reason for her to end things with him, he was never going to stay, he said it before when you three had dinner, he’d go back to Seoul next year, and contrary to all predictions, thanks to your friendship, you liked it here enough to stay.

The future wasn’t bright at all, but it was enough for you, maybe in a couple of years you could escalate to a better position, you’d get benefits, you would walk around the beach every Sunday morning, and then you’d go and have breakfast with Gyeong-ah.

You had to apologize, for the sake of your friendship.

However, you didn’t have to, or more than that, you could never do it, because three days later Gyeong-ah passed away.

Waking up in your free day, you sent her a text to ask for an hour of her time to talk, but she didn’t answer in fifteen minutes, and you just knew something was wrong.

Taking a cab to her house, you saw the ashes all around, and how her room was the one who started it.

‘’It seems the oven was on’’ you heard one firefighter say.

Dropping to your knees, you denied it, because she always checked everything at least three times before going to sleep, it didn’t matter how drunk she was, she would check the door, the kitchen, and would unplug her phone charger from the wall.

‘’I saw on the news that chargers can get on fire’’ she said, and you laughed in her face because that only happened once every thousand times, ‘’Well, with my luck, I could be that one time.’’

‘’Shut up’’ you said while knocking three times on her wooden headboard.

It had to be him, it had to be him, it’s the only answer, she would never do it, she wouldn’t let her oven on in a million times, they didn’t know her like you did, and sadly, soon no one would remember her like you did.

Calling her mother was the hardest part, you couldn’t remember how the hug of a mother felt in real life, and when she wrapped you into her arms, you broke down with her, because even if you didn’t know her, Gyeong-ah had been telling her about you, always finishing the calls with the same sentence, ‘’Don’t worry mom, my friend’s is taking care of me here.’’

‘’I’m so sorry, I should’ve taken more care of her, I’m so sorry’’ you repeated in her arms, and her mother denied it, saying how that wasn’t your fault at all, but you felt as it was, because you could've stopped her from seeing him, you should’ve stopped her the minute you figured him out.

You didn’t, and it didn’t matter how many nights passed, you couldn’t sleep with the guilt consuming you.

Looking at the beach at night one day, not being able to sleep again, you remembered how the first day you arrived you were told to never go to the sea at night, and right there, you understood why that driver told you that.

For the first time ever, you thought that maybe, maybe, you should just get lost in it, like the fishers, like the tourists, like the innocents.

You weren’t none of them, none of them deserved it, but you were convinced you did.

And you were about to go meet her, until you realized that, there, on earth, you could continue taking care of her, because even if she wasn’t there with you anymore, you could do what was necessary to make Sangmin pay for what he did.

You wouldn’t survive another I should’ve, so you would do it, you would do what was necessary, and nothing would stop you.

Finding Sangmin’s information wasn’t hard, you just had to do a couple of clicks on the internet, and you had everything you could need.

If only you had done that before, but you refused to go back into social media, all your profiles were flooded with hate comments from people you used to work with, or your boss’s family, or people who didn’t know anything at all but felt the right to talk about your body, and she had also deleted all kind of social media for a similar reason, so none of you knew how he was about to get married, and how you had been right about the smell of her fiance's perfume and all the little comments you had left around.

It was simply impossible how they met was a coincidence, getting sex extorted just like Gyeong-ah? He knew how to get close to her and break down her walls, he planned everything, and finally, you had no doubt about doing something.

You planned to wait for him out of his job, you wanted to do it quick and easy, and no one would suspect you, you looked like a good girl, you were a good girl, you were one until he appeared and stole the little family you had, he stole your whole life, and you would do it too.

With a knife in hand, you waited for him to get out of work, and you thought that he would drive his car, but he didn’t, so you followed him down the dark street to an unknown place.

Gripping onto your weapon, you felt your heart punching your ribcage, nervous as never before.

I can do it, I can do it, you repeated inside your mind, trying to convince you again.

But you couldn’t, and entering an alley, letting him go, you started to cry while hugging your knees, apologizing to Gyeong-ah for not being able to do anything for her.

You felt a cold sensation touch your nape and you jumped away from it surprised, looking up at the sky night and watching the guy from work you never liked.

‘’Drink this’’ he pushed the water bottle to your face, almost obliging you to take it, and your heart started to beat again, knowing he had seen what you tried to do, knife on the floor easily to differentiate even in the dark.

‘’Gyeong… Su?’’ you tried to remember his name.

‘’Go home, sleep, and tomorrow go to work, the manager keeps calling you and leaving messages, your position is still yours’’ he said, almost immediately walking away, but you stopped him gripping his jeans.

‘’You saw me’’ you affirmed,

‘’I did’’ he didn’t try to lie.

‘’Don’t you think I’m bad? I tried to do something really bad.’’

Your voice almost broke, and your hand on his jeans was trembling.

He looked down at you, maintaining eye contact and scanning you, and you felt as if he was inside your mind, finding exactly what he wanted to know.

‘’You’re not bad’’, he said after a long silence.

‘’You don’t know me’’, you replied as soon as he finished talking.

He shrugged and pulling apart from your grip, he talked one last time before leaving, ‘’That’s true.’’

Completely alone there, you cried again until you felt satisfied, and looking up to the dark clear sky, you apologized one last time to Gyeong-ah, and to your mom, and to you, and after drinking the whole bottle of water, you walked to the beach, burring the knife into a hole in the sand you dug with your own hands, to then go home, take a shower, and sleep.

The next day you had to go to work, and you needed to sleep at least a couple of hours.

When you arrived at work the next day you told yourself to completely ignore Gyeong-su, not wanting to talk with someone who had seen you in such deplorable moments like the ones you had.

However, again, you were just a girl, and not having anyone around you anymore, he was the closest thing to intimacy you had.

The relationship you had wasn’t deep enough to be called a friendship, he rarely talked about himself, only keeping you company when he smoked a cigarette in his break and when his turn finished.

You can’t remember how you started to get closer to him, you just remember seeing him smoke near the plastic table behind the supermarket, near the entrance in which all trucks left the daily order of products, and sitting next to him in silence, missing the smell of the Marlboro Gyeong-ah used to smoke.

Somehow, it brought you a calm feeling, and your mind stopped thinking, becoming a blank sheet that didn’t need to be filled with anything, not memories of her, or your past life in Seoul, or Sangmin, only breathing and watching the ugly metallic green bars that surrounded the place as if it was a prison, separating it from the outside world.

He didn’t mind you staying there, and days after days, you started to notice his presence around more often inside the supermarket, and the little behaviors he had.

‘’A man of few words’’, you called him when he didn’t answer your question if he was from Seoul too, thing he never acknowledged, but it was too obvious.

He didn’t have the province dialect, he had a soft way of slurring words whenever the manager or his superior in the fish section made him questions, like most boys in the city did, especially those who worked as part-timers in convenience stores, a polite but tired tone, and you were sure he had received some kind of superior education because when you carried a copy of Justice written by Michael Sandel, he followed it with his eyes until you pushed it inside your bag.

‘’Those who insist that only bleeding wounds should count believe that post-traumatic stress reflects a weakness of character unworthy of honor. Those who believe that psychological wounds should qualify argue that veterans suffering long-term trauma and severe depression have sacrificed for their country as surely, and as honorably, as those who’ve lost a limb’’ you quoted the next day while he lighted his second cigarette and seemed more relaxed next to you.

‘’I’m too dumb for that’’ was the only thing he said before exhaling a long line of smoke.

You don’t know why, but after hearing him so sure while saying that, and after such a long time, you were able to laugh again.

Things were slightly getting better after two months, you could sleep at least four hours now, and you were doing things again, not only staring at your TV when you arrived home. You opened old books she had left at your house, cleaned your place more, and ate proper meals, and you still cried, but at least you were able to smile when you saw pictures of her in your phone.

Still, there were moments in which you crumbled, and one of them was when you heard what happened to Sangmin a long time ago, only a couple days after you tried to do… that.

You heard it from one of the clients, how weird things were happening, first the death of a former worker there in the supermarket, and then the death of her boyfriend, and how now there were other two girls dead.

‘’This never happened before those people started to move here’’ her companion, another elderly woman said, and of course they referred to the people like you, people that weren’t born or grew up there, but you couldn’t help but only think in what you had heard about Sangmin.

Sangmin was dead, and what should’ve brought you joy for fair karma, instead made you hide in the warehouse, crying and spiraling into your thoughts about Gyeong-ah, and how you didn’t even make an effort to make sure she got her real justice, cleaning her name from everyone’s mouths.

‘’What’s going on?’’ you heard Gyeong-su’s voice come from behind the shelf you were leaning to.

‘’He-He’s dead’’ you answered, you didn’t need much to think of how to phrase it, he knew who you were referring to.

‘’Isn’t that what you wanted?’’ he asked you.

You stayed silent, muffled cries hiding in your knees.

‘’I don’t know, but I’m hurting so much, and all I keep thinking about is how Gyeong-ah must have suffered more than me when she left this place, and how I’ll never be able to know if he received what he deserved, even more, how because of that I’ll never be able to clean her name, and now no one will remember her as clearly as I do’’ you then confessed.

Feeling like a sinner telling a priest all of her secrets, you felt as if something had left your chest free, your mind finally was out there, formed into words and tears, and you didn’t see his face, but that let you speak your mind even more free.

‘’I see’’ he murmured, ‘’and you’ve thought that all this time, I guess.’’

‘’Yes,’’ everything was out, your tears sliding down your cheeks and your body lighter, almost numb.

‘’Well, you shouldn’t compare your pain, or hers, or his, each of you went through things none of you three know, she doesn’t know how you’re mourning her death, you don’t know how she suffered the process of it, and none of you know how he suffered his, those are things none of you will ever know, so it’s okay if you hurt, but you don’t have to think much into what he deserved, because you’ll never have an answer, and you shouldn’t condition what you feel into an answer you’ll never receive.’’

You sniffed your tears, looking at the packages of toilet paper in front of you, wishing you could take one to clean your face.

‘’And I do remember her, not as clearly as you do, of course, no one will, she was your friend, but I remember she liked to buy fresh tuna every Friday to eat with you, she always had a blank face when the manager scolded her or when she talked to rude clients, and she would rarely smile, but with you, she would do it in front of others sometimes.’’

You exhaled.

That was exactly her, she liked tuna when you hated it, and you picked on her for having an old man's taste buds, you preferred chicken over it, but you let her win every time one of you had to choose, and yeah, she did stare blankly at others, including you, but if it was a good day, she would smiled at you with those white pearls she had inside her mouth.

Feeling as if some heavy weight was lifted from your shoulders, you exhaled and let your head fall to the shelf you were leaning into.

‘’You two were the city pair’’ he finished, making you laugh.

‘’You’re also a city boy’’ you said, and he coughed, ‘’and you’re a liar, you said you were dumb.’’

‘’I am, I never understood that book’’ he said before grabbing the box between you two, lifting it, and going out, leaving you there alone.

You felt as if finally, you had taken a step in the right direction, moving from your position, you cleaned your tears with the ugly blue vest, too hard for your cheeks, and waking you up with the pain.

A week later another girl died, and your boss had to organize a meeting.

‘’It seems the current situation is getting dangerous, especially for young girls, so the superiors have ordered all the women to leave while the sun is still up’’ he said, and you don’t know if it was because of an empathy people from where you grew up didn’t have, but you got surprised when none of the men argued with it, everyone nodding in unison.

You had permission to leave early, so you did it, not being able to share Gyeong-su’s company when your turn finished, only seeing each other in the first break.

‘’You’ll miss me’’ you said the first day, and he never made any sound to acknowledge your silly jokes, but this time he let a soft snicker, almost imperceptible, that made you smile too.

You tried to always do what you were told to, so you left before the sun went down, but that day you were in charge of counting merchandise in the warehouse, so you didn’t see how late it was until you checked your phone.

It was even later than the time for everyone to leave, so you quickly grabbed your things, said good night to your male coworkers, and left.

You tried to not get paranoid with the news, they specified that the killer only directed its attention to pretty girls, loving long legs and soft features.

Gyeong-ah and Sangmin cases were mentioned every now and then to repeat how dangerous things were getting, but they were never related to the girl’s deaths, being two different situations.

That’s why, you tried to convince yourself you would be okay, you didn’t share any of the characteristics the killer loved in their victims, and he supermarket wasn’t far from your house, but you didn’t dare to walk alone anymore between all the buildings, so you waited for a cab to appear and take you home.

You made sure to always be careful when you were alone, yes you took cabs, but you always had a pen on your hand and your phone ready to call 119 in the other, checking the routes and if the driver looked at you too much.

Everything was okay, you were already relaxed when you saw your building in front of you, so you shoved your things in your bag, pulled out the bill, and paid, walking home with an easy mind.

You never thought you would get snatched right next to your door.

With a hand on your mouth and the other on your tummy, you felt how you were dragged into the alley next to your building, darkness surrounding you while you felt a disgusting presence behind you.

The one who pulled you in was a man, taller than you, with big hands and an erection already ready to make your worst nightmare real.

You started to cry, muffled by his gloved hand, you couldn’t say anything when you heard his voice calling you sweet treat, ordering you to be silent if you didn’t want things to get ugly.

Begging Gyeong-ah, your mother, and God to send you help, you nodded when he said he would let you go if you were good.

‘’Promise?’’ he murmured.

‘’Promise’’ you agreed, closing your eyes and letting his hand cup your pussy with force, not making a single sound, only trembling with tears running down your cheeks.

He pushed your face to the wall and made you show him your bubbly ass, touching it as much as he wanted without an ounce of shame.

You thought this is it, my karma, repeating inside your head how this was your punishment for all the things you should and shouldn’t have done.

The man couldn’t even open the button of your jeans before you heard a loud bang and his body fell to the floor.

Staying in your position, you pressed your face to your hands and didn’t dare to turn around to see what was making all that noise, it was metallic, and it didn’t stop even when the man didn’t make a single noise anymore.

When things got silent, you, still trembling, turned your head to see what, or who stopped the man.

You never expected to see Gyeong-su covered in black clothes from head to toe, paint all over the floor, covering the man's body and face, and the can totally smashed and tossed to the side.

‘’Uh?’’ was the only thing that came out of your mouth.

‘’I knew he was going to come for you, this sick bastard’’ he said.

You didn’t understand why he thought that, and watching your white sneakers get ruined with the blood and the red paint, you started to cry even more, still in silence.

‘’It’s okay, you’re okay’’ he said, giving you your messed bag and, once again, leaving you alone.

You called the police, the number still there on your screen ready to only press the green button, and when you did it, you said your direction as clearly as you could.

‘’Did you see who did it?’’ one of the officers asked you, and you stayed silent for a good minute before answering.

‘’I didn’t’’ then you said.

The two cops keeping you company looked at each other and then the one writing things down nodded.

‘’I see’’ was the only thing he said before leaving you alone.

You didn’t have much to do, the man was dead, and now nothing could be done.

Was that justice? You thought.

They immediately recognized him as the killer, he had a patron, pretty girls who lived alone, and all the bodies showed the same signs of abuse before dying.

Perhaps he had lied to all of them, and he had lied to you, convincing you that if you did no sound you would live, but you’d have died just like them at the end.

But did he deserve to die? Just like Sangmin, wasn’t there another way to get justice for your pain? For yours, Gyeong-ah’s, and all those girls’.

Still, what you knew was that, even if it was contrary to all your values, knowing how valuable life was, Gyeong-su didn’t deserve any punishment, he had saved you, and justice for you, was that he continued free out there.

The next day before you went to work, you saw rests of the red paint still over the cement, thin layers already dry after so many hours, cracked with the breeze of the sea, and you thought how, if Gyeong-su hadn’t saved you yesterday, what anyone else would have seen in daylight was your cold body lying out there.

All your coworkers hugged you when you arrived, and your manager told you to take the day off if you needed, but you couldn’t go back home or you’d start to overthink things again, if what you did was the correct thing to do, if he deserved to die like that, if you were a killer too, taking into account how you saved Gyeong-su’s secret.

When the first break came you walked out to the plastic table, but Gyeong-su wasn’t there, and hugging your coat, you sat to wait for him, but he didn’t come.

He avoided you for days, and you thought the pseudo-friendship you had was over, until a detective arrived and started to make questions about what had happened to you that day.

‘’You really didn’t see who did it?’’ he asked, and you denied again, already used to say that lie as if it was an unchanging truth, ‘’Do you mind if I walk around here a little bit?’’

You didn’t have a reason to say no, but your eyes caught how Gyeong-su opened the curtain separating the counter from the freezer where all the fish waited to be cut and packed to be sold, and how he immediately took a step back, not letting himself be seen.

You don’t know why, but you knew Gyeong-su didn’t want that detective to see him.

‘’I’m sorry, but I really don’t want to see any more cops lurking around, he’s dead, and looking at you only brings me back the bad memories of that night’’ you didn’t know why you said something like that, it didn’t make any sense, all the older ladies loved to see the cops near, feeling a lot safer, but you didn’t know what else to say to make them leave.

His younger companion frowned and was about to say something before the detective stopped him and nodded, leaving you his card and telling you to call him in case you ever needed help or remembered something.

You didn’t answer, shoving it into one of the numerous pockets your vest had, and turned your back to continue writing down the stock you were counting.

‘’Ugly girls should learn how to talk prettily at least’’ you heard the younger say.

‘’Shut up, she’s a victim, she doesn’t have to entertain you with pretty words’’ the older quickly replied, ‘’and you don’t know what you’re saying, her face is very pretty.’’

Jand Nam-gam, you read in the card he left you.

He seemed like the kind of person who was only respected by the people who were near him, used to receive no as answers, and a bit blunt and unsophisticated, from the city, just like you, but without the calm and respectable vibe a detective from there usually had, and too honest and correct to survive there for long.

When you went out for your break a couple of hours later you saw Gyeong-su sitting on the table, smoking and waiting for you.

You sat next to him and for the first time, you showed him your palm, asking for a cigarette too.

Without looking at you, he gave you the one he was smoking, still new and ready for you to take it.

Your fingers brushed his when he gave it to you, and you tried to not think much about it, but you always thought too much, so to shut your mind up, you inhaled the cancer stick and held it as long as you could, slowly letting the grey cloud appear in front of your face.

The city had the same grey color it used to have before Gyeong-ah, and you weren’t sure how long you could stay there.

Your imagination wasn’t filled with a future there, you didn’t want to walk around the beach anymore, you had no one eating breakfast with you in your head, and you were afraid every time your turn finished and you had to go back home, running the few steps to open your building door, and only feeling safe once you checked that your oven was off and you put a chair behind your secured door.

‘’I didn’t ask for your help’’ he then said.

‘’Me neither’’ you answered.

He nodded, still looking at the metallic bars surrounding you.

‘’How did you know I didn’t want him to see me’’ he asked, breathing the air and pushing his hands inside his apron pockets.

‘’How did you know he was going to come for me’’ you asked back.

He shrugged like every time you asked him anything he couldn’t ignore.

‘’I just knew he would come for you, after all, they said he followed pretty girls.’’

It felt completely different from when the detective said it, and you bit the inside of your cheek, feeling a warm sensation reach your cold hands.

‘’I just knew it too’’ you said, tossing the rest of the stick to the floor.

It tasted like shit, and you couldn’t understand how he and Gyeong-ah smoked it every day.

‘’I won’t come to work tomorrow.’’

You felt incredibly alone again, you knew he meant that he wouldn’t come back, he would, again, leave you there on your own.

‘’Can you walk me home today? I’m afraid of going on my own.’’

He knew why you asked him that, a goodbye, a farewell, so he nodded and told you to wait for him at the front door.

Your turn finished and then you were waiting for him right where he had told you, a good girl following his words exactly like he wanted.

You stayed there, hands playing with the leather strap of your bag, the bag you used when you lived in Seoul, too noisy in the province, reason why you preferred to go around with your canvas tote bag, a lot more discreet and common, but that one had been ruined with the red paint that day, and just like your white sneakers, you had to toss it away.

When he appeared he nodded at you, indicating you with a tilt of his head to lead the way.

You two walked on silent, you couldn’t make any question or comment or silly joke, and it was obvious, by the grip on your bag, that you were nervous.

He noticed it, and pulling out his hand from the pocket of his bomber jacket, he grabbed your left hand and held it all the way to your house.

You felt incredibly calm, thinking how you shouldn’t because you knew, deep down, that he was dangerous. It was impossible, by the fear of facing the detective, that he hadn’t killed more people, and it was clear he was being followed.

That makes sense, you thought, if you weren’t sent to that province because of work, like Sangmin, you were hiding, and he was just like Gyeong-ah and you, escaping from things that had happened in the past, or perhaps, things that were still happening now.

But you hadn’t felt so safe in so long, because you knew that, with him, nothing would snatch you next to your house, and that no one would be able to enter your house, or that your oven was never going to magically explode.

With him by your side everything was okay, you were okay, and that was enough to make all those preoccupations disappear.

When you got to your entrance you let his hand go to open the principal door with your key, and he was behind you, observing you, you could feel his eyes on the back of your head, but when you turned to him, he let his eyes fall to the floor.

‘’Do you want to drink some coffee?’’ you asked, and he nodded, following you inside and walking up the stairs until you got to your little apartment.

It wasn’t amazing, but it was yours. You didn’t have an elevator, and you always had to go up to the fifth floor to let your clothes dry with a big basket, but it was okay, you liked your building, your neighbors were quiet, and you felt safe and sound there. Until that happened.

Inside your room you let him close the door for you, and you didn’t feel the need to immediately put the secure on, leaving your coat on the hanger instead, and taking off your shoes, you walked to your little kitchen, putting water in an electric kettle to boil it.

You could cook in your kitchen, but you never used the oven, and you preferred the electric kettle over the traditional one because once the water was done, it would automatically turn off.

Then you sat on the floor, leaving two cups, sugar and coffee over the little wooden table you had, and turning on the TV, you looked at him in the eyes until he sat beside you on the floor.

He was wearing an ugly grey sweater that kind of smelled like fish, mascaraed with what you identified as the cheap deodorant you sold in the store, but you were used to the fish smell he had, so you didn’t mind.

‘’Do you mind if I take a shower?’’ He said not much after.

You nodded, the news had just started, and you mindlessly changed the channel to try to find anything interesting.

‘’Sure, there are towels in the cabinet, I’ll get you some clothes, they’re mine, but I’m sure they’ll fit you’’ you said, and he didn’t waste a second to walk to your bathroom.

You gulped while changing the channels, you knew what you were going to do, but you hadn’t done it in so long, you needed a second to recognize what that sensation forming on your abdomen was.

You hadn’t done anything at all, and you felt yourself already getting wet inside your panties.

The click the jug did after the water was done caught your attention and you stood up to get the water, pulling out the cord from the plug, but knowing you had to get him his clothes, you walked to your little closet to find a t-shirt and some pants that could fit him.

He wasn’t buff at all, but he was lean, a normal guy there, not fat, not big, not small, and taller than normal, so you decided to find the biggest clothes you had.

You were choosing when you heard the door open and you felt him walking behind you, hands surrounding your waist and wetting your back with the drops that were still sliding down his chest.

‘’I chose this’’ you said, lifting the clothes so he could see them, feeling his breath touch the side of your neck and his nose brushing your skin.

‘’I’ll wear them later then’’ he answered, pushing you to your closed closet and making you turn to him.

You weren’t that short, but just then you noticed how much taller than you he was. He made you lift your eyes to him with a touch to your hands, taking the clothes from your hands and letting them fall to the floor.

‘’I- I don’t remember much how this was… it’s been years for me’’ you admitted, and he nodded.

‘’It’s been years for me too’’ he said, not as ashamed as you.

With the same hand that tossed the clothes, he made you look at him and accept his mouth over yours, taking the lead in the kiss and erasing all your thoughts.

It felt good, his lips were chapped, and he had the taste of smoke in his mouth, but you didn’t mind, it finally tasted good, and moving your hands to his neck, you let him press his body against yours, the lower half of his body only covered by one of your towels.

He wasn’t hard, but you could feel something poking at the front of your jeans, and you wanted him to lay on your bed, so after a couple of long minutes, and just after he had enough of your mouth, you murmured something.

‘’Let’s go to my bed’’ you begged with hazy eyes and weak legs, leaning onto him, who was holding you with his body against your closet doors.

He nodded, and taking your hand, he guided you there, making you sit and look up to him.

Your lights were on, and you felt nervous, you had never had sex with the lights on, you only had a couple of partners, and they always turned them off before fucking you.

‘’You can turn off the lights if you want’’ you said, looking at him in the eyes.

He didn’t answer, his hand went to your cheek, and he pressed the tips of his fingers over your skin, caressing it and then brushing your wet lips after all his kisses, slightly red and plump thanks to the way his lips covered them.

He didn’t acknowledge what you said, bending down to retake the contact between both mouths.

Full of life, unlike his usual demeanor, eager, he pushed you to your back, making you receive him between your legs.

Slightly harder, you felt the border of his boner only covered by the fabric damp your jeans, but he didn’t stop kissing you, one hand lying on your neck and the other helping him stay still over you to not let all his weight crush you.

You opened your legs as much as you could with the jeans stopping you from going too far.

‘’You know what I’ll do to you’’ he said after a minute.

You nodded.

‘’I won’t stop’’ he warned.

‘’I don’t want you to’’ you answered.

You knew no one was going to save you from that place, it wasn’t his job, so you’d accept this as enough, and you’d let him go without resentment and an I should’ve done it.

‘’Will you be okay?’’ he asked, afraid of hurting you more.

‘’I want this to happen’’ you said, making him look at you, caress your cheek once again, and give you another kiss before his hands went to your button and helped you take your jeans off.

Sliding the clothing off your legs, he pushed your thighs wide open, and feeling the texture of the towel, his now hard cock against your clothed clit made you whimper.

‘’It feels good’’ you said, to what he agreed with you.

‘’It feels good’’ he affirmed.

He did soft movements to stimulate you with his cock, only letting you feel what would soon be inside you.

Looking at your eyes flutter, he pushed up your shirt, showing him your black bra hugging your chest.

Touching the skin uncovered by your cups, he pressed his thumb to see how far it could sink into your skin.

Your chest was bigger than normal, just like your tummy, but he liked it, it looked comforting and soft, perfect for him to rest a little bit, after his exhausting life, it looked like a taste of paradise.

You pushed his hands while taking your shirt off without asking, to then unhook your bra and toss it to the floor.

‘’Touch me properly’’ you said, making him snicker.

You had forgotten how that little grin looked like, and you smiled when it appeared again.

‘’Okay,’’ he replied, unabashedly grabbing both tits and groping them, looking at how the skin flooded his grip between fingers, and feeling good with both sensations, his cock against your cunt, and his hands in your chest, you closed your eyes and moaned, moving your head to your side and cover your mouth with the back of your hand.

He didn’t let you hide yourself for long, making you open your mouth for him and pushing his tongue inside your mouth, obliging you to let the moans out.

Your panties were incredibly wet, and he left one of your tits free to sneak a hand inside them.

Juices gladly receiving him, he groaned when he felt you dripping all over his fingers.

Without asking, just like when you took your shirt, he introduced a finger.

You cried with his mouth over yours.

His finger was long, and it sent a delicious shock to your core, making you frown at how good it felt.

‘’More’’ you begged, and he gladly obliged, pushing one more finger to make scissoring motions and prepare you for him.

‘’Shit, it’s begging for it’’ he groaned when he heard how much your insides were squelching, asking for him to fill you up.

‘’Yes, yes’’ you cried, listening to his nasty approbations telling you how good you’d take him, and how much he couldn’t wait to fill that sweet pussy of yours.

Fucking you with his fingers, you moaned as much as you wanted, not caring to hide anymore, it was your only night with him, so you decided to not hold anything.

His mouth went to your nipple, tits falling to the sides of how heavy they were and shaking with his attention to your cunt.

He licked them, first with just the tip of his tongue, but then let it flat so it covered your buds and made you shake even more.

‘’Su- so good’’ you cried.

His fingers were making you dizzy, and you had to get up on your elbows to see his hand inside your panties moving to make you cum.

It was hard to see yourself like that, so naked, so exposed.

You couldn’t hide the way your tummy rolls were in front of his eyes, the marks on your skin, or the way your big tits didn’t look perfect on your body, but he seemed to not care, even liking it, guiding his mouth to your nipples again and looking into your eyes when he left soft pecks over them.

‘’You’re going to cum for me, right?’’ he murmured when you started to clench over him.

‘’I-I don’t know’’ you cried, never having an orgasm with your partners before, you didn’t know if that was an orgasm, or what the hell was it.

‘’You’re going to’’ he didn’t ask, ‘’and it’s because of my fingers, so good’’ he pushed his fingers faster and harder, stretching your panties with how brutal he was.

You couldn’t maintain your position and dropped over your back, crying with your walls pulsating around him.

‘’That’s it, so fucking good, my good girl’’ he said still moving his fingers.

You tried to push his hand away, eyes rolling to the back of your head and tears falling down your cheeks of overstimulation, and he stopped when you left a singular loud cry out, but only to take off your messed underwear and toss the towel wrapping his hips.

He let you take a second to breathe properly again, and pushing up your legs, he made you show him your glossy cunt, lips open and ready for him.

He couldn’t help it, it was all shiny and pretty, he had to taste it a little bit, and sinking to his knees over the floor, he pulled your body to the border of the bed, mouth going directly to your pussy.

Drinking your orgasm, the slurping sound was so nasty you had to put your hands over your face, cheeks burning with embarrassment.

‘’That’s too much’’ you tried to stop him, but he, mouth still stuck to your entrance, and nose poking at your clit, denied with his head, smearing your arousal over his face.

‘’You have no idea all the things I want to do to you’’ he replied, pushing his thumb to your opening, and pressing his tongue over your clit this time.

You cried, hands going to his wet hair and trying to pull him away, but he was stronger than you, and you never had a chance to stop him.

You couldn’t fight him, so you wanted to finish quickly instead, hips jolting to feel him more and grasp that sweet second orgasm you felt coming.

About to call his name, he separated and said something before going back to his work.

‘’Lee Tang’’ he said, and that was enough for you to know what he meant.

That was his name, not Gyeong-su, but Lee Tang, and you thought, that fits him a lot more.

‘’Lee… Tang’’ you said as you could, and then the only thing that came out of your mouth was a ton of Tang, Tang, repeating proudly his real name.

You were so close that you could feel your toes curling, walls ready to let your orgasm free and relax again, and your back was curving, your body needing to cum once again because of him.

But he was so cruel.

He stopped, and getting up his knees, he thumbed your clit, flicking the little button a couple of times before he slid his dick between your lips, making you feel his length resting over you.

‘’Please, I’m so close, please’’ you saw the light of your room above him, watching his dark eyes examine you, searching for another answer in your eyes.

You left a disappointed cry when he, instead of touching, walked away to grab his jacket hung next to yours, and sitting, you saw him pull a little box from his pocket.

So that’s why he made me wait for him outside, you thought, he didn’t want you to see what he was buying.

Opening the film package, you saw him sliding the condom over his member with experience, walking back at you and showing you how it looked, slightly jumping over the air, standing hard and thick, and pushing you to your back again, he pressed his tip on your entrance, making you clench over it, and nodded to your past pleading. ‘’You deserve it’’ he said before pushing his member inside.

He didn’t let you adjust, but you didn’t need it, you just wanted him to keep moving, and soon that soft pace wasn’t enough for you.

‘’Fuck’’ you couldn’t hold the curses in your throat.

It felt so good, the weight of his member inside, pushing the limits of your walls, taking what he wanted from you, it was so good your hands searched for something of him to grip, finding his hands over your hips to maintain you in your place for him.

‘’Tang, so good, please make me cum’’ you cried.

One of his hands interlocked with yours, helping you find comfort between all the intense sensations your insides were feeling.

You looked so good under him, your chubby torse facing him, showing him everything he wanted to see, and your thighs jiggling with each of his thrusts.

You were close, and so was he, but he needed something more, a little thing that had been wandering inside his mind since he started to see you differently.

‘’Can you turn for me?’’ he asked, needing to see your pretty ass taking him.

Not answering, you immediately crawled further in your bed, and searching for your pillow, you hugged it, pressing your face to your bedsheets and showing him your ass without any ounce of shame left.

‘’Fuck me’’ you begged again, opening your lips with your fingers and showing him your entrance gaping around nothing, ‘’Tang, please fuck me.’’

His breath stopped, he had never seen something that bold and hot before, and he admired your needy side calling for him to calm you.

Going to you, he pushed his entire length inside, bottoming out and pushing it inside in a single thrust to see your gorgeous back and thick thighs trembling with his cock.

You were crying and hugging your pillow, shoulders becoming smaller and one of your hands on your back searching for his to hold it again.

Lee Tang, not daring to ignore you, his good girl, like that, held your hand.

‘’You’re the one who wanted me to fuck you, and now you can’t take it?’’ he teased, not liking how much he was spoiling you.

‘’No, I can take it, please don’t stop’’ you implored, feeling his hard and fast thrusts pushing your sanity away.

He didn’t care how weak he was to you, feeling your walls wrapping around him like that was like nothing he had felt before, watching the curves of your waist interrupted with your little fat rolls, your ass bouncing against his pelvis with his strength, taking his cock like a gift, and your hand not letting him go even with how hard he was being with you, was everything he ever needed.

Hearing your sweet moans and cries all out when you came, with your sweet walls fluttering around him, pushed the last string inside him, and he pressed his cock inside you to let everything out in the condom.

‘’Tang-‘’ you gripped his hand harder.

‘’Yes baby, I’m cumming’’ he exhaled, letting all inside you.

‘’Okay’’ you said happy.

He wished he could stay connected to you forever, but he couldn’t, and he had to pull out of you to make sure the condom, and you, were alright.

Going to the bathroom to toss it in the trash, he looked at his reflection in the mirror, not recognizing himself with how relaxed he looked.

Tense all the time, he saw his eyes drowsy, ready to rest the whole night.

You, lying on your side to catch your breath, hoped that he could at least spend this night with you, his last night there, but maybe that was too much to ask.

When he came you didn’t look at him, and he simply accommodated behind you, spooning you with a hand over your tummy, letting his hand land there, and sighed.

‘’Let’s get inside the covers, the night is cold’’ he murmured, and you followed his request.

Under your bedsheets, a lot warmer thanks to the fabric and his skin, your mind started to drift away, so you looked at him one last time before falling asleep, closing your eyes when he left a last kiss over your lips.

When you woke up you were alone, feeling incredibly sore, and sad.

You stood up to drink a glass of water, not thinking much about how lonely you felt, concentrating on what would you do later that day to fill your head.

Would you be able to stay? You doubted it, you had too many memories here, and maybe the driver was right, all of you would leave one day.

You were about to go back to bed when you saw a little note next to your electric kettle.

I’ll come back in three weeks was written, and you closed your eyes, happy to not be abandoned again.

You had to stay so he could find you, that was your home now.

#lee tang #lee tang x reader #a killer paradox #choi wooshik #choi woo shik smut #lee tang smut #kpop smut #kdrama smut #i have no idea what tags to put #why can't i find more fics of this man #plus size reader #chubby reader #choi wooshik smut

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tbhimnoteasyonmyself · 2 months

Text

WHAT THE FUCK IS UP WITH PHEE?

(and other equally puzzling things)

An EXTREMELY EXTENSIVE Post-Episode 10 Analysis/Theory

So, okay. Episode 10 was A LOT. Like... A LOT, A LOT. And a lot of this lot seems... Weird as fuck. So many odd choices were made in the narrative.

Top's drugged manipulation; White pulling info about shrooms out of his ass; Fluke becoming a victim of involuntary drug abuse ghosts of his past and begging for mercy after "all he did to Non"... But nothing beats Phee's OOC moments in ep.10 while he's alone with Jin.

Which is what compels me to make this post. Because this series has been nothing but the richness of detail and now suddenly... It's all over the place? Call it wishful thinking (or Last Twilight trauma) but I don't think so. And it mostly comes down to: Phee. And whatever his "agenda" is.

PS: All screenshots of the show I use (and I will use a lot) will have been brightened because this show is FUCKING DARK, BOYYYYYY and I don't think y'all deserve to force your sight at 3AM to enjoy my posts.

WHAT HAPPENS AND WHY IT'S SUSPICIOUS

So? What does Phee say and do when he's alone with Jin in ep.10 and why am I suspicious of it?

It's hard to say for sure. But we can base ourselves off of 3 things: what we hear him say, what Jin replies to him and the flashbacks (no, they're not just there to fill in time for this very short episode, they serve a narrative purpose).

So let's do this analysis following the order in which things are shown to us, shall we?

First of all, we get a short flashback. The events are as follows:

Phee and New go to see the gang's film

New approaches Phee and they talk

New and Phee decide to try and figure out what happened to Non by infiltrating the group

New and Phee join the gang's school and start asking question

Jin decides to leave Thailand

New suggests going to Por's mansion for the goodbye party

Phee questions New in the lab about his decisions

New suggests using their homemade drug on the group as a truth serum

Phee asks if the drug is deadly and New denies it

Although we don't hear Phee tell this to Jin, Jin does reply very angrily something along the lines of "and you just let him carry on with it? why didn't you stop him? what the fuck is wrong with y'all???", so we can assume we've been shown what Phee told him.

So far, it's very unsuspicious. We've been shown these events before in the actual flashbacks so we can be fairly sure all of that is true.

It starts to get suspicious, however, when Phee replies to him: "There's so much more that you don't understand. About Non, and Tan".

And I think Jin feels the vibe too because, the man standing on his tall pillar of morality and righteousness /s, says he'll give Phee another chance to cut the bullshit and tell him everything. And so Phee sighs and the dreaded narration of ✨New's Murderous Adventures✨ starts.

So Phee tells Jin (and consequently us) that:

Phee and New set up a bunch of cameras to spy on the gang

New drugged the drinks

It was supposed to end when everyone was high at the party but New didn't follow the plan

New deleted the camera files

Phee kept drugging the group

Por's injury wasn't an accident but a trap that he thinks New set

New's drug enhances people's inner fears

Phee "never thought New would be so cruel with Uncle Dang"

New drugged Top at the temple

New must've left the hard disk for White to find

By the time he figured New's plan, there was nothing he could do about it (and we see him looking distressed at New's arrival at the house)

Now, here we have some interesting things. Let me list them for you.

Why would Phee keep drugging the group after Por got hurt?? If, as he claims, he didn't mean for people to get hurt, why would he keep people on drugs while a man is dying on the couch? Especially when the guy you're on a revenge mission with is ELIMINATING THE CONTENT OF THE CAMERA RECORDINGS!! That sure isn't gonna help anyone survive!

How does Phee know about Top??? He and Jin never saw Top arrive at the house. For all they know, that bro is lost in the woods. Right??

HOW THE FUCK DOES HE KNOW WHITE GOT THE HARD DRIVE??? There's no signal in the woods. We've established that. When White tells Tee and New about his actions they're ALONE. The only other person there is LITERALLY THE MASKY (I'm calling the masked person that for convenience, it's shorter. besides, it seems the fandom has been calling them that anyways, so... yeah). So how does he know? How does he know???

And in that same fucking sequence: THE MASKY TRIES TO HURT NEW!!! Bu if New told Top to hurt everyone who hurt Non, why would he hurt him??? And why, my friends, WHY would he SAVE TEE, when he's the only witness of those events??? It would be so easy to just say the masky killed Tee and he couldn't save him... Is it 4D chess??? Is it a different masky??? Or, is it simply not true that New did that?

It's very confusing, weird and suspicious. But let's wait it out, guys, because there's more to PheeJin in the temple.

After this odd-ass narration, they're back to having a convo. Which goes as follows:

Jin (very validly) asks Phee what the fuck is wrong with him and New

Phee says he'd never allow them to go if he knew New was going for murder instead of just confessions ("you can hate me if you want but I never wanted anyone to get hurt, I swear" or whatever he said)

Jin asks if Tan is New and Phee is Non's boyfriend

Phee confirms Jin's suspicions and even adds that "p'New came back from England"

Jin asks if they ever saw the group as their friends

Phee says they wanted to infiltrate the group to find the truth because they didn't know shit about what happened to Non and it's haunting them (good choice of words there, very subtle /s)

Phee explains his motivation, stating he told Non to "get lost and die"

Jin confesses to recording the child grooming revenge porn tape and posting it on Twitter (-_-)

Jin explains his motivation, saying he respected Non's relationship (by constantly making moves on him?) but couldn't stand him cheating on Phee (so he one-upped him by committing not one but two actual severe crimes?)

Phee appears to be mad and disgusted so he says "Fuck. So we both were the ones who hurt Non?", gets up and starts pacing (oh no! the big boy is angy~~~ /s)

Jin gets up like a sad wet cat

Phee randomly finds an axe and takes some exposition out of his ass by stating "this must be Tan's axe that he keeps as a spare. But it's good"

Phee breaks the gate

So by this point Phee's whole speech sounds a bit insane, considering the type of person we've seen he is. Not to mention he just INSTANTLY calms down upon finding an axe and just decides to move on. Like ??? Excuse me??? If that ain't weird then idk what is. Like, sure, Phee is a very confusing and confused character (as better explored by @crysta1ized in this post). He seems to have his heart divided between many things and they could all be pulling at his strings there. HOWEVER, we have to remember Phee's also THIS guy:

Does this look like the kind of person who would just move on after a (perceived) treason? Does he??

And, the thing about this is that it gets worse.

After the scene cuts back from the house, Pheejin are lost in the damn woods (parallels to New and Tee? mayhaps, man, mayhaps...) These are the events there:

Phee is back to supporting Jin's weight with his body while they walk (which makes no fucking sense bc Jin hurt his SHOULDER which is a part of his UPPER BODY so there's no reason why he couldn't walk on his own but okay, sure)

They make no progress walking for a while, even despite trying to mark the places they've already been at

Jin is very upset that Phee's not very good at navigating through unknown forests at night

Phee, however, is very understanding and says: "Jin. I told you that I would be the one who would protect you. So I'll get you out of here" then PROCEEDS TO HOLD HANDS with him and continues with: "Right now, our friends are waiting for us to help them. So, you must stay strong. Believe in me"

-Jin nods (because, despite trying to play the apathetic bitch, he's a softie and very much has feelings™)

-PheeJin finally find the exit of the fucking forest

DO Y'ALL SEE HOW SOMETHING'S VERY WRONG WITH PHEE HERE??? Bro's not just acting weird (that would be fine, we love weirdos. *looks at New and winks* <3), he's abnormal. He's not acting like himself.

So, before I jump into trying to make some sense out of all of this, I'll just add the last scene of PheeJin alone in ep.10, last anyone come tell me I missed it:

They're arriving at the mansion

Jin falls down

Phee abandons the axe to help him

I don't think this one is particularly relevant to analyse Phee's character in this episode (although the axe is certainly relevant for other plots and our dear 9th person) but it's there. After this, they're back in the house with everyone and Por's rotting corpse.

PHEE IS HIDING THINGS

So what the fuck happened, really? Well, a lot. Some are easier, I think, to interpret, some aren't but regardless, there was a lot going on with Phee. To make this very complex thing a bit easier to understand, I'll start from the things I think are a bit easier to explain and/or are more solid and then I'll move from there towards the rest of this mess. Okay? Ok- (gets shot bc I hate John Green).

One thing for me that's nearly set in stone is that Phee, at the very least, isn't telling Jin everything. If he was, then the flashbacks would've started with PheeNon's falling love montage but they don't. They start at the cinema. Plus, Jin has to ask if Phee is Non's boyfriend and Tan is New, like he's piecing things by himself. If Phee had told him that, he wouldn't need to ask. AND Phee would've have referred to New as New during his whole monologue but he did not. He kept saying "Tan". He only started doing so after Jin asked the question and he confirmed Tan was New.

Curiously enough, he also never mentions the antidote he knows exists and KNOWS New brought along. And that neither of them ever used on the others.

The million-dollar question here is then, naturally: why? Various reasons, I believe.

1st of all I think we have to account for the feels. Phee is definitely in a weird ass zone with Jin but it's something. And he feels that something (whatever it is. believe me I could make an entire post about that shit, it's so fucking complex, man, and it only gets worse this episode). He likes Jin, even if he tries not to or if he dislikes that he likes him. It's undeniable. So yes, of course, he doesn't want Jin to hate his guts more than necessary.

But also... We cannot forget why Phee himself is there: to find out what happened to Non. And what does he get out of the conversation he has with Jin? That's right. A confession.

Now, I don't think it's the confession he expected if his reactions are anything to go by:

I mean... If this is not the face of a man thinking "well, shit", then idk what it is. And also because, idk if it's a subtitle error or not, but he seems to ask "what did you three do?" when he's inquiring about the events of the past, so...

Someone is being excluded.

Still, I think it's super possible he was hoping to get something out of it. After all, even if he assumes Jin is innocent in his actions, I don't think he's excluding him from having knowledge of what went down. That would make his positive bias even sillier.

So yeah, sure, I bet Phee feels genuinely guilty and it hurts him to be in the situation he's in and he definitely wants to be in a good place in terms of his relationship with Jin, especially because, as he said, he doesn't know if they can get out of the temple. But also... As Ta (Phee's actor) himself said in an interview: Phee can be really manipulative (I can't find the damn interview rn but, during my search, I found @raelle-writing had also mentioned it in this post, so I think it's enough to say I didn't dream that shit). You know... 2 things can be true at once.

Which brings me to the next part:

PHEE IS LYING

That whole talk of "I never thought he would hurt you", "if I had known I wouldn't have let you come", blah, blah, blah. That's some major BULLSHIT.

Phee knew exactly what New was capable of. At least, on a subconscious level. After all, if my friends started being murdered, my 1st assumption would not be that my best friend did it. Unless, of course, my best friend was spiralling down to madness, constantly using drugs to see his dead brother and answering shit like this:

With a smirk on, when I ask him if the absynthe is gonna kill our friends. Because yeah, sure, I guess the green won't kill them. But you can't tell me this motherfucker wouldn't. He definitely would. And if we can infer that, so does Phee, who has been living with him as his close friend for the last 3 years.

In fact, the very fact that he feels the need to ask whether or not the drugs will kill the gang is proof enough that he, to some extent and, whether or not he's aware of it, KNOWS that's, at least, a possibility. Knows that's something New would do.

So yeah, he's perhaps not just lying to Jin (but also to himself) or not intentionally lying, but he's lying nevertheless. Phee knew this was a possibility. He knew New was capable of stuff like that. And when he pieces the story together, that's him admitting, even if no one realizes, that he knew it. And that he let it happen, in fact, because he never tried to stop the drugging. Or talked to New about what was going on (you'd think if he had that he would've told Jin in that situation). His biggest weapon is his knowledge and he chose not to swing the sword sooner. How very Fluke of him, isn't it? Especially because now 2 people are dead and that's on New, right? Right???

Not necessarily.

NEW IS NOT A MURDERER (initially)

You see, for all we see New is fine with death and murder in episodes 9 and 10, he makes it clear his nº1 goal is to figure out what happened to Non when he gets in front of a fucking firearm to harass Tee into talking.

So why would he talk Top into murder? Why would Top attack him?? Why would he kill Uncle Dang?? And why, on the goddamn Earth, would he eliminate the recordings in the house when his whole motivation is

(Thank you, hallucination Non <;3) to expose them??? Especially when the only other person who knew about the hidden cameras was Phee. It makes no sense! Sure, he might've contemplated the murder, but on a later phase of the plan, I think. The priority was, always, to get them to confess on camera so he could later use the recordings to expose them to the country and clear Non's image. 'Cause we cannot forget, while the people close to Non don't buy the bullshit TV news sensationalist story (and, therefore, are searching for the truth), the rest of the country thinks Non is a slut who ran away with mafia money and his teacher(because, like @delululover explains in this post: Asian culture tends to normalize grooming of older teens and even blame them for the situation).

So what are we seeing when Phee narrates the events? Well, probably just Phee's guesses.

He thinks New is deranged and has drugs and that Top is missing and now they're being attacked by this person, who is conveniently wearing a mask. So he guesses that's Top. Plus, he doesn't know New was attacked by Masky in the middle of the forest.

He knows, like everyone else, that New had the hard drive. And, when Top and New go out in the woods with the bike he remains in the house. So, it's possible he saw the hard drive there where New left it before he went out.

And, because the only 2 people remaining in the house, as far as Phee knows, are Fluke and White, and New DEFINITELY wouldn't want the drive to get into Fluke's hands, he must've assumed New wanted White to find it (which may or may not be true but it's irrelevant, I think).

And, yes, calm down, I can hear you scream: "But how did he know White watched the video???" And the answer I bring you is very simple: he didn't. He has no idea. And the best part is: you only think he knows because you know. But Phee never says that. He says New left the hard drive there for White to find. And that's it. He never mentions a video whatsoever.

Now, is it convoluted? Yes. Absolutely. But we have to think this is Phee we're talking about. He's the guy who always thinks he has the upper hand (a.k.a thinking he can save Non or that he's not falling in Love with Jin). It's almost impossible for him to think he's in the dark as to what is happening to them. After all, in his narrative of his life, he is the hero. And, I know, lots of people in the fandom see it that way as well, so... It's not impossible to imagine that's what the story is trying to sell us. It's trying to make us believe Phee knows. When in reality, I think, it's more likely that Phee's the embodiment of this meme:

Okay. But then if New didn't do it, then who did? Because something is obviously going on with Top, right? And Uncle Dang IS very much dead. So what the fuck is that all about?

THE SECRET 9TH PERSON? ENTITY? THING?

As discussed several times by several people in this fandom, there's a very high possibility that there's someone else with them in the woods.

@blmpff points out the existence of various versions of the mask here. @subtextsays points out the crutches in the bathroom scene with Top here. There's this shit:

Whatever it fucking means (besides the fact that it gives me the hibbie jibbies). Someone is also obviously taking care of the Janta cult because there's fresh food in the offerings.

@raelle-writing also points out here that New is also seeing stuff even though our favourite insane motherfucker has got (and has been using!) the antidote.

And, as of episode 10, as @babyangelsky pointed out in this post. When PheeJin are lost in the damn woods, the cuts on the wood Phee supposedly make keep changing.

Which makes both of us question if they're all the same cut or even all done by Phee.

So, I think this is enough to speculate Phee could very much just be misinterpreting the whole thing and attributing guilt to New when, in fact, someone else has been causing the deaths.

Now you may question who and that's all very fair. You should even. But that is not what this post is about and, frankly, thank god, because this is already a monstrous creation.

So let's pick this cut these cuts in the wood and use it as a segway to the last part of this, shall we?

PHEE IS AS BENEVOLENT AS A GREEK GOD

So Phee's mad. Super mad. He's passing around and cursing.

Jin, the only person he probably genuinely thought didn't do anything, is the one who recorded and posted the video.

And then Phee finds an axe. And, suddenly, Phee changes. Why?

Well, we have to look at it with what urges Phee to talk in the first place (besides his feelings and his wants): Phee is losing hope. He states it himself that he doesn't think they're going to be able to get out of the temple. So, he talks. Sure, he doesn't say everything but it's the closest to being honest with Jin we've ever seen him be.

And then their whole reality changes. Because Phee found an axe. And it all comes down on him: they are going to get out of there. And what now?

As @yellingaboutkp states in this post Phee is not only hard to read for us or confusing to the other characters (Jin mainly). He's also hard to read and confusing to himself: "...is Phee still playing Jin? It seems like he's trying to, but the more time he spends with Jin, the harder it's getting to stick to the plan."

Thus, what we see at the end of their time in the temple and alone in the woods is a mix of things, I believe.

Phee needs to feel like he's in control again. And with the original plan being ruined and Jin knowing too much (and there's no way he's not gonna speak, in fact, it's the very first thing he does when they arrive at he house) he's simply not. So when he tells Jin everything is gonna be alright, he's also trying to tell that to himself. He's trying to reassure himself that they're gonna get out of that huge mess. And, perhaps, in saving Jin also finding some redemption because, according to his own narration of the events, he let New go to far (as Jin points out).

Phee also knows more now. And maybe, if he was able to get Jin to speak once, without even having to force anything out of him. who knows if he cannot do it a second time in front of the cameras they've set inside the house? So he's trying to follow the script and manipulate him into trusting him, like he always has been trying to do. Except this time he's more bitter about it. And this, alongside with reason 1, is why these two scenes feel so different:

And lastly: Phee knows the catastrophic effects his words and actions had on Non when they broke up. He knows the consequences of his rage. It's the entire reason why he's there. Because he failed at being a good boyfriend the 1st time. Does he really want that to happen again? Does he want to fail Jin too? There's a reason (besides the story itself and his need to justify himself to Jin) why we see that flashback of his break-up with Non in this episode. And I believe this is it. (so yeah, I understand it might be frustrating to see Phee be more benevolent to Jin who fucked up big time than Non who didn't do anything, it is EXACTLY because he wasn't benevolent to Non that Jin is getting princess treatment)

So, in conclusion: Phee is fucking confused. And it carries on being that way for the rest of the episode. Phee calls New out but he doesn't seem to care too much about Por being dead on the couch. He helps Phee on the ground, but he doesn't say a thing about Fluke pointing a gun at Tee. Sure, he does ask for the gun at a certain point but isn't that just more of Phee's desperate need to get control back?

And we see this all come down to the preview of the next episode and what it's probably going to mean:

Phee finally has got things under his control again. But this means, surprise, surprise, that Phee's gotta make a choice: to shoot (and stand on New's side) or not to shoot (and stand on the gang's side). Which, of course, metaphorically is a choice, in good romance and BL fashion, between 2 lovers: Non and Jin. But also, in good storytelling, as, once again, @raelle-writing (can't help myself, Rae's posts are FIRE 🔥🔥 sksksksksks) explores better in this post: a choice between the past and the present; continuing to drown in grief and a wish for revenge or choosing to move on and heal.

And, as I (YES, if I'm gonna tag a bunch of people and their works, YOU BET, I'm gonna link my own stuff) explore in this post about White's identity and role in the story (and other people in the fandom have commented), I'm inclined to believe he's gonna pick the gang, Jin, the present, healing. Because this is a story about the damage caused by cycles of violence and grief. And a story about how, the only way to stop them, is to choose not to participate in them by letting go.

CONCLUSION

Thank you for your time and attention. Feel free to comment and discuss this with me. And I'll see you either on my next long-ass monologue or next Saturday as we watch episode 11!

All the love 💜💜💜

PS: Shout-out to the group chat, including, but not limited to: @ayansbff, @cyberstalking and @squishysquadstuff who have listened to me ranting about this post since Saturday and told me to eat when I was too focused on writing it. Your patience was fundamental in carrying me through this monstrous project (it took me 10 hours to write this all) 💜💜💜.

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essycogany · 7 months

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Rare But Not So Rare Sonic Moments. Character Analysis.

Crying

A weird topic I’m more then happy to discuss.

Mandate: “Sonic’s not allowed to get overly emotional.”

I’m starting to think the mandates do break in a few instances. This one specifically is something I’m quite interested in because this is probably one of the rarest emotions Sonic displays. Getting sad/emotional.

Hopefully this essay will be a positive outlook on the mandate.

(Despite being a discussion about negative emotions.)

Examples Of Sonic Getting Emotional

I might not include everything, but the examples I have knowledge of will be stated. If you have anymore examples, I’d love to see them.

SATAM: Sonic cried when he and the Freedomfighters had to leave his Uncle Chuck in Robotnik’s lab.

Archie: The times Sonic cried/teared up was when the weight of a situation got to him, when something tragic occurred and all hope was lost, or when he was filled with joy after those instances ended. Those moments like others, didn’t go too far. (For the most part)

Pretty sure he never out right sobbed.

Underground: I think Sonic only cried when he was a little kid.

Correct me if I’m wrong.

X: In episode 52 Sonic allowed his tears to shed with his head turned away from us. He and Chris ran one last time before Sonic left through a portal to go home forever. It obviously crushed him even if we didn’t see his face.

Boom: Sonic cried/teared up in two episodes of the show. First when Tails was reminiscing about the Tornado and noticed Sonic wiping his eyes. Sonic replied, “What?” Then he, Knuckles, and Tails all cried when they thought the baby they took care of was gone. Also, in Archie when Stick’s rock friend broke or “Died,” everyone in team Boom morned it. Sonic included.

IDW: Sonic shed tears in the Scrapnick Island Issue. Even if it was “Mecha Sonic’s” tears I’ll count it anyways because it’s a good loophole and it came out of Sonic’s eyes.

Movie 1: It’s implied he indeed cried during the baseball scene. The sources being a deleted scene and story-board of the film.

Prime: This doesn’t really count, but Sonic teared up in the first episode when he was held captive by the Chaos Council and had light blasted in his eyes, when he was in darkness. Then Sonic actually cried in episode 7 when he ate a seadog. Either because he was home-sick or starving.

(In the last episode of season two it’s implied he might cry in the next episode. Especially with the shot of him looking on the verge of tears and then covered his eyes in the background of the last shot, but we’ll see.)

By the way. You can see the instant improvement from episode 1 to 7 of the tears animation. Just thought I’d say that.

My Overall Thoughts

Hold on because this is going to be a long ride.

First thing I’d like to discuss is the mandate itself.

I personally don’t believe it means, “Sonic shouldn’t cry.”

(Which has been stated a bunch)

If that were the case, I don’t think this majority of moments (specifically the recent ones) would’ve happened. I think the mandate meant Sonic couldn’t and or shouldn’t go too far with his emotions. I don’t think the mandate existing makes any since, but I won’t get into that.

My point is, Sonic can cry, just not in an overly dramatized way unless it’s done for comedic purposes.

(I say that because of Sonic Boom and the 7th episode of Prime examples. Which are obviously not meant to be taken seriously)

My opinions on Sonic crying.

It’s not necessarily needed, but I don’t mind if it’s done well. I do believe Sonic shouldn’t go too far unless the situation does.

One Issue in Archie when Sonic’s entire life was basically ruined, is a good example. If you’re going to have such calamities happen to him, especially since he has zero ego or mask to hold onto, I think it’s a fair enough scenario for him to react as drastic as his misfortune.

But I believe if he were to cry in something like the Metal Virus. (Just for an example) it could be like how Espio teared up after Vector’s sacrifice.

Crazy idea. Let’s talk about Shadow for a minute.

Shadow is one of the most stoic characters in the entire franchise. He barely smiles, gets excited, or displays any overly positive emotions. While Sonic rarely cries, gets angry, or shows any harsh negative emotions. Shadow and Sonic are opposites because of that.

Sonic’s overall a positive and outgoing guy who wants to keep moving forward. Whenever he has the time to worry, he runs. Faces his problems head on. Sonic only let’s a small amount of his true emotions out when helping someone else. In general Sonic’s a pretty optimistic character.

Shadow on the other hand is a reserved and serious guy. Who wants what’s best for the world too, but in a more calculated and planned out manner. But for some reason, in Sonic Adventure 2 after Amy encouraged Shadow to save the world, (Which reminded him of Maria’s real wish) He sheds a tear.

I repeat. Shadow is the most stoic character in the entire franchise. Who rarely shows his emotions. And yet he cries.

Why can’t Sonic? To be fair, Sonic usually doesn’t have time to think, let alone worry about how he feels. But if Shadow himself can have a short moment of releasing his emotional baggage, why can’t the blue blur?

Is Sonic even as happy as he let’s on?

I’d say he’s genuinely happy half of the time. Then the other half Sonic’s internalizing everything negative in him. Everyone knows Sonic’s overall upbeat, but we’ve seen plenty of times (In the Metal Virus specifically) when he’s thinking, or enduring the chaos around him, he doubts himself. Sonic has these insecurities and emotions he barely let’s anyone see.

Besides Issue #24

Even in Sonic Prime while Sonic shows the most guilt, sincerity, anger, fear, and sadness in the show. He sometimes still puts on a front and acts like everything’s fine.

Sonic Unleashed I’m pretty sure was the first and only time we’ve seen him mope for a minute. All because Amy didn’t know who he was. So, he does have some level of insecurities lingering every once in a while.

Can Sonic crying even work?

How I interpret him crying is when he’s alone. Some people theorize in certain instances like SA2 and Unleashed with Shadow and Chip’s sacrifices, he cried a little. I’m fascinated by this idea. I believe it’s the most in character way to let him cry. Maybe even something like X when his face isn’t shown, but you know how he’s feeling.

Even if we do see Sonic’s face, him crying or tearing up could be shown without being over the top. Normalize it in a way that doesn’t fly off the handle. His expression could have a hint of frustration, anger, or exhaustion. Crying is normal and I don’t see Sonic crying as out of character because it’s been done plenty of times.

It’d be nice if it happened in order to make Sonic feel more believable and sympathetic. As long as the dude’s not on the floor whaling, I’m sure it can work.

Final Thoughts

There are other ways to show Sonic’s emotions. Again, crying doesn’t have to happen, but it does help the writing feel less unnecessarily limited of what kind of emotions can be displayed on this character.

Though there are benefits too. Like finding fun loopholes or small animated details like in IDW and Prime. Sonic not crying so much makes the times he does (or may do in the future) feel earned and impactful. The examples before prove it can be done without taking away what makes Sonic who he is. It just needs to be subtle, quiet, and quick. (Or humorous) Depends on what you think.

At the end of it all, Sonic’s a tough hedgehog. Him shedding a few tears won’t ever change that.

Stay Creative! 💜

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stagefoureddiediaz · 1 month

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Costume Meta 7x01

Aaaaaaannnnd we're back!!

OMG I cannot tell you how good it feels to be back writing costume meta - I have missed it so very much and this first episode has given me lots and lots to talk about so lets crack on with it shall we!

Where to start?! Firstly - Its amazing to have Alayna Bell-Price back in the driving seat and she is a genius because she knows the characters better than anyone and I have to say from my perspective there is a pretty clear difference between this episodes costumes and the ones from season 6 - not that s6's costumes were bad, just that you could see the shift of having a designer who didn't know the characters to the same level. I’m going to go in order of character appearance in a non uniform capacity for this one I think so we’re going to jump around from character to character a bit. There is no Maddie or Hen this week, as we don't see them out of uniform, but every one else is accounted for and I've included Norman and Lola as they've got a multi episode arc and their costumes are interesting and playing into a colour theme!

putting it below the cut as its a long post and I on't want to overtake everyones dashes! Enjoy!

We start off with Athena in this pale pink high neck ribbed sweater with large bell sleeves. I've spoken a fair amount about pale pink over the last couple of seasons of costume metas and how, in clothes its representative of childish and immature behaviours or thoughts. That holds true here - the pale pink is playing into Athena's childhood - when she developed her fear of cruise ships - its creating a connection between her childhood experiences and the woman sitting in Franks office.

We get a flashback that shows her in yellow and orange - the yellow for communication and the orange for transformation. A literal moment where we see Athena transform from the innocence of youth to her developing anxiety and fear around cruise ships. Its really clever visual storytelling connecting adult with child and shows us her fear is genuine and founded in something that she may not have been able to articualte fully as a child, but she can as an adult, even if she doesn't actually articulate it to Bobby.

Our next non uniform costume is Chimney. The lighting is really low in this scene, so it's kind of hard to be 100% sure of the colouring, but he seems to be wearing either a dark navy or black button up shirt under a dark green and black bomber jacket. The use of really dark green in combination with black, Back is a colour that can be about hiding ones vulnerabilities - concealment and masking, but it is also a colour associated with magic (generally dark magic) as well as pessimism. The green is growth and renewal, and the hope for a better future. to use them in combination i this way is playing on Chimneys insecurites and fears, his desire to keep the 'magic' alive in his relationship with Maddie, but it also speaks to his growth, that he goes home and talks to her about it (even if he does come up with an insane plan to 'date forever').

Eddie in the locker room - aside from being shirtless for much of it and pulling some epically good faces - was a super interesting costume choice. Especially the use of his watch! first though - Denim shirt time! We don't actually see Eddie in a denim shirt all that often and we've seen him in the super washed out one far more than dark denim shirts. I've been laughing a little bit at a few people (on twitter mostly) claiming its the same shirt he was wearing at the hospital during and after Bucks coma and it being a play on bringing Buck back to life. While I like the theory, its actually a very different shirt - the one in the hospital was black with a grey wash out and was made of velveteen - so different colour and fabric.

This shirt, is however one we have actually seen Eddie wear before and its far more telling than if it were the hospital shirt. You need to bear in mind that this scene is about Buck and Eddies respective girlfriends (or lack there of) and the fact that Christopher has a girlfriend now as well. This shirt is the same shirt Edie was wearing when he (re)introduced Ana to Chris in 4x08 (breaking point my beloved! the gift that keeps on giving!) and this puts a conversation about Marisol and things going well with her into the same category as Ana - suggesting she is ultimately destined for the same fate as Ana. the other thing that plays into this narrative is the use of the watch.

Eddie does not put the Christopher watch on until after he has found out that Buck has broken up with Natalia - so during the entire conversation about their respective girlfriends, he is only holding the Christopher watch, rather than wearing it.

In the picture below from 4x08 you can see that Eddie is wearing his black 'work' watch rather than the brown strapped 'Christopher' watch. Remember that the first time we see the Christopher watch is when he goes for his first date with Ana in Jinx, so he already has this watch and in theory should be wearing it in this scene. The fact he isn't is pretty telling and I'll go into that a bit more later when we get to Chris's (and Eddies) date scene.

Then we have Buck in his outfit of many colours! The white trainers, continue to play into my theory of Buck wearing them when he is in key points on his journey to discover his self - her it is about showing his growth - that he ended the relationship with Natalia - this is a massive thing when we saw how long it took for him to end things with Taylor - The man who clings is growing and getting out before it drags him down!

The jacket is similar in style to many of the ones we've seen him wearing in season 5 and 6, but this one is much brighter and more colourful. I know I go on about white meaning bad things for Buck, but that isn't relevant here - the white bad things happen to Buck theory is much more about t-shirts, jumpers and shirts rather than jackets - its an under-layer rather than a top layer that = danger. So i'm not thinking of its relevance here for this scene. What I am going to say is that this (according to my spreadsheet!) is the first time we've seen Buck in a white jacket of any description. To me, it's playing into the idea of purity and rebirth which is what white is often associated with. This plays into the comment Eddie makes welcoming Buck back to 'the land of the living' but also implies that Buck is starting a new chapter and making a fresh start - the check patterning suggests it might not all be plain sailing though.

The check pattern is an interesting one, obviously check pattern theory comes into play here, but whether its only in relation to the reveal that he split with Natalia, or if its also foreshadowing Buck getting himself into danger/trouble down the line, remains to be seen.

I'm going to quote myself again because I did predict that this scene may be about his relationship with Natalia when we got the stills dropped - the costume department never let us down!

The only thing I can do is scream into the void about check theory because check does't bode well for people - they always end up in the middle of the drama (see my check theory posts linked on my pinned post for more) and while they come out the other side (99% of the time) Buck in check for that scene in 6x18 pretty much doomed his relationship with Natalia (its specific to her and not C&K's baby as Buck wasn't wearing it when he delivered it!) and as that shirt in the still is very un Buck like, has not only yellow ochre in it, but also its a white base (and we all know buck in white is a bad sign!!) and its check patterned - my theory is that this scene is connected to Natalia in some way - either Buck is not being true to him self in more than one way - that things are going to/have come to a head for their relationship (my kingdom for a reverse of Buck to Eddie about Ana in 5x03!!!) and lead to a pretty big change in some way (fingers crossed for Buck to end it and then finally break down and deal with his trauma!!!) Some other things about that shirt - the colour combination - the green blue and yellow ochre are giving me call backs to coma Buck (another reason I think it might be connected to Bucks unresolved trauma around his death and Eddies absense in his dream)

In the quote above, I was also referring to the blue and white check pattern shirt he was wearing when he and Natalia got together, but there was also the fact that in the balcony scene at the end of 6x18, we also saw her in one of Bucks white shirts. I wrote in my 6x18 meta about how those two things combined didn't bode well for that relationship going forward, and thats what leaves me unsure about the check pattern on this white jacket being purely about something that has already happened. If I put my Buddie goggles on, I would perhaps suggest that the troubled times ahead may be more connected to Buck and Eddies relationship, and this would fit in with a couple of the things Oliver and Ryan have said. The thing with check theory though, is that generally speaking if it's on one of the mains, they come out the other side of the dram/trauma stronger than before. So if it is connected to Buck and Eddies relationship, then we can expect it to be in an even stronger position on the other side of whatever goes down (and at this point you can't strengthen their relationship any further and keep them as just friends imo!)

Chimneys forever dating proposal to Maddie, connects with his outfit when he's talking to Hen - it's the same jeans and black shirt, so the meanings of black, can be continued on into this scene - the idea of magic and hiding his vulnerabilities. The addition of the jacket with this brickwork pattern in its weave is a fun choice, it's playing into the idea of building something, but also plays into the idea that Chimney has his walls up - again fitting in with the black meaning of hiding his vulnerabilities - because instead of expressing his fears to Maddie ad then them talking it thorough, he comes up with his insane forever dating concept. the fact that much of this scene is a contrasting parallel with the scene from season 1 when he is pretending to be someone else entirely for Tatiana all ties in perfectly with this costume. The fact that he reverts to wearing blue (ran out of picture spaces so I couldn't include one) later on - when he's realised his plan isn't realistic, talks to Maddie and they end up back on the same page is really good to see - the blue being a signature Chimney colour and is indicative of him being true to himself.

Bobbys blue suit and blue check patterned shirt. The brightness of the blue is a really important choice - it's the only time we see him this brightly coloured on the cruise until he ends up in the bright red at the end. This is important because this is the moment when he's still all excited and hopeful for his honeymoon cruise - everything is good in Bobby's world at this moment in time - the check pattern is telling us that it's not going to stay that way for long. From her on out we see the colours of Bobby's costumes slowly beginning to dull and take on a washed out tone, but here in this moment all is good.

Athena's bright yellow dress is all about making her stand out - communicating with the audience, she is the brightest person in the room (in more ways than one!!). The thing with yellow, apart from the communication aspect, is that it can also be a symbol of anxiety and fear, so this dress plays rather nicely into the theme of Athenas fear of being on that ship.

The colour does have other good traits too - its fresh and bright and is a colour of happiness in its more jewel like tones and I think we can see all of these meanings in these scenes - Athena might be anxious about being on the ship, but she is also happy and enjoying herself with Bobby in that moment.

Lola and Norman. Lola is the one we need to focus on in her very bright very check patterned Victoria Beckham dress. Obviously the check pattern plays into check pattern theory, but the red also acts like a neon sign to the audience - highlighting that Lola is in danger - the ga won't pick up on check theory, although they might connect the dots about the fact this check patterning looks very like a cage - foreshadowing her being held captive later on, but also as a nod to the fact she was incarcerated previously.

The red is also a nod towards romance and love - playing into the rekindling of their relationship and romance in the aftermath of the freeway 'see me Norman' incident.

Ok so Christophers date night and by extension Eddies date night! This is where this meta is goingto get a bit messy and I'm goingto jump around a bit becasue I need to talk about the way colour theory is at play in all the scenes in Christophers bedroom, so we're going to talk about Christophers bedroom as one big thing rather than the two separate scenes that it actually is. They are extensions of one another and build on so much of the groundwork we've already seen in previous seasons.

Chris in plaid check yellow and red check plays perfectly into check pattern theory - it’s a signifier that something is about to go down with him - namely that the fact he’s dating multiple girls at the same time.

He’s also wearing a white shirt which is not a colour we see on him all that often - in fact, the only times we’ve seen him in a completely white shirt is with his suit in 5x01 when suit shopping and again in 6x08 for his school dance. He did wear a white vest when dressed as wolverine for halloween So as you can see its not a common colour for him, but the times have seen him wear it as a solid colour have been connected to school/girls and dating (i’m including the suit shopping in this because Ana was there and it was kind of a Eddie and Ana date of sorts - in that it was suppose to be for this Christening - meet the family - date type thing).

The most interesting thing is the plaid hooded shirt though. It was such an interesting choice to go with for a couple of reasons. the colour way is especially loud - we tend to see Chris wearing greens and blues and greys, with the odd other colour thrown in occasionally. So red and yellow are not common colours for him to be wearing.

On the red front we see him in it a couple of times - the adapted skateboarding scene and the scene in 4x10 when he joins Eddie and Ana on the sofa - getting in the way of their date night. We do also see him wear red in Christmas related episodes (so I don’t tend to count them in the same way as the Christmas colour theming will nearly always override any other colour theming intention - the use of stripes or check or other patterning is more important in those episodes!).

On the yellow front things are even more clear cut - the Tsunami arc, the aftermath of him falling off the skateboard, Mays graduation party and 5x03’s Eddie Ana break up! These (apart from the tsunami shirt) were all bright almost neon yellow.

This new plaid shirt is more into the yellow ochre part of the yellow spectrum, therefore tying much more to the tsunami arc, which is actually really fitting if you think about it in a little more detail - its a connection, not only to Buck, but also to loss and grief. Eddie might have been using his secret weapon (Chris) to get Buck out of his moping (read mourning) over not being able to go back to work, but Christopher is also still grieving the loss of his mother at that point as well, so its not just about cheering Buck up, its also about giving Chris a chance to do something fun and distract him from his own grief. That is why the use of yellow then ties in so nicely with its use on Chris now.

The other thing that really grabbed my attention about this shirt though is the fact that the two times we’ve seen Buck have a conversation with Chris in his bedroom, he has sat in the same spot and has been wearing one of those two colours - post shooting in maroon and this episode in the yellow ochre - if you watch those two scenes side by side, you see that they’ve used almost identical camera angles as well to film Buck.

I've spoken a lot about the use of maroon as a colour connected to parenthood - especially fatherhood , which is how its intended to be read on Buck - connecting to Eddie and his being shot, pushing Buck into a parental role in Eddies absence.

That alone is a pretty loud reference to Christophers connection and relationship to Buck, but then we have the yellow ochre of it all.

I feel a little bit insane about how close my prediction was on what the Buck Christopher scene was going to be about - this is from the meta I wrote when t he stills dropped;

Whatever this scene transpires being about, based on what we've seen with Buck wearing yellow ochre, we can assume its going to continue to play into this idea of Buck not being fully truthful with people and fitting into the role he thinks people want him to pay rather than being true to himself. I do want to add to this theory by looking at Christophers shirt as well. The grey/ yellow combination is a bit reminiscent of Breaking point (the episode that really is the gift that keeps on giving) because we get Chris in grey and Eddie in tan - that is yellowish toned whilst not actually being yellow There isn't a good screenshot of them together, but the placing of Chris and Buck in the new one has echoes of Eddie and Chris in that scene (one that is interestingly enough playing into the idea of changing family dynamics, but also the moment before and the one that happens afterwards at Bucks loft, directly placing Buck into a parental role (as an aside the idea of Buck being a miracle worker plays into the theme of Eddie looking for magic, just saying!))

Indirectly this scene was about Buck not being true to himself with people and fitting into whatever role he thinks people want him to fit into, only this wasn't an active situation - this was a scene where Buck could draw on his experience of having done that in the past to help Christopher - the line from Eddie 'you didn't end up being like you' is such a call to this and actually shows how valuable Bucks own experiences and learnings are in helping Chris (we've all been joking about Eddie choosing Buck to help him with this Chris's issue, but in actual fact he was the perfect person for the job - not just because of his being a 'reformed player', but also because of his relationship with death and the death of a loved one where you are reliant on others for their memories of a person rather than having your own)

The thing with the Yellow ochre (this meta here that i've already quoted from above is the place to go if you'd like more detail on its use on Buck more widely) isn't just its about it's connection to Buck, his place in Christopher's life and more loosely to the will of it all, (the fact that Buck and Eddie are both wearing the same colour ways as in the hospital bed will reveal scene and are both on the same sides of the screen in both scenes is a stroke of genius and is meant to connect these two scenes together) its also its connection to Shannon.

The first time we meet Shannon, she sits on Christophers bed in more or less the same position as we see Buck and Eddie sit, and looks at where Christopher has been positioned in all these conversations, and she is wearing a burnt orange top thats pretty close to the dark yellow ochre we see Buck wearing. Shannon wears a lot of yellow - as in it there are only a couple of times we don't see her wearing something yellow or with yellow in it and those are key scenes (which I will talk about later on).

Shannons appearance in Christophers room to read the letter she wrote him had her in this black top with a floral patterning on it. She was also wearing green trousers (which can be seen in the still below but aren't actually seen during the scene.

I actually really loved the green trousers and black top as a choice because the top is very Shannon - it sits perfectly with the floral patterns we saw her wearing when she was still alive. The green trousers are a bit of a departure for her, but I think its very intentional for two reasons .

The first is that they are very much in the Eddie trousers wheelhouse, especially in combination with black - he wears green khaki trousers a lot. The inference being that the black and green combination is an echo of Eddie.

The second ties to Christopher. Green is also a colour we've seen on Christopher a lot, it's probably the colour we see him in most. It's being used as a reflection of the fact he is growing and transitioning from child to teenager. But having it here in this scene - on Shannon connects a Christopher growing up without his mom.

Both of these combined really connect into Shannon in this scene, tying the three of them together and on Eddies efforts to keep her alive for Christopher - the underlying implication that his growth into who he is so far is as much to do with Shannon as it is to do with Eddie.

Her necklaces were not identical to the ones we saw her in in season 2, but that's most likely because they don't have them any longer, so they've replicated them as best as they can. The other little nod that I enjoyed is the brown bracelets on her right wrist - the same place Eddie wears his brown strapped Christopher watch!

But the top they have her in plays into a couple of other things - the prominent yellow flowers make an obvious connection to Buck from the previous scene, but they also tie into the 'I want a divorce' scene from 2x17 where she is wearing a dark blue dress with bright yellow ochre flowers all over it. the dress is not especially close to the top in the wider sense - blue dress with white squares v black top with florals in a variety of colours, but the yellow flowers are the prominent aspect of both items of clothing and play into the yellow theme connected to Shannon and then to Buck.

This is espeically relevant when you remember that Eddie is in a black suit in that scene and he's wearing black when he gives the letter to Christopher.

The black for this sequence of scenes is such a poignant choice - its Eddie mourning all over again, not for his loss, but for Christophers loss. I did find it telling that again in this scene, we have the absence of the Christopher watch. Eddie has very rarely not been wearing a watch in his scenes, so the times when we don't see him wearing one are very telling.

For me, in this sequence of scenes, it's about the fact that they are not about Eddies relationship with Christopher, but about Shannons relationship with Christopher. The watch is much more about Eddie and Christopher, so to have it absent from this story arc makes total sense and is symbolic of Eddie being a good father

Then we have Christophers grey shirt - I said when we first got the stills from that scene, how it was likely to be connected to complex family relationships - a la when we’ve seen Buck wearing his grey shirt. And what do you know - the scene was about complex family dynamics/ relationships.

It wasn’t perhaps in the manner I was expecting, but that series of scenes played with the full scope of Chris’s complex family relationships - from the relationship he has with Buck -not only as Christophers friend, but also as more or less Eddies co-parent (the way Eddie asked for Bucks help screamed co-parent rather than friend imo - that whole burnt out car scene was two co-parents discussing their child!) to the relationship he has with his dad - which is a pretty great relationship, but it is a complex one.

The relationship he has with his mom - or the fact he feels he doesn’t have a relationship with her despite Eddies best efforts, because as he grows up she feels further and further away.

Eddies 'date' night with Marisol. Again I ran out of pictures (30 is not enough!) so you're going to have to use your imagination or go back and rewatch the scene for yourselves, but trust me when I say that Eddie is wearing the same shirt he was wearing for this date night as he was in 4x10 - when Christopher interrupts because he can't sleep!

It's also a similar tee to the one Eddie wears when he has his breakdown and trashes his room (that one was more green when this one is much browner). Its slouchy and has cut and stretched raw edges at the sleeves and on the pocket - in the same way his breakdown shirt did. there is an element of being in familiar surroundings and being comfortable at home, but stretched out raw edges and Eddie generally tend to mean not so great things.

Of course there is the element of his parenting skills being tested by Christophers having more than one girlfriend, but if that where the only reason, then it would've made more sense to have him in that shirt when he's listening in to Chris talking to Buck, rather than when he's on a date with a new girlfriend.

This is especially true as the screen time for that tee has more connection with Marisol than it does with Chris. Combined with the fact that once again, like in the locker room scene, he is not wearing his Christopher watch in this scene and that speaks volumes.

If we are to read the scene as being about Christopher soley, he should be wearing his watch because that watch is a physical embodiment of the importance of Christopher in Eddies life - that he puts Christopher first in all things.

Got to say I was a bit shocked to see Marisol in his bright magenta silk spaghetti strap top when you consider the costumes we saw her in last season - mostly dressed down, t-shirts, jumpers and dungarees so this is a complete 180 for her character.

There are a few interesting things connected to her outfit, firstly it low key ties into Natalia - we saw Natalia in a red version of this top for her first proper onscreen date with Buck (when they go to the badge and ladder joint) so there is an interesting low key parallel to draw there. There is also the fact that her bracelet is a chain one - much like we've seen on all of Buck and Eddies previous girlfriends - although those have been necklaces, so I'm undecided if this chain bracelet is paying into the same trope as those.

Then there is the pink of it all.

You see Eddie and Pink on his girlfriends doesn't bode well for Marisol.

Both Shannon and Ana wore pink. Ana wore it a lot - there are two examples below, but generally speaking its her most commonly worn colour - including on her first date with Eddie in Jinx.

The first example below is from the first time we see her in the Diaz house. the shades are different, but the fact that the first time we see both characters in the Diaz house they're both wearing pink, speaks volumes.

The other key use of Pink is when Shannon is at the beach with Eddie and Christopher and she tells Eddie she's pregnant - Eddie takes it as the sign he has been looking for - the chance to effectively start over with their marriage, but this is the beginning of the end for their relationship, even if she hadn't died a short while later. She is wearing pale pink in that scene and it's the only time we see her wear the colour in the show.

The fact we can also contrast the use of pink with when Buck wears it is telling in its own right - we see the relationship between Buck and Eddie strengthening when Buck wears pink - May's graduation party, the tsunami, the Hildy coffee machine - all moments (big and small) that show the development of various aspects of their relationship and its ability to endure.

Essentially all this use of pink on the women he has had previous relationships with, doesn't bode well for Marisol and the longevity of her relationship with Eddie. How quickly it will end I can't say, just that it will end.

I spoke earlier in this post about colour theming for the episode and this is where I talk about it!

Pink - and in particular the very bright pinks we saw scattered across the episode. Marisol above wearing it, isn't just about connecting her to Ana in costume terms (especially as at this point that costume is a departure of her costumes from s6) it also connects her to the other characters we see wearing bright pink in this episode - Lola and Norman.

At this point in time I'm not sure if we're going to see it play out as a theme across the season, but its use in this episode was very loud on characters that are going to be around for more than 1 episode. It suggests that there is some underlying theme that connects them (by this I don't mean that they're gonna meet and hang out I mean that personality traits are going to be similar)

Magenta and bright pink in colour theory means a few different things, and like with all colours, has positive and negative traits. Generally speaking its a loud and brash colour thats designed to stand out and draw attention to it's wearer.

Things that are considered positive traits for this shade of pink are; intensity, acceptance, kindness and it's supportive and uplifting nature. It's connected to naive love (as in lust rather than the passionate and enduring love of red) can also be considered a nurturing colour.

Negative traits are; intensity, volatility, arrogant and impatient, irritability and irritating and frustration. it is also said to be a stress inducing colour and is said to be overly emotional.

Theres a clear and fairly loud connection between Lola and Norman getting into danger - Lola is in magenta trousers when she is kidnaped. Norman also has bright magenta flowers on his shirt at this point as well. My guess at this point is that we're supposed to lean into the stress inducing element, and also the irritating nature of the colour (On Athenas part at the very least!) and we'll see if those are the themes that play out for Marisol as well down the line.

Norman is in bright pink when he's lying and claiming she's unwell from being outside or too long. We also see that he is wearing pink in the ditsy print shirt later on (again I ran out of picture spaces!)

Athena's black top in this scene is much like the use of Chimney in black in his scenes. It's all about power and authority but it's also about her hiding her vulnerabilities. The other thing it does is creates a huge contrast with Bobby and all of the other passengers - she is the only one in black in the scene and it contrasts her with the underlying white of Bobbys shirt - juxtaposing them and visually putting them at odd with one another.

Like I said above about him becoming increasingly pale - here we see Bobby in a sea-foam green shirt - its the palest and washed out colour we've seen him in on this cruise (grey pyjama shirt not being included as its blink and you miss it and a pyjama tee!!!). Sea-foam green doesn't really play into the traditional meanings of green - there is still the element of renewal about it (the sea washes the sand etc)but its mostly a self-conscious and uncertain colour - both things that perfectly sum up how Bobby is feeling in this moment.

The other fun thing about this outfit is the palm tree shorts the patterns Bobby has worn in relation to this cruise, up to this point (and that includes the shirts from season 6) have all been tropical themed but on his shirts, the fact that they've now slipped down onto his shorts is a visual representation of him becoming increasingly dissatisfied with the way his honeymoon is going - that the tropical vacation vibes are slipping away.

Athenas red and white shirt, in my opinion is showing her cross purposes - its the duality of investigating and being on a cruise in a shirt. The bright red ties into the red and blue first responder colour way the show uses (for obvious reasons) while the white and the palm fronds, the lei flowers and the watery theming of the pattern fit into the troipical cruise they're on.

Bobbys red shirt contrasts with the lavender that we see on Athena - its not a colour we see on Bobby all that often and that makes its use all the more important. Especially considering the entire cruise thus far we've seen him in blues and greens - especially pale closer to pastel tones.

This red is bright snd bold and unlike his usual choices. Red is a colour of cross meaning - there is obviously the connection with love and the heart, which is absolutely at play her - his love for Athena is spurring him on and is part of what is pushing him in to investigator Bobby mode - and its representation of love is what is going to be the key player in the up coming episodes on the ship - when he is looking for Athena during the evacuation etc. But the other meaning of red is war, courage and anger and that is very much present here in this episode, and will (i'm assuming) be later on in 7x02 and 3.

The other thing I think its worth pointing out at this point (which is pure conjecture on my part at this moment in time but that I think will become relevant in the next two episodes rather than this one) is the foreshadowed parallel with Buck in season 5 when he broke down Eddies door. The bright red we saw him wearing then was an uncommon colour for him, in the same way it is for Bobby here. It's paralleling the way Buck was prepared to go into battle for Eddie, with the way Bobby is prepared to do so for Athena - going to war for your closest person, your loved one and doing what you need to do to save them.

Putting Athena in lavender the moment she gets to go into cop mode was a choice that had me giggling! Lavender is a colour of relaxation and order so for her to start wearing it the moment she gets to start being a cop again - speaks volumes for her state of being - it shows that her fear of being on the cruise ship and of being alone with bobby, has been overridden by her need to do her job and start investigating things. Its the perfect colour for this moment and for the impeding trouble brewing on the ship - Athena will bring order to things as order has been restored to her inner world.

Hopefully you've enjoyed this little canter through the costumes of 7x01 we're back in business and I can't wait to read your comments in the tags and comments 🥰

Tagging for those who've asked to be tagged - drop me a comment on this post if you'd like to be added to the list for the next meta 😎

@theladyyavilee @mistmarauder @xxfiction-is-my-realityxx @mandzuking17 @spotsandsocks @loveyou2thecore @wanderingwomanwondering @oneawkwardcookie @leothil @copyninjabuckley @nathleigh @shammers86 @crazyfangirlallert @missmagooglie @inandoutoffocus @katyobsesses @radiation-run @gayandbifiremenofmine @lemotmo @bi-moonlight @satvojihusana @crazyaboutotps @princesschez75 @mongreloer @alliaskisthepossibilityoflove @sherlocking-out-loud

#911 abc #I hope you enjoy!#its good to be back #I can't remember my costume tags 😂#911 costume meta #season 7 #s7 costumes #7x01 #Kym costume meta #Kym colour theory #911 costumes #long post #the costume department never fails #still feeling feral about so much of the stuff I got right and the new stufff I've spotted

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my-rose-tinted-glasses · 6 months

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Intouchables and Last Twilight

So, when I was first watching the Last Twilight episode, something was bugging me about the choice of having Day in a wheelchair. Because it was a choice. And as I kept watching it, I kept feeling like I was missing something. My memory is terribly slow with these things, so it wasn't until I went back that I got it. Intouchables. So now, for some context. Intouchables is a french film from 2011 that tells the story of a french rich businessman that, after becoming quadriplegic from a paragliding accident, hires a young black man to be his carer. This is based on a true story. (Yes, there is an american version, but I haven't seen it so I can't speak to it.) If you've never watched this movie, go watch it, cause for sure Aof has watched it.

You can probably already see the parallels just from this small synopses. I'm gonna say too much about the movie, I'm just gonna talk about the similarities so far.

So we got our two main characters. Philippe and Driss. Philippe is our basic older rich white guy, with the palatial mansion and a hundred people servicing his every need. Also he's quadriplegic. Driss is the opposite side of all of this. He is poor, he lives off of unemployment benefits, his house is small and cramped, shared with family. So, Driss needs to look for a job to get the benefits, but he doesn't actually want the job. He just needs to show that he's looking for one. All he needs is a signature. Anyway... So he goes for an interview.

I think you can spot Driss.

While he's waiting for the interview, we see the other man being interviewed.

And at some point he's had enough.

And he simply bursts into the room.

I mean, one is a palatial living room, and the other is basically an office but you the picture. This next part in the film is slightly different in the show, because Driss is not even phased by the vision of the man in the wheelchair. He's much more interested in Magalie, the secretary, but we couldn't have that in our bl.

After this, the similarities continue. Because both Driss and Mork don't want the job, but both Philippe and Day are intrigued by this guy that just walked in and that doesn't seem to be interested in the actual job. Also because both Driss and Mork don't really act like what Philippe and Day are used to people acting around them.

[I beg of you. Even if you don't watch the film, just watch the interview bit. Because it's brilliant. Driss is brilliant] So Driss eventually leaves, to return another day for the signed paper. And Mork just leaves. And the next scenes are basically the same, we're shown the circumstances that will eventually lead them both to want the job. There are other parallels between Driss and Mork, and their circumstances and environment, the smoking and the drinking, the fighting... But for now this is it. I'll be re-watching the film this weekend so I might have some other thoughts but I wanted to get this out. I don't know if the show will continue to parallel the film, so I'm not going to say anymore about it. But I'm keeping this is mind for the next episode, because from the previews I have a feeling this is gonna continue. Also, I adore this film and everyone should watch it.

#last twilight #last twilight the series #Intouchables #thai bl #french film #rose rambles

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anpanham · 4 months

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Hazbin Hotel character thoughts / impressions (Episodes 1 & 2)

1/12/24

UM. what a weird first actual post for my blog for this year... this is long, and i miss making ACTUAL blog posts instead of small threads... And i've explained on my twitter my thoughts on Hazbin / Helluva from a critical standpoint and artist from art separation, yadda yadda yadda---

ANYWAY... Episodes 1 and 2 of Hazbin are (Officially) out now, and i have some thoughts on the characters i wrote down after watching (In bullet points, because most of these are fresh-from-the-brain thoughts i wrote on my tablet from my bed)

(Spoiler alert, Sir Pentious isn't ruined and I AM SO GLAD. my snake babygirl... ilu)

Read on, if you wanna, spoiler warning btw!!!!!

CHARLIE NOTES

-Charlie is good., Charlie is cute, but i fear for her safety, not everyone can new redeemed. she's like steven universe at points i stg 😭 (not a jab but i think it's funny)

-i like how they gave Charlie bags under her eyes a lot, she is a tired princess just like all of us

-She gives off elementary school teacher vibes but in a wholesome way

-Charlie's hair is SO CUTE MESSY..

-PERFECT voice /gen

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- VAGGIE NOTES

-GIRLBOSS (still, but more)

-Vaggie is still cool, she just loves her gf and is sick of everyone's bs but is still supportive...

-If she doesn't get into a bloody death match with Alastor (and win) i will be disappointed /hj

She doesn't seem to have as much of a temper as she did in the pilot, but seems more dead inside

-Good voice!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ANGEL DUST NOTES

-Angel... hm. Angel. he's Angel, for sure. Hi, Angel!

Insecure about a lot, but also YOU CAN BE THE CHANGE YOU WANT!!!!! if vox doesn't kill val angel should. please and thank u.

Also his voice is alright, just need to get used to it a little more

Also i hope he's not too bratty jealous of sirpent / whoever else charlie praises because again, it's ON HIM TO COOPERATE WITH HER CAUSE MORE??? ignoring his other stress sources (Val)

-Waiting for him and Husk to kiss. I know it's coming

-Just fucking block Val's number and rip up the contract (YES i know it goes deeper than that...)

-NUGGS. I SCREECHED IRL /POS

THEY GAVE HIM A HEART ON HIS BUTT!!!!! S TIER REDESIGN

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ALASTOR NOTES

-At first i was kinda Eh about his voice but it's grown on me, the radio filter is a little more subtle than the pilot but it's still there which i'm glad for

Delightfully passive aggressive

-Weird magic still, there doesn't seem to be any limits to it... we need to know what his weakness is...!!!!! please (maybe that will come later??) ....... i theorize he has underworld contact (Shadow-world, because of the shadow imagery?) , the underworld might be different from Hell maybe? (Where do those fucking tentacles come from, also weird monochrome demons)

-Interesting he was gone for 7 years. 7 is an angelic number. HMMMMMM (sealed away by angels somehow??)

-Punchable (Vaggie please)

-Weirdly enjoyable and not genuinely hateable like some of the other characters, but i also want to see his demise, maybe his sadism is rubbing off on me, but i want to see it badly...

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SIR PENTIOUS NOTES

-Sir Pentious... u are so good.. probably has some of the best writing so far, maybe... he's my favorite so. hhHHmm

his voice is different but at the same time it's what you'd expect, i like it a lot... so silly, i pat him and his silly hat

-Pathetic old man. You win my heart (50x as much)

-Only one egg spoke so far, i wonder if they'll all have unique voices this time (the Japanese dub of the pilot did that lol)

-Genuinely a joy every moment he was onscreen (Too fucking cute... GRRRR)

-How did he get into contact with Vox? Why would Vox want anything to do with him if he thinks he's a loser? (I guess easy access into the Hotel) ...Fuck em either way (DON'T BE MEAN TO SNAKE MAN)

-Cool temporary stunning hypnosis, maybe we'll see him coil and bite next, the snake attack traits are fun

-His autism vibes grow stronger and it's canon in my heart

-We LOVE a redemption song. please stay in the hotel with everyone, don't fuck it up!!! you're a good noodle.... 😭 The song was genuinely so cute... it's probably going to be the highlight of EVERYTHING for me, besides Nuggs..

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

HUSK NOTES

-i luv u kitty

-His voice is different but captures "Grumpy old alcoholic" perfectly

-His heart needs to be melted...

-Him holding the script in front of the camera was great

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- NIFFTY NOTES

-Niffty is a BIG COWARD. you can still love a "Bad boy" who's a redeemed bad boy!!!! just because he's not morally bad doesn't Not make him a Bad Boy. fuck u (i still like you)

-Her voice is really cute, also her nightgown.. though finding out she doesn't have dark bug limbs but is just wearing gloves and stockings surprised me more than it should've... put them back

-Also autism vibes, love it

-She still frightens me a bit

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

V TRIO NOTES

VOX -----

-Seems to carry the team, voice has grown on me

-I can't stop looking at his weird finger claws, they almost look like

he's just wearing things over his fingers, i dig it

-Interesting hypnosis power, i assume Alastor is immune

-Why can't Alastor and Vox just compromise and create a podcast?

-Hates Val (sorry shippers) ,,... kind of expected it since in old official sources it's been shown that he's been abused by Val too

-This isn't a note but everytime Alastor said "THE TV IS BUFFERING~" in their duet, the player kept fucking up 😭

-Decent song, I like seeing him and Al argue

-I surprisingly don't hate him! i'm glad. i wanted to like him (though, it's only been 2 episodes so far...)

------

VALENTINO ---------

-More manchild vibes than i expected tbh

-Voice is alright but his accent is weirdly inconsistent for some reason???? interesting direction

-His manipulation is shown well in the voicemail scene with Angel, he's literally got the "Nice Guy" energy

-Surprisingly didn't order Vox around as much as i thought he would

-Why does he have girl Fizzy bots...

-Die?

------

VELVETTE

-Fashion design isn't something i expected, but then again i didn't know that much about her prior other than she's obsessed with social media

-British is also not what i expected but cool

-Uh. she didn't really stick out to me that much...sorry..... she's fine tho

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ADAM & LUTE NOTES

-Personally do not like how these angels look so menacing, i get that they're technically bad, but... make them look more angelic besides halos and wings??? they could easily be mistaken for hell residents. Also again, i feel like angels should swear less and drop swears in critical / good timed moments, it would be funnier... subtlety is not a thing i guess

-Adam's guitar solo was good tho, not really feeling his character tho, he's just an asshole but that's the point

-Adam looks like the fucking dress meme. I can't unsee it

-Lute is pretty...

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

KATIE KILLJOY & TOM TRENCH NOTES

-Brandon Rodgers

-They sure were there for a second!

-i luv tom

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

All in all...

Episode 1: 6-7/10

Episode 2: 8.5/10

193 notes · View notes

wonwoosthetic · 4 months

Note

Hi there! Hope you are doing well! thanks for responding to my ask, I totally don't expect you to respond immediately. I really enjoyed the latest fan videos and social media posts you've uploaded!!! I'd also love a Minnie-Dino video! She'd be so supportive of his mixtape <3 All those variety shows you listed would be fun, also seeing how she and BM can bond over being in co-ed groups would be interesting. I wish Jessi's showterview was still a thing. Maybe Somi's yes or hot? --boo's pld anon

series masterlist

word count – 15k

a/n: I had troubles with the tags, but I think this will show up… let’s hope so🥲 thank you babes for your opinion and help! I decided to start with the minnie x dino fan video since I’ve also gotten private requests on my google form for a chapter like this so a big thank you to everyone you has sent in ideas for this through my form ˙ᵕ˙ Minnie and BM would be PURE chaos as well and I can’t wait to write something about them hahaha I thought maybe about doing a past Jessie‘s showterview kind of chapter bc I just love those videos so much, she’s so unhinged😭 but yes! Somi‘s yes or hot could also be an idea, I’ve only ever seen clips from her with hyuna, but I loved it hahah🩷 anyways, I hope you and everyone else enjoys this chapter, thank you as always and please stay happy and healthy🫶🏼

minnie and dino: the adorable noona-dongsaeng duo of seventeen

[welcome, welcome]

[this video will for one, warm your heart]

[and two, tear you to shreds when you remember that you neither have a minnie or a dino in your life]

[have fun]

[GOING SEVENTEEN] EP. 36 SVTSIDE OUT

[when I tell you, this woman would literally defend this man with HER LIFE]

[i mean it]

The mood was abruptly changed to 'anger', already calling out for chaos as Minghao was just passing around the bottles of different drinks he had brought for the group. Speaking normally was unknown to the members from that moment on. They only knew how to converse in shouting.

Hoshi had come up to the '97 Liner, ordering him to go back again and get more drinks.

[the entire episode was so chaotic, good god]

He got on his way but stopped a few feet away from the rest of the group to ask for specific wishes as to what drinks the members would want. When Dino offered to come along and help him, Hao shouted at him.

"Sit!"

[everything about this scene was so freaking funny]

[i literally almost peed my pants]

[#tmi]

Getting an immediate response from the maknae in doing exactly that. The girl next to him chuckled, hiding her grin behind her hand as she tried to keep the juice she had just drank from the bottle in her mouth. It was rare to see Minghao in such a state of anger, even if he was just acting. The dancer disappeared around the corner when at the same time, Jeonghan decided to speak up.

"Dino, go with him!" He demanded.

The youngest, who was just about to sit back down between Minnie and Jun, decided to stay up and turn around.

"But he- he doesn't- he said DON'T!" He shouted out, making all of the other members chuckle and laugh out loud.

[okay but why do i kinda want dino to scream at me now...]

Hoshi leaned onto the female member, almost unable to control his laughter.

"I want to, but he says not to!" Dino continued to argue with the '95 Line on the far left in the camera view as they continued to order him around, trying to get him to follow Minghao.

"Ya!" Minnie surprised everyone by suddenly standing up, "Leave him alone!"

[minnie not taking shit from man, even if it's just acting, even if it's her own members, LET'S GOOO]

Getting a hold of the maknae's lower arm. "If you want your drinks, go get them yourselves!"

[her defending him is so fucking cute omg]

"You can go with him if you talk back to us like that!" S.Coups stood up, making the girl subconsciously take a small step back.

[not minnie or dino related, but i just KNOW that was muscle memory and our girl here was SCARED]

[i mean, who wouldn't be, yk]

[but i'd also be turned on bc it's scoups]

"Yeah, go with him!" Joshua joined.

Followed by Jeonghan, "You have to respect your elders, Minnie!"

[why could i actually hear them fr using these arguments with her omg]

She was just about to open her mouth again, a small smirk making her lips curl that she tried to hide so hard when she felt a soft tug on her arm.

[oh she was ready to go OFF on them]

[i'm so sad she didn't]

[i need the evidence of scoups constantly talkign about minnie talking back to him]

[i need it]

"Come on, noona," Dino dragged her along with him. "They're not worth it."

['THEY'RE NOT WORTH IT']

[OMG]

With a sarcastic shake of her head, she sent one last glare towards the three eldest of the group before following the younger member.

[the comedic duo we never knew we needed just disrespecting elders]

[slay]

In the Soop 2 Ep. 2

[there's wayyyyy too much in the soop content]

[i should make a solo video of just minnie moments with certain members from in the soop bc it's literally my fave thing ever]

[but anyways, here we go]

Some of the members had gathered outside, drinking a bit and eating their dinner even though it was already late at night. Seungcheol, Jeonghan, and Dino, who before had been on their own in a tent a little further away from the others, joined them - some other members, like Wonwoo and Vernon, had already left, leaving Seungkwan, Dino, Dokyeom and Minghao on one side of the table, while Seungcheol and Jeonghan were occupying the other seats opposite of them.

[they're were just enjoying their time together so much and i'm praying they'll get to do this OR things with na pd more often]

[pledis pls]

[but i know these bitches won't listen]

Minnie and Mingyu had decided to stand up with the rapper standing closer to the maknae line, his position fixed at the grill, and the girl resting her hands on Cheol's shoulders. The oldest member had put his right hand on top of hers, his thumb gliding over her skin comfortably.

[again: not dino-minnie related, BUT LIKE...]

[are we interrupting something here?!]

[i mean we know how close they are... platonically... right...]

[anyways]

[we'll never know]

[but it was a cute scene either way, so you better bet i kept it in]

After the not-so-few few drinks she had had, she needed every little bit of support she could get.

She had blended out most of the conversation that was going on around the table, too occupied with trying to understand what Mingyu was trying to tell her - how the hell am I supposed to be able to read lips while drunk, she thought to herself.

[i don't know what kind of messages they were sending each other but istg minnie and mingyu are something else]

[ESPECIALLY WHEN DRUNK]

[or maybe just when they're in the soop, i don't know]

[but i freaking love it]

Only snapping back into the present when Dino's voice rang through her ear.

"Have you ever lit a campfire before?"

Jeonghan's answer, was, as expected, "No, I haven't."

"Oh, he hasn't!"

"So, let's try lightening it tomorrow," the '95 Liner proposed.

Minnie let her hand drop from the leader's shoulder before walking to the other side of the table, passing Joshua, who had also joined them again. S.Coups' eyes followed her form as she walked up to Mingyu. To whisper something into his ear, she placed her hand on one of his arms, that he had crossed over his chest, to make him lean down to her height. As he raked himself up again only two seconds later, he smiled with a nod.

[?!]

Her attention was then immediately back on the maknae.

"If there's no fan with your mouth-" he spoke but stopped to show them how to blow onto the imaginary fire he was trying to create. "You have to blow like this to light it up," he continued explaining.

The female member was already grinning from ear to ear, listening attentively to every word the youngest was saying.

[BE MORE WHIPPED FOR HIM MINNIE, MY GOD]

[she loves him so much, i can't]

[he's literally just talking and our girly here is looking at him like that]

"Honestly," Jeonghan pointed at him, "You did this to look cute, right?" Minnie smiled to herself as this was exactly what she was also thinking.

[oh he most definitely did]

[gotta impress the noona]

As soon as the '95 Liner and Seungkwan started to imitate Dino's antics, there was no going back for him. They reenacted his pretended cuteness, getting chuckles from everyone at the table.

"Ok ok, then let's say that's not it and say it again," Jeonghan tried his best to get the maknae to repeat himself.

"Yeah," Dino started again. "When I went camping with my friend, we tried to light a fire, but we couldn't."

The '95 Liner played along. "Oh, then how did you light it?"

[jeonghan is such a parent HAHAHAHAHA]

[gotta love him]

"So, I just- I thought I should blow on it a lot. Like this-" the youngest repeated his action, adding an extra tint of cuteness as he imitated a 'blowing onto a fire' facial expression.

[STOP]

[WHAT A CUTIE]

[LOOK AT HIM]

Not able to hold back anymore, along with the rest of the members, Minnie started cheering and laughing out loud at the over-the-top cute antics of their maknae.

[GIRLY HAHAHAHA]

With quick steps, she was right behind him, throwing her arms over his shoulders to pull him back against her.

"Aaaah, our Dino's so cute! So grown up, but still so cute!" She squealed, getting a chuckle from the man in her embrace as he petted her arms.

[SHE'S SO CUTE]

[HOW CAN SOMEONE LOVE THEIR LITTLE BROTHER LIKE THAT]

[mine's a rat fr]

[but for minnie...]

[it's like once she looks at dino, nothing else is important anymore]

[but tbh, same]

The two swayed slightly before she released him again. In the next second though, her hands hand his cheeks, squishing his face in between her palms.

"Look how cute he is!" Getting another round of giggles from the guys surrounding them.

[i love how this seems such normal behaviour for them]

[i desperately need to drink with them one day]

[i want to be hugged and squeezed like that by minnie]

"Our little maknae!" She let go of him completely after pressing a kiss on the top of his head.

[AAAAAAHHHH CUTIESSSS]

Minnie Birthday Live 231222

The female member's eyes were fixed on the screen in front of her, frantically moving up and down and left and right as she tried to read through the comments Carats were writing. The cake she had only eaten a little bit of, was still in front of her, on the table in the hotel room she was staying in.

[i have so much to say about this birthday live]

[and just want to quickly adress how proud i am of her for adressing the airport issue]

[a queen]

[and now back to how much dino and her love eacht other]

"'What are you listening to these days?'" She read out loud, a small smile immediately appearing on her lips. "Well... I don't know if you've heard about it, but there's a new song that came out in... November- at the end of November. It's called 'Wait' and it's by this really cool artist called Dino," she couldn't help but chuckle at her own antics.

[and y'all are still arguing over who is the biggest dinonara, when this girl right here exists]

"So, yeah. In case you haven't looked up that song, I highly recommend it."

[of course you'd just try to mention him literally whenever you can]

[and of course, i've already listened to the song]

Right away, the comment section was filled with different coloured hearts - mostly pink and blue ones.

She giggled. "But jokes aside, I really have been listening to Wait a lot. It's really good and I really enjoy seeing this side of Dino. It's different... a little. But... it's good. And I'm really proud of him, so I want to support him, of course."

[she really is the best big sister ever wtf]

"Oh, is Dino watching? Some of you guys are saying Dino's watching."

[OF COURSE HE IS]

[he can't miss his noona's live]

The girl looked down at her own phone, which she wasn't filming with, chuckling down at the screen. "Ah yes, he is watching. He asked me how much longer I'll be live. Wait a second, Carats."

[he's actually a fan just like us, i'm telling you]

After a few taps on her phone, she put the speaker up to her ear. Only a couple seconds later, she spoke up.

"Hi, I think I'm still gonna be live for a while. Do you want to join me?"

[i'm actually convinced her voice changes slightly whenever she talks to him]

[but i'm also delusional af, so it's probably just my brain telling me that tbh]

The corners of her lips curled up at what came from the other side of the call.

"Ok, ok. I understand. Of course, yeah. Alright, we'll see. Bye-bye." She ended the call and looked back into the camera.

"Dino's gonna make a quick trip to the gym downstairs, and then he might join us," she explained and grinned at the end of the statement.

[LOOK HOW EXCITED SHE LOOKS]

A knock echoing through the room made her head shoot up towards the door.

"I'll be right back, Carats." She was quick to leave.

[girl is SPRINTING to let in her favourite little brother]

In the background laughter could be heard, coming from both male and female voices - everyone obviously immediately knew who was out of the camera's view.

After a few short moments, steps became louder and heavier as the two got closer to the table again.

"Look who's joining me!" Minnie called out, letting the maknae appear on the right side of the screen. "Dino-yaaa."

[shout it out girl, yes]

With a big smile, she patted the empty chair next to her. Without having to be told twice, the youngest sat down and right away, scooched closer towards the female member, both now perfectly filling out the screen.

"Hi everyone!" He greeted into the camera, waving his hands. "How was the live so far? Is Minnie entertaining you enough?"

[i could literally watch her just sit and it would be entertaining enough]

[i wish i was joking]

With a smile, the girl shook her head. "I've been entertaining them very well," she answered for herself.

[facts]

"Have you been enjoying the cake?" He turned towards her, looking at her with expecting big eyes as she nodded.

"Yess. It's really good, thank you." She patted his arm comfortably. "Do you want a little bit?" Not even waiting for his answer, she was already putting some of the cake's dough, along with the icing onto a fork. But before she could bring it up close to his mouth, he stopped her.

"No, no, thank you."

[he broke her heart with that, i just know it]

With a pout, she glanced at him. The fork still in midair. "Why not?"

"I just came from the gym. I have to be careful what I'm eating."

"Because of your diet?"

Dino nodded quietly. Minnie wasn't going to let him go off like that so easily.

"But it's good if you have a little bit of cake. Just a little."

[minnie lot letting him diet is soo big sister of her]

The maknae chuckled at her. "Says who?"

"Me!" She exclaimed as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, chuckling afterwards along with him.

[i agree]

A few seconds later, she was back in her 'big sister agenda', "But it's really not good to diet too strictly. If you eat cake you'll be happy. And being happy is more important than to be in good shame." She kept up her guard by still holding the fork.

[YES]

[I KNEW I STANNED THE RIGHT GROUP]

[i love her so much]

With a sigh, he gave in. "I know, you're right." Leaning forward to eat the small piece of cake. "Noona's always right."

[jesus christ]

[they're so much closer than just siblings]

[this is the kind of platonic love i just don't get]

[but i love it]

Minnie laughed out loud as he chewed. "I'd be careful with that statement. I might use that against you later," she pointed out.

[HAHAHAHAHAAHA]

[i mean, at least she's warning him]

"Oh," his face dropped immediately, "you're right."

[this, my friends, is the look of immediate regret]

Before laughing together with her, knowing damn well she will FOR SURE use it later at some point.

The two continued to spend a comfortable time together, going through some more comments, and talking about the tour, the upcoming concert, a little bit about the Christmas time, and his mixtape.

[they kept talking and talking and talking, like damn...]

"'Minnie and Dino haven't done the 'Wait' challenge yet', you're right!" The youngest member pointed at the screen in front of them. "We haven't yet. We still need to."

[fr]

[i was actually so surprised that she wasn't one of the first ones though]

Without missing a beat, the girl just spat out, "Do you wanna do it now?"

[i love her]

Dino turned his head to look at her. "Do you know it?"

[RUDE]

"Of course, I know it!" She scoffed. "How dare you think I wouldn't!"

[she was so offended omg haha]

He raised his arms in defence. "I don't know! We haven't learned it together yet, so I wasn't sure."

"Let's do it now," Minnie impulsively decided, standing up quickly and getting her chair out of the way - Dino copied her every move.

[there wasn't even a 'yes' or 'sure' from him]

[she just wanted to show everyone that she knew the dance even without actively learning it]

[bc I BET she watched that mv an unhealthy amount of times]

[girly is probably half of the streams]

Soon enough, they had also moved the phone they were filming with a little further back, giving them more room and showing more space of the hotel they were staying in.

"Wait, we need the music," the maknae remembered, looking around to find his phone.

Minnie pointed towards something on the right side of the screen, "You can take mine."

Dino looked at her with scrunched eyebrows. "I thought you were using your phone for the live? Who's- ah, ok," he started but cut himself off before walking over to where she had pointed, coming back into the shot with the female's member phone in his grasp. He unlocked it, and a few taps later, the intro for his Mixtape was already playing.

[such a small thing, but i just noticed it: he knows her passcode?!]

[THE TRUST]

To get to the chorus quicker, he moved the bar on the music app, stopping shortly before the part they'd be dancing would start.

"Are you sure you know it?"

Minnie just nodded enthusiastically. "Of course!"

And sure enough, she did.

[she freaking killed it]

[INSIDE SEVENTEEN] Golden Disk Award Sketch

The group was in the middle of their practice session for the upcoming award show. Diverted into different small groups, the members were scattered around the room.

The group consisting of Jeonghan, Dino, Seungkwan, Hoshi and S.Coups, was up next to not only practice their own little moment but also ready to perform it and let their choreographer film it.

Youngjoon growled as soon as Seventeen's leader walked up to the camera. But once Dino had stepped into view, it was Minnie's voice that called out from the background.

[wonwoo and minnie are fr fighting for biggest dinonara and she is giving it 110%]

"LET'S GO DINO!" Getting a smirk from the maknae before he started his solo movements.

[HE GETS SO SHY]

[UGH I JUST WANT TO SQUISH HIM]

"WOW, SO COOL," she continued to cheer him on, making not only him but every other member too, chuckle, along with their choreographer.

[imagine being loved as much as dino is]

[damn...]

As soon as Hoshi moved into the middle, she fell quiet again.

In the next shot, after the practice round was finished, the camera was on the '96 Liner, who just looked at something out of view. A pout was evident on his lips.

Minnie chuckled, making the cameraman move over to her, letting everyone know that it was her, who Hoshi was looking at. "What?" She giggled.

"Why were you only cheering on Dino? What was that?" He asked her, keeping up the disappointed expression.

[HOSHI IS SULKY TOWARDS HER?!]

[compare this moment to all those stories they told about minnie being literally terrified of hoshi]

[how are these the same people HAHAHA]

This only made her chuckle again.

"Well," she sighed, "I guess you just have to work harder for me to cheer on you too."

[WOW...]

Before the performance unit leader could say anything, their maknae appeared from the right side, rushing over to the female member.

"No, Minnie just likes me more than you," immediately throwing an arm around her shoulder.

[HE'S THE CUTEST LITTLE BROTHER EVER]

[MY GOD, JUST LOOK AT HIM Y'ALL]

The girl giggled against his side before wrapping both arms around his torso, cuddling even deeper into him, as he put his other free arm around her frame as well - both now just standing in each other's embrace with big grins decorating their faces.

[i would actually do anything and everything for them]

Hoshi just continued to stare at them.

SEVENTEEN ‘손오공’ M/V BEHIND THE SCENES

Dino was in the middle of getting interviewed by the cameraman when in the middle of the sentence, the female member of the group surprisingly appeared. She engulfed him in a side embrace, her arms around his upper body and arms, holding him close as she let her chin rest on his shoulder.

[just IMAGINE being minnie and just getting to do that on the regular]

[he literally just continued talking as if this was nothing new to him]

Absentmindedly, she nodded along to everything the youngest was saying. After a few moments, he stopped and looked moved his head to look at her.

"Cold?"

She answered him with a simple nod and smile before opening her mouth to answer him.

"But don't worry Carats, Dino's body will keep me warm." Her comment got a chuckle out of the maknae, whose hands had started to rub her arm, trying to create some form of warmth, knowing she was one of the members to easily get cold.

[HOW DO I FIND MYSELF SOMEONE THAT LOVES ME THIS MUCH]

[DINO PLS I WILL BE GOOD TO YOU]

"You know," she glanced into the camera. "Whenever I'm hugging Dino these days, it feels like I'm hugging Mingyu."

[THE WAY SHE'S RUBBING IT IN]

[WE KNOW HE'S BEEN WORKING OUT]

[WE CAN SEE THAT]

[but she just had to mention it once again]

She dropped her arms to free him just in time as her compliment made the maknae laugh out loud, giving her his signature contagious bright smile as he threw his head back. She grinned at him.

[THAT SMILE IS PURE LOVE AND ADORATION]

He shyly smiled at her, "Ah, noona, don't overreact-"

[don't get all shy now]

"Hugging Mingyu?" Suddenly the familiar voice of her fellow '97 Liner appeared from the side she had just come from as well. "What about hugging me? Do you want a hug?"

[this man has ears EVERYWHERE when it comes to minnie]

[my god, my guy, she just mentioned you, calm down]

Without waiting for an answer, Mingyu copied her stance from before, wrapping both of his arms around her shoulders, her left arm buried into his muscular chest as she chuckled.

[?!?!?!?!?!]

[SO THIS IS WHAT IT'S LIKE TO BE MINNIE?!]

"I just said that hugging Dino feels like hugging you nowadays," Minnie glanced up into his eyes. "He's been working out a lot."

[also: can we talk about when the hell minnie went from pushing mingyu away to literally MELTING in his embrace?!]

[what chapter did i skip?!]

[bc i literally remember her avoiding his hugs to annoy him like it's yesterday]

[and now she's suddenly like this?!]

[girlyyyyyyyy]

The rapper nodded, both of the '97 Liners smiling at the youngest, who had a subtle, yet noticeable blush brightening his cheeks.

"That's true."

"But be careful not to get too big, Dino," the girl added, still in the embrace of the older member.

With a frown, Mingyu looked down at her, his arms loosening around her frame. "Are you saying I'm too big?" He wondered.

[THE WAY HE NEEDS THE VALIDATION]

[no mingyu, don't worry]

[minnie noona is just looking out for her favourite little dongsaeng]

No answer, just a pat on his chest and a loud laughter from the maknae followed.

'sleepover live hihi'

[i really do think that we as carats have moved on way too fast from this]

[their sleepovers... who seem to be like an almost REGULAR occurrence?!]

[but anyways, here are some of my favourite moments]

[mind you, this live is almost two freaking hours long... it's so hard to cut out only a few parts for this video]

The live started with no members in frame. The only thing Carats could see was the edge of a table and a navy couch in the background.

The comments were skipping over the screen at a quick pace.

'Who is this?'

'Which member put on the live and forgot?'

'Who's sofa is this?'

'omg they're having a sleepover????'

Then all of a sudden, two heads popped into the frame from each side.

"Hello!"

"Hii!"

Minnie and Dino greeted the livestream with wide smiles as they showed their faces, scooching in closer to sit right next to each other. Both of them were not wearing any makeup and in sweats, along with him in a black sweatshirt and her with, what appeared to be the same one in cream.

[CUTIES]

[LITERAL CUTIES]

[ANGELS]

[BABIES]

"Hi Carats," the girl leaned forward with a grin, her eyes scanning the comments. "Ah, everyone's so shocked to see us."

[not surprised]

[but i definitely wasn't expecting it ngl]

[but this has to be one of the best lives in svt history]

"That means our surprise worked," the maknae added, a proud smirk on his lips. He leaned back against the sofa, swiftly brushing a hand through his hair.

Minnie nodded, "Looks like it." She stopped for a second before continuing. "'Dino and Minnie look so cute so late at night'" Thank you," she chuckled. "Even though we've already had a few drinks, Carats still say such nice things about us."

[i feel like she gets so giggly when drunk and just even more beautiful fr]

[y'all see that GLOW?!]

[gorgeous]

"Mm," the youngest nodded, now joining the girl by leaning forward to also read through the comments. "Yeah, we've already had a few drinks, but we only now decided to put on the livestream."

[AND HIM?!]

[YUM]

"I think not a lot of Carats expected us to drink together like this."

"Hm, yeah, that could be true," Dino stated before his eyes fixed on one specific comment. "'Are you really having a sleepover?'-"

"Yes!" Minnie showed a bright smile to the camera, stretching out her arms to the sides.

[SHE'S SO EXCITED ABOUT IT AAAAH]

[you gotta love her, come on]

The youngest changed his seating position slightly. "Minnie invited me over to her place."

[defo not crying]

"Because you haven't slept over here yet," she glanced at him as he nodded.

"That's right, not here yet."

[didn't know wtf they were talking about back then]

[now we know: mimiwon moved into a new apartment]

[and minnie needed dino and her to have a sleepover at the new place]

[CRYING]

A yawn escaped her lips, making Minnie cover her mouth and close her eyes for a second. "But I'm more tired than I expected, to be honest," she commented.

Dino smiled at her, his hand patting her shoulder comfortably. "We've been preparing for the album very hard, that's why maybe."

"Mm, probably."

After a few minutes of just casual conversation flowing between the two idols, as if the camera wasn't even recording, the girl had gotten up to get them something more to drink.

It was now Dino who was in charge of entertainment.

"Okay," he looked down at his own phone, which he had put on the livestream, so he could read through the comments more easily. "'Do you have sleepovers like this often?'" He read out before speaking up slightly louder, looking to the right side of the screen where the girl had disappeared into. "Would you say we do this often, noona?"

[there's just something... about him... he's just too adorable]

Minnie's distant voice could be heard in the background. "Not as often as I would like to." Her comment got a wide grin from the maknae in return, who tilted his head to the side.

[GIRL YOU CAN'T BE SO CUTE WHAT THE HELL]

"Awww, noona! You're so cute!" He almost squealed, making her laugh out loud.

[FACTS DINO]

"Carats, Minnie-noona is really so sweet, right?' For a second he went quiet, now back to looking at his phone. "They're all saying how sweet you are!" Dino called out to let her know.

[well, gotta let the queen know that we love her, yk]

Minnie chuckled, "Thank you, guys!" She shouted out to make sure her voice could be heard in the live.

"Oh-" the maknae suddenly stopped mid-sentence.

"What?"

"Some are saying Vernon is watching- is he watching? Hold on" After tapping around his phone, his lips curled up. "Aaah, he really is watching. He commented 'Wow, now I'm jealous', 'Minnie is making drinks for you?'"

[OF COURSE]

[of course vernon is jealous of them]

[i'd be too]

[minnie pls take good care of him as well]

[god... minnie and vernon are also so adorable together]

With quick steps, the girl was back in the living room,

"What? No! I asked him if he wanted to come too, and he said no!" She whined out loud as the sound of clinking glass rang through the background, coming from everything she was placing on the table for them to drink.

[missed his chance i guess]

"He's regretting his choice now," Dino stated.

[i'd be regretting it for weeks tbh]

Once the girl went back into the kitchen, the youngest's eyes went wide as soon as they landed on the amount of liquor on the table that was hidden from the view of the livestream.

"Noona! You really think we're gonna drink that much?"

[let's gooooooo]

"I don't know, maybe," she just answered. "Maybe Mingyu wants to drink something too."

[she really thinks of everyone, doesn't she?]

[god, i'm gonna cry]

"Aaah, ok ok," Dino nodded, going back to reading through the comments while the girl came back with takeout containers, putting them somewhere behind the camera and onto the floor before she made herself comfortable again next to the maknae. "'Is Mingyu invited too?' He... I don't- I don't know, is he invited?" Directing the last question to the girl, who just chuckled.

"I can't not invite him. He lives here."

[she knows that we know and i know that we know, but will i ever get enough of mimiwon living together? No.]

[i need all the domestic shit about them, pretty please]

[including dino, their child, having fun sleepovers at their place]

"Exactly!" A loud voice surprised the two younger members, making them jump up and look to the right side, groaning when they came to sight of the culprit.

Minnie was holding her chest. "You idiot! Stooop! Don't scare us like that!"

Mingyu ignored her scolder and started chuckling, "Did you buy the entire liquor store? Are you crazy?"

[not him judging her for that]

[bro, when i tell you i bet he drinks even more than her]

"I can buy whatever I want. It's my money, and I'm an adult," she fought back and sat up straighter, making the maknae clap and nod proudly as he was just sitting there, listening to the two '97 Liners bickering around.

[POP OFF MINNIE]

[love supportive feminist dino]

"Wow," the rapper sighed, "You two... you guys are really- wow..."

[he's so done]

[he is sooooo done HAHAHAHA]

"'Dance cover now please'" Minnie chuckled after reading a comment she found amusing, "Right now? I don't think that's a good idea." And oh how right she was, but that wasn't gonna stop the maknae.

"No, noona, let's do it!"

[HOW COULD SHE EVEN SAY NO IF HE LOOKS AT HER LIKE THAT AND LITERALLY SPEAKS IN POUT?!]

He turned towards the camera, "We've been wanting to film a Danceology video, but we can never decide on just one song. We have so many songs we want to do, so it's hard. But we can show you now." Without wasting another second, he pushed himself up from the floor, only for Minnie to quickly reach out for him.

"No, Dino, stop," she laughed, "You're gonna hurt yourself. Don't. We can do it another time, but not after drinking," she assured him with a nod.

[...]

[when i tell you: she will in fact be the most amazing mom]

[i don't care that they're 'only' two years apart]

[the way she acts with him, takes care of him, AND TALKS TO HIM]

[perfect sister and perfect future mom]

[minnie pls adopt me]

Slowly, but surely, Dino lowered himself onto the floor again, landing on his butt with a heavy sigh. "When did you become so responsible?"

[SINCE SHE CARES ABOUT YOU]

[but in all seriousness: jesus, just call her out like that]

[minnie just gets responsible when it's about dino]

[her favourite]

Making the girl laugh out loud.

"Noona?"

[melting every single time.]

"Hm?" Minnie hummed in wonder while her eyes were still trained on the comment section on her phone in front of the duo.

Dino, who was still looking at his own screen, leaned forward, tapping his older sister on the shoulder to make her turn towards him as he pointed at the screen.

"Read it," she told him with a nod, but he shook his head.

"I don't know how to pronounce it."

Her frown at first quickly turned into a kind smile as she tilted her head in awe. "Yes, you do. You can speak English. Read it."

"Ah, noona, I don't want to. You do it." Pushing his phone towards her.

But even with his cute voice ringing through her ears, Minnie stood her ground, "No, you can do it."

[the way she keeps insisting on him reading it]

[like yes, go on]

[i love how supportive he is of every member whenever they speak english or want to speak it]

"Then I will look for a different comment," he shook his head and leaned back against the couch, getting another chuckle from the girl.

[but then, she also doesn't push him to make him feel uncomfortable, but just lets him do his thing]

[UGH, probably looking way too much into this, you don't have to tell me, but just leave me to it pls]

"'Is Dino... your... fa-vourite member?'" Dino read out loud in English.

With a wide smile, the girl turned her head to glance at him, "Of course, you are."

[GIRLY DIDN'T EVEN HESITATE FOR A SECOND]

"Ah, noona!" With a shy squeal, he hit her arm, making both of them chuckle in synch. "You are my favourite member... too."

[HIS ENGLISH]

[stop, he's actually the cutest]

"I'd hope so."

"What?"

"It means I would hope that that's true."

The maknae surprised the female member with his sudden laughter.

"'Minnie and Dino have couple hoodies?'"

"What?!" She whipped her head to look at him, shock written all across her face. "Those aren't couple hoodies!" Minnie whined out while all Dino could do was fall onto the floor, his laughing continuing.

[SHE SOUNDED SO OFFENDED]

"Why would we own couple hoodies?!" She wondered out loud, more to herself than to anyone in particular, before looking back into the camera. "You guys," she pointed a strict finger. "Ew, why would we wear something like that?"

"Hey!" The youngest pushed himself up again, glaring at the girl. "Why 'ew'?"

[oh no dinooo]

Minnie sent him an unamused facial expression. "What else am I supposed to say? It's weird."

Dino shrugged, "It's funny. Maybe they are couple hoodies and we didn't realise when we bought them."

With a pout, the female idol leaned back against the couch. "Now I don't know if I want to wear them anymore."

[she's so dramatic, i love it]

"No, you can't take it off," the maknae was quick to tell her, his eyes giving her a serious look.

"Why not?"

"Because... I would be really hurt," he simply told her, making Minnie giggle.

[well now she REALLY can't]

[she'd never do that to him, we all know that]

She threw her head back against the cushion, reaching forward with one hand to push the younger member away from her.

Dino chuckled at her reaction, touching the spot where she had shoved him. "I mean it, noona. Let's just continue wearing them."

[love how persistent he is about this]

"Okay, okay," Minnie agreed, running her fingers through her hair to get them out of her face. "But let's not call them couple hoodies."

"Yeah... it feels a bit weird," the youngest admitted shyly, sending a quick look towards the camera when a sudden touch from the girl surprised him.

"I told you!"

[you gotta understand]

[if dancers do a livestream, they gotta also dance]

'That That' by Psy feat. Suga was blasting through the speakers in the living room of the apartment. The coffee table had been pushed back, the phone still prompt up on it. Minnie and Dino's bodies were eliminated by the colours reflecting on them from the video the beamer was displaying on the wall. The duo had the choreography perfectly memorised- of course, they did.

[i just imagine wonwoo and mingyu somewhere in the apartment, just praying that minnie and dino will get tired and just go to sleep]

[it was way too late for them to be up and have this much energy for dancing like this istg]

Along with the, at this point probably too much, alcohol in their system, singing and dancing had become much harder than each of them expected - now rather slurring and panting through the lyrics of the song.

Shortly before the song had reached the end, the female member fell to the floor, her hands on her knees.

"Jesus..." she breathed out heavily.

A laugh erupted from the maknae as his eyes fell on her crouched frame. "Noona! You're a main dancer, come on!" Reaching out and grabbing her arm to pull her back up.

[oh to have dino's energy]

Minnie groaned as she straightened her back, "I'm not as young as you anymore, Channie." Only making him shake his head and laugh even more.

[PLS]

[she really just took over jeonghan's old person personality]

He turned around to snatch the phone from where he had thrown it onto the couch and tapped on its screen. "What do you want to do next?" He moved his body around to let the girl get a look at the screen as well. "This?" He asked her, to which she nodded,

"Let's do that."

[whatever the baby wants, the baby gets]

DINO Mixtake 'Wait' M/V BEHIND THE SCENES

Vernon stepped into the shot first, greeting the camera with a quick "Hello" as he passed the cameraman. Dokyeom, Wonwoo and Minnie were already taking their seats by a table that wouldn't be used in the scene the crew and Dino were filming.

"Our Dino's first mixtape," Seokmin smiled into the camera as he spoke. Behind him, the girl was standing up with her phone in her hand, filming and taking pictures with a big grin on her face.

[insert kris jenner's camera meme]

[YOU'RE DOING AMAZING SWEETIE]

Wonwoo took a quick glance to his left, the same direction Minnie was focused on. "Woah, so cool!" He shouted out proudly, getting a chuckle from the other members.

[again: the fight for biggest dinonara continues]

[why not just agree they're both the unofficial parents and leaders of the dino fanclub?]

"Dino-ya!" The female member called out, making the maknae turn around, immediately smiling when he saw her with her phone on him. He sent her a quick grin and a thumbs up. The girl's smile widened.

[she's such a mom omg]

One last picture later, she put her phone down, turning towards the other members, who were looking at her in amusement, when she noticed the camera was still filming her.

"I'm gonna send those pictures to Dino's parents." She explained, taking a seat opposite Wonwoo, who was still gazing at the youngest member.

[HOW COULD SHE BE SO ADORABLE?!]

[her sending his parents pictures of their son, omg stop i'm already about to cry myself to sleep]

[this is too much for my heart]

Seungkwan and Mingyu had joined the group, also deciding to visit their maknae on set. The younger of the two was speaking into the microphone as Minnie joined them, walking up to them behind her fellow '97 Liner to stop by his right side. With her arms crossed she kept her eyes on the younger member, who had started to comment on Dino's hair.

[i love how literally whenever there's seungkwan bickering with dino, there's minnie showering him with even more love]

The girl suddenly got closer to Seungkwan, motioning for him to hand her the microphone, not wasting a second, to voice her opinion.

"I love your hair, Dino-ya!" She smiled brightly. "And I love you too!"

[gotta let the world know yk]

Her quick addition earned her a gentle smack on her arm by the '98 Liner while Mingyu just chuckled at the duo, as Minnie had started to hit him back.

[don't even get me started on seungkwan and minnie, my god]

DINO Mixtape 'Making of Wait' EP.1

The youngest member was in the studio with Seventeen's main lead vocalist and producer. The two were going through the lyrics Dino had written for his upcoming solo.

"Minnie said she'll be here in ten minutes," he explained to Woozi. "I want to show her before we record."

[NOW THIS IS WHERE I ACTUALLY START WHEEPING]

[HE WANTS TO SHOW HER HIS LYRICS FIRST?!]

[stop being so adorable, dino, please]

[for the sake of my well-being]

"Ok ok," came as an answer from the '96 Liner who was out of the shot, his voice only barely noticeable.

The maknae turned towards the camera after reaching for his water bottle on the couch behind him. "I really trust noona when it comes to lyrics. Maybe she has better ideas for them."

[...]

[you don't want to know the noise i made when he said that]

The next moment, Minnie entered the studio, greeting the room with a cheery, "Hi!" Getting a wide smile from the '99 Liner in return. His eyes lit up as a plastic cup of coffee was placed right in front of him, slightly covering the camera's view.

"Wow, thank you, noona." As Dino reached out for it, the female member gently patted his head with a grin before letting herself fall onto the sofa.

[AGJFKSJOIFHEIBIF]

"Oh-" he stopped himself before he went to take a sip, snatching a piece of paper from the table the camera was placed on. "Here are the lyrics." Turning around to face her, Minnie stopped him by waving her phone.

"I read through them on the file you sent me."

"You already looked at them?"

With scrunched eyebrows and a slightly shocked facial expression, the girl gazed at him. "Of course, why wouldn't I?"

[exactly]

[how dare him even question this]

Dino shrugged, taking a sip from the Iced Americano. "I thought you were busy maybe."

[STOP]

Minnie had started to hunch over her phone, her screen brightening up the lower half of her face as she looked up at him. "Yeah, but this is important to you. Of course, I'm gonna look at it right when you send it to me."

[...]

[I...]

[... i am so not okay]

[i don't even think i know people that care this much]

[LIKE HOW]

Before the youngest could answer her again, Woozi spoke up from the right side of the screen. "You never do that with my lyrics. You always text 'I'll take a look later, I'm busy now.' And then you never do."

[OH HERE WE GO]

[lee, i'm so done with this girl but i also love and cherrish her so much and even let her stay in my studio when i'm not here and will always support her but also annoy the hell out of her and be an annoying ass brother who just loves her so dearly and will support her till my last day, jihoon]

"Stop lying!" Minnie exclaimed. "I don't say that! And you never look at MY lyrics!"

[the money i would pay to be a fly on the wall in the studio when they're there]

The maknae chuckled at the silly argument going on behind him, laughing out loud as Minnie tried to throw a pillow at their producer.

[and he's just sitting there enjoying this PLS HAHAHA]

"Alright," she took a deep breath as she pushed herself up to her feet. "I'm gonna go now."

"You're not staying?" Dino turned around, looking up at the older member.

[IF SOMEBODY LOOKS AT YOU WITH EYES THAT BIG, YOU STAY]

Minnie stopped in her tracks, "You wanted me to stay?"

He shrugged, "No no, I just thought maybe you want to."

[DINO PLS I CANNOT HANDLE THIS ANYMORE]

[HE IS TOO PRECIOUS FOR THIS WORLD]

"Aah..." she let out a sigh, "I'm sorry. I'm meeting up with someone. If I knew you wanted me to stay, I wouldn't have made plans."

[just drop them, minnie]

[drop them]

[stay with him]

[pls he needs you]

[LOOK AT HIS EYES]

"It's okay, don't worry," he assured her. "Go, don't make them wait."

[noooo dinooooo]

The girl couldn't help but chuckle after she finished putting on her jacket again. "I shouldn't 'tell them, wait'," she imitated the sound of the song he was about to record, getting a laugh from him in return.

[... girl has been spending too much time with wonwoo bc good god, that was even worse than a dad joke]

"Exactly," he chuckled.

Before she left the duo to finish the recording, Minnie leaned down to be back in the camera's shot.

"Carats, please support Dino's solo well. It's gonna be really good and I know you're gonna love it."

[and she was right]

[we did]

[INSIDE SEVENTEEN] UNESCO Youth Forum Special Video Sketch

Seungkwan was grasping onto the sheets of paper in his hand, the maknae of the group right by his side as they read through the lyrics they had printed out. They were going through the English version of the group's song 'Together'. With both of them unsure about their pronunciation, Dino started looking around.

His eyes stopped scanning the room. "Noona!" He called out for the female member who was out of the cameraman's view.

[i could literally make a compilation of just him shouting out for her and wouldn't get tired of it]

"Can you help us?"

[OF COURSE BABY]

With quick steps, Minnie jogged up towards the two, coming to a halt by his left side. "Hm?" She hummed as her eyes fell onto the black-on-white text in front of them.

[girl was so quick]

[she'd definitely drop everyone and everything to help him]

[reminds me of when wonwoo called her with na pd-nim and she was on her way literally while they were still talking]

[she loves them so much, like HOW]

"You and I are never losing our way. You and I, we will be walking straight." The two younger members sang along to the song that was playing in the background. Seungkwan went over the lyrics with slightly more ease than Dino, who started chuckling at his own struggle.

"Try going slower first," the female member placed a comforting hand on the younger's upper arm.

[she is so patient]

[... god... please let me have my own minnie]

[or dino honestly too]

"But it's supposed to be sung at a quick pace," he told her.

Minnie nodded. "Yeah, but try speaking the lyrics slowly first and then increase the speed. That way your pronunciation will be clearer and you won't stumble over your words."

[THE PATIENCE]

[the way she's also explaining it to him so softly]

[as if he was delicate keramic]

[what a comparison, wow...]

With a grin, Dino turned towards the camera, "Everyone," his arm was thrown over the petite shoulders of the '97 Liner. "I have the best English teacher."

[AWWWWW STOP]

Getting a shy giggle out of her and a smack towards his chest, making him chuckle.

After his somewhat decent acrostic poem to UNESCO, Dino called out for the girl as she walked past the cameraman's back. Without having to be asked twice, Minnie showed up right next to the younger member.

"We're filming for UNESCO right now and we'll be in Paris in a few days, right?"

"Mm," the female performer nodded with a grin, the strong wind blowing through her hair, making her squint her eyes and tighten the colourful jacket around her body.

"Are you excited?"

"Of course," she smiled, "I can't wait to finally be in France with almost all of the members."

Dino nodded along with her answer. "Should we learn a little bit of French? Can you teach me something?"

[he really wants her to teach him, stoooop]

[omg imagine if he just started learning french from her]

[he'd be unstoppable]

Minnie chuckled, "What do you want to say?"

The maknae looked around the open field for a second as he thought to himself, the girls' eyes never leaving his form. He turned back towards her. "Something like 'thank you for your support'."

"Merci pour votre soutien."

[fuck, she's so hot]

"W-What?" Dino just glanced at her dumbfounded, taken aback by her quick answer, not remembering a single syllable that just dropped from her mouth. "What did you just say?"

[same dino, same]

Minnie couldn't help but laugh out loud at his reaction, stumbling back a few steps. Her cheerful sounds must've caught the attention of Wonwoo as he suddenly showed up next to her, bringing the girl into the middle of the two male members.

[and oop, there we go, the next dinonara appeared]

"'Thank you for your support' is 'merci pour votre soutien'"

"Ok," the youngest nodded slowly, "Merci-"

"Hm," Minnie supported him with a smile, "pour."

"Pour."

"Votre."

"V- Votre."

"Soutien. Sou-"

"Sou."

"Tien."

"Tien. Soutien?"

"Exactly," she nodded proudly.

[SHE'S SO PROUD OF HIM]

[LOOK AT HER SMILE]

[AW MINNIEEEEEE]

"Merci pour-" Dino stopped himself before continuing, glancing at her with squinted eyes as he tried to remember the correct pronunciation.

"Votre soutien," Wonwoo suddenly spoke up. "Merci pour votre soutien."

[HUIDHNIFJBHUZDGBP]

[I ACTUALLY JUST THREW MY PHONE AGAINST THE WALL]

[THIS MAN JUST DROPPED THIS SO EASILY]

[WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK]

[just when we thought he couldn't get hotter...]

With a shocked facial expression, the maknae looked at the '96 Liner. He pointed at him, "Who on earth do you know how to say it so perfectly?"

[RIGHT?!]

[i mean i'm no french expert but that sounded pretty freaking good]

[also: if you have minnie as a teacher, you're gonna learn well either way]

Getting the rapper's signature deep laugh in return.

"I already taught him," Minnie chuckled, looking back at the other member as he caught himself again, a small smile still on his lips.

[this is a minnie x dino video, so could you quit acting like the cutest freaking lovebirds, my god]

[:)]

"Aaah, ok ok," the '99 Liner smiled along with the older duo. "Ok, so... Merci pour... votre... and then?"

"Soutien."

"Soutien is support?"

Minnie nodded.

"Merci pour votre soutien," Dino repeated her phrase slowly, looking straight at the French speaker of the group, whose eyes went wide in pride.

"Yes!" The girl clapped her hands, Wonwoo joining her.

[#proud #oursonisagenius]

The youngest turned towards the camera. "Carats, merci pour votre soutien."

"Well done," she patted his back, the proud grin not leaving her face.

[i could actually cry from the way she looks at him]

[Relay Pick] BALANCE GAME with SEVENTEEN ┃Performance Team

[teacher minnie strikes again]

[but yk, sometimes you gotta teach 'em about life]

The next two scenarios were presented to the unit.

"Peeling perilla leaves or peeling shrimps," Hoshi read out loud. Minnie's head popped out from behind his shoulder, trying to get a look at the screen ahead of them.

Dino, who was standing right behind her shook his head, "I don't really know this."

"Really?" The female member whipped her head around, looking up into the wide eyes of the maknae. "You never heard of that?" But he just shook his head.

"Do you know this?" He asked her, to which she nodded.

"Of course, it was a big debate."

Jun, who was just as lost as the youngest of the group, had walked up to the screen, disappearing out of the camera's view.

"Look, it's like this, Jun," the performance unit leader started explaining. He took a step back, urging the others to do the same to create more space between them as he started.

"But why must it be perilla leaves?" Dino suddenly wondered, getting a chuckle out of the female member and making her turn around to describe the situation to him.

"Perilla leaves get easily stuck together, that's why they chose it."

He nodded along, "Aaah, ok ok."

[just accepting everything she tells him]

[i love them]

Mingyu's sudden voice surprised the duo that was deep into their own conversation.

"You're seriously so old fashioned," the '97 Liner commented, "it's a famous topic nowadays-"

"But that just means that he doesn't get jealous easily, that's good," Minnie fought back to the man she shared an apartment with.

[oh- there we go again hahahahaha]

"But he's part of the MZ generation, come on."

"No," a gentle pout formed on her lips as she took a small step back to place a hand on Dino's upper arm, "He's not the jealous type, it's a good thing. Old fashioned isn't bad anyways."

[THE WAY SHE DEFENDS HIM SO HARD]

With a smirk, the youngest turned towards his older sister. "But that means that you're really jealous, right? You know a lot about this topic."

[AND HE THROWS HER UNDER THE BUS JUST LIKE THAT]

[wow dino...]

[she got called out fr]

Minnie's expression changed when she glanced up at him with an open mouth, surprised by his statement. Hoshi moved to the side to take a look at the duo, chuckling at the situation when laughter in the background could also be heard, followed by Minghao and Jun who joined in.

"No!" The girl defended herself quickly, shoving him away from her. "I'm just... I'm into popular stuff at the moment, so I know about discussions like this."

[MH, sure...]

"No, noona. You just admitted that if you know about this, you're a person that gets easily jealous-"

"Alright, but it's not a good thing!" She quickly gave in, getting another round of laughter from the members in front of and behind the camera.

[this is were the real sibling energy is coming through]

[why would he call her out like that in front of the camera hahahaha]

"But how can it be considered normal for a friend to do things like that with your partner?" She whined out loud.

"Well," Hoshi answered her, "It depends on how good their relationship is, I guess."

"It's TOO GOOD if my friend does these things!"

[ngl... i feel a very deep and desperate need to see jealous minnie]

[pls]

[i NEED it]

A soft hit on her shoulder made her chuckle. Turning to the side, she found the youngest leaning into her, his laughter ringing through her ears.

"It's okay, noona." Infecting her with his joy.

[YEAH, CALL HER OUT FOR BEING JEALOUS BUT THEN TELL HER IT'S OKAY]

[little siblings, istg...]

"I'm okay with peeling shrimps," the leader made his final decision, "but the perilla leaf one is weird." He stepped to the side to leave a stunned Minnie in the middle - Dino, with a matching facial expression, right behind her.

"What?"

"Why?"

"Amazing..." Minghao added to the shock.

[they were NOT having it]

[but i get it bc same]

"Peeling it by hands like this," the maknae imitated the action of peeling a shrimp to the rest of the group.

"That's so much worse!" The girl agreed with him. "You take your time to peel it... only to then give it to the partner of your best friend?!" She turned to Hoshi. "That's not okay."

[SHE GETS IT]

"I agree," Dino nodded, linking his arm with hers as he dragged her in the opposite direction in which their leader had gone.

[dino went from not knowing anything about this topic to agreeing with his noona]

[gotta love them]

[GOING SEVENTEEN] COMEBACK SPECIAL: God of Light Music #1

[i'm so obsessed with every pi cheolin x minnie/a minnie character interaction]

[why do her characters literally ALWAYS have beef with him HAHAHA]

[but i think that might need to be a seperate video ngl]

[anyways, the following few scenes have still made it into this video just bc i love them so much]

"And I've also been working with a lyricist recently," Woozi explained to the man in front of him.

"Ooh," Pi Cheolin sat up straighter, "Who is this new lyricist?"

"Her name is Minnie, but she sometimes goes by Minhee."

"Minhee?" The man's face scrunched up in almost disgust. "I don't like that name."

['i don't like her name' when it's literally her government name😭]

Getting a chuckle out of Woozi that he couldn't hold back. "Where's she from?"

"She's from abroad. Europe," the '96 Liner continued. "Young and very talented."

"I see..." Dino, deep into his character, glanced around the room. "Then she must be really good in English, right?"

Woozi nodded, "Yeah, she lived in England before. She writes a lot of her lyrics in English, actually. And I, ehm-" he cleared his throat. "I actually asked her to accompany me here today to this meeting, I hope that's okay."

"Oh, of course, of course!" Pi Cheolin raised his arms up into the air. "The more, the better!"

The producer nodded with a smile, "Good, good. She should be here any second, I think." Just right after he had said that, a knock shook through the door.

"Come in!" Pi Cheolin shouted out.

Only a second later, the door opened to reveal the face of the girl they had just mentioned, peaking in to look around. Her eyes held still on Woozi's form, but before she could say anything, the man in the hat shot up from the chair.

"Minnie! You must be Minnie!" With a hard push, he jumped up onto his feet, his chair hitting the wooden shelves behind him before rushing over to the female member.

[bruh HAHAHA]

"What a beautiful young lady!"

[he's too good in this role, i love him]

Without warning, he grabbed her by her upper arms and pulled her in, letting first their right cheeks touch, then the left ones. Each time, he added an overly dramatic kissing sound.

[STOP]

"O- Oh- ok-," Minnie looked at him taken aback as soon as they were face to face again.

[so this was definitely not scripted, i guess]

[HAHAHAHAHA]

Pi Cheolin smiled brightly at her. "That's how you greet people in Europe, right?"

"I- sure? I guess?" She just shrugged.

[her new personality: europe]

Harsher than needed, the man patted her arms, making her almost wince.

[i can't]

"I'm glad to finally meet you!" Without looking at her again, he turned back around to go to his seat. "Please, take a seat! I heard so much about you."

Minnie directed her eyes towards Woozi as she claimed the chair right next to him, raising her eyebrows to ask him 'Really?"

He shrugged, "I only just started telling him about you. I don't know what he's talking about."

With a slow and unsure nod, she sat down.

[they're too good]

"I have to be honest with you, Minnie," Pi Cheolin suddenly turned seriously after the three had just negotiated the producer-writer duo to join his agency.

"Ok..." the girl carefully answered, fiddling with her fingers in her lap.

With his teeth tightly pressed together, he hissed in a breath. "Minhee. Your other name."

"My legal name, yes."

"We have to change it." He simply stated.

"What?" Minnie stopped with every little action she was previously doing, glancing over at the man. "But that's my real name. My grandma gave me-"

"We need to change it," he interrupted her, making her send an unamused look right into the camera.

[he really don't give a fuck about the grandma huh?]

For a second the room fell into complete silence. Pi Cheolin had a finger on his chin, looking like he was deep in his thoughts. "What about..." he spoke before stopping for a bit again. "Minstar!" He shouted out, surprising both members, making them cover their mouths as chuckles escaped their lips.

[HOW IS HE NOT DYING FROM LAUGHING]

[MINSTAR?! HOW DO YOU EVEN COME UP WITH THAT SHIT]

"Minstar?" The girl wondered.

The man nodded. "Yeah. 'Min', from Minnie. And 'star' because you are A STAR!" The sudden change to English was all it took for another round of quiet chuckles to fill the room.

[he's so random for what]

After not getting an answer in return, with Woozi covering his face with one hand and Minnie turned around towards the wall, trying to calm down her laughter, Pi Cheolin continued.

With his arms opened wide and a big grin plastered on his face, he stared at the two. "Do you love it or do you love it?"

The girl just sent him a thumbs-up.

[i just KNOW i could never hold it together in front of the camera]

[i know, out of all the members minnie falls out of character the most, but i would be so much worse omg]

[how could you not if you have someone in front of you playing this old man just a little too well for it not to be real?!]

As soon as the three walked into the recording studio, where Wonwoo, Jeonghan and Dokyeom aka Leo, Charles and Seokmin, Minnie was holding her hand up to cover her mouth, unable to keep any grins hidden as soon as her eyes fell on her fellow members.

[she was having a hard time keeping it together for literally the entire episode]

[but who could blame her]

They stood up to greet the CEO, producer and lyricist.

"Have you seen these guys before?" Pi Cheolin asked, pointing at the trio in front of them.

Minnie and Woozi shook their head. "We've never met them before," the '96 Liner answered for both of them as the female member was busy wiping away the tears that had fallen from her eyes due to her laughter.

"Oh, is that right?" The man exclaimed. "Then I'll introduce you-" As soon as he turned to the girl, who was crouched over, he stopped. "Are you okay? What's so funny?"

She was quick to catch herself, standing up straight again, "Nothing. Nothing. I'm okay."

With a slight squint, Pi Cheolin glared at her. "Lyricists need to be a bit more serious, I think."

[oh okay]

"I'll try my best," she promised him.

"Well then, let me introduce you to the best singers in the industry! Say hello, starting with you," he pointed at the '95 Liner, who revealed his age and name, followed by Wonwoo until they landed on Dokyeom.

But instead of talking to them, the '97 Liner started moving around, showing them a variety of what could only be described as 'tiktok moves from 2019'. Minnie couldn't hold it again and gave in as she turned to the side slightly, trying to ignore her fellow member in front of her. Pi Cheolin was having none of that.

"No, no," he grabbed her shoulders and turned her back around. "It's rude not to look at people when they introduce themselves." The girl just nodded.

[PLS LET THIS GIRL LIVE IN PEACE]

After a few more seconds, the CEO took the word again. "Your name... what's your name?"

"Seokminie," Dokyeom answered him.

"Oh, Seokminie?" Pi Cheolin's eyes widened. He surprised the girl with a slap on the back.

[why is he like this]

"See! Another reason why you have to change your name." But she just continued to stare at him. "So people don't confuse you two!" Pointing between the '97 Liners.

"So they don't confuse us?"

[...]

"Yes! Look at you two. You could be twins. Both young. Both attractive."

[DINO😭]

No comment was made to his statement as everyone was trying to hold in their giggles. Minnie shook her head.

After a few more jokes back and forth, including Seokmin shouting into their ears and bursting their eardrums, everyone had sat down.

"So!" Pi Cheolin suddenly stood up again. "Now, I'll introduce my trusted people right here." He placed both of his hands on the female member's shoulders, making her tense up slightly, which he noticed right away.

"Aah, don't be so tense, Minstar," he started massaging her shoulders, clearly not in a comforting way though as her face scrunched up and she tried to free herself from his grasp.

[MINSTAR]

[he's really going through with it]

After a few seconds, he stopped, only to squish her face in between his hands. "This is Minnie. We call her Minstar because she is A STAR!" His hands started moving around, squishing her cheeks a slight bit more. "

[minnie is so much stronger than i am bc i would actually beat him up as soon as the cameras go down, but i just know she lets him do this bc he's dino and she loves him]

[bc imagine if this was seungkwan]

I mean look at her." The room went quiet. "Look at her beauty. Her talent. You can smell her intelligence." Another moment of silence washed over the group after he took a big and loud sniff.

[JUST WHY]

"I see, you agree with me." He freed her again, making her touch her own cheeks again and frown at the camera.

"Let's move on to Woozi, the genius producer!"

[GOING SEVENTEEN] Don't Lie III #1

[something about dino in this episode was just so pure and cute]

The members cleaned up nicely. Each one of them was wearing a personalised, colour-coded outfit for the filming of the third part of their Don't Lie series. Minnie was sharing the couch with Minghao, Seungkwan and Jeonghan, sitting between the '95 and '98 Liner.

After going through the casualties and flaming Mingyu along the way, the group decided to let Dino be the first in the starting round of the Lie Detector test.

He got down to the floor, to sit right in front of the coffee table with the machine on top of it. After securing his hand with the velcro seal, one of the producers behind the camera started to explain the rules.

"After detecting your heart rate, when you're asked a question, press the button and answer-"

The members listened attentively, some nodding along to her words, but the maknae seemed as lost as he possibly could be. Dino looked to his left, making the girl chuckle as she could practically see the wheels in his head turning.

"How?" He suddenly asked, his eyes wide in lostness.

[THE CONFUSION]

[oh dino]

The group couldn't hold back laughing at his reaction.

Not even a second later, Minnie was already up on her feet, Jeonghan's hand on her back, dropping down to his side.

[she literally only smiled before she SHOT UP to get to him]

[the older sister instincts KICKED IN]

[also: pretty sure jeonghan kinda like pushed her forward bc he saw his baby in need]

She walked over to him and crouched down on the floor, her knees hitting the carpet as she tried to explain it again in simpler terms. But his eyes told her everything she needed to know - he still had no idea what to do. It just made her chuckle even more.

[minnie pls he just needs your help]

[pls help him]

"I'll do it for you. I'll activate it," Minnie placed a hand on his shoulder while her other one was on top of the coffee table, close to the lie detector. All Dino now had to do was listen to the question and answer truthfully.

"Noona!"

The female member whipped her head around at the sound of the youngest's voice. An awaiting smile was already plastered on her face.

With quick but short steps, Dino was right in front of her within a second.

"Is there a pharmacist?" He wondered in a hushed tone.

[i love how she was the first person he thought of to ask]

With scrunched eyebrows, clearly confused by the random question, the girl looked at him.

"What?"

"Is there a pharmacist in the game?"

"A pharmacist? Like... someone that works in a pharmacy?" She repeated his words, still unsure if she had understood him correctly. After getting a nod from the maknae, she spoke up again. "Why?"

Dino quickly glanced at his left and right, before leaning into her just a little bit closer and lowering his voice. "Jeonghan said he's the pharmacist," he explained, "I didn't even know there was such a role."

[well ngl i wouldn't believe anything that comes from jeonghan's mouth after being with him in the same group for this long of a time]

[the trust issues i have with this man are unreal]

"Aaah," Minnie nodded, almost unable to hold back her chuckle. After having dealt with the older's mischief for far too long, and getting involved in it for just as long, she immediately saw right through the lie.

You could see her eyes looking around the room as she debated her next statement - she could play into it, or she could tell him the truth.

But with those boba eyes looking right at her, she only had one option.

"No," she shook her head with a grin. "He's just joking with you. There's no pharmacist role."

[BUT DINO AND MINNIE, TRUST ISSUES?! NEVER]

"Really? Are you sure?"

Minnie nodded.

"But he keeps on collecting little pieces of paper that he finds," Dino imitated the size of the mentioned paper slips.

"I don't know... maybe he wrote them earlier? He was writing something before we started filming." The female member dropped the truth, making the youngest look at her with an open mouth.

[she even reveals jeonghan's secrets to dino, like what]

"Aaah... wow..." he shook his head. "He's really passionate about this game."

[he IS REALLY passionate about that game]

[but so is everyone else of you, sooo...]

The female member laughed as she agreed with him by nodding again.

[GOING SEVENTEEN] Runner-Up Sports Day #2

Part of the members were standing in a line, waiting for the next instructions during their filming. Vernon was holding the ball they'd be using for the dodgeball match that was coming up. It was fairly windy, but Minnie had found out the Mingyu was a good wind blocker, explaining why she was standing to his left.

[the gose producer's caption 'the great wall of mingyu' was perfect]

Dino was next to her, on her other side.

The group had fallen into a comfortable conversation, forgetting about the multiple cameras on them for just a few minutes.

After finding out that the only members to know about 'Shaun the Sheep' were Vernon and Minnie, Dokyeom had another question,

"Who knows 'Fairly Odd Parents?"

The youngest member of the hip-hop unit turned to the '97 Liner, continuing to subconsciously play with the ball in his hand.

"Ah, the Nickelodean cartoon?"

Dokyeom confirmed his wonder.

Minnie was fixing her hair when the maknae spoke up after a chuckle fell from his lips,

"My nickname in elementary school was Jimmy Neutron." The girl next to him fell into a fit of giggles, her head falling back as she was surprised and most definitely amused by the sudden comment. "My head was so big back then," Dino continued to explain.

[AWWWWW]

With a pout, the female member reached out to touch his arm, leaning forward to rest her forehead on his shoulder, hiding her amusement.

[she adores this man so much]

Without even thinking twice, Mingyu opened his mouth, "It still is." Followed by a chuckle.

[PLS]

[MINGYU]

[no filter]

Minnie's head immediately shot up. Her eyes wide, but her lips pressed together, trying to keep the corner of her lips from curling. She turned to her side and got a groan from her fellow '97 Liner in return as his hand flew up to where she had just smacked him on the chest.

[go off big sister minnie!]

[getting ready for defence]

With a sarcastic unamused facial expression, Dino commented on his statement. "You say such nice things." To which the girl was quick to turn to him,

"Awww," she laughed out and let her hand come up to cup his cheek, leaning onto his shoulder once again.

[PURE ADORATION]

In the Soop 1 Ep. 2

[what i want to say:]

[i am very sorry to end this video with this in the soop moment]

[BUT]

[it's literally probably my all time favourite minnie x dino moment, EVER]

[we see them always acting all sweet and loving and just caring for each other]

[but this... this was so much than that]

[and i still cry whenever i watch it]

All of the members left to do their individual things. Some had started getting ready for bed. Others were already sleeping. A few had gone into the kitchen for snacks. The only ones left outside were Dino and Minnie. As it was starting to get colder, Minnie had thrown a blanket around her body, while the maknae had chosen a jacket to keep him warm. The girl had started to collect some of the trash left behind by the other guys and put together the empty bottles of alcohol, so they'd have it easier to throw away.

It was quiet. The only sounds filling the open outdoors were coming from the river from a distance and the crickets and other insects that you'd find close to the woods.

Dino's eyes were trained on the female member, following her every movement.

[i don't know what it is, but dino just gazing at her is something that hits me so hard]

[like, a lot of the members look at minnie in a specific way, but dino... it's very special]

[again: pure adoration]

He stayed quiet, feeling just a bit sorry that he wasn't helping her, but the sudden rush of tiredness had surprised him - Minnie knew that and wouldn't comment on it.

Then the maknae suddenly broke the comfortable silence, "I'm really proud of you, noona."

[LITERALLY STARTED TEARING UP ALREADY]

The girl stopped in her tracks. She lifted her head to meet his gaze. "What?" She chuckled. "All of a sudden?"

"No," he shook his head almost shyly, immediately crossing his arms in front of his chest. "I've been wanting to tell you things like that, but... I've never found the right time."

The female member stopped her actions, taking a seat in the chair that Seungkwan had previously occupied.

[notice how she literally dropped everything and just sat down to listen?]

"Well..." she took a deep breath, "Do you think now is the right time? Do you want to talk to me?"

"I always want to talk to you, but...," Dino admitted, looking down at his hands before up at the older member again. "I don't really know... how to say it well."

"You can always talk to me. I'm always all ears for you, you know that," Minnie reached out to get a hold of the glass of water one of the members had left for her.

[first tears started falling]

"I know- Of course, I know." The maknae gulped. "But I really am proud of you."

The girl's eyebrows shot up as she tried to fight a pout. "Thank you, I'm really proud of you too."

Dino nodded. "You've been working so hard, so I... I just wanted to tell you that. Especially this year, you've been working a lot- I mean, you've always been working very hard with writing lyrics and helping Woozi... and also doing photoshoots and promoting Seventeen so well."

"Thank you, Channie," she smiled at her younger member who had been trying to avoid her gaze.

[something about her using his real name seems so special]

[i mean, maybe it was the alcohol]

[but also maybe not]

She continued, "But you should be really proud of yourself too. You've been doing a lot for not only the group but also for yourself. You've grown a lot over the past few years. You can be very proud of that."

Dino's eyes were fixed on nothing specific as he just glanced into the dark emptiness to his right.

"Do-" he suddenly started again. Minnie was still waiting patiently for him to speak, a soft smile plastered on her face as she couldn't take her eyes off the maknae. "Do you ever feel like you've missed out on something?"

She scrunched her eyebrows, "What do you mean with 'something'?"

He took a deep breath, brushing his hands over his thighs as he looked down. "That's something I've always wanted to ask you... but I was never sure if... if you wanted to talk about it." He took another second to let the question fall from his lips. "...Do... you ever feel... like you've missed out on something because you're in a group with us?"

"Because you're guys?" She wondered.

The maknae nodded. "I've been wondering about that for a long time I think, but especially now... and... after our contract renewal- I don't know-" he shook his head slightly. "I just... I was asking myself that. And if... like- do you ever think about how you're life as an idol in a girl group would've been?"

[HE WAS WORRIED ABOUT HER FOR SUCH A LONG TIME]

[AND NOW HE'S ASKING HER ABOUT THIS]

[bc of the contract renewal]

[makes me kinda think what if he was scared that she wouldn't want to renew it bc of that exact reason]

[brb gotta dry my tears]

A nearly sad chuckle tumbled from Minnie's lips as she looked at the younger member in front of her. "Why are you wondering about that?" Sounding almost concerned.

[fr don't make us cry like that]

Dino shrugged. "I was always wondering about you... and the group... but... when the contract renewal became a topic... I... almost started to feel bad, I think." Minnie decided to stay quiet to let him continue and give him as much time as he needed. "I was thinking about if...if we were maybe taking something from you... or... just in general... if you feel pressured into resigning maybe for some reason."

[...]

[WE DO NOT DESERVE THIS MAN]

"Ah..." Minnie sighed, looking down at her own hands, "Why are you worrying so much, Dino?" As soon as she looked up again, the camera, as well as the youngest, caught her glassy eyes. She didn't get an answer from him in return as he just continued to look at her.

"I..." she started quietly, her right hand brushing through her hair as she looked up at the sky and gulped. "I definitely- during the contract negotiations, thought a lot about the future and... also, of course, the past and... everything that has happened and what we've been through and... also how my mindset used to be in the beginning, you know? Because it changed a lot."

"What do you mean?"

"I... I- like you asked about me missing out on something. I never felt like that. I never thought that I was missing out on... for example, being in a girl group. Because... all of you make me so so happy. And... I know that every single member is, like- I know that all of your guys' kindness and support, and... just everything about you... I couldn't ask for anything more, because... it's so much more than I could've ever imagined already. And so much better and... I don't deserve any-"

"No no, stop," he was quick to interrupt her. "You deserve everything, noona. You deserve so much more."

[i don't want to interrupt this beautiful moment but yes, I'm crying]

"No, stop!" She chuckled.

"You really deserve this."

"Well, you do too!"

"But you're doubting yourself right now!" He argued back with a sad smile.

Minnie stopped him with a wave of her hand. "No, no, I'm not, don't worry. I mean... I don't know who even in this world would deserve a group as wonderful as Seventeen, you know?"

[facts]

"You do, noona."

[BUT EVEN MORE FACTS]

"Ah, stop, you're gonna make me cry!"

[you and me both sis]

The female member chuckled as she covered her sight with one hand before trying to wipe away the tears that had gathered in the corner of her eyes.

"No, don't! Please don't" Dino giggled along with her trying to find a napkin he could hand her. After his eyes landed on one clean one, he reached out with it for her to grab. Minnie thanked him.

"There were definitely times where... I doubted if I should be in a group like this, you know?"

[NO MINNIE DON'T DO THIS TO MY HEART]

She continued, and the maknae nodded while listening attentively. "Especially shortly after our debut... and during our trainee years," she cleared her throat, sitting up just a bit straighter. "None of the members have ever made me feel... like... I'm not a part of the group. You've always made me feel very included and... accepted... and just... never made me feel different, but... just... my own mindset and a lot of other things, you know? It sometimes told me that... I'm not- I'm not supposed to be here. That it's supposed to be only you guys-"

"But without you, something would definitely be missing."

"Thank you," she whispered, feeling the tears pool up again. "But I've learned not to listen to that and... just enjoy the time that we have right now. And... that made me realise that there is nothing better I could ever ask for. During our trainee days, I- I've definitely felt a bit lonely at times, of course, because... I was also growing into an adult, and that's a hard time already. But... I'm just so thankful for all of you... that's why I renewed it. I definitely didn't feel pressured by anything. I just... I couldn't imagine what else I would be doing, you know? I love you all so much, and I'm so thankful... I just want to hold onto every single member for as long as I can."

By the end of Minnie's speech, Dino's eyes had also turned slightly more glassy than before, but he continued to nod along to every word she spoke.

[seeing him like this in front of her is actually breaking my heart]

"During our trainee days, I don't think I thought much about it, but as I'm getting older, I started to realise that some times must've been very lonely for you. And I couldn't help but to feel sorry about that. Because... I don't want you to ever feel lonely. We all appreciate you so much and we hope that you can see and feel that... we really do. But when I was younger, all I thought was that it was weird but cool to have so many older brothers and one older sister because I never had that. And then... especially to have you as a sister... someone I know I can always rely on and ask for help and who I know will support me... but getting older, I just had to start thinking about what this all must be like for you. And that it must be very- ah, noona!"

And this point, there were already too many tears to count that were running down Minnie's face. She chuckled at the youngest's reaction, trying to pat away the stains on her cheeks, the silence of the night now also filled with her sobs.

"I didn't want you to cry, I'm sorry," the maknae spoke gently as he stood up, quickly wiping away his own tears that had started to fall before he pushed one of the chairs as close as possible to her. After taking a seat, he was quick to wrap his arm around her shoulder, pulling her into a comforting side hug.

"I just wanted to talk to you about this because I was thinking about it and I noticed that you're never complaining about it and have never said anything about this."

[i will stop interrupting now bc i don't even know what to say anymore]

[i love them so much]

[both of them deserve the world]

"Dino..."

"What?" He chuckled at her sigh.

"You've grown so much. You shouldn't be worrying about me or us in general like that," the tears were still running down her cheeks, but she was able to speak normally.

The maknae shook his head, "Don't say that. We all worry about each other."

"Yeah, but," she snuffled, "You're our maknae..." and looked up at him as his grip around her softened. "You haven't acted like a maknae since... I don't even know... since never. And... it's kind of... really hard to watch you grow up so quickly because... it's okay if you want to act like the maknae. You can act like a maknae! It's okay. That's what we expect from you. To see you all grown up like this and think so much about worries that shouldn't even cross your mind is really scary..."

Now it was Dino's time to look up, trying to blink away his tears. Minnie took his hand into her grasp with a sad smile.

"Please don't think that you have to grow up quickly. I feel like you couldn't even enjoy your youth much because you became a trainee so young-"

"You became a trainee at 13 too," the youngest told her with a somewhat chuckle.

Minnie nodded with a smile, "Yeah, but I was almost an adult when we debuted. You weren't. And... I feel like that may have made you want to grow up quicker than we wanted you to." She reached out to touch his cheek, running her thumb over the fresh tears that had escaped his eyes. "Please don't worry about us so much. Focus on your youth and enjoy it. And be a maknae at times. Don't be so mature, you're gonna make me sad to see you grow up!" Her scolding made both of them laugh and lean into each other.

"But-" Dino cleared his throat, "I feel like you never talk about your struggle and that worries me. I can't help but worry. You're a special person in the group. Of course, I'm gonna worry about my older sister."

"But you shouldn't," she patted his hand again. "I... I sometimes do talk to... Coups-oppa, especially. But you know... everyone has their own worries, so I don't want to hurt anyone with my worries even more."

"I know..." the maknae copied her soft tone.

"It's hard sometimes, but... yeah... everyone is struggling a little bit differently, but we all learn how to deal with it. And... we know that we can always rely on each other."

Dino nodded again. "And I just wanted you to know that you can always also rely on me."

"I know," Minnie told him in a whisper, another round of tears already making their way down her cheeks again. "But don't worry," She took a deep breath, "A lot of happy things have happened recently, so... I'm very happy as well." And smiled shyly, making the maknae copy her expression.

"I'm really happy for you." His whisper hit her ears oh so softly.

"Thank you." With a big smile, she wrapped her arms around the muscular frame of the '99 Liner. "Just remember that you'll always be our maknae. You're not the oldest here, so don't feel pressured to act like it."

"I know," he buried his face deeper into her neck. "You're a very important part of the group. And also to me. I mean it... I don't know what I would do without you, noona. I really love you."

"I love you too, Channie," she tightened the hug, noticing him doing the same, making her smile. After they released each other again, the female member took another look at the maknae.

"And you can always talk to me. You don't have to wait for a good moment or something like that. If you need to talk to me, I will listen. Doesn't matter when or where."

Dino decided to just nod, scared of the lump in his throat that was about to appear again.

[they both have been through literally so much individually]

[i'm so glad they found towards each other]

[if none of the moments from before convinced you that they need each other, i hope this one did]

[i really hope that they will be forever happy and healthy]

[also:]

[i'm actually convinced that finding someone that cares about me as much as minnie and dino care about each other would heal me from inside out]

Taglist: @waosobii @chaebb @lunarxsun @hoe4wonwoo @kimhyejin3108 @soobzao @billboard-singer @cosmicwintr @zwiehe @alixnsuperstxr @angie-x3 @smooore @allthings-fandoms

#minnie 🌷#seventeen #seventeen oc #seventeen 14th member #imagine #Fan Video #kpop oc

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