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#tried some new things this time. more character interaction practice which is fun
mars-ipan · 2 months
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they're so GROSSSSSS (<- desperately wants what they have)
alt color under the cut:
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omaano · 21 days
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SW Hades AU Status Update
I wanted to make a dedicated post about what I’m currently working on for the Star Wars meets Hades AU that looks more consistent than just sharing bits and pieces whenever I’m tagged in a Last Line Challenge. Because what else do I have but the poly sketch requests and this AU for my weekends? (If nothing else I know that the Hades AU has got me XD)
For now Obi-Wan and Maul are stuck at the same stage: they are both lined, have their base colours down as well as the two adjustment layers of coloured lighting.
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I suspect if I were ever to get through the agonozing few hours of shading Obi-wan’s face it would be mostly smooth sailing from there. The problem is that there are at least 2 - if not 3 - separate stages where the shaded face looks like I have no idea what I’m doing, and you need to get through the whole thing before it really comes together 😅 on the other hand Hades 2 has a lot of the directional shading I might need for his character art so that might help to get me there.
It also needs to be said that Obi-Wan comes with the extra disadvantage that is the entire background behind him. I’m really hyped to line it finally, it is quite a challenge, but at the same time I’m slowly coming to the realization that I have no idea how I will colour it. Hades backgrounds are so so pretty and full of details and gorgeous colours, and while I’m not delusional enough to think I could match that on first try… I still wish I could, you know? At the same time I will have to erase or recolour a lot of my lines, which will hurt quite a bit, I imagine. I’m so bad at killing my darlings 😅 also I hate laying down flat colours. I just find it very difficult to immerse myself in that process, while lining and shading can have their flow.
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I had covered up so many lines and details in Maul’s spider parts it’s a miracle I didn’t cry XD However, tips on grouping my shadows and allowing the shape to speak for itself and the details in them are very helpful and on point.
Worrying over writing dialogue for them is also not as far down my to-do list as I wish it were. I have a good enough idea for a quip for Obi-wan, but Maul? He’d need a whole melodramatic rant of his own XD
Aphra has gotten some new lines and I had fixed the satchel I had forgotten the last time I shared the rough sketch for her, thanks to the new character art for Hades 2! Seeing Odysseus and Hermès’s updated looks were great helps here, so I might as well move on to lining her, and finally adding another female character to the roster on top of Ahsoka!
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And then there is the biggest update on these little guys below! I will need to clean up the ones I had drawn for Cobb and Boba (and Din) well over a year ago, but with these my version of chtonic companions are done, and thanks to @lesquatrechevrons I have a full list of keepsakes for each character as well. I’m not very good at drawing these little tchotchkes (I say with Rex’s blaster right there LOL) but I hadn’t been very good at lineart or cell shading when I started this project either, so through forced practice I’m determined to change that :D
(It’s not a screwdriver under Boga, it’s one of Cody’s antennas. “It will grow back, don’t worry,” he says as he snaps it off his pauldron and hands it over to Din. Rex backs him up on that one without question. They can't lie for shit but trolling the shiny is their thing.)
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Additional fun fact: the reason why I’d picked up the chtonic companions concepts was because I’d been poking at minor details in the background behind Maul (aside from the Chaos doors), and I started adding credits and recoloured nectar to the corner (before I realized that they wouldn’t be visible once the character interaction comes up oops), and I tried to figure out to whose keepsakes Maul would react favorably. I also mixed up companion dolls and keepsakes, so that’s why the Ahsoka doll came to being (I also forgot that that one belongs to Rex, and not Ahsoka herself but uh… they are close enough that they should count by proxy anyway. It’s not Obi-wan’s cup of tea and that should be enough!). Also bless @mapleowl18 for suggesting Lil Soka as companion for Rex ❤️
So this is the current state of this AU project right now. I have my lists and notes, a few scribbled pose ideas in my sketchbook for Sabine (she might be next, unless Bo and her Nite Owls make a comeback), Satine and Omega (with Batcher), as well as some angry scribbles and question marks for Quinlan (who has apparently made his way back into this AU even though he didn’t get a little icon of his own originally orz), and Obi-wan The Second that would stand with Cody post reunion, but I cannot make that one work for now 😅
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good-beans · 3 months
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Concept that just popped into my head: Milgram characters doing "get ready with me" videos
Aw, this was so fun!! I always love your hc style of normal au/everyone's chilling, and tried to go the same route -- it was so cute to think about :D
Haruka: Puts on his outfit for the day and explains everything in great detail. He has lots of comfortable items and fun colors. At the very end he speaks off-camera and you realize Muu was standing there cheering him on the whole time. He gets a lot of encouraging comments, and Muu and Fuuta keep an eye on the account to delete any nasty ones that may come in.
Yuno: Shows her outfit, makeup, nails, and bag she’s taking with her. She tries out a variety of styles (not just sticking to the more feminine looks we see in canon). She gives a bit of a tutorial and tips as well as showing things off. Has a main account for her daytime outfits, and a more private one for her nighttime looks. Mahiru is the only one aware of the latter account.
Fuuta: Layers. Lots of layers. There will be three sweatshirts laid out in front of him and you wonder which he’s going to choose before realizing he’s putting them all on. He focuses most on his sneakers and sportswear. He plays loud music over the videos, not knowing what to say. Has gotten into comment-section arguments over those yellow socks.
Muu: Also does a full look at her appearance: nails, accessories, etc. She mentions where you can buy everything, and it’s unclear whether she was sponsored by these brands or is just excited to talk about them. (Whether they’re actually together or not,) she’ll have Haruka on as a guest a lot to show off couple’s outfit ideas. She definitely has the biggest following, and loves recommending Haruka and the others’ accounts.  
Shidou: He doesn’t really know what he’s doing, but his account is getting tons of views so the others keep encouraging him to make videos. He’s just glad to be connecting with the other prisoners as they show him how to do it. He dresses in a mix of the sleek patterned shirts and dad fits, and both types of videos are equally popular. 
Mahiru: None of the serious-faced flirts or little pouty faces – it’s all smiles for her. Every video is basically a full tutorial – she has captions and a voiceover giving commentary on everything. She has the next biggest following, and interacts constantly. She loves getting questions “what should I wear on an x type date?” “How do I dress to impress x type of person?” because she always comes up with the perfect outfit to help. 
Kazui: A bit confused as well, though he does know a lot about style. His interro question makes it seem like he wanted kids – I think he’d really get into the account as one of those “Dad How Do I” types. He talks about matching things, clothes upkeep, shaving/hairstyling. 
Amane: Also wouldn’t have made the videos without prompting from the others, but enjoys it a lot. She usually talks about practical things instead of “vain” fashion: she’s excited to show off a new raincoat, sturdy shoes, useful pockets, etc. Over time, she leans into outfits that are more cute and colorful, gaining confidence in them. 
Mikoto: He started the account as something for one of his design classes, and got really into it. He likes to challenge himself with unique styles and clothing articles, making pretty much anything work. He keeps everything professional in case an employer/coworker sees, but isn’t afraid to add some flirting and flaunting in there. If he’s open about his plurality, he’ll have some special videos, “choosing an outfit for John today!”
Kotoko: Like Amane, she’s more excited about practical outfits. She’ll show off clothes that have good flexibility, places to store and conceal objects, and heavy duty materials. She’ll rate jackets, boots, and other “military-grade” things for what has worked best for her. She’s very attentive to the accounts that follow her – she does full background checks to make sure her info is being used for justice, not more crime. Mahiru convinces her to do a special where she puts all her piercings in and talks about why she chose them/what they mean.
Es: Experiments with a lot of new styles, trying to figure out what they like. They also just play music in the back, not having much to say about each outfit. They'd rather focus on their series of dressing-up-Jackalope videos, much to his dismay...
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gravedigest · 4 months
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Gonna answer this over here, hope you don’t mind.
Oops it’s gonna be rambling I am so sorry
A lot of my writing winds up being freestyle, and getting something going takes four or five tries to stick the opener, like pulling the cord on an engine to get it to start. I have like three 2k word versions of how I wanted Doing Something to go, and one of them actually has Sanford in Hank’s place and Sanford’s more like a refrigerator than a runaway lawnmower. It wasn’t as fun to write, so I shucked it into the “neat concept, I’ll fuck with it later” bin.
Which is fine, I can have as many half-formed ideas as I want because I have the storage space for it.
From there I kinda write out little scene chunklets that I can rearrange or swap out with eachother, I’ll be thinking about the next scene I wanna do while I’m writing a different chunk, or thinking about an old chunk while writing a new one that I can slot in between that’ll make the overall story more coherent. So like, giving Doc a motive for specifically using Deimos to pilot Hank? I didn’t have one for a really fucking long time, then I was writing I think, like, Deimos’ meltdown and was like “Okay actually Deimos is going to be Doom. You can run Doom on anything.”
Then once I get my chunklets in a row I can go back over and add in more shit, and it makes it really easy to change details. Hank in the restaurant, how did he get to the restaurant? Fuck it. He was holed up in the tower this whole time and it was right next door. I’ll mention Deimos smells something burnt up in that other scene, weeeeee~
I kinda got this whole method from just writing vignettes? HNMT is a pretty obvious example of shoving a bunch of little scenes together to make something longer. I was using the research notes in that to kind of give hard stops so I didn’t need to stitch everything together as much. Because I’m lazy. And being lazy means you come up with fun ways to cut corners like that.
Tis how the first livestreaming video was invented. People didn’t wanna go stand up to see if the coffee was done, so they just hooked up a camera to a network and forced it to stream the video. I think I remember that right, take it with a shaker of salt, I ain’t remember shit good.
I highly recommend just doing a shitload of self indulgent vignettes though, just a bunch of scenes you want to read that don’t have to be connected to each other that you don’t have to do anything with. Eventually you might wind up connecting some of them together and extrapolating on a concept, and you can snowball from there.
Or just make a fun little oneshot, Workday is from a 30k document of what amounts to practicing each character individually in a bunch of scenarios, kind of just getting a feel of how I can have people interact and differentiate them from one another. It also just has a lot of stupid dialogue.
I fucking love writing dialogue. It’s really bad. But also neat when you can figure out how to give characters enough voice to where you don’t get confused about who’s saying what without having to say “he said, they said, x explained” yadda yadda. I use that thing as a reference for how I write each character to kind of gage consistency, and I’m not the best at it but I sure am getting better.
So, yeah. I get distracted really easily and this all sort of helps direct me being distracted into getting more work done than I would’ve if I had to follow a real outline, playing with legos instead of worrying about brick and mortar.
TLDR: Mostly freestyle, then editing in the plot beats that form naturally from that.
@ya-killin-me-smalls
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voidlingduck · 1 month
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Redesigning Jester
I've been working on trying to pull my story about Kings Court into something coherent and presentable, and as I've been going through that process I've been realising that I need to redesign some of the characters!
The first character I've been reworking is my beloved Jester! Here is their original design:
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I did really enjoy this design! But as time has gone on there have become certain pain points, and as the story has developed there are things I want to incorporate more strongly into the design. You can see a detailed breakdown of the re-design goals and process below the cut!
The mask - it needs to be a feature, not an afterthought.
As much skin as possible should be hidden, I want to play into the Jester as an anonymous and mysterious entity.
Simplify - the four tail coats are far too unweildy, and the pants proved annoyingly intricate with repeated drawing.
Ensure that the design is fun and exciting to draw in motion! Jester flops around a lot.
Incorporate an additional motif to reflect role in the court.
I began the process by looking for inspiration and reference material, particularly for the mask. I collected a variety of reference images onto a pinterest board to use for inspiration and then got to sketching! Here are some of the initial exploratory sketches.
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After the sketching process, I started working on some more finalised concepts taking what I had explored in the sketches, exploring the ways to combine shape and colour, and also getting feedback from friends.
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I then did a set of concepts all next to each other taking some of the ideas I had liked from these concepts as well as trying to add in some new things.
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Silhouette was a major consideration throughout these concepts - as well as experimenting with the mask design. The first and second designs proved the most popular, and also worked as my favourites. And so moving forward I decided to combine elements from them both. Namely:
Collar shape from design 1 - it's dynamic, fun, and interesting!
Hood based design from 2 - I like the framing of the hood.
Two pronged vs Three Pronged design from 1 - Easier to draw repeatedly and manipulate in dynamic ways, I think it gives a more dynamic flow to the design as opposed to the triple prong potentially being a bit more static.
Thigh high boots from 2 - my friends like them and I like the way they make the legs look long.
I also knew that I wanted to make sure that the design I came up with fit with the design of another character - Jack, and also play with poses to see it in motion, so for the next tests, I decided to work on them both simultaneously and have some fun drawing them interacting!
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As you can see, I had settles fairly well on the overall shape of the design, but still made some minor tweaks between images - mostly to do with the placement of the colour blocking. I also changed the mask design here from the previous iterations as they felt too cluttered and overpowered, and I also really enjoyed the design from the makeup Jester had in his original design, and realised it could transfer effectively to the mask design! Another thing that changed is I removed the crown motif I had started to develop, and tried to focus more strongly on incorporating an eye motif. This was a change made as I sat and considered the lore and symbolic implications, and I ultimately decided it worked best if Jester had the eyes and Jack had the crowns. King and Queen will likely have both when I get around to redesigning them! I still have some more playing around to do to settle into the final design before I make a proper reference sheet, as I'm definitley finding drawing the design in context helpful to get a sense of how it operates in practice and streamlining. I'm currently working on a mini PMV project featuring Jester which will hopefully help me solidify the design! But I'm feeling pretty happy with it so far.
I want to do more discussions of my design/redesign process in future as I find it really helpful and interesting to organise my thoughts like this. It's also exciting to see the progression all laid out, I'll probably do a similar thing for Jack soon!
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coffeebanana · 1 year
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15 Questions 15 Mutuals
Thanks for the tag @ladyofthenoodle and @kasienda
1. Are you named after anyone?
No, although my middle name is a family name.
2. When was the last time you cried?
I think a few weeks ago? I watched "Everything, Everywhere, All at Once" and KJBSDFKBJD. Like that movie is such a fun mix of WTF is even going on craziness and contemplating the point of existence and exploring complicated family feelings and the end is weirdly heartwarming--particularly the interactions between the mother and daughter, which is what really got me. And I was watching with one of my best friends and like right after the movie ended he was like "if we were rocks you'd be the googly eyes"--which makes no sense if you haven't seen the movie but that made me cry again because kajdfbksjbf it was so oddly sweet. (Though that was a mixture of hysterical laughter and crying ajsdjfsvjhv in a good way though!)
3. Do you have kids?
nope. maybe one day if i ever get my life together LOL
4. Do you use sarcasm a lot?
idk if it's a lot?? though i'm probably single-handedly responsible for teaching my brother sarcasm (he's 7 years younger than me so when he was learning would have been right as i was entering those peak sarcasm years LOL)
sarcasm is still deeply engrained in me though, and i nowadays when i use it i definitely pay more attention to how people react to it (ie whether they picked up on it) because i tend to deliver it in a very matter-of-fact voice. like, one of my favourite stupid sarcastic comments to make is whenever something weird weather-wise happens i'll be "but thank god climate change is fake, right?" and KJABFDKSJBD i've gotten some WEIRD LOOKS saying that one around ppl who don't know me that well and then i have to explain myself 😭
5. What sports do you play/have played?
i used to figure skate!! my mom was a coach when i was growing up, so i would joke that i lived part-time at the ice rink. it was kind of inevitable 😂. but i was never good at the jumps. i prefered ice dance or synchronized skating (think synchronized swimming but on the ice)
and i also used to play hockey!? very different environment LOL and my hockey teammates would sometimes tease me for showing up to a game in a dress after skating practice on days i had both but it was all in good fun
now...now i really SHOULD do something kajsdkbfsj
6. What’s the first thing you notice about someone?
i...really have no idea.
7. What’s your eye color?
hazel? i think?
8. Scary movies or happy endings?
happy endings. scary movies don't really freak me out but i guess i just find them sort of...low-reward? i'm not a movie person to begin with because it's hard for me to get invested in the characters in such a short amount of time. with horror movies that's even harder because they're all about shock value instead of getting to know the characters
9. Any special talents?
i am very very good at puns. does that count? 😂
10. Where were you born?
canada. on the west coast
11. What are your hobbies?
when i have energy/motivation i really enjoy cooking (or baking, but with baking i have to actually measure ingredients and with cooking i just sort of go with the flow). my new apartment is going to have space for a dishwasher--which really is the most exciting thing in my life right now--so i'm hoping that motivates me to cook more!!
12. Do you have pets?
yes!!! i have a ginger cat and her name is Curie (namesake Marie Curie because i'm a proud little nerd like that). I love her she's so stupid and has tried to eat plastic TOO MANY TIMES but every morning and night she will curl up on my chest when i'm in bed and she's just a precious bean
13. How tall are you?
5'5.5 (166cm). but i would have been taller if my spine had known how to grow straight 😔
14. Favorite subject in school?
science!! i had the same science teacher in high school from grades 8-10 (aka the only teacher in the french immersion department who was really qualified to teach it 😂) and i ADORED HER. from day one i was hooked--like she even made syllabus day fun. so i owe my love of science in part to her, really.
in university i realized i liked chemistry best amongst the sciences, so that was my major. and my favourite class i ever took was intro to quantum chemistry (which is really just quantum physics but the math was geared more towards what us chemistry students were familiar with)
15. Dream job?
okay, avoiding the typical "i do not dream of labour" answer...i really don't know. which is a problem. like i genuinely have no idea what i could do long-term that would actually make me happy and i just hope i figure it out at some point akjsdkfsjbd ... I feel like I was not supposed to leave paragraph responses for some of these but akjfkdsjbgd i can admit i like to talk about myself, okay? Anyways! I think I can find 15 mutuals who as far as i know haven't been tagged yet.
@ck2k18, @wackus-bonkus-maximus, @redundant-lava, @maridotnet, @celestialtitania, @talkstoself, @saiikavon, @sunfoxfic, @rosiesared, @mexicancat-girl, @tiredfloridianbutverygay, @fortuna-et-cataclysmos, @zenniaphoenix, @eggothemusicalwaffle, @bocadelicate
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public-trans-it · 16 days
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I thought you were anti ai "art"
What changed
I mean, originally I loved AI art. When it was first becoming trendy and couldn't actually replicate images, just produce vague shapes that kind of resembled the thing you asked for. That was fun. I found it fascinating to see how these algorithms processed data to try and replicate how we experience the world, but in their own way. I thought it was incredible and more than capable of becoming a huge art movement in its own right. In fact, I was a HUGE supporter of Frank (@nostalgebraist-autoresponder) which was a ChatGPT bot trained on Tumblr posts and hooked up to the tumblr API. Love Frank to death, and miss her a lot. She was a great study buddy for some of my views of animism into practice through interactions with her.
(this got way longer than I planned, putting this under a readmore)
Read More
I actually still have some images of my Sona (pictured in my PFP) that I tried to generate. Its nearly impossible to get an AI to generate it, because of how weird it looks, but it was always cool to see how a machine would try to create it!
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Look at that beauty! The resemblance is uncanny! (To clarify, the second image is drawn by @faundlydreaming and ABSOLUTELY IS NOT AI GENERATED)
Then the AI art movement kinda moved away from that and became about quickly producing images, and I hopped on the bandwagon of hating it mostly due to hating that the AI art I loved so much had changed. It was easy to get swept up in it. So yeah, I was anti-AI art for a while.
Then, as a silly thought experiment for myself, I tried to think of ways that AI art, in its 'new and improved' form, could be used in cool way. Eventually, I settled on how I thought it would actually be REALLY cool and thematic to use as part of a Voidheart Symphony campaign, generating all the NPCs that way so that you had uncanny distorted images of people which REALLY fit with the games theming. I thought the idea had a lot of potential, but couldn't really get a group together so I never explored it.
From there, I realized... that was actually a really good use of AI art models! No one is commissioning hundreds of NPC portraits for their at home TTRPG campaigns. Thats an absurd waste of money that most of us don't have. Using AI art to generate pictures for those characters as an extra resource for those kinds of games wouldn't be costing anyone a job, and realized that is actually a good strength for AI art. Small and inconsequential single use images. The kind of thing you cant justify dropping 100 bucks on per image for (if you are paying less than that YOU ARE UNDERPAYING YOUR ARTIST. Underpaying artists who don't value their own work is bigger art theft than AI art could EVER be, in my eyes).
Once I realized there WAS a decent use case for AI art, it was easy to go from there to seeing what other use cases there could be for it, and from there I started looking at the stuff I was following and repeating a bit more closely.
At which point, I looked at all the fascistic reasoning employed by a lot of the Anti-AI movement, and realized "Wait a fucking second, this is just Duchamp's Fountain again." That and the same "lost sales" argument that is used against piracy that has been debunked time and time again.
Like, I don't think AI art as an industry will ever succeed. AI art is inherently flawed, and cannot produce a level of consistency needed at a business level. But also I don't actually give a fuck what is or isn't successful as a business. I care about how it can be used as a tool, and I think as a tool it has some decent potential.
At the end of the day, all of the issues with AI art boil down to the exact same struggles we saw in the Industry Revolution when several handicraft fields became automated. Fighting against technological advancement is a fruitless battle. The only benefit to it is maintaining the status quo, but the status quo FUCKING SUCKS MAN. As automation takes over more fields, we need to pay more attention not to the poor people no longer being useful to capitalism anymore, but on how much we tie our worth as people to the products we create.
That is why I am an ardent supporter of Universal Basic Income, which if we had, none of this would be an issue. AI art existed for quite some time before anyone had a problem with it. The only point at which it became a problem was when it started threatening peoples jobs. That is a problem, but its not a problem with AI art, its a problem with how capitalism functions.
On top of that, its... not enforceable. The big thing to always ask when you think certain things should be allowed and certain things shouldn't is "Who is going to enforce this rule?" and "How do you determine what falls under this and what doesn't?" Does someone using the red eye tool in photoshop to make their photos nicer count as AI art? Should every mom posting her Christmas photos on Facebook have their images deleted? What about artists who deliberately try to copy the surreal artstyle that AI art is so fantastic at? How do you intend to prove they actually drew it themselves? Are entire STYLES of art going to be illegal now?
These are questions you need to ask. What do you WANT out of your movement, and HOW do you plan to achieve it? If you don't have an answer to both of those questions, then all you are doing is flailing wildly and hitting random people around you, and that benefits no one.
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varietales · 1 month
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Bisca – general dynamics with FT members. Part 4
Unless plotted otherwise, this is how she feels about these characters and is a rough idea of their dynamic with her.
Freed – Due to him and his team only rarely being around the guild (particularly pre-Fantasia), she didn’t get much time to interact with him. Of course, it was the similarity in their hair colour that drew her eye initially (not to mention the fact he’s just damn pretty), and his air of mystery was a topic that came up in the guild whenever he made an appearance. In their limited encounters, she found him polite and hard to read, but cool (in a similar way to Erza), and although she didn’t dare to, she was tempted to try find a way to ruffle him somehow. Post-Fantasia, she took a while to forgive him and the others for what they put the town and guild through, but seeing them all begin to fit in better and make more of an effort was rather heartwarming. It wasn’t long after that that he disappeared along with the others on Tenrou. Now, having spent more time around him, she enjoys his company and feels more comfortable around him, appreciating his detail-oriented nature and maturity. She's still lowkey looking for ways to ruffle him.
Evergreen – As with Freed, their interactions were few and far between up until the Battle of Fairy Tail. Bisca had heard a few rumours about her but was interested in making up her own mind about her, but never had much of a chance to do so. Again, as with Freed, Bisca took a bit of time to forgive her (being turned to stone was not easy to forget), but once she had worked through her feelings on the matter and had a few friendly conversations with her, she found she quite liked her. She once asked Evergreen about her wings, which eventually led to the pair doing some flying practice together (one of Bisca’s pets is a large birdlike creature capable of carrying her on its back). Now, they hang out together semi-regularly if they can manage it, between jobs and other life things, Bisca enjoys Evergreen’s views and humour. Bisca is more of a coffee drinker, but enjoys having tea with her whenever they catch up.
Bixlow – Perhaps due to the fact he wasn’t so directly involved in the Battle of Fairy Tail (you know what I mean – yes he was involved but he wasn’t the one that placed runes that would force others to fight, and he didn’t turn anyone to stone), and the fact that he was someone she got along with beforehand, but she found him easier to accept/forgive afterwards than the others. He’s the type that’s always up for shenanigans and trying new things, so she found him fun. As it is now, since she’s gotten older and matured somewhat, she kinda sighs (in fond exasperation) at some of his antics and tries not to get involved (he’s pulled her into some things in the past). He is one of Asuka’s favourite people, so Bisca can’t help but appreciate him for that and for the way he entertains her and looks after her.
Laxus – He didn’t make a great first impression, his attitude and demeanour were certainly Not Great, leaving her with an unfavourable opinion of him. She heard stories about him more than she ever saw him around, and she struggled to understand Natsu’s excited and positive view of him but still, she thought that as he was a member of the guild, he surely couldn’t be that bad. The Battle of Fairy Tail did not help her view of him, and honestly, to begin with she was glad that he was kicked out. As she healed and things settled, she did wonder if what he really needed was help, and not to be isolated, as she knew from her own past experiences of acting out and causing trouble that sometimes a helping hand was needed. Due to him being excommunicated and then lost along with the others on Tenrou, seeing him again once the group returned (and him looking the same) was unnerving, bringing back memories of his unpleasant attitude and being electrocuted by the Thunder Palace. She kept a wary eye on him, softening as she noticed the subtle changes in him. When Asuka developed a fascination with him, Bisca couldn’t help being a little tense at their first interaction, however she soon saw there was nothing to worry about. Surprisingly to some, Laxus has become one of the more regular babysitters (along with his team) for Asuka and is someone Bisca trusts. Outside of bonding via the girl, Bisca and Laxus aren’t particularly close, but she is becoming more and more fond of him.
Gajeel – Being a good friend of team Shadow Gear, Bisca did not take kindly to Gajeel when he joined, knowing how brutally he had attacked them. Protective of her friends after the attack, particularly Levy, Bisca kept a close eye on them and often escorted Levy to places or watched over her from a distance. She also kept a wary eye on Gajeel. Having come from a rough patch herself, she understood that there might be more to him than met the eye, so she also hoped to gain a better understanding of him through her watchful gaze. Before she could really see too much, Tenrou happened. Following his return and everything that happened since, she’s come to accept him and even find him amusing at times. And she can finally admit she really likes his aesthetic. They don’t tend to have much to do with each other, but she has told him off a few times (using her ‘mum voice’) when he’s done something he shouldn’t. And also, Asuka once (very loudly) asked her where Gajeel’s eyebrows are.
Pantherlily – Out of the exceeds, she thinks he is the cutest. They don’t interact all that much, but she appreciates his levelheadedness and they can enjoy a good conversation.
Makarov – When she first met him, he reminded her of her own grandfather, simply for the fact that he’s an old man and grumpy at times. It didn’t take her long to realise that was where the similarities ended and that Makarov was…strange. As a mage with great power and knowledge, he had her respect, and for allowing her to join the guild despite her crimes under the guilds name, he had some of her loyalty. Aside from that, she kept her distance as she preferred not to be anywhere near his wandering hands or creepy commentary.
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cleosven · 1 year
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Why Tylorpe
Why do I (like me specifically) write tylorpe? 
Tyler x Xavier:
Tyler and Xavier together? They make a lot of sense to me as a ship to write because they have so much in common with their trauma/manipulation (and how Wednesday and their fathers turned her back on them). 
They have a history with the mural and the assault. And they had a connection the whole show (the paintings and the glares/eye rolls/fake rivalry). And with Tyler theoretically on the loose, Xavier is bound to dream where he goes next.
That mental bond between them is cannon, and even if their romance will (likely) never be cannon, it’s perfect fuel for writing fanfiction. Especially because they had so few on-screen interactions, I get to shape how they interact in a variety of ways, and play around with it.
(Eight more sections below; I’m aware it’s a lot, but it’s fun idk; warning: I vaguely mention abuse a few times)
Easy form Canon to AU’s:
With a relationship this implied but not shown in cannon, I can write a book where they have secret crushes on each other from the start, or they hate each other at the start. They could become friends, unwilling co-heros, or lovers by the end, and there won’t be many scenes to contradict the plausibility of how these interactions play out, as long as the characters and the setting stand their ground, it can make the book feel very real.
But I still have the option to write crazy AUs like in any other ship. Especially because they are two (basically) humans set in the current time period, I can more easily translate them to the past or future or to a simple high school au, or to a whole new magic system - which can be harder for me in other fandoms. 
For example if I tried writing Sherlock as an American in 2100, or writing Spock as an Australian teenager in the 90′s- it can get wonky in translation for me because I’m not as familiar with the source (britishness and space ig). This setting of Jericho in 2022 is (roughly) in my home turf, so I can easily practice writing Tyler and Xavier in different settings or situations the show isn’t interested in pursuing.
History of abuse:
I relate to characters like Tyler and Xavier who have been manipulated and abused, so they are easier to write because I get far more invested in them.
And the fact that some people in the fandom don’t like their characters actually makes me even more invested. I feel like all the criticism for their characters applies to me as well. I feel evil for doing evil things under someone else’s control (tyler), and boring for hiding my pain and staying out of the spotlight in my friend group(Xavier), and I feel fake, like my whole life was designed on a whim to be a prop in other people’s story of emotional growth (criticism I’ve heard for both of them).
By writing these characters as real people, I feel like I can do them justice while uncovering my past and fighting my misbeliefs along the way. 
Relating to a story:
So many shows have manipulated/abused characters, but I often can’t relate to them because they fight back and win, (often fairly easily in the face of world-ending doom), with lots of help from peers, mentors, and destiny. And that’s not my story, and I think there is enough of that going around that I don’t personally have to explore it rn.
I see the plot of a ‘teenage chosen one taking on the world and winning.’ And I am drawn to them because they are teenagers/young adults in a world they don’t understand (in their case because magic or mystery) but it’s still a world I have stakes in, which I relate to. 
But I need more stories about the people who didn’t have the help they needed right away. I want to see someone living a full life while recovering from the fighting the unexplainable as well as the mundane battles in life. And I feel like Tyler and Xavier meet that criteria.
I need magic and mystery:
But I still need the story to be told through a guise of a world with magic because it keeps me from relating so much that I’m just living my own life again. I want the to see the same themes as my life, but a clearly different setting or plot that I can explore.
And the magic and mystery being thrown in help me remember that I don’t know everything about life, so it feels like there is hope and opportunity around every corner.
Timing the aftermath:
And these magical YA shows also usually end dramatically before you see the aftermath of them dealing with how their life has changed. Theoretically the aftermath is not exciting. But I think that it can be. Not every hero has to be bright eyed and innocent at the start of the story. They can have a past, and I think that makes them far more interesting. But this whole show Tyler and Xavier are dealing with their aftermath (and the whole next season will be about this too!).
Tyler’s trauma:
Tyler’s trauma is revealed at the end, but it began before the show started. And his trauma is still ongoing, and that resonates with me. We don’t know if Laurel is gone forever and idk if I’m in the clear either, but rooting for Tyler also helps me root for myself.
Tyler was just an everyday barista in a small town who lives in a single-parent household. All that everyday stuff plus his trauma was there in him, weighing him down every time he smiled, laughed, joked, or spent a week on latte art. But he still managed to do those things. And that complexity just feels very real, and it draws me in.
Xavier’s trauma:
Xavier’s trauma was never shown explicitly, and that makes him an amazing character for me. I can’t always remember what happened, but I can feel the aftermath. Xavier has clear themes: not being believed (being locked up by Wednesday and so many other things), not trusting his own feelings (Bianca), and his need to appear fine (from his father’s PR demand). And all of that is such a comparatively small part of the show, but it’s just so important to me. 
I relate so much to Xavier’s character in these ways. I withdraw and I don’t know if it’s therapy or hiding from the world (like his art shed), put my hopes on people as a form of self-sabotage (his crush on Wednesday that he knew was doomed), and I react in strange and surprising ways due to my internal conflict (like Xavier giving Tyler the scarf; hiding the hyde paintings).
Xavier gets out of jail at the end, but his relationship with Bianca and Tyler and even Wednesday are all still basically unresolved. And that opens up my options as a writer on the other end. I can write the trauma, and I can write the outcomes. But the show set up a really good character somewhere in there between snarky comments, school dances, and genocidal zombies. 
Queerness is powerful:
And of course, I also write tylorpe because I love queer ships. I’m a masculine-type person who likes masculine-type people(not exclusively, but it’s up there), so that’s a big part of why I write tylorpe over wenclair. 
I don’t always include the conflict of sexual orientation/gender identity in my writing, but it always adds another emotional dimensions for me. Everyone can relate to not knowing who they are, or not accepting parts of themself because of others opinions. And most can relate to the struggle of finally realizing who you are and wanting to be loved for it. But not everyone is there yet, and I’m not always there, so I like having the reminder. 
To me, that queer inner conflict always feels more powerful than two people who know who they are, and what they want and then they just get it. I want and emotional journey of self discovery, and I prefer it to be about queer matters over other forms of identity crisis, because I understand it more, so I feel like I can tell a better story with it, and get more out of it.
I also love writing coming out scenes, and it’s nice to show examples of characters being in love and happy with or without their parents approval, because all those stories need to be told. But I also like writing in a world were there is no stigma, and they just become partners and everyone is happy for them, and maybe the journey was just one of self discovery, instead of a battle to overcome others baseless fears.
--
So yeah, that’s what’s on my mind today, and that’s why I’m writing tylorpe again....Thank you for coming to my tylorpe class today lol <3 
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sholiofic · 1 year
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@cuppatealove asked:
I've been sort of wanting to ask you something similar, but I can't quite frame it. I've been devouring a lot of writing advice, because I'd like to grow as a writer, but get torn between the urge to streamline my writing, have good pacing, trim the fat and make the story really pull the reader along, and the fandom urge to shun the rules and shamelessly dwell on all the moments that conventional storytelling doesn't have time for! (1/2)
(2/2) I guess if I were to try and turn that into a question, it would be: do you find you can let yourself indulge with fic a little in taking a bit more time over things, or do you think the trained writer in you is always going to pace stories the way you (forgive me) "should"?
Oh, no, you can absolutely indulge!
I’m not going to say it’s always true that readers will like what you’ll like, or that nothing should ever be cut. But actually, the one thing that I think has made me a better writer than anything else is a thing fanfic has taught me, which is to lean wholeheartedly into whatever it is that I’m writing. If there’s an emotion, go for all the emotion; if there’s a setup that could lead to [fun thing happening], then write the fun thing.
Romance (what I mostly write outside of fanfic) is particularly good for this because readers absolutely *love* long scenes of characters interacting with each other. You can have them spend all the time in the world going for walks and shopping and making out. Non-romance readers might be bored, but who cares? They’re not who the book is for.
Now, analytically speaking, every scene should do *something*. But where I think a lot of classic writing advice is wrong is that it doesn’t have to be strictly related to the plot, or doing 10 different things at once to be valid. “Being fun” is a perfectly good reason for a scene to exist all on its own. So is “showing the character’s personal life” and “delivering more interaction between two characters who are fun to write together” or “revealing that this character is afraid of snakes.”
Now, if you want to go for a stripped-down, lean, “every word counts” writing style, that is perfectly fine and valid, and in some genres (e.g. thriller) or for writing some kinds of scenes (e.g. an action scene in a fanfic) it’s practically obligatory. And at some point in the writing or editing process you’ll ideally end up looking at your fiction analytically and deciding if you really need three scenes of the character shopping, or twelve different aunts, and deciding to eliminate or combine some.
But you know what? Sometimes you DO need all those shopping scenes, and all those aunts because the chaos of the protagonist’s home life is part of the fun. You can always eliminate something because it doesn’t work for the story you’re trying to tell, but you should never eliminate something you want to write because it goes against some axiomatic piece of writing advice.
My fanfic is indulgent to the max, and I have consciously tried to teach myself to bring some of that indulgent attitude to my original writing as well, because I feel that it makes it better. I do certainly look at other advice as well - I read tons of writing books and articles, it’s not like I’m just “welp, I already know everything there is to know about writing!” I learn new things and practice them all the time. But I assess each new piece of advice based on whether it works for me, keep what’s useful, and discard a lot of it because it doesn’t work for the kind of books I like to write.
Frankly, since I write romance and a lot of professional writing advice is actively antithetical to writing the sort of slow, lush, detail-rich books that romance readers like, I throw out a LOT of writing advice because it’s actively anti-useful for me.
So basically I would say, if you find that following a piece of writing advice feels like it’s making your writing better and tighter and stronger, then keep doing it; if it feels like it’s pushing you away from the stories you want to write, then ignore it. Absolutely no advice works for everybody all of the time, and absolutely no writing advice applies to every instance of writing even if it sound like it.
EDIT: Oh yeah, and you know what’s great about throwing in all the extra stuff? Sometimes four books later, or six chapters down the line in a chaptered WIP, you’ll realize that there’s an absolutely GREAT way that you can make use of an otherwise irrelevant scene that you put in earlier, and make yourself look smart and prepared. 😂 If you went and wrote that scene making a character afraid of snakes, and now you can put a snake in, then everyone will go “Ooooh, she’s so brilliant, look at that foreshadowing!” when actually it’s just that you saw an opportunity and already had the earlier scene written to allow you to jump on it.
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luvclimber · 4 months
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☆Introduction☆
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About me:
1: Hello there! Welcome to my blog! You call me by my username or Climber, but my real name is Alana but I will mostly feel comfortable going by my username! My pronouns are He/Him but I’m actually a female but I feel oddly comfortable with those pronouns than She/Her pronouns! I’m also quoisexual which means I cannot relate neither understand experiences or concepts of sexual attraction and orientation, but it could also mean I'm confused about my own feelings of sexual attraction and orientation! I’m also a multifandom, multishipper, rareshipper, crossshipper as well!
2: I am a self-taught artist! I have had many moments in my life where I felt about giving up on art, but I have soon to realize that I started to get better at art the longer I continued to try and practice on my own and make more art! I was a little hesitant on showing my art work to the public internet community since I thought people would make fun of it! But I saw that people started to like my art work that I post and so that gave me more confidence to post more of my art work and improve!
3: There are specific stuff that I post on my blog, things such as DemJay, Law of talos, Endzone, Burning Avalon, Witches dimension! I will sometimes post some slightly suggestive stuff but I will mainly post normal and fluff art of my favorite characters! But I may take a week off here and there every once in a while but I promise to post daily every week!
☆Press keep reading☆
Random facts:
1: I have actually been through many sexuality from the start of a very young age! I desperately tried to look for the right sexuality that fit me! I went from thinking I was a lesbian, straight, bisexual, asexual, pansexual, aromatic, to finally finding the right one that fit me! Quoisexual!
2: I was a Lankybox fan for a long period of time until they started to post some stuff that I didn’t really find entertaining anymore? I guess that’s how you can put it? I mainly started to watch TikTok and other YouTubes more often now. I actually had a Lankybox TikTok account which one was Gacha and one was edits of them! But I did end up deleting them and changing my account entirely. I did have one other Gacha account on TikTok that I was famous on but sadly I got logged out.
3: I have a YouTube channel that my father used for my garden, the channel and videos are still up, actually! But of course I won’t give you the name of the YouTube channel because I find them cringe and the videos were so long ago-
4: Whenever someone new follows or likes my post I just take a look at their account and see what type of stuff they post! So I kinda stalk your account for a little while!
Interact if:
People who are in the DemJay, Law of talos, Endzone, Burning Avalon, Witches dimension fandom! I love meeting people who have the same interest as me!
Climber fans or kins! I actually have been a fan of Climber since 3 years ago! Also I don’t want people to think I’m saying I’m his number one fan since I find it cringe to say I’m his number one fan. I just really love Climber and could relate with him-
Artists and small artists! I love seeing people’s different styles in their drawings and the fact they put work into it! Like I said, I’m a self-taught artists and worked to get to find the art style I like!
Do not interact:
Problematic people! I really feel uncomfortable with people who are problematic follow me. Even if you are associated with a problematic person, please do not interact with my account.
Homophobic people! And you probably already know why, I post a lot of gay ships and I don’t want homophobic people to associate with my account to just hate.
People who are firm believers about being a hater. If you’re going to simply going to go on my account and hate for no reason, you will get a HARD block! All of us are just trying to have fun!
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I am a recovering elitist. What that means is I have spent a lot of time and energy getting angry about shit nobody cares about.
I was that Well, Actually fan for So Long. I used to describe myself as a slave to canon. And this is because, during my teens and early 20s, critical analysis and "Correct" characterization was something I felt like I could have control over, because I had "canon" to back up my claims, so when people argued with me about an opinion I had, I could just lean back and tap the sign and say "Nope, it says so right here on page 22 of Issue #138" and feel that knowledge, in some way, made me superior to other fans who had interpreted the story differently than I had.
At one point, I had become such a canon purist that I left a rude comment (not crass, but unnecessary) on someone else's artwork. It probably wasn't the first time I did, but it was the first time a mutual called me out on it. I said something wasn't canon and I didn't understand fanart that did this certain trope, and they said 'why does that matter?' I made a big long (separate) post about how I, personally, didn't like when people credited creators for representation that didn't exist in canon by pretending these characters exist that way. Very passionate. Very vulnerable. They replied "That sounds really personal but that has nothing to do with [artist's] work."
Just Like That, I realized that's how I'd been treating everything I interacted with. Like I was the center of the universe, and everything in the path of my consumption was meant to cater to me, personally. I thanked my mutual, I removed my comment on the post, I sent the artist an ask to apologize for my selfishness (which they were very gracious about), and I have tried to stay aware of my interactions with media ever since.
Because aside from it being rude to address every piece of media (especially media created for free, by strangers) as if it was meant to be designed specifically to your tastes, it's also very limiting to your own creativity to seal yourself in a bubble and reject any ideas that challenge the ones you already have.
I'm in my 30s, now, and I have met wonderful fans and friends that had vastly different takes, perspectives, ideas, and interpretations than I do. My work has never been better, I've never been happier, and I find it's much easier to find, make, and keep friends and have fun when you allow yourself to simply Enjoy things.
When you don't have to be Right about something subjective, it allows you to view a piece of art from all angles. It allows you to be curious, and be interested, and find new things you might not have come up with on your own.
When I was younger, and more insecure, I thought of art as a solitary practice. It's not! It's best when it's collaborative. You will find such joy in creation and development when you share your ideas and learn to have ideas shared with you. When you learn to sit at a metaphorical table and swap ideas with people -- from mundane, realistic headcanons to absolutely absurd and goofy thoughts -- it's so much easier and more enjoyable to find golden threads by going out and playing in the mud with friends than it is holed up on a pedestal alone.
I have slipped on my ego many times, and I will continue to do that, but recovering isn't about being perfect right away, it's about putting in the effort. If you struggle with ideas that challenge your comfort character/series headcanons, I hope that you let yourself try to enjoy different ideas. You don't have to adopt them, you don't have to change your mind, but we also don't need to take conflicting ideas as personal attacks. There is plenty of room in the sandbox.
Remember: Fandom is a shared space, full of all different people, who are all going to take different things away from the material. It's not a bad thing! Our varied perspectives, our favored tropes, our personal creativities, these are collaborative qualities we can use to make each other better at exploring and expressing. These are ways we can connect with and share ourselves with each other.
All this to say, life gets so much better when you can acknowledge interpretations as a labor of love. Even if they're not your interpretation, even if that interpretation isn't your flavor, someone out there loves something enough to invest time into the exploration of it, and we shouldn't be vilifying each other for that.
If you, too, are an artist of any kind, I offer a personal challenge:
Take the time to ask yourself why you do or do not like something, really try to understand and analyze where that response comes from, and what brought it about. It will teach you so much, and you can then use that knowledge to communicate and evoke those feelings more effectively your own work!
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stellocchia · 2 years
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Which au (or au’s plural) of yours are you currently the most excited about, and what certain things are you most excited to explore (I love it when creators ramble about their works, so this is your permission to do so!)
Okay so!
Since one of my fics is coming to an end (only, like, two chapters are left. So I'll probably finish posting it this week) I'm now split between three main AUs:
My dsmp pokemon AU
My esmp x dsmp AU
And the AU @ladycatland made with the 50 Tommy clones and Quackity as their single parent (the number of Tommy will probably get decreased for practicality)
I genuinely don't know which one I'm more excited for because all of them have something different going for them.
Like, my Pokemon AU gets Ranboo being a very unwilling pokemon protagonist with all the evil villains going after him because he just passed the vibe test a bit too fast. And Tommy as a pokemon nurse that helps Tubbo realize his full potential as a trainer, so plenty of clingy duo interactions.
I also obsessed over every little detail of that AU. I know all of their teams as well as exactly what moves and abilities their pokemon have. And I use a damage calculator for the pokemon battles to make it a bit more accurate.
I may have hyperfixated just a tinsy tiny bit. But at this point it's too late to go back.
The Empires x DSMP AU meanwhile has my new fixation in it (which is Empires, to literally no one's surprise, I know) AND messed up crimeboys dynamic in it. As well as my beloved outsider pov because it's all gonna be written from various Empires' characters povs, so they see the whole shitshow go down only from the outside.
It's a bit more tricky to write because I have only ever written one Empires fic before, but I am watching literally every single Empires pov multiple times for a reason! I'll do my very best to keep them in character because god do I adore these funky block people!
It is based on Season 2 of Empires though, so I may have to change some details as I go.
Now, the last one is a bit different because it's something me and Cat just talked about at random that my brain for some fucking reason latched on and is refusing to let go.
The base idea was that Tommy dies in exile, Dream tries to revive him, but the Revival Book doesn't work. So Dream kinda loses his mind a little bit more than he already had and studies cloning.
He tries to create a perfect clone of Tommy to sort of bring him back but, well, Tommy's personality is just never there because none of these clones have lived through any of his life experiences. Dream doesn't destroy them anyway because at least he's not completely alone in his cloning factory.
During all this, Quackity follows Dream one day and he ends up stumbling onto this and getting caged down there to be dealt wth later. He's the first thing from the outside world the Tommys get to interact with so they all latch onto him and, gotten passed the creep phase, Quackity is more than happy to engage with them (mostly because it's better than slowly losing his mind in solitary confinement).
Eventually, Quackity manages to run and bring the Tommys with him to New L'Manburg to honestly mostly the horror of everyone there who now has to deal with a few imperfect copies of Tommy running around and slowly learning to be human.
It's the horror-comedy aspect of it all that makes it so fun to write, I think. I just love that mix of "ha ha random" mixed with existential dread.
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lunatic-fandom-space · 11 months
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Alright, I just finished season 2 and I once again have thoughts but before that, I need to make a small correction to my previous post
This season didnt jump headfirst into serialization, I mustve misremembered and honestly, when I thought a little more about it, I dont think it ever tried to be consistantly serialized for atleast the first three seasons (after which I stopped watching). Like, this series is very faithful to its status quo which is pretty bad considering its a SLOW-BURN ROMANCE. Also, while I dont think it ever actually claimed to be Coming of Age, it is allegedly inspired by magical girl anime which have had Coming of Age elements since the genre's conception, but you cant have those if your main characters are all perpetually 14 so that kinda sucks.
Its so faithful to its status quo that all of the episodes end up having practically the same structure and there arent enough episodes that break it up so watching them all back to back makes it pretty hard to really distinguish them. I think the main thing preventing the show from getting boring as you watch it are the fight scenes which are pretty fun and inventive and, in season 2, the introduction of a bunch of new lore and heroes
Speaking of the new stuff, watching this series was kinda interesting because I felt like it was off to a bit of a rocky start and I got kinda worried because a lot of people hail it as the best season of the show so far and I was initially enjoying it a lot less than season 2 but then it did turn out to be pretty good and I liked the way they introduced the new lore and heroes and even Luca and Kagami, whom I was absolutely prepared to dislike. I think its because its all just setup but then I know that they're going to really fumble the payoff so I kinda tricked myself into thinking it was always bad when this season is actually pretty good.
Out of all the new stuff I think the Kwami Power-Ups were the worst. Its so blatantly toyetic in a way that feels really nonsensical and then they use them 2 and a half times and thats it, I dont even remember them ever being used in season 3but that might just be my shit memory
Im just going to restate that I think Master Fu is unecessary and that, between the Kwamis as their guides and the grimoire existing, our superheroes dont need a Wise Old Sage Mentor. Like, just make it so that the Miracle Box was in the possession of Marinettes family but they didnt know about the miraculous and then Marinette finds out but she only has the Ladybug (and maybe the fox and the bee) and all the other ones have been scattered all around Paris or even the world and then come up with some way for Adrien to get his hands on the cat miraculous idc
Luca was fine, hes a bit too bland and Manic Pixie Dreamgirl-ish for my taste except iirc he doesnt even end up advancing Marinettes character in any way, which is pretty much the only purpose a MPDG can serve, so like, what the point, but in this one season hes a good setup to become an actual character later on. Its a shame he never does, but still. I actually loved Kagami which is suprising because I mainly remembered her being kindof boring with some mildly offensive japanese stereotyping and fetishizing sprinkled on top, but shes pretty fun and likable. I love how awkward yet genuinely confident she is and I like the way she and Marinette interacted in Frozer, however briefly. I really liked Frozer in general, it was honestly really cute watching the four of them go on this litzle double date, I totally get all the polyshippers now, especially the Adrigaminette shippers. That being said, Kagami and Adrien really arent working for me as a couple so Im not looking forward to that
Alya, Chloe and Nino were fine as heroes its just that they dont really get any development (other than Chloe) and pretty much all they do is make the plotpoint where Ladybug and Cat Noir cant reveal their identities to each other pointless and nonsensical which is bad because thats the only reason the love square exists and the love square is like, the one Big Thing that this show has going for it. Alyas Rena Rouge suit is literally just Lilas suit down to the body being much slimmer so that sucks. On top of that, she and Queen Bee are unfortunately cursed with having to wear patterned skin tight latex suits with basically no other details because theyre girls in Miraculous Ladybug. I do really enjoy Queen Bees transformation sequence, it has so much personality and while I dont really like Chloe's civillian I do like that it has the same color scheme as her hero design almost like shes broadcasting the fact that shes Queen Bee without a care, even with clothes. Chloes arc was also really interesting and I liked the direction they went with her, i just wish her character development was more consistent because there were episodes where she seemed genuinely reformed even if she hasnt lost that Mean Girl exterior and then there were episodes where she just went back to being genuinely awful again. I dont have a lot to say about Nino except that I hate the hood and I hate his colorscheme. Theres a part in Heroes Day where they show the streets of paris from above while theyre parading these floaties of all the superheroes around and you can see how good Ladybug, Rena Rouge and Queen Bee look together with all of them having these warm main colors and Carapace just sticks out like a sore thumb, just put my man in a lighter more-yellowey shade of green Im begging you
One of the main reasons I was worried about season 2, beyond me mixing up stuff from season 3 with stuff from this season, was the way they handled Cat Noir. In the first season he was being playful and a little flirty with Ladybug but he had a similar playful attituide towards most of the people he interacted with and I guess the writers noticed that it didnt really come across as an actual crush on that part of the love square, so they made it a lot more blatant and made him come on to her much more strongly. Its clear to me that we're meant to symphatize with him when Ladybug rejects him but it seems that no one told the writers that unrequited love is only sad when they never voice their feelings to the person that doesnt love them back, when they keep making romantic gestures towards them even after an explicit rejection, thats just entitled, pathetic and cringe. It couldve been worse but season 1 was a bit better about it
I did like the Adrienette side of the love square far more this season though! Since they actually allowed Marinette to talk to him properly, Adriens personality got to come out more again and it felt like less of a shallow celebrity crush on her part. Its a realy shame that, instead of just continuing to go in this direction with the Love Square, they added Kagami and Luca as these pointless diversions. I think they could have worked, but maybe in a series that focused more on interpersonal relationships in general as opposed to just romantic ones or in a series that decided to get more wacky with it. Like, instead of there being The Love Square and then Luca for Marinette and Kagami for Adrien as Love Square Diversions you couldve had Marinette slowly form this deeper connection with Adrien while she also realizes how genuinely sweet and attentive Cat Noir could be but then Luca comes in and hes so interesting and cute but then Kagami is forward and confident like a realf life Ladybug and she starts to really admire her but oh, she never really noticed how much Alya always supported her and helped her grow....... and then do the same thing for Adrien. Like, go big or go home, GET WACKY WITH IT OR DONT GET WITH IT AT ALL
Hawkmoth is still really hard to take seriously, no surprise there. The moments where he cared about his son and even Nathalie in Heroes Day that were supposed to humanize him were fine, just kinda frustrating knowing that theyre gonna make him even more comically evil in the next few seasons and that its going to be inconsistant
Thats pretty much it. Pretty good overall, but hard to truly enjoy when you know whats coming
Thanks for reading ^^
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riddlerosehearts · 4 months
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🐍 oh my god i had no clue there was a way around the character limit, thanks tumblr for being inconsistent across platforms 💀
Nico was my fave when reading the original series as well! Though I did end up latching onto Leo more when HoO came out, I still always have a soft spot for Nico.
Funny you say that about Jamil, I just saw some super awful takes abt him recently (again) that just made me feel like people are reading a completely different story, though part of that can be blamed on how the EN translation changed some stuff that kind of completely change the context of his situation.. honestly, given what you wrote abt Annabeth I think Jamil would also fit in Athena cabin - he's smart, capable, cunning and a strategist, plus he already has the gray eyes. He'd likely be the head of the cabin too.
I agree! Lots of people have pointed out there's a lack of Leo & Nico interaction in canon despite their similarities and I think that's such a shame, while I don't ship it romantically I really wish there could've been a friendship between them. I wish there was more emphasis on platonic relationships in general in HoO, so many things could've been explored further but we didn't get to :(
Nico being allergic to cats despite liking them is actually so adorable, I'm totally accepting that headcanon now. He tries to hold Grim then starts sneezing uncontrollably.
Me too! I'm usually reluctant to share my thoughts in case anyone reads it and thinks "there's no way you actually think that/that's stupid", but I'm really glad I can share with you and chat about ideas because it's so nice hearing what someone else thinks. Along with that I have made PJO OCs that I have been faaar too shy about showing people, but I they're precious to me and maybe I will post them one day...
Leo just using latest shows as bg noise would fit so well and be so funny lol, he'll know a few things here and there about whatever's going on but be completely wrong about some things that die-hard fans get mad at and give him a long lecture about the series that he barely retains because he didn't expect it. And Leo having fire hair can be uh, just a terrible accident where he lit his own hair on fire, for my "i just want to see it one time" convenience.
Now for a fun question, how do you think Leo & Nico would wear the NRC uniforms or dorm uniforms? Like how Idia never wears the blazer, Jamil wears a hoodie etc - how would they prefer to dress?
tumblr is such an inconsistent, buggy mess it's ridiculous sometimes. recently i discovered that i had blocked someone whose url i recognized but who i didn't ever remember blocking and don't know why i would've, so i unblocked them immediately but i was just like?? how did that even happen?? could've been a mistake on my part but i also wouldn't be surprised if it was a glitch 😭
i latched on so hard to nico as a kid because i was an edgy emo kid who really related to him ADKJGHDK. so of course as an edgy emo bisexual teenager i started loving him even more when house of hades came out. but like i said before, leo is easily my favorite of all the new characters from HoO! i have some criticisms of HoO as a whole but i like leo so much that i used to want to be a hephaestus kid mainly so he'd be my brother (and before that, i wanted to be a hades kid for reasons that are probably pretty obvious LOL).
oof, yeah, i do play twst EN and... okay, i was going to go off on a whole tangent here about jamil and kalim and how the localization watered down their entire fascinatingly tragic dynamic but it got so long that i realized it could practically be its own post. so i removed it and expanded it into its own post. it's here if you'd like to read it, but tl;dr is i agree with you completely lol. jamil is one of the most misunderstood and mischaracterized boys in the fandom and i think the changes EN made definitely have something to do with that, which frustrates me immensely because outside of certain choices made with both scarabia and pomefiore i tend to really enjoy the localization. the way they translate idia's dialogue is comedic gold.
anyway, though, i was also thinking athena might make sense for him! and i know i previously said riddle could be head counselor of the athena cabin, but i can totally see it for jamil too. although, i wonder, how would it affect things if kalim was also present at CHB? would jamil still need to keep his head down, make sure not to outdo him at anything, and reject any sort of position of authority so kalim wouldn't look bad? would he give the head counselor position to someone else (not kalim, i don't think they'd be in the same cabin) if it was offered to him? which reminds me, another idea i had is that i think it could be interesting if jamil was the son of a minor god while kalim was the son of an olympian, possibly giving jamil even more reason to resent him. or it could even be the other way around (say kalim's parent is a minor god and jamil's is an olympian, so jamil is more powerful than kalim but has to act like he isn't) too.
personally i do think romantic leo/nico is cute and it's a ship that i have a lot of nostalgia for since i read a ton of fics for it way back in the day lol, but i'm not shipping them in this twst AU! i'm a multishipper who loves nico and will together too and i really just wish leo and nico had gotten to be friends in canon. i strongly agree with you that HoO should've focused more on platonic relationships, and i actually basically said all of this recently in a post here!
okay, it would actually be hilarious if nico was still allergic to grim despite grim's constant insistence that he isn't a cat. and nico being like, well, i'm allergic to cats and i don't think it's the ghosts that are making me sneeze, sooo. and now i'm also thinking about nico coming at grim like idia in his labwear groovy askjdghd.
i feel like in general i'm so bad at explaining my ideas and i get worried about not making any sense lol! but at some point in the last few years i just sort of started saying fuck it, if i have something that i really wanna post on my blog i'll go ahead and post it and if someone thinks it's stupid then they don't have to follow me. i bet your PJO OCs are great, and you shouldn't be afraid to share them!
HMMM oh man, i'm nowhere near as creative as i wish i was when it comes to fashion because i'm bad at visualizing how things go together lol. but my first thought is that nico canonically insists on wearing his worn out old aviator jacket everywhere up until it literally gets torn to shreds. and then in TOA he buys a black leather bomber jacket and starts wearing that everywhere instead. so i think he'd insist on wearing his bomber jacket over his school uniform like idia does with his hoodie! he'd wear a black shirt instead of a white one, like vil does, and i could see him wearing the vest but i don't think he'd bother with the tie, blazer, or gloves. he'd also wear black converse and maybe he could add some more of his Emo Kid flair by wearing a cool studded belt or attaching chains to his pants or something, i think that'd be fun.
for leo, i would love to hear if you have a different idea than what i say because i'm not as sure about how i think he dresses! but i get the vibe that his main consideration is comfort and how well he'll be able to work in something, like he doesn't necessarily dress badly but he's very casual and doesn't wanna put a ton of time or thought into his clothing. so i could see him maybe wearing the gloves and blazer, but not bothering to put on the vest or tie or button his shirt up at the top, and just grabbing a pair of work boots for shoes.
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1kook · 3 years
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BORN SINNER III
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→ MASTERLIST
summary; Regardless of whether you are a liar or not, that didn’t make it okay for Jungkook to lie to you. warnings; virgin jungkook, timid jungkook, church boy jk, a LOT of religious themes/discussion, catholic guilt, fear of sinning, mentions of masturbation, heavy doubts, a little paranoia/fear of being outcasted, jk has a crush, confessions, making out, boob lover jk has his boobs touched, groping/petting, light praise, very brief/light choking, jk is horny like 75% of the time, positive character development <3 rating; m (18+) wc; 9.5k
banner; as always, by @jamaisjoons​ !! ty ty ty!! <3333
notes; i have to apologize for delaying this update for so long. truth is, it was difficult to write the next part bc i felt like i had trapped myself in pt2-- jk wasn't showing ANY progress & i started to really hate his character. LUCKILY, with the help of my amazing editor n wife @kigurumu​ *audience cheers* i was able to put him back on the right track towards redemption! (& even more painful angst in the future!) sadly, that means that this part doesn't include any explicit smut, you'll see why. still, I'm very proud of how much i was able to build his character in this part and i hope you enjoy it!!! lemme know what u think <3
in the future, i will try my best to make sure the chapters aren’t so spaced out. again, i am so so sorry about taking so long to update this series
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He gets your text the following Tuesday morning. 
Now, Jungkook has never been one to be overly invested in his cell phone; he uses it as much as he needs to, just checks his emails, takes some photos, and sends texts when necessary. But you had set up a particularly unique ringtone for yourself the other day, had sweetly asked for his phone as he laid against your chest. His skin had felt warm and the slightest bit sweaty, his body pressed so closely against you that he couldn’t tell where he ended and you began. “Did you have fun?” you asked, fingers combing back his hair. He had hummed, eyes fluttering shut to the faint tapping of your fingers across the keyboard. If he closes his eyes, he can still remember the soft beating of your heart beneath his ear, the leg you had hooked around his waist to pull him closer. The memory makes him shiver. 
It’s a high-pitched bell sound that alerts him of your messages now, completely unlike the classic default tone he had set for everyone else. 
From the other side of his room, Jungkook immediately pauses to look at it, the lit up screen glaring back at him from its idle place on his bedside table. He always leaves it there in the mornings, beside his rosary and the picture of his family, as he gets ready for work. 
He knows exactly who it’s from— after all, that’s what you wanted when you stylized your ringtone —which is why his hand trembles in excitement as he unlocks his phone. 
[❤️]: picnic tomorrow? 🥰
[❤️]: after my last class of course
Jungkook’s first thought is that this was a date, his first one with you since he had met you. His heartbeat hammers at the thought, at the mere suggestion that the two of you would be able to spend more time together this week outside of your usual weekend… acts. Additionally, if you’re asking him on a date, then surely it means you view Jungkook as a potential suitor, just as he does you? Do you want to maybe date Jungkook? Jungkook certainly wants to date you— in fact, if he starts gathering his courage now, he might be able to properly ask you out tomorrow. 
Jungkook’s second thought is of that guilty, gross feeling that’s been gnawing at his insides for three days now, and how it was inevitably going to get worse when he saw you again. 
He had lied to you, Jungkook recalls, sinking down against his mattress, shirt half buttoned, as he stares at the screen. He had lied to your face during a critical moment, had felt that seed of doubt in his chest blossom more than ever. And not only had Jungkook lied to you, but he had lied to you about his feelings toward you. How could he ever hope to hold you close, to date you, when he couldn’t even be honest with you?
The memory of your curious gaze presents itself at the forefront of his mind, the soft sound of your laughter ringing in his ears. 
You had been so sweet to him despite his blunder, had cupped his face and kissed him on the lips when he dropped you off outside your apartment. “Not today,” you crooned, unbuckling yourself as Jungkook’s eyes trailed over your throat— ignoring your cross —and down your chest. “I have schoolwork to catch up on. But soon, okay?” Another sweet peck had left him trailing after your touch, your finger bopping the tip of his nose playfully. “Call me when you get home.”
And because he was so terribly, irrevocably smitten with you, Jungkook had done as you said and called you. He’d called you and then had whimpered against his sheets as you generously talked him through another sinful deed. You had softly sighed his name over the line, told him he was handsome and that you missed him. That you wanted him in your mouth—
And of course, he had felt… something afterwards. 
This is where his dilemma begins: Jungkook had felt something afterwards, and he’s not sure if it had been entirely good or bad. The longer Jungkook stays around you, hangs out with you, does things with you— the more he can feel parts inside of himself change. Because after the phone call, Jungkook had felt two distinct emotions within himself, both of which were up for questioning. 
First, there was that one feeling he was becoming all too familiar with, the crushing guilt that would consume him following any sexual interaction with you or himself for that matter. Why was he like this? Why did he indulge himself in such heinous pleasures when he knew, knew better than anyone, what committing such acts meant for the future of his soul? He was practically dooming himself the way he was now, but Jungkook just didn’t understand— why did something so bad feel so good?
But alongside that gnawing guilt was this tiny, weirdly pleasant satisfaction, a gratification that superseded the relief felt by an orgasm. It was this oddly serene feeling that settled over Jungkook in the moments following a climax, the soft brush of your hands through his hair, the low lilt of your voice. They made him feel like he was floating on the softest of clouds, kissed and pampered by its wispy tendrils. It made something inside of Jungkook feel different, new. Good. 
(In the back of his mind, Jungkook realizes he’s always felt that way. At the height of his pleasure, at the faintest brush of your hands against his. It was a staple of your presence, one that made Jungkook feel like he was walking on air.)
From whatever angle he looked at it, it just didn’t make sense. They were contrasting emotions; while one made him feel godawful, the other one practically made him transcend. The fact they could coincide, exist all at once, had Jungkook’s brain folding in on itself as he tried to figure out why. They kept him up the last few nights, eyes blankly staring up at his ceiling following his evening prayers. Mulling over everything he’s ever learned and been told, always circling it back to your beautiful presence in his life. 
He knows sex in itself is not bad— after all, that was how the beautiful process of life came to be —but years upon years of studying his religion, cultivating his faith, had all led him to the same conclusion: premarital sex was wrong. And for the past few weeks, well. That’s all Jungkook had been doing with you. 
It seems like every time you meet, you’re dead set on pleasuring him, turning Jungkook into a shivering, teary-eyed mess while you grinned from above. That confused him too— as far as Jungkook knew, the whole point of sex was to chase after your own pleasure, something you admittedly did not do. It was always Jungkook’s pleasure, Jungkook’s enjoyment that you wanted, covering him in languid kisses and long caresses until he was inevitably shooting his hot cum all over your lap and into your hands. 
You had told him it was okay, that he should never feel bad for enjoying himself. But, to return back to his original dilemma, he doesn’t quite know if he can trust your word. 
You’re a liar, that much Jungkook can look past his rose-tinted glasses to admit. While you may not have lied to him (or at least, Jungkook wants to believe you haven’t), the fact still stands that you are quite willing to deceive others in order to get what you want. He already knows you aren’t the biggest believer of the Church yourself, that you frequently brush off your religious duties in order to fulfill your own desires— the aforementioned sexual cravings probably the biggest one —so, quite frankly, Jungkook is untrusting of the rest of your practices. Were you lying to him, telling him all was well, just for your own benefit? Just because you wanted to drag him along on your lustful adventures? He wasn’t sure, and as much as he wanted to trust you wouldn’t, there’s a shred of doubt that plagues him. 
But still. 
Regardless of whether you are a liar or not, that didn’t make it okay for Jungkook to lie to you.
He taps his phone against his chin, brain a frenzied mess. 
If Jungkook really wanted to pursue this relationship with you, he needed to be honest with himself and with you. Did it bother him that you were so flippant with the Church, the one he himself feels so devoted to? Yes and no. Jungkook has never been one to impress his beliefs on others, and truthfully, he would not be the slightest bit bothered if you don’t believe in the same things he does. Would there be some awkwardness in your relationship? Certainly, but at least Jungkook would know the real you from the very beginning. 
But to him, posing as an avid follower when you really aren’t rubs part of him the wrong way. He’s slightly put off by that aspect of you, and justifiably felt that anyone would feel such a way if someone were to use something they love as mere leverage for their own personal gain. And to make matters worse, now that he’s been made aware, it weighs down heavily on his conscience. 
Part of Jungkook, as selfish as it may be, wishes you had never revealed your secrets to him. He may have been left in the dark a total fool, but at the very least he would have been a happy fool. Would he still feel guilt about all the sexual deeds he’s partaken in with you? Sure, but at least he would only have himself to blame. The way things are now, he’s unsure who really needs to be condemned. 
Realistically, it is Jungkook’s fault. He knows how you are and even more, he knows you would never proposition him for any such sexual deed if he told you no, if he simply denied you. But he doesn’t tell you no, and that’s the problem: Jungkook really likes you as you are now, questionable behavior be damned. He likes you when you make him cry and when you pinch his cheeks and when you snake your hand down his pants. 
He still thinks you’re amazing, gets this fluttery feeling when you look at him with that sparkling gaze of yours. Your laughter makes him smile, even if you’re not laughing at something he said, because the sound is just so comforting, warm and soothing, makes his entire body relax when you chuckle. You have this gentle touch, these delicate hands that carefully comb his hair back for him in the car sometimes, tracing the side of his face softly. Your smile makes him dizzy, makes him want to cup your face in his hands and kiss you breathless. And, of course, he can’t complain about your… other talents when he’s only been on the beneficial receiving end of said talents. That aforementioned satisfaction, as small as it may be and as difficult as it was to admit to, was something Jungkook has begun to look forward to on the occasions that you meet. 
But his inability to overlook his own beliefs and your confusing nature brings about a great strife within Jungkook. It’s the reason he hesitates outside the church after dropping you off, his car running as he glares at his steering wheel. Everything in him says to go inside and confess to his sins, relieve himself of this overwhelming sense of guilt and shame to the closest person to his Lord. 
But he’s scared. 
Scared that, despite the oath of confidentiality, word will get out. His fellow brothers in faith will hear about what he’s done and call him out for his lecherousness. But even worse, he’s scared of what will happen to you. Would Jungkook’s life be over if he were thrown out of his beloved church? As dramatic as he may be, no. But he recognized that there were different standards to which men were held in this society, that an act of desire by him would not ruin his name the same way it would you. 
And Jungkook didn’t want that. He wanted to keep you safe. Wanted you to be happy and smiling, regardless of how conflicted it made him, because he likes you. He likes you so much, despite the fact he has yet to uncover the true extent of your character. 
But the cloud of mystery is partially what intrigues him, has him pondering over your very existence instead of getting ready for work as he is now. He’s terribly enamored, thinks about you and prays for you every night. So maybe Jungkook is still the fool, because he still daydreams about you when he knows he shouldn’t. 
His phone buzzes in his hand—
[❤️]: i miss you bunny ☹️
—and his decision is made. 
Tuesday passes by in a blur and before he knows it, it’s Wednesday afternoon and you’re texting him the location of one of the parks in the city. You had told him not to worry about the food because you would bring it. Jungkook’s only job was bringing the picnic blanket, a huge checkered thing he had spent all morning rifling through three stores for. He wants to impress you, desperately so, that he’s even wearing a nicer outfit today, darker tones unlike his normal warm palette because he had heard a woman at his job say men look cooler in dark colors. 
Suffice to say, he sticks out like a sore thumb at the park, the stark black of his jeans contrasting with the vibrant green of the neatly cut grass. Jungkook has half the mind to feel self-conscious about it, but then you’re calling his name from a couple meters away and his breath leaves his lungs. 
“Hi,” you greet, the handle of your wicker basket held tightly between two hands; Jungkook rushes to relieve you of the weight. “Did you wait long?” you ask, rewarding his gentlemanly behavior with a chaste kiss against the corner of his mouth that kick-starts his heart back into action and has his face burning up. 
In all honesty, you have never dressed very modestly— not that you had to, nor that there was anything remotely wrong with that. Jungkook has spent many a mass service fighting the urge to glance down the front of your dresses and tops, ignoring the cleavage you liked to show off now and then. But apparently, what Jungkook had seen up until now was your version of dressing modestly. The dress you show up with today, an off day where there are no church ladies to impress and no unspoken dress codes to follow, makes his brain short circuit. The thin, thin, straps that hold it up giving him an all access view to the broad expanse of your shoulders and chest and collarbones and boobs—
“No!” Jungkook rushes to reassure you, fighting down the blush that threatens to travel further down his neck when you carefully straighten out the collar of his shirt for him. “I- I, um, just got here.” 
You beam at the news. “I bought cheesecake,” you tell him, looping your arm through his as you tug him along. “I hope it hasn’t melted yet!”
By the time the two of you settle at a suitable spot near the lake, the cheesecake hasn’t melted. It’s still cold and solid, tastes like heaven on Jungkook’s tongue, and you laugh when his eyes light up. You look gorgeous like this, nestled against the checkered picnic blanket with a glass bottle of sparkling water in your hand, sandals just beside the edge of the blanket. There’s the faint chime of a bicycle bell somewhere to his left and the chatter of birds as they flock over the pond. Wonderful sights that would normally take his breath away and make him marvel at their beauty, but when you smile at him so gingerly like that, all Jungkook can think about is you. 
He watches you slip a strawberry past your lips. “Tell me about yourself,” you hum, seemingly out of the blue, wiping the corner of your mouth with one careful finger. “Other than, like, church stuff,” you tease. 
As you lean forward for another one, Jungkook’s brain stutters for a moment, eyes focused on the curves of your boobs as they naturally follow the movements of your upper body until he’s dizzy. “Huh?” he says, and you snort. “Oh— me, right, yes um—“
“Your favorite color?” you suggest, tugging the skirt of your dress tighter around your legs. It’s not cold, but there’s a slight breeze that keeps rolling over the two of you, pushing your floral scent over Jungkook and fluttering through his hair. “Right now, all I know is that you like cheesecake because you ate three slices at the bazaar the other week,” you chuckle.
It’s such a basic question, the bare minimum of knowing a person. But when you look at Jungkook like that, blinking those long lashes at him, it makes him forget his answer. “Um… Red,” he murmurs, watching you tug off the stem of the strawberry in your hands. “And white.”
You nod, and then you’re stretching a hand outward to offer him the aforementioned strawberry. When he doesn’t open his mouth right away, you silently demonstrate first, until Jungkook is slowly parting his lips and accepting your strawberry. The flavor bursts on his tongue, sweet and sticky, coating the very tips of your fingers when you don’t pull away fast enough. Jungkook averts his gaze when you pop them between your own lips and suck them clean. 
“Red and white,” you repeat, unaware of the lustful images that flicker through Jungkook’s mind, the way his eyes unconsciously drop to the front of your dress, at the crevice between your breasts that he remembers oh so well, the tight suction around his cock as you— “They make pink, which is my favorite color.” He desperately clears his mind of the memories that flash before his eyes. 
It’s a pretty color, fit for a pretty girl. Jungkook keeps the thought to himself as he watches you sift through the contents of your basket. It’s the perfect compliment to give you, he knows it’d make you happy, but his valor disappears when you throw him a soft grin and he’s transported back to a more recent memory, the memory in the car instead. 
A bad influence, he had called you, had watched your eyes well up with an emotion he had never seen on you before. Sadness? Disappointment? Disgust? He wasn’t sure, all Jungkook could really remember was the acidity on your tongue when you had repeated the words back to him, the ghost of your touch when you had abruptly pulled away from him, shut him out. He doesn’t think he’s ever seen you so closed off before, not even when he had first met you and you were parading around with that staged shyness. 
And even when Jungkook had corrected himself afterwards (read: lied to you to cover his tracks), the emotion had lingered. Even when you had playfully brushed him off, he had caught your reflection in the window beside you as he drove to your place. The sullen look on your normally happy face, lips down-turned, eyes lowered. A look he had put there. 
And now he’s watching you carefully rip apart bread to throw at the birds with a tender smile. A cloud moves and suddenly the sun is beating down on your little picnic again, casting a beautiful glow across your skin that renders him breathless for the shortest moment, trapped by the sheer beauty you exude. You’re absolutely ethereal, and yet he had questioned you. Your morals, your character, everything. 
“__?” he says before he can stop himself. 
You hum, “yes, bunny?” before pausing your little feeding task to glance back over at him. When you look at Jungkook like this, meet his gaze straight on, he doesn’t see an ounce of ingenuity in your eyes. It might be Jungkook’s lovesick heart speaking, but he can’t imagine you ever lying to him. He looks away first, frowning at the various fruits sprawled between the two of you. 
You care about him, that much Jungkook wants to believe. And his beliefs are confirmed, when your voice drops an octave lower, becomes softer, as you murmur, “is everything alright?” The fruits are carefully set aside, breaking the wall between the two of you until you can shuffle forward, your knees bumping against his. Hands reach for his, thumbs rubbing soothing circles against his skin. 
Before you can repeat your inquiry a second time, Jungkook finds himself asking, “do you like me?” 
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Jungkook’s sudden inquiry makes your cheeks heat up just the slightest, your startled inhale barely contained. 
It’s like a scene straight out of a teenage romcom— a confession in a park, your hearts bared for each other. But it’s a little awkward, you have to admit, unintentionally giving Jungkook’s soft hand a nervous squeeze as his question rolls over in your mind. 
Duh, you want to say. But there’s something about the look in Jungkook’s eye— the eyes he very purposefully turns towards your hands, the hair he had let loose today providing him ample protection from your gaze —that has you pausing, carefully considering your next words. 
You had hoped by now that it was obvious, that Jungkook understood how much he meant to you, and didn’t require some dorky confession in the park. Partially because, well. This wasn’t your usual role. Usually, it was the guy confessing to you, raving about all your redeeming qualities in an effort to win you over. But with Jungkook, all you know about relationships is flipped upside down, forcing you to play a position you’ve never played before. 
Jungkook wasn’t like you; he was soft and sentimental, practically wore his heart on his sleeve for the whole world to see. And it was a massive heart, filled with so much love and adoration for the world around him, that you felt bad when he wore such sullen expressions on his face.
Expressions like the one he has now, lips pressed together tightly as he misreads your silence. He has honest eyes, a dark toffee color that sends tingles down your spine when he looks your way. They glimmer with a sort of innocence for the world, a thin sparkle that makes him look like a prince sometimes. He was devastatingly handsome, and now he was upset. “Um— it’s okay,” he stammers, trying to move the conversation along. But his eyes flicker around nervously, anxiously. Like your silence has left a burn mark on him, painful and delicate to the touch. 
His comment isn’t completely unexpected. How very on-brand for big-hearted Jungkook to try to save you from an uncomfortable interaction, even if it was caused by him. “Um…” he murmurs, “it’s okay. If you don’t, uh. Like me?”
It sounds flimsy, even to you. 
“No, no,” you rush to correct, your ability to speak slowly coming back to you only after the fact. “I do,” you admit, nerves on edge at this rather foreign situation. “I… like you a lot, Jungkook.”
You shouldn’t be surprised by his reaction. Jungkook blinks slowly, like his brain is still processing the information, and then, ever so artfully, goes up in metaphorical flames. “O- Oh,” he stutters, reaching a free hand up to press his knuckles against his face. The rosy hue that had first blossomed over his cheeks has now started crawling down his neck now, up his ears. It’s terribly endearing. “I— um. I didn’t know,” Jungkook rambles, and it’s so cute, so sweet, how a simple confession from you renders him this flustered.
His face emanates a warmth tangible even on your own skin, lips cutely quirking to the side as he fights off a bashful smile and the raging blush your words bring about. It certainly is a sight to see. His hair tickles his eyebrow, swept out of its usually neat style, but it makes him look all the more gorgeous. “Cute,” you chuckle, feeling the slightest bit shy at such a warm response from Jungkook. You sit back, giving him the space he needs, and turn your attention up at the big blue sky instead. “Really? I thought it was obvious,” you hum.
Part of you actually feels really awkward; as you said before, everything is so brand new with him.  With Jungkook, he flips everything around for you, makes you actually admit to your emotions as opposed to simply going along with his. It’s a nice change of pace, as difficult as it may be, and the results are rather… cute as well. (He bites down a smile, but the action makes his normally soft cheeks look more pronounced than usual.) 
“Because, I, um. Me too,” he says, voice wavering. He clears his throat and tries to meet your gaze under his fringe, but doesn’t last more than a second before he’s pointedly glancing at the picnic blanket beneath the two of you. “I’m— I like you too,” he admits, ears tinted a bright red. You figured as much but it was always nice to hear, especially from someone like Jungkook. “A lot.”
“Thanks,” you smile, placing a hand on his thigh. 
His lips pull into a shy smile, aimed at your knees because he can never look you in the eye when you shower him in praise and other gooey, mushy feelings. It’s the same in the car or against your front door— he always manages to give your hand a tight squeeze, maybe even a kiss if he’s feeling brave. But the second you try to tell him you’ve had fun or that you’ll miss him, it’s like all his courage fades away, leaving him a blushing, smiley mess.
He was cute like that. Despite being so kind and caring, it was like Jungkook’s entire being stopped functioning when those types of gestures were aimed at him. So you relished those moments, looked forward to them with a fluttery feeling in your heart that couldn’t be tamed. 
Today, he throws you for a loop. Just as that proud, giddy smile appears, cheeks and ears a pretty pink, it fades away. The excitement from your mutual confessions seems to remind Jungkook of something else, something less warm, that has him quietly mumbling, “I’m sorry.” 
It’s confusing, to say the least. Just a moment prior, he had been pursing his lips in a silly attempt to hold back a smile. Now he’s staring at the ground with a rather pensive look, his apology sitting heavy in his throat. “What for?” you tentatively ask after one long beat. It had been so sudden. In your mind, there isn’t a single reason for Jungkook to be apologizing to you, especially so out of the blue. There is, however, an inkling of fear brought upon by what can only be classified as insecurity; you had just confessed your feelings for each other, why was he sorry about that? 
Jungkook exhales, a quiet sound that is nearly lost among the bustling noises of the park. If you hadn’t been sitting so close, maybe you wouldn’t have heard it at all. “I just,” he huffs, pointedly glaring at some random spot of grass beside you. His features look sharper than ever now, jawline defined, brows narrowed together. It’s a rather misplaced realization, but Jungkook looks absolutely gorgeous with distress painting his face. “I was… being selfish before.”
In the few weeks you’ve known him, you’ve come to realize Jungkook was many things. First and foremost, he’s an absolute gentleman. Raised on manners and compassion, looking after others everywhere he went. He was caring and sweet, loved this world and the people in it so much. Soft-spoken but straightforward. He was dreamy, disgustingly so. 
But selfish? It definitely sounds like something Jeon Jungkook is not. 
Before you can interrogate him even further, it seems like Jungkook is dead set on getting through this alone. “I- I’m sorry,” he repeats, eyes downcast. Noticing his wavering confidence, you resign yourself to listening, hand giving him a reassuring squeeze. Finally, after a short moment, Jungkook murmurs, “...in the car.” You tilt your head to the side curiously, waiting for him to go on. “I said, um. Something rude.” 
It takes a moment for the memory to load, and when it finally clicks into place and begins rolling, you find yourself muttering a faint, “ah.” 
If it’s what you think it is, he’s talking about last weekend outside of the church. That terribly awkward encounter that had left a sour taste in your mouth afterwards. A bad influence, you recall him saying, the memory of his voice looped in your mind the entire drive to your place. 
In all honesty, it had stung a little. While you were aware that Jungkook had an ongoing mental battle, you hadn’t realized your role was that big in it. It’s the reason you had sent him home that day, made up a lie about schoolwork just to give him some space. It’s nothing new, everyone’s had someone think badly of them before; gossipy classmates, rivals, maybe even random strangers on the street. But it felt different when it was coming from someone as sweet as Jungkook, so polite and righteous, who wouldn’t even hurt a fly. Like he was stating a fact, not an opinion. 
It was a slip-up on Jungkook’s end, that much you could tell. Because he had been frantic to correct himself afterwards, had looked at you with these fearful eyes, like one wrong move and you’d slip from between his hands. Luckily, you weren’t that sensitive— definitely not as sensitive as him, at least ���and such a comment had been practically meaningless moments later. 
Still, in those few moments where it was meaningful (read: the short period it took for Jungkook to get home and call you, the words looping around your brain until the harsh ring of your cell phone finally interrupted), it had left you wondering. Have you been pushing him too far, asking for too much? The way you saw it, you always gave Jungkook room to object to any of your advances. You know he’s trapped in his thoughts more often than not, but you pay attention to him, you really do. You make sure to take his reactions into account, try to offer solutions where possible. But, for the briefest moment, all of those efforts had felt fruitless that day in the car. 
What you say next is not a complete lie; sure, Jungkook’s comment had hurt for a bit, but here he was now apologizing for it. That was a good sign… right? “It’s okay,” you brush off, patting his cheek softly, hoping with every fiber in your being that it really was okay.
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Your voice is gentle, soothing his doubts. Just moments prior, Jungkook had felt like he was asking for too much, especially when your feelings toward him were up in the air. But your earnest confession soothed the ache in his heart. It’s all he’s wanted these past few months, to belong in your heart like you do his. 
But the guilt from before, the tumultuous feelings he’s been harboring towards you since the weekend, dampens his excitement. From your confession alone, it doesn’t seem like you questioned Jungkook. You weren’t put off by who he was, what he loved. So why couldn’t Jungkook be like you, think like you?
“I’m still sorry,” he says again, feeling like a broken record when he catches this sympathetic smile on your face. The scraps of eloquence he had gathered while originally apologizing seem to fade away, leave him a stuttering mess when he tries again. “That was— I shouldn’t have said—“
“Hey,” you cut off, placing a hand against his cheek. It stops his fidgeting, forces him to meet your gaze head on. There’s a smile on your face but something inside of Jungkook says it doesn’t feel real. “I like you, Jungkook.” 
And it’s true and genuine, your words so honest it pains him to think he had ever thought otherwise. And you’re still smiling, even after being hit with the implication that Jungkook questioned your character and maybe that’s what hurts the most. That you still try to put on an easygoing expression for him after he’s said something hurtful. It’s the car all over again, that blank look in your eyes when he had spoken carelessly. 
Before he can apologize for the umpteenth time, you’re shaking your head softly, smiling anew. But this time, he can’t tell if it’s real or not. “I brought orange juice,” you say, expertly moving the conversation along. And just as Jungkook has been thinking for weeks now, it’s like you know him so well. You know when things make him anxious or uncomfortable, know just how to help him out. 
There’s a feeling of guilt that blossoms in his chest, but this time it’s different. 
It’s not the usual sticky gross feeling of before, the one that has him staying up at night repenting for all his wrongdoings. It’s a personal kind of guilt that comes along with the frank realization that, while you have been learning and adapting to being around Jungkook, he has not been doing the same for you. 
Though you may be a little playful at times, you don’t tease him for who he is, don’t stomp all over his beliefs as much as he deluded himself into thinking you do. (That whole, faux-believer thing was a different circumstance.) Like with the cross in his house the other day. As much as Jungkook wanted to believe what you had done was evil, he had, quite honestly, enjoyed himself afterwards. There wasn’t that heavy discomfort sitting on his chest anymore, that sense of shame lingering as you’d kissed his body and let him caress yours too, in the safety of your eyes only. It was enjoyable and fun, had felt exhilarating to be so intimate with you. 
And instead of being thankful for your mindful efforts, he had questioned your sincerity. 
The picnic goes by in a flash. Jungkook is sad he can’t enjoy it to the fullest, his brain filled with clamorous thoughts that circled around to torture him every few minutes. Still, the entire date feels like a dream, vibrant and beautiful, leaving him in a daze. He doesn’t want to wake up. 
By the time you suggest wrapping up, the sun is setting over the horizon, the windows and lights of the buildings around you slowly flickering to life like a sea of tiny stars. He feels weak in the knees as he helps you pack everything back in your basket. “All set,” you smile, walking beside him, knuckles brushing against his until you fulfill Jungkook’s wordless wish and slip your hand into his. 
Jungkook agrees, hoping his hand isn’t sweaty and that you mean what you say. “I- I liked the food,” he remembers to mention, the fact that you had so carefully and lovingly prepared all this not entirely lost on him. His compliment, as simple as it may be, has you beaming at him as you exit through the park’s front gates. His car is parked along the street, the sleek vehicle coming into view as you round the street corner, hands still fastened. “Um,” he mumbles, pausing beside it. You turn to face him, eyes clear and content. 
All good things come to an end, he supposes, reluctantly letting go of your hand when you tug. “I’ll see you soon, okay?” you say, stepping up close, chest pressed against his. His breath hitched in his throat, eyes going wide when you nuzzle against his neck. Your hands slip around his waist. They wrap around him perfectly, make Jungkook feel like he was made for you. 
By the time he’s springing into action, jerkily raising his free hand up to your back, you’re stepping away. “Call me when you get home,” you wink, sending shivers down his spine when he remembers what happened the last time you said that. 
But Jungkook doesn’t think he can wait that long. 
You’re slipping further and further away, fingertips just barely brushing against his forearm, when Jungkook jolts into action. “How are you, um—“ he stammers, feels too big for his shoes when you tilt your head curiously. And then, “d- do you need a ride?” he mumbles, cheeks warm. 
It’s a feeble attempt at asking what he really wants. Offering you a ride home, while not a bad idea considering it was late and you had taken the bus here, is nowhere near what Jungkook really wants. What he wants is standing before him, thin spaghetti strap slipping down their shoulder, eyes sensually half-lidded and you know this too— because, again, you know Jungkook so well, know what he wants even if he can’t say it —as you step into his bubble again, peer up at him with your arms held behind your back. 
“A ride home?” you ask, blinking your long lashes in a way that robs him of his breath. And he can see that switch flick on inside of you, watches that pure and innocent gleam in your eyes slowly become replaced with something mischievous. Jungkook nods dumbly. “I’d love that.”
Jungkook blinks. “Great,” he chokes out, neatly dropping the wicker basket in his hands. In a way, it brings him back down to reality, lets him snap away from your hypnotizing gaze as he reaches for the keys in his pocket. “Let me— I just have to— yeah,” he stammers, clicking the button on his car keys one too many times, has it perkily beeping. Your lips press together into an amused smile, the last thing Jungkook sees before ripping himself away from you and yanking the back door open. 
He nearly throws the basket in like a madman, glassware be damned. It’s his last shred of rationality that tells him not to, the hairs on the back of his neck standing on edge as he steps up to the edge of the sidewalk and carefully places it on the floor behind the passenger’s seat. 
When Jungkook rises back up, there is a hand that brushes against his forearm, a gentle touch that has him throwing a curious glance your way. He’s not expecting to be so entranced by the dreamy look in your eyes, feet glued to the ground as you trail your hand down, catching his wrist between your fingers. You’re standing so close, making Jungkook feel like he’s trapped between you and his own car. His entire body is on edge when you lean in, placing a soft kiss against the very corner of his mouth. It leaves a tingling sensation, and accompanied with the growing warmth beneath his skin, feels like he’s been burned. “I had fun,” you murmur, voice low. It sends a shock of electricity down his spine, a wave of exhilaration that has him fully turning to face you as you eventually step away, that same playful grin on your features again. 
A surge of confidence and greed overcomes him, has him stepping forward into your space despite the nervousness that builds within him. There’s a hint of surprise in your eyes that you quickly mask, placating his bumbling nerves with a delicate hand placed over his heart. He can’t breathe when you lean in, softly humming, “kiss me?” 
Jungkook’s lower lip wobbles. “O- Okay,” he concedes, voice but an airy whisper that is soon swallowed up. You taste like fruit and orange juice, remnants of your picnic clinging to your lips as you slowly consume Jungkook’s entire attention with this soft brush alone. It’s a rather short affair, one that ends all too soon when you pull away with a soft sigh against his lips. 
Your smile is so pretty when you angle it at him, has him taking one jerky step backwards. His back hits the car, feels trapped. But he isn’t scared, doesn’t find himself anxiously awaiting your next move. “Good boy,” you purr, reaching one graceful hand forward, playfully tugging at his tie, wrapping it around your knuckles as you use it as leverage to pull him close again. 
You’re just so pretty, Jungkook has always thought so. From the moment he first met you until now, there is something about you—a glint in your eyes, a quirk to your lips—that has had him under your spell for weeks now. 
Had Jungkook seriously despised you and your ethics, perhaps this feeling would have gone away. But the fact of the matter is that you make Jungkook’s heart hammer dangerously in his chest, a shot of adrenaline through his veins when you look at him with those low-lidded eyes, touch him with those experienced hands. He wants you so bad, even after all he’s learned, all he’s seen. He wants you over him and under him, pressed against him from head to toe. He wants and he wants, and he knows it’s bad to want so much, to be so greedy. But with you around, Jungkook finds himself giving into that greed, clutching at it like a lifeline. “We can, um—,” he stammers, placing one uncertain hand against the top of the door frame beside him. You raise your brows, egging him on yet patiently waiting all at once. 
Your gaze is so strong, and it’s in moments like these that Jungkook feels that feeling crawl up his throat. A serpentine gaze, a sticky sweet tongue. Everything he’s ever known says it’s wrong, but his heart and your confession says otherwise. He looks away, throws a bashful glance at the plush leather seats behind him. “In… inside?”  
And the offer has you positively beaming before him, that same flirtatious shimmer in your irises doubling at the words that roll off his tongue. “Oh my,” you swoon playfully, stepping back to, Jungkook assumes, allow him to get in. 
He plops down, feels like he would break out in a sweat if the evening temperature wasn’t so cool. The car’s interior blends into the shadows, his clothing practically indiscernible against the dark shade of the seats. A stark contrast to the pretty floral dress that suddenly spills itself over his lap when you climb in, the door tugged shut beside the two of you. All is silent, your thighs over his, hands on his shoulders. “Hi, bunny,” you murmur, lips pulled into a smirk, provocative yet playful, like you know something that Jungkook doesn’t. 
Jungkook’s throat feels dry but he still manages to gulp. He’s drowning in your perfume and your body lotion, in the faint smell of the outdoors clinging to your clothes and your hair, the absolutely heavenly scent of just you in your entirety. “Hi,” he whispers back, voice lost beneath the thundering of his heartbeat in his ears. And his quiet greeting is rewarded with two soft hands that crawl up his neck, cupping his face in their palms. 
“You were so sweet today,” you purr, nose nudging against his when you finally lean in, pressing your breasts against Jungkook. A tiny gasp catches in his throat, his hands instinctively going to your waist. “Can I kiss you again?” 
Jungkook has never wanted anything more. “Please,” he exhales, feeling like he’ll explode if you don’t kiss him soon. You take his request in stride, jut your face forward just the slightest bit until your mouth is pressed firmly against his, the movement of your lips a practiced rhythm that he just can’t seem to master. He still tries his best, puckers his lips when he feels it’s right, tilts his head when you urge him with a soft nudge. He tries his best and hopes it’s enough. 
By now, Jungkook has come to understand that there is a pattern to your kisses. You always start off slow and relaxed, mouth languidly moving against his as you lure him across a tightrope of anticipation. They gradually become more intense, pulling out whimpers and sighs from Jungkook that he had never known were possible. It’s a carefully crafted art form, the tongue that slides out from between your pillowy lips, dips into his own mouth with a giggly pant. “Good boy,” you hum in between, hands burying themselves in the hair at the nape of his neck. “Always so good.”
Jungkook shudders when you eventually part, can’t catch his breath fast enough before you’re reaching for the buttons on the front of his shirt, easily undoing the casual tie too. “Relax,” you tell him, bypassing his lips for the warm expanse of skin just below. You kiss over his chin, down his neck, as your hands crawl beneath his shirt and around his naked waist. 
He’s ticklish, and when you brush against his ribs, he unwillingly releases a sharp huff of laughter. It’s followed by a wide-eyed look of embarrassment, cheeks a warm hue when you lean back in surprise at this new bit of information. “I— sorry,” he blurts out, because he doesn’t know proper make-out etiquette, doesn’t know anything really, except what you’ve shown him. 
But the sound makes you snort, looking at him with this gaze that drips with honey. “So cute,” you tell him, placing a chaste kiss against his lips, before disappearing back down to lavish his throat with filthier kisses. And with you laving your tongue across his skin, biting at every inch available, Jungkook is left to fuzzily stare over the crystal clear windshield. He’s struck with the faint realization that if someone were to look hard enough, they would see him through the tinted glass as he fell apart into the hands of a pretty girl. 
The soft smack of your lips against his skin is sensual, makes every hair on his body stand stiff. Your lips trail down the column of his neck, placing a bruising kiss at the juncture where it meets the rest of his body. “Oh,” he sighs, eyelids fluttering when a hand squeezes at his chest, thumb against his nipple. 
Another muffled giggle pressed against the base of his neck, and when Jungkook focuses his eyes again, he catches his own gaze in the rearview mirror. 
The sight of him is… weird to say the least. 
Even in the dark, his lips look thoroughly debauched, puffier and redder than usual, slick with saliva that isn’t entirely his. He doesn’t tell himself to, but his mirrored counterpart peeks his tongue out, runs it along his top lip sinfully. Startled by his own appearance, Jungkook jolts in place, feeling you shift in his lap with a soft little whine. “Bunny,” you frown, and Jungkook watches your side profile in the tiny mirror as you sit back up, press your lips against his ear. “Sit still for me,” you tell him, hand slithering up his chest, around his throat. Over his Adam’s apple, squeezing just the slightest. It’s not tight, but it knocks the air out of his lungs when he sees the action mirrored back at him on the reflective surface. 
That familiar guilt sticks in his throat, evident when your hand slips away and he swallows harshly, the protrusion just beneath his skin bobbing up and down. 
In the back of Jungkook’s mind, he can recall the religious story that surrounded this bodily feature; a sin and the consequence. A garden and a fruit, a beautiful woman by his side. 
Your hand creeps down between your bodies, palming over his quickly fattening cock, and Jungkook swears he sees stars, a strained whimper escaping from his lips that you giggle at. “Oh my,” he huffs, clutching at the skirt of your dress. You nuzzle close again, pressing a tender kiss against the side of his neck. 
Your hands are so soft and sweet, brushing over his cock like you’re simply caressing him out of adoration and not because you want him to cum, staining his seats and your dress. Either way, Jungkook can’t even begin to imagine what you must be thinking; before the date and his confession, he had been afraid that you would discard him. Maybe Jungkook wasn’t what you wanted, maybe he wasn’t what you needed. You were so confident in yourself and your actions, a stark contrast to Jungkook and his constant uncertainty, his fear of doing the wrong thing plaguing him at all hours of the day. 
Even now, with your hands expertly tugging his zipper down, he finds himself going back to that story. That apple in the garden, the consequences it had hailed. Never mind the fact you’re on top of him, claiming to like him, with your hands touching every inch of his skin. He keeps looping back to that Biblical verse instead, thinks about it when your fingers meanly let the elastic band of his briefs snap against his skin. “Ouch,” he flinches, voice a soft whine. He turns too quickly and too suddenly, nose bumping against yours because you’re still so close. 
You smile, puckering your lips for the lightest of kisses. It’s the little things like that that make Jungkook’s entire thought process stall, distantly aware of the fact that it’s, like always, you leading the majority of your encounters once again. Even during your picnic, it had been you who had practically held his hand as you navigated through basic information, asked for his favorite color and his favorite drink. Had it not been for your own proactive tendencies, Jungkook fears he would have never known your favorite color was pink or your favorite day of the week was Thursday. 
It’s a fact that makes him pause, jaw tightening as he once again realizes how little effort he was putting into knowing you. For someone who claimed to like you a lot, he rarely did the work to prove it. Even now, he’s too unsure of who he is and who you are to indulge you properly, instead watching you lead the scene as usual. Before he can stop himself, a sigh is escaping his lips. 
It must convey his emotions perfectly, because it’s enough to make your wandering hands pause by his waist. “Everything okay?” you ask, always knowing what he’s feeling. And it sucks that he couldn’t say the same for himself. 
“N— Yes,” he rushes to say, looking up at you with round eyes, the moonlight painting half of your face a paler color than usual, the other side shrouded in darkness. It makes your eyes look darker, makes Jungkook gulp loudly when you turn those inquisitive eyes on him. 
His answer doesn’t seem to convince you, and it’s with little to no hesitation that you sit back. It puts a distance between the two of you that Jungkook can’t say he’s a fan of. “Jungkook,” you say, voice stern yet warm, one hand reaching up to brush your knuckles against his cheek. “Tell me what’s bothering you?” 
It makes Jungkook nervous. He knows he thinks too much. Part of him fears that oversharing with you will drive you away, put you even farther than you are now. Maybe next time it’ll be a room’s length away, a football field’s length away. And he doesn’t want that; he wants to hold you close, he really does. But there are traditions he carries and beliefs he holds dearly that make it hard for him to do so, as much as it pains him. 
The only reason he knows he’s frowning is because you press your pointer finger against the corner of his mouth. You lean in close, nose bumping against his. It sends your scent billowing over him, makes him dizzy when he becomes aware of the hand he’s got on your bare thigh, the rumpled skirt of your dress pushed away. “Talk to me, bunny,” you murmur. You don’t make a move to kiss him, a fact that Jungkook feels both grateful and disheartened by. “Please?”
And he can’t deny you, not when you ask so nicely. You have this metaphorical grip on Jungkook, a tight hold around his throat that has made him act impulsively these past few weeks, desperate to be with you, to please you. Even now, despite how much he wants to withhold his thoughts, he finds himself quietly admitting them instead. “I want to know you,” he mumbles, unable to meet your eye. You don’t push him to. “I really, um. I like you, __. A lot.” It’s a repetition of his earlier confession. And still, it makes him nervous. A thumb brushes against his cheekbone, encouraging him to meet your solemn gaze even if it means being a blushing mess afterwards. “Before we, uh, do… things.” 
His words may be choppy and incoherent, but you understand him all the same. “You want to go out some more,” you clarify, removing your hand from his cheek. The phantom trail of your fingertips on his skin remains, feels colder when you lean away to allow him some more space. 
Jungkook nods quickly, hoping this rush of adrenaline might help him through this. He bites down on his lower lip, carefully analyzing your expression for any signs of disbelief or disgust. But all he sees is understanding, a cool expression that makes Jungkook’s heart thunder. “I…,” he says, glancing down at where he’s still got his hand on your naked skin. Something inside of him tells him to rub his thumb across it, an action he doesn’t think through until he hears a sharp inhale, watches goosebumps rise over the skin. “I’m sorry,” he rushes out, snatching his hand away before he can do something else of a similar sort. “I- I just—“ said hand now waves around wildly beside him “—I really like you, as a, um— uh. A person. And I—“ and this is where he becomes aware of his unbuttoned shirt and the way you’ve got your pretty pussy pressed against his thigh now “—I, um. I want to know me— I mean, you —better? More? Like—“
His embarrassing babbling is cut off with a gentle kiss to his lips. No tongue, no saliva. Just soft lips against his, a delicate hand against his shoulders. When you pull away, Jungkook unconsciously trails after the touch, eyes half-lidded and in a daze when you place a palm on his chest. “I got it,” you say, lips quirking into a tiny smile. “I want to know more about you too, bunny,” you admit, reaching for the front of his shirt. He watches on with flushed cheeks as you slowly button it up for him, finishing it off with a playful tap against the underside of his chin. 
You glance out of the window thoughtfully. Jungkook is suddenly reminded of how pretty you are, your skin practically glimmering under the pale moonlight. It catches on your necklace, a thin chain with a cross on the end. If he focuses his eyes behind you, his own reflection stares back once more. Jungkook’s entire body threatens to lock up tightly, but a single kiss on the cheek from you interrupts the process. “Do you wanna date?” you ask, like it’s the easiest thing in the world. 
Jungkook can’t agree fast enough. “I— yes,” he gasps, leaning forward too suddenly. It makes you flinch back in surprise, back pressing up against the driver’s seat behind you in surprise. You wouldn’t have fallen or anything, but Jungkook reacts like it was a serious possibility anyway, grasping at your waist and pulling you snug against him, soft thighs sandwiching his tiny waist. “Oh, God,” he frets, immediately moving to release you. 
But you catch him with two arms thrown around his neck, pulling Jungkook close to you for another kiss. Deeper and… meaningful, your satiny lips carefully slotted against his. While it surprises him at first, Jungkook finds himself melting into it soon enough. This was okay, he tells himself, and for the first time in a few weeks, he finds himself believing it. 
It was just kissing— intimate yet appropriate kissing —between two people who were seeing each other. Him, properly seeing you. His heart threatens to burst out of its cage for a second. It’s the first time since he’s met you that he can fully say he hadn’t felt nervous about his actions, hadn’t felt like he was committing some grave sin for chasing after your touch. It was just a kiss, simple and sweet, making both of you smile bashfully when you eventually pull away. There was no lying and no guilt, no tears and no stress. 
It felt good.
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