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popliar · 7 years

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K-Con Australia, 20170922-23

The first Australian K-Con was held over the last two nights in Sydney, and @proteinscollide and I were there. I'm very behind on everything else as a result! I need to watch Knowing Bros! ANYWAY, short version: IT WAS SUPER FUN. Lots of rambling under the cut as usual.

22 September: SF9, Pentagon, Victon, Girl's Day, Exo

23 September: SF9 (again!), Up10tion, Cosmic Girls/WJSN, Wanna One, Monsta X

Overall this was an extremely well produced show and a really fun show - I had such a good time! Okay, the "convention" part not so much (I'll talk about this a bit at the end of the post) but at both evening shows, the concert ran like a slick machine, stage following stage with no pause, good sound and no technical hitches. Visually the show looked great, with massive screens giving good views of every performer as well as fantastically atmospheric backdrops.

It didn't sell out on either night, and again I'll talk about possible reasons for that more later, but as a vehicle for hallyu and for promoting Korean culture this is potentially such a powerful instrument. One of the most striking K-Con images for me is the footage of K-Con Paris from 2016 - the pan from the section of the crowd for the French dignitaries and delegates, all politely seated and clapping, to the massive auditorium of French youth going absolutely wild for these pop groups from the other side of the world. This show didn't have that element of official endorsement, it was much more a straight-up pop show, but hey you never know, that might come…

Soft power has its limits, for sure, but within those boundaries Korea is working so very hard at being the very best it can be. I admire the gumption, and more importantly to Korea I am happily consuming the product! Give me more product! I'm here for this!

As far as line-up goes, this K-Con wasn't the best. Exo are absolute stars of course and there were other notable groups like Monsta X and Girl's Day; on balance however this was a really rookie-heavy sausage-fest. The prevalence of rookies is probably partly bad timing - the show coincided with the DMC Music Festival (which was eventually cancelled anyway due to labour disputes, argh, we could've had it all!).

But the boy-heavy line-up? Frustrating. Apparently WJSN and Girl's Day are the first girl groups to perform here since 4 Minute some three-four years ago. WHY? Perhaps there's a perception that since Western fans are mostly girls then they'll only turn out for boybands - I know in Korea the audience for girlgroups is skewed towards boys. However, here in the West, pop as a whole is coded so heavily female that I'm sure wouldn't be a problem. I've been to many Western female pop star concerts and trust me, the girls SHOWED UP. Hell, at this very same arena, Little Mix are performing later this year. Besides, this argument falls flat if you look at other K-Con line-ups which, although boy-heavy, still manage more than a measly 2 girl groups. Gosh I'd have been so happy with the addition of any ONE of Red Velvet, Mamamoo, Blackpink, Pristin, Gfriend, Twice, etc…

...that was a long intro. Let's talk the show.

Chanyeol (EXO)

Night 1

The first night of K-Con began with a pre-show of kpop dance cover groups (they were all good but some were REALLY GOOD) and Kevin from U-KISS as MC (did u know he looks like Lee Pace around the eyes?), doing his cheesy best to hype up the crowd and also promote the con's primary sponsor.

Then the show got started with a VCR, featuring Monsta X's Minhyuk in a sort of spaceship-themed narrative? I don't know what I saw but apparently K-Con's first Oceanic showing needed heroes or defenders or something, i.e. kpop groups? Whatever cool. I do know it involved Minhyuk looking at a picture of a kangaroo so we're all good.

Also apparently Sydney is the city of "arts and culture" and also "romance"? I'm flattered on behalf of my home, and I can assure you we have plenty of all three, but really?? Those are not, like, the first words I associate with Sydney. But ok, you do you K-Con!

Exo's Suho and Sehun then came on as the night's special MCs to deliver a brief introduction and be cute together and make the crowd scream. Naturally, there were Exo jerseys and banners and lightsticks all over the place; earlier in the day I got handed a cute banner to celebrate Chen's birthday, which I then promptly used to test proteinscollide's knowledge of Exo band names. (She improved greatly through the evening!)

First group up were rookie boyband SF9 - I've enjoyed their songs and MVs without knowing much about them. This rapidfire 3 song performance made me more of a fan! They just hit all their beats really well, both in terms of performance and in their brief introduction ment, advantaged by one member who was a fluent English speaker. Their line distribution is kind of weird - there's maybe three members who dominate the vocals and the dancing, especially Taeyang who I kept thinking of as "that one guy who looks like Shinee's Jonghyun" - but not enough to detract overall. I have no favourite but maybe my favourite is the rapper with currently red hair who reminds me of SVT Jeonghan and Pentagon's E'Dawn.

Something like K-Con is the perfect platform for a rookie group to get this kind of exposure. My own first exposure to kpop (aka the reason for my eternal downfall) was winning free tickets to a Boyfriend & JJCC show - I knew nothing about them, knew next to nothing about kpop, and JJCC were a hot mess sorry - but seeing the groups in person and live was enough to make me want to know so much more. I feel like this SF9 set functioned in much the same way. It was SO much more impactful than just an MV or a youtube clip or a gifset. This is how fans are made! (That said… I'll get to it, but SF9 got two bites at the cherry. Why?)

Next up were Pentagon and their brief set was great. Their songs are such bangers - I SAID BANGERS, DON'T AT ME - and they were really polished and powerful. Kino's opening dance solo was super charismatic, and E'Dawn (aka the only one I can consistently recognise) was working that jawline of his so well, lol. He does the bad boy thing very well! I admire it! For their ment, they played the "Pinata" game as seen at other K-Cons this year, i.e. a random game was selected. (Would the game be 'Propose'? It was not propose, but one member did get down on one knee to E'Dawn anyway, good job good fanservice.) In this case it was a random dance play, and it was very amusing and silly.

Probably my favourite thing about Pengaton is how far and fast proteinscollide has fallen for them. Can you believe at this time last year she didn't even know all the MX member names? Now the student has exceeded the master! Post your Pentagon post bro!

Sehun and Suho came back to introduce a special stage: Exo's Chanyeol in duet with WJSN's Seola, for his OST track Stay with Me. This was a nice, pretty interlude and a bit of a breather after the fast pacing of the first two sets.

Seola (WJSN)

Third rookie group Victon bopped cutely to a very Australian-themed video backdrop and they were very entertaining, without necessarily making me want to seek them out further. I think that's more to do with their concept being more cute than Pentagon and SF9's, so less appealing to me on those grounds. But they have their charms and most importantly one had a mullet! I'm HERE for the mullets, don't even think I'm joking.

Next up were Girl's Day. They're down to 4 members now but their experience and their casual confidence made them so enjoyable to watch. They played their hits including Something, Expectation and Ring My Bell with such a sense of fun and sexiness, dominating the stage and playing to the crowd with the relaxed ease of vets who have nothing to prove. There was a hunger to the rookies that gave them more edge but sometimes you just wanna watch really talented ppl relaxedly doing their very talented thing.

With everyone acutely aware there was only one act left to take the stage, a couple of SF9s came out to MC a special stage. They did the usual "how are you guys enjoying the show" and "we love Australia" and all that jazz, and then made the fatal mistake of asking an open-ended question:

SF9 MCs: so who is Australia's favourite boy group? Crowd: BTS!!! MCs: Yes, Exo!!! #awkward

I lol'd! I am sorry! Bless you Exo but c'mon!

This was followed by a brief VCR of Australian fans naming their favourite boybands, and then a really fun special stage of boyband covers: Pentagon covered GOT7's Hard Carry; SF9 covered Exo's Monster; and Victon did BTS's Fire.

At last it was time for EXO - MUCH CHEERING FROM CROWD! Exo-Ls were out in force. There were also tons of lightsticks in the crowd and everyone was hyyyyped.

Now some context for my reaction: I can name all the Exo's and I like some of their songs, but I don't quite click with their aesthetic/dynamic in the way that I do with BTS, etc. They were also at something of a disadvantage, with D.O absent from the line-up (I had to count them twice to make sure sob) and Lay MIA from this entire comeback (though I guess that's no longer surprising).

So let that be the background for me saying that I was totally entertained and impressed by their set. Starting with Power and ending with Ko Ko Bop, they came out and gave a great show. They are after all professionally charming and who was I to resist?

For me again it's that idea of a live show being so much more powerful than a video, even for something as preplanned and artificially constructed as pop. A concert is such a powerful reminder that it's more than the performer, and it's more than the audience too - it's about the relationship between the two, that alchemy of atmosphere and act that you only get in that specific environment.

Yes, Kai was deadly with his fucking winks and seductive looks (how dare you sir), but the way the audience reacted to his performance is what made the show go off. Xiumin aka Cat Pirate was also a scene stealer for me, and it was very darling when Chanyeol threw confetti at his head at the end awwww.

(I just wish, like, SM were less SM-y. I got a message from proteinscollide after the show - "Girl walking thru car park: shout out to SM who never give reasons for why members aren't there and if they're ok". Um, yep. I had to check on twitter to find out that D.O was off filming a movie.)

Ending stage was as usual with everyone coming out as tons of confetti rained down. I think a SF9 hugged a Victon? AWWW FRIENDS. A good night.

Night 2

We started again with dance cover groups - colour me EXTREMELY impressed by IME Dance Studio - and Kevin from U-KISS giving away a prize to whoever in the crowd did their best impression of their favourite thing to do in a hotel room. This led to a really hilarious scenario as the cameras zoomed in on 2 girls "dancing" together. "Yes, they're dancing!" Kevin said, "of course they're dancing!" Everyone just cracked the fuck up, Kevin included. They got the prize, bless them, which was - ofc - a free hotel stay!

The show started with the same VCR as the day before and then I was EMOTIONALLY DESTROYED by Monsta X's Jooheon and Shownu taking the stage together to drop an absolutely fire performance. Jooheon's duality is amazing - cuddly scaredy-cat off stage, fucking monster on stage - he was SO GOOD. Shownu's dance break was great as expected and I cried tears in my heart bc I love them.

SF9 returned for the second evening - again, they were slick and impressive, and they namedropped kangaroos and meat pies in their intro ment, good work on ticking off those keywords lol. But I really don't know why they got sets on both days? Did FNC decide they really wanted to build that fanbase and made the necessary commercial arrangement with the promotors? Like I said, stages like this can be real turning points in making a fan. So that's fascinating. If anyone knows, lemme know?

Daehwi (Wanna One)

Three Wanna Ones then took the stage to briefly MC. It was definitely Kang Daniel and uh, two other Wanna Ones! *hastily googles* It was Daehwi, who was the most fluent in English and was super cute & cheesy, and Minhyun, who was also cute but I don't remember much? Sorry team. The only Broduce bro I can 100% identify is Daniel, and sometimes Jaewhan. But! I think I'll remember Daehwi from now on - he was pretty memorable and did the most heavy lifting in the ments. Anyway they delivered some potted intros and then on to the next one.

WJSN then performed a special stage, covering two Kylie Minogue songs as two subunits - Locomotion (which I note came out in 1988, older than every single K-Con performer except for Sojin of Girl's Day) and I Can't Get You Out Of My Head (2001 - there are rookies debuting born in 2001! And younger! God i'm so old). Firstly much love for preparing a special stage with local appeal that didn't feel pandering and really spoke to the long history of amazing women in pop, and secondly THEY WERE SO GOOD. Fun, bright, poppy - I love them.

They were followed by Up10tion who did a high energy set and I remember why I liked them! They're good! I don't quite click with all their songs, especially their more recent ones which I feel are a bit hit and miss, but just like every other group in this K-Con they delivered their set with professionalism and skill and charm.

There was then a brief interlude with MX's Kihyun and I.M, MY TWO LOVES, MCing an audience dance game. We got to see Kihyun doing the Twice TT dance and my world was made. Gosh I love them.

WJSN

WJSN then came back for their set and I just really like them so much. They have that sleekness that I've come to associate with Starship because of them and MX, with both groups always having good choreo and catchy hooks. I like their concept a lot too - they're cute sassy cheerleaders, yes, but I also feel like there's this very cool edge to them, they could easily cut you! I love that! As they acknowledged in their ment, 2 members couldn't make it due to filming schedules (I think it was Cheng Xiao, the dancey/gymnastic one? And Mei Qi, possibly? I'm sorry, I don't remember) but they were still very good and I enjoyed their set a lot. And their main rapper - god, I'm sorry, I don't know if it was Bona or another member - she was SO GOOD? She had so much stage presence. Gosh. I need to find out her name.

Next up were Wanna One. Now, ofc, Produce 101 never officially aired in Australia. We had to watch it on the internet like a bunch of animals. And yet out of all the groups on both days, their fans were definitely the most intense and the most scream-y - yes, more intense than the Exo-Ls and the Monbebes!

I only ever saw snippets of P101 and as I said I can only ID Daniel with certainty, but I was, hmm, not surprised I guess that they turned out to be endearing? CAN U IMAGINE, a group of young men voted for according to their charms turns out to be extremely charming?! The shock! (From a purely commercial standpoint, what a brilliant exercise this has turned out to be. I think the limited timeframe for Wanna One to make bank lends an edge of urgency to their fandom and means their machine is also geared to maximum efficiency. Make! Bank! Now!) And because they're young and new, there was a certain edge of rawness and spontaneity to them which is naturally part of their appeal too. I still don't quite know what I feel about Kang Daniel - like I know he's very fond of cats and therefore a good person, and he has this easy, cocky stage charisma which makes his appeal seem very straightforward. But I think I found him most endearing when he missed a step at the end of his dance solo and there was just the cutest expression on his face, like "my bad."

For their Pinata game, they did photo time with hyung line posing "cutely" and maknae line posing "sexily" followed by some kind of free for all - A HOT MESS, lol.

Daehwi also went off script - or at least, he said he went off script, but can you ever really know? We need to go deeper! - and wished happy birthday to Kuanlin, getting the whole audience to sing along too, awww. As I said: what a group of charming young men; the self-awareness that they were constructed to charm ultimately means nothing.

FINALLY MONSTA X. They're, like, my second favourite group after BTS so I think I would've been just fine if they'd shown up and waved at us and sang like a song or two. But they didn't! They were really, really good. As headliners they had a signficant chunk of time and I think I was smiling from start to end, non stop.

They've turned into such good performers - with something similar to that same easy confidence that Girl's Day and Exo had - and I felt like they really did the most, on the second night, with connecting to the audience. Their performances were all on point, and everyone of them looked and sounded great but Jooheon especially killed me with swag and Wonho's collar & cleavage can fuck right off, ISTG. It just made me so happy to see them doing these songs and choreo I love so much - Shine Forever and Beautiful and Fighter - and they ended with Hero, my very first MX song, which was amazing. (I am a little sad they skipped All In but ok I can live with it.)

For their ment, they played the proposal game, with three members doing their very best fanservice lol. A very happy woman in the standing area got to be audience surrogate as I.M laid on cheesy lines (something about angels and heaven, IDK, why is he like this and why do I love him so much), Kihyun sang a ballad to her (next to me proteinscollide died a death), and Wonho came down to the barrier to to give her a heart, selfie & cheek kiss. It was so! Cheesy! And Wonderful! #the selfawareness does nothing

Everyone then came out for the goodbye, though MX were the only ones who felt relaxed enough it seems to actually get silly with the confetti and do some more spontaneous bows & waves to the crowd. By comparison to every other group on the 2nd night, they must be the old hands at K-Con by now - they've done SO many. Gosh I hope they come back to Australia for a full show. I love them so much.

Fuck, I'm now at 3300 words so let's wrap this up quick:

Unlike other K-Cons which seem to have a proper programming and convention stream, the "convention" part of this was really a disappointment. Minimal programming, minimal stalls (less than 10 vendors), all in one room. It was free entry which is fine I guess except that people were queuing up forever to get inside due to the limited capacity and it was H O T (over 30 C each day) out there. In the end I queued for an hour, and spent about 15 minutes inside. It was really not worth it. Luckily proteinscollide & I had options and just went away for a few hours to pass the time before the show, but I imagine there were a lot of kids left hanging around Olympic Park all day with nothing to do.

The shows didn't sell out. What does this mean? Possible thoughts:

-It was really expensive and the audience skews young. Like, the premium tickets were REALLY REALLY expensive and good tix were expensive. I could afford decent tix, but if I were in my teens? No way. I'd have had to ask my parents for it.

-Sydney has had a run of shows including an Australian-exclusive BTS show. If you're interstate and you already spent $$$ going to BTS, or for that matter $$$ to go G-Dragon in your own state, how much money do you have left over for concerts in this year? There is a limited capacity for this audience to keep spending. Promoters should be careful not to spread us too thin. Put more shows on in Melbourne! (Though I don't know - are there more Koreans and east Asians in Sydney? I suspect there are. The audience, again, skews heavily to those of us who are Asian-Australian.)

-Exo, MX, and Wanna One are very popular but don't have the same mainstream reach in Australia as BTS. BTS also had the advantage again of being earlier in the year, only the 2nd major kpop tour in the year I believe. Since then there's been other kpop and khip-hop shows for people to spend their money on. I really thought Exo would give BTS a run tho, given how well their latest album performed on Australian iTunes charts.

...that was not a quick wrap-up.

TO CONCLUDE: I HAD A GOOD TIME, THANK U FOR READING.

#kcon australia #exo #monsta x #wanna one #girl's day #wjsn #cosmic girls #pentagon #sf9 #victon #up10tion #sydney #kpop #actually using tumblr as a blog how strange #this is really really long #i'm sorry lol #kpop shows

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xyriath · 7 years

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Hung Up on You

Ship: Roy/Ed

Rating: PG-13 for pottymouth Ed

Summary: Colonel Edward Elric is pleased to have snapped up the latest alchemical genius to join the military, but for reasons more than his abilities. And though Roy Mustang may be a looker, he's got an adorable awkwardness to him that Ed just wants to...

Well, eat up.

Notes: VERY VERY VERY VERY BELATED BIRTHDAY PRESENT FOR MY DARLING @gettibucket THAT TOOK FOR GODDAMN EVER TO FINISH BUT I HOPE U LIKE BB!!!!!

—

“Boss?”

Ed chewed on the end of the pen, the words vaguely penetrating his concentration as he stared at the capelet obnoxiously obscuring his vision. His eyes narrowed slightly, and he wondered, if he asked to borrow it…

“Boss.”

Ed finally tore his eyes away from that regrettably covered ass, removing the pen from his mouth and dragging his gaze over to Havoc, grimacing.

“What?”

Havoc glanced in the direction that Ed had just been ogling, raising an eyebrow and lowering his voice. “Could you be any more obvious?”

“Probably,” Ed deadpanned back, utterly unrepentant. “Have you seen him when he talks to me? I haven’t seen someone trip over their own two feet so much since Elicia was learning to walk.”

Havoc rolled his eyes, and Ed muttered, “Insubordination!” This didn’t save him from the file slapping down onto his desk, and with a sigh, Ed opened it.

“Time to get a different view of him, then. Also, your own damn secretary. I’m tired of delivering papers for you.”

“It’s just ‘cause you look so good when you walk in,” Ed shot back without much force, skimming the papers. Idly, he wondered if it were his skill with alchemy or the laid-back nature of his team that had kept him from getting nailed with fraternization accusations in the past few years. Probably both. He clicked his tongue, then looked back up.

“Hey, Mustang!”

The newest member of his team straightened from where he had been searching through the bookshelf, turning to face Ed, eyes wide at the force of the statement.

“Colonel?” Mustang even saluted. Adorable.

Ed beckoned him over with two crooked fingers, raising an eyebrow. For someone eight years Ed’s senior, the man had a remarkably difficult time making eye contact with him. And only him: Havoc, Fuery, Breda, Falman, Ross; Mustang seemed to be fine with them, but the moment he came within a few feet of Ed…

Like Ed had said. Not very subtle.

“I’ve got some questions from the higher-ups about the history you provided. Sounds to me like you’ve been everywhere.” He flicked through the folder. “I think they wanna know if you’ve got connections or something. Know people there. East City in particular, apparently. Looks like you might be in the running for a special mission. Who the fuck knows?”

Mustang shifted in his seat, then glanced down at his knees, hands twisting in his lap. “I don’t think I can be of much help there, sir. I’ve been to most places across Amestris, yes, but that was with my father. I grew up traveling with him, and we never stayed anywhere long. I would mostly stay in the hotel rooms we rented, and certainly never got a chance to speak with anyone.”

Ed glanced back down at the file, twirling a bang around an automail finger. That certainly explained plenty. No wonder he could barely hold a conversation. Or flirt properly. He toyed briefly with the idea of reining it in. He’d keep an eye out for any signs to back off, but when Ed glanced back up, Mustang’s eyes had fixed on the hand. As soon as he realized Ed had spotted him, however, he flushed and turned away.

…So maybe not. Ed smirked slightly.

“Well, you’ll get plenty of opportunity to travel in more favorable conditions if you want.” Ed snapped the file shut with an air of finality. “So, onto other matters. You’ve heard about Lieutenant Ross’s promotion?”

Mustang nodded, turning back to Ed, seeming to relax now that he wasn’t the topic of conversation. Well, he should enjoy it for the couple seconds it lasted. “To First Lieutenant, yes?”

“Yeah, that’s it.” Ed leaned back in his chair, his expression innocent. So innocent, in fact, that any of the rest of his team could have spotted trouble a mile away. “I’m taking the team out to drinks tonight to celebrate. All on me. You should join us.”

“Join—me?” Mustang drew back, looking a little alarmed. “You shouldn’t go through the trouble—”

Ed waved his hand. “Nonsense. You’re part of the team, aren’t you? Everyone else is coming. Nice chance to socialize a little more.”

He grinned, and he could see Mustang hesitate. “You mean that?” he asked, and the combination of wariness and hope in his voice startled Ed, prompting a small jumping sensation in his chest that he hadn’t expected. But then again, he shouldn’t be surprised: going from a life of isolation like Mustang had described straight into a team that he had been built on camaraderie had to be a jarring shift.

“Of course,” he said firmly, grinning, and this time he could feel the sincerity shining through instead of the smirk. “I know we’d all like to see you here. Me especially.”

At that, Mustang went an adorable shade of pink, glancing away and trying to look unaffected.

Ed’s smirk returned.

—

Though Ed ended up working late, too late to go back home to change, he always kept a few spare sets of clothes in his office. More importantly, he always kept a spare set of absolutely, completely work inappropriate clothes alongside them.

When he stepped into the bar, he knew he turned heads. It might be the golden hair, freshly brushed and tied in a high ponytail, bangs framing a dark face with matching golden eyes. It might be the hint of eyeliner, smudged underneath those eyes, or the sleeveless red shirt that showed off his arms, one tanned and muscled, the other silver and gleaming in the low light.

Or, it might be the tight black leather pants. Who knew?

Ross, Havoc, Breda, and even Fuery had dressed to similar effects, knowing the bar and its unofficial dress code, though Ed probably pushed the boundaries a bit more than them. Falman had gone for safe. Mustang had opted for a suit, but…

Well, he certainly didn’t wear it the way Ed expected.

Instead of neatly pressed and buttoned, it hung open, the white collared shirt underneath unbuttoned just enough to leave you curious about what would happen if you popped it open one more. He had shoved the dark sleeves up to reveal a really, really nice set of forearms, by virtue of belonging to Roy fucking Mustang. His hair, messy as ever, fell into eyes that the dim light of the bar seemed to make even darker.

It all culminated in a rumpled effect that, somehow, unbelievably, managed to convey ‘effortless sex on legs.’

Formerly smug and confident in his own appearance, the sight quickly sent Ed into a tailspin of no fucking fair!

“Colonel!”

Despite the look, Mustang didn’t seem to be much different. He straightened, eyes wide, and tried to salute. Noticing the drink in his hand, Ed’s left hand darted out to clasp around his wrist, stopping him from lifting it before he spilled.

“Calm down, soldier,” he teased, offering a careless grin in Roy’s direction. “No need for formality here. Hell, you can even call me Ed. The rest of them do. Mostly.”

Roy swallowed, nodding as he lowered his drink, glancing at Ed’s hand on his with mild alarm. Ed admired the flush that crept up his cheeks for a few moments before releasing it.

“Then I suppose,” he murmured, voice soft, but the glance he shot Ed as he looked up was anything but, “you should call me Roy? While we’re off-duty, of course.”

Ed grinned brightly over at him, and something tiny in Roy seemed to relax at having read the situation correctly. He lifted his drink to take another sip, and Ed didn’t miss the slight lack of coordination in the movement.

“How many have you had?” Ed asked, trying to restrain his face back into something that wasn’t a smirk. Roy glanced up from over the rim of the glass, then lowered it.

“This is my first one.”

Ed snorted softly, then leaned over to the bar, watching Roy out of the corner of his eye as he ordered a drink for himself. Roy didn’t miss the opportunity to glance at the assets displayed in the leather pants. Good. He needed a confidence booster.

“Better watch it, then.” He took the drink offered, a real Risembool Moonshine—one of the many reasons he chooses this place to frequent—and turned back to Roy, who looked faintly indignant.

“I’m not drunk!” he protested.

“No, but you look like you might be soon.” Ed took a sip, grinning at the apple pie aftertaste that chased the burning. Perfect. “Y’know, for someone way bigger than me and all your limbs, I have a feeling I’m gonna end up outdrinking you.”

Roy scoffed, but of course Ed’s words prompted jeering from Breda and Havoc, demanding a drinking contest. Ross put a halt to that, insisting that they could get smashed once she’d had a chance to squeeze several more drinks out of Ed.

“Glad to know you guys keep me around for a reason,” he retorted, swigging the moonshine when she grinned innocently over at him.

In the end, it didn’t even take a drinking contest. Just three drinks with… slight strength.

“Y-you see, it’s not about the fire!” Roy chattered, hands waving animatedly as Havoc and Ed stared at him intently. “It’s the—the damn oxygen! You just gotta… y’know.” He waved his hand again, this time dismissively. “You gotta control that. And when you… uh…”

He frowned in concentration, and Ed lifted two fingers, placing them against his lips with a grin.

“Now, now, don’t go around sharin’ your secrets. It’s bad form, and y’never know when someone’ll try to grab ‘em and usurp you. Or use ‘em for evil. Whichever bugs you the most.”

Roy’s eyes went wide, and he froze. “My god, you’re right. There could be spies anywhere! Drachman spies!”

His lips moved against Ed’s fingers, and Ed couldn’t help but laugh. He reached over instead to pat Roy’s shoulder. “Somethin’ like that, yeah. Don’t worry, I’ll take care of you.”

Roy nodded solemnly, hilariously so, then lifted his hands to take Ed’s, the one on his shoulder, and held it to his chest, staring down at Ed with an intensity that left even his heart almost stuttering.

“This… this is why ‘m so glad I got you,” he murmured, eyes burning. “’Cause you know this shit. You’re… you’re damn brilliant, and so good, even when you were younger—shit, I can’t believe I was this lucky. And my god, you’re gorgeous, too, and I just…” He shook his head, stepping closer with a wobble. “Could I kiss you? God, I wanna kiss you. But…” He let Ed’s hand fall, looking suddenly heartbroken. “But that would be seducing a superior officer, wouldn’ it? Shit,” he groaned.

Ed stared at him, jaw dropping, trying to suddenly come to terms with the fact that, yes, he had just heard those words leaving Roy’s mouth.

Havoc seemed to have made himself scarce.

“Well, I mean, if you’re concerned about that sort of thing,” Ed said carefully, refraining from mentioning that he had never given a terrible amount of fucks about fraternization. Though he would eagerly say yes to this in a heartbeat, he hadn’t expected it to come across as a drunk confession, and that made navigating the already tricky waters of consent even harder. He hadn’t made the first movement for a reason, after all. No need to put pressure on Roy. He wasn’t interested in this unless Roy wanted it, too.

“And do you?”

Ed leaned back, tilting his head, and this time, Roy wasn’t even subtle with the way his eyes dragged up the dark skin of his neck.

“Tell you what, Roy. You still feel the same way tomorrow, sober, ask me then.” Ed smirked. “Alone, preferably.”

Roy’s eyes went wide, and Ed didn’t know what mental image he had conjured up, but it seemed to be a very nice one indeed. He held this expression for a moment, then looked crestfallen again, and Ed winced, feeling as if he had kicked a puppy.

“So I can’t kiss you now?”

Despite the very, very tempting mournful look from those beautiful dark eyes, Ed took a step back, smiling wryly.

“No, Roy. Not yet.”

—

Havoc insisted, nursing a hangover with a book spread open over his eyes, that one day, Ed was going to be too old to drink that much moonshine before coming into work the next morning. Ed, bright-eyed and chipper, flipped him off with a loud “Fuck you, Lieutenant!” at a pitch and volume that left Havoc wincing.

Ross seemed to be faring a little better, while Breda seemed as untouched as Ed. Roy… well, Ed couldn’t exactly tell how Roy was feeling, not with how his face was buried in an atlas.

“Taking me up on that chance to travel, Mustang?” Ed called, shuffling through his paperwork and then organizing it in chronological order (where it had previously been in alphabetical) to make it look like he was doing something.

Mustang only made a quiet noise, not looking up, and Breda snorted.

“Told him he shouldn’t bother, but he’s apparently doing that one assignment you got from General Hawkeye. You know, mapping out those latest alchemical incidents, which you were supposed to do to see if there was a pattern? The one she wanted last week?”

Ed went still. Oh, yeah, that had been a thing, but honestly, he had things due that were way later than a week. He’d face her wrath later.

“Any luck?”

“Some, sir,” Mustang murmured, still not looking up, reaching out to take another pin and place it in a spot that seemed to be southwest of Central. “Nothing concrete yet, though.”

“That’s not what he said a half hour ago,” Ross murmured, placing the open folder of her weapons certification on his desk. “Sounded like he was close to cracking it.”

“Mmm.” Ed signed with a flourish. “Y’don’t say.” He lifted his voice. “Havoc, go get some coffee, and do some actual work for a change. And take a babysitter if you’re not sure you won’t get distracted.”

“Guess that means me,” Breda broke in, stepping over and scooping his arm through Havoc’s. “C’mon.”

“But boss!” Havoc whined, letting himself be led away. “This is the only place I can sleep without getting yelled at!”

“I’ll start yelling if you don’t leave me alone.” He handed the folder back to Ross. “High-pitched. Singing, even, and you’ve heard me sing.”

Havoc made a terrified noise. “Oh, god. Get me outta here, Heymans.”

“Go find a supply closet to sleep in like the rest of us!” Ed called after them.

Ross let out a soft snort, tucking the folder under her arm. “Is that what you use supply closets for, sir?” she muttered.

Ed turned, eyebrows raised, expression innocent, and said archly, “Not anymore I don’t. Not with my office.”

Ross wrinkled her nose. “And with that, I am leaving. I’ll see you later, Colonel. And by later I mean, as far away from this moment as I can justify.”

The door clicked behind her, and Ed lifted his head. His team had their flaws, sure, but they at least knew when to exit a room.

It took Roy several minutes to realize that they were alone.

He lifted his head, glancing around, eyes going wide as they took in the empty room. Slowly, so very slowly, they slid over to Ed, then quickly looked away.

Ed sighed, standing, then walked over in Roy’s direction. “I don’t bite, you know.” He paused, considering, then tilted his head. “Unless you want me to.”

Roy let out a panicked choke, shoving suddenly away from the atlas, then turning to cough frantically into his arm. When he finished, he turned back to Ed, looking up at him with a mournful, almost panicked expression.

“I… last night, I was absolutely… I shouldn’t have… I’m so sorry—”

Ed winced. He didn’t usually feel guilty about this sort of thing, but most parties were usually both on the same page about what they wanted, too. He reached out, gently taking Roy’s shoulders, trying to smile reassuringly.

“Hey, hey. Look, it’s okay. I’m not upset. How much d’you remember? All of it?”

Looking away again, Roy nodded once.

“Then hey, that’s somethin’. I’m not upset. Hell, couldn’t be further from it. You don’t gotta be embarrassed. I meant what I said, too. If you actually still want anything, you just gotta tell me. But if not, you say so, right now, and we’ll both forget this ever happened.” Ed’s smile crooked up on one side. “Deal?”

At that, Roy seemed to remember how to breathe, and he nodded slowly. Ed didn’t miss the relief flooding his face, and he dropped his hands from his shoulders, congratulating himself on a crisis averted.

…Maybe. As a blush crept back up Roy’s face, Ed wondered what it was this time.

Roy cleared his throat, head turning further away, the same way he did when Ed flirted a little too blatantly.

“What’s up?” Ed asked, eyebrow raising.

Roy shifted in his seat for a few more moments, but Ed let him think. His patience rewarded him with a shy but hopeful glance upwards.

“…So, when you say you meant what you said, you mean…”

“I mean,” Ed finished for him as it became clear that the trailing off wasn’t likely to start back up again, “that if you wanna kiss, I’d be happy to, but if you don’t, we can forget about it.”

“No!” Roy sat bolt upright, dark eyes widening again, and this time they met Ed’s. “No, that’s not what I…” He cleared his throat, then swallowed. Though his blush deepened, he didn’t look away this time. “That’s not what I want.”

Ed tilted his head, trying not to let the grin inside him split too quickly over his face, scare Roy off. “So what’s the problem?”

“I… well, fraternization, for one. Well, for all. That’s the main problem. I know we’re not supposed to, and since you’re my commanding officer…”

Ed nodded. “Yeah, I can get how that might be concerning, and that’s why I’m sayin’ you can step away now, if you want. Or whenever. You could—well, you could say yes today and tell me to fuck off tomorrow and I’d get it. No pressure.”

“But the rules?”

Ed snorted. “Yeah, there are those. And we’d be breakin’ them. If that’s a problem, again, you can tell me to fuck off.”

“N-no!” Roy sat up at that, eyes gleaming with… was that excitement?

Ed finally let himself grin.

“You like that?” he murmured, leaning in, eyes beginning to gleam as well, he knew. “The idea of it bein’ a secret? Never struck me much as a rulebreaker, Major Mustang.”

“I’m not!” Roy gasped, but the expression on his face of suppressed excitement said otherwise.

“Can’t fool me,” Ed murmured, leaning in so close that their noses almost touched. “Now, I just have one last question—”

Roy, of course, ruined his smooth delivery of, ‘Can I kiss you now?’ by leaning in with a gasp and pressing his mouth against Ed’s.

It wasn’t even a particularly skilled kiss, a little harsh, a little clumsy, but something about the eagerness, the earnestness, that sent a thrill deeper into his bones than anything from a more experienced partner could have. He lifted his left hand to gently take Roy’s jaw, tilting it up and slightly to the side, correcting the angle. Once Roy seemed to have the hang of that, he slid the hand around to the back of Roy’s neck, sliding his fingers up through that dark hair, softer even than he’d fantasized about.

Roy’s lips parted slightly underneath his, and he took the opportunity to flick a tongue out, just a tiny bit, to tease at pressing inside.

With a gasp, Roy jumped back, eyes wider than Ed had ever seen them, blush an attractive crimson color.

“Sorry,” Ed murmured, but his smirk dampened the apology. “Should I not have done that?”

“No!” Roy gasped. “I mean, yes, that was—you should have. Should. Do. Still.” He cleared his throat, reaching his hand up to straighten his hair.

“Noted.” Ed said the word easily, then turned on his heel, walking briskly towards the door. With one quick motion, he locked it.

When he turned back, Roy had stood, watching him, a combination of eagerness and nervousness that forced Ed to bite his lip to keep from fucking losing it.

“S-sir—”

“Roy,” Ed breathed, striding over in a few long steps, reaching up to straighten his hands down his chest. “When we’re like this, call me Ed.”

Roy’s hands lifted to lightly grip Ed’s waist, and Ed grinned, sharklike. This was going to be fun.

“All right.” Roy swallowed, and Ed admired the bob of his throat as he did. “Ed.”

“Perfect,” Ed breathed, and with an experienced twist, he pushed Roy back towards his desk. Roy followed, a little alarmed and very surprised, until the backs of his thighs hit the wood. He paused, clearly thinking Ed would stop there, and then let out an alarmed yelp as an automail hand pressed into his chest, tipping him back onto the desk.

Ed leaned over him, bracing that hand next to his head, grinning as their noses actually touched this time.

“Ed, what are you…”

“Please, Roy,” Ed drawled, pressing his left finger to Roy’s lips, then leaning in to kiss him, long and slow. “Please. I can tell you’ve got a lot to learn, and it’s about time we get started.”

#gettibucket #Safe RoyEd #Roy Mustang #Edward Elric #RoyEd #Fullmetal Alchemist #my fics

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raidenenthusiast · 3 years

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you already know I'm gonna ask for genshin<3

GOD BLESS ILY 💖💕 i should mention that i accidentally closed tumblr halfway through answering this, so i am literally retyping all of it. this new phone has a very like, slippery screen n i'm not used to it so i was like OH SHIT HAGDJANHDBSN

my favorite female character: SUCROSE!!! i only have very minor complaints about her design (really i just wish she was wearing some pants) n the parts of it i do like (her hair n her ears n the COLORS) are so pleasing to look at. i fly around with her bc the mondstadt wings match her really nicely n she looks so cute. her little ears.......i adore her. she has a voiceline about how she wants to use alchemy to create a fairytale utopia n it's SO sweet n i love her so much.

honorable mention hu tao, bc she's actually the only female design i personally don't complain about at all (the bar is so low though) n i LOVED her story quest. i'm also a really big fan of how she's voiced in english (bc i play in english) n also she's hilarious. i'm obsessed with her dynamic with zhongli too.

my favorite male character: strap in kids. this is gonna be a long ride. i have a top three, although it's technically more of a top four.

tied for first are childe n xiao bc i cannot choose between them. i had a really fun journey with childe; when i first started playing, my friend told me they thought he would 100% be my type n i looked at a photo of him n went "ehhhh" so i wasn't really sure at first. i also knew the um. "reputation" fans of him had within fan content n such so i was ALSO wary of that being a very frequent fandom-goer. fast forward a little bit n his banner roles around. i actually decided to pull for him for GAMEPLAY reasons initially, bc the idea of a ranged user being able to use a melee stance was literally a gamechanger for me who wasn't n still isn't very good at archers. i did start liking him reluctantly at that point, but i didn't really want to admit it (very funny looking back) n i used to make fun of him a lot bc i was in denial. NOW i have him in my party (my incredible dps my beloved) n i have finally met him in story which made me fall REALLY hard REALLY fast bc believe it or not, canon childe is NOTHING LIKE fanon childe. n that's a good thing mind u. n the rest is history, he now means everything to me. i am soft for him daily. i also rescind my previous "ehhhh" about his appearance bc he is very sexy. i am ALSO very much an advocate for how griffin voices him n i could talk about the golden house scene for literal hours; it is THE best scene in the game so far.

xiao was sort of similar, my (same) friend n i both knew i would like him bc he is VERY much my type. we were right. i was hyped up to meet him n as SOON as i did i fell so hard i fell off a cliff. it breaks my heart every day i don't have him as i wait patiently for him to rerun. playstyle wise i honestly think he's really fun, but i would probably be saving for him even if i hated how he played, bc i just love him that much. i'm also obsessed with yaksha lore in general n i think about him a lot. xiao my beloved. he also has one of my favorite (if not my favorite) designs.

diluc n zhongli are the last two, bc i can't really choose which one of them i like more, only bc they're both important for different reasons?

diluc was my FIRST favorite character. i took a single look at him n i KNEW. first character i loved, first character i really wanted, as well as the character i tried to (n failed to) REROLL FOR. over fifty times, n nothing. i have him now, but goddamn. i have a thing for characters associated with fire, n as soon as i heard about the whole darknight hero thing i was like oh my.....marriage. i was heartbroken when i played through the chunk of the story quest where they let u trial him before i had him bc i wanted him so bad. he's literally been on my team since day one. i go idle with him to hear him say nice things to me. i love him so much.

n as for zhongli, he's. also special. the definition of comfort character. "he's more than daddy to me. he's.....he's like GRANDPA" HQGDNANHD no but seriously, he walks on sceen n i just feel safe. part of it is keith being so very good at voicing him, but regardless i love him very much. he tugs at my heartstrings a lot n i think he's probably the character the causes me the most physical heartache bc i feel so bad for him.

honorable mention dain, bc who would i be if i didn't mention dain. mwah.

my favorite book/season/episode etc: i'm gonna go with quest for this one! n i think we all know what i'm gonna say; OF COURSE IT'S ZHONGLI'S STORY QUEST!! i complain a lot about how this game doesn't treat tension properly, but i have absolutely nothing to complain about in either of his quests. particularly part two really held its own for me against the entire main story, in my opinion. i know part two just came out, but i am ECSTATIC about the possibility of future parts. also the only story quest i've shed tears over (although i came pretty close on childe's n xiao's). i even THINK about a scene from that quest n my heart breaks into pieces. emotionally, zhongli owns me.

my favorite cast member: in terms of acting performance, probably keith. in general, yuri. he is one of my all time favorite voice actors n i inhale everything that he has done like fucking kirby. i'm really attached to a lot of the english cast though; laila, griffin, khoi, erika, etc.

my favorite ship: this is hard, actually. what's hilarious is that all my favorite pairings involve zhongli. i honestly, at this point, think it's a tie between zhongluc n rezhong. bc rezhong there is just so much there n so much to THINK about, but zhongluc is very comforting to me, personally, n the whole dragon n the phoenix imagery stuff sucked me in like a VACUUM. i also really like guili though; basically, if zhongli is in it, i will at least think about it (sort of, see later).

a character i'd die defending: childe no uhh. in terms of characters who NEED defending, kaeya. i am so SICK of u people not knowing how to interpret him. i'd like to add in eula here too, bc i REALLY like her, n i think some of u went a little bit haywire. in terms of characters who don't really need defending, xiao. i would die for him, actually.

a character i just can't sympathize with: ironically i don't genuinely hate any of the playable characters yet. dottore is pretty fucked up so i guess him, but also i still find him interesting hagdbanhdnan.

a character i grew to love: besides childe? ganyu! i didn't NOT like her by any means, but i was mostly indifferent, n while i WISH her story quest had a little more to it...i adore her very much.

my anti otp: besides the obvious ones, zhongchi.....LET ME EXPLAIN!! i don't HATE it, exactly. but i got so irreparably BITTER about it clogging up both childe n zhongli's individual tags, to the point where i couldn't find enough content without it, i completely lost interest. i will accept nice art of it, but i also have a massive problem with how A LOT of fans tend to over/hyperfeminize childe in relation to the ship, which feels very disingenuous to me bc childe.....isn't a feminine character, really. he's just, i dunno, skinny?? if anything, his whole fight happy shit feels more masculine to me, lmao. it just very much feels like a lot of u can't accept a pairing between two men unless u put one of them in the role of the "woman" n it very much bothers me. like, listen, i know childe is canonically a malewife n i love that about him, but it's about the intent. n i feel HORRIBLE vibes from a lot of u people. i know active fandom genshin fans have bad vibes in general, but u know what i mean. i have been to this rodeo before, n i hate it every time. also, i see a lot of very mischaracterized childe in relation to the pairing too, n to a much lesser extent zhongli, but it still exists. basically, i don't hate it, but i am bitter. n it very much feels like a lot of u are turning them into ur token fandomwide homos which NEVER ends well.

please all i ask is if ur gonna ship two men can u at least treat them both like some semblance of men i am tired

#genshin #mika.txt

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