#might do the 2018 season next just for fun | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

youkissedareaderinthedark · 11 months

Text

Waiting

Synopsis: It’s never the right time for Y/n and Max. It takes the right place to get them together

female reader x max verstappen

(this fic is set from 2018 to 2022, ik it’s not ideal that it’s set in the past but it’s the timeline that made the most sense for the story)

It’s 2018 and life is good for Max Verstappen. He’s three months away from entering the new race season and he’s just coming off a fairly successful one. He’s got a pretty good car, a team that believes in him, and a country that supports him. Things in his career were changing, getting more serious, and Max decides he might be due a new place to live.

Maybe not to live full time, just a place to go home to after a long weekend. He loves his mom and sister, Victoria, but flying back to Belgium almost every week was a hassle, and he needs someplace that made his lifestyle easier. A few drivers live in Monaco, that might be a contender. It's in the middle of Europe, so close to most of the races, it has a lot of privacy, traveling to and from there is easy, and of course the tax benefits, so why not?

Max spends a few days thinking and researching Monte Carlo. He talks to his friend and Monaco resident, Daniel Ricciardo, who, predictably, loves the idea, and then talks to his mom and Victoria about it. The three of them come up with the idea that Max buys an apartment in Monte Carlo, lives there during the race season, and comes home during gaps in the schedule, summer break, and after the season ends.

The Verstappen family finds a suitable apartment and once it’s bought, they spend a few days scrambling around to the house trying to decide what Max should bring and what he should leave. It’s December, so Max will spend the rest of 2018 at home with his mom and Victoria before leaving for Monaco in January.

Max liked Monaco from the first time he traveled there to race and fell in love with it when it became the place he’d call home for a while. He gazed at the tall trees and the turquoise water and even though it was winter, it looked like a summer paradise.

All of his stuff from home wasn’t supposed to get here until tomorrow, possibly later if the shipping company was dodgy, so all he had to live off was the carry-on and two suitcases he brought on the plane with him. His mother helped him plan what furniture he should buy for his place, and he figured he should get a move on that if he wanted a place to sit for dinner tonight.

The apartment complex he chose was nice, almost luxurious, and even though money was not a problem, not crazily expensive. Two bedrooms, 1 bathroom, a nice kitchen even though Max couldn’t cook very well, it was good. It was semi-furnished, the kitchen and bathroom were basically done, but the bedrooms, living room, and dining room were empty so he would spend the next few days at furniture stores.

It’s Day 7 of living in the new apartment and Max is fumbling with the parts of a coffee table. When he suddenly hears a beeping noise coming from below him. The apartment downstairs. He figures.

Probably just an alarm. Is what Max thinks until the beeping noise doesn’t stop, and the Dutch realizes it’s a fire alarm. It’s fine. It’ll turn off in a second. But then Max hears a muffled voice and a clanking noise, then repeated thwacking noises, against his floor?

Curiosity killed the cat, but Max decides curiosity could also be fun and before he can stop himself, he’s walking out of his apartment and towards the elevator.

He does the math on which room would be the one below his on the way down and is knocking at the door he thinks is the correct one. “Hold on!” A voice calls through the muffled alarm. He hears another faint curse before the door swings open and reveals a woman, probably around his age, looking frazzled and a bit panicked.

“Hi. Are you okay?” The words tumble out of his mouth and Max realizes he’s had no idea what he’s doing until now. “No. Can you help me turn that stupid thing off?” You reply as if he is not a stranger, and this is totally normal.

Why not? He thinks before saying it out loud, and you open the door wider to reveal a smokey kitchen. “The smoke alarm is up there, I just forgot how to turn it off” You point to the detector on the ceiling near your fridge. The 21-year-old steps onto the chair that is strategically placed underneath it and uses the little knowledge of fire safety he learned in a health class in high school to disable the alarm.

“Oh. Thanks” you say as he steps down. “I’ve just realized I haven’t seen you before, did you just move in?”

“Yes, I moved to Monaco and started living here about a week ago. I’m Max, by the way, I live in the apartment above yours” He sticks out his arm in a handshake.

“Nice to meet you, I’m Y/n. I’ve been living here for three years, so if you need something, just let me know” You smile and he’s glad he now knows someone in the building.

“Thanks, I’ll see you around” you say the same as Max turns and lets himself out of your room. The man realizes as he gets into the elevator that he has no clue if something was on fire or not, or if you were okay or not. Well, I’ll see her around, I’ll ask then.

You don’t see Max again until the middle of the night, about two months later. You don’t know it, but Max has just returned from the first race in Australia and is trudging back to his apartment from the airport, desperate to get some sleep. You’re walking to the elevator, just coming back from a midnight snack excursion to the vending machine on his floor. “Oh hey. Max right? You okay?” You ask with what he deems too much energy.

You're wearing what looks like pajamas, a Monte Carlo crewneck and a pair of shorts. “Fine, just tired” He’s really not in the mood to talk, but he doesn’t think this will last long. “You want a cookie?” You’re holding a bag of his favorite biscuits, ones that he thought he could only get in Belgium, and surprises himself when he nods his head. “Why not” And takes it from your hands. “Thanks Y/n” The driver is already walking away. “Goodnight Max”

Strangely enough, the same thing happens when Max gets back from Bahrain. It’s like a replay from the last interaction; You’re in pajamas, carrying a bag of cookies, and he’s trekking down the hallway to his flat. “Hi Max, you want a cookie?” Without hesitation, he grabs the one in your hand, and with a yawn-covered thank you, he’s turned around and heading back to his original destination.

Instead of a two-month gap between your encounters, Max sees you the next day. It’s 10am, and the driver decides to utilize the balcony attached to the apartment. Every apartment has one, and because of the side of the building his room is on, it faces a view of the Monegasque streets and the ocean in the background. It’s a beautiful sight, so Max should probably be more surprised when he hears someone else outside.

Soft music, the clattering of utensils, and occasionally the sliding of doors, all audible and coming from the apartment below him. Max looks over the railing from his seat at the edge of the platform and sees you. “Hi Y/n” His mouth is calling out before his brain can stop it. You look up and smile. “Good morning, Max” You pause for a moment, wondering what to talk about with the kind-of-stranger that lives above you.

“Were you just coming home from vacation last night?” You remember the suitcase by his side and the tired expression on his face that only someone that has been away from home can have.

“I mean, I was away, I wouldn’t call it vacation though” You two have to shout to be able to hear the other clearly and even though it’s piercing the calm morning air, neither of you seem to mind. “So a work trip, then?”

“Yeah”

“What do you do for work?”

“It’s a secret” Now, Max is not sure why he says that. Maybe because he doesn’t want his neighbor and possibly friend to know he’s a high-profile Formula 1 Driver. Maybe he just doesn’t feel like telling a neighbor and possible stranger his work. Or maybe he just feels like being difficult.

“A secret?” You shout back. “Yes! A secret!”

“Well can I know the secret?”

“No! Then it wouldn’t be a secret!”

“Fine! When do I get to know the secret?” Max pauses for a second, contemplating his options.

“I’ll surprise you. One day I will just tell you. Out of nowhere”

“What if I don’t see you for another month?”

“Then you’ll have to find a way to see me!”

“Fine!” It’s a word that is usually shouted in frustration, but the Dutch man hears the smile in your voice and is surprised to feel his own face twisted into a grin.

You take Max’s words as a challenge and you’re not going to lose. The next few days, you go up to your neighbor’s floor multiple times, hoping to catch him leaving or going. You step out onto your balcony in the morning and again at night, shouting, looking for his accented voice. You even wandered up at midnight a few times, anticipating him to come walking tiredly down the hall again. You can’t exactly figure out why you’re so anxious to know this secret your neighbor has, you just know that you do.

So two weeks later, when you’ve very nearly forgotten about this whole ‘secret career’ business, you see him trudging down the hall again, you ignore his tired face and speak maybe too loudly for 1am. “Did you just get back from your secret work trip?” A smirk comes onto your neighbor’s face.

“Maybe” He continues walking, even ignoring the bag of cookies in your hand. “If I see you tomorrow, will you tell me?”

“Maybe” And then he’s turned the key into his door lock and is gone.

The next morning, you’re out on your balcony as usual, eating breakfast while listening to music, when you faintly hear the slide of a door coming from above you. You pause the song playing on your phone and wait. Max knows you’ve heard him and he interrupts the silence. “Good morning, Y/n”

“Hi, Max. Long night?”

“Long few days, yes”

“Wait, I’ll be right back” You quickly hurry inside to retrieve the bag of cookies you didn’t finish last night and bring them out onto the platform.

“Will you tell me now?” Then with the best angle you can manage, throw them directly up and hopefully over to his balcony. He catches them and thinks back to a few hours ago. “Weren’t you eating these last night?” “Don’t worry, I only eat like three” You hear the bag crinkle, and then his voice.

“I am a Formula 1 driver” You’re eyes widen. You’ve had a lot of time to think about all the possible secret careers Max could have, and while celebrity was one of them, you did not expect that. Just as you hear the sliding door open again, you move to shout. “Wait! Tell me about it”

Of course you knew what Formula 1 was, everyone who lived in Monaco did, but you didn’t know much about it since you only pay attention to it when it comes to your country. “Okay. But I don’t want to yell anymore, come up and I will tell you” And surprisingly, he does.

Without a touch of discomfort, Max answers any questions you have and asks a few of his own. You tell him that you got the opportunity to go to the International School of Monaco and moved into this apartment so you could attend. You tell him about the life waiting for you back home, the place you would go return to in a few months.

“So, you are moving back there soon?” He asked. “Yeah. Not immediately though. I’m gonna stay until summer ends and if I haven’t found a good job by then, I’m leaving”

“I will be the best neighbor possible then” By August, you can safely say he was.

Max told you about his schedule for racing and you told him about yours for school, though much simpler than the one he lived by. You make a tradition of welcoming him home with a bag of cookies, whether it be minutes before 12 Sunday night, or just as the sun begins to set Monday evening.

Max makes a habit of going down to your balcony every time he returns from a race, either for Monday breakfast or dinner. You both sit and watch the Monegasque view with awe before you either have to go to class or start your homework. Due to the crazy prices, you’ve never attended the Monte Carlo race, you usually just watch from the balcony of the other neighbor you’re friends with that lives across from you but Max surprises you with a ticket after he asks you whether you’d be interested in going or not.

You cheer with your friends from your spot on a balcony above the track when he goes P4 and the two of you enjoy the biscuits together that night.

In June, Max celebrates your graduation with you and your friends from university, who have accepted Max into the friend group by now. The eight of you spend a week basically living at the beach and enjoying life just as young adults before Max goes back to racing and the seven of you have to find jobs.

The summer break is in August and Max goes back to Belgium to spend it with his mom and Victoria, while you are in Monaco, looking for the job that will keep you there. You loved your home country, you loved your family and high school friends there and everything it had to offer you, but you’d be lying if you said you weren’t over-the-moon excited once your acceptance letter for the International School of Monaco came in. Nothing was chasing you away, but so much from Monte Carlo was keeping you there.

When Max returns at the end of August, he has no idea whether you’re still there or not. He has your phone number and you two have been texting back and forth through the weeks, but you play his own card when you tell him, “It’s a secret”

Like he has done so many times before, Max is standing tiredly in the elevator of the apartment building he’s just returned to from the airport and is terrified when the lift stops, and you step in matching him all the way down from the drowsy eyes to the two suitcases at his side.

“No” he says, face stretched into disbelief. “No way” He tries to look into your eyes, but your head is tilted down. “Tell me you got a job”

It’s silent for a moment, and Max thinks you haven’t when suddenly you’re grinning, and the suitcases fall open, revealing themselves to be empty. “Okay. I got a job” A laugh falls out of your mouth and the Dutch pulls you into a hug, trying to wave the sadness off.

“Oh my god, that was not funny! Don’t do that again!” He scolds you but he’s laughing as well.

“You found one though? You will stay?” He suddenly pulls back, hands on your shoulders looking for the only answer he’ll accept. “Yeah, I found one. It’s good too, I got a salary and proper days off to see my family and everything. I’m staying” Your eyes are sparkling with joy and Max wants them to stay that way.

“Thank god, I don’t know what I would’ve done if I didn’t have you here, keeping me sane” “Me either” You hug one more time before Max says, “C’mon, you are buying me the biscuits now, that was mean” “Oh, I’m mean? What about when...” And you two continue to banter all the way up to the floor that is not yours but feels like it could be.

The Formula 1 season starts again in September and the traditions between you two remain but are more appreciated. You have no more homework to do after dinner, so Max comes down almost nightly to sit on your balcony or at your dining table and listen to the music you’ve chosen. You still eat breakfast with him every Monday morning if he’s home before you go to work, and when you return, sometimes Max joins you in grocery shopping after one too many complaints about the food you make for dinner.

“If you don’t like it, go make it yourself Verstappen! I am not your maid and you do not have to be here” The neighbors next to his apartment could probably hear you, so Max just offers to buy the groceries himself somedays.

You two don’t fight often but when you do, it usually takes a few days the silent treatment until one of you swallows your stubbornness and pride and apologizes with a peace offering. The driver doesn’t like it when you fight, but he finds it a bit funny when you do because it’s always when you get annoyed by his complaints or when he’s tired of you forgetting stuff at his apartment. It reminds him of a married couple fighting. A couple. You remind him of a couple. Max decides he likes the sound of that.

Max also decides he loves the hugs you give him after he returns from a race, good or bad. He decides he loves coming to your apartment before you make dinner so he can help you cook. He decides he loves the gesture of you two making a key for each other because Max didn’t think it was a good idea for you to have your door unlocked for him most of the time. He decides he doesn’t mind you forgetting your belongings in his apartment because sometimes once you notice they’re gone, you leave them at his apartment for him to use. By the middle of October, the final thing Max Verstappen decides is that he likes you.

When Max walks into the Red Bull Garage Friday afternoon for the Japanese Grand Prix thinking bout these decisions, he sees a woman sitting in one of the chairs and a toddler in the one next to her. The woman must feel his gaze because she looks up. “Hi Max, I’m Kelly. Nice to meet you”

And then suddenly the woman is not a stranger. She’s smiling a mind-numbing smile and Max isn’t thinking when he says yes to having lunch with her Monday afternoon. He isn’t thinking when he says yes to extending his hotel in Japan so they can spend more time together. He isn’t thinking when he flies back to Monaco with her next to him and he goes back to her apartment, not his. His brain only starts to work when he sees it’s almost midnight on Thursday and he realizes he hasn’t gone home yet.

He hasn’t gone home to you, and he doesn’t know how you’ll react. Shit, he doesn’t even know how he’s reacting. Max has just figured out that he likes you, but he’s been in another woman’s house for two days.

Both you and Max have brought people home to your apartments. One of you will go to the other’s place and when they realize the door is locked, they don’t knock and wait for the other to answer, they give the other privacy and say good morning the next day as if nothing happened. There have been one-night stands but never two-night stands; You’ve been in relationships since moving to the building but not since Max moved in, and vice versa for him. You’ve never introduced someone to each other, and now he’s gone and ghosted you.

The driver doesn’t hesitate to gather his things and head back to the complex. It’s not Monday so you have no reason to be up late when you have work in the morning, and somehow, he knows he won’t see you until dinner the next day.

You don’t ask Max where he’s been. You don’t send him a million text messages and you don’t call a thousand times. You want to, because you’re worried about him, but you don’t because somehow, you know. You think it’s when of those unspoken girl things. Even though you don’t know the woman, you know she exists, and you know it’s time for you to step back so she can step in. With this realization, you wave your sadness away as if it was an annoying fly, push your feelings back into your heart where they belong and should never get out, and continue with your day.

When Max opens the door to your apartment Friday evening to have dinner with you, you don’t ask him where he’s been, you just congratulate him about Sunday’s race and tell him that you’ve made plans with your friend group to go out for dinner.

“There’re no reservations, so you can come last minute if you want. I just didn’t feel like making anything and missed everyone, y’know?” “Yeah” The Dutch swallows the lump in his throat. “Yeah, I’ll come. Are we leaving now?” “Yeah, it’s at that one place on...”

Max follows you down the hall and in the silence between you two, he realizes that you know that he met Kelly, and that you both know this is someone he will introduce to you.

The Red Bull driver thinks he thought the action into existence because when Max comes home from Abu Dhabi, Kelly Piquet is by his side. You don’t need Max to tell you, you hear his voice and a woman’s come from his apartment when you’re eating breakfast on your balcony Monday morning. It’s getting cold. You use it as an excuse to eat at your dining table inside until you feel warm again.

You haven’t talked much to Max since the end of October because you rarely see each other. The races are all back-to-back until Abu Dhabi and when Max isn’t traveling, he’s at her apartment. You’re spending more time at work getting ready for Christmas and are glad for the distraction. Your coworkers tell you that everything at the building is ‘double-time’ to get ready for the break and it’s bittersweet because it takes a lot of effort to get it all done in time but knowing you don’t have to think about work during the break and the money you get paid makes it worth it.

You can’t avoid the couple forever though, and that fact proves itself when you run into them in December. Today was the last day at work before Christmas break, and you’re checked out. Even though it was nearly 8’o clock at night when you left the building and was exhausted, you rushed into your apartment to get the suitcases you’d gratefully already packed and leave for the flight you had to catch.

You’re not paying attention when you step into the elevator, looking down at your phone to get music playing through your headphones, when Max calls your name.

“Oh, hey Max” You look at the woman next to you and just as you’re about to introduce yourself, Max does it for you. “Kelly, this is Y/n, she lives in the apartment below me” “Hi, Y/n, so nice to meet you” She shoots a charming smile at you, and you do your best to give her a real one.

“Hi Kelly, nice to meet you” You’re glad neither of them tries any small talk with you and ride the elevator down to the lobby fixing your headphones in silence. “Have a good Christmas, Y/n” Max says on the way down and you realize that he has become just like any other neighbor, one that you ride the elevator in silence with and just wish each other happy holidays when you converse.

It’s sad, what you two have become, but you know better than to try to go back to the way things were before. “You too Max, and you too Kelly” You smile at the two of them before exiting the lift, dragging your suitcase behind you.

A holiday with your family and high school friends turns out to be exactly what you needed. You love Monaco and are glad to be living there, but there’s something comforting about your hometown that no other place can bring. With everyone’s work out of the way, you spend Christmas decorating the house with your family and shopping for presents with your friends.

You let yourself forget about Monte Carlo for a few days and submerge yourself in the safety of your home. It’s refreshing, it’s loving, and it’s welcomed. New Years is fun; You spend some time with family before going out at night to celebrate with your friends and your New Year’s Resolution is to come home more often.

You return to your apartment in January and let the Monegasque winter cool you. You don’t know where Max is, you haven’t texted him since New Years, and that was just a “Happy 2020” message and just assumed he was either in Belgium or with Kelly. You try to make yourself not care and it’s almost easy because at this point, Max barely lives above you anymore.

You focus in on work again and spend time with your friends whenever you can. It’s enjoyable and even though it’s not exactly what you imagined, it’s nice nonetheless.

This lifestyle takes you to March, when something you could’ve never imagined happens. The Corona Virus is announced as a world-wide pandemic and Monaco is shut down. Your work is forced online and suddenly you’re in your apartment building all the time.

You’re friends with the woman that lives across the hall from you, Andy; she’s two years older than you but she was the first person to welcome you to the building and you have a good friendship. You two are suddenly traveling between the two apartments all day, looking for anything to do while you’re trapped inside. Her family lives in France, so like you, she’s living alone and you guys' bond over that.

She reminds you of Max, who just then remembers he lives there and comes back a few days after the pandemic was announced. You’re on your balcony, gazing out at the empty streets of Monte Carlo that you are not used to, when his voice calls out from above. “Hey Y/n”

“Oh, hey. Max right? Did you just move in?” You joke, but the sentence has serious and slightly angry undertones, and you don’t try to hide it.

“I’ve just been away. Not exactly on vacation, something between that and work” He lets your joke run on for a second before breaking it. “But seriously, how are you? We haven’t talked in a while”

“I’m good. I’ve just been working and hanging out with my friends. Well, not anymore, obviously. It’s usually just me and Andy”

“Who is Andy?”

Over a year living there and he still barely knows anyone besides you. “The woman that lives across the hall from me”

“Oh, yeah. Andy”

Max still has no idea who she is, but he doesn’t want to stop talking to you. He realizes he will have to break the ice first. “I’m sorry I haven’t been around much. I’ve been at Kelly’s place a lot and whenever I am here, I can never find you”

“It’s okay. We’ve both been busy with different things”

Just as the driver is about to interrupt, saying that it’s not okay, when you start to talk.

“Why aren’t you with Kelly, by the way?”

“She decided to go back to France to be with her family. She has a young daughter, Penelope, and Kelly wants her to be surrounded by family, not stuck in the house with her mother all the time. She said she’d be back when this is all over, but who knows when that will be”

“Sorry, Max” You don’t know if this means they’ve broken up, but apologizing seems like the right thing to do. You two are silent for a moment.

“Y/n. What are we going to do?”

“Well, me and Andy have a few ideas”

And in the way male/female friendships work, you two are acting like no time passed since the last time Max ate dinner at your house. Immediately, you, Max, and Andy are spending every non-working moment with each other, desparate to interact with someone that is not on a screen.

You three take advantage of the empty streets of Monte Carlo; going on walks whenever you want, lying on the beach even in the cool April air, and seeing every sight that is usually too crowded to enjoy. Your trio enjoys the rooftop all residents have access to and litter it with whatever outside activities fit. You binge watch a lot of shows, switching between Max’s apartment, yours, and Andy’s to view them in. In May, Andy convinces you and Max to try art as a way of passing time, and it brings many trips to the nearest craft store.

By June, Max has wall art and your fingertips are burnt from all the times your hot glue gun scorched you. He’s also reconnected with the friends you once shared, and after Andy joins the group, the nine of you spend the hot days lying in the sun at the beach and wading in the pool outside your building. The other members of your friend group are spread throughout Monaco due to their work, but because the world has literally stopped, they aren’t worried about having trouble getting to you three.

The Formula 1 season starts again, and you and your friends fill the weekends by trying to learn more about F1, half for Max’s sake and half because you’re all bored.

Everyone is stir crazy, so you’re glad that by July, plane tickets are available and after spending nearly five months together, every single one of you spends at least a week with your families and away from each other. It’s not summer break for drivers yet, so Max hangs around the people he’s friends within the paddock.

The Red Bull driver does spend his break with Kelly though. He travels to France and spends a week getting to know Kelly again and playing with her daughter. He doesn’t know where their relationship stands. They were officially dating before the pandemic started, and they decided to go on a break while it was going on. Kelly invited him in hopes of figuring out their relationship and what they want to do when the world goes back to normal.

After talking about how they feel, what’d it be like if they were together again, and everything that would have to change for them to work. After spending five months apart, Max isn’t sure he wants the same things he did in February, so the couple breaks up for now, and he goes back to Belgium to spend much-needed time with his mom and sister.

You return from your vacation much like last year’s holiday break, refreshed and prepared for whatever the world could throw at you, as long as it’s not another pandemic. Everything is definitely not back to normal but it’s more normal than it was in March, so you appreciate it.

By September, half your work week is in person and Monaco gets a bit of life back. Your neighbor gets a bit of his life back as well; Max told you about him and Kelly, and things aren’t 100% normal with you two yet, but it’s definitely getting there.

Due to your enthusiasm, Halloween brings you two back together and on the 31st, Max is on your balcony, eating a bag of cookies from the vending machine, and watching little kids trick or treat beneath you. Not many kids live in your building, but you buy a bag of candy just in case someone shows up and share it with the man next to you while you wait.

In the cool November air, Max comes over for dinner nightly and when Andy isn’t with her boyfriend, she’s there too. There are only three races left in the 2020 racing season, but Max uses them to visit your balcony and eat breakfast with you on Mondays. You only have about a week left until the holiday rush starts in your building again, so you frequent your friend’s apartment and bother him with all the things you two should do with your friends for the holiday season.

You convince Max to buy a fake Christmas tree, but he draws the line at decorating gingerbread houses. You make him watch Christmas movies with you and he pretends to hate every one of them, but when you each have a blanket wrapped around your shoulders and a cup of hot chocolate warming your hands, you know he’s enjoying it.

Your neighbor goes back to Belgium for the holidays so it’s just you until your work stops for the break. The rush is a little less stressful than it was last year because you’re not a rookie anymore, but you still don’t appreciate going home way after your original hours end.

Clocking out and the overtime check you receive after is sweeter this year, partly because you don’t run into any girlfriends on your way out of the building and to the airport to catch your flight home. You're glad to see your hometown keeping its holiday charm and holding on to traditions that track all the way back to your childhood.

You party on New Years with your friends and a few days into 2021, you’re on another plane back to Monaco and everything waiting there for you.

You don’t spend much time with Max though; when you see him after you’ve finished unpacking, he tells you that’s he’s flying to England to Red Bull Headquarters for a while to start preparing for the upcoming race season. He tells you that Red Bull is supposed to be a serious contender for the Driver’s Championship this year and he can’t disappoint. Understandably, you nod, telling him ‘Good luck’ and see him off when he leaves a few days later.

You wish you had more time with him. When you look back, you realize you spend a lot of time with Max, but it never seems like enough. You wished time would move slower in the mornings, so you two could sit in the Monegasque quiet and watch the tide come in and out while you eat breakfast. You wish he came to your apartment earlier for dinner so he can “help” or really just watch and hand you ingredients and read off instructions for the recipes to you.

You tell yourself you shouldn’t wish these things, that he and Kelly could get back together any day, and that you shouldn’t get attached because you know his career will take him all over the globe. But then your heart speaks up, telling you to enjoy the time you have with him, and you listen.

Your neighbor returns on the cusp of February and is prepared to surprise you from his balcony, when he sees a man out on yours. Looking down, instead spotting you reading or eating, there’s a man, sitting on what Max deems his chair, sipping out of a glass. You’re nowhere to be found, probably serving yourself inside, and the Dutch hurries to close his doors when he hears yours open.

Max assumes he’s just one of your lovers, but when he comes outside a day later, the same man is again sitting in his chair, eating off one of your plates.

Fine, a two night-stand, he thinks, but is wrong when he checks again a day later, and still sees the same man sitting in his chair, drinking out of one of your mugs.

This time you are out there as well, and Max doesn’t hesitate to shout to you. “Y/n! Hey Y/n!” You look up. “Oh, hey Max! You want to come over for dinner later?”

It’s about 2 in the afternoon, and Max hopes that man is gone by then. “Yes, sure. Who is your friend?” The words tumble out of his mouth before he can stop them.

“That’s Adrien” You are interrupted by your friend speaking. “Hi. I’m not eating here mate, don’t worry” Adrien has a French accent and even though Max has never minded them before, he doesn’t like them now. And I am not your mate. He thinks, before shouting down to you again, “I don’t care, mate. See you later, Y/n” And without waiting for your response, the driver goes back inside and closes his back door.

Instead of coming around 6 when Max knows the food will be done already, he walks to your apartment at 5 to help you cook and see if your friend has left. Unlike almost every time Max has stood in front of your door, he knocks and waits for you to open the door. “Hey” You’re about to say that he doesn’t have to knock and wait, then he can come in anytime, then remember Adrien and stop your mouth from saying those words.

“Your friend has left?” he asks, taking off his shoes. You hum yes and move to the kitchen to continue cooking. You tell Max about him over the music playing in the background.

You met him during your third year of college and bonded over the class you had together. You stayed friends during your final year and Max is about to ask why he isn’t a part of the friend group he met when you all graduated, when you tell him Adrien left school after final exams were done to leave for England. “He’s training to be a doctor, and he wanted to get a head start on preparing for the course set to start in August”

Apparently, he’d been living in the UK all this time, and came back to study under a doctor here in Monaco as in intern. “He told me he wanted to surprise me and asked one of our friends where I lived. Kind of creepy, but I haven’t seen him in a while, so I guess it's okay? He was friends with everyone, but then he left, and nobody knew when he was coming back”

You also tell him that Adrien grew up in France, and that he doesn’t like motorsport. You say the last one with a teasing smile, and while Max rolls his eyes, he mentally adds it to the list of things not to like about Adrien.

Max fills you in on everything he did at Red Bull headquarters and for a while, it feels like nothing ever changed. A Netflix show plays while you semi pay attention and Max cleans up, something he first insisted on doing ages ago. You say goodnight a couple hours later and then your routine starts again.

You and Max see more of Adrien as time passes. He’s staying in Monaco for a full year, and he seemingly wants to catch up with his college friends. Every Friday night, you all go out to eat and as often as they can, Max and Andy go with you.

You see him more often though, as he usually comes to your apartment on Sundays. It’s an old tradition you two had in college; you would go over to his dorm and watch either a football match or a movie. Sunday is your day off from work though, and you usually spend it with Max, so you tell him he can come over once the Formula 1 season starts.

When the race in Bahrain begins, you convince him to skip that day’s match and watch the race with you. Predictably, he loses interest quickly and while you cheer on Max’s podium finish, he sits on his phone, waiting for you to change the channel.

This is how it goes for months. You go to work and hang out with Max during the week. You go out to dinner on Friday nights, and when Max leaves for a race, Adrien comes over and keeps you company while you cheer on your neighbor.

When the cars come to Monaco, you are standing above the track with the Dutch fans, breathing in the warm May air and listening to the roar of each engine. Max goes P1 and you nearly lose your voice shouting. You also met his mom and Victoria; they were in the same section you were in and without even realizing they were related to your best friend; you become friends with them, and they help you find your way down to where Max was allowed to see you. You went home while he stayed out with the other drivers and left a bag of cookies in his kitchen before going to bed.

As the racing season goes on, so does yours and Adrien’s friendship. You still make him watch the race every Sunday but let him pick what you watch afterwards and what you two eat for lunch.

Adrien was a good friend to you back in college. He did his best to help you understand the class you shared together, no matter how many late nights it took. He vouched for you when you came in late and didn’t hesitate to give you whatever snack he had in his bag. You two spent a lot of time together on campus and would be lying if you said you didn’t miss him.

One Sunday night in August, after you and him spent the afternoon out in Monte Carlo, you’ve migrated back to your apartment and onto the balcony, now recalling memories of your college days. Max is in Belgium for the summer break, and your friends are all doing their own things.

“Remember the water balloon fight between my dorm and yours?” You say, both of you collapsing into laughter. “Of course, I remember! You soaked my brand new shirt!” Adrien exclaims.

“You threw one at my shoes! I needed to get revenge” You defended. “And then I got revenge by chasing you all over your room”

“Didn’t we break a lamp?” You remember.

“You did, I did not”

“Yes you did! When you grabbed me, I fell and then you fell on top of me” You trailed off, thinking back to that day.

“Then I fell, and...” You both fall into silence, recalling the look in his eyes and the hesitancy between both of you.

“And then, I wanted to kiss you” Adrien says, turning to you. The mood shifts, neither of you laughing anymore. “I wanted to kiss you then, and I want to kiss you now. I’ve missed you, Y/n. When I first heard of the internship of Monaco, I was the first name signed up. I came for the experience, yes, but I also came for you”

When you hear this, you don’t know what to think. You remember having feelings for Adrien two years ago and missing him terribly after he left, but a lot has changed since you graduated. You loved the days you spent with him, but you remember the days you spent with Max, too.

A part of you wants to get up and tell him no, tell him that you like someone else and that he is too late, but then another part of you thinks of Max, and how you are not even certain of your feelings for him, and that you don’t know if he feels the same way.

Max is thousands of miles away right now, and Adrien is right in front of you. So you stop reaching into your heart for feelings for Max and extend your hand onto Adrien’s face to pull him closer to you. His lips press against yours and you wallow in the feeling to ignore the fact that you are not thinking, and how sometimes it is easier not to.

Because the race after the summer break is in Belgium, Max stays with his mom and doesn’t come back to his apartment until Monday afternoon, 24 hours after he went P1 at Spa-Francorchamps. He comes to your apartment for dinner as usual and because he does not see Adrien there, he assumes he was never there at all.

Max continues to think nothing has changed since he left Monaco and you can’t really blame him. Adrien has taken you out on a few dates since you kissed on your balcony, but nothing is official yet, so you don’t bother to tell your neighbor anything.

The most PDA you two express in front of other people is a kiss on the cheek, and to Max, could be very platonic, so he doesn’t think anything of it. The Dutch carries on with his regular routine of excelling on track, celebrating at your apartment with a bag of cookies, then coming by throughout the week to hang out until he has to leave again.

You spend Halloween with the rest of your friend group this year by watching horror movies on one of their couches and picking out of a candy bowl. By then, Adrien has asked you to be his girlfriend, and now spends entire weekends at your apartment. You don’t tell your friend group until the beginning of November and for the most part, they’re all happy for you.

The Red Bull driver though, does not know how to feel. He doesn’t exactly know what will change between you two, but he does know that he doesn’t want it to. Max thought it would just be you two for a while, traveling between your apartments, supporting the other’s career, and always being there for one another when his car underperforms, and your work is too stressful. He knew there’d be someone else one of these days, he just didn’t think there’d be someone else now.

Max tries to think back to what you did when he dated Kelly and even though he didn’t particularly like it, he tried to stay away. On weekends where there was no race scheduled, he’d stay out of your apartment after he saw Adrien entering one Friday night and not leave until Sunday night.

He walked down to yours for dinner one evening, then stopped after seeing Adrien’s hoodie on the back of your couch. He goes out on his balcony less because more often than not, you and your boyfriend were out there, eating and laughing for too long to Max’s liking.

The Dutch knows he has no claim over you, that he should not be upset he’s distancing himself from a girl he insists is only his best friend, but he can’t help feeling jealous and disliking Adrien.

You are happy, but you could be happier. Adrien is wonderful; he’s handsome, he’s gentlemanly, he takes you out on nice dates, and he always makes time for you, but it just doesn’t feel as great as it sounds. You think you two work better as friends, you don’t see a future in the Frenchmen and there’s no spark between you two. You’re happy to be in a relationship, but what good is a boring relationship?

You miss Max. You appreciate him distancing himself out of respect, but you’d rather be hanging out in his apartment than Adrien coming over to yours every possible moment.

While you’re walking into your apartment building late in November, you think that this isn’t at all fair to your boyfriend and are thinking of how and when to break up with him when you see Max. “Hey Max” You smile at him. “Hey Y/n” He pauses for a moment.

“Listen, there is a race mid-December, and I know you like to spend your entire break with your family, but you remember when I told you that I’m competing with Hamilton for the championship this year?” He asks, recalling your text conversation a few weeks ago.

“Yeah?”

“Well, if we continue to tie in the points, and I win the race in December, I would win the Driver’s championship and...I want you to be there” His voice lowers as he finishes his sentence.

“I could reserve a ticket for you, and you would fly to Abu Dhabi with me there and back and you’d get home in time to spend Christmas with your family-” You cut him off.

“Max. I’d love to watch the race. I want to be there when you become World Champion” You grin at him, and he smiles back relieved. “Okay, I will come by later and we’ll talk about it, yeah?” You nod and exit the elevator once it stops at your floor.

You call Adrien when you get inside who was planning on coming by for dinner to let him know that you have to cancel. He sounds a bit dissapointed, but you’d see him in a few days, you weren’t worried.

A few hours later, you have a ticket alongside Max to Abu Dhabi from Thursday morning to Sunday night. The rest of November and the middle of December go by quickly. as predicted.

Your work keeps you busy, and any free time you have in spent preparing for the race and your trip home Monday afternoon. Before you realize, it’s 6am and Max is knocking at your door to collect you for the drive to the airport.

Though tired and a bit stressed, you and Max talk and laugh the entire way through the airport and take turns annoying the other on the plane. When you arrive hours later, Max leaves to the paddock to do media duties and puts you in charge of planning what you do that night.

The Dutch is friends with multiple other drivers on the grid but wants to spend all the time he can with you. When you told Adrien you were taking this trip with Max, he was unsure about his girlfriend spending 4 days with the man she tells him not to worry about, but he can see how much you want to go and sends you off with a kiss and a message to have fun.

You watch FP1 and 2 from the best seat Max could get you without bringing too much attention to you and he meets you in the parking lot when he’s given the okay to leave. You two spend the rest of the day wandering around the city and competing to see who can find the better dinner spot.

FP3 and Qualifying go well, and the hours you spend together afterwards are a little less carefree. It’s obvious your neighbor is anxious about Sunday and you try whatever you can to help him. You both have rooms right next to each other but much like your apartments in Monaco, he spends most of his time in your room.

The atmosphere at the track the next day is so exciting you wonder why you haven’t attended more races. Max was quieter than usually that morning and when you’re seated and waiting for the five red lights to go off, you understand why.

The entire race is spent on the edge of your seat as you watch Max and Hamilton overtake one another. The entire arena is almost silent when your best friend crosses the line first and you shamelessly jump around cheering, copying everyone around you. You’re almost laughing with relief while you walk down to parc ferme to reunite with your friend.

By the time you get there, he’s just finished the post-race interview and is about to walk to the podium celebration when he sees you. An immediate grin paints both of your faces and you don’t hesitate to push through the crowd in front of the barriers. He meets you halfway and pulls you into a hug through the barricade, not caring about everyone who surrounds you.

He’s sweaty and the arms around you make you feel warmer than you already are but you’re both grinning because he’s the world champion and you’ve watched this all happen right from his side. It’s a hug that makes you question everything and you don’t think you’re going to hesitate to answer any of them.

Max’s flight is leaving tomorrow afternoon while yours in leaving tonight, so you watch him spray champagne on the podium and hug all his friends with a bittersweet smile. Your Uber arrives just as he’s leaving to celebrate with his team, so you send him off with a tight hug, a congratulations, and promises to see him in January. He’s still beaming at you through the window of the car and it’s an image that plays in your head through the rest of December.

You spend your holiday thinking things over, and you’ve decided to break up with Adrien the next time you see him. It’s not fair to be in a relationship when one of you isn’t totally happy with the other, and it’s not fair to be in a relationship where one person is constantly thinking of another.

You tell Adrien that you think you’re better off as friends, and understandably, he gives you a cold shoulder that matches the chilly January winds. Adrien leaves Monaco in February to go back to England to resume his medical studies and you can’t wholeheartedly say that you’ll miss him this time.

Max knows from Andy that you broke up with the Frenchman and he stays away for a few weeks in case you’re still getting over him but comes to your apartment around Valentines Day out of impatience. The Dutch man is a welcomed sight, and he happily reclaims his chair on your balcony and helps you make dinner, just as he’s done a million times before.

To make up for the time lost, Max comes over almost every day until he has to leave to train for the upcoming 2022 racing season at Red Bull Headquarters. In the true nature of your friendship, you welcome him home with a bag of cookies and without knowing it, you both decide you hope you don’t find another boyfriend anytime soon.

Life goes on a bit like this; Monday through Wednesdays, Max comes over for breakfast and dinner, the two of you somehow never running out of conversation. Thursday through Sundays, Max is in a different city, racing and dominating the track. Sunday nights and Monday mornings, a bag of cookies and a rant about the weekend is expected.

And every hour of every day, you two are unknowingly thinking about how much you wish the other would never leave. When you two hang out with your friends, they know for a fact that you two are the last people are Earth to know that Max likes you, and you like Max.

It’s every longing glance and hug that lasts a bit too long that reveals your feelings for one another. They think it’s adorable but also a bit pathetic because it goes on for months, so you can imagine the relief when the invitation arrives in Max’s mailbox.

The Grand Prix Trust is a charity used to support anybody that was actively involved in Formula 1. The Trust gave aid to anybody that was going through financial problems and enabled clients to continue in the motorsport industry. The charity allowed promising young drivers to continue competing and keep employees working with their teams.

Donations are the main source of income for the trust and to keep the flow of donations going, the team behind the cause chose to host a charity gala. It would be a huge event held in April and even though just about everyone in the F1 community was invited, plus one’s were heavily encouraged.

Max knew he was attending, it would be almost wrong not to, he just needed a plus one. The first and only person that came to mind was you, but if he wanted to bring you, he needed to ask you and that was far too nerve wracking.

He received the invitation a month in advance and both he and his date needed to RSVP within the week, which meant Max had less than 7 days to ask you.

He thought it over for a bit, and instead of asking you on your balcony over the dinner you made together, he accidentally blurted it out while you were cooking in your apartment. “Will you go to the charity gala with me?” He didn’t even realize that the words escape his mouth until you’ve turned around.

“What?” The Dutch wants to smack his own face in idiocy. “Oh, um, do you want to go to the charity gala? With me?”

He adds the last part quietly. Instead of laughing in his face like he thought you would, you smile at him. “Yeah, Max, I’d love to go with you” He has to move his head away, so you don’t see his reddened face and lovesick smile.

“Be careful, do you want to set off the smoke alarm again?” He jokes. “Do you not like how it turned out the last time that happened?”

You spend the days leading up to April 16th putting your outfit together and preparing yourself for the event. You weren’t usually nervous about these types of things, but Max told you to expect hundreds of people and you’ve never met any of them before, so you’re sure your anxiety is understandable.

You and Max speculate about the gala all the way until Saturday night when you’re in your respective apartments getting ready. Max has been ready for about half an hour and is waiting on his balcony, nervously. “Y/n! Are you ready yet?” He shouted, knowing that your balcony door was open enough to hear him.

“Almost! Two more minutes!” You yelled, putting your earrings in and checking yourself out in the mirror. You had a gorgeous dress on, shoes and jewelry to match, and a beautiful hairstyle to complete it. You stepped out onto the platform. “Okay! I’m ready!” You looked up to see Max standing over his railing.

“You look amazing, liefde” (love) The pet name slips out in his awed state. He’s known you for almost three years and he’s seen you dressed up before but not to this extent, he had to remind himself to close his mouth and stop staring. “Hold on, I’ll be right there!” He called out before closing the door and making his way down to your apartment.

He knocked on the door, even though he knew he didn’t have to. “Are you ready?” He said as he held out his hand once you opened the door. “Yeah, let’s go” You placed your hand into his outstretched one and locked your door.

He held the car door open for you and let music fill the nervous silence on the way there. The venue is just outside Monte Carlo, so it’s not a long drive but you feel like the scenery passes by slower than usual.

It’s an extremely high-profile event, so as soon as Max’s car pulls up in front of the red carpet leading up to the doors, the flashes of cameras fill your vision. The driver gets out before you to open the car door and offer his hand. As soon as your face is visible, the clicks of the photographers seem to multiply and the only thing you can do is to keep smiling while Max keeps a hand around the small of your back and guides you along with carpet.

Just as your neighbor told you, you only have to stop along the carpet to pose for photos, interviews are optional, and Max would gladly skip media at any event. The venue is beautiful, filled with people mingling around courting a date and champagne glass. He leads you to your table where a few people are already seated.

“Y/n, this is Daniel, and his girlfriend, Heidi” Max has told you all about the Australian Mclaren driver and you can’t help but mirror the smile on his face.

“Hi, Daniel, Max has told me all about you, it’s nice to meet the man behind the stories. And it’s nice to meet you, Heidi, I love your dress” You compliment the woman sitting beside Daniel.

“It’s nice to meet you too, Y/n. And Max has told me all about you too” The older man grins and winks at Max. “It’s nice to meet you as well, Y/n, you look beautiful” Heidi says. You thank her and Max points to the couple next to them.

“That’s Lando, and his girlfriend Luisa, that’s Charles, and his girlfriend Charlotte, and that’s Carlos, and his girlfriend, Isa” He finishes, pulling out your chair and sitting in his own.

“Everyone, this is Y/n” You smile at everyone around the table after Max introduces you. “Not your girlfriend, Max?” Lando jokes as Lusia hits his arm.

“No, I live in the apartment below him actually, and we’ve been friends since he first moved in” You deny, but no one missed the smile and blush on each of your faces.

“Y/n, do you want to go grab drinks with us?” Charlotte asks you. “Yeah sure, I’d love one” All five of you get up and they lead you to where a waiter is walking around with a tray. Max watches you talk and laugh with the other girls with an infatuated smile.

“Just friends for a while, Max?” Daniel teases.

“Yes, we are just friends” The Dutch shrugs.

“Well, you shouldn’t be” Lando emphasizes. “Mate, it’s so obvious you like each other. Tonight’s the perfect night, just tell her how you feel and kiss her”

“When did I ever tell you I liked her?” Max questions.

“You didn’t, it’s just extremely obvious” Carlos interrupts.

“Do not worry, Max. We saw the way she looks at you, trust me, she likes you” Charles assures. Just as Max is about to respond, the five girls walk back to the table, giggling.

“You picked a good one, Max” Luisa teases as you just blush and smile. “Okay, okay, that’s enough. Y/n, I’m going to go donate, do you want to come with me?” Your neighbor says, offering his hand once again. “Yeah sure, I’ll grab my purse” You reach behind you and get up from your seat, leaving your friends smirking at the table.

“I’m sorry about them, they just-” You interrupt. “Max, it’s fine. I like them” You squeeze his hand as you both place your donations.

You two go back to your table and continue to talk, mostly about you and Max. You share stories about each other over the years, all with grins and flushed cheeks. When the music starts playing, almost everyone seated floods to the main floor to dance to the live band on the stage. It’s mostly upbeat music until a slow song starts to play and people pair up on the floor.

“Will you dance with me?” Your date offers his arm. “Of course” You smile as you wrap your arms around his neck, and he moves his arms to around your waist. It should’ve been awkward, two ‘friends’ just staring into each other’s eyes, swaying to the music but it wasn’t. Max’s eyes were enchanting, and the music playing softly in the background created a beautiful atmosphere.

“Do you want to come outside with me?” He leans toward you, his lips brushing the shell of your ear. “Yes” You whisper back as your date takes your hand and leads you outside.

The venue has a patio overlooking the city and the view of all the shining lights below you combined with the glow of the stars above you sculpted a captivating scene.

He brings you to where the railing stands and grabs your hands. “Y/n” He takes a breath before staring into your eyes.

“Y/n, I really like you. I’ve liked you for a while now and I know you broke up with Adrien a few months ago and we live really close, and this could go terribly wrong, but I had to tell you”

“Every time I come to your apartment it’s like a completely different world, one where I don’t have to put on a face and answer a bunch of nosy questions, I can just breathe and talk and laugh with you for as long as I want and It’s the only world I want to live in. I know-” At that, you’re looking at him with so much love and the only thing you can think to do is cup his face and press your lips against his.

Max responds immediately, moving his hands around your waist and kisses you back. He moves his lips against yours before pulling away. “I really like you too, Max” you say, not moving your hands from his face. Even after his speech, his face didn’t redden until then.

You two walk back into the gala, smiling like idiots, and the eight others sitting at your table grinned knowingly.

“I’ve only known about those two for a few hours, but I feel like I’ve waiting ages for them to get together” Heidi says to her boyfriend.

“Yeah love, knowing him, they have”

#formula 1 driver imagines #reader insert #max verstappen x reader #formula 1 imagines #reader x f1 driver #best friends to lovers #slow burn #neighbor trope?

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moonshynecybin · 9 days

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what would you consider essential marc and rosquez watching? i don’t mean races but the stuff happening around it, there seems to be so much and idk where to start 😭

BIG ass question. i think it depends what you want outta this and how you best interact with content slash consume information. for me (not to brag but. winner of multiple historical essay writing competitions in high school. for context on the kind of freak i am bringing to the table here.) the research is kind of the fun part ! like i just started googling shit! i would go to inactive blogs and just search 'marquez' on them to see what would happen ! a lot of the times that works ! but it also takes a lotttt of time lol so i'll chuck some good resources your way, why not...

okay im not sure how basic we're talkin here but um. background. so the documentaries are, i think. the best place to start. theyre entertaining and offer a good amalgamation of clips to provide context for the actual racing. and like i know you de-emphasized racing (which is fine lol who cares) but it really is like the most important thing in the world to these fools and its a pretty visual sport so i think its at least helpful. like yes sepang IS about the press conference, but its also about the conversation they have ON the race track using their motorcycles. which is also somewhat a conversation that they HAVE been having all year long...

i'd start with hitting the apex (2013), its a GREAT introduction to the "characters" that does a lot of legwork to contextualize everything. lays the scene for where vale is at coming into his relationship with marc (both personally, wrt to marco simoncelli, and career-wise concerning his flop at ducati), and also how insane marc's whole deal is in general. the second half is. materially a study on what him entering the premiere class did to the sport as a whole. the introductory chapter in many respects

marc marquez: all in. MY introduction and blissfully free online. marc comma in his own words, with all the implications of that. a self-produced documentary where he is giving feedback about the edit of said documentary straight to camera and no less vulnerable because of it which is very marc imo. revealing both intentionally AND unintentionally about his whole deal with injury, vale, and his image.

motogp unlimited. im gonna be real kind of boring. like i would still watch it ! but do it kind of later, once you know the major players so youre automatically more invested. it doesnt really give you more than marc says himself in all in tbh, and i get the sense him and vale were NAWWWT interested in doing more than the bare minimum for it.

marc's rookie doc. free and subtitled on the youtubes. the first half of this is deadass just him wanting to fuck vale so bad while every comment from vale has me saying GIRL. out loud because the foreshadowing would be genuinely shocking if this was fiction. anyways the laguna seca of it all....

next i would hit up PODCASTS ! i think it makes sense after the documentaries, because these are all podcasts that arent strictly about rosquez (even if they are in many ways the main characters lmao) and personally it helps to put faces to lesser known names that might pop up before i listen to a purely audio product and get lost in the soup of sounds. the paddock pass podcast has two retrospective episodes about the 2015 season that are really good at context, oxley bom pod has a fun recent episode on valentino that i love, again just poke around a lil

videos. these guys have never filmed a lot of content together tragically. what i wouldnt give for someone to make them do an escape room. anyways ranch visit HERE (post explaining the ranch visit here). sepang presscon (sowwy) here. vale unhinged podcast interview the month after marc's documentary came out here. vale retirement interview where he gets asked about marc here. vale talking about asking marc to the ranch here. vale postrace at argentina 2018 here. UCCIO postrace at argentina 2018 here. theres a lot moreeeee just go on my blog archive and filter for rosquez and vids its easier lol

journalism. hello. okay so you should genuinely spend some time reading through mat oxley's stuff he can write (theres a paywall but you can run that shit through wayback machine). he also loves an insane comparison which i do enjoy.... again this is one that can be solved by googling his name and tacking on 'marquez' or 'rossi' or a specific time period or race it will probably reap some dividends. in terms of specific ass articles this one is kind of load bearing in terms of sepang and some of the interpersonal competitive tensions at play. that being said there are manyyyyyy crazy interviews and snippents of articles from other journos floating around motogp tumblr (like literally too many to link) adn its fun to dig around to find them, but mat oxley gets a shoutout because i was reading this article TODAY !

other content. honestly one of the best resources I'VE found for plotting out the arc of their relationship is @kingofthering's everyrosquezpodium series. you can REALLY see it play out lol. also her tagging system rules she very neatly lays out years and races... so if something jumps out at you, CLICK ITTTT ! also all of @ricciardoes fave presscon moments series. insane.

all this to say a small little rpf fandom like this rewards some digging! i would just recommend following narrative threads that interest you ! its also a small fanbase that is pretty research oriented, so if youre ever confused about somethin, just shoot an ask or run a search on someone's blog (@kwisatzworld has endless vale resources and @batsplat is one of the most thorough researchers ive ever seen, for example) like for real theres so much... i also have a primer that i made forever ago that has some links on it so you can peruse that if you so wish. but frankly a lot of it is just using those research muscles and being sufficiently deranged enough to be screenshotting reddit threads at one am so you can post them to tumblr because they mentioned marc and vale in the same sentence and that lit up some of the neurons in your brain

(and i know you said outside of races but i think theyre good benchmarks as turning points soooo you should do some diggin on laguna seca 2013, jerez 2015, argentina 2015, ASSEN 2015, sepang 2015 obvi, argentina 2018, and misano 2019. those are the big tentpoles of insane rosquez relationship drama imo. i mean theres many more but. im limiting myself.)

#i also. found stuff bc i did a lot of digging around in blogs archives from 2013-2015. but this was because i was unemployed #and my migraines made reading books (my FAVORITE THINGGG) kinda hard for like 6 months #so i was acting like a border collie that hadnt been walked in two weeks but like. mentally. and we got here.#tumblr didnt hurt my head so much NOOOO idea why #motogp #callie speaks #asks #rosquez

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cuttergauthier · 10 months

Text

Hate Me First, Love Me Later

Josh Norris x Female Tkachuk Reader

Warning: against, Swear words, wedding, Alcohol, fluff

Flashbacks is in Italic

word count:6.3k

Authors note: This is the longest Fic i've ever written, it' an enemies to lovers fic with Josh. This Fic has time jumps. Also let me know if you want me to make this an au🤍

This Insta Edit coming out that follows this fic.

let me know what you guys think🤍

Summer 2018

It is currently summer, and I am at home in St. Louis with my family. Hockey season is officially over which means both my brothers are home. I am currently in my room sitting on my bed and I have both University letters that I applied for in front of me right now, I'm scared to open them.

My dream school has always been Ottawa but it’s hard to get accepted. My second choice is Michigan since the Norris family lives pretty close to Ann Arbor. The only thing that sucks is that Josh will be a Sophomore at Michigan and we do not get along.

We’ve known each other since we were kids, Brady and Josh played in the Untdp together which is when we met, our parents became good friends. Dalton has always been like an older brother to me. Josh on the other hand has always been mean to me, whether it was insulting me, or pulling my hair when we were 12 years old or making fun of me in front of my friends and it never got better. I thought back to the first time I met Josh.

Flashback

We are 15 years old, it is my first time spending the summer at the Hughes Lake house along with my family and Josh’s family.

We just got to the Lake house when Ellen and Traci came outside with Josh.

“Josh this is Yn, she is Brady's younger sister and she's going to be spending the summer with us.” Traci told Josh. Josh made a disgusting look when he looked at me and then back at his mother.

“I don’t want to be friends with her” he told his mom before going back inside the house. I looked at my mom with a sad look. Her, Traci and Ellen gave me a sad smile.

“I’m sorry Yn, he’s not usually like this, it’ll get better I promise '' Traci reassured me.

I nodded.

End of flashback

It never got better, it only got worse.

I snapped out of it when there was a knock on my door.

“Come in,” I said. Matthew poked his head in the room smiling, but it soon disappeared when he saw the nervous look on my face. He came in and closed the door behind him. He made his way to the bed and sat in front of me.

“What’s going on? Are you okay?” He asked worriedly.

I sighed and shocked my head before pointing and both letters that are next to him. He looked and his eyes widened.

“When did they come in?” He asked, looking back at me.

“This morning, mom gave them to me. I told her I wanted to open them alone before telling everyone but I'm scared” I told him.

He smiled softly at me before picking them up and giving them to me.

“Do you want me to stay with you?” He asked.

“Would you?”

“Of course, now open them so I know which shirt I’ll need to buy to support you” he said smiling. I chuckled before putting the Michigan letter down and opening my Ottawa letter.

I took a deep breath before smiling and reading the letter. My smile soon disappeared when I learned I am on the waitlist.

“What does it say?” Matthew asked worriedly.

I brushed off tears that were threatening to fall. I shock my head.

“Waitlisted” I said sadly.

“Yn, it’s going to be okay, even if you don’t start there, you might be able to go after your first year,” he said. I nodded. I knew all of that, I just wish I could have been accepted immediately.

I grabbed the Michigan letter and opened it. I read it, and I got accepted. Matthew raised his eyebrows in question. I nodded my head. Matt leaned forward to pull me in a hug.

“I’m proud of you no matter what, and in Michigan you’ll have Josh and Quinn,” he said, trying to encourage me. I scoffed, pulling away from the hug and giving him a ‘are you for real’ look.

Matthew laughed.

“Look, maybe this will get you and Josh to be friends,” he said hopefully.

“I doubt it Matt, please don’t tell any of them i’m going there” I said. He nodded.

“I won’t but Brady might tell Quinn who might tell Josh, and we all know that mom and dad will tell Dwayne and Traci” he said, making me groan.

“Come on, let’s go tell everyone the news” he said, taking my hand and pulling me downstairs where everyone was.

“Yn has something she wants to share with everyone” he said smiling.

“Did you open the letters?” Mom asked. Brady’s eyes widened.

“Oh where are you going?” Brady asked excitedly, I know he was hopping I was going to Ottawa with him.

“Michigan… I got waitlisted for Ottawa, but i’ll try again next year” I said hopeful.

Everyone smiled and came to give me a hug and congratulated me.

“As much as i wish you would be joining me in Ottawa, you won’t be alone in Michigan, Wait till I tell Quinn and Josh about this,” Brady said happily. My eyes widened, I shook my head.

“Please don’t, Josh and I don’t get along. If you tell Quinn please tell him not to tell Josh. I don't want him knowing I'll be there” I asked.

My mom looked at me sadly.

“Can we at least tell Dwayne and Traci, same with Jim and Ellen? If there’s ever anything and your dad and I can’t be there we know that one of them will be.” My mom asked.

I nodded.

“Can you just please ask them if they don’t tell Josh?” I asked

“I will sweetheart, I’m incredibly proud of you, all my kids are now grown ups” she said smiling softly, with tears in her eyes.

“Don’t worry mom, Matthew still acts like a kid” Brady said, making everyone laugh.

First week, Michigan 2018

I’ve been getting settled in Michigan for the past week. My parents went back to St. Louis yesterday. I’m in a single dorm room which i’m happy about, I didn’t want a roommate.

My mom ended up telling Dwayne and Traci along with Jim and Ellen that I was starting the year here. They were all very happy, they also promised not to tell Josh and to let me do it once I was ready, but they did let Quinn know so he could keep an eye on me, or help show me around, thankfully he promised not to tell Josh.

Classes are starting soon, I’m excited yet nervous since I don’t know anyone here. I’ve never been shy so I know I'll be able to make friends, I just have to make sure not to tell them I'm related to Matthew and Brady because when people find out that’s one of the only reasons they want to be friends.

I just hope everything goes well when classes start.

One Month, Michigan 2018

I’ve been here for a month now, classes have been good, I've made a friend whose name is Molly. Her dorm is right next to mine, it turns out her brother plays on the hockey team.

I also met her brother, I have Econ with him and a few other freshmen on the men’s hockey team. After Molly introduced me to her brother, he introduced me to Nick since we all have Econ together I usually sit with them.

The boys invited me to a party tonight which the sophomore’s are throwing at their house. I was a little hesitant to accept since Josh will be there since it’s at his house.

But it’s already been a month so he’s going to find out soon anyways plus I don’t like lying to the guys about who I am, so I ended up accepting.

Molly was also going so she asked if I wanted to pregame with her, which I gladly agreed. Jimmy ended up getting one of the seniors on the team to buy us alcohol, which thank god since if i’m going to be seeing Josh, I’ll need alcohol in my system.

Molly and I were sitting on her bed talking and drinking. I've been nervous the whole day. I don’t know how Josh will react when he sees me, will he make a scene in front of everyone? Will he tell the guys not to talk to me again? Will they listen to him?

“Yn are you okay? You look nervous” Molly asked worriedly. I sighed before nodding.

“I didn’t really tell anyone here about this but um, I already know Josh Norris and I didn’t know who your brother was before but then I found out they’re teammates. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you but my family is really close with him along with the Hughes family since my brother Brady played in the Untdp with Josh and Quinn.” I said she looked at me surprised.

“It’s fine I get why you didn’t tell me you didn’t want him to find out you go here, and by Brady do you mean Brady Tkachuk?” She asked. I nodded.

“Okay then, I guess we both have brothers who play hockey,” she said, making me chuckle.

“So you’re not mad I didn’t tell you?” I asked worriedly. She shook her head and smiled.

“Not at all” she said

“Great, I was worried that when you found out you wouldn’t want to be friends anymore” I said and she laughed.

“I understand why you didn’t want anyone to know, i’m not going to stop being friends with you because of it” she said and I smiled

“I’m just worried that Josh might cause a scene tonight when he sees me,” I said.

“If it gets to much, or he starts to make a scene, let me know and we’ll leave”

“I don’t want you to leave the party because of me”

“Don’t worry about it, I wouldn’t leave you alone” she said smiling.

After a while we met up with her brother, along with Nick. We all made our way to the party together thank god. I ended up warning them about the Josh situation, just like Molly they understood.

Once we got there we made our way to the living room where it was already packed with people. Nick and Jimmy went to get us some drinks. When they got back they gave Molly and I a white claw. I’m already feeling a little drunk, but not too bad.

We kept talking when I felt someone tap me on the shoulder. I turned around confused to see a happy Quinn Hughes, which made me smile. Quinn is probably one of the Nicest guys ever, I like him, and unlike Josh he actually likes me.

Quinn Smiled brightly.

“I thought that was you, how are you enjoying Michigan?” He rambled before pulling me in a hug. I Chuckled.

“I like it,” I replied. He pulled away from the hug before looking at me confused.

“I’m glad, remember to text me if you ever need anything?”

“I know” I said

“ I could have showed you around campus, you know” he said. I could tell he was a little hurt that I ask him.

“I’m sorry Quinn, but I didn’t want to risk Josh finding out” I said, Quinn’s eyes softened.

“Well if he tries anything, let me know, he’s not the only one who lives here” he said.

“Thanks Quinn” I said.

“He’s in the kitchen now if you just want to get it over with,” Quinn said.

I looked at him before looking at Molly and the guys. They nodded.

“Okay sure probably best to just do that, if it goes south Molly, can yo…” I started but she cut me off

“I’ll rescue you, I promise,” she said with a smile.

“Thank you” I said before looking back at Quinn and nodding.

As we started walking I got even more nervous than I already was.

we made our way to the guys.

Josh has his back to us so he can’t see us making our way to them, but Will looked our way and his eyes widened, he was at the lake house for a bit this summer.

Josh turned around confused but when his eyes landed on me, he was pissed.

He met Quinn and I half way And looked down at me with a glare. If I was anyone else they probably would have been terrified and honestly I was a little bit, Josh is way taller than me, I'm only 5”5 so he’s towering over me.

“What the hell are you doing here?” he said harshly.

Quinn looked at him Annoyed

“Josh seriously, leave her alone. She’s a student here now, and unlike you I actually like her along with some of the freshmen so she’s not going anywhere "Quinn told him.

Josh rolled his eyes and laughed. What the hell was so funny?

“Just because you go here now, doesn’t mean I'm going to start being nice to you” he said looking me straight in the eyes.

“Wouldn’t expect anything else from you” I said annoyed.

He just rolled his eyes and went back to the rest of the guys.

“Well that went better than expected, '' Quinn said surprised, which made me laugh.

“Same Quinn, I honestly thought It was going to be worse.”

If it wasn’t the fact that Josh was angry with me, I actually thought he looked amazing. I thought, I snapped out of it, what the hell? I can’t stand the guy and now I think he looks good? I think I had enough to drink.

March 2019

(Pretend they made it to the big ten)

With Josh finding out that I'm in Michigan I thought it would be worse than it is. I think Quinn has been keeping him in check, which I am very grateful for.

I’ve been going to the hockey game with Molly, we got even more close.

Even though Josh still tries to make my life a living hell, the rest of the guys on the team like me.

I reapplied to Ottawa about a month ago. I'm still waiting for my acceptance letter by email, I didn’t tell the guys, the only one who knows is Molly.

It’s now Monday and this weekend the guys are going to Minnesota for the Big Ten Championship. Molly was going with her parents since it’s a big game for the boys.

I really hope they win, they’ve been playing amazing.

I am currently in my dorm room working on some homework when my phone starts ringing. I looked to see that Traci was calling me.

I answered.

“Hey Traci” I said happily, she’s always been like a second mom to me.

“Hey sweetheart, what are you up to?” She asked

“Right now I am finishing some homework, what’s up?” I asked.

“That’s good, I always have to keep those grades up,” she said, making me laugh.

“I was actually wondering if you wanted to come with Dwayne and I to Minnesota this weekend for the Big Ten Championship game?” She asked.

“I don’t know if that’s a good idea, Josh and I don’t exactly get along”

“Sweetheart, that doesn’t matter, I know Molly is also going and Dwayne and I love you like a daughter so we thought we would ask, you don’t have to if you don’t want to” she said softly. I thought about it for a few seconds. I can complete all my homework before, and that way I won’t be alone in Ann Arbor when all my friends are in Minnesota.

I smiled softly.

“I’d love to,” I said.

“Perfect, I can’t wait, I’ll send you the details” she said happily.

“Thank you Traci”

“Anytime sweetheart, I'll let you get back to your homework” she said.

Once we said our goodbyes I hung up and texted Molly to tell her I was going to Minnesota with them, she’s excited and so am I.

Big Ten Championship, 2019

Dwayne, Traci and I got to Minnesota this Morning after we made our way to the hotel. Traci and I met up with Molly and her mom, along with Ellen and we went to do a little bit of shopping at the mall. That game is tonight, so at 3 we all made our ways back to the hotel so we could get ready for the game.

I was nervous the whole game but luckily Michigan was able to win. Thankfully it’s Friday, and everyone is leaving to go back to Michigan tomorrow morning. The guys have already said they are throwing a party as soon as they step foot in Ann Arbor.

As soon as the plane landed Traci and Dwayne dropped us off on Campus where we both made our way to our dorms to get ready for this party and hang out with the boys.

They’re flight is supposed to land in an hour, so we have time to chat and get ready.

When the boys were ready to get the party started Quinn texted me to let me know we could go over to the seniors house.

Once we arrived we started drinking with the boys, they were already drinking full swing when we got there.

Talking and partying with them is always fun.

At around 8:00 p.m. I saw Josh make his way to the kitchen, probably to get himself another drink, I followed him there. He took a beer out of the cooler, he turned around to see me there, I smiled weakly.

“Do you mind giving me one?” I asked.

He rolled his eyes before taking a second beer and passing it to me.

I smiled

“Thank you.” I replied.

He gave me a small nod and went to walk away but I stopped him.

There was no one else in the kitchen, everyone was either in the living room or outside.

“Wait” I rushed out so he wouldn’t leave.

He stopped in his tracks before turning and looking at me. He raised his eyebrows in question.

“What?” He asked, annoyed.

I was a little drunk but not too bad, but thankfully when I have alcohol in my system I’m not scared to talk to him.

“I just wanted to say congrats, you guys played really well” I said.

He nodded and went to walk away again.

“Why do you hate me so much?” I blurted out.

Josh rolled his eyes.

“Because I don’t like you,” he said and walked away. Why can’t he see me the same way I see him? He’s an incredible person even though he’s always mean to me, he’s nice to everyone else he’d do anything for his friends or family. I just wish he liked me.

It sucks having a crush on someone when that someone hates you.

I sighed before making my way back to Molly.

Frozen four 2019

I finally got the Letter from Ottawa. I've been accepted so it means I'll be moving there next year. Molly was a little sad when she found out I was leaving Umich but she was also excited for me to be going to my dream school, she told me that we would still stay in touch and we both promised to visit each other.

Jimmy heard the conversation and ended up telling Will who told Josh. Josh ended up coming to my door angry saying that the only reason I was going to Ottawa was because he was going to Ottawa. I was going since it’s my dream school and my brother is also there.

The argument ended in a screaming match and we haven’t talked to each other since.

I really wish we could get along but I don’t think we ever will.

I went to Tampa with Dwayne and Traci to watch the Frozen Four, sadly the boys lost, which meant Josh left for Ottawa, Quinn was leaving for Vancouver, it was an emotional time.

Once I got back to Umich, the last 2 weeks of University flew by. I said goodbye to Molly and the guys before finally heading home to St. Louis.

Three Years Later, Summer 2023

NHL playoff we’re officially over, sadly Matty lost in the finals against Vegas and got injured but they had a good run.

Everyone has been home for a while now. We are leaving today to go to New Jersey for Brady and Emma’s wedding.

I can’t wait to finally have another sister. Emma and Brady are perfect for each other, I hope someday I’ll find that type of love.

Three years went by fast, I spent the past three years in Ottawa ignoring Josh, it wasn’t that hard since he was also keeping his distance from me.

Thankfully the flight went by fast and I was able to sleep on the plane, I didn’t spend it worrying about seeing Josh. The whole Norris family along with the Hughes family will be at the wedding. As excited as I am to see Dalton, Quinn, Josh and Jack, I am not excited to see Josh.

Josh and I have seen each other a few time in Ottawa but the only time we talked to each other was to argue, it only got worse after he accused me of only going to Ottawa to make his life a living hell since I was going to be in Ottawa. I never told anyone about that fight, they all know we don’t get along so it won’t be a surprise if we get into an argument at the wedding.

My parents warned me to try and not make a scene to ruin Brady and Emma’s wedding. I totally understand that’s the last thing I want to do, plus we are all adults here.

Rehearsal dinner

Once Taryn and I were ready we met up with Matty and our parents to go to the venue.

I’m so nervous about seeing Josh, that's all I can think about. Once we get there he’s the first one I see, he’s with his brother and parents he had his back to me which meant he didn’t see me but Dalton did so he waved and smiled. I did the same, that’s when Josh turned around confused and saw me, all he did was send me a glare and went back to talking with his brother.

I really hope this doesn’t cause any trouble.

During the end of the night when everyone was around talking and drinking I made my way out on the balcony so I could get some fresh air.

I didn’t realize anyone followed me until I heard the door slide open and then shut.

I turned around only to find Josh.

I rolled my eyes and turned back around to look at the view.

If he doesn’t want to be anywhere near me, why did he follow me outside?

“What do you want Josh?” I asked, annoyed, when he came and stood next to me. I looked up to see he was looking at the sky.

He looks really good in his suit.

“I just thought I’d tell you not to cause a scene this weekend and ruin your brother’s wedding” he said

I scoffed before turning fully to look at him.

“Screw you, I was doing pretty good at ignoring you, why the hell did you have to come out here and start this?” I asked angrily.

He chuckled

“This is what I meant all you had to do was agree and move on,” he said, pissed.

“You started it, What the hell is a matter with you? It’s always like this… why do you hate me so much?” I asked, pissed.

“Because you deserve it”

I scoffed.

“Except I don’t… i’ll i’ve ever tried to do was be nice to you… what have I ever done to you to make you hate me so much?…” I said tears are threatening to fall. Before Josh could say anything Matt interrupted.

“That’s enough you two, don’t do this here” I heard Matt say before he pulled me away. I saw Dalton and Quinn giving me a sad look before he pulled Josh back inside.

I was so focused on the argument I never realized they’d made their way outside.

Once Josh, Dalton and Quinn made their way inside Matt, looked at me worried.

“What happened between the two of you? Usually when you guys know something important, you guys ignore each other, I mean brady always said you guys mostly ignored each other in Ottawa except for a few times… Did something happen?” Matt asked.

I sighed before nodding my head.

“When I got accepted to Ottawa three years ago as you know, I had only told Molly, but turns out Jimmy had heard so he told Will who told Josh… Josh accused me of only going to Ottawa because he was also going, so I could make his life a living hell, which is why i tried ignoring him as much as I could for the past three years” I said, wiping away the tears that rolled down my cheek.

Matthew signed before pulling me in a hug. I started to silently cry.

“I’m so sorry, Yn” he said sadly.

“Why does he hate me so much? Should have I stayed in Michigan? Should I never had moved to Ottawa in the First place?” I asked

Should I have let him win and stayed in Michigan even though Ottawa to my dream school three years ago? Should I have left my dreams while he goes to live his? Should I leave the Job I’m supposed to start in September in Ottawa and stay in St. Louis?

“First off you Went to Ottawa because you had worked your ass off for it, so you weren’t ever going to back out. Second I don’t think he’s ever hated you, so you better not be thinking of turning that job down in Ottawa just to please him…” matt said

“You literally just heard him, he clearly doesn’t like me… I just wish he could see me the way I see him” I blurt out. I look at Matt with wide eyes, I can't believe I just said that.

Matt started smirking.

“Stop, you better not say anything” I pointed at him.

He raised his hands up in surrender.

“Look I won’t say anything… but guys are kinda idiots so we usually do stupid things when we like a girl… I think he might actually feel the same way he’s just too afraid to say anything, "Matt said, making me laugh.

“Yeah right” I said in disbelief, there is no way Josh feels the same way about me. I won’t believe it.

Matt and I finally made our way inside, we didn’t mention what happened to anyone, no chance was I going to ruin Brady and Emma’s night.

I didn’t see Josh anywhere so maybe he left.

Once the night was over we all made our ways to our rooms. Thankfully I'm rooming with Taryn. When I was finally ready for bed, Taryn was laying on her phone when she saw me making my way to my bed.

“What happened on the balcony tonight?” She was curious. She put her phone on the bedside table before looking at me.

I looked at her shocked, I didn’t realize anyone noticed we were there.

“You saw that?” I asked, before getting under the blanket.

“Yeah, Emma’s the one who noticed and told me, '' she said. I looked at her Guilty. Fuck i was really hopping neither Emma or Brady saw that.

Taryn saw my guilty look before she reassured me.

“Don’t worry, she wasn’t mad… she was just worried about you… apparently she thinks you like Josh or something?” She said

My eyes widened.

“What about me? Puff no…” I struggle nervously. Taryn's eyes widened before she started laughing.

“Oh my god, she was right? Why the hell didn’t you tell me this?” She asked

“Because he’s never going to feel the same way” I mumbled, but she still heard me.

“He’s an idiot if he doesn’t and you never know… maybe Dalton or even Quinn will talk some sense into him. Plus tomorrow’s the wedding and a lot of people fall in love at weddings…” she said.

“Are we still talking about Josh and I? Or is there something you want to tell me?” I laughed.

She chuckled.

“We’re still talking about you and Josh,” she said, chuckling.

“Whatever, get some sleep we have to wake up early tomorrow” I said.

“Good night sis” she said

“Good night,” I replied, yawning.

Wedding day

Taryn and I woke up early to make our way to the suite so we could get ready with Emma since we were both bridesmaids.

Emma is absolutely stunning. I know for a fact that Brady will cry, Taryn and I made a bet with Matty. Once it was time to make our way to the ceremony we made our way down to meet the groomsmen, I’m walking with Quinn thankfully.

When Quinn saw me he smiled. I stood next to him so he gave me a side hug.

“You look beautiful,” he said. I smiled at him.

“Thank you, you don’t look too bad yourself” I said, making him chuckle.

The pair started making their way down the aisle, before it was our turn, Quinn leaned in my ear to whisper.

“Josh is going to try and talk to you at the reception… I promise everything will go alright, Dalton and I talked to him last night, you should hear him out” he said, I sent him a nod.

The ceremony went amazing, I cried during their vows. When Brady saw Emma walking down the aisle he cried, both Taryn and I sent him a look that said you better pay up.

After the ceremony we all made our way outside for pictures before going to the reception.

At the reception after the speeches I saw Josh looking at me. I thought about what Quinn said, it still made me nervous so I tried to ignore him until I was at least tipsy.

I talked with Kevin Hayes and his wife. They got married about a week ago, it was a beautiful wedding.

“Why is it that when I leave St. Louis you get traded there?” I asked smirking, He laughed and shrugged.

“Promise me you’ll visit when you visit home?” He asked

“I promise,” I said chuckling.

I saw Josh make his way to the balcony, I was finally tipsy so I went to the open bar to get another drink before making my way to him.

I took a deep breath before opening the door.

He was leaning on the railing looking at the sky in front of him.

I made my way and stood next to him.

It was quiet for a few minutes and I was just starting to get even more nervous so I decided to speak up.

“Quinn said you wanted to talk to me?” I asked, looking at him.

He looked at me and smiled shyly. He took a deep breath before nodding.

“I’m sorry” he said

I scoffed, is that really all he has to say?

“Sorry for what exactly?” I asked, annoyed.

He rolled his eyes

“I knew you were going to be difficult” he replied annoyed

I signed before scratching my head.

“Look Josh I’m tired of fighting with you, why are you always so mean to me?” I said sadly.

If he could just tell me why, I'll leave him alone after and he won’t have to talk to me again.

He sighed before turning to look at me fully. He was standing right in front of me. My face was inches away from his chest. I looked up at him.

“I never meant to be so mean to you, or hurt your feelings, trust me I know, i’ve heard it from our friends and my family…”

“Then why are you?” I whispered looking up at him.

He raised his hand to my cheek stroking it with his thumb.

“I’m really sorry, I really like you, always have but when we first met I thought you had a crush on Jack and I guess I was jealous and according to Quinn I was very wrong but when I finally figured out that wasn’t the case I really thought you hated me for the way I treated you so I just never stopped…” he said caressing my cheek.

I looked at his eyes, I could tell he was sorry, that he meant every word he just said.

“I never had a crush on Jack, him, Luke and Quinn have always been like brothers to me…same with your brother, you’re the one I had a crush on and Jack figured it out so he would always tease me about it when we were kids” I said chuckling.

He smiled.

I saw him look from my lips then back to my eyes.

“Can I kiss you?” He asked

“I’d like that,” I said smiling.

He leaned down and smashed his lips to mine. Our lips moved in sync. I moved my hands to his chest.

One of his hands was still on my cheek, he moved the other around my waist and pulled me closer, deepening the kiss.

Before the kiss could get too heated we pulled away breathing heavily. I smiled looking at him.

“I’ve been waiting to do that since we were 15” he said smiling. I giggled.

“I'm glad you finally did,” I said.

I saw something in the corner of my eye at the door. I pulled slightly away only to see Quinn, Jack, Luke, Matt, and Tim Stutzle, watching us.

My eyes widened, I hid my face in Josh’s chest and groaned.

“What?” He asked, chuckling.

“We have an audience” I mumbled embarrassingly. I felt him turn his head to look at the door.

“We’re never gonna live this down are we?” He asked

“Definitely not”

“Come on, we better go back inside before they start yelling at everyone,” Josh said, making me chuckle.

“Good idea” I said nodding

He kissed my forehead before grabbing my hand and pulling me inside.

I’m really happy, I don’t even think the teasing we were about to get will even ruin my mood.

I saw Jack giving money to Luke and Quinn.

“Did you guys bet on us?” Josh asked them, surprised.

“Hell yeah we did” Jack said excitedly.

“There’s more than one, Brady, Tim and I have one going with Emma and Taryn, guess the girls were right about the fact a wedding loves bringing people together” Matt said.

“You better go pay up and put Emma in a better mood and piss off Brady” I said, he laughed.

“Come on let’s go find Brady we’ll need his money too” Matt said, grabbing me by the arm and dragging me with him. I laughed while Tim and I followed behind. Josh stayed with the guys.

“You couldn’t have waited until we went to the lake house next week?” Matt asked me right before we find Brady

“Sorry Matty,” I said smiling, I'm not sorry at all.

Brady was talking with a few of his teammates, Emma was talking with some of the girls along with Taryn not far from him.

Brady turned around when we got to him.

He pulled us into a hug.

“I’m Married, can you believe it?” He said excitedly. I couldn’t stop laughing.

“Tone it down, we owe money to Taryn and Emma” Matt said

Brady's eyes widened then his jaw dropped.

“Seriously, you couldn’t have waited till next week? Did it really have to be on my wedding day?” He asked.

“Clearly your wife is okay with that,” I said, smirking.

“Yeah, yeah here” he said, handing the money to me. Matt and Tim did the same. I made my way to Emma and Taryn, they both smiled when they saw me.

“Well i’m about to make both of you very happy” I said, they looked at me confused until i showed them the money.

“You guys won the bet” I continued.

“Oh my god, Finally” Emma said, hugging me. Taryn joined us.

“We’ve all been waiting for this to happen” Taryn said

“Well I'm just glad someone believed it would.” I said, making them laugh.

“I’m pretty sure everyone believed it would, we just didn’t know when” Emma said.

“Well i’m glad that i got to help you both make a little bit of money, i’ll let you guys go back to chatting, I’ll find you both later… enjoy your wedding sis "I told Emma.

“Thanks Yn, couldn’t be happier to receive two sisters,” she said.

“Love you both” i said smiling

“We love you too, now go back to Josh “ Taryn said. I started laughing while making my way back to Josh, who smiled when he saw me.

New Jersey, Two years later.

“You may now kiss the bride” the officiant said

Josh put his hand on my waist and pulled me into a passionate kiss.

All the cheering in the back was loud.

When we pulled away, we learned our foreheads together, smiling.

“I love you Mr. Norris” I said

“I love you more Mrs. Norris” he replied

“We finally have a sister” I heard Dalton yelling in the background making me giggle.

I can’t believe I just married the love of my life, it feels like forever ago we had just confessed our feelings for each other, on this exact balcony and now we're married.

I looked behind Josh to see my Brother Brady who is one of the groomsmen, he was crying which made me laugh.

“Brady, when did you become the emotional one in the family?” I joked, he just gave me the finger, with Matty slapping his hand down.

Looks like I found a love like Brady and Emma After all, I couldn’t be happier.

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morgan-the-lonely-brick · 3 months

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Hiii~~ coming onto this blog to do Terror propaganda. Follow my terror sideblog @leadandblood , this is just my main. That said:

Welcome to The Terror (2018)!

Here are things that I love about the first season that might convince you to watch it too (without spoilers)

The fandom is absolutely amazing!!!! I have never had such wonderful comments and tags under posts. And they're all really talented and just wonderful

Gay love.

So much gay love oh my god everyone is gay-

Heck, there's even straight love if you're into that

Old men <3

Absolute angels and absolute demons, that are SO fun to watch

The show knows it's characters incredibly well

They are well developed and act believably in all instances i can think of

If what they do doesn't make sense in the moment it's gonna later

"Here's a guy. Now lets find out how many fucked up things can happen to him before he goes insane or khs"

Representation! Gays, amputees and POC

The main main cast is mostly white men but when there's someone else it has significance to the story or bears a deeper meaning

The visuals are stunning

Amazing camera work

The sound design!!!! Oh my god!!! It's so gooood!!!

Insane paralels game. You won't even notice some of them, but they make sense once you do

The love and care that went into this show is incredible

Very rewarding upon rewatch - different views on scenes and characters and such

You will be finding new details for several rewatches (im on my 6th and still finding stuff)

THE ACTING OH MY GOD THE ACTING

Jared Harris - and his insane ability to portray any combination of emotions with one expression

Tobias Menzies and his goddamn microexpressions

Just to name a few, but honestly they're all amazing

They're also very nice to look at

Prepare to get hurt in the most creative ways possible - it KNOWS how to hurt you and it's... Kinda satisfying

Whump galore!! Emotional and physical. Comfort and no comfort. Just take your pick

It's finished, so they can't fuck it up anymore lmao

The sheer horror of being stuck in the arctic with little to no food and everything wanting to kill you /pos

Things that might turn you away

The sheer horror of being stuck in the arctic with little to no food and everything wanting to kill you /neg

Racist characters. it's the 1800s :///

Death. Oh god there's so much death

Oh you have a favourite character? Well, he dies :/

It is a tragedy through and through.

When you think it can't get any worse, yes it can

So many side characters that you'll be learning their names for the next few days to come

They're 95% white men that look the same when you start out

Bad things happen to animals :(

There's quite a lot of gore... Open skulls, deep wounds, amputation, disease, burning to death, mauling, i could go on

At one point alcoholism and suicide

There will be poems

Overall just a really really great show, i am in love with it

#The terror #The terror amc #Amc the terror #jared harris #Tobias Menzies #francis crozier #James fitzjames

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kingofthering · 1 year

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hiii, if you feel like it, rosquez + "Still the best kisser in the world." thank you! :))

“Fancy seeing you here.”

Valentino slips him a smile as Marc settles next to him, forearms leaning against the railguard of the balcony he just joined.

“In this exact spot or at the ceremony?” Valentino asks after taking a sip from the glass in his right hand. Definitely a Spritz. Marc can’t help his frown of disgust and he doesn’t miss Valentino’s answering amused face. It does make Marc wish he’d come out with a drink of his own, something to keep his hands busy. He shrugs and Valentino answers, “I’m here for Bez.”

Marc nods, a small part of his mind wondering if Valentino would have still been here otherwise or if he’s just lucky that one of Valentino’s boys won the championship on the year where Marc decided to retire. He could only finish 5th in the standings this year but the FIM officials had wanted to do something for him, a little tribute he couldn’t not attend, hence his presence at the gala tonight.

“I suppose I can congratulate you too, while we’re here,” Valentino adds quietly. Marc knows that Valentino still travels a lot but his accent sounds stronger anyway. “You managed to stop before me, I was kind of surprised when they told me.”

“No one is going to beat that record of yours, don’t worry,” Marc chuckles. “My body wouldn’t let me anyway.”

He can feel Valentino’s eyes on him as Marc very consciously rubs his shoulder. It doesn’t hurt, tonight, but, well.

“At least you got a 9th title.”

“Didn’t get a 10th, though.”

“Didn’t get a 10th.”

Marc almost expects the word “karma” to leave Valentino’s mouth but it doesn’t. Instead they just share a look that means a thousands things at once. It’s been well over a decade since 2015 and they’ve both grown too much to still care like that. Marc’s not sure when they both made their peace with the situation, probably not at the same point in time, but the result was the same.

Valentino takes another sip from his glass and Marc can’t help but watch his throat works as he goes about it. It hasn’t been long since he last saw Valentino -after all, Valentino still owns a team and always tended to be on circuits a couple of times per season- but it has been some time since he last saw him from up close, since they last talked, even.

Of course, Valentino’s face bears the marks of time, lines on his forehead and at the corner of his eyes, scars that Marc knows weren’t there back when they met. His eyes are still a piercing blue that Marc could get lost in if not careful.

A lot of things have changed with time but Valentino is still handsome, Marc will never be able to deny that.

“I found Fabio and Tony making out in a dark corner when I left the bathroom earlier. I almost told them about the room,” Marc eventually says, breaking the silence that had settled between them.

There is a smile at the corner of Valentino’s lips when he turns his face in Marc’s direction.

The room. That quiet place that Valentino knew basically everywhere, the original one in Jerez or the other one in Valencia, for once they started doing the FIM awards there.

In 2014, that’s where they have sex for the first time after making out in a pretty similar to now balcony, too hungry to make it to a hotel room first (but that’s where they continue the night for round two, and then round three in the morning).

The following year, no hotel, just those four walls, harsh movements, bruises, hate sex to the very core of its definition.

In 2016, they’re in a better place. The sex is more fun, less rushed. It almost makes Marc believe that they could go back to the way things used to be. Except they don’t, the moment just existing outside of their usual timeline.

Valentino isn’t here in 2017 and Marc pretends that he doesn’t miss him. He might drink a little too much but he’s 24, he can survive a harsh hangover, whatever.

In 2018, Marc almost thinks it’s not going to happen. Dovi keeps sending him questioning looks because Marc apparently looks troubled for half of the night, his eyes trying not to land on where he can see Valentino flirts with other people. It’s not like they ever promised each other the awards were their night but it stings anyway. Valentino catches him before Marc leaves. He almost wants to say no out of principle but there is one squeeze of his wrist and Marc is gone, following Valentino’s footsteps mindlessly.

“Why didn’t you?” Valentino asks. “Did you want to have it for yourself tonight?”

Marc can’t read Valentino’s voice and it throws him off just a little. Instead of the witty answer he could come back with if Valentino wasn’t so close to him right now, Marc says, “They’re big boys, they can figure themselves out.”

He doesn’t know how they got to stand so close to each other, they weren’t touching from shoulder to hip when Marc joined Valentino earlier. It makes Marc feel on edge, electricity running through his veins.

That should be the part where he asks the question back to Valentino. Do you want the room for yourself tonight? But Marc doesn’t have it in him to ask, doesn’t have it in him to learn the answer.

From the corner of his eyes, Marc can see Valentino’s glass being discarded to the side and then, the tiniest bit of movement.

Marc doesn’t know if he shivers from the coldness of Valentino’s hand against his cheek or the tenderness of his thumb when it sweeps against Marc’s jaw.

Valentino leans down and Marc meets him in the middle, one fist going for Vale’s shirt, bringing them closer together. Melting into the kiss is second nature, opening up for Valentino’s tongue as easy as coming back home.

They say old habits die hard. Maybe they can be just a tiny bit immortal when they’re about something you wished for for a long time, something that became part of the best thing in your life for a good while.

Marc is a little breathless when they break apart. He feels a self-conscious about his grip on Valentino and after releasing his dress shirt, he taps Valentino’s chest two times in a false attempt at smoothing down the fabric.

“Still the best kisser in the world,” Marc teases once he’s done with Valentino’s clothes and ready to look him in the eyes again, the words out of his mouth before he truly processes them.

Valentino chuckles. “Trying to sweet talk me into your bed, Marquez? You know I’m better than that.”

Marc blushes, the cold of the wind a stark contrast against his warming up cheeks. The current between them hasn’t snapped with the kiss, it’s still there, low and keeping them together. There might be the hint of an offer behind Valentino’s words and Marc isn’t sure what to do with it just yet.

“Don’t worry, I would never call you easy. You’ve never been anything close to easy.”

“Good thing you’ve never liked easy, though, Marc. Right?”

Marc thinks he might turn even redder. He huffs a laugh before setting his eyes back on the landscape under him, his thoughts going haywire inside of his brain.

Being kissed by Valentino on the night of his retirement felt like closing in a circle, the end to something that began right with his carreer, simmering in the background all along.

Marc doesn’t know if going further means strengthening the buckle of the circle or starting a new line in a whole different direction.

He doesn’t mean to spiral. His heart might have just hopped onto a rollercoaster but it’s fine, he can handle that.

Marc couldn’t say how long the silence stretches between them but it’s not uncomfortable, Valentino’s presence still a nice radiating warmth by his side.

It eventually gets broken when Valentino detaches himself from the railguard, hand grabbing Marc’s left wrist.

“If you want to know if I’m still the best in the world for some other things, you know where to find me,” Valentino says with a sweep of his thumb over Marc’s pulsepoint.

It sends goosebumps down Marc’s spine and Valentino has his back to him, almost out of the balcony, when Marc calls for him. “That was horrible. The opposite of smooth.”

Marc can hear Valentino’s chuckle echo in the night and then the last words he addresses to Marc before slipping back inside. “Good thing you’ve always been easy for me, then.”

send me a prompt + a pairing.

#marc marquez #valentino rossi #rpf #my writing #prompt fill #4693 #set some year in the future that I refuse to choose #no idea if vale has the record for oldest retirement prob not but we don't care about that #i might get myself late to the dentist because of this oops

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theadusa · 1 year

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All Dramas I watched in 2022

This is all the dramas I watched this year. I actually watched so many, more than I typically do. I wasn’t really going out a lot so I just watched dramas to spend my time. My goal next your is to not watch as many, lol. There were alot of good dramas this year, and I hope you enjoy my thoughts on all that I watched. Also as a warning I try to put spoiler warnings as much as possible.

Spring is Green at a Distance ( 2021, Ko Yeon-soo)

Main leads: Bae In-hyuk, Kang Min-ah, Park Ji-hoon

Episodes: 12, 60 min

Thoughts: I had high expectations for this drama. I have only heard good things, and how heartbreaking this drama was. I put it off, for this reason, in February I thought I was in the right emotional space for it. Due to all the hype, I was underwhelmed but I do still suggest it. Nam Soo Hyun (Bea In-hyuk) is the heart of the show and is such a fun character. Kim So-bin (Kang Min-ah) is the most relatable female character I have seen in a while, her anxiety is actually debilitating and not just played to make her seem cute. It is a heavy show, but it has light-hearted moments sprinkled throughout. Rating: It is pretty good, just be careful of building expectations.

All of Us are Dead (2022, Chun Sung-il)

Main leads: Park Ji-hu, Yoon Chan-young

Episodes: 12, 53 to 72 min

Thoughts: This one weirdly took me by surprise. I typically don’t like horror/gore stories, but I love zombies as a metaphor. And when going into the themes of the show it is heartbreaking. When understanding how young they are, the people who they are taught to rely on become neglectful when they need them the most. This is a story about the tragedy of a Government that does not serve the people, both young and old. And the human desire to survive. I do highly recommend this show, however, I am not looking forward to season 2. Rating: a Zombie metaphor done right.

Move to Heaven (2021, Yoon Ji-ryeon)

Main leads: Lee Je-hoon, Tang Jun-sang

Episodes: 10, 42 to 62 min

Thoughts: Like the last two, this show was very much hyped. It was a sweet slice-of-life show about the process of grieving. I lost someone recently so it was comforting seeing people mourn in different ways. Lee Je Hoon was incredible in this as always and gave a moving performance. It isn’t my favorite show I watched this year but definitely worth a watch. Rating: Grieving takes time.

Familiar Wife (2018, Yang Hee-sung)

Main leads: Ji Sung, Han Ji-min

Episodes: 16, 60 min

Thoughts: This drama is definitely under a man’s rom-com genre. Which is essentially a man taking a rough lesson in learning that he actually needs to be a decent person to his wife. You hate Cha Joo-hyuk (Ji Sung) for the first half of this drama, well at least I did, he was selfish, greedy, and couldn’t understand that he was the problem. I was shocked to see that people actually didn’t like Seo Woo-jin (Han Ji-min), like, she was ballsy and trying her best given the circumstances. This drama is definitely a cute show to put in the background or a fun pick-me-up. I wouldn’t put it on a must-watch list, but I wouldn’t discourage anyone from watching it. Rating: If you could change your fate… would ya?

Secret Royal Inspector and Joy (2021, Lee Jae-Yoon)

Main leads: Ok Taec-yeon, Kim Hye-Yoon

Episodes: 16, 60 min

Thoughts: I originally watched this as it was coming out. I am a big fan of Kim Hye Yoon, and I was just done with Vincenzo. I however dropped it for a period, and finally picked it back up in February. This drama is funny and has found family vibes. The romance between the two main characters is also cute. It does drag a bit in the middle but it isn’t so bad. Rating: Guy Ferri in Josen

Coffee and Vanilla (2019, Shimoda Yuko)

Main leads: Fukuhara Haruka, Sakurada Dori

Episodes: 10, 23 min

Thoughts: Let me save you some time and don’t watch this show. I think this might have been the worst show I watched all year. The ML is awful, he is literally a walking red flag and not in a fun way. The FL is just stupid. I don’t have much to say except I hated every second I watched it, also just too many semi-sexy scenes with such a manipulative undertone, so it can be a bit triggering. Rating: Speed run on every toxic troupe

Dali and the Cocky Prince (2021, Son Eun-hye, Park Se-eun)

Main leads: Kim Min-jae, Park Gyu-young

Episodes: 16, 70 min

Thoughts: This drama was sweet, and definitely picked me up from the last drama I watched. I like both actors and have been watching Kim Min-jae for a while now. The show is sweet and cute. It is a typical opposite attraction and focuses on when passion meets love. It has found family, a sweet and supportive couple, grief, and growth. Also, the relationship between the ML and the SML is actually so funny. It is just a heartwarming show that is easy to watch. Rating: Don’t watch hungry

Into the Ring (2020, Moon Hyun-kyung)

Main leads: Nana, Park Sung-hoon

Episodes: 16, 70 min

Thoughts: This show is probably my favorite show I have seen all year, if not my favorite of all time. I love the cinematography of this drama and all the shot setups. It is quirky and fun. Se-ra (Nana) is such a fun and lovely character, who is truly interested in her community. I love political comedies, especially those that focus on small-level government. I also love Seo Gong-myung (Park Sung-hoon), he is unironically my dream man. It's cute, fun, and heartwarming, and everyone should watch it. rating: 10 out of 10 would watch it again

Marriage not dating (2014, Joo Hwa-mi)

Main leads: Yeon Woo-jin, Han Groo

Episodes: 16, 60 to 65 min

Thoughts: This show is typically the most recommended in terms of contract marriage, which I get, it definitely hits all your marks. Two people who despise each other are forced to have a marriage contract in the most contrived way possible. It is definitely a drama that was made in 2014 and has all the problems of that time. The man is just a little too toxic and the woman is a little too stupid. But you just can’t turn away. This show is also an example of why not all assembly drama characters need to be friends, that’s all I am going to say about that. Rating: The best part of this drama is the grandma.

The One and Only (2021-2022, Moon Jung-min)

Main leads: Ahn Eun-jin, Kim Kyung-Nam

Episodes: 16, 70 min

Thoughts: This was a disappointing drama. I typically like underrated slow-paced dramas, and they have a strong theme of female friendship. The friendship was great, the romance was meh, and the plot was all over the place. Like it is an interesting concept to have a dying girl kill somebody, and an assassin as the witness, but I don’t know I was so underwhelmed by the whole thing. Rating: could be less underwhelming, and less simple

I Remember You (2015, Kwon Ki-young)

Main leads: Seo In-guk, Jang Nara

Episodes: 16, 70 min

Thoughts: Fun fact about me, for some reason I made a goal to watch everything in Seo In-guk’s filmography and this one was up next. This drama is also known as Hello Monster, and it is one of those dramas that gets recommended. It is definitely before the 2016 era, in terms of how this drama feels. It is interesting, and I surprisingly liked it despite the appearance of Park Bo Gum. And I just really liked Seo In-guk being all moody and snarky in this tbh. Rating: A contrived drama is exactly what I signed up for.

King’s Affection (2021, Han Hee-Jung)

Main leads: Park Eun-bin, Rowoon

Episodes: 20, 70 min

Thoughts: Rowoon is in his chaotic bisexual era, and I think that is great. But this show is similar to Mr. Queen, in the fact it is so gay but it also refutes its gayness. But the first 10 or so episodes are so good. I love seeing Rowoon being a love fool and just the politics of it all. But then it got boring, and I got busy so I dropped it. I then picked it up again, cause I just needed to watch the last 4 episodes, and my god. They were a drag to get through. I do think the ending is fine. I don’t highly recommend it to anyone, but if you want to watch I won’t stop you. Rating: Identity crisis and bisexual panic the drama.

Something in the Rain (2018, Kim Eun)

Main leads: Son Ye-jin, Jung Hae-in

Episodes: 16, 70 min

Thoughts: This drama, no joke, took me several years to finish. Years. I started it back in 2018, I remember waiting for it to finish so I could start it. And I loved it! Son Ye-jin is such a good actress, and Jung Hae-in is able to keep up. They felt so real, and I loved the moments when the camera would let them have a private moment. If you love any Meg Ryan rom coms you would like this. It does get kind of triggering in the middle, just with the whole family situation. And Son Ye-jin’s character is so complicated, circa women from 90s romcom complicated, and I just appreciate how sometimes she is sometimes wrong but isn’t vilified. Just this drama was so real. Rating: it is just like the month of November.

Love Rain (2012, Oh Soo-yeon)

Main leads: Im Yoon-ah, Jang Geun-suk

Episodes: 20, 60 min

Thoughts:I actually tried to watch this when I first got into dramas in 2016, and I found the flashback episodes boring (I still do). I am trying to watch every single thing in Seo In-guk’s filmography so I gave this another try. It gets a little more entertaining once you go to modern day. However, it isn’t the most interesting or good drama that you can watch. Rating: Sometimes bitchiness lasts a lifetime…

Find Me in your Memory (2020, Kim Yoon-joo, Yoon Ji-hyun)

Main leads: Kim Dong-wook, Moon Ga-young

Episodes: 16, 35 min

Thoughts: This show was decent, it was interesting to see how the two leads connect. I loved the atmosphere. I really like dramas that are set between winter and spring. It is such a pretty time. The romance between the leads started out rough but I grew to really like them. I think it is a sweet, definitely melodrama, and I do think it is worth a watch. Rating: Once upon a memory…

Sell Your Haunted House (2021, Ha Soo-jin, Jung Yeon-seo, Lee Young-hwa)

Main leads: Jang Na-ra, Jung Yong-hwa

Episodes: 16, 70 min

Thoughts: I first watched this show in 2021 when it was coming out, and I quickly became obsessed. I, however, dropped the show around episode 12 for personal reasons. I eventually picked it up again, and I still really liked it. It is perfect for any spooky occasion, but at its core, it is a show about grief, and how to let go of that grief. This is something that I had to deal a lot with, and this show deals with it in an interesting way. However, if you are looking for romance, you will only find a vague silhouette of it here. Rating: watch out for the ghost.

Twenty Five Twenty One (2022, Kwon Do-eun)

Main leads: Kim Tae-ri, Nam Joo-hyuk

Episodes: 16, 70 to 75 min

Thoughts: We all heard of this show, we all sob to it, and we know it all too well. This was an absolute masterpiece. Na Hee Do (Kim Tae-ri) is an optimistic girl with mommy issues, and Beak Yi-jin (Nam Joo-hyuk) is a down-on-his-luck boy coming into adulthood at the fall of his family. They in turn start to rely on and comfort each other, as they navigate the turn of the century with all its uncertainties. SPOILERS: These two characters are magical to see on screen, their love for each other is so great no distance can stop it til it does. This show was so good, but the ending seemed to have shoved me off a cliff, not only with the breakup but how everyone ended up. There were so many ways to get the ending they wanted that felt more deserved. Have the entire group fall out of touch or idk. The most devastating was where Yi-jin ended up, he was the most relatable for me. I also had to give up my entire future due to my family and seeing him and his depression was like looking in the mirror. And we never fully see him recover, he was just given more pain and trauma. END. But I do like this drama and highly recommend it but be warned of the tears to come. Rating: What I thought would forever be Twenty five, twenty-one… comes to an end on 9/11

Forecasting Love and Weather (2022, Seon Yeong)

Main leads: Park Min-young, Song Kang

Episodes: 16, 70 min

Thoughts: I am a Park Min-young stan first and a human second. That’s why I even finished this drama, also I used it as an emotional rebound off of 2521 so I ended up baring this drama. Anyways it was incredibly boring. I almost fell asleep for half of it. TBH, I would skip this one. It has a bad case of the annoying second leads taking up so much of the screen time that it feels almost forced. Rating: I think we all knew that a show about the weather would be this boring

You are my Spring (2021, Lee Mi-na)

Main leads: Seo Hyun-jin, Kim Dong-wook

Episodes: 16, 70 min

Thoughts: This is another show which I started when it was airing but dropped, cause I was busy with work. I liked it a lot, it differently had good winter/spring vibes, and I really like Seo Hyun-jin. I did go into it expecting a depressing story where the leads lean on each other and heal. And I wasn’t wrong, you also got an added plot of intrigue which does get boring after a while then picks up a bit at the end. I did like it, and probably most of its disjointed parts probably because I had such a long break between the start and finishing the series. Rating: the Balck cat will guide you.

Business Proposal (2022, Han Seol-hee, Hong Bo-hee)

Main leads: Ahn Hyo-seop, Kim Se-jeong

Episodes: 12, 60 min

Thoughts: Now this is my true pick-up after 2521. I actually never read the webtoon, I just started it cause I heard so much hype around it. It is so good, it's cheesy and it knows it. The chemistry between the entire cast is off the charts. And you care about every single character. Also, Kim Se-jeong is literally born to be on screen. This show was such a pick-me-up, and I highly recommend it to anyone. Rating: This is one Business proposal you can’t refuse.

Our Beloved Summer (2021-2022, Lee Na-eun)

Main leads: Choi Woo-shik, Kim Da-mi

Episodes: 16, 60 to 70 min

Thoughts: This drama is so good. I watched it as it came out but I did drop it around the 9nth episode for similar reasons to the others. But this one is so slow-paced and so nice to watch. This one also had a love triangle that I didn’t mind too much cause I really liked all the characters. And without it being said, Choi woo-shik and Kim Da-mi’s chemistry is out of this world. The fact that Choi Woo-shik joined the project ‘cause Kim Da-mi was in it, is literally everything. I just really love this drama so much! Rating: My beloved comfort show <3

Private Lives (2020, Yoo Sung-yeol)

Main leads: Seohyun, Go Kyung-pyo

Episodes: 16, 70 min

Thoughts: If you can’t tell I was in the mood to finish what I started in terms of dramas. I also started this when it came and loved it. I love Go Kyung-pyo for those that don’t know. I dropped this as always cause I was going through a rough period in my life, but I thought I would pick it up again. This drama is super interesting and refreshing, however like most dramas that rely heavily on intrigue it kind of wobbles near the end. Rating: I would do anything to just see Go Kyung-Pyo….

A Man Defies the World of BL season 2 (2022, Izumi Kawasaki)

Main leads: Atsuhiro Inukai

Episodes: 3, 24 to 29 min

Thoughts: This was a hoot to watch. Which was expected. I watched the first season and loved it and now I finally got to see the second one. Where the protagonist semi-gets a love interest. It is such a fun and easy watch. Worth like the 2 hours you spend on it. Rating: How can an opening song be so fun?

Youth of May (2021, Lee Kang)

Main leads: Lee Do-Hyun, Go Min-si

Episodes: 12, 70 min

Thoughts: Pain is the word to describe this show. The chemistry between Lee Do-Hyun and Go Min-si is off the charts, and their budding romance is sweet. Do be warned it is a tragic tale. A tale of the Gwangju uprising in 1980, I would highly recommend doing research on this uprising and the devastating massacre caused by the dictatorship government at the time. The show is devastating and heartbreaking, there are tedious parts in the middle, with Kim Myung-hee’s friend but it is definitely worth the watch. Rating: Will stick with you forever.

My Girlfriend (2019, Hu Xiaoshuai, Wei Xiaobao)

Main leads: Xu Weizhou, Qiao Xin

Episodes: 28, 37 to 42 min

Thoughts: This show was cute and predictable, and I really enjoyed myself while watching it. However, I actually can’t remember anything about it to actually form an opinion. It is a good watch when you want something in the background, nice and easy. Rating: I too am cursed by the love gods

Save Me (2017, Jung Shin-kyoo)

Main leads: Ok Taec-yeon, Seo Ye-ji, Jo Sung-ha, Woo Do-hwan

Episodes: 16, 60 min

Thoughts: This show has been on my watch list since 2017, Netflix took it off their service and I had to go watch it somewhere else. I finally had the gumption to do so recently. The reason I wanted to watch it in the first place is because of Woo Do-hwan. I really liked him as an actor, and still do. This show is such a good thriller, your heart breaks for the people involved, and tbh I have a fear that I would accidentally get recruited into a cult so this applies to me. Definitely worth the watch, though it does get slow in the middle. Rating: Beware the cult…

Full House (2004, Min Hyo-Jung)

Main leads: Song Hye-Kyo, Rain

Episodes: 16, 60 min

Thoughts: This is one of the shows when you start getting into kdramas it is constantly recommended. I actually never watched it, I did my time with Boys Over Flowers and Playful Kiss. However, after finishing 2521 I urged myself to watch it because they mention the manga so often. Anyways it was so bad like they were just arguing all the time. I didn’t understand why we the audience should root for them. They more often than not felt like petulant children. How can a show be so recommended, but so actually awful? Anyways save yourself and just watch anything else. Rating: How is the most romantic thing the 3 bears???

Clean With Passion for Now (2018, Han Hee-Jung)

Main leads: Kim Yoo-jung, Yoon Kyun-sang

Episodes: 16, 70 min

Thoughts: This show is just boring. I did not care about any of the characters. Like it was good somewhat for the first like 5 episodes, and then it felt like pulling nails. The romance was cute, however, I just wasn’t interested. Rating: snooze town, population me.

Crazy Love (2022, Kim Bo-gyeom)

Main leads: Kim Jae-Wook, Krystal Jung

Episodes: 16, 70 min

Thoughts: Now this is what enemies to lovers should be. These two characters literally commit war crimes against each other, but it evens out and they turn into the sweetest lovers. This is such a fun show! Kim Jae-Wook and Krystal Jung have such amazing chemistry. It does slow down a bit in the middle but the cast of kooky characters keeps this show exciting and eventful at every watch. The romance is fun, the characters are simultaneously awful and delightful. The show is great and such a great pick-up during an April slump. Rating: I too enact physical and psychological warfare with my boss

Devilish Joy (2018, Choi Ji-Yeon)

Main leads: Choi Jin-hyuk, Song Ha-Yoon

Episodes: 16, 60 min

Thoughts: This is such a refreshing drama. It harkens back to the times of Ye old kdrama Melos that we all dearly love. It does have an Amnesia plot, but it actually adds value to the story. It's such a fun drama, and I actually really liked the romance so much. It is so good and heartbreaking, just like any old-fashioned melodrama needs to be. Rating: Will you remember me?

Falling into your Smile (2021, Jia Chang)

Main leads: Xu Kai, Cheng Xiao

Episodes: 31, 45 min

Thoughts: This show was okay. I mainly put it on as background noise, but I found it pretty boring overall. It has cute moments here and there, but sometimes I found the ML so annoying. If you want something that is easy to watch and low stakes this is the drama for you. Rating: Welcome to the boring world of Esports

Tomorrow (2022, Park Ran-i, Park Ja-Kyung, Kim Yu-jin)

Main leads: Kim Hee-sun, Rowoon, Lee Soo-hyuk, Yoon Ji-on

Episodes: 16, 70 min

Thoughts: This show similar to Move to Heaven has a death of a week storyline or heartbreak (my heart) of the week storyline. It does deal with heavy topics of death, so if you are sensitive to that I would skip this one. It was really well done, and because of its sad setup, it has lighthearted moments which help not to bog down the show. It is well worth the watch. It also has the afterlife bureaucracy that I think kdramas do so well, which is great! Rating: I will love you in every life

Who Rules The World (2022, Yin Tao, Yu Yonggang, Shi Zhanli)

Main leads: Yang Yang, Zhao Lusi

Episodes: 40, 45 min

Thoughts: This is a material arts and romance drama. I watched it while it was coming out so the 40 episodes weren’t as daunting, and I had time to forget a lot of the plot holes. It is decent, I liked this because of Zhao Lusi. The romance was a little more developed, and the martial arts were fun, albeit with a lot of CGI toward the end. I wouldn’t highly recommend this drama. It was alright. Rating: The politics weren’t actually too bad in this.

My Liberation Notes (2022, Park Hae-young)

Main leads: Lee Min-ki, Kim Ji-won, Son Seok-Koo, Lee El

Episodes: 16, 64 to 80 min

Thoughts: This is probably my favorite drama of this year if not of all time. It is so good, the cinematography, the story, the writing everything. It is so special. I just love the soft-spoken moments, how people are so flawed but they just want to live peacefully. Son Seok-Koo and Kim Ji-won were such a delight on screen. Yeom Mi-Jeong (Kim Ji-won) is one of the most relatable characters in my entire life, all of them were. This show deeply understood me like no other media ever could. Rating: What if we Worshiped each other?

Again My Life (2022, J, Kim Yu)

Main leads: Lee Joon-gi

Episodes:16, 60 to 75 min

Thoughts: A little-known fact about me is that I will literally watch anything with Lee Joon-gi in it. This proves this point. This show was obviously not made for me. I thought the plot was too predictable, the male lead a little too perfect, and the woman a little too into him. This show sometimes made me stop and ask did a man write this? It is okay, just not my cup of tea. Rating: Apparently they want to make a season 2?

Radiant (2019, Lee Nam-kyu, Kim Soo-jin)

Main leads: Han Ji-min, im Hye-ja, Nam Joo-hyuk

Episodes: 12, 60 min

Thoughts: This show is actually one of the most original kdramas out there. The themes and plot are both heartfelt and new. I loved every moment I watched this. While it was incredibly devastating to me personally. I would argue this is one of Nam Joo-hyuk’s best performances. I would say for the others but I haven’t watched that many of either actress's back catalog. But Im Hye-ja was such a marvelous lead, and I wished there were more older leads in shows. It is so good. It is great. Rating: Makes me cry like a baby.

Best Lover (Kim Sang Rea Yoo Chul Yong, 2016)

Main leads: Lee Da Hae and Zhou Mi

Episodes: 12, 40 Min

Thoughts: I hate this drama so much. I wanted to watch this as a cute little drama as background noise for finals. It was a contract marriage, which I always like, and Lee Da Hae isn’t a terrible actress so I gave it a go. Also one note it is a Korean-Chinese drama so the characters will be talking in two different languages and no one mentions it. You will get used to it, anyways…Oh boy, where do I start? I’ll start with the FL Choi Hwan Yeong (Lee Da Hae), she was actually the highlight of the drama. She went through the most emotional growth and seemed to have actual importance to the plot. My problem starts with the ML Xie Cheng (Zhou Mi). First off Zhou Mi is a terrible actor- at least here I don’t know him very well- which I can forgive, but the character was also awful. So he was terrifyingly lifeless, and his smile started to creep me out a bit. He often berates the FL for being selfish and messy while being the most selfish and messy. And he never acknowledges any wrongdoing, and worse the narrative never acknowledges any wrongdoing on his part. I was done when [SPOILER] after she witnessed him kiss her stylist that looks like his first love, she runs away. He tracks her down and then berates her telling her that she is embarrassing him and she is entirely selfish, which makes no sense when he is playing with two girls outside his relationship with the FL. Also, any moves he made on anyone were also borderline non-consensual. Like she was hitting him to get him to stop kissing her [END]. But overall The FL is fun, but the ML is trash and doesn't deserve her. I just think I need two things from the ML, 1. Groveling at the FL’s feet, 2. Just an apology for once would be nice. Anyways save your time and watch Crazy Love (2022) now that ML knows how to grovel. Also, I didn’t go into the weird plot and editing choices, and just sound mixing cause my god we can be here all day. Rating: Best Lover? More like Worst Lover, am I right?

Love All Play (2022, Heo Sung-hye)

Main leads: Park Ju-Hyun, Chae Jong-hyeop

Episodes: 16, 70 min

Thoughts: The style of the show is great, it reminded me a lot of Into the Ring which I love. The fishbowl straight-on viewpoint gives the show a nice stylistic cinematography. The story, however, I go back and forth on. I actually really like the characters even Park Tea-yang ( Park Ju-Hyun) whom many didn’t like. I found her relatable and very human, however frustrating that is. I did find Park Tae-Joon’s (Chae Jong-hyeop) mother to be annoying. And the relationship is kinda immature at times albeit cute. Rating: the park twins for the win.

Dear My Friends (2016, Noh Hee-Kyung)

Main leads: Go Hyun-Jung, Kim Hye-ja, Na Moon-hee, Go Doo-shim, Park Won-sook, Youn Yuh-jung, Joo Hyun, Kim Young-ok, Shin Goo

Episodes: 16, 60 min

Thoughts: Noh Hee-Kyung is a known writer for writing very realistic people. This show definitely falls under this. The show has an assembly cast of older people and their lives. I love how you can see a generational divide, and how the main focus is between mothers and daughters. This relationship is at the core of this drama. I just have so many feelings about this drama, and I hope everyone watches it. Rating: I hope to keep those dear to me.

Our Blues (2022, Noh Hee-Kyung)

Main leads: Lee Byung-hun, Shin Min-a, Cha Seung-won, Lee Jung-eun, Uhm Jung-Hwa, Han Ji-min, Kim Woo-bin, Bae Hyun-sung, Roh Yoon-seo

Episodes: 20, 60 min

Thoughts: This show had several weaving storylines about the residents of Jeju. Some of the storylines and characters you liked better than others. It is complicated and kinda messy but overall I had a really fun time watching this drama. It was nice watching every week and seeing what people were saying. The drama has a very slice-of-life, lowkey vibe to it. I also just really like kdramas set in the countryside. A note about the teen pregnancy storyline made me so anxious. Fun fact about me: I am terrified of teen pregnancy despite not being a teen. Rating: Fish market rivalries for the win

From Now On, Showtime (2022, Ha Yoon-ah)

Main leads: Park Hae-jin, Jin Ki-Joo

Episodes: 16, 60 min

Thoughts: I could not tell you why I watched this show? I don’t even like Park Hae-jin, I didn’t think he was that enjoyable here either. Jin Ki-Joo was great, and the ghosts had good comic timing. The story was so-so. Idk. Watch it if you have nothing better to do but there are better kdramas out there. Rating: I keep thinking the title is the Show Must Go on, but it is not.

Melo is My Nature (2019, Lee Byeong-Heon, Kim Young-young)

Main leads: Chun Woo-hee, Jeon Yeo-been, Han Ji-eun

Episodes: 16, 70 min

Thoughts: She is the moment. This show is everything to me, the first episode alone will build you up and break you down better than most feature films do. There are many scenes that I can’t get out of my head. I originally watched this back in 2019, but I had to stop because at one point it got too emotionally intense for me. So take care while watching this. But this is one of the most beautifully written dramas about womanhood, and female friendships I have ever seen. It touched something deep inside me, and I loved every moment. Rating: I also love the subplot with the actress and her manager

My Mister (2018, Park Hae-young)

Main leads: Lee Sun-Kyun, Lee Ji-eun

Episodes: 16, 90 min

Thoughts: I have been recommended this show so many times throughout the years, but due to how sad it is I avoided it. Which, yeah. It does have a hopeful note letter on it. And I love how the focus isn’t romantic but platonic And it is about two souls meeting during a rough period, it is just completely beautiful. I love Park Hae-young’s writing. I am sad I put this show off so much. Rating: if you have daddy issues you might really like this.

Kiss Sixth Sense (2022, Jeon Yu-ri)

Main leads: Yoon Kye-sang, Seo Ji-hye

Episodes: 12, 60 to 75 min

Thoughts: This show is literally the most childish show I have ever watched, but it is most definitely for adults. I was actually looking forward to watching this ‘cause the concept seemed so fun but, it was kind of eh. It is only 12 episodes but there are better shows out there to watch, and I found the love triangle/ rectangle exhausting and just immature. Rating: If you can change your fate… Would ya?

Rooftop Prince (2012, Lee Hee-myung)

Main leads: Park Yuchun, Han Ji-min

Episodes: 20, 70 min

Thoughts: I have to be honest I had covid while I was watching this. I remember enjoying it. I also remember I had to do squats while watching it for some reason. But The cast is fun, I did find the ML to be lacking in comparison to the other assemble but it is a fun and easy watch. Rating: apparently Choi Woo-shik is in this???

Beautiful Gong Shim (2016, Lee Hee-myung)

Main leads: Namkoong Min, Bang Min-ah

Episodes: 20, 70 min

Thoughts: Let it be known most media I watched in July I had covid so, that is the vibe of this. I remember hating the sister, thinking the love/hate relationship between the leads were cute. That’s about it. I don’t see many people talk about this drama, I think it is definitely worth a watch, but don’t go in with too high expectations. Rating: How many squats can I do?

Night of Love with You (2022, An Ji Er)

Main leads: Liu Xie Ning, Guan Yue

Episodes: 24, 9 min

Thoughts: Love, Love, Love! This show is disappointingly short, yes is it messy. Yes is there so many plot holes, but the potential is enough. The concept is fun and it takes the concepts of the Villainess Mawha’s into a webshow format, which is so fun. I highly recommend this show for quick and light watching experience. Rating: Sometimes the unexpected is expected, and the expected is unexpected.

Link: Eat, Love, Kill (2022, Kwon Yi-young, Kwon Do-hwan)

Main leads: Yeo Jin-goo, Moon Ga-young

Episodes: 16, 72 min

Thoughts: This show was such a vibe. Literally the cinematography, and the aesthetics as a whole is so nice. The acting is great, Yeo Jin-goo and Moon Ga-young always deliver and they did not disappoint not one bit. There was the weird sister thing at first, but once that was gone it was so sweet. I highly recommend this show to anyone and everyone, especially if you have mommy issues. Also I just love when kdramas have three generations of women I feel like there is something so relatable with that for me. Anyways great show, great aesthetics, great acting, gets a little bogged in the middle but keep going. Rating:The Korean take on the 2010 film Eat, Pray, Love, Jk.

Jinxed at First Sight (2022, Jang Yoon-mi)

Main leads: Seohyun, Na In-woo

Episodes:16, 61 to 63 min

Thoughts: I was actually super excited about watching this, I really liked the first like 4 episodes. It just went down hill from there. The fantasy element was super interesting, and the set up for the world, but they never quite follow through. I was confused on a couple like- familial relations- that they kinda answered later. It was just messy overall plotting, the acting was subpar (sorry), and its just a bad script. I wished it was so much better than it was. Rating: I wrote a separate post praising this drama, and it literally turned out like this.

The Producers (2015, Park Ji-eun, Kim Ji-sun)

Main leads: Cha Tae-hyun, Gong Hyo-jin, Kim Soo-hyun, Lee Ji-eun

Episodes: 12, 80 min

Thoughts: This one actually shocked me with how much I really liked it. Kim Soo-hyun’s dumbass looks literally is everything to me. I just loved every second. SPOILER I just wished the romance between Cindy (Lee Ji-eun) and Baek Seung-chan (Kim Soo-Hyun) came to full fruitution but it didn’t really… while kind of END. Cindy was by fair my favorite character, I just love a bitch with a heart of gold. Ye-jin (Gong Hyo-jin) lowkey kind of annoyed me, I found her to be a bit of a pick me. I especially hated the relationship between Ye-jin and Seung-chan. Rating: surprisingly Funny…

Better a Lie than a Truth (2022)

Main leads: Niu Yu Kun, Simon Chen

Episodes: 7 + Bonus, 26 to 30 min

Thoughts: This troupe was made for me. I love contract relationships/marriages, I could watch them all the time. I think because it is a web drama there were some contrived and confusing plot and timeline issues, but overall I still liked it. It was nothing groundbreaking and could have been easily toxic but I loved it still. I like the FL, I thought she was charming, and I liked the fact she did not hesitate to beat a bitch. The ML was pathetic and head over heels for the FL which is great, though he definitely needs therapy. Rating: contract marriage for the win

Cafe Minamdang (2022, Park Hae-jin)

Main leads: Seo In-guk, Oh Yeon-seo

Episodes: 18, 70 min

Thoughts: This was such a fun drama to watch. Seo In-guk was charming and funny as always. Oh Yeon-seo’s character was such a fun character also. If you are a fan of the American sitcom Psych then you would love this show. It has shenanigans, mystery, and a lovely fond family. The cast was energetic and played off each other well. The mystery was fun and interesting. I would highly recommend this show. Rating: The most handsome Shaman I have ever seen

Today’s Webtoon (2022, Cho Ye-rang, Lee Jae-eun)

Main leads: Kim Se-jeong, Choi Daniel, Nam Yoon-su

Episodes: 16, 62 to 70 min

Thoughts: Do not watch this for romance there is no romance in this just very good chemistry. I think I have already said this but I will say this again Kim Se-jeong is a delight to watch on screen. She just has this energy that you want to continue to watch. However this felt pretty disappointing mainly because I started watching cause I thought it was a romcom it is infact nothing of the sorts, so with a change of genre reference I think I would have enjoyed this more. It does bog a bit in the middle but It picks back up in the end. Rating: I was really expecting a kiss…

Once Upon a Small Town (2022, Baek Eun-kyeong)

Main leads: Park Soo-young, Choo Young-woo

Episodes: 12, 30 to 40 min

Thoughts: This one is cute and sweet. There is nothing much to it except for that. The romance felt kind of childish, but there is an innocent charm in that. There is a lot of comparison to Hometown Cha Cha Cha mainly do to its setting of the Korean country side but it is far less melodramatic. Rating: Shockingly the love triangle isnt that bad.

Never Twice (2019-2020, Goo Hyun-sook)

Main leads: Park Se-wan, Kwak Dong-yeon, Youn Yuh-jung, Oh Ji-ho, Ye Ji-won, Park Ah-in, Song Won-seok

Episodes: 72, 35 min

Thoughts: This is an assemble sitcom with main focus on Park-ha (Park Se-Wan) and Hae-jun (Kwak Dong-yeon) romance. It is adorable and funny, and it has a cute child in the mix. At times it can be devausting but thats the heart of any good comedy. This show I feel like is underrated so definitely show this one some love. Rating: Rich man and poor woman, but this time murder is involved.

Jugglers (2017, Jo Yong-hae)

Main leads: Baek Jin-hee, Choi Daniel

Episodes: 16, 60 min

Thoughts: It's a cute and quick workplace drama, and unlike a lot of workplace dramas it isn’t that toxic. The ML never really throws around his power over the FL, and they try to even it out by making her his landlady, which is definitely a power dynamic. I quickly devoured this drama, ‘cause I did homework while watching, so I didn’t really get the full experience of this drama. I do highly recommend this drama, I liked the characters, and especially the main couple. Rating: Don’t f*** your coworkers, but this is the only exception.

Arang and The Magistrate (2012, Kim Jin-man)

Main leads: Shin Min-a, Lee Joon-gi

Episodes: 16, 60 min

Thoughts: This has been on my list since like 2017, and I have made attempts but nothing stuck. I have been trying to go back into the back catalog of kdramas and it is October so I thought, “Why not?” The show was okay, I feel like the cast was great but the story lacked or maybe I am just not used to a 2012 kdrama budget. I thought it was enjoyable, and I am glad I got to watch it. It has your typical magic/ghosts which is always fun for this time of the season. I also really liked the ending. I thought it was cute, even if those types of endings are frustrating. Rating: This was honestly a double win for me cause both Shin Min-a and Lee Joon-gi were in this drama.

The Witch’s Diner (2021, Lee Young-sook)

Main leads: Song Ji-hyo, Nam Ji-hyun, Chae Jong-hyeop

Episodes: 8, 40 to 55 min

Thoughts: This show is pretty quick and isn’t anything too special. I enjoyed sort of, and I do really likes its aesthetics. I just don’t think I payed enough attention to the story overall to fully enjoy it. It is pretty quick, and if you have the time this isn’t a bad watch. Rating: Be careful of what you wish for…

Little Women (2022, Chung Seo-kyung)

Main leads: Kim Go-eun, Nam Ji-hyun, Park Ji-hu

Episodes: 12, 77 min

Thoughts: I am still collecting my thoughts. I truly enjoyed every part of the show. I loved the usage of the Little Women archetypes in a thriller setting. It was new and it was fresh. I loved the complicated relationship between all three siblings and their fight for their survival. Kim Go Eun as In-ju was absolutely stunning as always. Also, her chemistry with Wi Ha-Joon is off the absolute charts. This was such a good woman running the show, and we just need more of these, TBH. I would highly recommend this show to anyone and everyone. Rating: Don’t let the poison sting you on your way out.

Black (2017, Choi Ran)

Main leads: Song Seung-heon, Go Ara

Episodes: 18, 85 min

Thoughts: I want to say honestly this has been on my list since it came out in 2017, but I had very little desire to watch. But remember it is the time of year when I will be watching all things spooky, so I thought I will give it a whirl. And before I give my opinion, I have two confessions: one, I have watched this through a rough period of homework, and two, I am not the biggest fan of Go Ara. The plot was confusing ( probably ‘cause I was doing homework). But I think I just didn’t have the best overall experience due to the setup, and just how long each episode is. Rating: 90 minutes for each episode of Grim reapers messing around.

Possessed (2019, Park Hee-kang)

Main leads: Song Sae-byeok, Go Joon-hee

Episodes: 16, 60 min

Thoughts: SPOILER: For a comedy, the ending was very sad. And I for one have mixed feelings about it. END. I have been trying to watch halloweenie shows throughout the month of October, and tbh I don’t enjoy many thrillers in drama format. I tend to really vibe with character-driven shows. But this one starts off strong, and if you can get through the midway boredom, it isn’t too bad of a show. The characters are charming and have a lot of chemistry together. Take my opinion with a grain of salt, I have also been studying while watching. Rating: Maybe the true killer was the friends we made along the way…

Scum’s Wish (2017, Yoshihiro Izumi)

Main leads: Miyu Yoshimoto, Dori Sakurada

Episodes: 12, 24 min

Thoughts: I couldn’t tell you why I started this drama. This drama hurt in an unexpecting way, this drama haunts my inner soul. It reveals something about oneself, something you never want to admit. Hanabi (Miyu Yoshimoto) is a relatable character, in fact, she is actively desperate for love. And she is so lonely she is willing to take comfort in any warm body. Mugi and Hanabi are just using each other, but because of this awareness, they are able to create a deep relationship. Don’t get me wrong, this drama disturbed me. I think it will haunt me for a long time. These characters are children being manipulated by adults for sexual pleasure, and it's sad and heartbreaking. These characters are awful all around, they use each other and throw each other away. But I was 17, maybe 3 or 4 (?) years ago, and I could see my younger self in some of the teenage characters. I don’t think they handled the topic they were dealing with fully, but it was definitely an interesting perspective. I would never recommend this drama, and if SA (particularly with teenagers and adults) please keep away. This show was a visceral horror to watch. And I had to binge it quickly because they were taking it off of Viki, but this drama is to be consumed slowly and in small chunks. I feel disgusted now that I have seen it. I am now planning on doing a spiral cleaning while watching a nice movie. Rating: It’s complicated…also jail for that one teacher.

Girl From Nowhere (2018, Kongdej Jaturanrasamee, Aticha Tanthanawigrai, Tinnapat Banyatpiyapoj)

Main leads: Chicha Amatayakul

Episodes: 13, 37 to 50 min

Thoughts: This show has been on my list since 2018 when it came out. I am actually a big fan of Thai filmmaking, and oftentimes it gets overshadowed by more East Asian films. This show absolutely doesn’t disappoint, the horror isn’t in Nano (Chicha Amattayakul), a seemingly immortal being here to punish the wrongdoings, but the horror is within those she punishes. And at the core of being human, we have the ability to be cruel, if it means we can survive. I highly recommend it, even though Netflix will take the show by the end of October. Rating: Hi, it’s me. I am the problem, it’s me.

Girl From Nowhere 2 (2021, Kongdej Jaturanrasamee, Aticha Tanthanawigrai, Tinnapat Banyatpiyapoj)

Main leads: Chicha Amatayakul, Chanya McClory

Episodes: 13, 37 to 50 min

Thoughts: The second season kept up the same chaotic energy as the first. Starting off strong with Mpreg. This season we are given more characters besides Nanno, we are introduced to Yuri, a girl turned immortal who is more revenge focused than Nanno. It is such a good show, and I loved the ending. I am curious if that is the end completely ( which is fine cause it is a solid ending, but they left it open-ended enough for another season). This show is so good and I highly recommend it. Also note, please listen to any trigger warnings. Rating: Double the trouble…

Mr. Bad (2022, Lee Ching Jung)

Main leads: Chen Zhe Yuan, Shen Yue

Episodes: 24, 45 min

Thoughts: Was this drama contrived? Yes. Was it cliche? Yes. Do I fully enjoy it? Absolutely. This one kinda breaks my month-of-a-horror vibe, but I will make it up by watching another horror-themed show in November. But this show is cute and light-hearted. The main couple has nice bickering moments. And except for the main leads' occasional jealousy (TBH it was actually decently tame compared to others I have seen), their relationship is really cute and healthy. For dramas like this don’t expect much, cause like always it does get kinda contrived in the end. But overall it was a fun and cute drama to put on in the background. Rating: It was the Fairy all along…

Inspector Koo ( 2021, Sung Cho-y)

Main leads: Lee Young-ae, Kim Hye-jun

Episodes: 12, 70 min

Thoughts: This has been on my list for a while, and is my last spooky drama for the month of October. I am going to watch at least one more thriller/horror drama to make up for Mr. Bad in November but I am going to be watching romance to settle my bones after such a spooky month. This drama is good, I like the characters. It was very Killing Eve-esque. And TBH a theater major would be a serial killer. Also, the OST was so good. Like it had me jamming through this entire series, and it is only 12 episodes so it doesn’t really bog down. Rating: I love dysfunctional women.

My Girlfriend is a Gumiho (2010, Hong Sisters)

Main leads: Lee Seung-gi, Shin Min-ah

Episodes: 16, 60 min

Thoughts: This show looks and reads like a Hong sisters drama from the early 2010s. It is exactly what you would expect. Shin Min-ah is very fun in this and doing her goddamn best. It is fun and cheesy and I could not tell you the plot point of this show if you asked me. Rating: I watched it physically, I didn’t watch it emotionally.

Gaus Electronic (2022, Kang Go-eun, Seo Han-na)

Main leads: Kwak Dong-yeon, Ko Sung-hee, Bae Hyun-sung, Kang Min-ah

Episodes: 12, 45 to 48 min

Thoughts: This one picked up like 4 days before the final episodes came out. And man the way that I went through the episodes. It is literally so funny, and I love sitcoms so this was right up my alley. I love all the cast chemistry, and I love how they played off each other's dumbassery. I also loved the women in the drama, they were all individuals and were allowed to be just as ridiculous as the men. I also loved the Beak Ma-tan (Bae Hyun-sung) and Geon Kang-mi (Kang Min-ah) storyline. It had all the trappings of the poor girl and rich man romance narrative but they subverted it beautifully. And Beak Ma-tan is so funny. I love it when a character doesn’t understand what genre they are in, it is such A funny thing to witness. Rating: It is so funny

My Secret Romance (2017, Kim Ha-na, Kim Young-yoon)

Main leads: Sung Hoon, Song Ji-Eun

Episodes: 14, 45 min

Thoughts: I actually started this way back in 2017, I actually remember when it came out. I ended up dropping it, for an excellent reason. Reason: It sucks. After Business Proposal aired people were suggesting it as a similar drama. They are not wrong, it has the same makings. Weird Boss- employee relationship, cheesy, long-term friend second lead shorter than most kdramas. However, Business Proposal is definitely the better of the two. The ML is so pushy and obsessive, and the FL doesn’t actually have any desire whatsoever. TBH I didn’t even know when or why she started liking the ML; he was suddenly kissing her. Not great, the only reason I got through it was because I was writing an outline. Rating: Just watch Business Proposal again or there are so many other rich man, poor woman boss-employee kdramas out there… Jugglers come to mind… So many…

The Killers Shopping List (2022, Han Ji-wan)

Main leads: Lee Kwang-soo, Kim Seol-Hyun, Jin Hee-Kyung

Episodes: 8, 60 min

Thoughts: This show is super interesting and new if you are tired of romance or sad or serious thrillers this might be a good change of pace. It is a whodunit-style drama, following a group of local groceries trying to solve a serial murder case, that uses their store to deliver things to their victims. The mystery wasn’t that shocking, you can guess it pretty early on, but it is fun enough. I do recommend it just not that highly. Rating: I think there should be more whodunits in the world… I mean in media

Kingdom 1 (2019, Kim Eun-hee)

Main leads: Ju Ji-hoon, Ryu Seung-ryong, Bae Doo-na

Episodes: 6, 45 to 57 min

Thoughts: This show is gory so be aware before going in. It is so good though. I watched The first episode back in 2019 and loved it. However I am a big romance fiend, and this has none so I dropped it. But it is good and very prevalent in today’s culture. I love Bae Doo-na's character Seo-bi. It is just such a good performance. I highly recommend this drama to anyone that likes Korean thrillers. Rating: Koreans know how to do a zombie metaphor, they really do

Midnight Diner s1 (2009, Yarô Abe & Takurô Oikawa)

Main leads: Kaoru Kobayashi

Episodes: 10, 25 min

Thoughts: I decided to watch one episode anytime I was up at midnight for whatever reason. And it was nice, this drama is an anthology of many different characters' lives, and we are just getting little peaks of those who are up at such a late hour. Who would eat at a bar at Midnight? A lot of people. A gangster, a businessman, a stripper, two young lovers, and I guess us ourselves. The people it follows aren’t always the greatest people but at the end of the day, they are human. And human beings are one of the most complicated things on this planet. And this show allows for that complication. Rating: a nice meal on a rainy evening…

Love in Contract (2022, Ha Goo-dam)

Main leads: Park Min-young, Go Kyung-pyo

Episodes: 16, 60 min

Thoughts: This was my most anticipated show of the year. There are three things I love: Park Min-young, Go Kyung-Pyo, and contract marriages. This show has all three, and it should have been great, it had the recipe for success and blew it. The script was messy and didn't trust the leads. They just didn’t have faith in Go Kyung-pyo to lead for some reason, so they kept insisting on the second lead Kang Hae-jin (Kim Jae-young) unnecessary plot and air time. He was so bad as a second lead, and he fulfilled the real antagonist of the show. They retconned a lot of things. It was overwhelmingly disappointing. They had great things going for it, like the chemistry between Go Kyung-pyo and Park Min-young; Kang Hyung-Seok as Woo Kwang-Nam is such a fun character. Also, I so wanted Woo Kwang-Nam to get with the manager, and finish his arch. I’m just sad and disappointed about this show. I can not recommend it in good faith. Rating: I am Sang-eun and Jiho Shipper first, a Hea-jin hater second, and a Kwang-Nam and manager truther third… obviously a human being fifth

Kingdom 2 (2020, Kim Eun-hee)

Main leads: Ju Ji-hoon, Ryu Seung-ryong, Bae Doo-na

Episodes: 6, 45 to 57 min

Thoughts: So good, this is the continuation from the first season starting where we left off. It is such an exciting show and keeps your attention. It is action so things do move fast. I typically don’t like shows like this but it is worth the watch. I also wonder if there will be a season 3? Cause they set it up for one but I haven’t heard any news. Rating: Just as good as the first part.

Shadow Beauty (2021, Bang Soo-In)

Main leads: Shim Dal-Gi, Choi Bo-Min, Lee Na-Gyung

Episodes: 13, 19 to 25 min

Thoughts: This show has been on my to-watch list for a while now, but I could never bring myself to watch. I heard it was good but the plot never quite interested me. It is an engrossing plot about a girl who isn’t considered beautiful but pretends to be beautiful online. It talks about beauty standards and the cruelty of people. No one in this show is that great of a person. But that is okay. It wasn’t my favorite show, but it isn’t bad and is so short. Rating: may the real Genie please stand up…

Psychopath’s Diary (2019-2020, Choe Sung-jun, Kim Hwan-chae, Ryu Yong-jae)

Main leads: Yoon Shi-yoon, Jung In-sun, Park Sung-hoon

Episodes: 16, 60 min

Thoughts: I dropped this show a while back, but I decided to pick up again. It was fun, quirky, and decently thrilling. Yoon Shi-Yoon is hilarious as a pushover down on his luck Yook Dong-Sik. Also, he had immense chemistry with Park Sung-hoon. Another thriller in the book with unexplainable romantic tension between the killer and the protagonist. It is worth the watch, the 16th episode is kinda pointless. They wrap up everything in the first 20 minutes, so they are just filling the last 40 with whatever. Rating: This could have been gay…

Triad Princess (2019, Neal Wu, Emma Chen, Cheng Han-wen, Huang Shi-ting)

Main leads: Jasper Liu, Eugenie Liu

Episodes: 6, 35 to 47 min

Thoughts: This show is a 2019 Taiwanese Netflix short drama with only 6 quick episodes. This show follows a Gangster’s daughter who is a fan of a celebrity, and she becomes his bodyguard. Lo and behold he is also obsessed with gangsters, so obviously they fall in love. I actually watched this show up til episode 4 before dropping it back in 2019 to now finally finish it, so do with that information as you will. It is okay overall nothing to write home about. Rating: I don’t have enough of an opinion to write a witty one-liner.

Welcome to the Show (2011, Choi Moon-Kyung, Woo Chul-won)

Main leads: Im Seulong, Sulli Choi, Nichkhun

Episodes: 1, 80 min

Thoughts: So apparently this was supposed to be a series, around the fictional lives of actual kpop idols set at an award show that they have. Sorta like an unfinished The Producers, it even has IU. It was okay, I had a hard time finding it and ended up watching without subs, but I got the gist of it. Rating: I understand why it was canceled.

A Love so Beautiful (2020-2021, Choi Yoo-jung, Jang Yoo-yeon)

Main leads: Kim Yo-han, So Joo-Yeon

Episodes: 24, 21 to 25 min

Thoughts: I watched the original Chinese drama back in 2018, and I really liked that so I thought why not give this one a go. I would just watch the original, the cast had far more chemistry. Even though this followed the plot of the original to a t, it seemed more kiddish, somehow. It might have been because the male lead is much younger (and looks like it) than everyone who worked in the school days, but once a fast-forward seemed comical. Anyways it is short and sweet and you can probably watch it in a day or two if you have nothing going on. Rating: The original is always better.

Sound of Your Heart (2016, Lee Byung-hoon)

Main leads: Lee Kwang-soo, Kim Dae-Myung, Jung So-min, Kim Byeong-ok, Kim Mi-Kyung

Episodes: 20, 15 min

Thoughts: This show was such a fun show to watch. It was funny and light-hearted. I never realized that Jung Somin has such good comedic timing. It is such a good show for a quick pickup, and I highly recommend it. I also believe that Netflix has a season 2 that I might check out. Rating: Sometimes life is ridiculous..

Goedam (2020, Hong Won Gi)

Main leads: Various cast

Episodes: 8, 10 min

Thoughts: This show is an anthology of a spirit haunting different people. It is so short you can watch the entire thing in under an hour. If you want a quick spooky show this will do the trick. Rating: Is it a metaphor for our modern surveillance culture?

Soundtrack #1 (2022, Ahn Sae-bom)

Main leads: Park Hyung-Sik, Han So-hee

Episodes: 4, 36 to 57 min

Thoughts: I wanted something that had wintery vibes and this is definitely it. It is such a cute drama with such good vibes. You also have Park Hyung-Sik in his most natural environment, pining. And man does he put his heart and soul into it. It is such a good winter drama, everyone should watch it to get cozy. Rating: This is a puppy dog and a black cat couple.

Queen of the Ring ( 2017, Kim Ah-Jung)

Main leads: Kim Seul-gi, Ahn Hyo-seop

Episodes: 6, 30 min

Thoughts: This show is interesting in concept, but at the same time kinda uncomfy. This show is labeled as a fantasy cause we are pretending that Kim Seul-gi isn’t pretty. I do think that the main couple despite the lying and deception is kinda cute. However, the ending comes about in a very unnatural way. I think the writers didn’t know how to achieve their desired ending. Rating: I am glad they didn’t villanies Mi-Joo.

Revenge Note 2 (2018, Han Sang-im, Kim Jong-seon, Shim Min-sun)

Main leads: Ahn Seo-hyun, Samuel

Episodes: 16, 60 min

Thoughts: It was okay. If you are like a young teen, you would probably enjoy this a lot more. Tbh the first one was better, I realize why I dropped this years ago. Also, it has a weird ethical question about the leads and revenge. Rating: eh…

Glitch (2022, Gin Han-sai)

Main leads: Jeon Yeo-been, Nana

Episodes: 10, 60 min

Thoughts: Jeon Yeo-been never misses. If she is in a project you absolutely know it will be well acted. This story is so new and interesting, and the mixture of mystery and sci-fi is just marvelous. It is a pretty short drama, so you can probably watch it in a couple of days or so. It is definitely one of the better dramas I have seen recently, I highly recommend it to everyone. Also, this is another one where it is so gay, but it never fulfills itself. Rating: is it Aliens or a cult or both…..

Nightmare Teacher (2016, Hyun Moon-Sub)

Main leads: Kim So Hyun, Lee Min Hyuk, Uhm Ki Joon

Episodes: 12, 15 min

Thoughts: This was actually surprisingly good. I had little expectations for this show with how short it is. It is a pretty interesting watch, with psychological horror missed into. Kim So Hyun is always a good watch, I really have no complaints. If you just want to watch a quick horror, this would be your guy. Rating: The teacher is an ick

Midnight Diner 2 (2011, Yarô Abe & Takurô Oikawa)

Main leads: Kaoru Kobayashi

Episodes: 10, 25 min

Thoughts: With my continuation with the series I am still watching when I am up at midnight. This show is such a comforting watch, and it is a reminder of the human condition. It shows every side of a person which can only be revealed in the late hours. I just love how people’s stories are weaved through one another. I highly recommend for just a comforting watch. Rating: What keeps you up at Midnight.

Welcome to Waikiki (2018, Kim Ki-ho)

Main leads: Kim Jung-hyun, Lee Yi-kyung, Son Seung-won , Jung In-sun , Ko Won-hee , Lee Joo-woo

Episodes: 20, 70 min

Thoughts: I watched this up to the 10th episode way back, but I kept seeing tiktok edits to this show that I decided to pick it up again. This show is more of sitcom style with an assemble cast, so if you like sitcoms you would love this show. It is funny, and relatable. All the characters are stupid but in an enduring way. Rating: I actually love when babies are in dramas ‘cause I think they are cute.

The Great Shaman Ga Doo Shim (2021, Joo Brothers)

Main leads: Kim Sae-ron, Nam Da-reum

Episodes: 12, 20 min

Thoughts: This show is quick and simple, it also has the kid who is the younger version of everyone in it. It is actually pretty good for a quick webdrama. I don’t think it is a must see and you are missing out if you don’t watch, but it is pretty good. The cast is strong for how young they are, the script is okay, and it does keep you interest for the time it has it. Rating: Catch that ghost: Highschool edition

Meow the Secret Boy (2020, Joo Hwa-mi

Main leads: Kim Myung-soo, Shin Ye-eun

Episodes: 24, 28 to 38 min

Thoughts: This show from concept is incredibly strange. Don’t get me wrong I like cats, but the FL falls in love with the cat she rescued. And even weirder they meet when he was a kitten/boy and she was grown. I know cats age faster, it was just weird, and people took a human cat much better than I ever would. Anyways it is kind of cute, but it is incredibly weird in its inception. Rating: I actually liked the SML in this one.

True Beauty (2020-2021, Lee Si-eun)

Main leads: Moon Ga-young, Cha Eun-woo

Episodes: 16, 73 min

Thoughts: I watched it while it was coming out, but I just had to drop it. I don’t like love tringules, and the entire focus of this show is the triangle. I know this is an unpopular opinion, I actually like Suho and Ju-kyung as a couple. I wasn’t head over heels over the SML, but I did like his character. I just really wanted this show to be gay, like I know the Webcomics it is far from it, but come on. Park Yoo-na (Kang Su-ji) and Moon Ga-young chemistry is good, also I think at one point Ju-kyung calls Su-ji the ideal boyfriend. And then they had to make Su-ji the typical jealous SFL which is so annoying. Rating: Please just recommend me Lesbian dramas

Lovestruck in the City (2020, Jung Hyun-jung, Jung Da-yun)

Main leads: Ji Chang-wook, Kim Ji-won, Kim Min-seok, Han Ji-eun, Ryu Kyung-soo, So Joo-yeon

Episodes: 17, 28 to 40 min

Thoughts: This show is in a style of a documentary, though they have out of documentary moments, that follow several young people and their relationships to one another. Somehow everyone knows everyone, and they are all dating one another to a certain degree. I liked it to a certain extent, however I found Ji Chang-wook’s character to be annoying and a crybaby. Like I understand his heart was broken but he was obsessive. I did like Kim Ji-won in it but I always like her. Rating: Its short and okay.

More than Blue: The Series (2021, Hermes Lu, Emma Chen, Fei Kung-yii, Tsai Fang-yun)

Main leads: Gingle Wang Fandy Fan

Episodes: 10, 42 to 50 min

Thoughts: I have watched neither films that this show is based on, so my only input on the story comes from this series. It is incredibly sad. I knew this going in, I genuinely thought it would be the cold of winter sad, but it is not it is the heat of the summer sad. I find that more devastating. The back-and-forth storyline confused me at first, but it does add a sense of mystery that can be enjoyable for the viewer. Overall it is a sweet, and sad love story. Rating: Forever isn’t enough.

That Winter, the Wind Blows (2013, Noh Hee-Kyung)

Main leads: Jo In-sung, Song Hye-Kyo

Episodes: 16, 60 min

Thoughts: Oh, wow. I have so many thoughts, and they are all over the place. First off, it's really good from a genre perspective. This is a classic Melo, it has everything you want. Because of this, it is refreshing, cause you just don’t get Korean melodramas like this anymore. And honestly, I am not a big fan of Song Hye-Kyo’s acting, but I thought she did alright. But oh man this show, um, the romance is technically not incest which is a bad start. Like it is a family melodrama, but oh boy was it painful to watch someone fall in love with someone they thought was their own brother. Like a fair warning to all. Rating: It was a melodrama.

Midnight Diner 3 (2014, Yarô Abe & Takurô Oikawa)

Main leads: Kaoru Kobayashi

Episodes: 10, 25 min

Thoughts: The show is still quiet and sentimental throughout its run, however, I feel like this season we spend much more time outside the cafe, which is interesting. And you build up the cast of outside characters more. I do thoroughly enjoy the continued soft-spoken moments and the aesthetics of quite the nightlife of the show. I do think this show is best seen at night. Rating: a little midnight treat.

Seonam Girls High School Detectives (2014 to 2015, Shin Kwang-ho)

Main leads: Jin Ji-hee, Kang Min-ah, Lee Hye-ri, Lee Min-ji, Stephanie Lee

Episodes: 14, 60 min

Thoughts: This show was definitely made with a younger demographic than me in mind, however, it does show someone jumping off a roof. It has Lee Hye-Ri doing what she does best, and the rest of the cast trying their best with the script they had. It was definitely fun to see bigger stars, back when they were picking up whatever role they were offered to them. The show itself is a boring mystery, and the script has the inability to create tension throughout the whole. If I wasn’t in the midst of school where I need background noise to function I would have dropped this. Rating: It is a win for the lesbians, sort of… not really

Fanletter, Please (2022, Park Tae-yang)

Main leads: Choi Soo-young, Yoon Park

Episodes: 4, 60 min

Thoughts: This drama is decently cute and simple. It is very fluffy, and weirdly enough good for a quick pick-me-up. It easily could have been so devastating because kids with cancer are incredibly sad, but they easily balanced the sweetness with the devastating circumstance. The show is short, sweet, and actually decently acted. The setup is wild but we don’t question anything in dramaland anymore. Rating: Lies always lead to the most extreme possible outcome ever.

Will it Snow For Christmas? (2009-2010, Lee Kyung-hee)

Main leads: Go Soo, Han Ye-Seul

Episodes: 16, 65 min

Thoughts: If you ever want a slow burn you got it in this drama. It is definitely fun to see a young Kim Soo-hyun, but this drama is the definition of melo. It is also kind of hard to follow especially after the time skip but its interesting, and has a good slow burn. Rating: Will it snow I don’t know

Behind Every Star (2022, Park So-young, Lee Chan)

Main leads: Lee Seo-jin, Kwak Sun-young, Seo Hyun-woo, Joo Hyun-young

Episodes: 12, 60 to 76 min

Thoughts: Apparently this is based off of a French drama, which I can definitely see elements of it. I go back and forth on this drama. I thought it fun seeing actors cameos on this show, and I really liked the main couple. But it can be kind of boring and overall unmemorable. Rating: I would react the same way if I find a man in my bathtub.

Midnight Diner: Tokyo Stories (2016, Yarô Abe)

Main leads: Kaoru Kobayashi

Episodes: 10, 25 min

Thoughts: This is like the revamped version of the original. It is definitely interesting seein the quality changes over the several seasons. This season has more emphasis on the food I feel like- ending each episode with a recipe, a slight call back to season 2. The vibes are usual contentness and loneliness felt only at midnight. Rating: I think writing in my journal while writing this is great.

The Crowned Clown (2019, Kim Seon-deok, Shin Ha-eun)

Main leads: Yeo Jin-goo, Lee Se-young

Episodes: 16, 70 to 80 min

Thoughts: This show is such a vibe visually, and I think for me that is the most notable thing. Yeo Jin-goo does such a good job at portraying the two princes. And the story is interesting enough. I think I would recommend this drama to those that are interested in Korean historical dramas but haven’t fully taken the plunge. It has a nice balance of politics and romance, and the politics don’t completely take over the narrative. Rating: a solid mad clown.

Revenge of Others (2022, Lee Hee-myung)

Main leads: Shin Ye-eun, Park Solomon

Episodes: 12, 60 min

Thoughts:This show is definitely the thriller of the year, right behind Reborn Rich. The cast is great, and the characters felt so alive. There was a decent size cast and we understand and felt the motives of all the characters. It was heartbreaking in its set up, and fulfilling in its revenge plot. Also, Shin Ye-eun and Park Solomon’s chemistry is off the charts. Rating: if you are going to listen to me about anything, it should be watching this drama.

May I Help You? (2022, Lee Sun-hye)

Main leads: Lee Hye-ri, Lee Jun-young

Episodes: 16, 70 min

Thoughts: I Really enjoyed watching this drama week by week. It has a nice mellow vibe, with an underlying grief. This show can be really sweet at times or really devastating, and it balances these two emotions well. The main couple is sweet, and you are rooting for them from day 1. Overall I am really satisfied with this drama and how it ended. Rating: May I help you… find a good drama.

Midnight Diner: Tokyo Stories 2 (2019, Yarô Abe)

Main leads: Kaoru Kobayashi

Episodes: 10, 25 min

Thoughts: This is the last season of this series. I will miss the midnights I spent with the show. The people in the show are all questionable, but they feel real. We are kept up at night for multiple reasons. Despite our negative qualites we all deserve warm company and good food. Rating: There are more people than you would think.

Reborn Rich (2022, Kim Tae-hee, Jang Eun-jae)

Main leads: Song Joong-ki, Lee Sung-min, Shin Hyun-been

Episodes: 16, 70 to 80 min

Thoughts: Man Song Joong-ki the past couple of years really said, I am sick of capitalism. This is probably the thriller of the year. It is so good an interesting. I think this is a must watch, and if you are new to kdramas this is probably a good one to watch. It had similar vibes to Again My Life but this one actually stuck the landing. Rating: The ending did confuse me, so I had to rewatch the last episode… ooops.

Alice in Borderland (2020, Yoshiki Watabe, Yasuko Kuramitsu, & Shinsuke Sato)

Main leads: Kento Yamazaki, Tao Tsuchiya

Episodes: 8, 41 to 80 min

Thoughts: This show is so good. I have been putting it off, but with the new season coming out I just had to watch it. The characters are almost all incredibly flawed, but you are endured to them anyway. Arisu an awkward game-obsessed outcast becomes a hero alongside Usagi in the most deadly game ever. This show does have a graphic SA scene in the later half of the series which I wasn’t warned for, so just be warned. I do think it is worth a watch, but there is a lot of graphic violence. Rating: We built this city….

Summer Strike (2022, Hong Moon-pyo, Lee Yoon-jung)

Main leads: Kim Seol-hyun, Im Si-wa

Episodes: 12, 43 to 52 min

Thoughts: I actually didn’t see much promotion for this serious. But I love introverted couples, plus Im Si-wa plays the soft boy character very well. The couples in this are cute, and the vibes are immaculate, however the story is lacking somewhat. In the last 3 or so episodes it turns into a thriller, though viki does label it as such and there are hints of it in the beginning, it just feels out of place with the hometown vibes. Rating: If I had a nickel for every time a chill hometown vibe drama turns into a thriller I would have like 3 nickels which isn’t very much but it is weird it happened thrice.

Alchemy of Souls (2022, The Hong Sisters)

Main leads: Lee Jae-wook, Jung So-min

Episodes: 20, 60 to 70 min

Thoughts: Wowza, I understand why it is considered the drama of the Summer. It was actually so good. I wish I was able to see it when it was coming out, but now I don’t have to wait after that ending. It was so good, and I’m so excited to start the second part. Jung So-min doesn’t disappoint, plus her chemistry with Lee Jae-wook. It will definitely be different without her. The story and worldbuilding is also so interesting with very little complaints from me. Rating: a Wolf in Sheep's clothing.

Alice in Borderland 2 (2022, Yoshiki Watabe, Yasuko Kuramitsu, & Shinsuke Sato)

Main leads: Kento Yamazaki, Tao Tsuchiya

Episodes: 8, 41 to 80 min

Thoughts: Man what a ride. This season is arguably better than the first. It was such an interesting watch. I was so confused for a while at the ending but it all worked out. I just think this is such a good show, and if you have the stomach for it, you should watch. Rating: Alice, the white rabbit, and the queen of Hearts…

I am currently watching Alchemy of Souls: Light and Shadow. If there any shows that you think I should watch in the upcoming year please feel free to recommend me some. I hope you have a wonderful New Year!

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