#That second one was fun lol my poor paper

[joels-shitty-puns]

The Key To Your Heart - Track 7

Pairing: Pedro Pascal x Musician!Reader

Series Summary: After writing your feelings for Pedro into a song, it gains a lot more popularity than expected. Ultimately it brings both criticism and support, with new possibilities around the corner.

Series Warnings: 18+ only (MDNI). Fat shaming, name calling, kissing, angst. Mentions of food, weight loss, weight gain, dieting, weighing, potential eating disorder, food guilt. Potential for puns/dad jokes (name of my blog, and the fic) should give that away. This is my first fic which should be its own warning, lol. Also some cursing. Mentions of masturbation (f) maybe more smut later idk. Sadness, reader is pretty depressed. Poor body image. Rude people. Bullying-ish and just lack of support? Anxiety. Age gap! Reader is in her mid 20's, Pedro is current age (48).

Other stuff: Reader is plus sized. AFAB. Inexperienced. Also has a dog, but you can pretend it is another creature probably. Further, in case it isn't clear, italics almost always are the reader's inner thoughts!

Word Count: 6.6K!!!

Series List: Here!

Miss last chapter? Here!

Hi guys! I'm so sorry this took a little extra longer than usual. I've had a lot of ideas for this chapter for a long time and I struggled with putting it all on paper. I'm also on vacation 🤪 but I really wanted to get this one out there, especially before Halloween. Also I'm sorry if the spacing and stuff is crap, I did this from my phone/iPad while falling asleep at 3:30 AM. Hope you enjoy! Thanks for reading!

__________

You awoke with a start, your alarms blaring through the bedroom. Giving the snooze button a smack, you reach across your mattress, touching the sheets to find the other side of your bed empty.

It was still warm, but missing the actual body that you fell asleep cuddled next to. Blinking your eyes a few times, you called out into the bedroom. "Baby?"

You climbed out of bed, making your way down the hall to the living room, where you finally saw him on the couch. Sound asleep, eyes gently closed, a soft snore passed from his mouth. At the sound of your footsteps, he opened his eyes, giving a big stretch and wagging his tail.

"Good morning Skippy, my little sunshine! I missed your cuddles this morning. Why'd you move to the couch?"

He looked at you and yawned, his eyes closing once again. You giggled and headed for the shower to get ready for another day. Some of us have to actually work and get stuff done in this house!

_____

The day at work was busy, leaving little time to chat with Pedro. You couldn't help but smirk to yourself as your coworkers buzzed about your new album freshly released the day before. They still hadn't figured it out, but you decided you would continue to let it be your little secret a bit longer. They didn't need to know. Just you and Pedro could share this for now.

On your lunch break, you finally opened your phone to find a few text messages from him. "Good morning! I had fun video chatting with you last night. I'm so glad we listened to your album together, and it was nice to finally get to see you." His message made your heart skip.

Second text from Pedro: "Hey, I hope work is going well for you. I was thinking, maybe if you'd like, we could chat again later? If you don't want to video chat anymore, no pressure, but I enjoyed it and thought maybe if you wanted to, we could."

You replied. "Hey P! It's been a crazy day :) but a good one. Especially waking up happy after enjoying a lovely evening. I would really love to video chat with you again too."

Pedro breathed a sigh of relief at your answer. He couldn't help but feel nervous to ask you, despite having just video chatted last night, and he also didn't want to make you feel pressured; especially with someone as private as you are. But with your response, he smiled as he felt his stomach fill with butterflies at the thought of seeing you again.

_____

Later on, after work, the two of you were texting and deciding on the time to video chat again. However, before you called, Pedro texted you again. "Hey, I had a question for you, but I didn't want to ask it over the phone or video call and make you feel pressured. But, there's this Hollywood Halloween party coming up in a few days. I know you still want to keep your identity, but I thought if you'd like to, each guest is allowed to bring a date, and I thought you could mingle a little with some other musicians and actors. I can just tell people you're one of my friends from a set if you don't want to give your real name. You don't need to tell them anything you don't want out to the public. Plus I would love to spend some time together in person too, if you want to. I know it's a lot, so if you would rather not go, I understand. But I'd love to meet you."

The idea of going to a party filled with other celebrities, AND Pedro, had you filled with mixed emotions. Nervous. Excited. Terrified. Love-sick. Hesitant.

After a bit of thinking,you decided, and the answer seemed obvious from the start. The party sounded terrifying, and was completely unknown territory. But you also knew that if you didn't go, you'd surely kick yourself and regret this chance forever.

Finally you replied. "Okay! I'll go. I'd love to spend time with you, too, Pedro. Thank you for inviting me."

He replied again: "Really?! So, will boo be my date? 👻"

You: "That was a little too.. (candy) corny. I may have to ghost you. 🎃"

Pedro didn't miss a beat. "Okay, you're driving me batty. 🦇 Want to call and talk about our costumes?"

Oh shit, I forgot about costumes.

The two of you chatted, easily falling into the comfortable conversations you always do. Fitting together like two peas in a pod. Even though neither of you were dressed up fancy anymore, it didn't feel like you had to be someone else, or dress up. Things were comfortable. Easy.

Pedro suggested a matching costume, which made you want to scream and pace through your living room. Unfortunately, due to your camera situation, pacing and screaming would surely cause some alarm. After dancing around things like pirates, ketchup/mustard, and movie characters, you finally had an idea and suggested Cinderella and her prince.

"It just feels kinda fitting you know? Nobody knows who I am, but I go out for once, I meet this prince, and he lets me have this fun night. But then at the end of the night, everything goes back to normal, and I'm unknown again."

Until he eventually can't stay away and they both fall in love and live happily ever after… but that's neither here nor there. Totally not my intention.. pffft…

"That sounds like a wonderful idea. Should I send a carriage?" He joked with a wink, but you could tell he was a little bit serious. You couldn't help but feel like he would have reserved a carriage ride in a heartbeat had you said yes.

"Absolutely not. Way too big of a scene," you laughed. "In fact, I actually have work that day. Would it be possible for me to just meet you there after I get off work? I can just take an Uber across town. My work isn't too far from the party and I'm sure parking will be a mess."

Pedro agreed, although he felt bad you'd be taking a ride-share service alone and continued to offer a ride if you needed. He also felt a bit disappointed he wouldn't get to have any time alone with you beforehand, but he wasn't about to tell you that detail.

Either way, the two of you agreed on your plans, and as the days led up to the party, you grew more and more eager. You also felt more and more dread in the pit of your stomach.

But this will be good. It has to be. Right?

_____

The night of the party came quickly.

You got off work, took a quick shower, changed into your costume, did your hair, and added a little bit of makeup. The costume felt silly, but you kept telling yourself it was Halloween and everyone would be in costumes. Plus, you have a handsome prince waiting for you inside. As your mind and heart raced, the Uber driver pulled up to the curb, dropped you off, and you were met with a line to the entrance.

The line to the party was lengthy, filled mostly with eager fans, paparazzi, and journalists hoping to gain entry. Occasionally you'd see a celebrity pass by, but they were quickly ushered in once they were recognized.

You, however, were unknown by all. So you stood in line, surrounded by others who hoped desperately to meet their favorite celebrity. Not unlike yourself.

Having finally made it, you sent a quick text to Pedro. "Hey! I'm here :) sorry I'm late."

Your stomach twisted in knots. Sure, you were excited to meet Pedro. Especially with as much as the two of you have been talking over the past couple months now-

Geez, has it really been months?

But despite your connection, you still had that nagging self-conscious worry that he might not like you. Maybe he's just been talking with you to be nice, and the second you're together in person he won't give you the time of day. Maybe he will find you boring in real life. Maybe he will think you're ugly. Or weird. Or fat. Or -

"Next!" The bouncer at the door yelled after sending yet another hopeful fan away. Your stomach dropped and your mouth was dry.

"Hi, I-"

"NAME?" He barked, clearly done with this whole event.

"Well, actu-"

"Speak up princess, I can't hear ya when ya mumblin," the man said with a thick New York accent.

You cleared your throat. "Actually my name isn't on the list, I'm a guest of Pedro Pascal."

The man, towering over you, let out a bellowing laugh. "YEAH, I'm sure ya are, toots. You and every other woman in this joint."

"But I-"

"And trust me, I've turned away much prettier broads than the likes a' you at this doorway," he said while looking you up and down with an amused look as if he had just told the punchline at a comedy club.

Your heart sank. You always said things like that to yourself on the inside, but it wasn't often that people were that blunt to your face.

The man sneered while smacking his gum and arrogantly moving it to the other side of his mouth with his tongue. That gum. You wanted to punch him if you had to hear him smack it one more time.

"Back a' the line, kid. Y'ain't gettin' in here tonight, but I appreciate the self-confidence," he said, laughing at his own joke.

Disheartened, you didn't even care about meeting Pedro anymore. Your mood was dampened, your ego was hurt, and all you wanted to do was go home, get out of this stupid costume, and cry on your couch. With a short nod, you bit your lip to choke down the tears, turned, and headed towards the exit.

"Hey!!! There you are- wait where are you going?"

You'd recognize that voice anywhere. Pedro.

You turned around, swallowing down your emotions and putting on a fake smile, despite the wave of hurt and anxiety pooling in your stomach and chest. "Hey, Pedro! You found me."

Pedro smiled at the guard and snuck past, telling him "hey, she's with me." Fans in line squealed, which he greeted with a kind wave and charming smile. At last, he reached you and gestured for the two of you to head inside to the party. You gave a nod and a small, half-hearted smile.

You didn't want him to know how upset you were. Not only did you feel pathetic and slightly agree with the bouncer, but you also didn't want to ruin Pedro's night.

As the two of you entered the crowded party, you looked around at the decorations. Filled with purple and green lighting, the Halloween music blared and monsters danced the night away. A bowl of green punch sat on a table to the side, surrounded by bowls of candy and platters of snacks. An open bar was on the back wall, providing both normal booze, and Halloween themed drinks topped with gummy worms or syrup made to look like blood. To the right of the bar was a door to the large rooftop balcony which held tall, dark-green potted hedges, perfectly trimmed and shaped underneath rows of charming fairy lights. Beyond the shrubbery, the deck had several nice patio tables and chairs, a few people catching their breath outside or chatting, and a gorgeous view of the city below with the sparkling sky above.

Back inside and off to the right of the patio door, away from the dance floor, was a door which you assumed was the restroom, based on the long line of women.

"I'd like you to meet some people, if you feel up to it," Pedro yelled to be heard over the booming music from the dj.

"Okay!" You yelled back.

He led you over to a couple of people off to the side of the dance floor, one you recognized as his friend Sarah Paulson, who was dressed in a shimmery witch costume.

Pedro introduced the two of you. Sarah was very sweet, and while you talked music and acting, Pedro touched your shoulder and spoke into your ear to avoid yelling. "I'm going to grab a drink, can I get you anything?"

"I'll just take a soda, thanks!" Although some alcohol might help your nerves, you wanted to maintain a clear head and maybe not do or say something to Pedro that you might regret.

"You got it," he replied, turning on his heel towards the bar.

Once he had left, Sarah gave you a look.

"What?" you laughed.

"You know, he talks about you all the time. I know you already love some other guy based on that hit song of yours, but I gotta say I think he might be smitten with you."

"Oh please, no he isn't. We're just friends!" You smiled at the idea, but inside, you kept hearing the bouncer's words on repeat. There's no way Pedro could have feelings for you. Even if you wanted him to have those feelings more than anything, it couldn't be.

"Whatever you say," she said with a smirk.

A pause before she added "just… don't hurt him. I know you love someone else, but he's a good guy," she pleaded, letting her protective side show.

On his way back from the bar, Pedro ran into Oscar, whom he tagged up with and headed back to your small group. "This is my friend Oscar," said Pedro, introducing you to Oscar as his friend.

Friend. Remember that. Friend. That's all. All you'll ever be.

"Nice to meet you Oscar!" You gave him a cherry smile.

"Nice to finally meet the woman of the hour! Pedro here just won't shut up about you," he said with a smirk, looking at Pedro mischievously. Pedro blushed and looked into his drink cup, taking a sip while trying to hide himself.

"Yep! It's always 'she said this, she said that, can you believe she can do that? She's so smart, funny, sweet…' yada yada yada," he said, smirking again and taking a side glance at Pedro, who choked on his soda. "Shut. Up. Oscar." He quietly threatened through clenched teeth. But despite his quiet tone and a loud party, you heard him.

I mean, I say kind things about my friends that way sometimes. It's nice he's so appreciative of his friends. Because that's what I am. A friend.

Sarah chimes in. "That's what I was telling her! But she claims they're just friends," she air-quotes around the words 'just friends.'

Pedro's heart sank. He knew deep down that's all you were to him, but hearing it second-hand from you still hurt. Just friends… he thought.

"Yeah right," Oscar rolled his eyes, talking to Sarah as if the two of you weren't standing literally right next to them.

"Believe what you want Oscar, but it's true," Pedro answered with a shrug.

Now it was your turn to feel heartbroken. Just friends… you thought.

You cleared your throat, "anyway, I'm going to go get another soda. Can I get anyone anything?" They all answered no, and you headed for the bar.

Deep in your thoughts, you walked over to the bar when a woman slammed into you. She spilled her red, bloody Halloween cocktail drink all down the front of your costume. "Watch where you're going, fat bitch," said the woman, appropriately dressed in a devil costume, her skin-tight red dress barely covering her ass and breasts.

You sighed. At this point you decided to skip the refill and head toward the bathroom to clean up your now wet front. You looked back to see the devil herself headed right towards Pedro's direction. Typical, you thought with an eye roll. She wants him and is mad I was talking to him.

You turned away from that scene and reached the line to the bathroom. It was lengthy, but luckily it was moving fast. Once inside, you finally could let your emotions out a little bit. You wanted to put on a brave face for Pedro and not ruin his evening, but ever since the bouncer made his comments, you couldn't get them out of your head. And now with that woman spilling her drink on you, you had another reason to be upset. You felt undeserving to be here to begin with, and their comments really solidified the imposter syndrome.

Despite wanting so desperately to see Pedro in the flesh, you hadn't even been able to really make eye contact all evening. Your nerves about meeting him were still there, but now you were just upset about the whole night. Even though you wanted to look at him, really see him, you felt like you didn't deserve it; and your nerves warned you not to look or else he'd figure you out.

If he realizes I like him, it's game over. It'll be like that guy I liked before. He'll eventually say it's weird. Weird for me to have a crush on him, weird for me to touch him, weird for the two of us to talk about relationships or sex. It's 'weird' with you.

You really started to hate that word; weird.

Perhaps you were destined to be a single hermit forever. Or maybe just become a nun.

Cleaned up and having let enough tears out for a couple more hours, at least until you could go home and really cry, you walked out of the bathroom. Heading back toward Pedro, you saw a tall, thin, beautiful woman wearing a tight black dress with a slit down the thigh and skeleton makeup on her face.

The woman was standing close to Pedro when you saw her touch his bicep. Slowly running her hand down his forearm, she batted her eyelashes and twirled her hair with her other hand. She said something to him you couldn't hear, but the two of them began to smile, Pedro's eyes growing wide with his grin. He said something to her and they both laughed, him throwing his upper half forward in a classic Pedro laugh.

That's it. I can't do it. I can't be here and see this.

Turning on your heel, you made for the patio door. The crisp air hit your face, urging the tears to fall immediately.

_____

Pedro laughed as the woman, Tricia, held up both hands in defense. "I SWEAR, Pedro. That's what she did. She touched my arm like that, twirled her hair, batted her eyelashes, and said "hey baby. Come here often?"

Pedro laughed, "oh man, that's so cheesy."

"I know!" Tricia laughed, holding her stomach.

Pedro raised an eyebrow. "Okay, you agree it's cheesy, yet I feel like every time I've seen you two together tonight, you're the one that can't keep your hands off of her," he stated with a sassy smirk.

"Alright, you caught me," Tricia replied with a laugh, right as her girlfriend Sam walked up in a matching skeleton costume. Sam handed Tricia a cup of purple liquid and asked what they were laughing about.

"I asked how you two got together," Pedro replied with a chuckle.

"Oh, gosh, I can only imagine how she's spun the story this time!" Sam replied with an eye roll and a quick kiss to Tricia's lips. Seeing the two love-birds kiss made Pedro long to experience that with you.

Where did she go? There's no way she's still getting a drink.

He excused himself and headed towards the bar, but you weren't there. Then he walked towards the bathroom to check the line. Nope.

Finally he looked to the left and saw you, leaning against the balcony which overlooked the city.

He pulled the sliding door open, slipping outside into the cool October night. The patio was mostly empty, apart from a few stragglers on the far side of the rooftop, sitting at the patio furniture underneath a heat lamp. Most of the guests had gone inside when the temperature began to dip. He walked towards you, saying your name to gain your attention, but you didn't turn. Too deep in your thoughts.

"Are you okay? What are you doing out here all alone?" He touched your shoulder gently.

Startled, you tried to quietly sniffle and wipe your wet eyes without him noticing, careful to avoid smudging your mascara.

You turned to face him, planting another fake smile on your face. "Yeah I'm fine, just needed some air, that's all. You?"

"I can tell you're not okay. What's wrong?" He frowned, stepping closer to you and eyeing the red stain on your dress. Confusion laced across his face.

You stepped back a half-step away from his touch. "It's nothing, it just seems it isn't my night I guess… but you look like you're having fun. Get back in there and dance with Sarah and Oscar," you said with a gentle smile. "I think I might head out. Skipper is probably wondering where I am, anyway."

"I'm sorry you're not having a good time. Let me at least give you a ride home," he pleaded with his brown eyes. This was the first time all night you had actually made eye contact with him, finally seeing just how handsome he really was in person.

Yeah. There's no way he'd go for me. That's for sure.

"No, no please, you stay, I'll just get an Uber. It's fine! Thank you for inviting me tonight though, Pedro. That was really sweet of you."

"I'm not letting you take an Uber home when I'm right here."

"No, dont. I don't want you to miss the party…" you added.

"I've partied enough tonight. Come on, I'm taking you home. No arguments," he pressed, puppy dog eyes unwavering in his demand.

Seriously this man could get away with murder the way he looks with those eyes.

"Okay. Fine, if you really don't mind," you finally agreed, not that it was even an option.

He gave a quick explanation to his friends with a brief wave before the two of you headed out the front door. You scowled at the guard as you walked past.

Thanks for ruining my night, asshole.

After receiving his car from the valet, Pedro pulled open the passenger door for you, gesturing for you to climb inside.

Nobody has ever opened the car door for me before, other than my dad.

What a gentleman...

Just because you were upset didn't mean you weren't zapped with a feeling of adrenaline and love at his chivalrous action. Whoever ends up with him is a lucky person.

You climbed in the passenger seat and he went around the car, entering the driver's side.

Not only did you feel like you ruined the party, but you worry you may have ruined your shot altogether. Why would Pedro want you after you didn't even talk to him your first night out together?

_____

*Pedro's POV*

As he climbed into his seat, buckling up and starting the ignition, he couldn't help but wonder where the night went wrong.

Did I say something to offend her?

He began to replay all the conversations you'd had tonight, trying to figure out when your sadness began and what could have caused it.

The party conversations? The texts? The phone calls?

Nothing came to mind, which worried him even more that he could be so ignorant to have said something hurtful without realizing.

Pedro looked over at you in his passenger seat. You were curled toward the side, arms scrunched toward your body and looking out the window. Silent. Just the occasional sound of a sniffle, or a road direction for him to take toward your house.

He wanted so badly to reach over and touch you. Hold your hand and rub his thumb over your fingers to comfort you in any way possible while driving. Then, he'd pull you into his arms the second you two got out of the car.

But he knew he couldn't. You weren't his to hold.

Was her crush at the party too? Could he have hurt her somehow?

He felt anger flare into his system at whatever could have made you cry. You deserved the world and he wished he could spend every day trying to prove it to you.

_____

*Back to your perspective*

About 20 minutes later, you quietly said "this is me."

Pedro put the car in park, and told you to wait. Confused, you sat, but he ran around the car and opened the door for you.

What. The. Hell. Is he real?

You stood from the car, fluffing down your ruined princess dress. "Thank you Pedro. You really didn't have to give me a ride, I feel bad you went out of your way. I'm sorry if I ruined your night."

"Hey, whoa, don't apologize. There's no way you ruined my night, and don't worry about the ride. I feel better knowing you made it home safely from me than some taxi service," Pedro placed his hand on his heart.

"Well, thank you either way. It was nice getting to finally meet you in person…"

"It was nice meeting you too," he shifted his weight, awkwardly wondering how to proceed.

"You should go. Get back to your party before you miss anything else! I'm sure Oscar and Sarah miss you," you prompted.

"Oh, I'm not going back. I'll just call it a night and head home. It's not as fun without my date, anyway." He smirked, and you couldn't help but wonder if he was flirting with you. Probably just being nice.

"You aren't going back??"

"Nah, I'm good. But…" he rubbed the back of his neck with his palm.

"What?" You felt nervous.

"Can I ask why you're so upset? You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to. It's just… if I did something or said something to upset you… I'm so sorry," he said, and you could actually feel the genuine sadness in his voice.

"Oh, Pedro. No. You did nothing wrong. It's just," you sighed. "Do you want to come in?"

You worried about asking and seeming too forward, but now that it's out there it can't be taken back.

Friends go over to other friend's houses. It's totally fine and normal.

"I, uh, sure," Pedro stumbled over his words. "I'd love to. If you don't mind." He seemed nervous and a little surprised at your invitation.

You unlocked your door and the two of you entered. Instantly, you were greeted by your boy, who was all too happy to have a new friend. His tail wagged, smacking against nearby surfaces.

Pedro's face lit up instantly, and he crouched down to Skip's level. Letting Skipper get a good sniff, you heard Pedro gently coo to your dog. "Hi buddy!! I'm Pedro. I've heard so much about you." He scratched behind his ears.

Your heart swelled. Here they were, two of your favorite boys, bonding like old friends.

Pedro stood up again, giving a final scratch to Skipper's head before turning to you. "So, do you want to talk about it? What happened tonight?"

You ushered him to the kitchen table, asking him if he would like a drink. "Sure, thanks. Just water, please."

You poured two glasses of water and sat at the table near him, finally delving into the events of the evening. You told him about the bouncer and the woman with her drink. "I also saw that one girl talking to you and being really touchy and flirty and I felt like I was intruding."

I was also really fucking jealous…

"Wait, what girl?"

He repeated the evening's events through his mind. He wasn't flirting or being touchy? Who were you - Oh. Tricia, when she was describing Sam. Were you jealous of her? He allowed his mind to wonder, slightly hopeful that you might want more.

"I guess I just… I don't really feel like I fit in here. I don't look like I fit in here. I don't act like I fit in here. I honestly don't even know why you're as nice to me as you are. I wonder why you want to be my friend. Not that I'm not happy about it, because I am, but-"

He cut off your ramblings. "Whoa, whoa, hey. Sweetheart. You belong here. People just don't know you yet. That bouncer was totally out of line and a complete asshole. That woman, who spilled her drink on you, was rude, offensive, and nasty; and I don't tolerate that kind of behavior. Especially towards those I care about. The second she came over, I could tell she was a snake. I didn't give her the time of day. And lastly, the girl you saw being touchy was my friend Tricia. She was describing how her girlfriend picked her up in a bar," he laughed.

"Oh," you listened to his words, still not making eye contact, looking at your hands on the table.

"And as for you," he prompted, "I'm nice to you because you deserve it. You're sweet and funny, and I'm so thankful to have met you. I talk to you because I like talking to you. I enjoy spending time with you, whether it's on the phone, or, even better, when I get to see your face. Although I have to say I hate to see it crying." He brushed away a tear from your cheek, and you gave a small laugh, wiping the rest of your face.

"Thanks Pedro. I'm sorry if I brought down your night. I just really wanted tonight to be special, and it felt like my carriage turned back into a pumpkin before I even started." You gave another defeated laugh.

"You didn't ruin my night. If anything I'm just disappointed you didn't say anything, so I could help cheer you up or we could go do something else." He paused, brushing your hair from your eyes. "By the way, I never did get to tell you how beautiful you look in that dress, princesa."

Your cheeks heated under his gaze. "T-thanks Pedro. You look pretty handsome there, yourself," you answered nervously. It was the first time you had truly looked at him all night, and he was more beautiful than you ever could have imagined. Even pictures didn't do him justice. Dressed in a white suit with golden epaulets and golden buttons on the jacket, he was the most charming prince you'd ever seen.

Pedro rubbed his neck. "Thank you." He smiled. "But, hey, just because the night didn't go your way doesn't mean we can't turn it around."

You smirked. "That's true. Do you wanna watch a movie or something? Because if so, I think I might change out of this costume real quick," you began to stand.

"Whoa, not so fast princesa," he grabbed your arm.

You turned and gave him a confused look.

"Not before I share a dance with you in that dress. I've been waiting all night," he held out his hand.

"Really?" The grin on your face lit up, and you pulled him towards your music room where you stored your records.

"Wow. This is amazing. You have so many records and instruments in here! Is this where you write your music, too?"

"Yep! Here's where the magic happens," you answered with a laugh, pulling out an old record filled with slow love songs of the 50's and 60's. You placed the needle on the record, hearing a soft crackle as it began to play.

Pedro pulled you into his chest, grabbing your right hand with his left and gently placing his right hand on your waist. You slid your left hand up to his shoulder and smiled up at him as the two of you gently swayed to the music.

One song turned into two. Then three, and finally four; the two of you holding each other, silent except for the soft music turning from your record player on the desk. At some point you took the risk and decided to rest your face on his chest while the two of you swayed. His head rested on top of yours, both of you breathing softly, eyes closed, with you listening to the rhythmic drumming of his heart in his chest.

The record crackled with the end of the first side and the two of you looked at each other. You didn't miss the quick glance he stole from your eyes down to your lips, and you began to slowly lean closer.

Is this it?! Am I finally going to have my first kiss?!

You continued leaning closer, both his and your eyes gently closing. You could feel his breath fanning across your nose when-

Clunk clunk clunk. Pant pant. Whine.

You and Pedro opened your eyes, confusion painting your expressions as you turned your faces away from each other towards the sound. Still held in each other's arms, you peeled your eyes away from each other to see Skipper looking at you both with a big doggy grin on his face. His tail smacked the table with a thump thump, and he let out soft little whines and coos for attention.

The two of you laughed, the moment over, as you both kneeled down to give pets while Skip wedged between the two of you. Although you were disappointed the kiss was interrupted, you can't be mad at such a cute face. Still scratching your dog, you looked across to Pedro on the other side of Skipper. The two of you shared a soft look and smile, filled with so many unsaid words and feelings.

"So, uh.. how about that movie?" Pedro asked, still smiling.

______

You changed out of your princess costume into a comfier movie watching outfit and he changed out of his prince costume. He had some clothes in his car, which he changed into, looking handsome as ever. He wore a navy blue sweater with jeans, both fitting him perfectly. The two of you settled on your couch and turned on a movie. Although you sat next to each other, you kept a friendly distance, neither of you wanting to push the other too far.

As the movie rolled on, you had a hard time focusing on the plot with him so close. He looked so cozy and soft, you just wanted to climb in his lap. You wanted him to hold your hand. You wanted to finish that kiss. He smelled nice, he looked nice, and you wanted him more than anything else in this world.

Without realizing it, you gravitated closer. Your body inched toward him, and without him realizing it, he inched closer as well. It wasn't long until your leg was brushed against his. Just the slight touch of his leg on yours was enough to send an electric feeling pulsing through your body. The tension was as tight as an electrical cable, slowly fraying until it eventually snaps into sparks.

Pedro's fingers twitched at his side, his jaw clenching and unclenching. Your eyes kept sneakily darting over to him, his doing the same at opposite times. Your hearts were racing, breathing quick and shallow. The movie finally ended, neither of you able to tell someone the storyline if asked.

You nervously turned towards Pedro, rubbing the back of your neck. "So that was some movie…"

"Yeah, that ending… it was-" his eyes darted to your lips. "Something." He looked into your eyes, hand settling on your thigh as the two of you once again began to lean in closer. You had just shut your eyes, noses brushing together, when he pulled away.

What the heeeeeeeellllll??? Whyyyy!?

You couldn't help but let out a whimper as you opened your eyes after the second failed kiss of the evening.

Pedro sat with his elbows on his lap, holding his face in his hands. "I'm so sorry…"

"What? Pedro? Why are you sorry? What's wrong? Did I - did I do something wrong?"

Do I smell bad? Does he not like me? Was this some sick joke?

"I don't know what I'm doing. I'm sorry. I let my feelings get in the way, and I shouldn't have done that. You're in love with someone else. I can't steal your first kiss. You deserve to have it with the man you really love."

"Pedro-" you tried to pry his hand from his face.

"No. I'm sorry if I ruined things. I should probably leave-" he began to stand up, but you grabbed his forearm and pulled him back down.

"Stop. Pedro," you begged.

He sat back down, looking into your eyes guiltily.

You continued. "Please don't apologize. I wanted you to kiss me…"

"But that guy in your song. You deserve to be with him. I've been letting my feelings take over and stealing all your time away on the phone and text, video chat, and now in person. I almost stole your first kiss from you twice tonight and-" he rambled on, once again throwing his hands over his face before you interrupted him again.

"Pedro.." you pulled his hand away from his face, leaving yours to hold his cheek instead, but he still avoided your eyes. Taking a deep breath, you figured it was time to take the plunge.

"It's you, Pedro."

His eyes glanced up to yours. "What?"

"It's you. It's always been you. You're the one I like."

"Wait, so you mean-"

"Yes. The songs, the interviews, our chats… I've been talking about you this whole time. I really, really, like you."

Pedro gave a gentle smile, leaning his face into your hand. "I like you too, baby," he whispered.

His hand moved from his cheek to yours and the two of you leaned in. Closing your eyes, you brushed your noses together before you whispered "please kiss me.

You could feel a soft smile as he pressed his lips to yours, first gentle and soft, then stronger and more desperate. Although the kiss was still very tame, you could both feel all the emotions you've been harboring for each other for so long.

Breathless, the two of you pulled back, falling into a gentle laughter. "You don't know how long I've been waiting for that kiss," you spoke softly, wanting to keep the words as quiet as possible, heard only within the tiny bubble you currently shared.

"Me too," he smiled, pressing another kiss to your lips.

"I think you were worth the wait," you pecked his lips.

"I think you were too," he rested his head on your forehead with his hand on your neck, lightly stroking over your hair.

"I like you." You giggled.

"I like you too." He grinned. "But, you know, if I remember correctly, 'like' wasn't the word you used in your song…" he teased.

Your stomach flipped. "I don't want to scare you off too soon, P."

"You won't, sweetheart. You couldn't if you tried. I feel the same way." He kissed your forehead.

You looked at him, and feeling slightly nervous, yet calmed by his deep brown eyes, you told him those important words that have been spilling from your chest in silence.

"I love you Pedro."

"I love you too," he grabbed your face, once again pressing a kiss to your lips, this one much deeper than the others, before pulling you into his arms. The two of you were finally together. Finally you had love. All the things you wanted were coming true.

Turns out you got your happily ever after tonight after all.

__________

To be continued...

That's all for now! I hope you liked this chapter. I've received a lot of kind messages and DMs saying how much you guys relate to the reader and I just want to say thank you. It really means a lot to me that people are finding something to relate to. I'm essentially just using this fic as my diary, because she is pretty much just me. So to see others feeling the same way, it makes my heart so full! I send hugs to all of you.

Next Chapter! Here!

Taglist: (Want in? Let me know!) If I forget to add anyone, I'm sorry!

@pedrotonin @starcrossed02 @lightupsketchersperson @cartoon-garbage04 @tyferbebe @maryfanson @gwendibley84 @faithfullyyours2000 @brilliantopposite187 @hc-geralt-23 @jenniferpendragon @winchestergypsy90 @red-red-rogue @theendwhereibegin @lottieellz101 @oliversaurus @kyga01 @milly-louise @titabel @taz-97 @stefanibear003 @marantha @fandomoniumflurry @ilovemybrown-eyedbabygirl

#pedro pascal #pedro pascal fanfic #pedro pascal fanfiction #pedro pascal fluff #pedro pascal smut #pedro pascal x you #a! wrote a fic #pedro pascal fic #pedro pascal x afab!reader #pedro pascal x reader #pedro pascal x musician!reader #pedro pascal x plus sized! reader #pedro pascal rpf #rpf #pedro pascal x y/n #key to your heart

[no-name-publishing]

Manacled by SenLinYu

My 8-month marathon on this project has finally come to a close, and I have a ton of pictures to share!

We’ve got a split-board binding with made-endpapers and a built-in tab for extra support. Hand-sewn endbands with silk-finish cotton sewing thread. Done in a millimeter binding style with black leather, and a hand-drawn and -painted floral motif across the middle. Final page count is just under 1.4k. I figure altogether this was around ~50 hours worth of work for the whole binding, from beginning to the typeset to pulling the final book out of the press.

More pictures of the binding and typeset under the cut! If you have any questions or want more info about the process don’t hesitate to ask!

In truth I over measured/estimated the needed length of my leather; this and my poor pare job is definitely visible through the cloth lol, but I’m still jazzed with the result since I’d never touched leather before this. I designed the spread digitally in Procreate, printed it, transferred it to my cloth using carbon transfer paper, then painted using Jacquard Lumiere Metallic gold paint and a refillable .75mm paint pen.

Printed:

Transferred:

Mid-painting:

From starting the drawing to finishing the painting I’d say this part took ~15 hours. Close up of the spine:

Each endband measures around 3 3/4″ (9.5cm) in length and took around 5 hours to complete. The core is 4-ply hemp cord that I coated with PVA glue. Wrapped with a single strand of red silk-finish cotton thread, and one strand of polyester yellow thread, since it’s kinda shiny. Last I counted it was something like 300+ wraps of thread for each band. The uh, cat hair here is just an added bonus I suppose. Like when you buy a new pair of jeans and get that free sticker.

Some progress shots:

The tie downs. I usually will try to tie down every other signature. With 68 signatures you can understand this ate up a metric shitton of thread.

Different angle. Also a good few of the top of the textblock, which was trimmed painstakingly by hand with a wood chisel.

Smooth as a shark etc.

And some shots of the innards!

Each chapter page when through four rounds of printing: 1st through an inkjet, for the floral; 2nd through a laser printer for the number; 3rd through a laminator for the gold toner-reactive foil; and 4thly for the rest of the text.

Half-title page:

One of the attempts to foil a crane. The toner may have been too thin a line for it to work, or perhaps not dense enough tonerly. I don’t have control over that setting on our Xerox unfortunately.

A second shot of a golden crane. This was slightly more successful but lord knows why. Luck.

Fun fact is that this Daily Prophet page ALONE was about 8 hours worth of typesetting. I do all my typesetting in Word, and this page was recreated line-by-line individually. A few of these elements I also had to redraw by hand since there were just no good alternatives online. Anywho though, good payoff.

Nextly, some in-progess shots I don’t have a good segway into lol. A detail you can’t see on the book but I know is there, is hand-dyed scarlet linen thread, drip drying on my shower curtain rod:

Freshly sewn. 68 signatures, no waiting:

Rounded and backed:

And a close up of the special tab/made-endpaper construction. Stupidly I didn’t take any shots of gluing the split boards on, but I think the idea is pretty easy to imagine. Just picture this tab getting glued in between the cover boards.

You can kind of see it here:

And finally, the behemoth on the shelf. This bad boy tips the scales at just over 4 pounds (about 1.8 grams). Glad to have it; more glad to move on with my life.

Thank you for reading!!

#manacled #senlinyu #harry potter #fanficbookbinding #fanbinding #book binding #nonamepublishing #long post #dramione

[miz-orque]

Long Post

Sooo here's my silly little Monsoon concept in the Cyberpunk universe. This took some time, but I had a lot of fun doing it. You'll find a few things repeated on paper as my thought process was a little all over the place. The notes and layout on the pages may be a little unorganised. What's written on paper is reflected in the text, plus extra.

Yeah, this is longer than I thought lol so it's really appreciated if you do take the time to read it. I think I went a little ham 👀;

Apologies for image quality. I still have yet to get a scanner.

Cyberpunk!Monsoon.

General info

Typically, I would fashion him in: an Edgerunner's jacket (which is generally a mix of military armour and pedestrian materials woven together (this jacket is the Valentinos dual-weave Edgerunner)), simple black yoros and yoru no samurai kicks - the last two items being reminiscent of his ninja design in his canon universe. His utility belt and sais are also kept the same, tho the end of the sai's pommel glows when in use for combat.

He has a multitude of implants and cybernetics which include:

Memory boost - optimises sync between the brain and cyberware. An additional neuro chip implanted in his frontal lobe allows him full control of his unique cybernetic arms, including detaching and reattaching his arms, and control of his hands if they are several metres away when detached.

Self-ice - prevents him from getting a neuro virus.

Kerenzikov boost system - essentially a reflex booster

Custom Kiroshi optics: the Oracle (more details of this later)

(outdated) magnetic segmented cybernetic arms where each segment has a neuro link for full control (more details of this later)

Second heart - if his current heart stops beating, the second one activates.

Adrenal boosters - helps body maintain performance under pressure (in game stats detail less stamina usage when engaging in melee)

Micro rotors - increases attack speed

Adreno-trigger - increases attack speed for several seconds whe entering combat

Synaptic accelerator - a neuroprocessor that regulates hormonal balance during threatening situations (in game time is perceived slower for a few seconds when in combat. This implant can be used repeatedly after a 60 second cool down, but he's not looking to have a fight for longer than a minute)

Sub-dermal armour - exactly as it sounds - armour beneath the skin. He has this installed on his neck, torso, back and legs (before they were replaced)

Proxi-shield - the closer an attacking enemy is, the less damage they deal

Bionic joints (eventually replaced) - support of joints. He had this in his legs.

Dense marrow (eventually replaced) - increased power behind melee attacks. He had this in his legs

Dermal implant of a Tyger Claw tattoo - This implant directly links the user's optical implant to the weapon's system, offering real-time data-tracking of the weapon info - he only has this because he was a member of Tyger Claws for a few years, but he decided to keep it as he found it useful and for sentimental reasons

Fortified ankles (eventually replaced) - allows for greater distance covered when jumping

Iron lungs - is able to take in and utilise more oxygen. This was useful when he had his organic legs. This cybernetic has become rather redundant to him now that he's more metal than meat, tho he finds it useful for when he's smoking, he doesn't cough, however they're due for a cleaning from his habit.

Blood pump - supplies body's cells quickly and efficiently with oxygen - again no longer required. He eventually gets this removed

Further info

In this canon, Monsoon has albinism. His original eyes were replaced at a young age due to his poor vision and he received dermal implants to protect his sensitive skin from UV radiation.

Originally, his cyber optics were designed after his real eyes. These were standard optics that allowed him to see as the average person. The eyes were later replaced with Kiroshi the Oracle optics when he was recognised as a competent attack dog. These new eyes, however, were again based on his real eyes. He did not obtain his custom black and red optics until he joined Tyger Claws

The Oracle line allows the user to detect enemies (even under cover) within 17 m, turrets and cameras within 35 m and explosives and traps within 26 m, as well as 10x optical zoom in. He later got these functions upgraded when he opted to change their appearance. They were eye wateringly expensive.

The cyber threading on his face (the lines) are based on the veins surrounding his eyes in his original MGR concept art.

Likewise, the barcode on his forehead from his original concept, has been repurposed as evidence of being an unfortunate victim of human trafficking. Human trafficking exists across the globe in the Cyberpunk (CP) universe. The barcode that was tattooed on his forehead as a child was produced for the underground market to audit their stock. These markets are also owned by corporations who donate some of the profit made to charities (to look good to the general public), to law makers (for manipulation) and to crime syndicates (as pay).

As previously stated, Monsoon obtained custom black and red Kiroshi optics when he joined Tyger Claws. He thought they looked intimidating and cool. He was 15. And he still stands by this decision in his 40s. The black and red are also based on his MGR concept art.

For the record, Monsoon's unique eyes and visor in his original MGR concept design are some of my favourite things about him. Respectfully, these were omitted as I felt they didn't completely suit the environment I placed him in for this au. Sure, visors exist in CP, and of course there are characters like the Maelstrom group and even River (2077) that have robust optics, however:

Monsoon in this canon doesn't work as a corpo cyborg based in Denver with henchborgs under him; he is the henchborg and he's really fucking good at it

His visor holds his electromagnetic generator. In this canon, he doesn't have the ability to separate his entire body, just his arms. It would be redundant for him to have it unless he wears it for the aesthetics. I'm on team Practical Monsoon here so...

Maelstrom essentially believe in transhumanism. Monsoon does not believe in this (him becoming a cyborg in MGR is a consequence of him not wanting to die) and the glowing eyes would give his position away if he's being stealthy.

I think River's too broke to get a better looking eye lol. Monsoon may not be rolling in it, but at least he can afford eyes that provide wider perioral vision and allows him to blink his eyelids.

I just wanted to show off the emotions in his eyes. Can't do that if he's looking like: ⚫👃⚫ "I luv u"

I've designed him bulbous eyeball connecting visors that help increase his field of vision to act as his CP au visor. (A little on the fence with this)

Regarding his arms, their design is outdated. Further information will be provided later in the post, tho I thought I'd keep this here as this was used as reference for myself.

Ken doll Mons and his bs (backstory obvs)

Born in 2031 in Cambodia, Monsoon grew up in poverty. He was abducted as a young child and sold in the black market to an organised crime syndicate. Originally, he was going to be used as an actor for the growing extreme braindance (XBD) market, however, due to his aggressive and tenacious nature, he was taken to be trained as an attack dog instead.

Mention of a several years' mission is present, but this will be touched upon later. The two images are of Monsoon before and after this mission.

Pre-mission:

Most of his body is organic, tho he has a number of internal implants (as mentioned previously)

As stated, unlike his original canon design, the additional segments are omitted. Due to CP lore, and considering Monsoon's upbringing, he would have succumb to cyberpsychosis ages ago (would have gone on a spree like James Norris in Edgerunners). A super bog standard definition of cyberpsychos is a condition where the person dissociates from society when they have too many implants and not a great support system (if they even have one). (It's a theory that David's support system is the reason why his tolerance for something as extreme as his sandevistan was high). If the chassis was kept, I would have had to abide by this rule; Monsoon at this point would have been a slender version of Adam Smasher. (Not a bad idea, but that's literally what he is in MGR but with MG lore in place). Omitting his chassis meant that there was more freedom to explore the world of CP with Monsoon. Also I wanted to see him in sneakers.

Also, his design wouldn't suit the Night City (NC) environment. In his original canon, he's the only WoD member that isn't wearing a coat. In NC, he would need to be naked to fully utilise his abilities. Not to mention, the city itself being so busy, I feel as if his magnetism would cause some damage to certain technology, if his segments don't catch onto a vehicle or a building or a fellow cyborg's butt. If anything, reference of his original design (torso and legs) would be for cosmetic purposes.

Post-mission:

He lost his pelvis and legs during the mission

As he was out in the desert at the time of this incident, his legs were replaced with robust mechanical legs provided by a nomad ripperdoc.

His legs were later replaced with a sleeker and more modern design. He also got that Mr Studd installed 😉

His cyber legs also include reinforced tendons (can literally double jump/jump great heights), Jenkin's tendons (accelerates sprinting for a few seconds - recovery time is just as quick when he's not sprinting), fortified ankles (jump great distances) and lynx paws (quiet footsteps). These are to mimic some of the attributes he has in his original canon.

His cyber arms are eventually replaced with an upgraded and custom pair.

He has cyberpsychosis. Treatment includes therapy, medication and being around his support system regularly. Of course, due to the nature of his work, slaughter does help relieve the aggression he gets from his psychosis.

After being sold to an organised crime syndicate to become an XBD actor, his aggressive nature had them think he would be better suited as a protector. He was repurposed to become an attack dog. For fun, he was given a pair of sais to train with, tho his mentor was compassionate enough to train him well. Tho he was born in Cambodia and spent his early childhood there, he was migrated to Japan after being sold. He spent the rest of his childhood serving the Yakuza as their favoured attack dog. From 15, he was stationed at Night City, being a body guard for a high ranking Yakuza member, but he decided to join Tyger Claws instead.

Additional notes:

The crime syndicates involved are primarily a mix of Triad and Yakuza members, smaller groups and groups outside of Asia are also involved, taking advantage of the state of Cambodia (it's not great). Particular corps are also involved and it's rumoured the Khmer Rouge may also be poking their noses into this black market (they exist in the CP universe. Like in our real world history, they did have their influence, however they were expelled from Cambodia and ended up ruling over Laos in the turn of the 21st century) in hind sight, Monsoon was pretty lucky

He was sold at the age of five.

The XBD market involves things like murder, torture, sexual assault - basically any instance that involves very extreme negative emotions (and is obvs very illegal). Monsoon would have likely been put up for murder and maybe even have cyberpsychosis induced on him

The Yakuza viewed Monsoon as disposable, but thought to have him at least trained in fighting. When his teacher taught him how to use the sai (which he picked up quickly), the members he often interacted with saw his potential. On the field, Monsoon was aggressive.

He was named Monsoon because he was purchased during the season. The name stuck because of his extreme behaviours: eerily calm when he's not in a fight, frightfully violent when he is.

His first implant were his eyes. The following cybernetics were implanted on him without his knowledge ie he woke up one day with his hand replaced with a cybernetic one lol. He freaked

When he arrived in Night City, he offed the Yakuza member he was meant to protect and joined Tyger Claws swiftly after. It was rumoured that this particular was to be disposed of once a negotiation with affiliate groups was made. Monsoon didn't care and killed him anyway. He's never forgiven them for what they did to him.

Because of his upbringing, he speaks Japanese fluently. Being the favoured attack dog, he wasn't required to learn any additional languages, especially with the advent of the translator, however, he did take up learning English when he learned he was going to visit California for an unknown amount of time. Much to his chagrin of learning the common conversational sentences English, when he arrived at Night City, particularly Japantown, he was disappointed that everyone around him was speaking Japanese. That didn't stop him from actively learning tho. Unfortunately, he doesn't remember much Khmer if at all.

The crummy tattoo dermal implant on his back depicts Reahu, the demon king in Cambodian mythology. It's described to be a head without a body and devours the sun and moon, but because of its lack of body (and therefore stomach), it's a perpetual cycle of devouring these celestial bodies.

His stoic and serious nature proved him to be a valuable member to the Tyger Claw gang, getting some recognition from high ranking members, including a glance or two from the up-and-coming fixer, Wakako Okada. He was given a few private jobs, one of which awarded him his extraordinarily unique magnetic arms at around the age of 18. Tho his peers didn't care for the attention he received, a small group of Tyger Claws grew jealous of him, even denouncing him as a member for being an outsider.

During a mission out, the small group turned on him, disabling his arms and taking advantage of his shock. He did defend himself to the best of his abilities, however, he was outnumbered and beaten to near death. Before completely blacking out, he called Wakako.

Once recovered and his arms repaired, he left Tyger Claws and sought vengeance on those that tried to kill him. No longer a member, he happily attacks any member that so much as looks at him funny.

Additional notes:

His position in the gang would have been pretty much the same in his original canon. He did participate in some drug dealing and trafficking, however he enjoyed fighting the most.

He was out cold for a couple days when he was picked up by Wakako and taken care of by a doctor of her choosing

Monsoon was growing tired of the gang anyway and thought he would be successful if he left. The group that attacked him provided him a really good reason to leave

He wanted to remove the Tyger Claws tattoo on his back, but decided against it as he gave it a new meaning: continuously devouring the clan

It's an exaggeration to say that he attacks any TC member if they look at him funny. He attacks them if they touch him in any way, shape or form.

Despite the fact he was a member for about five years, he has never crossed paths with Jimmy. Jimmy was locked away being a cringe teenager editing edgy braindances and wearing black eyeliner.

Ze arms

Gifted his magnetic arms at 18, adapting to fully cybernetic arms was a challenge, especially with the unique ability to desegment at will. Tho they are rumoured to be of Arasaka make, his provider advised it was from an underground yet promising corporation.

Previous arms

Neural connection between brain, arms and segments.

Powerful electromagnetism, however best performed away from the busier parts of Night City

Electromagnetic generator located in shoulder joint.

Silicone connection inside and outside of elbow.

Upper half of arm matches skin tone. Forearms and hands are black (right) and red (left).

Palm and fingertips padded; sensors are quite sensitive

Range began at 10 metres, but increased to 15 when his arms were repaired

New and current arms

Possess the same elements as the previous arms, but with a sleek design

Arms are completely black apart from the left forearm and hand being red.

Generator hidden in shoulder

Fingertips have highly sensitive sensors

Edge of segments glow red when in use (when he gets his magnet on)

Carbon fibre material

Faster movement

Range is about 30 metres max.

Additional notes:

The arms are quite expensive. He has to visit a reputable doctor that is well educated in electromagnetics and whatever the fuck else his arms possess because they're pretty insane

It took him a good month to get used to using fully cybernetic arms and even long to actually master the use of its magnetic abilities. He would say about a year.

The underground corporation used both Arasaka and Militech to craft the arms. Monsoon's unknowingly a guinea pig, however he does eventually meet the people behind these.

Said people provided him with the new arms

He exclusively uses his magnetic abilities in combat. At least, that's what he says. Monsoon has used his abilities to get something out of reach, get something from another room, and trip Jimmy (when he didn't like him) - now he uses them to pull Jimmy towards him

Sundowner

Monsoon became a solo mercenary after he left Tyger Claws. Mainly working with Wakako, he would sometimes do gigs with other solos. More often than not, he would find himself working alongside this heavyweight merc, Sundowner. At first, he found him to be rather loud and obnoxious, but eventually he found him to be a worthy and competent ally to the point he's glad to see him in his group of mercs.

Additional notes:

They met for the first time during a meeting with a fixer at Tom's Diner. Monsoon mistook him for a patron as Sundowner was chowing down on a burger and commenting loudly about the music. He wasn't particularly excited to learn that he would be working alongside him for this mission

They only ever hang out at bars or eating establishments, and the occasional visit to a braindance club.

Okay, maybe sometimes they visit Dogtown for the thrill and chaos

Monsoon's been to Sundowner's humble abode once for bbq. It's in the Badlands

They once infiltrated a Scavs base because Sundowner thought one of them stole his keys to his truck. They killed them all. They did not find his keys because he suddenly remembered where they were kept.

They once got into a random scuffle with Sixth Street

And the Voodoo Boys

And the Valentinos

And the Animals

And Tyger Claws (Monsoon enjoyed that one)

All started by Sundowner.

Sundowner is gun heavy in this universe, only using Bloodlust when he wants to get messy, but keep his hands clean.

Of course, Sundowner has the Gorilla Arms cybernetic that grants him immense strength as well as the Reinforced Tendons implants

Coming from Alabama, Monsoon's not quite familiar with the terms Sundowner uses that isn't Night City lingo. Sometimes he uses his translator which isn't the most reliable due to Sundowner's accent. He did eventually grow accustomed to his way of speaking

Sundowner most definitely did partake in the Corporate War of 2069.

Sun became a fan of Jimmy's unnecessarily violent XBD edits

The above drawings are of them in their twenties

Legs and mission

The mission

At around 25 years old, Monsoon with Sundowner was given a secret gig by their mysterious fixer. Like most gigs, survival was not guaranteed, however, the payout for this gig was huge if they did survive. This gig involved them and a small group of other mercs, techies and netrunners to travel outside Night City across the country. The mission was so secretive, contact outside anything that did not revolve around the mission was forbidden, this meant that kin were left in the dark about the whereabouts of their loved ones.

The gig proved challenging; some members lost their lives. Monsoon almost lost his life being involved in an incident that had him lose the lower half of his body. He carried out the rest of the mission in a set of robust cybernetic legs that included storage for his stoma bags. The difficulty of this mission did solidify and strengthen his friendship with Sundowner.

After the mission, which ended up lasting five years, and of course receiving his massive payout, Monsoon got himself a new set of legs, a built in bladder, rectum and a Mr Studd (with Jimmy's assistance). He also developed cyberpsychosis which is handled by his medication, therapy sessions and time spent with loved ones.

Additional notes:

The payout was six digits

The mission itself was arduous. Flat lining tended to be the bulk of the mission, tho the men would argue it felt like an underground war. Really, it was corpo shit trying to keep governments outside of their business. Infiltration and assassination proved more difficult than initially thought, especially when theft of technologies was involved

Monsoon did find it difficult to not get in contact with the people he cared about during his gig. He obviously worried about Jimmy the most because he's a danger magnet. He forced him to get the Shock-n-Awe implant as a means of defence, but he also told Jimmy not to wait for him.

Monsoon's lower body was crushed by a massive structure that collapsed after a bomb went off.

He often wrapped cloth tightly around his abdomen to keep his storma attachments extra secure. The last time he didn't have that security, he dookied on Sundowner when he tried to parkour. They still laugh about it.

He lost his legs about two years into the mission

His psychosis developed rather quickly when his legs were swiftly replaced with robust cybernetic legs.

He was fully prepared for Jimmy to have moved on. Much to his surprise, he waited for him and started gaining immense success in his work.

He also learned he became a cat dad

Ze legs and pelvis

His replacement legs right after the accident were standard metal robotic legs that helped him get around, tho it hindered his athletic abilities. He was happy to have them finally replaced with a more competent model. These legs include:

Matching skin tone

Sensors included that allows him to detect pressure, temperature changes and pain

A faux butt with padding

A Mr Studd that acts similarly to a natural penis - of course he misses his real one, but he's glad he can pee out of this one and relieve sexual need. Special sensors in the phallus connected to a specific neural link allows him to feel aroused when stimulated and lead to an eventual climax, of course it's not the same as it once was. His sex drive is also quite low.

Faux testes included for aesthetic purposes - they look and feel almost like the real thing! 😃 A TRT device was considered to be included in his pair, but he opted to take injections whenever he wanted to. He doesn't think the lack of testosterone hinders his abilities to carry out his duties as a merc. Before he changed his legs, he wasn't on testosterone regularly.

Reinforced tendons, Jenkin's tendons and Lynx paws installed

Height increased from 6'2" to 6'5" - he had a high calorie and nutritional diet due to being trained as a fighter, however, that isn't to say he didn't receive painful procedures to increase his height to appear more intimidating

Has replacement organs with sensors

Artificial butthole works fine 👍 (don't lie, you were curious)

He takes rather strong immunoblockers

Additional notes:

Jimmy paid for some of the costs. He insisted.

Recovery was relatively quick, tho he had to take the time to get used to his new legs and make sure sensors worked well.

Jimmy's aware of Monsoon's cyberpsychosis. It kinda turns him on. And he loves to admit it.

....yeah Jimmy did select the junk to be Monsoon's replacement sausage

Khamsin

During a few of his gigs, he had Khamsin as his "wheels guy". His chatter and loud music gets on Monsoon's gears, but Sundowner like Khamsin, plus he's an excellent driver. Most of the time, Monsoon zones out when he's around Khamsin, but with enough drinks, he'll chuckle at a joke or two.

Additional notes:

Khamsin's truck looks better than how I drew it. I'm just bad at drawing vehicles

Khammy also has cybernetic legs

Mons doesn't hate him, but he wouldn't invite him to his place

Sometimes he gets taunt ideas from Khamsin

Mistral

Monsoon has been a well established solo when he met the young and snarky woman who goes by Mistral. Tho she's solo, she also dabbles in netrunning, proving her versatility. At first the two didn't get on so well. She taunted him about being an old fogie, and he retorted her about being a naïve and obnoxious little girl with pink hair, even tho their age difference is approximately 15 years.

Sundowner kept wanting her on the team despite the bickering as the group worked well together and he enjoyed her accent. When the group finally did decide to hang out together at a bar, Monsoon and Mistral bonded over their annoyance with Khamsin and their love for Jimmy. As the two got closer, Mistral gifted Monsoon a couple of sakura hair clips she won at a fair. He invited her to his place to see his cat.

Additional notes

Mistral's married to Courtney lol. Courtney's a corpo, but they hardy spend time together due to their work

Mistral's a fan of Jimmy's XBDs.

She's visited their place multiple times and has designated herself as their cat's aunt

Monsoon loves the hair clips, even tho he doesn't express this out loud

She's a gun user - I'm basing this off her time as a soldier, plus I'm not sure where her lance fits in the CP universe. The geckos would be more like her and Courtney's freak children than her tools

Monsoon does not like her freak children

Weirdly, her and Jimmy became good friends. They text each other on a regular basis

She also hangs out with the two if Courtney's busy with work

She playfully throws things at Monsoon. Monsoon draws on her face when she's netrunning

She came to Night City directly from Algeria. She misses the food there

Fighting

Monsoon's fighting style is more or less identical to the original canon moveset, save for his lack of magnetic segmented legs and torso. When he had his natural legs, he utilised reflex implants to boost speeds and force behind his kicks. Now that he has his cybernetic legs, he's even more dangerous in a fight. He has implants that increase his resistance to hacking. His arms can be disassembled by skilled hackers, a hell of a disadvantage if he's using his sais to attack from a distance. He carries a multitude of grenades with him which includes explosives, EMPs and smoke grenades.

Outfit

Monsoon dresses in kitsch style clothing. His wardrobe consists mainly of vests and short sleeves, and perhaps five pairs of bottoms. As he's often doing gig work (and beating up Tyger Claws), he favours no sleeves for their practically and ease of wear. He does own at least a handful of long sleeve shirts, bombers and hoodies which he wears on special occasions, such as when he doesn't want to use his magnetic abilities.

Additional notes

He owns a couple neokitsch style clothing (clothing that only the wealthy can afford) because Jimmy likes to spoil him. He only ever wears them when he's visiting Embers

Jimmy likes stealing his jackets and hoodies.

Monsoon on occasion wears Jimmy's jacket to feel like a villain - Jimmy doesn't take offence to this.

Monsoon wears his clothes until they fall apart. It annoys Jimmy because he knows he can afford new clothes.

He also hates going clothes shopping with Jimmy

Apartment

His apartment is located in Japantown, Westbrook of Night City. He keeps the apartment clean and free of clutter, the only decorations he has are books/magazines and a dragon statue that holds incense (came with the apartment). Eventually, his apartment transformed into a lively little abode when Jimmy entered his life. After becoming accustomed to the company, the apartment now includes horror movie posters, memory chips dotted everywhere, cute little momentos, cans of Spunky Monkey in the fridge, an additional toothbrush, additional clothes in the wardrobe, sex toys and numerous Polaroid photographs of the two.

Additional notes:

Sometimes they use each other's toothbrush by mistake

He has a plethora of plants. He likes nature. Jimmy's a little freaked out by the plants especially when they touch him

He doesn't smoke in the apartment

#Okay I think I'm done #I have been on this from the first page to the last bit of text for maybe a week and a half/couple of weeks? #I'm not quite sure how to even tag this if I even HAVE a specific tag for this #I'll use my usual tags for now #IT'S A LOOONG post of alt universe fan nonsense. I might even rejig some of the info later down the road if I'm still fixated #I advise you grab a snack #My art #cyberpunk au #mgr monsoon #mgr sundowner #mgr mistral #Mgr Khamsin #cyberpunk 2077 #I'm so tired #👁️👁️ #nerd shit

[txtmetonight]

Second Chances?

call summary ⋆ ★ Maybe he's too good for you or maybe your just an asshole

or

"reader accidentally cheats on member while drunk when he's overseas and he comes back and finds out even though reader tried to hide it from him. but reader truly doesn't want to break up and with a heavy heart tells him to do the same so that they would be even."

caller ID *. * Anonymous

pairing ⋆ ★ OT5 x Fem! Reader

genre *. * Angst, Fluff

warnings ⋆ ★ Cheating, erm toxic behavior, crying, bad grammar bc I was too lazy to check it lol, alcohol

call duration⋆ ★ 4.2k (Headcannons + a little story)

a/n*. * omg sorry this is so late 😭 I work with kids and no one tells you that working with small children gives you the immune system of a Victorian child 💀 and 3 of my classes had assigned me several essays to write. Hopefully this satisfies you bc i changed some of the stuff around so it didn't seem repeated for each member and may have taken your request and just ran with it lololol. Also if you see an uncanny similarities between one of my enhypen headcannons...no you don't zbzbzbz.

Soobin ˚ · • . ° .

✭ The first night that Soobin has ever cried to you, his lips trembled as he tucked his head into the crook of your shoulder, he had asked you not to leave him–to stay with him thick and thin for he couldn’t live a life without you 

✭ Pressing soft kisses to his head, you lifted his head to leave a long-lasting kiss on his lips, melting into him before you pulled apart, love swirling on the pads of your fingers as you wiped away his tears 

✭ “I will never ever leave you. I promise.” 

✭ And you don’t, you really don’t, but now your lips are bruised with guilt that you can’t get rid of as many times as you wash your face, and your eyes are rimmed with tears that can’t seem to stop falling even each time you think that you’re leaked them all 

✭ The bathroom mirror reflects a version of yourself that you wished to never see yourself–a lying cheater when your poor hardworking boyfriend was overseas 

✭ You really suppose that you didn’t mean to, but you’ve been missing the touch of someone or maybe you were missing the feeling of exhilaration thriving underneath the skin so that’s why... 

✭ That’s why you let Hyunjin let you kiss you so soft underneath the club’s lights while your brain fell into a drunken haze that you couldn’t escape 

✭ You don’t dare to tell anyone though and for days on end you’re ridiculed with endless guilt and insecurity as you wait for your lover to come back home–which even them brings you more despair 

✭ You love Soobin and your heart aches for him and so with much mulling over a despicable thought you had decided that you would hide the sinful kiss and continue with him normally even though your stomach churned in guilty displeasure 

✭ And when your boyfriend came back with a flourish of his love, you kiss him hard against his lips trying to erase the pain that stirred deep inside you 

“Are you alright babe?” He chuckles, pulling away from you to scan your face, cradling you in his arms. “I... I just missed you a lot” You whisper and pull him back into a kiss again, tears threatening to flood down your cheeks, a promise to yourself that you’d never ever let him find out–even as much as guilt as you felt.

✭ Too bad you weren’t as careful as you thought you were–because, after nights of unrestful slumbers and gut-wrenching pain, you find yourself in the hands of your own karma, hands that choke you slowly when Soobin pulls out a piece of paper that you didn’t even know existed 

✭ That sinful night when you committed an act of immorality, it seems so that Hyunjin has slipped his number and rather disgusting words down the pocket of your jeans

“Soobin...” Your head hangs low as you chew on the bottom of your lip, swaying side to side as you watch your boyfriend unfold the slip with a tremble in his hands. “I had fun with you. Hit me up again? XOXO Jinnie.” His eyes are rimmed with red and you your guts swoop and tumble up your throat where they threaten to spill out of your tongue.

“I didn’t mean to,” you cry, walking a step closer to him, but stop when he flinches. “How am I–how am I supposed to trust you.” His words are vile like poison and send you spiraling and before you know it, you’re on you’ve buckled down onto your knees and Soobin’s right by your side in a worry. “(Y/n)–” 

“I’m so sorry Soobin! I really–really didn’t mean to, I dunno what happened and all of a sudden, I–no he kissed me and I just–” You’re breaking down and your lover is wiping away your tears and kissing your cheeks. You feel worse than you felt before. You’re not sure why he was doing this but your heart aches for him. It’s about to burst.  

“Calm down.” He sighs, pushing back your hair, gently turning your jaw to look at him with pity lacing his eyes. “You’re not going to leave me, are you?” You whimper, eyes widening and jaw going slack when he doesn’t answer. “Soobin?” You’re gasping for air by now and your brain makes you pant when you clutch his hands against you.  

“Soobin–you can–you can cheat on me if you want to! I really–please don’t leave me!” 

His eyes widen in shock before he shakes his head and pulls you closer to him, letting you curl against his frame while you shake. “(Y/n), sweetheart, I–no. I’m not going to do that.” He reassures but those aren’t the words you’re looking for, searching the expanse of his tearing eyes for them instead. Soobin notices and kisses you softly on the forehead.  

“And I’m not going to leave you either.” 

Yeonjun ˚ · • . ° .

✭ Yeonjun is truly one of a kind–a man that you couldn’t even start to explain even as much as your tongue twisted and turned with words that tried to describe him 

✭ Yeonjun who is your boyfriend, Yeonjun who you love very much that your heart feels like it would explode in adoration, Yeonjun who you’re sure makes out with half of the girls he meets because, he is just so pretty and handsome, and he just can’t help it 

✭ Perhaps you are really stupid, too blind in love to notice his tousled hair every other night, or the bright red lips that plaster his neck–a color that you don’t even own! 

✭ And maybe you’re tired of it, you really are, but every time you have your body aches to leave him, you always find yourself back at step 1, kissing him fondly as he whispers sweet nonsensical words to you, having you drink it in like ambrosia 

✭ You suppose you miss true love once more–and crave it in ways that you couldn’t imagine 

✭ So, when you let a childhood friend that you’ve known has liked you for years, back into the space of your living room, just because you were starting to feel the shadows of Yeonjun’s absence on you... 

✭ You let him tap his finger on your jaw and pull you in to softly kiss you, raw emotion bursting in your gut when Changbin pulls away, his fingers wiping away the tears that you cast 

When Changbin places another kiss right on the corner of your lips, your heart melts and you sob, tucking into his chest for a chance to escape. “(Y/n), I don’t know why you’re still with him, but I promise I can treat you better.” You nod, closing your eyes as crimson paints your mouth, and after much thought, you say what you believe you deserve. “I–I’ll break up with him.” 

✭ Yeonjun is more caring than ever when he comes back, and you wonder what happened in the span of a few months 

✭ He stays behind more, helps you with the chores and you wake up every morning with his head snuggling the crook of your neck, placing kisses of love that you couldn’t find before 

✭ He blamed it on the homesickness because you’re his home and he loves you very much 

✭ And you blame it on the guilt and the bullshit 

✭ But you can’t help getting the words out of your mouth and it scratches your throat as you stand next to him, in his embrace, where you find a bruise on his neck 

✭ But you suppose fate was giving you one more chance when Yeonjun found Changbin’s sweater in your shared room 

“(Y/n) whose is this? This definitely isn’t mine.” Yeonjun spits, throwing a bright blue sweater at your feet when you enter the room. Your eyes widen and you shake your head, mouth trembling when you pick it up. “It’s–it’s...” Looking at his furrowed brows you falter and take a step back. “I don’t know.” Yeonjun sneers, ‘Really? Is it not Changbin's? Do you really think I’m that dumb?!”

Tears leak down your cheeks when you realize that this is your chance. But you’re too afraid–you think. Too scared to imagine your life without Yeonjun. And so, you shake your head at his words, saliva slowly sticking your teeth close. “You’re such a fucking–” He bites his lips to stop his words and messes up his hair in frustration.

“Yeonjun...” You cry.

“What!” He barks.  

“You can cheat on me back if you want to.” 

Yeonjun’s lips quiver into a smile before it diminishes into a tight lip, slowly walking towards you to back you into the wall. “What kind of boyfriend would I be to do that? Cheat on my girlfriend? I’m not you, am I?” He chuckles, pulling back your hair when you look at his feet. “No, you’re not,” You say, softly pushing at his arm. “It’s whatever, sweetheart. I’m such a good boyfriend, not leaving you.” 

You nod and clench your fists. “I’m so sorry Junnie. You’re an amazing boyfriend.” 

✭ You don’t meet Changbin’s awaiting eyes when you and Yeonjun walk past him, figure trembling when Yeonjun flips him off 

Beomgyu ˚ · • . ° .

✭ You and Beomgyu were complicated, but he doesn’t think so 

✭ “He liked you” he would say, but he always seemed to ignore you in the eyes of the public, lips always tearing into a sneer when he found you staring at him with a rather pitiful look 

✭ But why did he kiss you so softly every night, holding you in his arms when you cried to him about it 

✭ You don’t understand him at times–he gives you severe whiplash and you’re not sure if it was intentional or not 

✭ He gives and takes, and you’re exhausted when you watch him flirt with another girl in front of you but then drag you to the nearest alley because he missed your lips  

✭ You’re not official in the eyes of his friends but you’re official in his heart–and it stabs you in the heart every single time when he acts like he cares 

“You’re so pretty” He softly says, kissing the spot right below your ear when you turn around and face him. You have more to say, and he notices so he shuts you up with his lips. “Beomgyu I...” You pull apart and fiddle with his shirt, but he ignores your saddening mood, instead grabbing his phone. His eyes light up when someone texts him and you try to melt into the couch, shying away your gaze to the window. “Hey (Y/n), I have to go. I’ll text you later, kay?” He doesn’t even wait for your response and leaves the door shut in his wake. 

✭ When Beomgyu leaves for a while, you come to an area of realization that him leaving you for a few months feels the same when he uses you like a toy–you’re alone in all the ways possible 

✭ And you’re moping–which gets your friends confused and annoyed, so they’ve convinced you to go out with them for drinks 

✭ Which ultimately ends up with you in the arms of an old friend that you haven’t seen in years, bringing Jaeyun back home with your lips tangled with his and his hands in your hair 

✭ Yet you feel some sort of hole in your heart– and it aches and burns when his fingers expanse over your stomach and your neck 

✭ When he leaves small kisses against your cheeks and forehead, while you two settles against the couch–the same couch where Beomgyu called you his so lovingly  

✭ And it feels so wrong when he cuddles into your side, watching a movie that you supposed you loved when it was actually Beomgyu’s favorite 

✭ So, when Jake quietly apologizes and says that he needed to pick up Heeseung because he shit-faced over a few drinks, you feel as though the rock on your chest had been lifted and you can suddenly breathe again  

✭ But it’s back again, heavier than ever when you find Beomgyu ringing your doorbell just moments after, with a suitcase in hand and an angry tremor on his lips–which you just find so absurd

“Beomie, what...what are you doing–” 

“Who was that?” He sputters, letting himself into your apartment. “No one.” Your mouth is clenched when you close the door behind him, cursing at yourself underneath your breath. “Seriously? No one?” He mocks, crossing his arms over when you don’t respond, but how could you when anger rolls off you and your nails dig into your skin? “I don’t know why you even care!” You yell, throwing a pillow at him in frustration.

“Ow! I–what do you mean I don’t care, of course I care!” You shake your head and grab his suitcase to take it back outside. “You’re always acting like I don’t exist when you’re with your friends but then you come back to me like nothing’s wrong! Are you embarrassed of me or something?”  

“No of course not.” 

“Then why?!” You stare at him for an answer, but he just looks at the ground, shuffling around with his feet. You sigh and tap your feet against the floor. “Whatever Beomgyu, just get the fuck out of my house.”  

“Wait, (Y/n), I’m so sorry, I don’t know why–" His hands clasp around yours, pulling you back into him. "Just leave me alone, find another girl to cheat on with or something, because I'm done with your bullshit." You crack and suddenly you're being hugged, quivering when you start to cry.

"I'm so sorry."

Taehyun ˚ · • . ° .

✭ The first time you’ve ever cried over a movie was actually a Disney movie–Rapunzel at that 

✭ And you were just sobbing because Flynn Rider loved Rapunzel and not you...which you quickly found out in a few years was a really stupid thing to cry over and served your mom a lifetime camera roll of videos that exemplified pure embarrassment 

✭ But here you are now, almost 15 years later and tearing up over a boy (Jay Park) that you’ve had your eyes on for so long but can’t attain in a relationship 

✭ Taehyun is in the same situation too, lost in the eyes of another girl (Yu Karina) whom he can’t help but admire 

✭ So, when you sob to Hyuka about it, he immediately consults you to Taehyun and proposes a rather idiotic but genius plan that leaves you and the pink-haired boy nodding along idiotic but a genius plan that left you and the pink-haired boy nodding along 

“You two should totally fake date! You know, like making whoever you want jealous. I think it would work out!” Kai’s loud and his words seem to echo inside your head while the boy you’ve met just a few moments ago stares at his friend with a rather interested look on his face.

“That’s not...a bad idea, actually.” He then turns towards you as you shy away into where you were sitting, looking back at Kai for help who does nothing but shrug. So, you sigh and slowly nod your head, growing a grin on Taehyun’s face. “Sure, why not. Wouldn’t hurt to try, I think.” 

✭ Everyone was certainly shocked and surprised; eyes widening and several gasps falling from your friend’s lips (except for Kai) when you came out to everyone that you and Taehyun were dating–after some very detailed rules that you both agreed upon 

✭ And it was nice you suppose, especially when you find Jay staring at your interlocked hands with Taehyun, or when you pretend to kiss him

✭ Yet sometimes, when Taehyun tucks your hair back and hugs you to his chest, your chest thrums a little in warmth and you long to indulge a little more in him 

✭ You think you’re about to go insane–in turmoil, as your stomach aches each time you look at Jay and Taehyun, lips quivering at night at your feelings of love 

✭ And oh god, it didn’t help that Taehyun was so nice to you, all gentlemanly-like while he pretended to care, pretended to love you as your own tenderness seemed to fester underneath your beating heart 

✭ You were confused and hurt about yourself, so when Taehyun goes off for a while and you’re stuck at home, your fingers scratch at your skin for answers that you craved, bleeding at the tip of your tongue as Jay finally took his chance to kiss you in the back of a parking lot 

✭ For a kiss you thought would be joyous, it was stale and gross when you recount it back sadly to Hyuka, cheeks red with shame when you see Jay’s text following up

✭ You weren’t exactly dating Taehyun so you haven’t done anything necessarily wrong, but the remnants of sourness burn your stomach, as though you were caught doing something so immoral 

✭ When Taehyun comes back, you wish to cut off your lips so you wouldn’t tell him what had happened–but you quickly find out that your mutual friend had called him the very morning 

The air is warm and mellow but inside your throat, it rages a storm of guilt and despise as you stare at Taehyun at the door, swaying softly on the balls of your feet when you both exchange greetings filled with unease. You’re being eaten alive, you presume when you let him in, knees becoming Jello when he sighs.

“You and Jay, huh?” He finally teases but his words don’t have a joking tilt to them, and rather are dull and blunt when it hits you. You’re not sure what to say, because you have millions to spew out to the boy next to you, a whirlwind of emotions that you want to express, but you stay silent and stare at your newly bought red boots next to the front door.  

“It would’ve been nice if you told me earlier.” 

“I’m sorry.” You softly whisper, not flinching at the way that his fingers rub at your knuckles. “It’s fine...I was going to ask you to ‘break up’ anyways, I didn’t think that it was working.” Your head shoots up at his words when you suddenly dawn on the situation at hand, on why your gut was churning so much when you kissed Jay.

It meant that this whole ordeal with Taehyun was going to disappear like nothing ever happened between you two. You also realize that you’re really fucking dumb when you reach out to grab his wrist, stopping him from getting up. His eyebrows raise and you feel bile in your mouth, swishing around as you try to figure out what to say.  

“I–I don’t want you to leave.” 

“Huh?” 

You quickly shake your head, playing with the tiny rip flannel as you try not to erupt in a multitude of emotions. “I really don’t want you to leave. Just please–I... you can cheat on me if you want to, but please don’t leave me.” Your brain hurts when you think about him kissing another girl, but you’d do anything for him to be by your side, just for a little longer.  

Taehyun furrows his brows and lets himself sit back down, taking your hands into his when you look away. “What’s going on?” 

And finally, you sob. “I’m just so fucking sorry. I know I promised that I wouldn’t like you or whatever and that Jay was who I liked, but I can’t help it! And I really regret kissing him, and I really regret telling you to kiss another woman, because I’m going to be really fucking jealous–” 

You’re shut up when Taehyun kisses you so softly, his hands tucking back a stray piece of hair from your face. “Taehyun...” You sigh, trembling against him when he wipes away a stray tear. “I like you too, pretty girl. But you promise you don’t like Jay anymore...” 

Yoru heart clenches and your teeth grin but when he pulls you back into his chest, you nod.  

“I promise.”  

Kai ˚ · • . ° .

✭ Kai was your first sweetheart–the one that you suppose you’ve loved for your entire life without even knowing 

✭ And oh god he’s so sweet, with honey eyes that never left you or a smooth tongue that spewed out countless messages of his love towards you with his tender fingers brushing a strand piece of hair away while you sat in his lap 

✭ But as of now, your heart throbs with trouble and agony when you catch his faltering smile and when his plastic lips kiss you tightly, and you think that you’re going to sob–hard 

✭ You assume that this was natural, feeling as though you were slowly breaking apart with him, but you find yourself praying over that it wasn’t, that you still love him as much as you did before 

✭ But all that ended up doing was leave sour blood in your mouth from the number of times you bit your cheeks, hands tainted with guilt when you stared too long into the distance–just past your lover 

✭ Falling out of love was maybe the best but you can’t seem to reason why 

✭ Your teeth are starting to fall out and your head hurts as you try to wrap around the explanation–the revelation that’s making you and Kai feel this way 

Your eyes hold tears that refuse to fall. Kai doesn’t notice and it hurts even more, but you sit next to him, watching the clock tick. You wonder if a clock was an animated object–would it get tired of its clicking? Tick Tock. Tick Tock. Tick Tock.

Your heart doesn’t beat faster anymore next to him, and you think that it got bored. When his fingers rub at your knees, rubbing in a scar, you do nothing but stare at the time. Time used to go fast but it’s dulled now into an inconsistent background noise of humming.  

✭ Kai has never liked leaving you alone for so long nor did you, always whining on the phone for him to come back to you 

✭ But now you find it almost melancholy when the house is empty and the thoughts of another don’t infiltrate the air–and so you breathe deeply 

✭ You take fulfilling breaths that you couldn’t do, lips drawing into a smile when you eat breakfast or talk to your friends or when you start drinking bottles and bottles of Soju that leave you crying over lost love in the middle of the night 

✭ It’s bad you know, but it’s the only way you know to cope, feeling alone in a maze that you were supposed to get through with Huening 

✭You’ve never in your life thought about the prospect of cheating, not with Kai who was the world’s biggest lover 

✭ But you think that you’ve just soiled your lips with the mouth of another, in a haze that you were slowly falling deeper and deeper into, desperately trying to climb yourself out before everything caved into itself  

✭ You feel wrong and like throwing your guts back up when you realize what you had just done but you hadn’t drastically pale too much upon the thought even though you should have 

✭ Your thoughts don’t run a million miles per hour, rather just a thousand but it’s still bad... 

✭ Yet you come to a realization and a questionnaire after a cup tea and some crackers for your upset stomach–Would Kai even care? 

✭ It shatters your heart though you know that the both of you are stringing the other on but can’t leave, like you’re addicted to a lasting bitter taste that resides just after a sugary smidge 

✭ When he arrives back, you try your best not to slip up, though you really should

✭ An Instagram post spills your secret instead

You’re not crying, surprisingly. You really should be though when Kai sends you a screenshot of you in the background of Yeji’s picture kissing Sunghoon at a small dingy bar. You don’t respond to his text either, but walk solemnly back to your shared house, the smell of decaying love just on the tip of your nose.

And when you open the door, the smell wafts through the hall and the kitchen, where Kai sits at the dining table with a huge frown on his face. “I’m sorry.” That’s the first thing you utter when you walk inside. “You didn’t mean to, did you?” He asks and his words are like tiny daggers that prickle at your skin when you nod, pressing deeper and deeper as he stands up.

“(Y/n) I don’t know if I can do this anymore. I–I think I...” He trails off and tucks his lips under his teeth. Tears begin to well in his eyes and it hurts you to the point you can’t inhale. “I know. Me too” You whisper, pulling and teasing at a hangnail, sighing when you try to throw a watery smile at him.  

“If you want to, you can...can cheat on me too. You know, kiss another girl, your choice.”  

Kai chuckles. “That’s not healthy and you know that (Y/n). Maybe this was for the best.”  

“So, are you just going to leave?” You ask, tonging at your raw cheeks.  

He nods slowly and looks at you once more, straight in the eyes so you could flinch away from him. As though you’ve been slapped. “Yeah, I think so. For the best?” 

“For the best.”  The clock stops ticking.

#txt x reader #txt #k labels #tomorrow by together imagine #tomorrow by together #tomorrow x tomorrow #tomorrow x together #tommorow x together #txt angst #txt fluff #txt ff #txt post #tubatu #soobin #yeonjun #beomgyu #hueningkai #taehyun #soobin x reader #kai x reader #yeonjun x reader #taehyun x reader #beomgyu x reader #kpop x reader #kpop ff #kpop fanfic #kpop

[saelterlude]

started making this list early (11/02) even though there's no new performance until 16/02 bcs i accidentally found somethings (also bcs I was doing that cursed height ranking).

so here is link click musical clip list pt.3! (pt.1, pt.2, pt.4, pt.5 here)

37. 15/11/2024, this! the OG hug with Shu Rongbo and Wu Yihan! Back when Shu Rongbo still (attempts to) have canon accurate split bangs and ponytail (unlike now when he has, adorable, messy bangs and a hard-to-spot ponytail), and his jacket still fits lol.

38. 17/02/2024, Cai Qi being a menace at rock paper scissors, Cai Lu being a menace on the sofa (+dog hat), and Wu Yihan being a menace to Hong Guo and they struggle to hold hands?? during curtain call. Also I don't understand why does Wu Yihan look so tiny next to Cai Qi, like? I never thought he was smol before this??

39. 06/01/2024, maybe it's because I was very tired when I found this but Du Guangyi tossing the cushion away like that is exactly my type of humor.

40. 16/02/2024, Let me give you the loudest QL slap you'll ever heard courtesy of Wu Hanglu and Wang Yifei's shoulders. Also, behavior wise Du Guangyi maybe the least LG-like LG actor but god do I like his humor (pls he jumped up the table like a pocong lol, and the way he jump kicked Wang Yifei? He's a Gem.).

(Honestly, I think I can make a whole other list just full of the shit Du Guangyi pulls. He's very mischievous but also giving grandpa. But I won't because @shimmeringweeds is working on a gifset of it <3 Goodluck!!)

41. 21/02/2024, Cai Qi being extra heart hands <3 and Wang Minhui being extra aggressive.

42. 24/02/2024 day, I have nothing to say other than Guo Hongxu is really pretty. No, I cannot explain why i pick this particular clip. Look up stage door pictures from this day too, I swear he's just really pretty on that day.

43. 25/02/2024 day, a second Guo Hongxu clip. Look at him being embarrassed and becoming a loaf.

Counting down to the 100th link click musical performance! These are the official special encore recordings from the musical's weibo acc. So they're modified versions of the actual performance.

Since we're getting into songs outside the usual encore, I'll reference you to this post by @sgdlr-asdfghjkl with lyrics and brief explanation to each song, it's an unofficial transcript but it's the best we currently have.

These first two are "Words Can't Convey My Love" (M07)

44. 20/02/2024, Wang Minhui bets he can confess better than Bai Zhuoming better, sings the confession song and fails miserably. And poor Wu Hanglu accidentally got kicked by Bai Zhuoming.

45. 22/02/2024, You have to watch this one. You have Du Guangyi being the comedic genius that he is, cocky speech, dramatic pause, Lu Guang rizz, pathetic crying, failed confetti. You get the best Wang Yifei outfit, also he's skipping around the stage. And Qian Anqi can't help but laugh too!

46. 23/01/2024, We got "Faith of Friendship" (M05). Teng Chunpeng and Du Guangyi gotta do pushups if they fail to land a shot, and the ending is hilarious, do give it a watch.

*note: You can see how M07 and M05 are actually supposed to go in the bottom of the pt.2 list.

Next two are also of the same song, the extended ver. of the sofa song "Forget About It" (M03). TW: hanging/noose. They take CXS's "I'll hang myself here" joke and put it in the song.

47. 24/02/2024 night, actor/role swap stage! Wu Yihan played CXS, Deng Xianling played LG, and Ding Xingchen played QL. Wu Yihan was definitely having fun howling here. Also, disastrous cast introduction by Ding Xingchen lol.

48. 25/02/2024 day, the actors are the right way around this time with Guo Hongxu, Ji Xiaokun, and Cai Lu. But they're all using different local dialect! You can even see Cai Lu cheats and read from her phone.

49. 25/02/2024 night, "As The Saying Goes" (M08), where mother and son have a quarrel. Cai Qi as CX gets scolded x4 by the rest of the cast as CX's mama. Yes, that includes Wang Minhui putting him in timeout. But there's more!

50. 25/02/2024 night, a very important fancam on the performance above. It's shaky but pls pay close attention to Zhang Jiahao, should be easy, the fancam is focused on him. the wig, the very real fried chicken (i thought it was a fake, it wasn't), he was munching the entire time, and the chair, thank you very much sir. You can even see him offering a bite and getting scolded by Deng Xianling.

(very good, very funny, a very special one fitting for the 50th clip.)

That's all for this list.

Last time I added a bonus clip of Wu Yihan in Love Musical. This time you can have these two bonus clips of Shu Rongbo absolutely slaying it in Hey!Arizona Musical. IDK what it's about but the set and costumes are so damn cool.

#i know i said pt3 in march #but uhh this was longer than i was expecting #happy 50 clips #also yess i added the bonus clips #in an attempt to poison you to watch more musicals #and also shu rongbo just look great in cowboy outfit #see you on pt 4 #that will be on march #link click musical #link click #shu rongbo #wu yihan #cai qi #cai lu #hong guo #du guangyi #wu hanglu #wang yifei #wang minhui #guo hongxu #bai zhuoming #qian anqi #teng chunpeng #deng xianling #ding xingchen #ji xiaokun #zhang jiahao #he is a gift #i love him so much for this #lc musical list

[weatheringtea]

FMA Cafe

While I was in Japan, the FMA cafe opened up :D I've never been to an anime cafe before, so this was perfect! I went once a week (so 3 times in total) so I could try a bunch of different dishes and collect coasters lol

I tried to put this under cut because it's long and full of pics, but adding the read more ruined the formatting of the pics so I'll leave it.

The first trip was March 22, kind by accident LOL. I was in the area to see Shinjuku Gyoen and the cafe was on our walk back to Shinjuku stn. The lobby was empty, so I gathered my very out of practice JP skills and asked if it was possible to get a seat as a walk-in. They said yes :D

Word hadn't gotten around yet it seems, so it was very empty upstairs too LOL. Great for pics :D

There's a ¥1,000 sitting fee and you get a drink with that. There's a QR code given to you for the menu (it matches to your table number so your orders are tracked). Menu was a bit clunky, probably because my JP reading skills are in the toilet, but I figured it out! They played the same 10 minute video the entire time (for the FMA mobile game).

Because I showed up late I only bought one thing to eat (last order for food was 18:00 and I didn't really sit down and get things figured out until 17:45-ish), and it was Lust's chocolate cake. It was very good (and very heavy lol). I got the Edward Elric drink first and the Roy Mustang drink second. Both came with mystery coasters. Ed's drink was better imo.

At the end the couple of us on the 2nd floor snuck up to the 3rd for pics before leaving.

I went back the day before I left for Osaka :D (27th)

Word had gotten around by now about the cafe and merch shop and it was busy this time! I popped in at 12:15 and asked if they had any seats available. No, they're full. He offered to book me in for 14:30 though! So I putzed around Shinjuku for 2 hours and went back :D

It was packed this time!! On both floors.

Winry's pie was alright. Heavier than I was expecting. Ed's fries were fun! They came with a white paper bag that you transfer the fries into, and you add whatever mix of spices you want from the spice cups it came with, then shake in the bag. Neat! Also tasty.

Drinks were Olivier's, Bradley's (with matching coaster!) and Ed's drink again (I should have gotten Roy's again dammit, I tried to take his glove hand home from the first time, but it got wet, the ink bled, and it ironically fell apart...)

Olivier's was the neatest looking drink, but also my least favourite. Bradley's was my favourite drink - very good!

I went back on April 4 before I went home ;A;. This time I made a reservation. I asked for a seat on the 3rd floor, since my first 2 had been on the 2nd, but I think seating is actually based on how early you get in line. I got in line early and noticed everyone in front of me also got 3rd floor, so I think they just fill the 3rd before dealing with the 2nd.

ANYWAYS

Great seat. A+. My spot had 2 table numbers and I asked if it was okay and they just were like "yeah yeah it's fine no worries". Okay!

By this point they must have been besieged with tourists. Poor woman hosting the floor couldn't speak English to save her life (and half my floor was tourists). She got to me and tried to suffer through a few English words and I stopped her. I'm fine with the instructions in Japanese :') please don't suffer more on my account.

Bradley's drink again, Ed's Milk Hater drink, and the classic FMA drink BECAUSE I CONTINUE TO FORGET ALL ABOUT ROY...

Ed's milk drink though... you pour the milk into the mug filled with soda(??) and ice. It tasted like a float without the cola?? It was unique... the most interesting drink to try for sure (Bradley's still my favourite).

I bought the mug at the gift shop :')

LET'S TALK ABOUT THIS AL PUDDING. This was amazing and fun. There is a little cake, there is a little ice cream, there is a little pudding, there's a little idk what it was but it was chocolate and good, and there are cat themed cookies under the pudding cup LMAO. Then there's the blood seal inside the tin. A+ Al wins. That was so much fun, I'm sad I left that until last, I probably would have gotten it again.

You could have totally sold me on this mug too if it had been for sale.

Look, I did remember Roy sorta :') I got his doughnut. It was HEAVY and the icing was so thick on top it was rock hard. Sticky, messy finger food.

So that's it :D I've run out of picture space lol. I wish I'd gotten to taste test things in the second round later in April (ARMSTRONG'S HASHED BEEF ;____;) but I hope they enjoy all the money I gave them while I was there LOL. I had some neat food and had fun doing it :)

#Fullmetal Alchemist #FMA #Café #Hagaren Cafe #anime cafe #Edward Elric #Alphonse Elric #Winry Rockbell #Roy Mustang #King Bradley

[nixytea]

dear bus noona | n.rk

pairing: non-idol! nishimura riki x noona! reader

genre: romance, fluff, letter, bus crush (i know cafe crush is kind of a genre but what about bus seatmates?)

inspired by: my bus rides lol

summary: in which ni-ki writes a letter to the noona who’s on his bus every day :)

wc: 646

warnings: older crush(?), mentions of crying, cat canvas bags, sad books (???i liked it so im not sure if it needs a warning)

dear bus noona:

the first time i met you, you stole took my seat. my favourite seat!!! the window seat. and because you were sleeping, your head blocked my view so i nearly missed my stop >:(( next time sit on the outside okay? but you looked kinda cute when you were asleep…

then i started seeing you on the same bus. every single day. IN THE SAME SEAT. i caught a glimpse of your id while you were putting away your bus pass. that’s how i know you’re a noona. clever, aren’t i? :> but anyway. at least you weren’t asleep the second time. you know noona, you should sleep more, instead of relying on the horrible-smelling coffee you carry around all the time. sometimes you stare at the trees passing by, and i guess it relaxes you because after 5 minutes on the bus you look less tense than when you first get on.

last week, you started carrying a really ugly canvas bag. noona, i love cats too but please stop carrying that bag around the poor kitten’s face is misshapen. the manufacturer of your bag doesn’t do cats justice. seriously, the cat face print looks more like a pig than a cat. return it if you bought it, unless you got it as a gift, which in that case please never bring that out in public again. it’s an eyesore.

the other day, you had a new keychain on your bag zipper, with cha eunwoo’s face on it. does noona find him handsome? are you really a cha eunwoo fangirl? i’m even more good-looking than him what’s your favourite kdrama then? i’ve watched a few of the really popular ones but i don’t really know what else to watch. can noona give me some suggestions? so long as they don’t have cha eunwoo in them.

noona, you looked so funny on the bus last wednesday, crying while reading that english book that i can’t remembering the name of. (was it swing sideways? i don’t know.) i’m sorry for laughing at you. but if i hadn’t laughed you wouldn’t have yelled at me for teasing you! so you should thank me for laughing, ok? don’t be mad at me…i just thought it was cute that you could be so worked up about books. even though i’m not close to noona, just watching you has already told me so much about what you’re like. our chat was really fun, and you’re really fun too.

ahhh, noona, sometimes you’re so cute when i see you. your fashion sense makes me wonder if i’m older or you are. you’re so weird, noona! you’re such an odd person, and i can’t help but want to be friends with you. so dear bus noona, talk to me more ok?

with love,

the kid on the bus who squished your crocheting project by accident ♡

riki sighed, head tilting backwards as he leaned back into his chair. the white light from his desk lamp illuminated his ghostly complexion, and he realised he’d been up far too late for a kid who still had school the next day. twirling his favourite pen absentmindedly, riki reread his letter one more time, before humming in satisfaction when he found no more areas to be corrected. in went the fancy parchment paper, and all that was left on riki’s desk was a lavender-scented manila envelope held in place by a piece of twine. (he’d borrowed konon’s perfume, and he’d make sure sola took that secret to the grave.)

unbeknownst to riki, there was a small smile gracing his lips as he went to bed that night. he needed the sleep, after all tomorrow was going to be a big day. with the flip of a switch, the room was plunged into darkness, but the tiny flame of hope in riki’s heart glowed brighter than anything.

a/n: so…here we are. i just think ni-ki’s adorable. i’m not even older than the beloved maknae so why am i writing about being his noona T-T but anyway! this is my first time writing fluff in a long while so im very rusty but it’s my soft hours so enjoy it while it lasts

#enhypen #enhypen imagines #enhypen x reader #enhypen x y/n #enhypenwriters #enhypen x yn #enhypen x you #nishimura riki x reader #nishimura riki x older reader #enhypen fanfic #enhypen fanfiction #enhypen drabbles #enhypen oneshot #nishimura riki fanfiction #nishimura riki imagines #ni-ki fluff #enhypen fluff #nishimura riki #enhypen ni-ki #ni-ki #enhypen au #enhypen non-idol au

[somany-fandoms-solittle-time]

In A Sentimental Mood: A Ruggie/Yuu Oneshot

Some quick Housekeeping! This was originally meant to be a song-fic but the only time I remembered to/felt inspired to write was nearly the middle of the night (as writers do lol) so I didn’t have enough mental energy to splice the lyrics together into the story. Instead, I listened to the song on repeat while writing, like, HALF of the fic but I thought it was cute enough to fit the vibes. The narrator's voice and descriptions were hard to keep consistent as well as concise, but whatever. I don’t think I properly matched Ruggie’s speech pattern but I think it’s close enough to ‘random, working class teenager’ for now.

Also! It’s an X Yuu but I’m pretty sure I used all GN! Pronouns so please feel free to read it as an X Reader (who’s the Ramshackle Perfect). It felt kinda awkward to not describe the character or use open descriptors (like Y/N, HC, etc.) but feel free to add any notes or styles to try out for an open reader audience. Honestly feel free to comment or message any feedback lol! I don’t have a beta reader atm (I might ask either my gf or my IRL friend who’s also into TWST) but it could be fun to have a random stranger react to my writing so they’re disconnected from personal feelings and whatnot.

 I have a fic introducing my oc a little interacting with the Pop Music Club, but it’s making out to be longer than expected so between writing for my own AU/ocs story I’ll be posting cute lil song-fics as well as crackhead interactions lol! Maybe a few headcanons as well. I’m not sure if I would have ever actually started writing fanfics (or writing in general) instead of simply daydreaming about it if it wasn’t for @twst-beam and @krenenbaker , so a quick dedication for them for lowkey lighting a fire under my ass. Not only have you opened the creative floodgates, but actually gave me the motivation to actually TRY and put it into action. Anyway…. ON TO THE STORY BITCHES!!! ENJOY THE THE SWEET HYENA BOY (who weirdly looks exactly like my Boyfriend, lol) AND COME REALISH IN THE CHAOS~

In A Sentimental Mood:

A Ruggie/Yuu one-shot

It had been a long day. Scratch that–it had been the longest year of Ruggie Bucchi and Yuu’s life! However, there was something especially trying these last 24 hours. Maybe it had something to do with how this was the first day off the both had (that lined up) in w e e k s and they STILL BOTH got called in to run some nonsensical errand. Or maybe it’s because when the First Year Squad were supposed to be babysitting Grim the entire first floor of Ramshackle got absolutely trashed. 

Something about stupid bets, idiotic magic competition, and a prolonged chase. Afterwards, Rugs and Yuu had to help clean up! The aftermath of the wreckage was too much for the Hodge Podge group of freshmen.

What really topped the day off was the mission impossible scheme the couple failed to pull off. Originally, the two were simply planning to “borrow” on one Leonas (numerous) credit cards while the latter was passed out for an all-expenses-paid date out. It’s not like they were about to rob the second prince blind! Just a few trips to their usual thrifting stops, maybe hassle with a local boutique and then some semi-fancy free grub. 

Instead they got caught two shops in when they decided to grab some food before being totally weighed down by paper shopping bags. Since they had a later start, Yuu suggested getting dinner to the new uppity wine-and-dine.

“C’mon Rugs~ When are we gonna have another chance to dine like Kings? And on a Royal Dime at that!” they foolishly (but successfully) tempted the poor Hyena into a little more Mischievous than the two realized.

Too bad their Dinner Date got cut short from one of the waiters recognizing the Sunset Savannah Royal Seal on Leona’s card. It took an hour and a half of being corralled into a backroom, 3 ominous threats of calling the police, snarky back talk and just general arguing before Leona strutted into the Restaurant and vouched for his underclassmen. Seeing the lazy Lion not only WAKE UP, but come off campus was a bit of a surprise for the thief couple. 

What wasn’t as surprising was his smug, diva face while declaring that they would need to pay him back for disturbing his nap. After hasty, and admittedly sheepish, promises to the Prince, he collected his missing card and strutted back to campus. Luckily, he was secretly a bit of a softy towards his unofficial Vice and the magicless Perfect that saved his life (and probably his status for not ratting him out to his older brother). It’s safe to say while making the switch a decent stack of Thaumarks was placed in Ruggie’s wallet.

So yeah, in a word, the day had been a bit of a shitshow. A clusterfuck of misfortunate events (and if it weren’t for Leona, Yuu and Ruggie would not only be in some kind of jail but also flat broke). 

But finally–finally–this hardworking hyena Beastman and the Ramshackle Perfect were about to have some peace and quiet! A moment for just the two of them. A small, precious moment late at night. After the longest night of their collective lives, the two were able to cuddle up and appreciate what they had. Even if all they had was encompassed by long, tiring days and horrendous luck… and having the bend to the whims of some of the brattiest Divas of NRC.

Regardless, this time isn’t about them. It’s about Ruggie Bucchi and Yuu enjoying what left they had of their day off, Damnnit!  

“Ya’ know,” Yuu hummed into where their face was buried for max comfort; Ruggie’s chest. “Today wasn’t a total bust.”

Ruggie snickered sarcastically as his left hand paused its petting motion through his significant other’s hair. He was clearly only humoring his lover's thought process, yet paying attention all the same.

“I’m just saying it wasn’t a total loss,” they began to half-jokingly argue, “I still got to spend the day with you. Besides, you gotta admit it was pretty funny watching that stupid manager’s annoying face drop when Prince Grumpy strutted in all pissy!”

“Shee Shee Shee! Fair enough, Sugar! Good thing he didn’t realize Leona’s always cranky… or that His Majesty~ was mostly just pissed he had to wake up.” Ruggie answered playfully.

“It was kinda sweet of him for letting us, mostly, off the hook though. He even let us keep our goodies along with that sneaky bonus,” Yuu mentioned while lazily motioning towards the small mound of shopping bags and the miscellaneous items inside.

“Pleeeease~ He probably spends more on a single earring than we did with his card and cash combined,” Rugs pouted enviously. To emphasize his pout, he completely encircled Yuu with his arms and clutched them tightly. He was hanging onto them tighter than a swiped snack from the cafeteria on Doughnut day.

“I don’t know,” his partner giggled in response, “Leona’s been such a softy lately… but his whole dark and brooding reputation gets in the way a bit.”

“Dark and brooding?” Ruggie snorted, “Dunno if Leona’s habits of lyin’ around counts as dark and brooding.”

Yuu tried to suppress their elated smirk at feeling the slight tremor of quiet laughter. “True, that’s more of Mal’s stick isn’t it? Angsty and depressed?”

“Nahhh, that’s Idia’s thing! Also, I still can’t wrap my head ‘round you calling Malleus by some nickname.” His laughter died down as he scrunched his nose at the thought of his partner so buddy-buddy with one of Twisted Wonderland’s most powerful mages. And a crown Prince… with servants and castles and-

“You do realize that Malleus is like a GIANT kid right? I mean, yeah he’s some super powerful wizard-”

“Mage!”

“...whatever. He’s an absolute beast when it comes to magic and whatnot, but he’s got this whole ‘homeschooled only child’ vibe going on and honestly? It’s a little pathetic, in a cute stray way.”

Ruggie didn’t really know how to feel about his partner’s revelation. On one hand, he knew they were just friends and had befriended each other longer before Yuu realized Malleus’ status. That didn’t necessarily make it any easier to cover up the inherent inferiority or the slight unsettling fear. Good thing they didn’t feel the usual pressure of this world’s social ladder… but that doesn’t mean they won’t start worrying if he stayed lost in thought for too long.

“.......what was your world like for you to turn out so weird?” 

“Hey!”

Ruggie continued to laugh, but it came out a little bit strained. Yuu finally glanced up in order to catch a glimpse of their boyfriend’s adorable pout.  His lightly scrunched eyebrows and the way his ears seemed to fold-in on themselves made him look like a grumpy puppy. Absurdly cute, but clearly bothered, and they both had had such a long day t wouldn’t be right not to cheer him back up!

“Oh, c’mere!” the Perfect said through teasing giggles as they flipped Ruggie over to switch positions.

Rugs was currently (and quite contently) snuggled face first into his lover's chest; enjoying the sound of their heartbeat along with the comfortable extra cushioning. His arms reached slightly down to wrap around their waist snuggly as the two pairs of legs naturally crisscrossed at the joints. The moment he fully relaxed was when Yuu started to softly pet his bushy hair and scratch along the base of his ears.

Pure Heaven.

“Were you getting grumpy because I kept mentioning Leona and Malleus?” the Perfect lovingly taunted now that he was trapped and attacked (with euphoric head scratches) in his weak spot. Truly, an idiots mirage of paradise.

“C’mon Sweet Cheeks! Ya Couldn’t’ve least let me keep my pride?” Rugs whined, quickly going back to frowning deeply but unable to hold it for long. There was no chance in all of Twisted Wonderland he could stay “upset” while his precious Dandelion Fluff’s fingers softly caressed his sensitive ears. At least he could cover-up the way he melted, burying himself further into their figure. Luckily, Yuu was already squeezing him closure with a burst of affection,

“Don’t worry, my silly Hyena, the only one I was focused on today was you. The only one I wanted to spend time with was you. And the only person I think of from dawn till dusk, and dream about the whole night through, will always be you, Ruggie Bucchi.” Yuu declared playfully, then slowly breathlessly serious with a sappy amount of affection as they watched Ruggie's tail wave faster and faster.

“Shee shee shee,” Rugs bashfully replied, “where did all that come from outta nowhere?”

Yuu wistfully sighed, “I guess I’m just in a sentimental mood.”

The two shared some playful hushed whispers until Ruggie had to turn his head to hide a yawn. His attempt was futile however, as Yuu caught it–but instead of teasing him over it they simply snuggled him closer and quietly sang an old, sweet crooner love song from their home world. Despite the long day, it felt blissfully short as the two peacefully drifted off to sleep in each other’s arms. 

#twisted wonderland #disney twst #disney twisted wonderland #my husband #writing #twst ruggie bucchi #twst ruggie #ruggie bucchi x reader #ruggie x reader #I love him so much #twst oneshot #songfic but not really #reader is gender neutral #reader is MC #Ruggie/Yuu #ruggie x yuu #aims writing library #Genuinely surprised I actually posted this #i hate tumblr's formating #lowkey might repost it on ao3 #but that site confuses me #I've literally read fics from there FOR YEARS and I still don't understand the bookmark system #message me if you'd be down to beta read #it might take a while for the next fic #depends on my motivation #and if my job training EVER FUCKING STARTS #LIKE WTF I NEED TO GET PAID SO CAN YOU PLEASE SCHEDULE ME ALREADY

[intothegenshinworld]

Previously on Transform!Reader: Poor Gorou got a bath courtesy of Kokomi! My attempt at an opening aside, it was a fun one to read. Can you do a sequel to it, but this time it involves Yoimiya and Transform!Reader sneaking up on an unsuspecting Itto to tickle him with their kitsune tails?

Note: You cannot convince me otherwise that Kokomi would be on high alert at all times. Sure, she looks cute but let's not forget that lore wise she leads a whole rebellion, has a whole island to reign over and mastered the art of war. When she is awoken so sudden, you'd better be prepared for a counter attack. ALSO I REALLY LOVE TRANSFORMING!READER SO MUCH

Note 2: This took me a big while because lore wise Itto sleeps with his eyes open and I just.. I cant. Also?? I generally had no idea what to do with this??? It was in my drafts for so long lol

Yoimiya had an amazing idea. A plan that would guarantee her to win the pranking war. She just needed the help of Itto’s gang and you. It sounded easy enough on paper but in reality it was hard to gather the people she needed.

First, she had convinced Itto’s gang with a promise.

Yoimiya would take a kamera with her and capture Itto’s reaction. Once she got the shot, she would make copies for each member. Kuki Shinobu quickly agreed. She had been dragged in this war long ago-, and besides, Itto would be happy to see you again. 

Then the second part, You.

You were currently residing with the Shogunate in the Tenshukaku. With Ei occupying most of your time it would be hard to get into direct contact. The actual requesting of an audience took a few hours, mainly due to the weird reasoning she had written down, but you were more than in for it. 

The nine tails behind you were all wiggling in excitement as you walk through the streets of Inazuma. On both your sides were Yoimiya and Shinobu. They’d accompany you towards Itto’s hideout safely. 

‘It’s been so long since I was able to pull a prank on someone.’ You tell Yoimiya with a smile. Perhaps if Ei was a bit more laid back you would have pranked her. ‘Don’t worry. Once Itto sees you, he will have no choice but to surrender the war.’ Yoimiya’s voice is confident. From what she had told you it seems like a failproof plan

For the plan to work they needed Itto to be asleep. Ever since the pranking war started, he had been on high alert. Itto only slept in his hideout or in his granny’s house for safety. Since the gang agreed you only needed to wait until they informed you when Itto would be sleeping. Upon arriving, you’d wake him up by tickling him with your tail, And since Itto would be pranked by the creator, he’d be unable to prank either you or Yoimiya back. 

It had been a short trip to the hideout. The other members of the gang were all gathered outside, waiting patiently and smiling once you came in view. ‘Is he asleep?’ Shinobu asks one of the members. ‘Yep! He was really tired from game night. We told him to watch Lizzy,-’ He looks at you and Yoimiya. ‘His onikabuto.’ another gang member finishes, ‘-and he got so bored that he fell asleep.’

Shinobu opens the door just wide enough to see Itto’s body draped over the couch. She looks back at you and gets out of the way, giving you room to enter the hideout. The rest of the plan was up to you. 

You open the door, trying to be as quiet as possible. Yoimiya trails in behind you, Kamera ready in hand to capture the moment of surprise. You look over your shoulder. Shinobu is still at the entrance, behind her you see the other members giving you a thumbs up and smiling warmly. 

You look back again. There, in the middle of the room is the Great Arataki Itto, snoring loudly as he sleeps. His chest goes up and down in a steady rythm, his eyes are closed and his face is relaxed. Itto seems really preacefull right now. 

In your hands you grab one of your tails. Before you bring them forward you look at both the girls. Shinobu nods at you. There is nothing to be afraid of, it’s just Itto. When you gaze towards Yoimiya she gives you a nod as well. She’s holding the Kamera at the ready. Proceed with the plan.

Slowly you move the tail to Itto’s face and almost immediately he starts screaming for his life. A white flash blinds the room temporarily, then the laughter of everyone else starts.

Itto looks around confused, still somewhat whimpering. ‘G-guys?’ He looks at his gang members. ‘We knew you were afraid of ghosts but-’ They all laugh. 

You can’t help but snicker to yourself. The big strong Itto would yell for his granny when ghosts would wake him up-. 

Before you can tell him ‘sorry’ he’s already standing, towering over you. Your tails are quick to lower between your legs. He smiles down and has a determined look on his face.

Yeah.

You were going to get pranked for sure.

#ask #frequent asker #itto x reader #arataki itto #genshin itto #genshin arataki #itto arataki #yoimiya #genshin yoimiya #yoimiya x reader #sagau #sagau x reader #genshin sagau #sagau creator

[celiastjamesoscar]

Professors either are your best friends or your ultimate enemy. That dude needs to take a chill pill. He probably gets off on causing his students misery. Jon, on the other hand, seems so cool and like a fun dude! His love for pictures is everything, I adore it. If you can talk to him about gambling then he's really a chill guy. 4 finals, that's manageable! I'm the same study type as you; procrastinating it and only doing it a short time beforehand. But, I'm the prime example for this bad behavior. Don't be like me and fuck up your finals. So listen up, I will boss you around one more time. You will start studying early on and really put your heart and soul into it. The relief you will feel afterwards will be the greatest thing ever! Listen to me, miss ma'am.

Omg yes Sam and Butter are sharing one brain cell! Oh Sam definitely enjoyed his ball, especially since he lost his two... The new tattoos will be smaller, fineline ones. 1 is an ufo sucking in a human with "get in loser" on top. The other one will be a devil lady (naked) waking up from a nap inside of a coffin. The best news about all of this is that THE HOT MILF WILL BE DOING THE TATTOOS!!!!

Well... technically I'm already "fired" so they can't do anything. After my apprentices is over they couldn't offer me a job so I'm being let go. And because that company is really shitty and never treated us well, I don't give a fuck anymore and will call in sick. I already called in today. Hey! Cutting a banana is hard work! I held it in my hand (first mistake) and cut through it. Then I looked away because I got distracted (second mistake) and somehow cut my thumb. The one that held the knife. I genuinely don't even know how I did that...

YES GRACE THANK YOU!! I just grabbed that poor girl while she was stealing the pigs food. She's so soft and warm and fluffy. Hennifer even looked at me and put her head on my shoulder!!

Lol I don't think her poor husband stands a chance against a bunch of obsessed ladies. We will definitely win and kindly surprise adopt Melissa. I'm sure she wouldn't even mind...

That’s honestly so true about professors. My chemistry one, the guy who gave me a zero, is a complete asshole. It’s safe to say that my evaluation of him will be a long and hefty one. Jon is honestly the goat, im sad that I’m only going to have him for one more semester. although I will be glad that I won’t have to worry about an embarrassing picture of me making it into the slides 😭 4 finals isn’t too bad, and I don’t think any of them are on the same day. At least I hope not. I’m honestly the worst when it comes to studying, but I plan to use tomorrow as a study day, so don’t worry! And to make you proud, I finished my article review paper tonight and turned it in, instead of waiting until tomorrow to do it, which is when it’s due! It was supposed to be 4 pages, but it turned out to be 6 😬

Not Sam losing his 2 other balls! I got Butters 6 tennis balls a couple months ago, and now he only has 2 left 😭 Butters has been a handful today; first he came in from playing in the backyard with a small abrasion on his head which I had to clean it, and now he’s gotten welts around his mouth and on his nose. It looks like he had an allergic reaction to something, but I’m making him sleep in my room so I can keep an eye on him. My two boy animals have caused so much trouble 😭

But your tattoo ideas are amazing!! I remember you sending in those pictures of them too, and I can’t wait for you to get them!! AND THE HOT MILF IS DOING THEM?!?! YOU BETTER BE SENDING IN THE FINISHING WORKS!!

Well since you are technically already “fired,” I guess there are no consequences for calling off work, especially if the company can’t treat the workers properly. And you know what, you absolutely deserve that time off for your traumatic experience with cutting the banana. How the hell did you manage to cut your thumb that was holding the knife??? That’s what I want to know, like how is that even possible 😭

you snatching Hennifer while she was being a menace and stealing the pigs food is honestly gold!! And she even rested her head on your shoulder, that’s so cute!! Also, I absolutely lock her name so much!! It reminds me of Yennefer from The Witcher series. We used to have chickens but we had to get rid of them because A.) they were too loud and B.) my brother got attacked by the rooster and I got in trouble for recording it 🙄

Melissa herself said that her husband doesn’t get jealous, so I’m sure we could figure something out to where we all win 🤷🏻‍♀️

#bender chats #clexa is forever ♾️

[its-short-for-jackalope]

greetings! i have made a thing! ✨️two✨️ things!

✨️ sketchboooooooooooks! ✨️

it took longer than anticipated (I've been trying to get this done since the end of last year, oops) but I finally finished putting these together today. all that's left to do is decorate the covers and start drawing in 'em!

they are slightly–moderately wonky and pretty clearly handmade, but I love them. gives em charm. these are only the second and third books I've made myself so I'm still learning.

if you're interested I'll drop a few more photos and babble a little about the process under the cut! (definitely not a tutorial if that's what you're hoping for lol i was winging it the whole time)

okay so we'll start with the little guy. this is meant to be more of a travel sketchbook.

I wanted something fairly small that I could take on the go without it being too much of a hassle, because I'm also hoping to get out more and like... go for walks to the park or the cemetery or w/e and try doing some studies and life drawing and such. or just get some fresh air and doodle while I make a valiant attempt to get some vitamin D.

THE PROCESS

both sketchbooks are made out of materials I just had lying around, but this one is even more "recycled" lmao

i took the inside pages from an old sketchbook, and about half of them had previously been used, so I went and erased my old sketches as much as I could (they were bad and low effort, so it's no loss I assure you) and that was a boring and frustrating endeavor but it was worth it because, well, I get to use the paper again! I did a very poor job the first time around, I almost never drew on both sides of the page and so many pages were just one shitty sketch and nothing else 🙈

i sorted the pages into signatures (tried to mix up the used and new paper because it'd annoy me if I had just like one big chunk of ghost drawings and then the rest of the book was good and clean lol) and stitched those together and then put just a couple layers of glue on the spine to hold it together.

I made the cover by gluing two pieces of thin cardboard together for each part (front cover, back cover, spine) to make em sturdier, and then I trimmed them down to size and glued the pieces to a paper shopping bag. I didn't have the patience to try flattening the cover under a heavy book or anything, so it's a little warped and will kind of open up on its own so I'm just using the binder clip to hold it closed. plus idk it looks cool!

once the cover was done and dry I just... glued it all together! added the end pages i cut out of construction paper to the.. chunk of book? the book brick? (is there a technical word for it when the signatures are all together....?) and then glued the other sides of the end pages to the inside covers.

now for the second book! the big boy!

this fella was intended to be the grand, improved follow-up to the first sketchbook I put together, and I started working on it right when said first book started running out of paper.

this one is the wonkier of the two but I think it's definitely a few steps up from the original, and I'm pleased with it. this is gonna be my everyday sketchbook, so I wanted it to have a ton of pages so I can use it for a good long while. I think it's at least twice as thick as my first sketchbook. 😂

THE PROCESS

...basically the same as the travel sketchbook, just bigger! the pages are sourced from a different sketchbook, one I started using in high school and promptly forgot about upon graduation.

fun fact: the end pages are covered in countless tiny little hatch lines that i drew by hand while I watched/listened to something on my computer. I don't quite remember what I was watching at this point, but it was almost certainly something from Starkid... probably VHSCC on repeat, since I did this part back in november/december. it might sound tedious but I shit you not I was thrilled to do this part and it was just a blissful neurodivergent turn the brain off and vibe kind of time.

the biggest difference in this process was doing the cover; it's not cardboard, it's some kind of particle board.. thing that was salvaged from the back of a busted picture frame. it is VERY stiff and sturdy and I did not cut the pieces out so much as score the board with my box cutter as deeply as I could, bend it back and forth, and pray it didn't break. 😅 the cover-cover is from the same bag I used on the smaller book!

most of the wonkiness comes from the fact that the cover is sliiiiiiiightly too small for the book brick inside. I had limited material for the cover so I couldn't stretch that at all, I made the cover as big as I possibly could, but I also did not feel like trimming the inside pages so that they would fit better because that would have taken FOREVER and also probably killed me. 😫 soooo the pages stick out a little bit, but that's fine and it doesn't bother me much. 🤷🏻‍♂️

and that's my two sketchbooks! finished em both up over 3 days after procrastinating for at least a month. and now that they exist I can finally draw again!!! been wanting to do that for WEEKS.

if you read all of this I hope you got something out of it, lol. whether you did or didnt, here's a skull for your troubles.

😊🤲🏻💀

enjoy!! <3

#jack jabbers #sketchbook #handmade sketchbook #crafting #crafty #bookmaking #book binding #crafter

[turbobyakuren]

I think one of my favorite dumb things about HP is the magic system. Especially the “this funky green laser kills you instantly.” Spell. Making fun of the Dumbledore vs Moldy Voldy Snakedick in the 5th book has been done before but it really was “Dumbledingledangle does cool wizard shit” and then “Voldemort shot his green Piss beam again”. Just make him do cool wizard shit but evil! Instead she just makes “magic can do anything but I’m just gonna make a kill button spell”

Also a whole lot of HP writing is “we acknowledge this world has fundamental social issues and we will point them out but nothing actually gets changed because change is scary and bad. We’ll fix it for like one person but not tackle the actual issue.” Like Harry being loaded but also being “man it sure is a shame that my best friend’s family is so poor, I wish that could be helped in some way”. She doesn’t even touch on that point lmao.

DEEPEST APOLOGIES FOR THE VERY LATE REPLY but I DEFINITELY AGREE. FUNNY THING IS I was talking about this EXACT FIRST POINT with a friend and i was like "yeah i don't want to make a post about it lol" but you know what? I will make a post about it: the WORST part of Harry Potter is that the magic system is absolute fucking dogshit. I am no expert on the lore (as if there is lore) but as far as i know, there is nothing coherent about the Wizard's magic system. They pretty much can do anything. There is no gauge for power or strength, no origin for magic, no drawbacks or weaknesses to magic, and no branches of magic. Magic is pretty much a swiss tool with which they can do anything. The concept of forbidden spells is pretty neat on paper until you realize that this "forbidden" is because they have nefarious consequences (torture and Kill) but it's all illegal in name. Anyone could cast avada kadabra if they wanted to.

We were comparing Naruto and Harry Potter in that they were a bit alike in terms of what they had to say (underdog vs the establishment who becomes part of the establishment and going "there is no problem with the establishment haha"), but the THING about Naruto is that its magic system isn't fucking Dog Shit. The magic system of the Ninja has certain rules (using Chakra as energy being a core principle) and there are different categories and branches (Ninjutsu, Genjutsu, Taijutsu to name a few...) and THIS allows for specializations. Those are neat and make room for interesting characters! There's a ninja who specializes in controlling his shadow for example! Or ninjas who prefer using weapons, puppetry, or elemental stuff like sands. And that's why Rock Lee is a VERY compelling character because he cannot use Chakra to use Ninjutsu like a regular ninja. So his mentor Gai taught him to only focus on using Taijutsu, which uses no Chakra. So while Rock Lee cannot use proper Ninja Magic he uses his OWN kind of Ninja Magic that works with how his body works. And THIS is a middle finger to the establishment that's like "you can't be a ninja because a ninja has to use his chakra". The problem with the wizarding world (WHAT A DOG SHIT NAME) is that JK Rowling is so spineless she cannot make a character like Rock Lee in her universe. If she did make a character like that, it would be a comic relief and have no significant moment. And also re: magic system, basically... Yeah, there are branches in Harry Potter but they are so anecdotal i barely remember them aside from potion making or horticulture.

I wrote a lot about your first ask and i'd avoid making this post any longer. Your second ask is WAY too on the nose, everyone has pointed it out and i don't want to paraphrase you bc it's been repeated ad nauseam, but yeah. JK Rowling is so spineless because she wrote a book for children with the mentality of a child. And even then, an actual child is more intelligent about this kind of stuff than her.

#asks #foxmancer

[the-woild-is-y-erster]

ok since @watch-me-stand-watch-me-run was the one who asked this is mostly for you but like

gather round the campfire, children

cw/tw violence, abuse, child abuse, might add more after

this is gonna be really really long lol hold on to your butts, brochachos

ok so his given name was micheal sauveterre, his family wasnt nobility, but they werent poor either. he was born in 1883, and is sixteen when the strike starts.

no word of a lie, i cannot for the life of me decide if i want him in the livesies or 92sies-verse, so i kind of just go back and forth in my head lol

so he grew up in a pretty well off family, but his parents were severly abusive. they would beat him and his brother, telling them they deserved it for being ungrateful. his older brother spencer was the favorite child, always got the special privileges. they both did well in school, until micheal was 12. his brother went off to a fancy college in virginia, and he was left alone with his parents. his dad tried to make nice by teaching micheal self defense and giving him a switchblade with his initials on it. one night, micheal snapped, finally having enough with his parents abuse, and ran away. he lived on the streets for a year, joined a circus that was in town as a acrobat and knife thrower, but didn't go with the circus when they left.

shortly after the circus, micheal was left starving on the streets again, and had to steal food to survive. snyder caught him, but micheal slipped away. in the chase, snyder grabbed him and gave him the scar on his face, taking him to the refuge for a few months after.

a manhattan newsie (havent decided who, maybe skittery or blink) saw him on the streets and offered him a job. manhattan was too close to where micheals parents lived, so he asked if there was anywhere else he could get a job.

the newsie told him about all the distribution gates for all the papers, and all the different boroughs. the leader of queens at the time (i didnt know who it actually was in the show so hes an oc ig too) Crush, was an ass and treated his boys like dirt, so micheal made his way over to queens.

crush refused to let micheal sleep in the lodging house at first, so he just hung around, watching. after a week or two of being there, he and the newsie who acted as queens' medic, Jade, came up with a plan to overthrow crush. long story short, crush found out, tried to shoot micheal in an alley, hit his side, and micheal walked out with a brand new pistol, not to mention title.

he hated his old name, so he changed it to Ezekiel, Eel for short. crowning himself the King of Queens, and a new era of ruling came along.

sketch break lmao (i love this one sm)

ok so he became really close friends with manhattan newsies, despite being on the other side of the bridge from them. might have had a teeny tiny crush on spot, but once he saw race did too he immediately started trying to get sprace together lol

jack takes him to see medda, and she takes one look at him and goes "hmm, this boy needs a mother figure" and takes him under her wing. once she learns abt his time at the circus, she offers to let him be in some of her shows for some extra money.

he only wears the tutu outfit sometimes, mostly to make the guys laugh, but he likes the makeup and he really enjoys the stage, but would never leave queens fully, so medda's is mostly just for fun and when he needs to de-stress.

his second is named Shoe (another oc lmao) Shoe's real name is Harvey, but he only lets Eel call him that, and thats mostly only when hes in trouble lol

i dont have any sketches of shoe yet but i will i prommy<3

eel and shoe are dating<3 and the flushing lodging house's owner has basically adopted them. her name is Eden, shes italian, and she taught eel italian along with his french from his family, but they only speak it in private because people werent really accepting of 'foreign' things

anyway if i remember anything else ill put it later

yeah! thats eel/zeke, i love him dearly<3

#newsies #92sies #livesies #newsies oc #i have a few more sketches of him lol #ezekiel 'eel' 'zeke' #woof i need to update this lmfao

[dat-dio-backpatch]

You play Drums? PT. 1

Summary: Eddie finds out you play the drums during a Hellfire session, only to later ask you to sub in for Gareth during a Corroded Coffin gig.

Warnings: N/A

Word Count: 1.8k

A/N: Hey so uhhh, this is my first fic for Stranger Things, and the first fic I've ever posted lol. Any feedback is rly appreciated as I really want to improve and write stuff others will enjoy. Also this is a part 1, I'm working on the 2nd part rn so feedback on this will help ensure that pt.2 is as good as possible

~~~~~

The small Hellfire room was oddly quiet, only you, Eddie, and Mike were present despite the session starting in only 10 or so minutes. Usually everyone was here at least 20 minutes early, all pumped and debating on different battle strategies for whatever monster Eddie was gonna throw our way in the game. But today Lucas’s basketball practice was apparently running late, Dustin had hurriedly explained as much before darting out of the room to go find out what everyone else's tardy excuse was. So now there were three, it was awkward despite you having known both Mike and Eddie for so long but they were both focused on their own work that the room was left silent. Eddie had his head buried behind the DM’s screen working on last minute adjustments to the campaign and Mike was furiously scribbling away at what you assumed was homework. Remembering your own long forgotten English paper you decided to copy Mike's idea and use this downtime to actually get something done. 

Pulling out a pile of crumpled up papers and a handful of dull pencils from your backpack you set to work, only to find yourself immedietly bored. Shakespeare was usually far from boring but your dull english teacher somehow found a way to ruin even his most fun plays, so you did what you always do to combat boredom and pulled out your walkman. Popping on your headphones you pressed play and the epic sounds of Mercyful Fate's album “Don’t Break the Oath” soon stomped out all your boredom. As the music continued you found yourself less and less focused on the actual paper and more focused on drumming along to the songs with two of your beat up pencils, having played the drums since middle school you were definitely nailing each beat despite having the music so loud you couldn’t hear anything else. 

“Y/N!” A voice broke you out of your music induced daze, you felt a strong hand shake your shoulder lightly “Y/N?”

You sheepishly remove your headphones and look over to see Eddie standing next to you, looking down at you with a confused, yet still mischevious, expression.  

“Sorry, was I too loud?” You apologize, face flushing red. You’d gotten carried away drumming like that before and it was almost always met with annoyance. 

“No, no definitely not” Eddie brushed off your apology, smile widening. “Do you play the drums?”

“Oh yea I do” you said returning his smile “I’ve been playing since middle school actually” 

“Shit how come you’ve never mentioned it before?” Eddie asked excitedly 

“Never came up I guess” You shrugged, starting to shove your English work back into your backpack before pulling out your dice and character sheet instead.

“Now that could come in handy sometime” Eddie mused, though before he could continue that though Dustin came rushing in with the rest of Hellfire in tow. One look at the clock showed they made it with only seconds to spare and a handful of half assed apologies for their piss poor timing. 

The session picked up almost immediately and went shockingly well despite the group's lack of preparedness, you’d all managed to make it out with your characters only slightly roughed up by Eddie's ruthless hordes of enemies. It all ended with the typical celebration, haphazard cleaning and quick goodbyes as you rushed out to your car before you could get further distracted from the still unfinished english paper crammed in your bag  

~~~

by the time the weekend rolled around You’d already forgotten about your breath conversation with Eddie about your drumming skills, it hadn’t really been that important after all. As much as you wanted to play with the guys they already had Gareth, Corroded Coffin was in no need of a new drummer. Or at least that's what you thought as you marched down your stairs, headed off to your drum set in the garage to start your routine Saturday practice. Sheet music and sticks in hand you weren’t at all expecting the sudden loud knock on your front door, you jumped nearly dropping everything you were holding as the knocking continued even more aggressively than before. You approached the door with caution unsure of whether or not you should open it until a familiar voice called from the other side. 

“Y/N!” It was Eddie, pounding on your door and shouting at the top of his lungs. “Y/N I know you’re home!”

You whipped the door open, fear dissipating into annoyance as Eddie greeted you with his signature mischievous grin.

“God Ed’s you’re lucky my parents aren’t home or you’d have gotten me grounded!” You groaned as his smile widened “What’s so important that you show up out of nowhere screaming like a serial killer?”

“I, well, we, need your help” Eddie said toying with one of his rings as he spoke hurriedly “Corroded Coffins playing a gig down at the Hideaway and we’re missing a drummer, told the guys I could get you to sub in”

“Isn’t Gareth your drummer? You asked, confused, “what happened to him?”

“Gareth got mono” Eddie made a fake gagging sound and feigned throwing up. “That gross shithead got sick the day of our big show, well not really a big show but a gigs a gig right?”

“Ed’s I don’t know how to play any of your songs” You said, suddenly racked with anxiety at the thought of fucking up your friends performance “I’m probably not as good as Gareth either” 

“I’m sure you’ll be fantastic sweetheart, plus I got all the sheet music ready and waiting with the guys and we can practice as long as you want” He said, his smile dropping from mischievous into comforting. “Please can you do me this one favor, I’ll owe you big time”

“You strike a hard bargain I’ll admit” You said, scrunching up your face and pretending to consider his offer “I don't know though, I did have some great saturday plans lined up”

“We both know you’d just be sitting on your couch watching the Exorcist” He teased 

“Hey rude!” You mocked offense “Not really winning me over with that attitude”

“Please will you, oh the great Y/N, play drums with us and really do your best friend a solid?” Eddie clasped his hands together and gave you the widest eyed begging look he could manage 

“Oh alright I’ll play with you guys” You said laughing at his antics, watching as his face lit up in the brightest smile you think you’d ever seen. 

“Thank you, thank you thank you!” Eddie shouted, wrapping his arms around your waist and lifting you up into the air in the tightest hug he could manage. “I owe you big time!”

“Big time!” You chuckled as he spun you around, still not letting you go even when you dropped your sticks and sheet music. “Ok, ok Ed’s you’ve shown your gratitude now put me down”

He stopped spinning you but didn’t put you back down, just held you tight as you found your face startlingly close to his, his bright smile never fading as your eyes met. You felt a blush creeping up your cheeks as you both seemed to freeze in the moment, simply staring at each other. 

“So, uh, you can grab whatever you’ll need for practice I’ll wait in the van for you” Eddie said quickly, breaking out of his stunned state with a quick shake of his head. He gently let you back down, pausing as if he were about to say something as you noticed a bright red blush spread across his face. He quickly shook his head again and began fidgeting with his rings. “Yea, I’ll be in the van. I’m really,,, the guys and I are really excited to get to play with you!”

“I’ll be quick, just gotta grab another set of sticks and I’ll be right out” You said, equally as flustered as Eddie. He nodded, offering a small nervous smile before rushing back out to his van, leaving you to retrieve the sticks you dropped along with an extra pair from your room. While in your room you paused, looking out your window down at Eddie's van parked haphazardly in your driveway. You could spot him in the driver's side window, you didn’t mean to be a creep and stare but you couldn’t help yourself. You and Eddie had always been close friends, hugging was nothing new to the two of you so why did that hug feel so,,,, different. Sure he was attractive, you’d had a crush on him since you first met him all the way back in middle school when he still had that stupid buzzcut. But no, you guys were just friends, that's all you;d ever been and you’d long since accepted the fact that's all you’d ever be. So why did that hug feel so different, and why’d it leave both of you blushing like awkward school kids. Not to mention his hasty exit after. It was just, odd, the way it left you feeling like you had butterflies in your stomach and your face still flushed. You quickly pushed all those thoughts aside, it was too much to think about right now and you were on a time crunch.  

As you brushed away all these thoughts and questions you realized you had the sticks in hand, and were still staring down at Eddie. To your surprise, and embarrassment, you realized Eddie was staring back up at you with the same ‘lost in thought’ look and blushing face. You both simultaneously realized you’d each been caught staring and quickly broke eye contact, Eddie turning to raise the volume on whatever metal he’d been playing and you hurrying to get rou shoes on before rushing out to join him. Once you were in the van Eddie took no time pulling out of your driveway, not waiting for you to get your seatbelt on before speeding off down the road. Thankfully the music was so loud conversation was impossible, neither of you really knew what to say anyway. Just an awkward moment between friends, that's all this was. Right? Again you brushed these thoughts away and focused on the road ahead, determined not to let the band down and to enjoy your first professional gig. You could sort out whatever was between you and Eddie when there wasn’t the massive pressure of performing weighing on your shoulders, hopefully you’d have your thoughts and feelings sorted out by then. Hopefully whatever conversation happened wouldn’t be as awkward as this car ride, you glanced over at Eddie as he kept his eyes locked on the road ahead, his face slowly losing the bright red blush you knew for sure you still had. You turned back to the road and tightened your grip on your drum sticks. 

#stranger things #stranger things 4 #st4 #eddie munson #corroded coffin #eddie munson x y/n #y/n #fanfic #stranger things fanfiction #eddie munson fanfic #drummer reader #hellfire stranger things #hellfire club

[its-chelisey-stuff]

My 2022 in dramaland!!!

I really wish I could have more time to make a bigger post (mostly so I can talk more about the dramas I LOVED) but it is what it is and it’s always fun to try and describe something you either hated or loved in a few sentences, so in the order I watched them:

My TOP5 first:

Dream Garden: Technically premiered last year but it aired like a kdrama (2 eps per week) so it took me 2 months to watch. Not excellent but far from being bad. A lot different from most modern romances in cdramas I’ve watched since it was a psychological thriller romance (with a super slow slowburn). Here because it was the only Gong Jun drama I got this year. Ugh. Cdramas, you know? Totally a rec!

Extraordinary Attorney Woo: Anyone who watched it knows why. It just had a hold of me since the very first scene. Park Eun Bin was her usual magnificent self. Also Kang Tae Oh and his character, Junho were a delight. He’s my pick for best male lead this year. Greenest Flag in whole dramaland. I don’t want a S2, but I want another drama starring Eun Bin and TaeOh. Fingers crossed!

F4 Thailand: Because it technically was/is my first thai drama. I KNOW the drama was not perfect and a lot of people jumped ship halfway through but come on, the story is completely outdated yet they keep remaking it, why? Cause we watch it. We love and obsess with the story as much as Thyme obsesses with Gorya in every version. Would love to watch the whole main cast again in another project.

Love Between Fairy and Devil: On the surface, it’s just like any other xianxia... except it’s not. It’s so MUCH more. It’s all in the execution. I cried I laughed I cheered and wish I got more of the happy ending. Just a tiny little bit more, drama!! I wasn’t ready to say goodbye. Also, I discovered Dylan Wang can truly act. So the drama was full of surprises.

Revenge of Others: Orphan girl moves to an awful school full of little psychos to avenge the death of her dear brother. Girl meets boy. Boy discovers has a brain tumor but he’s also quite the vigilante. They develop an amazing bond and relationship that most romances in kdramas wish they could have. A really well executed whodunnit drama, with interesting plot twists. I was pleasantly surprised that the writers managed to tie in all the loose ends and gave us a satisfying ending and truly a happy one for the two main leads. SUPER REC!!

***

All of Us are Dead: THE POOR KIDS. I rooted so hard for the kids and no one ever came to save them. My faves survived and that’s the reason I’m watching S2. Rec? At your own risk lol. Also, the title is the biggest spoiler.

Bulgasal: I always forget this drama aired this year. I actually loved it, but it needed something more. Maybe a kiss?? lol I don’t know, on paper it was perfect but something was missing. Totally a rec, though.

Business Proposal: It came out of knowhere and was my first enjoyable romcom in kdramaland in a really long time. For me it’s a classic already. Would love to watch the second leads in their own drama, though. Not on my TOP5 bc really good and great dramas came after it.

Tomorrow: Please know that I’m a huge Rowoon fan before you read the next sentence. He was a terrible miscast in this. Everyone was crazy about the romance with Lee So Hyuk and Kim HeeSun and I would’ve loved to be as well if only they ever had more than 3 minutes together per ep. Just when I was getting into it, drama took me somewhere else. Not a rec. Sorry Rowoon. Sorry whole cast. Love you. Come back to us with something better

Not Me: Not sure why I chose this as my first Thai BL, but I’m so glad I did. Very different even among its own genre. Chemistry and makeout kiss scenes were AMAZING for the 2 main couples. Give this drama a chance but be prepared for the activist theme and the political talk. These are youngsters trying to change their world for better. Also, the OST is magic. P.S. That scene in ep 7 with OTP holding hands under the Pride Flag must have its own monument.

Bad Buddy: I always thought people were overreacting when the drama was airing. I thought “it must not be that good”. Oh but it was and I ate my words lol Fun, romantic, bit of a Romeo&Juliet themed, and the twist at the end?? Delightful. I cheered!!! SUPER REC!! Btw I also loved the OST of this one.

Love all Play: Back to kdramas. Badminton, romance, a charming male lead but terrible families. Another show that came out of knowhere but it was actually really inspiring and cozy to watch, in the first half. I loved the OTP. The found family dynamics in the team but there was TOO MUCH angst, really unnecessary and that’s why it’s not on my top 5. It had a a super happy ending though, and I loved that. Rec? tbh yes, really bingeworthy. And you would feel the angst less.

Sh**ting stars: For a romcom, I have to admit drama’s best joke was its title. It was enjoyable but not that memorable for me. Kim YoungDae is really good in this genre, though. He should stick to these kind of roles. The Oh NamJoo kind (where my Extraordinary You fans at?) He shines the best like that. Rec? Honestly, yeah. Good for a binge if there’s nothing else to watch!

Kiss Sixth Sense: Romcom, cliche, full of tropes. AMAZING chemistry between the leads. Because of fate, he could hear really well, superpower level. And she could see the future of the people she kissed lol drama’s biggest mistep was that it took itself too seriously. Also, the last episode was really bad. Technically a happy ending though. Not a rec.

Yumi’s Cells S2: Jinyoung was the best part and I regret nothing. Except the part where I loved and had so much fun with S1. This sequel though, did not spark joy, on the contrary, it killed it. What happened, Yumi?? 

Remarriage and Desire: Makjang. 6 eps. Happy ending. What can I say? It was great to relieve stress and at the time, I truly needed that. Rec? Yeah. It’s crazy, it’s soapy, it’s stupid, but it’s fun, short and its plot twists have plot twists.  Also I’m sorry but I watched it in spanish dub and it was even more hilarious.

Fanletter, please: Romcom. She’s a top actress. He’s a single dad taking care of his young and sick daugther. Sounds like a downer, but it truly wasn’t. Only four eps, and the chemistry between the leads was soooo good that I want them in another, longer drama. A total rec, for sure!!!

May I help You: Enjoyable drama but, as per usual, something was missing in the second half. The romance was nowhere to be found after OTP got together so maybe that’s what, at least for me. Drama shifted genres. The plot twist on the actual baddie was surprising but not shocking. Rec? Yes? Maybe? Well, I love Lee JunYoung and Hyeri’s acting got better imo.

Summer Strike: I honestly think the best thing about this is that the eps were only about 40 min long and that there were only 12 of them. A longer drama with a longer runtime would’ve lost the desired effect. In my opinion, the best slice of life kdrama of the year and really inspiring, even if it made me cry at times.

Under the Queen’s Umbrella: Iit honestly doesn’t sound like my thing. But I kept watching spoilers and gave it a chance. I’m still watching but I know how it ends and I think it’s a pretty great drama. I love the acting, the stories, the Queen and her sons and have never rooted for someone to kill their mother-in-law so much. Also, Queen is mom of the year. Total Rec.

Dishonorable mentions (shame on you, dramas! You were suppossed to be be better!):

2521: I think even the people who did not watch the drama know why. I made a rant post about it. It was not that they didn’t end up together. It was the how they got there what bothered me and traumatized me. Blacklisting the director and writer for life.

Love in Contract: Look. It took me out of a mini drama slump and I’ll always cherish that. Not the best drama (far from it), not a single bit made sense in the second half, but it honestly wasn’t as bad as people made it sound. Also, happy ending!!! Yay!!! Put it here because of the second lead. That dude was a psycho.

Note: The second male lead in this drama shares his award for most annoying second lead with the one from Cheer Up, cause I honestly think they’re one and the same annoying, entitled and deluded asshole!

Cheer Up: Conflicted. I loved this show when it was a fun coming of age story with youngsters in college, full of dreams and hopes and just wanting to cheer in a club after class. But sometimes it was like Bring it On meets Scream. Or something weird like that. Also, that asshole second lead was truly hateable. I honestly don’t know how I got past him and finished the drama. Last ep got a lot of things right, a pity drama spent so much on the love triangle.

Silent: jdrama. I actually finished this because I love Meguro Ren and became invested in a secondary couple (their story was soooo sweet) but this drama was more of a downer than anything else. Also ten eps of conversations, of taking big steps towards healing (or so we thought) only to realize male lead is still in the same place he was in the first ep? Doesn’t spark joy. Silently frustrating, despite the happy ending. Watch at your own risk.

#kdrama #jdrama #thai drama #cdrama #year end review #yup these are ALL the dramas I watched #i thought they were only a couple but they were a lot lol #extraordinary attorney woo #f4 thailand #revenge of others #dream garden #love between fairy and devil

[sojourner-between-worlds]

Because of who I am as a person, I decided to trim the fat from my 5Ds playlist and make a top 30 version that is actually semi-organized.

Have fun.

(List -- with notes -- below the cut)

***Mostly chronological order of what part of the series they best reflect. Some are in "off" places because I felt they fit better there, musically or thematically when listening. ***When I label one as "All Signers", that includes Rua/Lua/Leo since he's such an integral part of the group even before he gets his mark at the end. ***Also, presented with a lil bit of commentary because of who I am as a person, lol. ***I am hoping this list is the correct order, as I have moved things around a lot to get an order I liked, haha, but all of these are on there.

The Greatest Show - The Greatest Showman (Riding Duels, the general Vibe of the series, haha)

Catalyst - Linkin Park (Satellite)

Young - Hollywood Undead (All Signers)

Child of the Stars - Fish in a Bird Cage (Yusei, pre-series but with Foreshadowing)

Kings - Tribe Society (Jack, pre-series, Team Satisfaction era and on)

Paper Crown - Alec Benjamin (Aki, pre-series)

Counting Stars - OneRepublic (Crow, pre-series, Team Satisfaction era on)

Renegades - ONE OK ROCK (All Signers, a bit of a transition into the start of the series)

Who I Am - Citizen Soldier (Yusei and Aki, Fortune Cup)

Brick by Boring Brick - Paramore (Aki, pre-series through second duel with Yusei)

Relate - for King & Country (All Signers)

We Are - ONE OK ROCK (All Signers)

Feed the Machine - Poor Mans Poison (Rex Godwin, Satellite)

Watching As I Fall - Mike Shinoda (Pre-series Kiryu/Kalin.)

Ready As I’ll Ever Be - Tangled: the Series (Signers vs Dark Signers. I could break this one down line by line, but I will spare you all unless you, ya know, want to know or something)

Soldier, feat. Fluerie - Tommee Profitt (Yusei; fits the entire series but considering just how many duels this poor boy has, I felt it was fitting to have it be the finale song for the first half of the series, coupled with the next one.)

In Search of Tomorrow - Zack Hemsey (This one is weird simply because it's instrumental, but I think it fits nicely to close the first half and lead into the second.)

Unbreakable - Fireflight (Aki, associated specifically with her getting her license)

Higher - The Score (Crow, associated specifically with him getting hurt, missing the first prelim, and then coming back for the next)

Hell’s Comin’ With Me - Poor Mans Poison (Crashtown Kiryu/Kalin; originally associated with the DS but then I got to thinking about how much it fits after they escape the mines and since I have fewer songs for the second half of the series, it landed here. But it's for both, okay? Both.)

Battle Scars - Paradise Fears (Team 5Ds vs Team Taiyo; originally just associated this song with the Signers but their journeys mirror each other so well and...yeah.)

Brother - Kodaline (Yusei, Jack, Crow; I had no idea where to fit this one in so I selected a semi-random location and here it is, lol.)

Running Up That Hill - Kate Bush, metal cover by Jonathan Young and Caleb Hyles (Aporia and Team Ragnarok; an odd combination of characters, but somehow it just works, considering.)

Strike Back - Fairy Tail OP16, English cover by NateWantsToBattle (All Signers; for real this could have been the opening instead and I would kill to have someone make an opening to this song for the finale arc.)

Where the Skies End - Starset (Yusei)

The Hero - Nathan Wagner (Yusei and Z-ONE; I love the dichotomy of their stories so much. I am so normal about this.)

SCAVA - Hollywood Undead (Z-ONE et al)

Memories - Maroon 5 (Bruno)

The World You Want - Switchfoot (Yusei)

See You Again, feat. Charlie Puth - Wiz Khalifa (The Departure)

#yugioh 5ds #ygo 5ds #oh look another playlist lol #but this one is actually a link to a playlist that you can actually ya know listen to unlike the last one lol #yeah its yt i'm old okay #just get adblock or don't complain lol #i do have spotify i just hate #could never figure out how to make playlists #fr if someone can tell me how i will make this up on there too lol