#it's been nearly 5 hours since I watched that video

[jaeyunverse]

the 24-hour dating challenge

pairing: park sunghoon x fem!reader

genres: fluff, crack, mutual pining, suggestive, best friends to lovers, influencer au

wc: 8145

warnings: profanity, hoon is a loser and down bad sawry, you can’t see the mutual pining but that’s a skill issue on my part bc i swear it’s there, fic is completely from sunghoon’s pov, this was supposed to be short and sweet but it got kinda spicy towards the end LMAOAO but nothing happens so dw!!

summary: being a famous youtuber isn’t easy, especially when you have to constantly come up with new ideas to keep your audience entertained. and this time, your viewers want you to date park sunghoon, your best friend of nearly a decade, for the entirety of 24 hours.

moodboard: one ☆ two

note: omg i didn’t think i would struggle w this oneshot but i lowkey did w the last part ☹️ i think it’s bc it has been a while since i raw dogged a fic HAHDHS anyway i hope the end doesn’t seem super abrupt and y’all enjoy! i would love to hear your thoughts + feedback :’)

inspiration: evelyn and fred (♡)

masterlist

“Your followers want me to do what?” 

Sunghoon was positive he’d misheard you. However, part of him hoped you’d confirm the life-altering information you’d casually uttered without even bothering to look away from the TV screen.

“Hoon!” you exclaimed, your fingers aggressively moving about the gaming console. “Oh, my God, they’re coming after me! Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, FUCK—” you screeched— “Nonononono I can’t take them by myself! You testicle-guzzling cocksucker, why did you die when I needed you the most?!” 

Sunghoon watched you struggle warily. Your leg was bouncing with anxiety and your eyes were bulging out of their sockets. He wasn’t entirely sure you were breathing. Beads of sweat were clinging to your forehead, and your face was scrunched up in a weird, constipated expression. 

There was a good chance you’d utter fouler insults if he disturbed you while playing, but he couldn’t stop himself from broaching the subject. “Are we just going to pretend you didn’t say the thing you just said?” 

“The thing about you being a testicle-guzzling cocksucker?” you gritted. “No.”

Sunghoon rolled his eyes. “The thing about your followers wanting us to date for a video.” 

For a few moments, you didn’t deign to acknowledge him. Then, as if a switch inside you had flipped, you pulled the TV’s plug and turned to face him. “Would it be weird?” 

Wow. Okay, Sunghoon mused. I think it would be a fantastic idea and a dream come true, but I don’t trust myself around you. Even as a mere friend.  

However, instead of voicing his thoughts, the boy simply shrugged. “I don’t know. We’ve been friends for several years now. I’m a regular on your YouTube channel and I think your fans are aware of the dynamics of our relationship. What do they mean when they say they want us to date? Physical intimacy aside, we already do everything couples do.” 

“I think they want us to be romantic,” you admitted. “Go on a date, hold hands, cross some lines.”

“Cross some lines?” Sunghoon raised an eyebrow, the corner of his lip curling in a smirk. “Is this you speaking or your subscribers?”

Groaning in exasperation, you shoved his shoulder. He fell back on the couch, laughing. “Shut up, dickface! You know I’ve been swamped this semester. My influencer gig has been seriously lacking. I need to step up—do what they want me to do. Besides, we only have to be girlfriend and boyfriend for 24 hours. It’s really not that big a deal. Are you in or not?”

Sunghoon took a few seconds to mull over your words. Sure, he would love to be your boyfriend for 24 hours. As long as his fantasies were brought to reality, he didn’t care if the whole relationship was fake and short-lived. 

For far too long, he’d pined after you. He thought he was doing an excellent job at hiding his feelings, but then you decided to make vlogs for fun. That’s when shit actually went downhill. 

Within a few years, you’d amassed a following of over 5 million on YouTube and 3 million on Instagram. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say you’d become somewhat of a local celebrity.  

Being one of your closest friends, Sunghoon was often featured in your videos. Initially, he’d baulked at the idea of being filmed, but you’d worked your magic on him. The boy soon found himself being comfortable around cameras. 

Even though Sunghoon never started his own YouTube channel, his popularity grew along with yours. His Instagram had garnered over two million followers, and courtesy of his good looks and attractive physique, he’d been offered a bunch of brand deals too.

You’d scowled at how far Sunghoon’s pretty privilege had gotten him. While you busted your ass coming up with unique ideas and editing your videos to perfection, all he needed to do was show up. 

What you didn’t know, though, was that part of the reason he’d become a heartthrob among the youth was you. 

You might have been dumb and blind, but your followers certainly were not. They’d realised how Sunghoon looked at you—his eyes always twinkled and a fond smile automatically adorned his lips whenever he caught sight of you. 

To add to that, your fans had pointed out habits he didn’t even know he possessed. For example: idly braiding your strands; bringing you snacks whenever he swung by your apartment; saying hey, sunshine and giving you a side hug by way of greeting; disguising his compliments as insults. 

The list was embarrassingly long.

They’d noticed the elastic he kept around his wrist at all times too—it was one of the two you’d used to tie his hair into little ponytails because you were convinced you could transform him into Boo from Monsters, Inc.   

Sunghoon himself had forgotten the reason he wore the elastic around his wrist. All he knew was that it was yours and it felt right. But when he read the comments obsessing about it, he rushed to watch the video your fans were referring to. 

And damn, they were right. 

Sunghoon didn’t know if you’d seen the comments your fans regularly left on your various social media pages. You’d never mentioned anything about the community calling you “couple goals,” and he was too much of a coward to inquire if you were aware. 

It was infuriating to know how transparent he was. Sunghoon wished he’d never gotten used to the camera and let slip his true self. 

Perhaps this was the cost of gaining the boyfriend material label—his unrequited feelings exposed for the entire world to see. 

Sunghoon would never admit it, but he’d spent the better part of a day reporting everyone who’d shipped him with you. The entire incident had truly made him go off the rails. 

However, today’s revelation was unexpected. It was an opportunity. A chance to experience something he’d desired for many years. Suddenly, he found himself thanking those busybodies online instead of cussing them out for being ridiculously invested in his love life.

Sunghoon knew saying yes to your proposition would bite him in the ass later on. He knew he’d crave more of you once he got a taste of being your boyfriend, and giving this fake relationship a shot would definitely make it harder for him to get over you in the future. He knew he was a massive idiot for willingly indulging in impending heartbreak, but he could always cross that bridge when he came to it.  

“Okay,” he said, meeting your gaze. “I’m in.”

There was a small chance Sunghoon was getting ahead of himself. Maybe he shouldn’t have taken it upon himself to organise the perfect date. 

Being bitchless his entire life wasn’t doing him any favours in performing the task. Originally, he’d figured he would do a quick Google search and plan a day according to the results shown.

Unfortunately, most activities on the list were things the two of you already did on a normal basis. He’d racked his brain to think of a unique idea after scrolling through the internet for hours on end and coming up empty-handed. 

Karaoke? Check. Restaurant hopping? Psh, you did that every weekend. Rock climbing? He was scared of heights. Bowling? Boring. Concert? None of your favourite artists were in town. Clubbing? He would rather spend quality time with you than get both of you wasted. Arcade? Basic and low-budget; he didn’t want to be cheap. Road-trip? Needed more than just 24 hours.

Sunghoon wondered if he was the problem. He’d shot down every option he’d come across so far by classifying it as not good enough. His stress levels were skyrocketing trying to make your 24-hour relationship perfect.

An entire day’s research had ended up being fruitless. You’d decided to go through with the challenge on Sunday, so he only had tomorrow to come up with something satisfactory. 

Sighing, Sunghoon rubbed his eyes and closed his laptop. He eyed his phone on the bedside table for a few seconds, contemplating whether he should just call you and ask if you had anything in mind. 

Before he could rethink his choice, he picked up the device and dialled you. 

“Hey.” Your voice on the other end was deep and hoarse. A glance at the wall clock informed Sunghoon it was past midnight, and he’d likely woken you up. Guilt twisted his stomach. “Is something wrong?”

“Sorry, I didn’t realise it was late,” he mumbled. “I’ll call you tomorrow.”

“Nah, it’s alright. I was watching a movie and passed out halfway through it. I needed to finish it anyway.” 

Lying back on his bed, Sunghoon inquired, “Ready or not?”

“Yeah.” You huffed a laugh. “I finally got around to seeing it. Your choice, as always, is impeccable.” 

Though you couldn’t see him, he raised an eyebrow. “Didn’t you just say you dozed off in the middle of it?” 

“Well, yeah, but that’s because I’m not a stupid nocturnal with no care for their sleep cycle and health.” 

“Ouch.” Sunghoon clutched his chest. He could practically hear you roll your eyes. “No need to be so harsh.”

You hummed absent-mindedly, a yawn escaping your lips. “Was there a reason you hit me up, or can I get back to the movie?” 

“Oh, yeah.” Sunghoon cleared his throat. “Do you have any suggestions for the challenge? I’ve been thinking about it for a while, but I haven’t come up with anything interesting.” 

“Not really. I tried researching a bit, and there isn’t much we don’t already do. I’m starting to wonder if the only difference between a platonic and romantic relationship is physical intimacy. I’m sure we can reach a consensus though,” you added.  

Sunghoon groaned. “This is proving to be more difficult than I—”

“WAIT!” you interrupted him with an exclaim. “How about a picnic date? We’ve been talking about going on one with the rest of our friends for ages, but it’s never worked out. Let’s go—just the two of us. We can choose outfits for each other too! I’ll order you something online, and you do the same for me. We can spend the rest of our day doing whatever you want.” 

Sunghoon’s eyes widened. “That’s actually not a bad idea.”

“Right?” you giggled. “Maybe we can spread a blanket in the park under a tree and have a nice brunch. I’ll organise it!”

“I’ll take care of dinner and plan another activity for us to do between the two meals.” He grinned. “Looks like we might actually be able to pull this off, Y/N.”

“I don’t think I’ve ever been this excited to film a video,” you admitted.

Sunghoon’s heart fluttered, and his lips widened into a smile. “Me too.”

Everything was set. You’d received the dress Sunghoon had ordered for you, and he’d taken delivery of the one you’d bought for him.

Upon opening the package, Sunghoon was surprised to see you’d accidentally ended up matching outfits. While he’d chosen a white summer dress with blue flowers for you, you’d picked out a white graphic tee and low-rise, faded blue, baggy jeans for him. 

The fit was minimal—something that he would have purchased if he’d seen it in a mall. 

Grabbing a pair of sunglasses and running a hand through his messy hair, Sunghoon made a beeline for his car. He shot you a quick text regarding his ETA before backing the vehicle out of his driveway.

[hoon]: omw be there in 10

[y/n]: okie i’ll wait for u. call me when ur outside!!!!!!!!!

Averting his gaze to the road again, Sunghoon took a deep breath. He’d finally planned the perfect day out. It took a lot of effort and coordination on his part, but the several favours he had to call in were worth it. 

He’d probably gone over the top, especially considering the fact that this wasn’t even real, but he was determined not to half-ass anything. He had one chance, and he’d damn well make sure he didn’t waste it.

Turning the corner of your house, Sunghoon dialled your number. “I’m here.” 

“Coming,” you popped, the sound of your footsteps descending the stairs audible through the call. 

He grabbed the bouquet of flowers from the backseat, got rid of his sunglasses and exited the car. Your door opened a few seconds later, and Sunghoon’s world slipped from under his feet. 

God, you were beautiful. So beautiful and so fucking pretty in the dress he’d chosen for you. The material fit you perfectly—it accentuated your upper body and was flowy from your lower waist. The dress was almost ankle-length with a side slit that began at your upper thigh. Your shoulders and collar bones were exposed, a gold pendant filling the empty space the deep square neckline left in its wake. 

Your left shoulder was carrying a tote bag, and your right hand was holding a large picnic basket. Much to Sunghoon’s surprise, your free hand was wrapped around a bouquet too. 

Snapping himself out of his reverie, he took the basket from you and placed it inside the car. “You look amazing, sunshine,” he breathed. “Just—wow.”

Giggling, you did a little twirl for him. “Thanks! I love what you’ve done with your hair. It makes you more attractive.”

Sunghoon mock-saluted and bowed dramatically, a chuckle escaping his lips. “Took me ten minutes to style it.” Glancing at the flowers in your hand, he asked, “You got me flowers?” 

Maybe his eyesight was faulty, but Sunghoon felt your entire demeanour suddenly change. Tucking a stray strand behind your ear, you averted your gaze from his and shyly mumbled, “You took it upon yourself to plan the majority of the day. The least I could do was gift you some flowers.” 

Right when Sunghoon thought he couldn’t love you any more than he already did, you went ahead and did this. He’d never received flowers in his life before, and the gesture meant everything to him. 

Swallowing the lump in his throat, he took the bouquet from you. “Thank you,” he said, voice heavy with gratitude. “Don’t kill me, but I don’t know the name of these flowers.” 

Laughing, you pinched his cheek. “They’re asters.” 

“What do they mean?” 

“Why don’t you search it up when you go home?” you quipped. “Let me know once you find out.”  

Sunghoon shrugged and handed you the flowers he’d bought for you. “Sunflowers for my sunshine.” 

A wide grin broke across your lips. “They’re my favourite!” 

“I know, dummy,” he said, flicking your forehead and opening the passenger’s door for you. “That’s why I got them for you.” 

“Be nice!” you complained as he walked around the car. Taking a seat beside you, he started the engine and began driving. “I’m your girlfriend!” 

“I just opened the door for you,” Sunghoon pointed out, promptly ignoring the way his heart rate picked up. “I think I’m being gentlemanly enough.” 

“That’s not a word.”

“Is too.”

“Is not.”

“Is too.”

“This is why you get no bitches.”

“I got you.”

“Are you calling me a bitch?”

“I’m calling you mine.”

Snorting, you said, “Not your best save, Park.” 

Biting down the smile threatening to break across his lips, Sunghoon said, “I’ll survive, but you should really start recording.” 

“Right,” you gasped, your eyes widening. Fetching the DSLR from your tote bag and switching it on, you placed it on the dashboard carefully. After ensuring that the camera was rolling, you began, “I’m in the car with Sunghoon right now. He just picked me up, but I lowkey forgot to record it.”

“Y/N was too busy gawking at me,” Sunghoon teased and raised an eyebrow at the lens. “I’m too attractive for my own good.” 

“Nobody’s buying your bullshit.” You rolled your eyes. “But if you do think he looks cute, it’s because I chose his outfit.” 

“And if you think she looks beautiful, that’s because I chose her outfit.” 

You nodded. “He did. We thought kicking off the challenge this way would be cool. Clothes were ordered by both of us individually, which means neither of us had any idea what had been chosen by the other until we met ten minutes ago. Crazy how we still ended up matching.”

“We exchanged flowers too. Y/N got me asters, and I got her sunflowers.” 

“Hoon has no idea what asters signify,” you commented and nudged him with your elbow. “He didn’t even know the flowers I gifted him were asters.”

“Don’t shame me for not being a nerd!” Sunghoon defended himself. “Only you can be the kind of person who reads The Language of Flowers and indulges in floriography because they’re bored.” 

 “Aaaand the worst boyfriend award goes to this guy sitting right next to me,” you announced, shooting him a nasty glare. “He’s been annoying me from the moment he came to pick me up.”

“I opened the door for you!”

“How long are you going to milk the one gentlemanly thing you did?” 

Sunghoon scoffed in disbelief. “I thought gentlemanly wasn’t a word.”

“I lied,” you popped and grinned cheekily. 

“The problem with this relationship is you, woman, not me.”

Laughing, you turned to the camera again. “We’re going on multiple dates today. I’ve organised a picnic brunch, and Hoon has organised dinner.”

“It’s a surprise,” Sunghoon explained. “But I can assure you that it’s going to be the coolest thing ever.”

You hummed in agreement. “I believe him. He always gives the best surprises. Anyway, I’m going to stop recording now, and I’ll see you guys once we reach the park. I think we’re almost there.” 

“Five minutes,” Sunghoon provided. 

You grabbed the DSLR and brought it close to your face. Cupping your hand over the lens as if you were telling it a secret, you whispered, “T-minus five minutes to the best picnic date ever. Bye!”

Despite it being June and most kids being on vacation, the park wasn’t crowded. 

Even though it was almost 10:30 and the sun was merciless, there were plenty of people jogging on the track. Sunghoon spotted a laughter club in session a few hundred metres away from where you’d laid your blanket under the tree.

Thanks to the clear sky and blowing wind, more than a few people had taken out their own picnic baskets and decided to enjoy the weather. A bunch of middle-schoolers were playing basketball about fifty metres away from your tree, and though Sunghoon would have appreciated the peace, it was fun to watch them run around on the court. 

You’d set up the camera immediately upon arrival. Even though it was still rolling, neither of you were aware of it. It lay forgotten to the side, and as far as Sunghoon was concerned, it was just the two of you.

“It’s a beautiful day,” you mumbled, gathering your strands and tying them up in a messy bun. “Really fucking hot though.” 

“You have some relief, at least,” Sunghoon said, pointing at your exposed shoulders and flowing dress. “I’m fully covered and positively dying in here.” 

You smiled sheepishly. “Oops. That’s my bad.” 

Laughing, Sunghoon ran a hand through his hair. “What did you get for us to eat in that basket of yours?” he asked. “It was pretty heavy.” 

“Nothing much,” you answered and dragged the basket closer to you. Opening the lid, you pulled out Tupperware containing watermelons, muskmelons and mango slices. You’d also prepared a heart-shaped pizza and baked half a dozen macarons. Finally, you fetched a bottle filled with peach-iced tea and a pair of champagne glasses. 

Sunghoon gaped at the assortment of food you’d arranged. “Did you make everything by yourself?” 

“I wish,” you snorted. “Mom made the macarons and delivered them via FedEx. I don’t have the patience to bake.”

“Okay, but this is still crazy,” Sunghoon said, amazement evident in his tone. “The amount of effort you’ve put in is insane.” 

Blushing, you shoved his shoulder. “Stop! You’re embarrassing me!”

“I’m complimenting you!” he exclaimed, and served himself a piece of the pizza. “Bringing homemade food is the best thing you could’ve done. And God, this is delicious. I’m going to wife you right now.” 

You laughed incredulously. “Slow down, Romeo. We just started dating. How about you show me a good time first?” 

This. This was exactly the reason why Sunghoon didn’t entirely hate being stuck in the friend zone. Because no matter how much you told people you were just friends and there was nothing going on between the two of you, you were constantly flirting. 

The only reason he was afraid of confessing his feelings was that he didn’t know much of the flirting was real. It was the dynamic of your friendship—neither of you thought it was weird making suggestive comments. You were too comfortable with each other to let such things bother you. 

Sunghoon could no longer tell whether your relationship was still platonic. He was too hopelessly in love with you to keep knowing the difference between a joke and genuineness. His heart surged every time you said something only a romantic partner would, and his heart shattered every time he reminded himself that you didn’t actually mean it. 

You never meant it. 

But Sunghoon was a selfish person. He was going to take what he could get. He would rather be unintentionally strung along than give these moments up. The minuscule part of him that hated you for the pain you were causing him was nothing compared to the part of him that loved you unconditionally. 

Forcing himself out of his reverie, Sunghoon raised an eyebrow at you. “In front of everyone?”

“You’re so gross!” you snickered, your eyes shining with mischief. “I obviously mean when we get home!” 

I’m going to kill myself, Sunghoon thought. I’m going to kill myself before she kills me.   

The two of you had finished eating almost thirty minutes ago. Now, you were just lying on the blanket and staring at the sky, having conversations about the most random topics. 

You were talking shit about some know-it-all guy in your physics class, but Sunghoon wasn’t really paying any attention to what you were saying.

He was still stuck on what had happened an hour ago when you’d urged him to feed you because “that was what couples did.” 

Sunghoon didn’t give a shit what couples did. His biggest problem at the moment was his mind replaying the incident like a broken record. He couldn’t stop thinking about it. He’d already known he was being an idiot by agreeing to come on this date, but he never thought he’d regret his decision this quickly.

“Are you okay?” 

Blinking, Sunghoon spared you a glance. “Peachy.” 

“Those kids over there are calling us,” you told him, pointing to the basketball court. “We should go see what they want.” 

Nodding, he pulled himself to his feet and gave you a hand. Leaving the DSLR under the tree wouldn’t have been safe, so you grabbed it and the two of you made your way to the children waiting for you. 

“Hey,” a perky boy greeted you enthusiastically. “I’m Hyun. We’ve been playing basketball for the past several hours. The team that wins 6 out of 11 matches has to treat the other team to ice cream. Unfortunately, 2 of our friends left, and now it’s just the 6 of us divided into 2 teams. We really don’t want to play half-court, but we can’t play full-court with a team of only 3 each. Do you guys want to play the last few matches with us? One match only lasts 15 minutes.” 

Sunghoon exchanged a look with you. Then, you glanced at your spot under the tree. Lastly, you checked out your outfit—the slit exposing most of your leg and the lack of coverage for your shoulders.

“I have a pair of shorts and a shirt in my car,” he informed you. 

You took a moment to weigh your options. Honestly, playing in the open when the sun was out to torture everyone didn’t sound appealing. There was also the issue of you needing to switch outfits, and you didn’t know if you wanted to take the effort of changing inside Sunghoon’s car. 

But kids had always been your weak spot and the little rascals were staring you down with their puppy eyes. 

You sighed. “Fine. We’re in.”

“I haven’t played in a while,” Sunghoon admitted. “I think it’s been over 6 months.” 

“I haven’t played since varsity girls either,” you said. The kids had left to take a break a few minutes ago and the court was empty save for the two of you.

You’d changed into his clothes, but the shirt was too long for you. So, you’d requested him to tie the extra into a knot at the back. Thankfully, the shorts could be tightened at the waist with lace. 

Sunghoon could get used to you wearing his wardrobe. 

He idly dribbled the ball the kids had given to him for safekeeping while you stretched your stiff muscles. “Then I guess we get to evaluate whose skills have become more rusty.”

“Free shots?” you asked, eyes alight with a competitive fire and a smirk tugging at your lips. “We can test our aim and get a feel of the baskets on this court. It would be a good warm-up exercise.”  

Sunghoon poked the inside of his cheek with his tongue. “Bring your camera here. Record me from up close. I’m going to go for a layup.”

“Wow,” you scoffed but did as you were told nonetheless. Before stepping onto the court, you’d filmed Sunghoon and yourself, explaining that you were about to play basketball with a bunch of kids. Naturally, you’d decided not to record the match in order to respect the privacy of the children. “Don’t you think you’re getting ahead of yourself? I’m telling you right now that I won’t care if you miss the shot. I will use it to humiliate you in the video.” 

Sunghoon rolled his eyes. 

You switched on the DSLR and pointed the lens at him. “We’re doing free shots till the kids come back from their break,” you said. “Hoon’s convinced he can land a layup even though he hasn’t touched a ball for several months.” 

“Don’t condescend me,” Sunghoon grumbled as he walked to the 3-pointer line. “It’s not like I’ve completely forgotten how to play. I’m pretty sure I can nail a simple shot.”

“We’ll see.”

“You know what,” he called. “I’m going to dedicate this layup to you so that when I make it, you’ll know not to doubt my athletic prowess.”

All you did was raise an eyebrow. 

“This one’s for you, babe!” Sunghoon announced and began running. The ball was a number 6—smaller than the size 7 he was used to. The grip was worn due to excessive use, but he still had complete control over it. 

However, he misjudged the distance from the hoop. He realised a second too late that he’d taken the first step of the layup later than he was supposed to. 

The ball collided against the rim and rebounded.

“Air ball!” you hollered and zoomed into Sunghoon’s face. “Athletic prowess found to be missing! What a shame!” 

His cheeks, along with the tips of his ears, were red with embarrassment. He couldn’t even bring himself to look into the camera after making such a big fool out of himself.

“I am begging you, Y/N. Can we please edit that part out?” 

“I’m kicking your ass, Park.”

“I suggest you take the over-confidence down a notch.” 

You smirked, dribbling the basketball in place. Sunghoon was blocking the way to your side of the court, and each of the kids on your team had a man on them. Playing in the sun for so long must have tired them out because no one was making an effort to get rid of the shield standing in front of them.

The last match was a 1v1 at this point.  

“I’m not in the habit of lying,” you said, and dribbled the ball from between his legs. 

Sunghoon cursed under his breath and chased after you, but you were speeding away from him faster than he could keep up. The layup was clean and effortless. You barely broke a sweat. 

“SUCK IT!” you screamed. “Your team is going down!” 

Sunghoon rolled his eyes. He watched your team—Hyun, Chul and Dae—do the victory dance you’d taught them. It was hilarious because none of you had any coordination. The arm wave move made it seem as though all of you were having a seizure. 

“We still have fifteen seconds of the match left,” he pointed out, and pat Iseul’s back in reassurance. “Don’t go celebrating just yet.” 

 “You’re four points behind. Just admit defeat,” Dae said. “We’ve won!” 

“We’re not surrendering,” Hajoon said angrily. “Sunghoon will make sure we win.”

“Boys!” you interrupted loudly. “Let’s finish the championship sportingly. We’re playing for fun.” 

Chul muttered something under his breath that Sunghoon and you chose to ignore. 

“Seojoon,” Sunghoon called quietly. “Now that we have possession of the ball, I need you to pass it to me from below. Then I need Hajoon and Iseul to gang up on Y/N. Don’t push or shove; just keep her away. The worst thing we can do is commit a foul. The rest of the boys won’t be a problem, but I’ll need Seojoon to act as my shield in case they try to take the ball from me. Do not let anyone come near me under any circumstances. I’m going to go for a 5-pointer.”

The trio audibly gasped. 

Iseul nervously asked, “Are you sure you can score?” 

“Not without the three of you helping me out.” Sunghoon nodded. “Y/N is quick and slippery. Keep your eye on her. We’ll lose if she gets possession of the ball. I’ll take care of the rest.” 

The boys let out a sound of agreement and dispersed, taking their respective positions. 

Sunghoon searched for you, and when your gazes met, he made a gesture of slitting his throat. This time, you rolled your eyes and dismissed him without a word. 

“Let’s start,” you announced with a clap and got into position. He noticed you were standing away from the basket. The rest of your team was too. It dawned on Sunghoon that you’d positioned everyone in a way that would prevent them from committing a foul which would grant his team free throws. 

It was smart and reasonable of you to think that way. Sunghoon wasn’t known for landing 5-pointers. Heck, he never even attempted them. He usually went for layups and 3-pointers. 

Focusing on the game, he took a deep breath. Seojoon passed the ball at him as soon as you yelled Go!

Sunghoon dribbled to your side of the court immediately. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw you hesitate, but your mouth parted in realisation the second you caught onto what he was doing. 

“Stay on her!” he yelled at Iseul and Hajoon. “Don’t let her go.”

Sunghoon dodged the rest of your teammates. Seojoon wasn’t doing a good job at keeping them away, but he didn’t have enough time to dwell on it. He could do this by himself as long as you were out of the picture. 

Sunghoon eyed the basket and bent at his knees, gathering enough momentum to jump. He’d been hitting the gym more often, and he hoped to God his hard work wouldn’t fail him at such a crucial time. 

Exhaling once, Sunghoon jumped and let the ball fly across the court. The moment the ball was out of his hands, you crashed into him, knocking him to the ground and falling on top of him. 

“Ow,” he muttered, his arm wrapping itself around your waist on instinct. “That’s foul play.” 

Before you could bite back, Sunghoon heard someone scream, “No way! Sunghoon did it!” 

Sunghoon grinned and craned his neck to look at his teammates. A laugh tumbled past his lips when he saw them doing the floss dance and playfully teasing the losing team.

The sound of your groan made him avert his attention to you. You’d raised your head to find out whether Sunghoon had made the basket, and upon realising that you’d lost the match, you let it fall on his chest again. “Man,” you grumbled in defeat.

“Aw,” Sunghoon teased. “It happens to the best of us.”

“Who asked?”

Snorting, Sunghoon loosened his grip around your waist. Rolling off him, you laid down on your back in the middle of the court next to him. “Am I supposed to buy you ice cream now?” 

He checked his watch before answering, “Nah. Let’s go home and freshen up. It’s almost time for my date.”

“The beach,” you marvelled. Both of you were standing on a cliff overlooking the expanse of sand and water. “I should have guessed.” 

Sunghoon agreed. It shouldn’t have been hard to pinpoint the venue of the date once he’d requested you to wear shorts and sandals. However, your obliviousness had worked in his favour. 

The entire thing was supposed to be a surprise. It was supposed to sweep you off your feet.

He averted his attention from the ocean to find that you were already staring at him. A soft smile was adorning your face, and with the breeze ruffling your unbound hair, you looked nothing short of a fairy tale. 

“Do you remember the last time we came here?” you inquired, and returned your gaze to the view again. Sunghoon didn’t bother to take his eyes off you—he couldn’t take his eyes off you. The reflection of the sunset in your irises was too intoxicating. “Jay, Jake, Yizhuo and Isa were with us. We spent the entire night talking around a bonfire. I couldn’t keep myself awake once the clock struck two. You tucked me close and let me rest my head on the space between your shoulder and neck. You kissed my forehead and promised me you’d wake me up in a few hours.” 

Sunghoon didn’t say anything. He only kept staring at the image of the sunset in your eyes—the way the ocean consumed the ball of fire the same way his love for you consumed his very being. 

Love shouldn’t hurt this much, he thought. It shouldn’t be this painful.  

“I remember the way you smelt,” you continued. “Like vanilla and sandalwood. I remember wanting to pull you closer because you also smelt like home. I hated moving to a new city for college. I missed our hometown. I missed life being simpler. I missed the old times. But those brief moments before I fell asleep reminded me that not everything had changed. The clumsy boy I’d met in kindergarten was still with me. Sure, he was a bigger pain in my ass than he had been when we were kids, but he hadn’t left my side even once. And I knew he wouldn’t for a long time.”

“You’ve been the only constant in my life, Sunghoon,” you mumbled and turned your body towards his. Snaking your arms around his waist, you pulled him into a hug. “Thank you for being a good friend to me. I love you.”

And though Sunghoon knew you didn’t mean it the way he wished you did, he returned your embrace and confessed, “I love you too.” 

“What the fuck?” you whispered and let go of Sunghoon’s hand to jog ahead. “WHAT THE FUCK? IS THAT A CANDLELIGHT DINNER?” 

Laughing in amusement, he pocketed his hands and watched you freak out. The beach was usually crowded at this hour, but he’d asked Jake—the surfer of their group—if there was anywhere he could spend the evening undisturbed. 

“Your eyes do not deceive you,” he joked as he approached you. “I know it’s kind of corny, but this was the most romantic date setting I could think of.”

“Corny?” you exclaimed incredulously. “This is amazing!” Nudging him with your elbow, you teased, “I didn’t know you had it in you.” 

“You would have known a lot more if you’d asked me out before,” Sunghoon smirked, a suggestive undertone to his comment. “But I suppose we can make do with what we have now.”

You snorted. “You’re insufferable.” Then added, “I don’t want to shoot us having dinner here. Maybe I’ll just film the date set-up and our outfits, but I think I want this evening to remain between us only.”

“Oh.” Sunghoon raised an eyebrow. “Yeah, sure, that works for me. Do you want me to get your camera?” 

The next five minutes were spent recording the date he had organised. The food was prepared by Jay, whose chef father had taught him a thing or two before the boy moved to the city for college. Sunghoon had dragged Yizhuo and Isa with him to shop for decor. 

They’d bought a soft blanket which was now spread on the sand. He’d also purchased six couch pillows to make the setting cosier. Fairy lights covered the perimeter of the throw. 

The coffee table Sunghoon had stolen from himself and brought to the beach was filled with all kinds of your favourite food, a scented candle burning in the centre of it. 

Since he’d known he couldn’t escape you to set up everything that he’d planned, he’d begged his friends to do it for him. Obviously, they’d teased him about it on their group chat, but he’d ignored them the way he always did. 

“I have another surprise,” Sunghoon popped as the two of you settled down on opposite sides of the table. “I don’t know if you’re going to be up for it though.”

“Is it the wine?” you asked, eyeing the corked bottle partially hidden under one of the pillows. “Because I saw it long back, and I am all for getting drunk.” 

Sunghoon chuckled. “Nah, it’s not the wine, but yeah, we’re getting drunk. There’s absolutely no doubt about it. But,” he continued, “I’d been going through Pinterest to search for date ideas when I called you in the middle of your movie a few nights ago. After our talk, I remembered you’d made this board with Karina when you were a thirteen-year-old.”

You gasped and reached over the table to smack his arm. “You stalked my Pinterest?! That is so uncool! There’s tons of embarrassing shit on there! I should have privated those boards when I had the chance,” you muttered to yourself. 

“Then I wouldn’t have rented a projector for us to watch a movie after we finish dinner.” Sunghoon grinned cheekily. “We are not watching some sappy romcom though,” he warned. “Soap2Day came in clutch so we can watch Suzume or Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 3. Your choice.”

Your mouth parted in surprise. For a few moments, you didn’t say anything. With a raised eyebrow, Sunghoon watched you struggle to form the words. “Okay, I know it was creepy to stalk you on Pinterest—” 

“NO!” you blurted, your eyes widening. “It’s not creepy! I just—No one has ever done anything of this sort for me. I don’t know what to say except… thank you.”

Before he could reply, you buried your face in your hands, and muttered, “Gosh, I sound so ungrateful, but I really do appreciate it. More than I can express.” Raising your head, you looked straight into his eyes. “I have this extremely strong urge to kiss you right now. Would it be fine with you if I acted on it?”

Sunghoon stopped breathing. His smile dropped, and his heart skipped a beat. The entire world could have crumbled, and he would have remained frozen in place, trying to make sense of what you’d just said. 

“W—what?” he croaked. 

You broke off the eye contact and dropped your gaze to the ground. “Sorry. That was stupid of me—”

“Yes,” Sunghoon breathed. “Yes, it would be fine with me.” 

You exhaled, appearing visibly relieved, and that somehow made him feel better about the sharp turn the evening had taken. Of course, he was thrilled you wanted to kiss him, but part of him couldn’t help but wonder if you’d regretted voicing your thoughts. 

Licking your lips, you unfolded your legs and scooted away from the table. Instead of standing up, you got on your knees and made your way towards him.

Sunghoon also moved away from the table to make space for you, and once you reached him, you swung your legs on either side of him. Straddling his lap, you towered over him. 

Snaking your arms around his shoulder, you glanced at his mouth. 

Even though it was driving Sunghoon out of his mind to not close the distance between your lips, he let you take your time. You traced your thumb across his lower lip and then shifted your hand to the back of his neck. 

Weaving your fingers through his hair, you let your eyes flutter shut and lowered your mouth over his. 

Sunghoon’s entire universe exploded into shards of molten light. A tidal wave of emotions crashed into him, setting his nerves on fire and making fireworks explode inside his chest.

The boy couldn’t have kissed you back any faster. Tilting his head to the side, he pulled you closer by the nape. 

Settling in his lap, you tugged at his hair, the nails of your other hand digging into his shoulder. 

A groan slipped past Sunghoon’s lips. God, he’d coveted the taste of you for so long, and now that he was finally kissing you, he realised he’d never estimated the magnitude of his love for you accurately before. 

Because this… this was everything. Sunghoon felt on top of the world, and pure euphoria was coursing through his veins. He couldn’t get enough of you. A single kiss would never be enough to satiate him. The floodgates were thrown open, and the thought of this being a one-time, impulsive thing made his gut twist painfully. 

He knew he needed to tell you. Right here, right now, he needed to tell you the truth. 

“Y/N.” Sunghoon gasped, breaking the kiss. He was leaning back now, his weight resting on his left elbow. The desperation and urgency with which you’d come onto him had been more than he could handle. “I need to tell you something.” 

Your eyes remained glued to his lips and there was a tinge of disappointment on your face. As if you didn’t want to stop. As if you wanted to keep going. 

With a jolt, it dawned on him that you probably wanted him just as much as he wanted you.  

The epiphany alone was enough for Sunghoon to consider ditching his plan of confessing his feelings and instead close the distance between your mouths again. But, he steeled his nerves and pushed himself into a sitting position.

He didn’t bother asking you to get up from his lap nor did he bother removing his left hand from your waist. If this confession went sideways, he’d end up losing you anyway. 

“What is it?” you whispered, your disappointed expression giving way to concern and nervousness. “Did I go too far? I’m sorry—”

“Stop,” Sunghoon ground out. “Please stop. Let me speak.” 

You pursed your lips, but he could tell you were scared shitless. There was fear in your eyes, and he hated making you feel as though you’d done something wrong when you’d given him the one thing he’d wanted more than anything else.

“I…” Sunghoon started, forcing himself to find the courage to say the words. “Y/N, I love you.” 

There it was. He’d done it. The cat was out of the bag, and all he could do now was wait with bated breath. 

Your mouth parted open, but no sound came out of it. Your face was unreadable. It was void of any emotion. Swallowing the lump in his throat, Sunghoon tore his gaze from yours and let out a humourless laugh. “Right. That’s okay—”

But then he felt your hands grabbing his jaw, making him pin his attention on you again. 

There was pure, unadulterated joy on your countenance, a wide smile adorning your lips. “I love you too,” you breathed. “Oh, my God, Sunghoon, I love you too.” 

Sunghoon blinked. “What?” he mumbled, his mouth set in a pout due to your squishing his cheeks. 

You leaned forward and pressed a chaste kiss to his puckered lips. “I love you too,” you repeated. 

Gripping your hands, Sunghoon removed them from his face and stared up at you in bewilderment. “You’re serious?” 

“Hasn’t it been obvious to you?”

“Hasn’t it been obvious to you?” he shot back. “I’ve loved you since high school.”

You snorted. “So have I.” 

“Sophomore year.”

“Same.”

“I knew right after the homecoming ball.”

“Sucker!” you exclaimed. “I knew right after the game!” 

Sunghoon frowned. “It’s not a competition, Y/N,” he said, and then added, “But if it were, I would win. The amount of effort I’ve put into hiding my feelings is insane.”

“Sure,” you drawled. “That’s why all my followers keep saying it’s clear you’re in love with me.”

The tips of his ears turned red in embarrassment. “You saw the comments?” 

“Of course I did,” you answered, your voice soft. “I just never believed them. The notion never seemed possible. Isn’t it crazy how it was real this entire time?” 

Sunghoon chuckled. “We’re idiots.”

“We are,” you said, smiling at him in affection. “To be honest, I wouldn’t have ever said anything about what I truly felt if you hadn’t found the courage to confess to me.” 

“I know, I know,” you defended and rolled your eyes when he gave you a pointed look. “I did ask if I could kiss you. Trust me, I was more surprised than you were. Heck, I was fully prepared to play it off by spouting some bullshit in case you said no. What you did for me, Sunghoon… I couldn’t keep the urge inside me anymore. I didn’t care about the consequences. I didn’t care that there would be no turning back—I knew I had to take the risk. And I’m glad that I did.”

Sunghoon’s heart swelled with joy. “Me too.”

“Wait,” you said quickly. “How’d you know you were in love with me?”

Rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly, he answered, “While we were dancing at homecoming. You didn’t have a single move in you, but you didn’t wanna be the only one not dancing, so you started doing what you’d learnt in Zumba. It was hilarious—watching you be clueless but still killing it on the dance floor. It made me proud of you, but more than that, it made me realise what I felt for you.” 

“Aw,” you cooed. “That’s really sweet of you, but I definitely knew what I was doing.”

“Let’s not ruin the moment by lying to each other.”

“You’re such a dork!” 

“It’s your turn now!” Sunghoon grinned. “Tell me!”

“Okay, but you have to promise not to judge me,” you warned. “My story is embarrassing.” 

Locking his pinkie with yours, he promised, “I won’t.”

“Remember how you sat with Yeojin at the game?” you asked, to which Sunghoon nodded. “Well, I’d been saving seats for us. I fought a lot of people to keep the seat next to me vacant, but you didn’t even acknowledge me when I called your name. Yeojin caught hold of you, and you went to sit with her without bothering to check if I was around.” Shrugging, you mumbled, “That made me mad and jealous and upset. Not just at her, but at both of you. I’d never been possessive over my friends, and I’d never felt such ugly emotions before. There was only one reasonable explanation.”

Sunghoon’s eyebrows flew up. “Woah. I’m sorry for what I did.”

“Nah, it’s cool. It was loud at the game and I don’t think you heard me.” You laughed and waved him away. “I was being petty. And I know it’s not cute like your story, but that was what made me realise there was a chance I loved you.”

“Cute or not, that was the best story I’ve ever heard,” he said cheekily. “Also, don’t get me wrong—I would love nothing more than have you sit in my lap, but I think we should finish dinner first. Let’s finish what you started once we’re done eating.”

Your eyes widened, and you scrambled away from him. “Right.”

“Wait!” Sunghoon grabbed your wrist before you could get up and go back to the other side of the table. “The asters—what do they signify?” 

You smiled and leaned closer to his face, pressing the gentlest of kisses to his cheek. 

“Love.” 

#enhypen imagines #enhypen scenarios #sunghoon imagines #sunghoon scenarios #enhypen fluff #sugnhoon fluff #enhypen x reader #sunghoon x reader #enhypen oneshots #sunghoon oneshots #enhypen fanfiction #sunghoon fanfiction #enhypen #park sunghoon #enhypen drabbles #sunghoon drabbles #enhypen headcanons #enhypen reactions #enhypen soft hours #sunghoon soft hours #enhypen timestamps #sunghoon timestamps #enhypen fanfic #sunghoon fanfic #sunghoon headcanons #sunghoon reactions

[mattphobiia]

STREAMER.

i finally prepare the last touches before clicking start to begin my stream, sitting back into my chair as i watch the viewers increase as the minutes pass by and my chat begins to get active.

"hey chat! how are we all feeling today?" i say as i begin to set up my screen so all the viewers can see. i look over for a minute to see what everyone was talking about only to see my chat spamming that i was wearing "fresh love" which started to confuse me.

"guys, why are you bringing up my outfit?" i laugh awkwardly as i click at the mouse selecting the game folders. "my best friend got it for me so i don't know what you are all talking about."

"anyways, i've opened all my games so spam my chat with whatever you want to see me play!" i cough, trying to distract the viewers as they all begin to change the topic.

"for fucks sake, all i'm seeing in the chat are all the horror games." i sigh in annoyance. "do you all want me to have a heart attack?"

i hesitantly click to the most suggested when in the corner of my eye i see my chat spamming even crazier than before. i scan through the comments to see many people saying some guy called chris had joined.

"chat who is chris?" i ask curiously as i pause to look at my stream. "chris sturniolo?" i quickly got out your phone to search for his instagram when a verified user came up and turns out i was wearing his merch brand, fresh love.

"oh, damn. hes a big creator!" i gasp, looking through his account as i turn my phone to the stream. "well, hey chris if you're still here!"

i turn my attention back to the game as i engage properly while my heart raced with nerves until the sound effect of someone subscribing made me jump, along with a donation.

chrissturniolo subscribed!

chrissturniolo donated $100!

"holy shit, you scared the fuck out of me!" i scream, jolting backwards and nearly falling from my chair as i place my hand on my chest to feel my heart pounding. "thanks for the $100 and sub chris sturniolo."

i had been streaming for over two hours now, and this chris guy had been donating a couple hundred dollars numerous times just to talk to me directly and my chat was going absolutely crazy over him. i honestly didn't see the hype until i got the idea from someone in the chat to check out their youtube channel, and something about that sparked my interest.

"chat.... i have a surprise for you all!" i say excitedly. "ive seen many comments begging for me to react to the sturniolo's videos so... that's what i'll be doing for the next hour!"

a couple minutes before i searched up their channel, i received another donation from chris, but was that a surprise?

chrissturniolo donated $1,000!

"chris! holy shit dude!" i yell excitedly, nearly beginning to cry as i get up from my chair to get out of the camera frame. "i can't believe this... thank you so much!" i say while the tears of happiness slowly seeped from my eyes. i slowly sat back down as i wipe my eyes before looking at the chat, realising he had left a message underneath the previous donation and i read it out loud.

"thanks for the support, treat yourself princess- princess?!" my eyes widen as i lean closer to the screen, almost in denial. "damn chrissy, thanks!"

i click onto their channel as i select one of their most recent car videos, almost gasping for air once i saw what they actually look like.

"chat is it just me or is chris really attractive?" i question, slightly smirking predicting the reaction of everyone, knowing they would act feral. "oh, thanks for the $5 donation chris!"

chrissturniolo: 😳😳 whats the instagram???

i read out his comment as i pull up another tab to open instagram, showing off my secret account that not even my own supporters had as i continue to speak.

"this is the spam account, but i consider it my main since i don't actually use the other one. as you can tell, i definitely post myself in some... questionable clothing choices!"

immediately on screen, chris's notification popped up saying that he followed me, along with many others where he was liking my posts.

"well, the whole stream saw your notifications chrissy. anyways, back to reacting." i say, giggling to myself as i saw through my peripheral vision that the chat had began to speed up rapidly.

"well that was a fun time! i dont know why i havent watched them sooner, but ill be getting off now to rest. chris, ill talk to you later. bye everyone!" i finally say, giving a wink to the camera for chris as i end the stream, falling back into my chair as i let out a sigh.

well, that was a very unexpected surprise to my stream. my thoughts suddenly get interrupted when i notice chris had sent me a private message.

chris: hope you enjoy all that money i gave😉

you: i definitely will, you live in la/boston right?

chris: yesss, i live in la but usually go to boston to visit parents

you: thats cute

you: would you ever want to meet up?

chris: i'll do anything for a girl like you🥴

you: 🫣🫣🫣

MASTERLIST

a/n : this is not proof read and i also started off in second person perspective (you,your,etc.) so im sorry if that is still there🥲 im also having a bit of writers block atm but im trying to write more! thank you for all the support tho:)

#sturniolo triplets #chris sturniolo #sturniolo smut #sturniolo fanfic #matt sturniolo #nick sturniolo

[wp-blaze]

Surviving Parent Hood

Nobody talks about the pain you feel inside when the love your child has for you dies When they look at your hard work & aren’t satisfied When nothing you do for them is right No matter how hard you try You can see the distaste  for you in their eyes When you thought y’all were […]

[nightfang22]

Get Angry

As a special treat for my friend @p34ch-tr33 who always pulls out my best work! Enjoy!

TW:Angst,smut insinuation,alcohol,18+

A tear runs down my cheek as I blow out the last candle on the cake. 20 candles nearly completely melted, wax mixed with icing, I sat alone in the dark as I waited for him. He should've been here 5 hours ago. Kenny promised this year would be different. He promised. I scroll through my Snapchat just looking at people's stories and watching dog videos. I clicked on Stan's story expecting to see cute photos of Sparky or videos with Wendy. What I saw broke my heart. Stan's story was filled with nothing but videos of a party at Kenny's house. I could see Wendy and Bebe taking shots and Cartman and Heidi making out. Butters was hitting on some poor drunk girl in the corner and Kyle was playing video games. Craig and Tweek were watching Jimmy break dance on a cardboard box in the middle of the room. I choked back a hard sob stuck in my throat but ultimately I failed. Then I remembered what my father told me when I was little: Don't cry, get mad. And when you get mad, get even. I picked myself up and brushed myself off, tossing the ruined cake in the garbage before fixing my makeup. I grabbed my keys and sped off in my car to Kenny's house.

Ever since Kenny's dad got that oil rig job and is never home anymore, Kenny hasn't really been Kenny. We used to celebrate each other's birthdays together all the time when we were kids but he's missed the last couple of years. He always made it up to me in the end but this time he completely forgot and didn't invite me to his party! I'll show him. I pull into Kenny's driveway and get out of my car. I knock on the door but there's no answer. 'Maybe the music is too loud for them to hear anything else?' So I knock again but louder. Stan opens the door looking back over his shoulder laughing at something before turning his head to face me. His eyes widen in shock. "(Y/N), what are you doing here?" He has a glass in his hand that has a golden brown liquid in it. I relieve him of his glass and down it. 'Hm, Kenny's dad's Scotch from the fancy liquor cabinet.' "I just came to say hi to Kenny and to remind him of the date. You know, since he didn't invite me to his little shindig." I said through gritted teeth. Stan is just staring at me dumbfounded before saying, "What? Kenny told us you couldn't make it cause you were sick. Everyone was asking about you." I smile softly and hug him. That makes me feel a teensy bit better. "Thank you, Stan. Where's Kenny?" I ask, my voice now calm and soft. Stan steps aside to let me in and points over to his dad's recliner where Kenny is sat watching Kyle play Nintendo. I give Stan back the empty glass and march over to Kenny. I stand in front of him, blocking his view of Kyle's game. I see his eyes widen for but a moment before I kick him square in the junk. "KENNY MCCORMICK, YOU ARE THE WORST FRIEND AND BIGGEST ASSHOLE I'VE EVER MET AND THAT SAYS SOMETHING CONSIDERING WE'VE KNOWN CARTMAN OUR WHOLE GODDAMN LIVES!" I scream at him in front of everyone. He's not wearing his parka so I have a full view of his face and just how red his cheeks are from embarrassment. The music suddenly stops and the whole room falls silent as everyone has their eyes on us. "NOT ONLY DO YOU THROW A PARTY AND TELL EVERYONE I'M SICK BUT YOU FORGET MY GODDAMN MOTHERFUCKING BIRTHDAY FOR THE THIRD YEAR IN A MOTHERFUCKING ROW, YOU PIECE OF ABSOLUTE DOGSHIT! I HOPE YOU GET TOSSED ONTO A PIKE YOU SON OF A BITCH! I DON'T KNOW ABOUT YOU GUYS BUT I THINK THAT KENNY KABOBS SOUND PRETTY GODDAMN GOOD RIGHT ABOUT NOW!" And I kick him square in the junk one more time. Just for good measure, of course. "Okay everyone, let the party continue! It is my birthday, after all!" I slit my eyes in Kenny's direction when I say the word 'birthday'.

     The music starts up again and everyone goes back to partying like nothing even happened. I walked into the kitchen to pour myself a heavy drink when I felt a tap on my shoulder. I roll my eyes sighing. Spinning around, I say "Kenny, I'm not sorry for kicking you in the balls and I'm especially not sorry for crashing your party, either." But when I spin around I am not met with blonde hair and blue-green eyes. I am met with messy black hair peeking out of a cute blue hat. "I'm not sorry you did either of those things, too. He really deserved it." It's Craig. I look up at his rather tall frame. Craig has towered over me since we were little. "Oh, sorry. I thought you were Kenny." He fakes being wounded in the chest. "Ouch, (Y/N). That bad, huh?" I could only laugh at his cheesy joke and brush his arm as I reply, "Nah, you're way cuter." His cheeks turn bright pink and that's when I notice Kenny watching out of the corner of my eye. I wrap my arms around Craig's neck and pull him in. We start to makeout and he has me pressed up against the wall. I break away only to pull him up the staircase to Kenny's bedroom. I open the door as Craig takes off his shirt. I turn to him as he pins me to the door, shutting it. He pulls my shirt off and unclasps my bra. He moves me to the bed and takes his hat off, placing it gently atop my head. Removing my skirt and undergarments, Craig kisses his way up my legs before he has me pinned beneath him. I never thought that my first time would be like this. As a revenge tactic with someone I didn't love. Especially not with Craig Tucker. He's leaning down to kiss me again when the door slams wide open. Kenny bursts through the door and pulls Craig off of me by the back of his head, slamming him into the wall. I jump up to my elbows. It appears that Craig is rendered unconscious. He's still breathing at least. I can see his chest moving rhythmically. I stare at Kenny as his head turns to me, his breathing hot and heavy. I can see why. He has a raging boner in his jeans. He pulls off his shirt and crawls on top of me. We make very intense and intimate eye contact for a few silent moments. "I'm sorry, (Y/N). I shouldn't have forgotten." I clear my throat. "Or lied to everyone about you being sick. Can you please forgive me?" Kenny gives me his best puppy eyes, the ones that always got me to do whatever he wanted when we were little and even still to this day. "Okay, fine. I'll forgive you." He smiled at me softly kissing me on the lips. "You weren't really about to give away what's mine to Craig, right?" I shake my head while giggling. He chuckles. "Good. Now let me give you your birthday gift." He strips his bottoms and I flip him over. "Let me." I whisper. I get real close to his face before I whisper, "Nice try, asshole." I sit back up and slap him across the face. "You could never have me no matter how bad you want me, McCormick." I spit in his face as I got up, Craig's hat still atop my head. I saunter over to the door taking a final turn to look at Kenny. "You'd just die on me anyways, you fucking flip phone." Those were the last words I ever spoke to Kenny McCormick as I left him laying there confused and sexually frustrated with his cock out in a room with an unconscious Craig.

Word Count:1,358

#south park #kenny mccormick #kenny #kenny x reader #x reader #kenny mccormick x reader #craig tucker #craig tucker x reader #south park x reader #eric cartman #eric cartman x reader #stan marsh #stan marsh x reader #kyle broflovski #kyle brovlovski x reader #butters stotch #butters stotch x reader #jimmy valmer #wendy testaburger #tweek tweak #heidi turner #bebe stevens #craig #eric #stan #kyle #butters #jimmy #wendy #tweek

[kolbisneat]

MONTHLY MEDIA: March 2024

……….FILM……….

Dune: Part Two (2024) Every piece of technology felt and looked so tangible. The baby worm too! Love the tactile nature of this whole production and I hope studios take note that CG can't be the only tool in your belt. So much bigger than I imagined and just enjoyed the whole thing.

Forgetting Sarah Marshall (2008) Ages surprisingly well and a script that lets the main quartet be both funny and layered.

……….TELEVISION……….

Columbo (1.01 to 1.03) Hey I'm starting Columbo! Love that each episode is feature-length and Columbo appears fully formed right out of the gate. The sets and costumes are all so glamorous and L.A. Very excited to keep going.

Succession (2.05 to 3.04) The Kendall play at the end of season 2 felt very much like the Kendall play at the end of season 1 and while I'm still a huge fan of this series, I just hope it's not the same going into season 3 and 4.

Delicious in Dungeon (Episode 1.09 to 1.13) Great adaptation that isn't just a straight recreation of the artwork in the manga. The more kinetic/frantic moments in the animation are a nice departure and while they don't pop up in each episode, now that I'm 13 eps deep I can appreciate how they're sprinkled throughout.

Love is Blind (Episode 6.02 to 6.13) It still amazes me that anyone goes on reality tv.

……….YOUTUBE……….

Twilight | ContraPoints by ContraPoints Yes I did watch a nearly 3-hour essay on Twilight, sexual expression, and all that comes with that. And you should too. VIDEO

Instagram fatigue and the rise of 'Resentment Reels' by Taylor Lorenz While I haven't noticed this specific phenomenon, I have noticed Instagram declining as an app (both as a user trying to see anything other than ads, and a creator trying to get my work seen in between those ads). It's a bummer. VIDEO

Saltburn: The Tumblr-ification of Cinema by Broey Deschanel Every since I saw Saltburn, I've been thinking about what wasn't quite sitting right with me. This unlocked a lot of what I couldn't describe and most of it stems from the writer/director's upper class upbringing. Saltburn isn't a "take down the rich" movie, it's a horror story from the perspective of a wealthy family. VIDEO

Why Is It So Hard To Cross The Street? (& What You Can Do To Help) by Strong Towns Accidents where drivers hit a pedestrian are going up in my area so this really hit home. And for those feeling like there's nothing you can do at ground level, consider taking their course (not a paid sponsorship I'm just in real support of community-lead initiatives). VIDEO

……….READING……….

Elric of Melniboné by Michael Moorcock (Complete) After picking up the last book in this series (which I've yet to read) I figured I'd start at the beginning. Love the fast pace pulpy action and I can see how this influenced the creation of D&D.

The Man in the Brown Suit by Agatha Christie (Complete) This one would lose me for stretches but the final quarter of the book is stronger. A lot less cozy and a lot more action than I was expecting but skimming other reviews it sounds like this was written during her more...adventure-focused era. Three books deep and I have to give Christie credit that each has been a completely different experience.

Adventures of a Japanese Business Man by Jose Domingo (Complete) Always love going back to this nearly wordless epic that follows the titular Japanese business man. I love the complexity of the earliest panels and wish that could carry throughout more of the book, but it's always such a treat to discover just where each new panel will go.

Delicious in Dungeon Volume 5 by Ryoko Kui (Complete) Enjoying rereading this with shorter breaks between volumes as I certainly missed/forgot details on my first read. It's here that the story and tone shifts from light romp to a more dramatic and dangerous affair but it never loses its spot-on humour. Love those dryad pumpkins.

Ultimate Spider-Man HC Volume 11 by Brian Michael Bendis, Stuart Immonen, David Lafuente, and more (Complete) Going from some of my other comics back to this, I'm struck by just how wordy it can get. Now knowing where the story goes, it was a great idea to prime readers to the idea of Peter Parker dying even if it's not from this event.

……….AUDIO……….

Blank Check with Griffin & David (Podcast) Late to the game on this but really enjoying burning through their back catalog. Obviously started with their episode on Speed Racer as it's a near perfect film that you should watch right now.

……….GAMING……….

Oz: A Fantasy Role-Playing Setting (Andrews McMeel Publishing) The Tuesday group just killed a mayor! So the aftermath of that is going to play out over the next couple of sessions. And the Mof1 crew is investigating the aftermath of their own district-wide catastrophe and it's all looking rather suspicious!

Spot It (Blue Orange Games) I can't recommend this game enough. It's so easy to learn, rounds last maybe 5 minutes, it plays well with small or large groups of any age, and all it requires is pattern recognition and quick reflexes. Every time I've played this someone says they're going to buy a copy for themselves.

And that's it. See you in April!

#Monthly Media #Kolbisneat #Andrew Kolb

[paperbackribs]

The Gift (6 of 15) (Witch Steve AU)

previous: Chapter 5 You're Doing That On Purpose (Part B) next: Chapter 7 Answering the Question Content: steddie fic, 2K words

Last chapter, Eddie convinces Steve about which film to watch on movie night, Robin reveals she bagged a date with Vickie, and Steve unexpectedly saw a vision through Eddie's sight. This chapter, Steve would really like people to stop staring at how strange he looks and he confesses his fears and doubts about his Witch powers to Eddie.

Chapter 6 Help a Friend

“Steve! We need your help.” Dustin’s voice rings through Family Video. The couple in the corner look back over their shoulders. Probably startled by the sheer volume belting out of the little butthead, Steve thinks with irritation.

It’s the end of the Friday rush and everyone and their mother should be home with their new releases and weekly specials. The purple fluorescent lights shining down from the top of the ceilings banish the darkness from the outside, yes, but they don't create nearly as hip or appealing a psychedelic cast as ownership thought they would. The strain of the lights along with the burr of the airconditioner adds to the building pain in Steve's head.

The entire day has been a wash. It was Robin’s shift off, he's not been able to eat in hours, and, on top of it all, he'd had to endure Keith’s odd looks until the lanky man had left half an hour ago.

Just ask, Steve wants to snidely say. Point to my face or neck and say, hey man, what happened to you? Instead, he had put up with Knowing that Keith was looking at him throughout the afternoon while watching the other guy’s head whip away any time Steve turned to catch him out. The hypocrisy of it was grating.

Now he’s an hour from getting off and he wants to, at the bare minimum, have a shower to wash off the stink of the day before Eddie comes over to watch their movie.

Lucas follows behind Dustin with the embarrassed expression of someone who understands what an inside voice should sound like. But it’s Dustin who slams his open backpack on to the counter, pencils and two spare batteries rolling out to drop on the floor.

“Fuck,” Dustin disappears in front of the counter as he bends over to pick up his mess.

“Language!” Steve rubs at the headache pushing behind the bridge of his nose.

“Sorry Steve,” Lucas says before lighting up. “Hey, do you have Night of the Creeps yet? Max saw the trailer earlier this year and El says she thinks zombies are funny.”

“That’s not the important thing here, Lucas.” Dustin stands up with a fistful of pencils and batteries only to shove Lucas to the side, who then pushes him back with his gangly arms. The stouter boy looks like he’s about to ram into his friend, so Steve does the responsible, mature thing and pulls Dustin back by the collar and shakes him like a disobedient puppy.

“Yeah, look over in the Horror section. It should be in New Release, but no one wants to rent it out.” Lucas follows Steve’s thumb to stroll over to the direction he gestured towards. Pointedly ignoring his friend squirming by the tips of his toes.

“Now, what’s this about,” Steve asks, releasing him.

Dustin clears his throat, conspicuously looking over his shoulder to see if any customers have come closer. The lone couple have long since lost interest. Nevertheless, Steve wants to smack him when Dustin hisses, “I need you to do a love spell for me.”

Steve drops his head into his hands. He just needs a moment, in the dark, away from this fucking day.

“First of all,” he mumbles, glaring out between his spreading fingers. “Don’t talk about this in public, you little dickhead.” He leans in further, “What I told you all is private and should stay that way.”

“Sorry,” Dustin looks appropriately chastened for all of three seconds before he perks up. “But, ah, could you do the thing.”

“No, I can’t do the thing. Even if I could, I wouldn’t do the thing. Because whatever you’re thinking about has got to be sketchy as fuck. Aren’t you dating Suzie, anyway?”

Lucas slides over his chosen VHS, which Steve notes has a big fat R sticker at the top of the case.

“No.”

“Come on, Steve. You got us The Shining.”

Steve crosses his arms, “That was for movie night. And I was able to watch over you guys when we saw it.”

“It’s just for me and the girls, we’re responsible,” Lucas tries, winningly.

Steve grabs the case and goes into the back to get the cassette, grumbling. He knew he was going to give in, why’d he even try to talk Lucas out of it? At least, out of all of them, he can probably trust Lucas, Max and El... Huh.

He returns, renting the movie under his name on the computer but watching Lucas from the side of his eye. “So, you don’t need the same help as Dustin, then?”

Lucas purses his lips, “Nah, I’m okay. Max explained it to me, and I just have to share her with El. But me and El aren’t together. We have a schedule; it all works out.”

“Ah, okay,” Steve replies, uncertain about whatever is going on with this group but deciding the blame lies with him: he never should have asked.

Dustin, in the meantime, looks a bee’s dick away from pulling out his tightly curled hair. “Steve,” he whines. “Suzie hasn’t talked to me in a week. A whole week! She’s clearly fallen out of love with me now that the honeymoon phase is over. I need to — you know, get a thing.”

Steve wonders if he should have just let Dustin use the word spell. It’s wrong on so many levels; he’s not Elizabeth Montgomery, he doesn’t twitch his nose and make people fall in and out of love. But it might be better than having Dustin repeatedly and in the most grating tone keep saying thing.

“Have you tried talking to her,” Steve asks, patiently.

“She’s not responding to the radio.”

“Have you tried calling her, on the telephone,” Steve clarifies, even more patiently.

Dustin blinks. “But her dad?”

“You don’t know what’s happened, Dustin. Rather than panicking, try calling her. If that doesn’t work, send her a letter. If that doesn’t work, we’ll talk more. Not,” Steve points an officious finger in Dustin’s face as he starts to open his mouth, “about that.” Steve pushes the R-rated film into its case, slaps it into Lucas’s waiting hands, and directs that finger again towards the door.

“Good night!”

As they leave, Lucas looks pleased, and Dustin looks like he’s brewing up a plan. No matter what they throw at him, Steve congratulates himself, he’s a pretty damn good babysitter. He turns to the approaching couple with a practised smile.

His satisfaction lasts through the drive home and past his shower. But it’s when he’s wiping his sweaty hands over his jeans one last time that he’s stopped as he catches his reflection in the hallway mirror.

The amber of the wood frames his square face, forcing his gaze front and centre. Making him unable to avoid the white globe on his left or the red ring below his jaw.

He’s always been a little vain, having a healthy appreciation for the work he'd put into his well-coifed hair and the muscles that playing basketball and swim meets had put on his bones. If he puts the effort in to look good, then he should at least get to appreciate the results, right?

But Keith got into his head, and he can’t stop picking at the thought that between his cockeyed features and the fading line around his neck, he must look unpleasant to some people. People like Eddie. Who, even as the self-proclaimed master of all that is weird and wonderful, hadn’t been able to look away from Steve’s eyes when he’d first gotten out of the hospital.

Or maybe it’s just that the uncanny, which has always sat comfortably inside of him, is now visible to others. Shining through in a manner that compels even the most mundane of people to stop and stare.

After The Sacrifice, he thinks that perhaps the white threads of fate are reflected in his left eye. That anyone looking at Steve can see that he decided to play God and manipulate Eddie’s destiny.

What, he wonders, separates him from Vecna? Henry must not have started out as a sinister bastard; even as a child, he couldn’t have been purely evil from the get-go. Did getting his way, by using his powers, corrupt the child until the adult thought that torture and murder were justifiable as long as they were in service to what he believed was right?

He thinks back to Nancy's instant suspicion and, even though it was more subtle, Eddie's initial tenseness around him. Did people like Nancy and Eddie see a connection between the well-meant intentions of Steve to the malevolent actions of Vecna?

Out of the corner of his right eye, he sees a shifting body behind the frosted glaze of the front door before the bell rings.

Eddie.

Steve looks back at his reflection for a moment, unclenching his jaw and making sure that an easy smile graces his face when he pulls open the door. The warmth of the night air gently rushes against his body and the stars twinkle with a golden shimmer behind Eddie.

Eddie, who startles back like he hadn’t expected Steve to answer so quickly.

Christ, it must have looked like he was waiting by the door like some desperate loser. Steve runs a hand through his hair as he starts to stammer out an excuse, but the other guy is looking increasingly bewildered, so Steve takes a moment to pause, blow out a breath and try again.

“Sorry, weird afternoon, come in.”

Eddie crosses the threshold to follow Steve through, gently placing the six-pack on the table in front of the couch. “Are you okay?”

Steve thinks back to his promise on the kitchen counter, the truth. “Just struggling with looking like this,” he waves a hand over his face and neck, trying to encompass what ‘this’ is.

Eddie leans in to nudge him with an elbow, “A total smoke show?”

Laughter bubbles out of his chest and Steve looks on at Eddie fondly. “You’re right, what was I thinking,” he asks wryly.

“Hey, no, Stevie. I mean it,” Eddie grabs his wrist, a warm band connecting them. He raises his other hand to rest a finger on the skin by Steve’s left eye; the exact spot he had touched after he had been pulled back to life.

Eddie continues, sincerity ringing through his words. “Even if this is weirding you out, it’s a badge of honour. You made the world shift. You raised me from the dead. If you like me even a little, then you have to like the eye. Thems the rules.”

Steve chews on the inside of his cheek before admitting to the heart of what is bugging him. “I don’t regret it; I never will. But I forced an unnatural path and maybe that’s too much power for anyone to really wield.”

“So what?”

Steve blinks, “What?”

Eddie looks back at him, mismatched eyes unconcerned yet frank. “So what that you’re powerful. Good for you.”

He leans forward, gently tucking a lock of Steve’s hair behind his left ear. The tip of his finger trails the curve of his haircut to the base of Steve's neck, which Eddie loosely clasps, speaking earnestly into their shared space, their foreheads almost touching. “If anyone is going to be able to do good with what they have, it’s you. Have you ever harmed anyone?”

Steve opens his mouth to protest; he’s done plenty.

“No,” Eddie firmly stops him, shaking him in a gentler echo of Steve to Dustin earlier that night. “Anyone weaker than you. Or made someone do something they didn’t want to do, with or without powers. And I don’t mean that pissant peer pressure crap. We’re all guilty of that at some point or another. I mean, in your heart of hearts, if you had the chance to force someone to do something for your own gain, no matter whether it hurt them or not. Would you?”

He wouldn’t, realises Steve, taking comfort in Eddie's plain-spoken tone. He may have done some shit he wasn’t proud of back in high school, but he’s not that guy any longer.

The thought of what Eddie describes is repugnant and he gratefully holds onto that feeling; because that was what Vecna was missing, Steve suddenly understands. The utter repugnance and disgust at hurting the people around him, strangers and friends alike.

“You’re the babysitter, right? The protector. You don’t have to worry about any of that shit,” Eddie's expression is sweetly earnest and the clean relief of his words has Steve's head falling to rest on Eddie's shoulder. Who tentatively brings his arm up to embrace Steve.

Steve leans further into the hug, taking what comfort he can from Eddie and feeling the weight of the day falling away. Eddie’s woodsy cologne soothingly envelops him while the scratch of his recently shaved jaw catches strands of Steve’s hair as if to join them further together.

“Thank you,” he says softly into the warmth of Eddie's neck. “I had a shit day and I suppose it just piled up.”

“No problems,” Eddie murmurs lowly into his ear before drawing back, smiling into Steve’s face. “Now, how about we watch a true battle of good and evil?”

Steve nods in agreement before heading to the phone to call up Pizza Palace; thankful that he has Eddie in his corner and anticipating a night just for the two of them.

If you liked anything, please consider leaving a comment over on Ao3 :-) It would make my day!

Taglist

My taglist is always open, so let me know if you want to be added. Likewise, if you want to be removed, let me know. :) If I've missed you, definitely tell me because it's an accident!

@a-gae-af-racoon

@a-lovely-craziness

@aly-reads-alot

@bestwifehaver

@bookworm0690

@cinnamon-mushroomabomination

@ellietheasexylibrarian

@everyrandomthing

@finntheehumaneater

@geekymagicalpotato

@goodolefashionedloverboi

@hallucinatedjosten

@ilikeititspretty

@just-a-tiny-void

@ledleaf

@littlewildflowerkitten

@lostonceandneverfound

@manda-panda-monium

@matchingbatbites

@mightbeasleep

@nburkhardt

@newtstabber

@obliosworld

@oliver-sykes

@platonicbesties4life

@probablyscreamingintothevoid

@rajumat

@scoops-stevie-archive

@spectrum-spectre

@swimmingbirdrunningrock

@tartarusknight

@whackyrach

#witchsteve #steddie #platonic stobin #stranger things #steve harrington #any unexplained references are detailed in chapter notes on Ao3 #eddie munson #paperbackribs writing

[helly-watermelonsmellinfellon]

I need y'all to pray hard.

I used the stove yesterday around 5 PM. I used it to make dinner. Bethy and Dave were at the races cuz someone they knew paid for them to go. It was just mom and I and we were too hot to want something that took too long. The stove was fine.

They got back at 11:12 PM. Dave whined about being hungry. He stayed up for 2 additional hours and it was annoying af.

We had leftover lasagna AND pork roast. Plus, all sorts of quick things to make. He made a big fuss about having to cook himself dinner. Bethy went to sleep immediately. She never ate. She also hasn't used the stove before.

Mom and I were forced to be awake cuz he's loud as fuck and we can't close the bedroom door cuz the house is too hot, and we need air flow. However, if we put a fan in the window, the humidity makes everything wet, and mom nearly broke her neck when she stepped out of the room and slid on the wet floor. It was so bad that her phone almost died because it claimed there was moisture inside when it had been under her leg on the bed all day.

While Dave cooked whatever he was cooking, we heard something break. For a moment I thought it was the YouTube video I was watching, but then mom sat up straight and went, "He broke something."

But there was no crash. We have many breakable cups and plates, but the breaking sound didn't involve a crash or the sprinkling of shards as they scatter from the point of impact. So, I wasn't actually sure if something broke.

He then made pancakes this morning. For himself. Another way to whine and be a dick.

Anyway, he and Bethy had to go and get more of our stuff from his boss's garage, so I decided to make mom and I lunch. And that's when I saw it.

The break.

The crack.

[It's hard to see but the crack starts from the very bottom of the center of the stove and travels over and up the left side. It ends halfway up the back burner.]

Dave managed to break the tempered glass surface of the stove. My guess it he dropped the metal pot we use for making homemade candy on it, since he uses that for mac n cheese and there's mac n cheese in the fridge right now.

That stove belongs to the landlady, and he's been whining about how she will do surprise inspections.

So, pray that she decides she doesn't want to do any inspections any time soon, cuz having her stove broken within 3 weeks of a new family renting her spare home, is very bad.

#stuff #dave WILL be the one paying for it tho

[ecoamerica]

Watch the 2024 American Climate Leadership Awards for High School Students now: https://youtu.be/5C-bb9PoRLc

The recording is now available on ecoAmerica's YouTube channel for viewers to be inspired by student climate leaders! Join Aishah-Nyeta Brown & Jerome Foster II and be inspired by student climate leaders as we recognize the High School Student finalists. Watch now to find out which student received the $25,000 grand prize and top recognition!

#ACLA24 #ACLA24HighSchoolStudents #youtube #youtube video #climate leaders #climate solutions #climate action #climate and environment #climate #climate change #climate and health #climate blog #climate justice #climate news #weather and climate #environmental news #environment #environmental awareness #environment and health #environmental #environmental issues #environmental education #environmental justice #environmental protection #environmental health #high school students #high school #youth #youth of america #school

[hearts4golbach]

The Night Shift.

Johnnie Guilbert x Fem!Reader.

Chapter 27.

Jake, Johnnie and i decided to walk around downtown for a vlog. before this, i had never really been in any of their videos. although, Jake had been begging me for ages to record with him, and today was finally the day we could make it work.

we walked around stores to pass the time and try to get some funny content. of course, that was easy for them to do. their lewd jokes and comments about everything made it hard for me to not giggle. as i got more comfortable, i was able to joke around with them, revealing a part of myself i had never really let shine that prominent before.

later on, we stumbled upon a tattoo parlor. Johnnie turned to me, his eyes sparking. "what if we got matching tattoos?"

i didn't even feel the need to consider it before i agreed. yolo, right? "uh, duh. are you sure you wanna do that, though?"

"absolutely," he smiled as we began walking towards the front door of the parlor.

"and it's content for the fans to make edits," Jake added in a teasing way.

the three of us ended up getting tattoos. Jake got more stars added on his neck while me and Johnnie got matching System of a Down tattoos. of course, it was a huge commitment, but neither of us cared. on the back of our forearms read 'and if you go, i wanna go with you,' and 'and if you die, i wanna die with you." i also got a smaller tattoo of fairies on my wrist that nearly wrapped around the whole way.

while Johnnie held my hand comfortingly during the tattoos, i began to ramble to distract myself from the pain. "my parents would kill me if they see these," i laughed, "they've always been really against tattoos, piercings, too. any altercation to my body would be like the world is caving in to them." Johnnie continued to listen as i spoke about my parents.

Jake was on the chair next to me, responding and making more conversation as a way to distract himself from the pain as well. we updated the video on how the tattoos were going, showing off all our new ink. we had spent at least 2 and a half hours in there before leaving.

i absolutely adored my new tattoos, not being able to keep my eyes off of my arm for more than 5 minutes. "the fairies were a really cute idea, i love them." Johnnie commented and he slowly ran his thumb over my wrist. of course, Jake was recording.

since Jake was the only editing, the video was for his channel, he added all of the "cute" moments between me and Johnnie. whenever i watched the finally edited video, i couldn't stop giggling and smiling. i knew recording this would be an unforgettable experience for me, especially since it was my first video with them. i really hoped i'd be able to record with them more in the future.

even though i had gotten no sleep that day, i still went to work, of course. the night ended up being very slow, so i decided to spend my time deep cleaning the kitchen. to be fair, it really needed it. the day shift people always left it a mess no matter how much i complained.

Johnnie came in and joined me only a few hours later right after i had finished the kitchen. i brought out a few croissants for us to share as we spoke.

"hey," he greeted, pulling me in for a hug as he usually did.

"hi, what's keeping you up tonight?"i pondered, placing a kiss on his cheek before sitting at the chair across from his.

"to be honest, you. i've been wanting to tell you something for a while."he grinned, "you know how i'm announcing a new song tomorrow?" i nodded slowly, growing slightly worried. "well, its about you. and i've been worried you'd be weirder out or something because i wrote a song about you."

my jaw dropped. "are you serious?!" i covered my mouth with my hand to hide my smile. "why would i be weirded out by that? that's the sweetest thing someone has ever done for me, Johnnie! what's it called?"

"it's called 'if looks could kill,' i know it's a cringy name." he blushed and avoided eye contact.

"hm, i think it's cute," i took his hands in mine. "i'm so excited to hear it!"

"i really hope you'll love it."

hours later, i finally closed and got to go home. i crawled in bed next to a sleeping Johnnie. i was so relieved he got that off his chest and was finally able to sleep. i had noticed recently he did seem more restless than usual, and know i knew why. i snuggled up close to him and fell asleep as well.

for the next week or so, Jake spammed my phone with links to edits of me and Johnnie and even reposted some. i constantly threatened to block him, but he didn't stop. whenever i got used to it, i thought it was funny and even cute sometimes. i even reposted a lot of them on my account, which made me gain a larger following because of the two of them.

jake: (link)

jake: (link)

jake: (link)

jake: (link)

jake: (link)

me: SHUT UP I KNOW

jake: y/n you are popping off right now queen

me: ikr

#fanfiction #fanfic #johnnie guilbert #jake and johnnie #johnnie guilbert x reader #johnnie guilbert x you #jake webber #johnnie guilbert smut #johnnie and jake #hearts4golbach #the night shift #cafe aesthetic #cafe #café #smut #tara yummy

[1-up-chump]

Hey i love your content i was wondering if i can make a request? Can i pls have some h/c of Fujin, Liu Kang, Kung Lao, Rain, and Nightwolf having a crush on s/o who is a famous V-tuber twitch streamer(as in she plays video games and does blogs and has karaoke stream on twitch) because she needs the money to fund her animal rescue team and planet rescue team(as is taking care of the plants and trees ect) and will they buy her merchandise.

Thank you hope your having a good day/evening/ night english is not my first language so i am very sorry if i confused you :)

A very specific ask but i did have fun with this one! And don't worry, English is my first language and it can be annoying at times even to me xD sorry no gifs bc i put more effort into the texts. Im selectively lazy

V tuber Xreader who raises money for a wildlife charity

Fujin:

Fujin has always been fascinated with internet as soon as he was introduced to it. The idea that mortals can share so many things with other mortals through a screen makes him so happy about the progress humanity has made. But mostly, the "memes" are hilarious even if he doesn't understand half of it.

The concept that you are really popular on the internet both made him feel proud of you and concerned for you at the same time. Of course "concern" being mostly jealousy, but as easy as it comes, easy as it goes. Such as the wind he commands.

When you said that you were planning to do a "charity live stream" event, fujin wanted to know everything about it. He always loved how generous and kind you were.

If fujin had some free time (which he has more of than his brother, but you're not sure if it's because raiden has more responsibilities or just takes them more seriously) he'd ask you if there was anything he could help you with.

And as a matter of fact, you did include him in your plans for the livestream. You custom made him a v-tuber avatar to match with yours. You nervously asked him if it was ok to make him a white fox wearing his outfit. Fujin was so ecstatic over the virtual matching outfits he kissed you as a response.

Needless to say, you raised 500 over the intended goal. And you trended as "top 5 cutest tuber couples" for months.

Liu kang:

Liu kang knew of "tuber" stuff, he just didn't really have an interest in knowing more. However when he found out that you were quite popular as a "v-tuber" he watched one of your streams and was glad he did. Liu saw you in a whole new light, you were so passionate in entertainment it was almost as close as Johnny cage. However, biased as liu might be, you were FAR better than the actor. With no offense to Johnny cage..

When he heard you were doing a charity stream he was more than happy to not only watch, but donate a little bit himself. Liu admired that, despite being popular, you never let fame get to your head. And instead use it to do good.

Liu kang couldn't help but have the biggest smile on his face when you gave him a shout out and committed to a whole half hour bit of you gushing over him. Which is where you originally intended to end the stream after the goal was met but since you saw his name in the donations you went a bit off track.

Kung lao:

Kung lao has only ever used the internet for two things, to look up what some English words mean (liu kang had always been farther ahead of him with the nuance of english, specifically one time looking up what "nuance" ment in mandarin. Translation is a nightmare) and listen to music.

When you mentioned you were a "v-tuber" and had to explain it to him. Kung lao indulged to see one of your livestreams. And just when the monk thought he couldn't get any more smitten with you, he swears he's going to marry you. Eventually.

When you mentioned you were doing a charity, kung lao was not only extremely supportive. He mentioned it whenever it was appropriate. Needless to say you were shocked at how many donations were coming in. With so many supportive messages, you nearly started to cry when, at the last leg of the donation goal, an anonymous donator not only fulfilled the charity goal, it broke it by thousands. And you knew who it was by the donation message alone, you've been around the hot shot celebrity/earthrealm warrior Johnny cage long enough to know exactly how he talks even in text.

After the event you went to thank kung lao for spreading the word. Kung lao tried to be humble about it, but you kissing him just made him propose to you on the spot.

Regardless of your answer then and there. Kung lao is just happy and blessed he met such a beautiful soul like you.

Rain:

Rain is a bit confused about using earthrealm's "internet" but even he had to admit it was extremely useful. And also extremely annoying. No wifi in outworld nor edenia sucks.

Rain often has to visit you just to use it. And that's how he learned you were a "v-tuber". He never thought you were the "idol" type, but when he watched you do your live stream in real time, you had so much confidence and passion in acting out as your "internet persona". Rain thought he couldn't fall harder for you, and for once he wasn't mad when he was wrong.

When you casually mentioned a charity livestream to support earthrealm's wildlife. Rain took that as a grand gesture to display his affections to you. Of course he gets a bit offended when you get the donation, and not recognize him. Although rain reflects that maybe he should have told you his username was "trueroyalrainpurple" before hand. (All the ones he wanted were already taken, rain is so annoyed with the internet)

Regardless you're happy you fulfilled your goals and give rain a big kiss before, and after he tells you that he made the big donation to surpass the goal.

Nightwolf:

Nightwolf is confused and annoyed why people are surprised that he knows how to program, let alone know how to use the internet. Must be some sort of stupid sterotyping. Regardless he absolutely supports your "v-tuber" career. When he can, he has helped you troubleshoot a game or "technical issues" more than once.

You have begged him to join you at least once during your livestreams. But unfortunately he never has the time. But this time he does, and you both decided on a charity stream. He even designs a matching v-tuber avatar with you. Although you are a bit jealous his is so much cooler looking than yours, which nightwolf laughs and kisses your cheek endearingly.

The moment you exceed the goal you share a "virtual tuber kiss" that has the internet talking for several months. Many clamor for nightwolf to become a v-tuber like you, unfortunately he has far too many responsibilities to even try something like this again. Perhaps in a different life when the realms aren't in jeopardy every 5 gods damn days.

BONUS SHANG UNDER CUT

(Bc im on a role!)

Shang tsung:

This man hasn't touched a computer since 1995. Which means he views the modern internet just like someone's dad. He just learned what a meme is not too long ago. Of course, shang tsung is easily adaptable and gets the hang of things with time.

Shang tsung was surprised that you were something of a popular idol on the internet. He was ready to support your endeavors as you were his favorite little soul.

The hardest part for shang tsung was deciding if he wanted to be anonymous when donating to your livestream charity. Or be bold and let you know exactly who gives you everything you always want.

Regardless, shang tsung knows you're going to be so happy. And that means more lovey kissy time. All according to his flawless plan to appease his little blossom.

#mortal kombat #x reader #xreader #fujin mortal kombat #liu kang mortal kombat #kung lao mortal kombat #mortal kombat rain #nightwolf mortal kombat #shang tsung mortal kombat

[adventures-in-a-world-of-fiction]

I’ve had a YouTube channel for nearly two decades. The first video I ever posted was in 2006. It was a Power Rangers fanvid and while it’s not the worst video ever created, it’s definitely not the best. It was a weird choice of song (Spirit of Man from War of the Worlds) and some of the clips are badly trimmed so there’s a frame or two of the next scene/shot at the start or end in a few places.

Since then, I’ve made a bunch of other videos, music videos for shows or fake trailers for some of my fanfics (many of those fics were posted on sites that no longer exist). I don’t post often these days, but every once in a while I’ll get struck with the urge to make a fanvid for a film or TV show that I like. Recently, it’s been The Sandman and the Dreamling ship in particular.

In all this time, my YouTube channel has never been monetised. When I first started the channel, that wasn’t even an option, as YouTube monetisation wasn’t a thing on the platform until December 2007, the year after I posted my first video, and even then, I don’t think it was available for anyone to apply to once they hit certain thresholds the way it is today.

So yeah, when I started, it wouldn’t have occurred to me to monetise my channel. Then I had a real world job and my video creation dropped off and in recent years, I haven’t met the monetisation thresholds, so it hasn’t been an option and I haven’t given it much thought. After all, I didn’t start making silly little fanvids expecting to make money from them, and most of them would be demonetised anyway because of the use of copyrighted material.

But recently I checked my analytics out of curiosity and I’m within reach of those monetisation thresholds. I got a load more views than usual around October and November last year for no reason I can see. There’s an obvious bump in the watch time analytics for a couple of months before it drops down to my usual trickle of views. I’ve no idea why it happened or why it stopped, but it was enough of a bump that I’m now at 3997 hours of watch time for the past year, with the monetisation threshold being 4000 hours.

Given how close I am, it feels like I should try to push to meet the eligibility criteria and apply for the YouTube partner programme, just so that it’s an option for me if I want it. And I clearly need to do it in the next few months, because I don’t expect to replicate that spike in views from October. But over the next month or two, getting 3 more hours of watch time than I got in the same time period last year feels like a realistic thing to achieve, even if almost all of my videos are under 5 minutes long.

Especially if I actually tell people that I have YouTube videos. So here I am, telling people. If you enjoy fan made music videos, please consider giving some of mine a watch.

Here are a few of them:

Ranger Spirit, the first ever video I ever posted on my YouTube channel, made in Windows Movie Maker, with all of the mistakes and badly trimmed shots:

One of my recent videos, Meet Me On The Battlefield, for The Sandman fandom:

Sticking with Neil Gaiman for the time being, an ineffable husbands video for Good Omens season 2, What Hurts the Most:

The video that got the most views during that weird spike in my analytics, I Don’t Deserve You for the show White Collar, focusing on the relationship between Peter, Neal and Elizabeth:

And for a silly challenge I gave myself, I tried to use footage from Dirk Gently’s season two to create a trailer that looked like a serious fantasy film. That was not easy, given how ridiculous the armies looked:

My channel has absolutely no consistency in terms of what I post. I will make videos for whatever happens to grab my attention at the time, so across the lifespan of my channel I have fanvids for Yuri on Ice, the MCU, Teen Wolf, Charmed, Voltron, The Chronicles of Narnia (both the old BBC TV show and the films), Doctor Who (and spin offs), X-Men, Kamen Rider Dragon Knight, The Sentinel, The Tribe, and more Power Rangers than feels comfortable now given my age. If any of those grab your attention, please take a watch and help me hit that 4000 hours threshold.

#youtube #fanvids #fanvid creation

[tobi-smp]

are the gorillaz those guys with the animated music videos that have lore n stuff ??

context: [Link]

yeah they are !! I've been aware of them basically since I've had an internet connection, even if I wasn't always are of it, though I've been putting off getting Into them for basically as long specifically because I Did know there was a story but didn't know how to get into it

I watched a video essay on it the other day, and Specifically on the fact that their most ambitious story telling venture nearly killed the entire band. or more accurately Did kill it until the band reformed with sort of a soft reboot. the video is Really good, you can watch it here uwu [Link]

everything about it scratched the Sorting part of my brain, the nearly lost media the websites preserved through 15 year old youtube videos and walk throughs, the ambitious plotline left hanging by canon and yet never forgotten, the Everything

so ! I've started a project, that ended up turning into Two In One

first I wanted to collect All gorillaz media and put it roughly in order. all the music, all of the shorts, all of the commercials, specials, live appearances, books, interviews, podcasts, radio dramas, Etc Etc Etc that I could physically find on youtube into One Playlist. so if someone asks "how do find out more about gorillaz" it's all there baby

my Second task, which came to me as I was sorting and came across some True masterpieces from the fandom (such as three and half hours of a fandub audio book with in character voice acting, or finishing the animation for scrapped music videos that existed in the form of canon animatics).

and that's seeing how far I could get into crafting a cohesive and satisfying narrative for "plastic beach" (the aforementioned storyline that almost killed the series but fucked big time), Including An Ending, while still keeping it roughly in line with canon. and it turns out the answer to that is Pretty Damn Far.

I'm still working on that Huge Massive playlist, which is understandable since I started three days ago. (though it can be found here for anyone that wants to poke through it while it's under renovations [Link])

But I decided to make Another playlist that's Just all of the songs and all of the shorts for phases 1-3 in one place. Because it's less intimidating for new fans (that don't hyperfix instantly like me jfkladsjklfads), for Binging Purposes (which you wanna just let all the videos autoplay without having to skip around a 5 episode pirate drama), And because it's Finished jklfdasjklfads

so ! If you wanna watch all of the first half of gorillas, including a Finished Plastic Beach, Click here [Link]

I'll probably make another playlist like that for phase 4-present once I finish the main playlist ! I like the idea of keeping them separate both because it just feels right with the sort of soft reboot that happened between them, And so that I can justify shoving the recent songs that Do reference the plastic beach story line into phase 1-3 playlist without having to break the continuity of the 4-7 playlist, Like This

I'm Almost Certainly gonna make another, Shorter, announcement once all of the playlists are Done. but ! I'm happy to get the chance to do it now too fjksldaljkfsad

@sunlitmcgee

#gorillaz #plastic beach

[noodyl-blasstal]

Bones - Blupjeans Week day 5

My @blupjeansweek prompts are part of a story find the others here: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | or on Ao3

Barry woke up warm. Barry woke up warm because Lup ran warm. Barry woke up warm because Lup ran warm and she was pressed against his back with her arm slung over his side and her head pressed into his shoulder. He should probably move. Sure, they cuddled sometimes, but this wasn’t that kind of leaning against each other watching a movie cuddle. Right now, Lup didn’t know what she was doing. She was asleep and probably dreaming about someone else and she was going to wake up any second just to be repulsed by what was going on. Or… well, maybe not, because she always said he was great for cuddling. But still, he couldn’t take advantage. He tried to gently wriggle free, but Lup just groaned and snaked her arm further round his middle. Barry froze. If he kept moving he’d wake her, the disco ball was still spinning gently above them and only the dimmest light crept through the gauzy curtains. There was no way it was people o’clock yet and Lup was on driving duty today, ergo, staying still was the best thing to do. Lup got more sleep, he didn’t have to worry about her feeling pressured to drive when she was too tired, and maybe he could slip free once she’d settled again. Barry relaxed, Lup nuzzled his back and he drifted into sleep again.

-

They didn’t talk about it at breakfast or once they hit the road. He’d woken up again hours later with Lup sprawled across his chest, his arm round her, and her legs tangled with his. She’d smiled up at him, sleep mussed and groggy, kissed him on the cheek, mumbled “morning, Bear,” then just gotten up as if this was completely normal for them. At breakfast the server asked how married life was and she told him it was definitely and absolutely different to the 17 years they’d been together at before they tied the knot. Then she held Barry’s hand, and kissed his knuckles, and said “... right babe?” Barry had nodded seriously, like he was in on the joke. Like he was her husband and she was his wife and they were both so tired of the question. She packed up the bags and held his hand on the way out of the parking lot “... just in case anyone’s looking….” so Barry rubbed his thumb across her knuckles and smiled fondly at her, just in case.

– “Okay Bear, you’re on directions now, looks like the satnav has no clue where we are.”

“Oh, yeah, that’ll happen. Means we’re nearly there though!” Barry straightened in his seat but kept his hand looped loosely in Lup’s. Sure, no one from the motel could see them anymore, but she hadn’t moved and he hadn’t moved, and it was fine. Friends held hands, it didn’t mean anything.

“Great! It’s been a while since we stopped at the giant ball of wool, can’t wait to stretch out.”

Barry ruefully let Lup know they were approaching a turn. Every time she let go to operate the gears he worried she wouldn’t put her hand back, that it’d be the last taste of that fondness and he wouldn’t even know it until it was over. “Okay, now it’s the third on the left, but that’s going to take a while on this track. It gets pretty bumpy.”

Lup grinned. “I think I can handle it.” She said, and grabbed his hand again. “But I’ll hold on, just to be safe.”

The car juddered along the track and Barry’s teeth rattled in his skull. He usually hated this bit of the journey, but today he couldn’t focus on anything but the bright warmth on his palm. “Here we are!” He pointed to a wooden framed house with a yellow porch, orange shutters, and a smiling woman in the process of leaping out of her rocking chair to run down the steps.

“Kids!” Marlena yelled happily as Lup parked the car. Lup scrambled out first and was immediately enveloped in a huge hug. “Lup! It’s so nice to finally meet you in person! You’re just as beautiful as you are on video!” Barry eased himself out and stood awkwardly to the side. “Was the drive okay, dear? I hope you didn’t get too tired. Barry, I can’t believe you left her to do the boneshaker track.”

Barry stopped himself before fully reverting to his moodiest teen self and snarking back. “I missed you too, Mummig.” He said with a wry grin. “Now, can I have a hug too? Or have you replaced me? I must admit, I thought it would take slightly longer.”

“I work fast, Bear.” Said Lup, shooting him some finger guns before retreating to the car to forage for her bags.

Barry shook his head, then scooped a laughing Marlena up into his arms. Her soft grey hair tickled his nose, she smelled of rosemary, slowly caramelising onions, and home home home. Barry should have come back sooner. It was so easy to get caught up in research and time just slipped away without him noticing, but it had been too long since he got to hug her like this. He was going to chop and stack so much wood, restock the coal shed, and do everything else a penitent absent son could set his mind to while he was here.

“Sorry Barry, I just wanted to give my daughter in law a squeeze, can you blame me?” Marlena said, close to his ear. Hopefully close enough that Lup hadn’t heard. Barry had no idea how Marlena had clocked his feelings for Lup already, but there was no way he was accidentally telling her via the medium of his mother.

“Oh! Did Barry tell you about the accident at the motel?” Lup looked shame faced. Oh no, of course she’d heard, and she thought that Barry had been disappointed and complained about it? She already felt so needlessly bad about it… Maybe fake collapsing would get him out of this… it worked with the school play when he was 9.

“The what, sorry Lup love, what do you mean? Is everything okay?”

“I’m really thirsty.” Barry announced far too loudly. He couldn’t let this conversation continue happening. No way no how.

“Oh, of course, sorry love, I shouldn’t leave you both stood out here, let me take you inside and get you settled in your room. I made up your bed and popped the trundle in your room, Barry. You were okay to share, weren’t you?” Barry didn’t miss the mischief in her voice, maybe he should just drive away? Marlena wouldn’t miss him too much with Lup around, and Barry could go back to the cryptid motel and make weird sculptures out of roadside junk or something. What could go wrong?

“Lead the way, Bluejeanseseses.” Lup saluted, two rucksacks perched on her shoulders. Barry shook his head fondly and took both of their elbows. It was the gentlemanly thing to do after all.

“We’ll meet you back in the kitchen, Mummig, we just need to dump our stuff.”

“Don’t rush on my account.” Marlena winked at him and Barry blushed violently red. He wasn’t convinced he was going to survive 5 days of this, the first 10 minutes had already been touch and go.

– “Listen…” Said Barry, as he stopped Lup in the hallway in front of a door with a sign which read: Barryabratory - enter if you dare “... the thing is…”

“Barryabratory?” Lup was delighted. This was bad. She’d already pulled out her phone to take a picture, which likely meant that Taako was also going to refuse to let him live this one down.

“I was a baby.” Barry held up his hands to protest his innocence, Lup glared at him, seeing straight through his lies.

“... a baby of…?”

“Fifteen…” There was no point in lying, the faster he admitted it, the quicker she’d get bored of teasing him about it. Lup snickered. “But…” He bravely soldiered on. “... just to warn you. This room? This is Barry unfiltered. I know your nerd radar is solid and you clocked me, loudly…” Barry pretends to glare. “...on day one. But, this is probably… more… you know… than… that.” He finished lamely.

“Full frontal Barry.” Said Lup solemnly. Barry didn’t even know how to process that. “This I need to see!” Lup lunged for the door handle. “I wanna know what extra nerdy shit baby Barry was into.”

She tumbled through the door and froze. Oh. It was worse than he thought. Marlena hadn’t moved anything… he definitely thought he’d asked her to move the animal skulls. Lup was going to think she’d been living with a serial killer, this was bad, this was probably really bad.

“Barry, are those real?”

Yep, she was pointing straight at the dead animal bits, she was going to run screaming and there was no way to convince her not to because ‘his childhood room was full of dead stuff he collected’ seemed like a big old red flag. “Er… sorry… I can move them? I… uh… I mean, yeah. Yeah they are, real, that is.”

“Rad!” Lup said happily, and walked over. “Can I?” She gestured towards the shelf. Barry nodded, barely breathing, waiting in the doorway to make sure she didn’t think he was crowding her. “This one’s corvid, right? Krav’s gonna be so jealous!”

Oh. Oh! Lup didn’t care? Of course, of course Lup didn’t care because she was the most perfect woman to ever grace the earth and she thought his skull collection was ‘rad’. So now he had to fall even more helplessly in love with her. There was nothing he could do to stop it, there was nothing he wanted to do to stop it.

“Ooooh, tell me about these jars?” Lup pointed at Percival, one of Barry’s earliest pickling experiments. “Then you definitely have to tour me round those rocks… Wait! Is that stoat wearing a top hat?” She darted over to inspect Stanley.

“Yeah, I, well I had to make one to fit, but then I had a bit of leftover material so I did the matching bowtie too.” Said Barry as he walked over to join her. He prodded gently at the bowtie, nothing happened. “It used to light up but the battery might have gone by now.”

Lup squeaked in delight. “Barry, I adore you.”

#Marlena has known for years - Barry you are not subtle my dude #She has also clocked Lup #Becuase - you know - everyone knows apart from them #blupjeansweek2023 #Blupjeans #Blupjeans fic #Barry Bluejeans #Lup #Lup Tacco #Noodyl Writes #Taz fic

[elizabethplaid]

daily notes, for may 3-4, 2024

Sleeping during the day on Friday went better than the day before. I still woke up a few times, but I did well to go back to sleep in a reasonable amount of time. Woke after 5:30pm and felt fine.

Texted my dad from bed, to ask about dinner plans. We had frozen pizza, and I finished it in time for my weekly phone call. But then Nature "called" instead. Ugh, quite the delay; shitty timing.

Phone-friend was fine with it, though. Wonderful chat, sharing links and images. We've been chatting about meeting up again. It's been determined that I am to try boba tea for the first time.

After the call, I checked my phone, and I realized I got a text from our mutual friend. She streams video games and Lego builds. Like, I saw the demon horns on her headset and I kinda fell in love.

She'll be streaming tonight (Sat, May 4), building a huge Lego set of the H*gwarts castle. The stream starts just as I'm closing up the library, but I'll try to watch while eating dinner.

It's nearly 4am, and I probably should've tried sleeping, since I have library duty today. But... I got up late and I felt wound-up (in a good way) after my call, so... can it be excused?

I really enjoyed the quiet time tonight, just reading webcomics. Being awake in the middle of the night feels like such a blessing, even as I'm doing better with mental health. It's quiet and calm during this time. I turn off the lamps, turn down my screen's brightness. The only sounds are in my headphones, close to my ear but still soft.

Between gut stuff and lively conversations, my senses are heightened. Not feeling anxious and on-edge, but it's enough that I really need this calm and quiet to wind down. Might still bring my teddy bear with me, because I need bear hugs. Again, not feeling as bad as I did a couple weeks ago. Analogy: It's better to have a small wound treated quickly, before it turns into a bigger wound.

Am I going to sleep before going to the library? Probably not, if I'm honest. I'll sit with some ASMR and close my eyes.

Hey, the neighbor's donkey is awake, too. See, I'm not the only one awake at this hour!

#daily notes

[justkeepwalkingnothinghere]

1 year. 1 year. Wow. Has it really been that long? Has it really been that long since The Owl House bid us farewell? Since the final "Byeee!" that was heard 'round the world? We learnd the story of The Collector, we saw Luz die and get revived, we met Papa Titan. That night, every last one of us got the opportunity to witness Luz, Eda, King and Raine all come together to kick Belos's ass and take him down once and for all. We all watched as every last character came together to build a brighter future for the Boiling Isles. It was an emotional night for everyone. All of that was 1 year ago. And it's hard for me to believe. It doesn't feel real.

To this day, I can still recall how my night went. My parents were at my aunt and uncle's wedding. Adults only, small ceremony in their backyard, I could understand. Only problem is that it left me with no other option but to stay at home, alone with my thoughts, dread, worry and fear over the finale as the minutes ticked by. Waiting until the world would say byeee to a show like no other. At 5 in the afternoon, what would become the most emotional night of my life began with me going to my music, and listening to Lacrimosa on loop for 45 minutes. I listened as I went through Reddit, Tumblr, Discord, YouTube, seeing everyone get ready to watch the finale that I don't think anyone was ready for. I made one last post here wishing everyone good luck before I cut myself off from Tumblr for the rest of the night, not wanting to get any spoilers, as I was waiting until Easter morning to watch it myself. I decided to watch a bit of YouTube to maybe clear my mind and cheer me up, especially once I saw Zeez Vov Gee's TOH video contest was up. I had made a submission of my own, so I was excited to find out if mine had made it in (it did not, sadly). By the time I had finished watching, it was 8:20. 5 minutes away from air time. So, I said good luck to some friends in a TOH Discord I'm in, muted said server until the morning, and was about to switch to watching something else, as YouTube was also a no go. Until a farewell video appeared in my feed. I watched it, being met with the chorus of the song "As The World Caves In".

And I watched it again. And again. And again. One last viewing, this time singing along to the chorus in the literal seconds before the finale aired. A fitting event that was unintentionally timed to perfection. Couldn't have given a better last second send off if I wanted to. For nearly the entirety of the finale's runtime, I listened to the full song on loop, singing along, crying at the thought of getting a hug from Luz as it was really the only thing I wanted then, doing literal shots of milk, sitting and walking while everything swirled within me. Before long, it was past 9, and I hadn't eaten dinner. Stouffer's meatloaf and mashed potatoes. And you wanna know what I did? I ate it while venting to this claymation mouse. Just the two of us, enjoying our meals. For a bit, it felt like that mouse was listening as he chomped down on his chocolate. It was oddly nice. I at least got a break from my anxiety. Turning to dessert, a mini double chocolate bundt cake while watching 30 Rock and drawing glyph doodles, a pleasure that lasted for a short while before my parents made their eventual return. At 11 o'clock at night.

But my entertainment wasn't over just yet. After cleanup, I still had one last thing up my sleeve. I laid on my bedroom floor, in the dark, with my phone brightness turned all the way up. Caramelldansen played through my headphones as the strobe lights danced on the ceiling, getting in one last silent breakdown before heading to bed. My night had concluded after many hours of nothing but dread and anxiety, me constantly trying to keep myself sane. My parents and I had McDonald's for breakfast the next morning, witnessing a masterpiece of animation. And I was happy at the end! Belos was dead, the coven system erradicated, everyone was at the best places in their lives! It was peace and love in the Boiling Isles! How could I not be happy about that? Unfortunately, the joy wouldn't last long. Things settled in soon enough. At first, it felt like the show wasn't over yet. It felt like there were still some stories to tell. But the reality set in before I knew it and I was left sad. I kept thinking about how much the show meant to me, to many. All it had done for me in the handful of months that I had known it. I still wasn't ready for it's end.

Nowadays, a year later, I still haven't fully recovered. This time around feels a bit dark. My 2024 has been nothing but a mess so far, although I am getting through it. But with such a stark contrast to where I was last year, I can't help but feel like things are too different. Almost like a royal fallen from grace. Life in itself hasn't felt the same since Watching and Dreaming. I can't bring myself to watch it again. Today feels weird, and I'm probably not alone. Wherever your emotions stand on this anniversary, just rememeber this:

Us weirdoes have to stick together.

#toh #the owl house #toh watching and dreaming #toh anniversary #wathcing and dreaming anniversary #us weirdoes have to stick together #farewell owl house

[gardensandtaverns]

Telling a Story Through Gaming: Making an Immersive Experience

I know it’s been a couple days since I updated on Bookwyrm’s Vault, and if I’m being entirely honest it’s because my other job wiped me out and then I spent all day today traveling, so there’s been no movement on that front over the last three days. However, I did say that I would hopefully be sharing some more general-use advice and other projects along the way, so for today I will be tapping into the reasons and people that drove my ambition to do this - hopefully to the benefit of others with similar interests.

I believe I’ve said before that I’ve spent the last 5 years of my life as a perma-DM - in fact it’s how I made friends in college and I was a board member of my college’s tabletop games club. With 5 years of running games, I tended to have no fewer than 2 games I was running at any given time, with each campaign being hosted weekly for anywhere between 4 months and 2 years. Some games went well, others fell apart, and some were just meant to be short, it was as much a creative outlet as it was a social event for me. I suppose that brings me to my first and largest piece of advice for anyone interested in making more than just a game, but an experience: Forget yourself.

Now this doesn’t mean disregard yourself, after all it is your creativity, passion, and drive that will ultimately make your game - it’s your product and you should be proud of it. But when you make a truly immersive experience, like a D&D campaign or a sandbox game, you need to realize that your players, who are given nearly unlimited ability to interact with your world, will inadvertently act in a way you don’t consider, intend, or sympathize with. Similarly, there may be things that they simply don’t care or think about as much as you do. To this second point, I encourage anyone who loves internet lore videos to interact with Polygon’s Skyrim Book Report (link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVdTZhmsGsU) hosted by the marvelous Brian David Gilbert.

What I mean to say in this is that you are creating a product that you are passionate about. So many people will make their first game as something they would want to play. This is true of other creative fields as well: animation, music, fiction... and the truth that you will have to accept is that what you wish to experience may be too niche, or complex, or tailored to your personal experience to gain traction or interest. In the case of me drawing from experience as a Game Master, I will call this player buy-in.

Buy-in makes or breaks an experience for your consumer. If your magic system is endlessly complex, a player looking for a simple power fantasy to escape the stress of a desk job may quickly discard it to collect dust. If your zombie game turns out to be a settlement managing game with an external and seldom-addressed threat of zombies, you’ll likely lose the interest of the Walking Dead crowd who are interested in the nomadic wasteland survival aspect of the genre. What’s worse is falsely advertising, or poorly portraying, your product to people potentially interested can cause lasting harm in the trust they have in your later products.

Not only this, but buy-in will impact the feedback you get from your consumers. The makers of Until Dawn no doubt put a lot of effort and energy into the photorealistic environments and occult horror of their wendigo models, but a comment praising the “good graphics” will not mean nearly as much as the feedback from a player who plays horror games to be scared, who “spent the last four hours on the edge of my seat, looking over my shoulder in my dark game room”. It’s the feedback that appreciates the spirit of your product that not only tells you what you did right, instead of just well, but also gives you the energy, motivation, and validation to keep doing it.

Tomorrow I will talk about my favorite experiences from TTRPGs as an invested player versus as a Game Master with invested players, and the world of difference it makes. If people like these little advice posts, I’ll be happy to continue them. It makes for a good fallback when I hit roadblock or am taking breaks for work-heavy periods. Hopefully on Tuesday I will have some progress to report on the Bookwyrm’s Vault, one way or another.

#game development #ttrpgs #game master #dungeon master #storytelling #advice

[ryttu3k]

Semi-final votes and comments, now in finals order! First, the scores I gave them, with a reminder that these can and absolutely do change between semi and final.

10/12: Australia 8/12: Norway, Portugal, Moldova, Finland, Slovenia, Albania, Austria 7/12: Serbia, Sweden, Czechia, Belgium, Lithuania, Poland, Armenia 6/12: Israel, Cyprus 5/12: Croatia 4/12: Switzerland, Estonia

No numerical score for the auto qualifiers.

And, my initial comments!

Austria: Okay, this one is making me grin and is also pretty catchy. 8/12 just for doing something genuinely different!

Portugal: Oh shit this is fun. Energetic torch song in Portuguese with a red dress I'm pretty sure the singer nicked from Conchita Wurst (complementary). I'm into it! 8/12

Switzerland: Oh no, a Heavy Topic Song™. Listen I respect it but is it really Eurovision? 4/12

Poland: I feel like I'm watching an aerobics video from the 90s. Produced in Spain. Which is odd, since they're Polish. On the other hand, I am jiggling my leg! Maybe it's Second Semi Final Syndrome's lower standards? 7/12

Serbia: Staging is really strong this year! Oh we're straight video game now. Wasn't sure at first but it's definitely growing on me! 7/12

France: I'm giving them nul points based solely on being a Mr Bean enjoyer. Okay no it's not bad. Ballady vibes but could be a banger.

Cyprus: Australia's back-up entry! He came 7th in the selection show last year (Voyager came second). …yeah no dull. Oh well. 6/12

Spain: Yeah I'm gonna have to wait to see the whole thing, but looks interesting. Maybe not my thing, but interesting!

Sweden: Loreen is back, too! I do wonder about this, previous winners returning tends not to play out great unless you're Johnny Logan. …It is a bit panini press, yeah XD Yeah honestly I'm not feeling this, definitely not as much as Euphoria, which I goddamn adored. It's still really solid, it's just lacking something? I suspect it'll win XD;; 7/12

Albania: Oh there's the drama. Not in English, rad costumes! 8/12

Italy: Eh, doesn't really do much for me.

Estonia: Nifty a cure for the fact that I've been awake for nearly two hours and it's only 5:20 AM. *faceplants on the keyboard 4/12

Finland: “When your sleeves say Met Gala but your chest says Vicks VaporRub.” The fan favourite! You go dude bust out of that box. I'm not actually 100% sold on it musically, but the presentation is top notch. Oh hey I really dig that last bit, actually! Rainbows! 8/12

Czechia: Oh these visuals slap. Not 100% sold on the song itself but the presentation is really cool. 7/12

Australia: Yeah here we go! Honestly so glad we're closing the show. Very synthwavey vibes but like, synthwave goes rock. And our old friend, the wind machine! And a keytar! Fuck yeah that's a closer! 10/12

Belgium: God this gets points just for not making me fall asleep. The Ballroom vibe is fun as hell too. 7/12

Armenia: Oh god this is so slow. Armenia, it's 5:13 AM, it's too early for a slow song. There we go, picked up! Yeah, aside from the slow start, this works. 7/12

Moldova: Welcome back, Pasha! I did love Lăutar. Oh shit this is fun as hell, really digging the staging and costuming, it's got some fun folky elements but amped up. 8/12

Ukraine: It's kind of giving 90s boy band, alas.

Norway: Oh this is a strong start! Costuming is dramatic, it's got energy, I dig it! Oof, that high note didn't quite hit, though. 8/12

Germany: ‘Blood and Glitter' is a hell of a title. They look like they're gonna be fun as hell!

Lithuania: Slow start, but some big vocals to save it a bit. I'm sorry I'm so tired. 6/12

Israel: It feels listenable but in the most generic way possible? Like, “Okay, start with interesting visuals, put some soaring vocals in, now do a rap bit, now do a dance, now end with pyros!” Like objectively I'm not sure there's anything wrong with it but it just feels… generic!! 6/12

Slovenia: Points for not English + I kinda want the lead singer's shirt + it's funky + band! With instruments! It's certainly no Maneskin, but yeah, definitely favourite of the night so far! 8/12

Croatia: Myf (Australian commentator) just described them as bonkers so I am eagerly awaiting this. …It is indeed bonkers! Not sure about the weird military-esque vibe but it's also giving somewhat cheerleader? Okay this is basically nigh unlistenable but it does get Bonkers Points™. 5/12

United Kingdom: It's certainly not bad! It's just very… more of the same, I guess?

So starting out with a really fun one, Australia and Finland have not-great places in the very middle of the pack, and we're ending with something very… samey. Well, we'll see how it goes!

#eurovision #ry watches esc 2023

[bihansthot]

Tomas and Hallvard will have to wait until tomorrow, I didn’t nap but I crashed hard after watching nearly 2 hours of pointless nonsense to see the new trailer. I did take Denny to the park for a bit despite my lack of sleep because I try to be a competent dog Mom. It occurs to me though that I did an Understand My Ship in 5 Minutes for Bi-Han and I but I haven’t done one for Syzoth and I so I suppose I should do that too. I wonder if there are polyamorous templates? That would be the easiest but I guess it doesn’t really matter if I have one for all the combinations involved in the Polyship? I got a really lovely message earlier that I really am looking forward to replying to but I want to wait until I’m a functional dinosaur again because 4 hours of sleep is not a cute look for me. My body is broken though and despite being exhausted I still won’t be able to sleep until 3 or 4 am, stupid circadian rhythm. If I get a second wind I might post the Understand My Ship thing for Syzoth and I since I already have the little doodles done? Or I might end up passing out on the couch for three hours, who knows! The possibilities are endless! I wish it was the weekend though, I need a get drunk and be silly night and Friday is perfect for that. Friday is the 25th anniversary of my heart transplant and in my personal quest to be a less miserable human being I’m actually going to celebrate it this year. I’ve made it 25 freaking years with someone else’s heart! Not many people can say that. It certainly hasn’t been easy, particularly not these last 7 out of 8 months we’re into this year but I didn’t die and I didn’t give up and the way I see it is I deserve a little treat. Drinking and being silly is that little treat. I might get sushi and really live it up! My partner and I are going to celebrate for real for real sometime in November with my first ever trip to Las Vegas. I’m very much looking forward to eating all the things and drinking all the drinks. We might see their favorites Penn and Teller too, all depends on timing and finances. It was supposed to be a group trip with some of my IRL friends but sadly the one has lost both her parents in the last 3 months and my other one is the one who had the heart attack. So, it will probably just be my partner and I. I wish life wasn’t so unfair to people who are important to me lately, it seems like all of my closest friends are going through just awful things right now and it’s things I can’t physically help with, of course I do my best to emotionally and mentally support them but like come on universe leave my friends alone! Go back to picking on me! I’m used to it! I’m rambling now I just figured I’d post a little update about MK stuff and the post got away from me. Oops?

Last thing I just got a text from my older brother and it has me crying from laughing. When I was a tiny thing probably about 4 I used to freak out when you could see the sun and the moon at the same time and I used to sing at the top of my lungs “sun out and the moon out”. My brother’s video was of the sun and the moon both visible and him singing the song 🥰🥺 The fact that he remembers something so silly after 35 years is so touching 😭

#life update #heart transplant #medical stuff #ship stuff #celebration #anniversary #solizard bear #bi han x syzoth x sol