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binniesthighs · 3 years

Text

two tails | reader x minho |

Three

Pairing: self insert, female reader x lee minho

Genre: strangers to lovers, neighbors to lovers, fluff

Tags: neighbors au, comfort fic, catowner!minho, catowner!reader, author!reader, bestfriend!seungmin, floristnpunk!jisung, gradstudent!jeongin, agedup!skz, slow burn, plot driven, gradual romance, lil bit of angst, strained parental relationship, explicit language, mentions of food and alcohol, mentions of previous kinda sad relationships

Word count: 5.4k (y e e h a w)

Tagging: @lauraneuuh

Chapters

P | ONE | TWO | THREE | ?

zeal noun

: eagerness and ardent interest in the pursuit of something: fervor

₍⸍⸌̣ʷ̣̫⸍̣⸌₎

Seungmin never liked your cooking, or at least, he’d often mumble this into his spoon while beginning his second serving. He was probably just being nice, or respectful. Your best friend of four years had never been less.

Aside from the fact the he had a 70 pound golden retriever, never had you once seen a strand of that golden hair cling to the cloth of his winter coats. In the autumn, he would drive you in his hand-me-down ‘91 Mitsubishi to the city where you would tutor the English students just so you wouldn’t have to bear the cold of the subway. In the summers he would toss soju down his throat with you, sitting on the carpet of your living room and turning his head to the side with a hand raised to hide his glass. In the spring, he would remember your birthday--several months before his--and take you to coffee shops and bookstores, then the grocery store (which he knew you hated) and would buy for you the most expensive beef he could find.

You would cook the meat for the two of you, and he would say that he liked it...even if you had charred it black on the edges.

Seungmin flicked at the little aluminum tab on his beer can while he watched you murder yet another plate of perfectly fine vegetables on your stovetop.

“At least it smells nice.” You flipped the circle of white onion.

“It does.” He returned, nonchalant, flicking the beer tab a little poink.

“You’re being uncharacteristically quiet. Too tired to complain about those dicks from the marketing team? They put you on a shitty pitch again didn’t they?”

“Every pitch is a shitty pitch there. God, you wouldn’t believe the kinds of slogans that they make me say sometimes. It’s humiliating.”

“Hey, you’re the one that took the pay raise over that job at that high school.”

“Well, you didn’t have rent staring you dead in the face and a dog that’s practically active and sentient enough to be a real child.” He slugged down a sip of his drink. “I’m a single father you know.”

“As if!” You choked out your laughter. “Since when did you turn into Hyunjin? You were never one for dramatics anyway.”

“Go get your vegetables, they’ll burn.” He nodded his head to the stove. The thing was, they were already burnt.

You salvaged what you could of the vegetables then placed them over your rice balls (not intended to be balls in the first place) and the chicken strips which had undoubtedly been seasoned just a little too much. You slid the ceramic bowl in front of him. At least it was steaming. That was a good sign.

Seungmin nodded a little in thanks, then let out a less than obvious sigh before taking his first bite.

“Spicy...but good.”

The way that his breath sounded thin made it convincing enough to you that it wasn’t just “spicy.”

He scrunched up his face in that adorably puppy-like way that you had long gotten used to.

“Really. Tell me. It isn’t the pitches. Don’t pretend like I can’t read you.”

Your best friend squeezed his eyes shut with a rather generous slug of his beer. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Whaaaat?” You whined a little while opening up your own can. “Oh my god. It’s that girl from the art division. She has a boyfriend doesn’t she? Dammit.”

“No.” Your friend drew the disdain in his eyes up to you from the chicken that had made his nose start to run. He wiped at it quickly.

“I hope it’s not my mother that’s getting to you. She’s too damn nosy for her own good and twice as cocky as she should be. Don’t listen to her. What did she tell you anyway?”

Seungmin poked at his food with his fork then twisted a crispy-tipped red pepper. “Have you talked to him again?”

“--Minho?”

You shied at the memory of meeting him on his morning run two days prior. He would go out at nearly 8:00 on the dot every morning, just when the sun started to peek into the dewy pink and blue mornings.

“You should put on a sweater if you’re going to get up this early for those plants of yours. Don’t want you catching a cold.”

“Yes.” You answered your friend. A tiny ache pinged at your chest--and it wasn’t the kind that felt all twisted. “He asked me to watch the meteor shower with him this weekend. I hope I can cook something edible for him.”

Seungmin’s knee bounced, “Aren’t you at least at little suspicious of him?”

“Suspicious? Why would I be?”

“You hardly even know anything about him, or where he came from, what he does for a living--”

“--Now you’re starting to sound like my mother Seung. Relax. Besides, sometimes it doesn’t take much to feel...comfortable around a person. I mean, look at us! Soju nights started like, three weeks after we met. And I do know where he works. He works for a company that makes windows; fancy ones.”

“Windows?” He cocked a brow.

“He did say that it was kind of boring...”

“I just--” Your friend sighed out, resting anxious hands on his knees. Here he was again, being nice and respectful, like always. “--You could get hurt if you’re not careful.”

“What?”

“I’m saying, don’t get your hopes up.”

“Geez Seung...” Your voice trailed off with a different pain in your chest. This was the kind that twisted.

His expression softened, and he lent a hand to your shoulder, lingering, squeezing lightly. “Your mom...she told me to look after you...not like I do that already with you falling all over yourself and burning things...I don’t want to see you get hurt.”

“Hm. Thanks.”

“You’re also miserable to deal with when you’re sad. You make me blow my grocery budget with how much frickin’ ice cream and freezer tater tots you force me to get.”

“You like those tater tots too though.”

₍⸍⸌̣ʷ̣̫⸍̣⸌₎

Bomi purred in your lap swaddled into a little ball of white, orange, black and brown. She was napping, or rather, trying to nap with the way that her little cat-shaped eyes blinked slowly. You tried your best to soak every little moment of it up: you knew that with her, it would be fleeting. There was something supremely calming about being close to your little furball like this. After all the love that you poured over her in the form of useless cat toys and new cat food every week, this somehow made it all worth it.

You tapped lightly at your keyboard, not too harshly, just lightly enough so that you wouldn’t startle your sleeping cat. The tips of your toes were cold, but you didn’t dare to move to grab a blanket to ruin the moment. Outside, a light spring rain befell on your small cement patio. Droplets of the warm showers patted at the roof of your home softly.

Your eyes had grown tired and dry at this late hour, but the end of the chapter was near. One more time you hovered your mouse over the little notification bar, clicking at it for that one last push of motivation:

Bomi needs to quit MESSING AROUND. Blaze is right in front of her!!! Ahhhh I want them to get together soooo bad

Is Herbie okay?? Poor bb, its so cute how we would do anything for Bomi.

Bomi:

Blaze:

*now kiss*

Are we really getting to the end of Book 1??? This has been such an amazing story N/n, I always look forward to your updates <3 they make my Thursdays hehe

I can feel like something big and bad is coming...oh no...I hope that Blaze and Bomi make it through

A thankful little chuckle hummed on your lips, then you pressed enter to start a new paragraph.

“Oh Bomi,” You exhaled, “If only Blaze knew how you felt too.”

Chapter 27

...The group journeyed through the cavern with flickering white flames dancing and casting shadows on the stone walls dripping in stalactites. Bomi held on to the hilt of her sword tighter with a sense of dread creeping up her throat. Blaze looked onward, much as he had been doing these days.

His leg was wrapped in a bloodied bandage: a reminder of the battle won against the Boar in Hilgram. He had jumped in front of her as he had countless times before.

“Hello??” Blaze’s voice echoed against the long and winding chambers of the cave. In his tone he was confident, but his shoulders still shook with an uncertainty.

Herbie’s little hedgehog feet patted the damp floor, and he looked up at his Princess with fear in his soft black eyes. The little velvet banner wrapped around his body had been torn and tattered from one too many battles.

Had it been darker, Bomi wondered if she had reached out for Blaze’s hand to find in him. She shook her head with her resolve, eyes painfully shut. It was only in the darkness that she allowed herself to want for him.

₍⸍⸌̣ʷ̣̫⸍̣⸌₎

Today must be one of those spring-summer days.

Your warbled reflection chased after you in the blue glass of the university’s library windows. You had hoped that no one was on the other side watching you as you wrinkled up your nose to look like one of those devilish gargoyles that you had been writing of the night before. From the inside, rows and rows of books were lined up perfectly, however there were almost no students inside. It always did make you a little sad how few students would be there when you clocked in for your mandatory office hours.

Spring-summer days meant that the businesswomen on the sidewalks had exchanged with trousers with flowing skirts and little clicky ballet flats and each businessman had his tie and collar tugged down. There was a comforting warmth to the spring air that reminded you of your own college days when you and your friends--long gone now--had stayed up late to study, then would scour the buzzing streets for snacks. Things were much simplier then.

At the library’s entrance, budding tulips and geraniums of light purple hues were greeted by round bumblebees. Had the city not been as loud as it was, you could nearly hear the cicadas in the park on the east edge of the shining silver building.

You bowed slightly to the attendant at the desk who always would smile at you with adorable smiling eyes to match. She would often wear earrings of strange shapes that you had never seen before. She wore a lanyard too that had little cat paw prints decorating it; it was because of this you knew she was someone you could trust.

“Are you having a nice week?” You said to her customarily.

“Oh, I am. It’s always the same around here. My daughter will be having her baby soon! Sometimes I think that I’m more excited than she is.”

“You’ll have to tell me when that happens so I can bring her a gift, okay?”

The attendant smiled warmly, and nodded you off with a little oh, you don’t have to.

“Remember your key card this time?” She watched as you jingled around your own keys with the obsessive amount of plastic and silicon keychains.

You tsked. It seemed like nearly everyone in your life had now known how forgetful you tended to be sometimes.

“Yes. Don’t worry about me. I’ll be over there.”

Once more the two of you exchanged little bows and you made your way over to the back of the four storied library with the atrium of trees in between. There was a marble fountain encircled by the trees that had little oval shaped leaves. Two tiny birds, all black, bounced from branch to branch. It was your secret, but you had written about that fountain many times in your writing, but you were the only one who knew that it was real.

You tapped the reader to hear that familiar do-do doot along with the flash of the green lock. As always, the study room was a bit messy with eraser shavings sprinkled about and the odd dry marker laying next to the trashcan where someone had tried to toss it in, but had missed. The minute hand on the wall clock scooted right on to the 12.

“Are you busy?” That fluff on white hair peeked into your study room just like clockwork.

“For my favorite student? Do you even have to ask?”

Jeongin, the oldest and most attentive student in your class hopped in with his adorably boy-ish charm. Regardless of the fact that he was in the last year of his grad degree, it was impossible for him to look that old. You didn’t have the heart to tell him, but he technically shouldn’t have been in your class for undergrads, but you weren’t going to stop him.

“Why’d you decide to take this class anyway?” You would ask him.

He’d answer, “For fun.” with that cute little smile of his.

“I hope I’m not bothering you.”

“I just got here.” You pulled out a seat for him.

“Oh. Good. I was wondering if you could proof read my short story again. I’m having trouble with the ending. I just don’t think I understand all the way how to make it full circle like you said in lecture.”

He unzipped his leather backpack: obviously a gift from someone in his family that must have thought it would make him look his age. It didn’t. What didn’t help further was how he had adorned it with all kinds of keychains; much like your own keys. It was because of this that you knew he was someone you could trust.

His manuscript already had dozens of scribbles in his own handwriting with tons of question marks riddling the margins.

“Let me take a look.”

You skimmed the pages of the short story--one which you had already read the week prior--for all of his new edits. The notes made it a bit hard to read, but you were used to how he would make a mess of his papers now. He leaned in close to you with glossy eyes that might have even twinkled a little like a cartoon. Both of his knees bounced furiously while he watched you read, and would look from the paper, to your face, then back to the paper, then back to your face...

“Is-is it good? Better?”

Jeongin had written a love story. His first one that you had known of. It was about a boy and a girl who had met on an airplane, and had been seated together. The two of them found out that they had shared so much about their two lives without ever meeting until this very moment. They had realized they went to the same high school, worked in the same building, and were travelling for the same reason: to meet up with someone that they had once loved. It was beautiful, tragic, and in some ways, familiar.

“I think that it’s wonderful Jeongin. The edits that you made to it from last week really help with the narrative flow as well as the vertical plot. You’re really good at asking the deeper questions behind the piece like “why are they really there,” and “why is it important that they are there.” All you need to do is tie it up.”

“But howwww?” Jeongin slumped in his wheely chair. “What should I say?”

“Well...” You tapped your pen to your lip. “The ending scene is when they land at the airport right? Why don’t you have your main character say something that calls back to all of their similarities and makes it seem like they’ve known eachother all along?”

“But I don’t want it to seem like they’re going to forget eachother.”

“They won’t. You established that they’ve both found something different than what they were looking for in the first place.”

Your student’s face tangled up into concentrated knots and he puffed those thin strands of bleached white hair away from his eyes.

“I could say...‘see you at home’? Or...maybe that’s too cheesy--”

“--No it’s not! If you like it, I think that it also fits the story well. Its like, now they understand, and they’ve got something in eachother now that they hadn’t had before; also juxtaposing with your themes of travelling to make a reference to home.”

“Damn, you’re much better at this kind of stuff than I am...” Jeongin wrote down the new ending on his print out.

“Its just...what I like to do.”

“I’m glad I came.” He grinned out with his mischievous and trademark smile. “How’s your story going by the way? Almost finished?”

“Oh...”

A heat rose in your cheeks. You had decided to tell Jeongin about Princess Bomi a few weeks back, but you had neglected to tell him exactly what the story was about. That was a secret better kept to yourself.

“Its...good. I think. My readers seem to really like it.”

“Maybe you’ll let me read it someday. I bet there would be tons of other people who would like to read it too, you know, outside of the internet.”

“That’s what I’ve been told...” Hyunjin’s urgings echoed in your head. “Maybe...” Your eyes wandered to those scribblings of his. “How about we make a deal?”

“What kind of deal?”

“Once we get both of our stories sorted, lets submit them together. I’m sure people would like to read yours too.”

“Mine?!” Your adorable student’s face flushed as deeply pink as the sweater he wore. “Oh no, no no no no no.”

“I’m telling you it’s good! Its relatable, raw, well written. It never hurts to try. How about submitting it for the literary journal they do at the end of the semester?”

“You mean the one that all the arts majors read and fuckin’ eviscerate?? Hell no.”

“Hey, I could get eviscerated too by my chief editor.”

Jeongin gulped with his terrified, brown, cartoon-character glistening eyes boring holes into his manuscript.

You sang, “~Wanna go down together~?”

“A-as long as we’re going down together...I guess it’s worth a shot.”

“Alright then!!”

He made a little sound of disgust, then shoved his papers back into his much-too-old-for-him bag. “That was all I needed to ask you for. Thank you.” He bowed with respect. “I won’t be bothering you for too long today.”

“You wrote a good story Jeongin.”

“Mm. Thank you.” His smile turned into a tiny flustered line.

₍⸍⸌̣ʷ̣̫⸍̣⸌₎

STUPID NEW CAT FOOD. AGAIN.

In one hand, you held the crinkled up grocery list with angry doodles of your cat folded into the corners of the page. You didn’t quite know if cats had eyebrows like the ones you had drawn onto your cat’s smug face, but you were for certain that this cat must’ve had them...and they were angry.

Bomi had selfishly decided at the end of your week that she no longer liked the last brand of cat food that you had found on the shelves of the grocery store. It was the brand stored next to the one that you had nearly concussed Minho with.

You were at your wits end. There must have been something wrong with your cat--to hell with her being a picky eater. Maybe she really was just a little alien inside there. A little alien that hated cat food. The image of you sitting at your dining table across from Bomi eating two plates of people food crossed your mind. She picked up the fork with her white paw and dabbed at her mouth with a cloth napkin. The idea didn’t seem the most out of reach.

In your other hand was your phone opened to the maps app with the small blue dot leading you to the specialty pet store.

“Damn spoiled, stuck up, good for nothing, pain in my as--”

“Hey! Blossom??”

Your head whipped around so fast you cracked the bones of your neck with a startling pop. You rubbed at your neck to ease the pain.

“You okay?”

At first you figured you must have dreamt him up in your neck-induced-pain. You cursed at your overactive imagination, still just as strong as it was when you had been small.

Blaze in the flesh he was alllll the way from his battered Converse to his stupidly handsome curly hair.

You laughed out incredulously with a hand still glued to the back of your neck.

“Didn’t think that I would be seeing you around here again. Or at least, I was kind of hoping that I would.”

He marched right up to you with that same smile you had pictured on Princess Bomi’s companion countless times before. Today he wore a leather jacket over the arms that you knew were covered in all kinds of flowers and vines. It hadn’t quite hit you yet that he had said he was hoping to see you.

“Sorry if I startled you. I was just...really surprised.”

“You’re fine, it’s fine.”

You neck didn’t tell you it was fine.

“What are you doing around here?”

“Pet store.” Was all you could get out. It shouldn’t have come as a surprise to you, but for someone who worked at a flower shop, he did end up smelling an awful lot like flowers. It was a sweet aroma, much like your garden.

“Ahh, I just got off.”

You walked on, also not noticing that he had started to follow you a couple steps behind.

“I realized I didn’t get your name last time.”

“Oh. It’s Y/n.”

He hummed with a smirk. “I do kinda like Blossom more.” He crammed his hands into his pants pockets with a wistful little sigh. “Pretty nickname for someone as pretty as yourself.”

“Psh. Stop.” You had said it sarcastically, but you didn’t intend for your heart to skip as harshly as it did when he had said so.

“You’ve got a pet then? Dog? Cat?”

“Cat. Just one.”

“I wish I could take care of a pet like that. Don’t think I would be too good at it though. I see myself as more of a plant person. They’re quiet, don’t do too much, and they sort of love you back in their own way.”

“How's that?”

“By growing. And flowering. Changing colors and looking good in your windowsill. Nothing too crazy.”

“I...guess I can see what you mean.”

He flicked at the black hoop pierced into his lip in the way that you certainly hadn’t forgotten; and you were one for forgetting much.

“Mind if I go in with you? I don’t have a whole lot going on.”

Jisung. You had also remembered his name. He carried Blaze with him in the way that he had that fiery glint in his eye like he knew he was getting away with something. He was brash and forward, and charming as all hell. The sunset of blood orange and cotton candy pink seemed to melt into his shoulders where he stood before you in the golden hour of the evening. A yellow carnation was tucked into the pocket of his jacket.

“You don’t have to...”

He had already made up his mind, and swung open the door to the pet shop neighboring the floral shop. You didn’t know how you had missed it.

The squawking of birds chimed with the bells hung over the shop door.

“You coming?” He held it open for you.

You sheepishly entered before him, nearly tripping on the little incline to the entrance and catching yourself three seconds before disaster.

Jisung prompted, “Lead the way.”

Normally you would have been concerned over the cleanliness of the store, but that seemed insignificant compared to the way that he looked around all in his Blaze-like wonder. He widened his eyes at the rows of fish tanks and twiddled with the little feather cat toys at the ends of the isles.

Granted, he seemed much more immersed in the kinds of aquatic plants and moss balls that they had rather than the cute bunnies and mice, but still, you couldn’t help but shy away when he caught your glances.

“Glad that I joined ya Blossom.”

₍⸍⸌̣ʷ̣̫⸍̣⸌₎

There was something about Minho that felt like a lullaby. He wore a lavender colored sweater when he arrived at your doorstep: of course it was pooling into paws at his hands as always. The collar dipped deep enough for you to see the tops of his collarbones, and they were gorgeous and curved. His eyes wrinkled a little under his wire framed glasses when he would smile: that of which would also look like the little grin of a bunny. Effortlessly his brown hair kissed his forehead.

He would speak softly and carefully, and listen to everything that you had said to him as if it was the most important thing in the world. His feet were too big for your spare pair of house slippers and he had a tiny hole in his khaki pants right by the waistline. Minho greeted Bomi with a tiny “aigoo” and she let him sweep her up into his arms where he bounced her lightly. She would never let you do that. Traitor.

“Your home is very...you.” He had complimented. You had no idea what that meant.

His lips were pink and glossy with drips of that peach soju that you had bought in the hopes that he would like it. It turned out that it was his favorite flavor.

You wanted so badly to kiss the peachy flavor off of those lips.

He had laughed a little at your array of cat-related home decor, laughing the most at your dish towels that had two fat cats on them that looked like chefs. He said that he had seen a movie once and the characters reminded him of that.

The two of you sat outside on your patio on the wire chairs that would imprint designs into the back of your legs. The air mixed with the smell of your citronella candle and the scent of the roasted duck that you had attempted to make for him. You really shouldn’t have tried to make something for the first time when it was also his first time coming over.

Maybe he was just being nice, but he had said it tasted good.

It did not taste good, but rather harshly of salt and too much rosemary.

Bomi rubbed at his legs under the table and even hiked herself up on two feet to peek into his lap. As much as it hurt to see your traitorous cat act this way, it was because of this that you knew he was someone that you could trust. Minho gave her head scratches and insisted to help you with the dishes--a mistake on his part. It took all of two minutes before you had a mishap with the detachable sink head, and soaked through his sweater.

“Maybe I just shouldn’t trust you with water then?” He chuckled while dabbing away at the fabric.

“That probably would be best.”

Minho was a lullaby in the way that he laid down next to you on that quilt you had made in a crafting class some years ago. All of the patches were disjointed the the color scheme made very little sense, but it was stull functional. He kept his hands folded to his chest with reverence. His chest rose and fell calmly, and his body heat floated over to you. His presence was something familiar and still something that you couldn’t place.

“Are you getting tired?” He asked you gently.

You lied, “No, just resting my eyes.”

“Maybe we shouldn’t have had that much soju then.” He joked into the open air.

“How much longer?”

“At least thirty more minutes.”

He was so warm. Warmer than any chill of the spring night.

First you would have kissed the peachy flavor on his lips. Then you would have cuddled all up into that lavender sweater which you imagined to be even softer than cat’s fur--or rather--it looked like it could have been.

“Do you know any constellations?” Minho pointed up to the sky.

“Not really.”

“Well, that one is Ursa Major...and over there...that’s Leo. Can you see that it sort of looks like a triangle?”

“Yes.” You had said, but really you didn’t have a clue, you liked it more hearing him talk about them. “Where did you learn about constellations?”

“Long time ago. I think it was in school, but, that was so, so long ago.”

The cool grass under the quilt rustled when he had leaned back up to sit, then dragged quilt attempt #2 over your body and his.

“It was getting a little cold.” He quietly announced.

His simple action of doing just that heated up your whole body now knowing that the two of you were trapped together, inches apart.

Minho tucked his arms to prop up his head. “Thank you for cooking for me. I haven’t had someone other than my mother cook like that for me in a long while.”

“I’m sorry...I know that it was pretty inedible--”

“--And thank you for allowing me to come over too. I...realize...I don’t really know what I’m doing that well. I kind of invited myself...I hope that I’m not putting pressure on you or anything...”

“--Doing what well?” Your heart leapt into your throat.

“I just haven’t done this in a really long time.”

This.

What the hell was “this?”

“I’m not following...”

“Letting myself do something fun. Something nice and relaxing.”

You had formed a painful little “Oh.” on your lips. Your idea of this was different from his after all.

“--Something nice and relaxing with you.”

Another “Oh.” formed, but this one was a thankful one.

“Can I tell you something?” Minho’s voice was barely in a whisper.

“What is it?” You looked over at him and he was wrapped in the navy blue light of the night. You could have sworn that you could see the faintest inkling of stars in his eyes.

He looked back at you in earnest. “I’ve been...scared, too, since moving back out here.”

“W-why?”

“There was something in me that was telling me that moving out here wouldn’t fix everything, and that I would be stuck forever on those things that happened, and the things that made me unhappy.”

“Minho...what are you saying?”

“-Got my heart broken. Back then. As cliché as the sounds.” He laughed, and it even sounded a twinge embarrassed. “I ran away from it to here. I had figured that it would give me time to get it all back together again.”

“I-I’m so sorry.”

“Running is good and all when you can physically remove yourself from what’s chasing you, but some things...”

Your chest felt heavy. “I know exactly what you’re talking about.”

“You do?”

The first summer cicadas had started their nighttime chant, and their hisses ebbed and flowed like sea waves.

“I feel like...these expectations that my family has of me, my mother...I can’t ever escape them. They’re always there and burned into my head. I think of them even when I don’t want to: get a better job that “contributes”, get married, have grandkids...”

You paused with your own eyes cast up to the sky. The massive expanse seemed unfathomable.

“Why is it that we can’t ever be happy doing the things that are supposed to make us happy?”

The first meteor flew past your eyes with the speed of light, barely slow enough for you to catch it.

The second was a bit slower, and traced after it a millisecond of white spectral dust.

“Did you see that??” Without thinking, you poked once at Minho’s arm.

You couldn’t see, but he had grinned with a weak smile. “I did.”

All at once, the sky was illuminated with brilliant streaks of light and their white hot heads that would fade and dissapear just as quickly as they arrived. They tore through the sky with astonishing speed and you traced the outline of each line as fast as you could.

“There’s so many.” You wondered aloud.

Under the warmth of the haphazard blanket, fingers twisted into yours: careful and tentative, soft and curious.

Minho breathed out, “I feel pretty happy right now.”

124 notes · View notes

jennrypan · 3 years

Text

I rewrote the part where Scourge and Sonic have that "Just like me convo" so it can fit my au of them.

____________________

Fiona cheating on him with his anti didnt make Sonic angry..

Fiona actively lying to him didnt piss him off, maybe annoyed him..but it didnt piss him off.

What did piss him off however was how she antagonized Amy and Tails, and how she seemed to preen at the slightest attention Scourge gave her..because she wanted someone to protect her..someone to care about her, he didnt know..and what set him off was how she slapped Tails away, mocked him for crying and all to impress his anti!

"What the hell Fiona!?"

Sonic snapped, though this just caused the vixen to roll her eyes before she looked at him..god her attitude was grating his nerves,

"What?" She mused as if she didnt just slap his best friend for no reason,

That ..that made him scowl, and without warning he moved- he wanted to actually..throw her, her attitude annoyed him, her disregard for his friends pissed him off- he hadnt accounted for Scourge actually protecting her, as when he moved..so did the green hedgehog and before he could touch Fiona a fist crushed into his cheek causing him to let out a sharp grunt and lose his footing for a brief minute, instantly turning his attention towards Scourge..he still had that same sleazy smile..taunting.

"Bad move, blue."

Scourge drawled out, and Sonic just clicked his tongue watching as Scourge slowly paced around him..hes been itching to fight him for who knows how long..that much Sonic knew, but Sonic just hummed,

"Oh so you can help other people besides yourself, I was beginning to worry you had no redeeming qualities!" He stated sounding visibly amused,

Scourge just scoffed lowly, "Please, thats not a redeemin quality, raise your standards." He sneered, and without warning he ran forward..and the fight began.

Amy had since charged at Fiona but Sonic could barely focus on that as Scourge kept matching him blow for blow..only thing was Scourge was a lot more violent..a lot more aggressive.

It wasnt everyday Sonic worked up a sweat fighting an opponent as not many people matched his speed..Shadow and Metal were the only ones..now Scourge had been added to that list of people that seem to want to kill him for no reason.

"Jeez its hard to believe someone so bitter could be me, like damn dude, did your favorite jacket get discontinued?"

Even during this fight Sonic didnt stop being taunting, as he landed on top of a rock- narrowly avoiding being kicked into a tree, watching as Scourge turned towards him, his eyes were surprisingly still shielded by his shades but Sonic could still feel him glaring at him,

Scourge moved again and this time he successfully swiped Sonics legs from underneath him and when Sonic fell the blue hedgehog instinctively moved to the side as Scourges fist came crashing into the floor were his head had previously been,

"Lets see you keep makin jokes when I break your fuckin legs." Scourge hissed- despite his words he sounded delighted by the thought, pleased with the thought of hurting him and hes use to this from Shadow and Metal, they were both assholes who worked with Eggman on their worst days and they just genuinely didnt like him that much but Scourge? Theyve only met three times before this and he didnt remember antagonizing the male enough to make him want to hurt him that much-

Scourge charged forward once more and Sonic quickly moved to the side, arm pulling back before he crashed his fist into the side of Scourges face as he had done to him earlier..knocking the shades from his face which caused his anti to pause briefly, glancing down at the shades for a millisecond as they landed on the floor, cracked and lopsided.

That millisecond was soon forgotten as Scourge retaliated..his body moved lower and his leg rose before he kicked Sonic straight in the chest causing the male to grunt, stumbling back at the force but the kick wasnt enough as Scourge had soon punched him in the stomach,

"God- I still got a few more jokes- first, those shades were lame anyways- not a joke but a fact!"

Sonic stated quickly, jumping out of the way from Scourge once more as the male just growled,

"Im not takin shit from someone who thinks 'Way past cool' is a thing people actually say!" Scourge retorted,

"Hey people said it before!"

"No ones ever said that shit before!"

It went on like this for what seemed like a few minutes with both of them arguing with each other, Sonic just wanted to see exactly why Scourge was going out of his way to hurt him- even trying to actually break his leg if he was given the chance..the rage was so weird..he knew antis were different but he didnt expect his anti to be so..angry, so violent- his anti seemed more like a very verbal Shadow with the way he kept attacking him,

"Ya know being an asshole isnt as rewarding as ya think it is right?"

Sonic questioned- grunting when he got into a tree, thankfully avoiding Amy as she chased Fiona around still, she had tried to help but Fiona kept distracting her.

"Pfft, its more rewardin than wastin my time saving a buncha useless dicks who dont deserve it!" Scourge replied, sounding amused by the sheer thought of saving someone else...Sonic couldnt imagine not wanting to save people..yeah sometimes he thought some people didnt deserve it but still,

"Youre still a Sonic! Still me- you should want to at least try and help people!"

"Why? Cuz thats what you do?"

Scourge just laughed and without warning he moved forward..punched him in the stomach, then his chest- he didnt wait for a retaliation as he kicked him into a tree, he found with the purpose to bruise and scar while Sonic fought to distance and distract-

His head spun for a split moment, the wind knocked out of him,

"You dont get it! Rulin people with fear and hate, is soo much better than tryna be some glorified saint!"

Scourge stated, his eyes were blazing..the rage was back..he looked nothing like him right now..something was off, Sonic didn't like how unhinged he was, how cruel-

"That isnt true, and it never will be."

Sonic declared and Scourge just sneered at him, laughing, fist pulling back as Sonic quickly moved from his spot, his knuckles slammed into bark instead of Sonics nose,

"When you finally realize not everyone deserves to be saved, when you see how much more freein it is to be above people than to depend on them- you'll be like me, all it takes is one bad day, one bad situation and you'll see that." Scourge hummed out, side stepping as Sonic went to kick him, only to have his leg grabbed and he was forcefully thrown down, causing him to grunt lowly, and without warning Scourge stepped on his chest, Sonic could only stare at him for a brief moment before he just grinned-

"Thats where your wrong dude, a bad day doesnt just make someone a villain..but a good day? A good day could change a lot, all it takes is someone showing you an ounce of kindness, someone showin you the love you never got and you'll be like me, a good person..maybe even a hero." He stated, grinning.

He expected another mocking laugh instantly, expecting Scourges foot to press down but for a brief minute..the green hedgehog paused, eyes widening ever so slightly, and for that minute Sonic was sure he got to him..he knew deep down Scourge wasnt evil, he could just show him he didnt have to be like this, he could help him..he didnt know anything about his anti besides the fact something was severely wrong with his mental state and he took too much enjoyment in hurting him but he knew he wasnt evil.

Then.. the green hedgehog just smiled, his expression hardening as if it hadnt changed in the first place,

"How naive."

He sneered and that slowly shattered Sonics hopes of getting through to him..he just dismissed his words-

"Not naive..hopeful." Sonic retorted, moving his arm to grab his ankle but his foot had moved towards his neck and Sonic jolted- the malice in his eyes was so..floundering..he could never imagine that look on his own face.

"Same thing." Scourge stated dismissively, and Sonic didnt get the chance to reply as a blur of yellow and brown crashed into Scourge, pushing the older teen to the ground successfully allowing Sonic to sit up instantly,

"Get away from him you bully!" Tails screamed, Sonic heard Scourge cursing and soon Tails was thrown back, causing Sonic to quickly move to catch him.

"Thanks bud." Sonic murmured, staring at Scourge who just fixed his jacket- appearing inconvenienced as Fiona neatly landing besides him as Amy ran up next to Sonic, "Stop running you coward!" The pink hedgehog hissed, Scourge just plucked out a warp ring from his jacket, just smiling at Sonic.. His smile was so..mean looking, it was too sharp..too fake,

"Til next time blue."

Was all Scourge said in a sing song like voice as he let Fiona into the portal first and he followed quickly after just as Amy chucked her hammer in their direction, who she was aiming at specifically he had no clue.

"Dammit! Stupid! Assholes, ugh!" Amy screamed, storming over to snatch her hammer up,

"Theyre such bullies! Why did I even like her!" Tails exclaimed, Sonic just frowned before he sighed quietly, glancing from Amy to Tails.

"Lets just go, theyre gone now, might as well enjoy the peace." He stated with a simple shrug, giving them a small smile, the smile made Amy visibly melt while it comforted Tails slightly, the young pink hedgehog was at his side instantly, clutching his arm- which he allowed for the time being while Tails was a little slower to approach him, still dejected.

He knew his anti despised him but he'll never get the reason why, and unfortunately..Scourge was too far gone to talk down from whatever path he was taking..the friendly route was no longer an option.

#j.p writes #sonic one shot #sonic au #sonic the hedgehog #scourge the hedgehog #tails the fox #amy rose #sonamy if you squint #archie comies #archie sonic #not shippy. cuz no #scourge get therapy challenge #sonic rewrite

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shadowsfascination · 3 years

Text

Sonamy (YAAU) - coming to terms [Chapter 15-A]

“You don’t have to let this get the best of you, you know?” The words cut the silence like a knife, breaking the vacuum of his daydreams, breaking in abruptly in the tormenting whirlwinds that were his mind lately.

“What are you talking about?” Sonic asked in an emotionless way. “Come on, hedgehog. You’re a mess ever since-“ “Don’t! Don’t say it,” Sonic snarled at the scientist. “So you do acknowledge it?” “I just have to forget about it.” Sonic turned his head around, just to shift his gaze to another point. He was sitting on a grassy slope, resting on his hands. The wide view over the green hills was amazing and the breeze that brought a gentle chill softly stroked the grasslands like a carpet. It was the most peaceful place Sonic knew and the most rest he could give his mind was here. Eggman kept standing behind him, staring into the open himself now too. It was one of the few times that the hedgehog and the scientist could share a serious moment without any rivalry. Even while he had not verbalized his thoughts, Sonic could feel he was denying himself and kind of hated that it took someone else to make him realize that. “Can you do that, though?” “I don’t know”

It had been six weeks and three, no- four, days ago when the team had split up in duo’s to investigate the widely stretched cave tunnels to learn more about their enemy in order to come up with a detailed battle plan against the A.R. Sonic remembered very well how many weeks and days had passed since then because it had awakened something in him that had taken him by surprise. During that particular investigation Shadow had teamed up with Espio, who had enjoyed each other’s quiet working style. Tails and Eggman teamed up, Knuckles with Rouge and Sonic with Amy. The blue and pink duo had been sneaking around in the tunnels, following some A.R. members but stumbled upon a dead end in one of the tunnels. Similar to the dead end in the Cabbureine warehouse, the A.R.-members disappeared, appearing to use Chaos energy to teleport somewhere. The difference here was that this teleportation act seemed to be working for them only and so Sonic and Amy were stuck in the tunnel when all of the sudden tens of armed A.R.-members showed up in front of them, blocking their way out. They engaged in battle with Sonic and Amy, trying to seize Sonic and teleport him with them, but Amy merged into battle and knocked some of them down. Sonic had known Amy’s strength for so long that there wasn’t a doubt in his mind that she would be able to handle it. That was, before he was introduced to the dark side of the A.R. in person. Sure, he’d seen the destruction they’d created in the cities and all, but their vicious ways of relentlessly hurting the ones in front of them like this… It was new to him and it shocked him to his very core. Amy was brutally shot in her leg and chained to a rock while being held at gunpoint. With her out of the way, they turned to Sonic, aiming a high-energy gun at him, pressuring him to leave her and surrender to them. If he’d resist, they’d finish her off – slowly. Whatever business they had with him, he still didn’t know.

They promised him they would torture her before his very eyes until death would befall her if he was playing games with them. And so, astonished by the sight of his crippled dear friend, screaming, bleeding heavily and crying until she passed out, he gave in. They handcuffed him with special equipment that was supposed to block any Chaos energy in his body, but when he was given a preview of their sickening promise, he snapped. Even without any Chaos emeralds near and the energy is his body being blocked, in a split-second the spines on his head and back curled up and darkened while sharp fingernails and teeth clasped into his enemy. With an uncontrolled, raging roar he smashed big rocks onto the heads of the A.R.-members, scratching their limbs until the blood was seeping out of it, colouring the place violently red. The screams were blocked from his ears while he was raging and attacking everyone one who was trying to destroy the one he loved. After killing all but one, he cornered the remaining enemy and ordered them to report this to their chef, as an example of what would happen if they pulled something like this again in the future. The remaining soldier was in awe of what he had witnessed, but smiled confidently at Sonic. Unnerving and uneasy it had made him feel, doubting whether this had been a set-up all along.

Sonic rushed over to break Amy’s chains, ripped a piece of her clothes to stop her leg from bleeding and let out a powerless whimper. The now unconscious woman in his arms was weak from the harm they had intentionally caused her and he was overcome by so much fear at once that it just hurt. His chest cramped and he started to feel this tingling sensation in his fingers. He was going to lose her because he wasn’t strong enough, hadn’t been fast enough. Before realizing it, he was crying like a baby, uncontrollably and loud. He clamped his body against hers roughly, burying her face in his chest, wetting everything with his sobbing. When the sparkly vision between his lashes focussed on the device on his wrist, he pulled back, wiped his tears away and closed his eyes. Tails’ device was able to transfer Chaos energy to heal her, something he’d never done before. Sonic held Amy’s hand, inhaled deeply and concentrated. A strong power and comforting warmth rushed through him. His surrounding slowly faded as he let the light of the Chaos take him wherever was needed, lifting them off the ground into and endless ocean of lights. The lights drew closer to them one by one, each and every one carrying a memory of him and Amy. Some of which he had forgotten they took place. Overtaken by this transcendent experience, his mind became peaceful again and his body relaxed. His heart overflowed with warmth and a confidence so strong: he loved her deeply. And with that confession the peace was gone again, and replaced by a fear that she had been able to feel what he felt, but she wasn’t awake yet. After that, Shadow had stormed in, alarmed by the many unknown markers that had showed up in the map where Sonic and Amy were. He had had taken her from him and took her home in his arms while Amy looked back at Sonic over her shoulder and he stared into the blooded cave, zoned out about all of it.

And now everything had changed. Ever since this whole fiasco he had felt it so strong and now it was undeniable: he had romantic feelings for someone! And not just someone, Amy for Chaos’ sake! Amy, who had been crazy about him for years when they were teens. Amy who has been dating Shadow for almost a year now. Amy, his friend. He never pictured his life without Amy, but it now dawned to him that there was this urge to have her with him in a whole other way and he did not know how to act around anyone at the moment. He had just forgotten how he would normally act and therefore avoided most of his friends. Shame fell on him that he was in love with his friend, the girlfriend of his other friend and he was ashamed of the massacre he made in the cave. It left him running in circles through the Green Hills in attempt to clear his mind, but his mind didn’t clear. The fog didn’t lift and so he stared into the wind on this cliff, talking to Eggman. “It might go away over time.” Sonic sighed. “Can you wait that long?” “What’s the alternative?” “I happened to find this document while we were exploring. I didn’t show it to Tails.” If he didn’t show it to Tails it was sure to be something suspicious. He handed Sonic an old, brown piece of paper that was folded twice and smelled like the dirt of the cave. Sonic unfolded and read it, slowly raising one of his brows in disbelief. “Do you really believe this crap? That the red emerald can take away my feelings for her? Why would it work like that?” “Not just take away, it would store them inside the gem, forever. You of all people shouldn’t be the one to whom I’d have to explain this to.” He already knew that the emerald did not only transfer energy, but also could connect with one’s feelings. He’d seen it happen, like when Eggman used the hatred of the Echidna tribe to destroy Station Square with Chaos. In fact, he had experienced it many times himself when he was transformed into his super- or dark form, but this was different and sounded like an old urban legend. A fairy tale. Or maybe, part of him didn’t want to say goodbye to these feelings. Maybe part of him was curious what would happen if Amy knew about his feelings. If it would change anything. If she still loved him. If she would choose him over Shadow. His cheeks and ears coloured slightly pink when picturing him holding her in his arms again, stroking her rosy quills and even kissing her. The second his hopes were rising, the guilt flushed it away like a stormy wave. He shook the thoughts off and rose up to face Eggman, who was holding out the emerald for him. Sonic gave him an annoyed look. “Don’t you want to get rid of these feelings? She is with Shadow now and hasn’t been in love with you for years. You’ve had your chance, hedgehog.” The words were harsh and stung a little, but they were true and he knew it. She would never be his. “And besides that: you’re a complete mess. We’re at war and you’re useless like this.” “Fine, but you can’t tell anyone about this!” Sonic hissed at Eggman and grabbed the emerald.

#YAAU #Young adults alternate universe #Shadowsfascination #sonic fanfic #sonamy #Shadamy #amy rose #Amy Rose the Hedgehog #sonic the hedgehog #shadow the hedgehog #sidestory

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thankskenpenders · 5 years

Photo

Yeah, this is the big one. Grab your popcorn

Sally finally gets a moment to talk to Sonic after being ignored all day, and tells him what’s up. With her being put in charge, and Sonic being her royal consort (basically, the guy who’s committed to marrying her someday but isn’t quite her fiance yet), Sally wants Sonic to stop going on away missions and lead Knothole by her side

Look. Let’s set aside all of our preconceived notions about what a Sonic comic should or shouldn’t be. Ignore the fact that we obviously want to see Sonic go on adventures. Forget it. Let’s look at it from Sally’s perspective for a second

Yes, this is the post in which I explain that “The Slap” isn’t that bad. It’s certainly not great, but it’s not The Worst Thing Ever like it’s been made out to be. I wish I didn’t have to spend my evening writing this, but 15 years of hyperbolic fan outrage (note: some Wikia rando added that “reception” section this year) have forced my hand

First of all, again, Sonic is formally committed to marrying her and ruling alongside her someday. This was established ten issues ago. He was already committed to this. Then, Sonic went and died. Sally still spent an entire year of her life thinking her basically-fiance was dead, and had to deal with shit in Knothole without him as things continued to get worse and worse. No one can just bounce back from that unscathed. After his return, she WANTED to help Sonic and go be a Freedom Fighter on the last mission, but her parents forbade her and the royal guards kept her in the castle. (That SUCKS, but is a whole ‘nother conversation.) She wants to fight by his side and keep him safe, but her parents are forcing her to stay home and be the princess, which only makes her more distraught. Last issue, she broke down into tears when she saw Sonic get shot by M over Eggman’s video feed, and her mother had to console her and reassure her Sonic wasn’t dead

Sally very clearly has PTSD over Sonic’s “death” a year ago. She doesn’t want to lose him again. She’s outright said as much

And also... when she says Sonic isn’t the only hero around, she’s got a point?Sonic barely did anything in the last arc! Tails was the one who outsmarted ADAM. Shadow dealt with Eggman. Bunnie did most of the damage to M and took out an entire fucking aircraft carrier on her own. Knuckles, the Chaotix, Rouge, and Amy took out the robot horde. All Sonic did was land the final attack on M--which, honestly, someone else could’ve done. And he got his arm injured in the process

Add on to this all of the chaos of the last few days. Sally’s barely had a free moment to see Sonic since she found out he was alive. They nearly got nuked by Eggman. They’re being harangued by the paparazzi. It sucks. And hell, it goes back WAY further than this! She spent years as a kid trying to save her parents, and now all they do is belittle her. She found out she had a secret older brother, and then her parents decided he was the more important child. She went through all sorts of relationship drama. She nearly died a few times herself. And now, her parents have decided to leave her in charge of their whole kingdom at a time of war, while she’s still a mess from the trauma of losing Sonic. The idea Bollers had was apparently that Sally had been bottling up her issues for years (which she totally had been), and this was just the breaking point

I know Sonic’s desire to keep being a hero is understandable. I know he’s right. That’s all he really knows how to do, and he feels useless in times of peace. And obviously, we the readers want to see Sonic go on adventures. But Sally’s concerns are valid. We don’t have to agree with her plan to have Sonic rule by her side for her emotions to be understandable

Sally’s been on the verge of a breakdown for who knows how long. She should be mad at her parents, but they’ve worn her down to the point where she thinks she’s unable to confront them. (It would be very, very easy to make a case arguing that Sally’s parents are emotionally abusive. Max especially.) She thinks that Sonic is the one person who will listen to her and have her back. They’re betrothed, after all. This is literally what he signed up for. After trying to get his attention ALL DAY, she finally gets a chance to talk to him. But he wants other things in life, and refuses. In front of a crowd, no less

So she lashes out at Sonic and slaps him

Then they both start yelling at each other and crying. Sally asks Sonic if she’s more important to him than fighting Eggman, Sonic can’t answer, and Sally runs away in tears. For all intents and purposes, Sonic and Sally are now broken up. (For now.)

Should Sally be lashing out at Sonic? No. Could this scene be done better? Oh, absolutely. This is not the direction I would want Sally to go in as a character, and if you ARE gonna have them fight, this wasn’t written with the care required to make fans sympathize with both parties. The fact that we’ve seen everything from Sonic’s perspective with barely any insight into Sally’s certainly doesn’t help. But as the several lengthy paragraphs above explain, this does not come out of nowhere. It’s easy to find lots of fans online calling Sally all sorts of names (sometimes very misogynistic or ableist ones) because they think she just flipped out on Sonic out of nowhere. But she didn’t. Sally having some sort of breakdown had been foreshadowed for several issues, and the reasons why make sense. No, she shouldn’t have lashed out at Sonic, but this isn’t just her going “Oh no, my period! Let’s nuke England!” as so many have made it out to be. (And hell, the comics already had a lengthy history of treating Sally even worse than this, with Gallagher making her the nagging girlfriend who bickered with Sonic all the time and Penders sympathizing more with her shitty dad.)

Again, this was supposed to be a turning point in which Sally bottling up all this crap and carrying the weight of the world on her shoulders finally leads to her breaking. It’s a dramatic low point to build back up from. The problem is that Bollers left the series only a few issues later, and Penders and “Chacon” never did much with this. So in hindsight, many view this as her randomly snapping “for no reason,” because the followup stories that would have explored how she’d been bottling up her feelings were never actually written. But it’s not hard to figure out what’s supposed to be going on in her head if you actually go back and look at the preceding Sally scenes

For the most part, this is just run of the mill relationship drama for Archie Sonic. You see this kind of shit all the time in serialized media. Characters date, but the writers need to keep things ~spicy~, so they break up, see other people... then inevitably end up back together, and the process repeats ad nauseum. You ever watch Scrubs? You know how JD and Elliot are obviously love interests from episode one, but they had to do that will they/won’t they shit for years and have flings with other characters to keep up ratings? Yeah, it’s just that. For Sonic, there’s also the added pressure from Sega, who never allowed Sonic to be in any stable relationship for very long. Several writers have talked about how this limited what they could do with Sonic and Sally. Do I like that this cycle of drama is the norm? No. But after over 200 of these comics, I’m used to it

(And hell, at this point in the comics, they had literally just broken up Bunnie and Antoine, and Rouge was starting to get in the way of Knuckles and Julie-Su’s relationship. Between Julie-Su and Knuckles’ first kiss and them actually dating, Penders had Julie-Su get mad at Knuckles and go out with some random other guy. They do this shit all the time)

The worst you can really say about this scene is that Jon’s art is a little too goofy and undermines the drama a bit. In his own words from his website’s FAQ: “I’m sorry. Like I said, I was an overeager noob and I drew what I was given.” But really, he had been drawing these sorts of exaggerated, frantic expressions throughout the entire issue. Not just with Sally. Look at all the panels of Sonic wigging out in the previous pages. I still think his work is fantastic. If anything, it was a bad call on Archie’s part to give this somber scene to a brand new artist with a very exaggerated, silly art style. He just drew what was in the script

You know what really blows about this whole thing, though? Jon Gray is still, to this day, over 15 years later, getting harassed for drawing The Slap

That is so utterly ridiculous and shitty. People have made up all sorts of conspiracy theories about the slap, saying that Jon had some sort of “anti-Sally agenda” and that it wasn’t in the script. (This is completely false.) People are so stuck in the past and bent out of shape over this one panel in a pretty run-of-the-mill Archie Sonic issue that Jon has to block people who come into his Twitter mentions accusing him of “sabotaging” the series on a regular basis. Y’all, Jon’s a good guy, and he doesn’t deserve to be treated like that

And lord. There’s so much nastier shit within this series. Penders hooking a 15-year-old Sally up with a dude in his 20s (and later saying that he wanted her to lose his virginity to said dude). Gallagher making Barby Koala have a creepy crush on Tails. Penders rephrasing a poem about the Holocaust to be about hedgehogs. Penders having Sally rationalize her dad’s attempt at genocide. (I could go on and on with Penders, can you tell)

This whole thing is just, so blown out of proportion. It’s not a great scene, but it didn’t “ruin” Sally’s character. Neither Jon nor Bollers had some sort of “anti-Sally agenda.” They weren’t out to ruin your fucking ship. And for god’s sake, quit yelling at them about it. This was 15 years ago and all parties involved have moved on. It’s just more melodrama in a series that’s always 90% melodrama

It’s a single panel in a comic about Sonic the Hedgehog. Can we move on

#StH 134 #tkp post #the slap #hall of fame

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glassbangtan · 5 years

Text

love lyrics {yoongi x reader}

Words: 11.8k

Summary: Min Yoongi is a Modern Arts student. You are kind of a Modern Arts student. Min Yoongi lives and breathes his music, would die for a good grade. You are hopping from course to course, still trying to figure out what you want. Two seemingly opposite people somehow form a connection in the mess of trying to complete a relatively difficult homework assignment that focuses on the topic of love - something Yoongi is completely oblivious to.

Genre: angst - fluff - high school au

Notes: masterlist - support my writing or ask me about commissions!

----

Min Yoongi is fairly certain this is the stupidest thing he's ever been told to do.

Ever.

He's a Modern Arts student – he's learning to produce music, for crying out loud. So, why is he being forced to sit down and write some stupid love poem for a person he doesn't even know?

The assignment came from his music teacher, Miss Seymour. Miss Seymour, a pleasant elderly lady who prides herself on the fact that she's married to the music, is someone Yoongi usually respects a great deal. In truth, she's taught him almost everything he knows, has paved the way for the future he wants to pursue once he leaves the hell hole that is Daegu High School.

However, this morning she'd walked into class, chipper as anything with her usual flask of coffee in her hands, and she'd told each and every student in that room to sit down and write about love.

Yoongi could have honestly slammed his head into the desk.

Yoongi isn't a hopeless romantic by any stretch of the imagination. He's read romance books (mostly because of Namjoon) and he's watched romance movies (mostly because of Jimin) but never before has he taken that side of media and applied it to his own hobby – writing music. Never before has he even wanted to, because the minute you start mixing complicated feelings into a piece of music, it can start deteriorating very, very fast. The song can quickly become something you don't even want to look at, let alone properly record and release to the world.

Nonetheless, Yoongi needs this grade. He needs to keep Miss Seymour's respect, and so he ducks his head down and starts scribbling on the piece of paper he's pulled from his backpack.

Nothing happens.

He's moving his pen. He's pretty sure there should be words on his page, but instead, all that appears is a tiny doodle of a hedgehog in the top left corner. Beside it, a smiley face. Soon, an entire little family of bizarre doodles have taken up the space of his lined page, and there is not a single word or flowery lyric intermingling amongst them.

Miss Seymour makes her usual rounds of the classroom. Yoongi tries to shield his page from view, folding his arms over the top of it, ducking his head into the tiny box he's made. However, Miss Seymour is actually a decent teacher, and she really does worry about the work of all of her students – Yoongi isn't getting away with this one.

She taps his shoulder. He doesn't move. Maybe if he pretends he's asleep, she'll realise just how exhausting it is to be a student, will take pity on him and leave.

“Yoongi.”

He squeezes his eyes closed. “Hm?”

“Can I see what you've got done so far?”

Yoongi knows he has no choice. Haltingly, he slides away from the desk and shows off his doodles. Part of him is quite proud of the little hedgehog – maybe Miss Seymour likes hedgehogs.

She tilts her head, grey eyes narrowed behind her wire-framed glasses. Yoongi sees her purse her lips, and he knows then and there that he's done for – he's nearly wasted an entire lesson, nearly an entire fifty minutes scribbling stupid doodles rather than doing this stupid assignment, and now he's going to fail, and-

“Not quite what I asked for, Mr Min,” she says.

Yoongi nods slowly. “Yeah. Sorry.”

“Are you struggling?”

“I just. . . don't know what to write.” He looks up. “You know I'm more of a hip hop writer.” And she does know, because she's praised Yoongi so many times on the different pieces he's shown to her. She knows this isn't the kind of thing that comes easy to him.

She hums, settling herself down on the only other seat at the desk – it's been empty since the start of the year, considering most people would rather sit with their friends and chat then get any actual work done. Yoongi made the sacrificial decision to sit by himself this year, leaving Hoseok and Namjoon to their gossip at the back of the classroom.

“I've taught a lot of boys just like you, Yoongi,” Miss Seymour says. “They have a specific idea in mind of what they want to do, and they think that's it. They think music falls into one of multiple categories, and they choose which one they like best and that's them sorted for the rest of their life – well, I don't want you to fall under the same assumptions, because it really isn't true.”

Yoongi frowns.

“As musicians, we have to learn to love all genres of music. We might not enjoy writing them, and some will be stronger than others, but the respect at least has to be there. You have to fall in love with the art, not the genre.”

Yoongi continues to frown. Maybe he's too young to understand what she's saying. Maybe she really is bat shit crazy.

“Today we're writing about love,” she points out, tapping his page as if that will prove anything. “So, I want you to think of someone you deeply, deeply love and I want you to write about them. I know how good you are with words, Yoongi – I think you can make something beautiful out of this.”

Yoongi looks down. He might be hiding a smile; he isn't really sure yet. Part of him is amused by Miss Seymour's outlook on life, but the other half of him can kind of see where she's coming from – yes, it's important that he forms some kind of respect for all genre's of music if he wants to work with a broad range of artists in the future, but god, does he really have to suffer through the additional task of thinking about his own emotions?

Miss Seymour leaves. Yoongi never responds to her, but she doesn't really need him to. She's made her point, and now she's gone, and Yoongi is left with his pen and his sheet of paper.

He really just has to think of someone he loves.

He loves his mother, yes. His father, yes. His brother, yes, and sometimes he'll even feel a flicker of fondness for his small group of friends, as rowdy as they are. He loves music – but he can't write about that, can he? That's even worse than writing about how much he loves his family. It's just. . . not what people want to hear, and it certainly isn't what he wants to write about.

There's so much emotion in the word love. There's so much it can be, so many forms it can take, so Yoongi doesn't fully understand why he's struggling to come up with something to write about. None of it has to be truthful – he can bullshit his way through an English essay, so why can't he do the same in music?

He sighs and slumps back in his chair. His hood is already pulled on over his head, but he exaggerates his need for privacy by popping an AirPod in his ear, covering it with the hood of his jacket. He leans his head back, inhales deeply and-

The door to the classroom swings open. All attention is sucked directly towards the source.

“Sorry! Sorry, ah!” You awkwardly laugh. “I hope I'm in the right room. Miss Seymour's class, right?”

Miss Seymour pauses, chalk still in her hand as she scribbles some random motivational quote on the blackboard. It's been a long time since Yoongi's seen a startled Miss Seymour; the sight is oddly refreshing.

“Uh...,” the elderly woman drawls. “Yes. I'm Miss Seymour.”

“Sorry for being late.” You're talking so fast. Yoongi wants you to slow down. “I only signed up for Modern Arts a few days ago, and today's my first actual class. I'm still trying to find where everything is.”

Miss Seymour nods, dazed. “You've got the right place. T-take a seat wherever you want, love.”

And Yoongi knows. He just knows, because it happens in every single movie, and every single book, and you look over at him as soon as the words have left Miss Seymour's mouth. He can hope, but it's useless. You immediately make a B-Line for the one free chair in the entire classroom – which just so happens to be right beside Min Yoongi.

“Fuck,” he curses under his breath, even though he isn't entirely sure why he's so put-out by this. He doesn't even know you, but he knows you're loud and you talk too fast and the way you stumble over to his desk makes him think that maybe you're a little bit clumsy, too.

Bits and pieces of your personality are showing to the surface, and Yoongi hasn't even said two words to you. Clearly you don't like to keep yourself subtle.

Yoongi shuffles to the side when you slam your bag on the table and start rummaging around for your books. You're smiling the entire time – Yoongi doesn't know why, isn't entirely sure if he wants to know why.

“Sorry,” you mutter. “I take up a lot of room sometimes.”

“You're fine,” Yoongi grumbles. He tucks his AirPod back in his ear and turns back to his work; he needs to get this done. You can't be a distraction.

You sit down beside him, chair screeching with the force of which you plonk down. Yoongi tries to curl up against the wall. You don't get the hint.

“Well, hello,” you say. “I'm Y/N.”

“Hello.”

You pause. Yoongi should probably say something, maybe tell you his name.

He bites the top of his pen.

“What's your name?”

You sound like a six year old in a park.

“Yoongi,” he replies.

“Min Yoongi.”

He glances at you. “How do you know?”

You smile sheepishly, glancing down at your hands. To the untrained eye, you might look a little embarrassed, but Yoongi is struggling to believe someone with a personality like yours is capable of felling embarrassed. “I heard a bit about you when I was signing up for my extra classes. Apparently you're really good at Modern Arts.”

“Yep.”

“Well, it's an honour to sit beside you, Min Yoongi.”

“Just Yoongi.”

“What?”

“You don't have to say my last name. It's just Yoongi.”

You grin. “Well, okay, Just Yoongi.”

“We're not doing that, either.”

Your grin fades. Yoongi almost feels bad.

He shuffles a little closer to the wall and goes back to chewing on his pen. There's only ten minutes of class left. He honestly doesn't see a point in trying to force his creativity at this point.

“I don't know what you're doing,” you say. “Miss Seymour didn't explain the work.”

“Did she not?”

You shake your head. “Nope. Are you working on anything interesting?” You lean forward. “Can I hear some of your work?”

“No.”

You flinch back. “Oh. Okay.” It's silent for a moment. “Can you explain what the work is?”

Yoongi glances at you. The word “No,” is playing on his tongue again, but even he can admit that's a little bit too mean. He sighs and sits forward, nudging the instructions page towards you. He taps it lightly and says, “That explains everything.”

You read over it, furrowing your brows. “You're writing about love.”

“Apparently so.”

“But that's so broad.” You push the sheet away. “There's so much you can do with that. Like, forbidden love, platonic love, familial love, material love. What about love when it comes to hobbies, or passions? How can she just tell us to write about love?”

Yoongi shrugs. “Dunno.”

“What have you got so far?” Before Yoongi can protest, you snatch the page hidden beneath his folded arms.

He winces; fuck. You've literally just told him that people claim he's some genius when it comes to Modern Arts. He's meant to impress you, but there's absolutely nothing impressive about what you're looking at.

“Aw! That's a nice little hedgehog.”

Yoongi blinks. He thinks of saying “Thank you,” but that seems kind of stupid. He snatches the page out of your hand and mumbles something along the lines of, “Please don't do that again.”

You giggle. “So I'm guessing you're just as stumped as I am. Tell me, Yoongi – is it because there's so much to write about, or because there's so little to write about?”

Yoongi raises a brow. He spares you a glance, just over his shoulder, just something small, but it's enough for him to see the tiny smile twitching on your lips. You lean back in your chair, sighing dreamily, and the two of you wait till the bell rings, because that's all you can do – a hopeless romantic and someone who doesn't even want to ponder over the idea of love.

----

“So the new girl was pretty weird today, don't you think?”

As soon as Yoongi hears the words coming from Namjoon, he wants to turn and walk away.

He doesn't, though, because god forbid he get caught eating alone in a high school cafeteria. It would take months to recover from the torment.

So, he sets his tray down next to Hoseok and tries to change the subject immediately. “Does anyone have good sociology notes I can steal?”

Namjoon perks up. “Ay, there you are! Just the man we were waiting on.”

Hoseok leans in, nudging Yoongi's arm. “So, how was the new girl today?”

“Uh. . . On her best behaviour.” He isn't sure how else to respond.

Hoseok frowns. “No, dude. I mean, like, was she cool? Was she annoying? She seemed really overbearing when she walked in this morning.”

Yoongi shrugs, messing with the top of the salt pot. “We didn't really talk that much.” It wasn't necessarily a lie, but the way he says it makes it seem like one. Maybe you two did talk quite a lot – maybe Yoongi's shyness has reached a point where he doesn't even know what counts as talking a lot.

“Did you get her name?” Jimin asks.

“Y/N.”

Taehyung slaps the table and holds his palm out to Jungkook. “See, I told you that was it! You owe me a fiver!”

Jungkook slaps his hand away. “Fuck off. I can't afford that.” He turns back to Yoongi. “You didn't talk to her at all?”

“This is Yoongi,” says Seokjin through a mouthful of steak bites. “It wouldn't even surprise me that much if they didn't talk.”

Yoongi shrugs. He doesn't know how to respond to that, either.

Namjoon sighs. “Shame. I kind of want to know a bit more about her.”

“Why?” asks Taehyung.

“Why not? She stumbles into our Modern Arts class, yelling about how sorry she is for being late. I've never even seen her walking round the Modern Arts block before – so what made her decide to transfer so suddenly?”

These are all very good questions. So good, in fact, that Yoongi even finds himself listening to the discussion.

“I guess so,” says Jimin. “Do you know what classes she took before?”

“Maths,” Jungkook says. He pauses when he realises that the whole table is staring at him in confusion. He shrugs. “What? I worked on the student council for three weeks – the files I had access to in there, man. Crazy.” He points his chopsticks at Seokjin. “You, sir, are in Mr Brown's bad books, by the way.”

Seokjin curses.

Namjoon waves a dismissive hand, dragging back the conversation. “Isn't that so weird, though? She's moved from maths to Modern Arts – who does that? What maths student do you know that all of a sudden decides their passion is in the Arts?”

Yoongi can understand Namjoon's confusion, but he's also known the younger man long enough to know that he has a habit of looking a little bit too deeply into things that don't really matter. Maybe Yoongi is just a bit of a debby-downer, or maybe he really does just have a bad habit of taking life as it comes, but he doesn't see a reason in stressing himself out over something as simple as another persons academic interests.

But in the same breath, it is confusing.

“I'm happy for her,” says Taehyung, popping a strawberry in his mouth. His lips are already bright red. Yoongi is used to this by now. “You know, I used to think I'd join my dad on the strawberry farm when I was younger. That used to be, like, my goal. And now look at me.” He spreads his arms out, encompassing the whole table. “I'm sat with you assholes, taking a photography course.”

“What a glow-up,” Jimin deadpans, to which Taehyung merely grins.

Yoongi looks down at his own meal. The only reason he avoids these conversations is because they often get him thinking, and that's dangerous territory. He thinks enough when he's in class. He thinks enough when his parents are yelling at him for not doing a business degree. He thinks enough without the added stress of thinking about someone he doesn't even know.

But Namjoon really takes no prisoners. He leaves Yoongi pondering over the strange individual who had sat beside him that morning, the conversation he'd had with you, the way you'd seemed genuinely flustered over the array of possibilities that the word 'Love' brought to the table.

Yoongi wouldn't be surprised if you didn't show up to class next week. You honestly didn't seem too passionate.

---

Okay, so maybe Yoongi was a little quick to judge.

He should have given you more credit, because here you are, and here he is, and the both of you are fifteen minutes early to the first class on a Monday morning.

Yoongi pauses in the doorway, his folder pressed to his chest in the same way all them pretentious, quirky girls always hold them in the movies. He feels a little bit ridiculous, but there was no room in his backpack, so he made do with what he had.

Your head is down. You don't see him yet. He gets the urge to run, just come back in fifteen minutes like a normal kid, but then he's frozen and he's staring at you, silently wondering why on earth you're still here when he's already put two and two together and deduced the fact that you were, by no means, meant to be a Modern Arts student.

Before he can swivel round and flee, your head pops up from beneath the desk. How your eyes immediately train on Yoongi is a mystery, but what he knows for sure is that there is absolutely no chance of him making a swift get-away now.

“Oh! Yoongi!” You grab your bag from his chair, slipping it beneath the desk. Clearly you've already assumed Yoongi is going to sit beside you again.

He hates that you're right.

“Good morning,” you say when he slumps down next to you. “I didn't take you as the early type.”

“I'm not. Not really.”

“Well, I'm sure Mrs Seymour really appreciates your effort.”

Yoongi's eyebrow twitches. “It's Miss.”

You glance over at him. “What?”

“It's Miss Seymour,” he repeats, even though he isn't sure why he's doing this at all. “She's not married.”

You pause. For a second, Yoongi is positive he's somehow offended you – it wouldn't be the first time. He really does try and make decent conversation, but who even knows how to start a conversation these days? Who has the time to figure all of that out?

He starts pulling his hood over his head. Your hand snaps out and tugs it back down.

“Oh,” you say. “Thanks for telling me. That would have been embarrassing if I'd gotten her name wrong.”

“Yeah.”

“So, do you know what we're doing today?” You shuffle down in your seat, getting comfortable, as if Yoongi going through the lesson plan is equivalent to a camp-fire story.

“Probably just carrying on with what we were doing last lesson,” he replies. “Writing about love or whatever.”

“Oh, yes. I remember that.” You shake your head. “You know, I had all weekend to think about that stupid prompt, and I'm still none the wiser.”

“That sucks.”

“Did you come up with anything?”

“Nothing good. Nothing I can work with.”

You nod as if you understand. “That's just it, isn't it? Love has so many different pieces to it, so many different elements, but it really just comes down to our skill. Like, if we can't write about it, then we might as well not even waste our energy thinking about it.”

Yoongi nods. You aren't wrong. He wonders whether or not he should say that to you. Is that a decent response?

“You're not wrong.”

You grin. Yoongi gives himself one point.

“Have you always been a Modern Arts student?”

“Yeah.”

“Do you enjoy it?”

Yoongi pauses. “Yeah. Most of the time.” He gestures round the classroom. “This whole love thing isn't really my cup of tea, though.” Cup of tea? What does that even mean?

“I gathered that.” Your voice comes out as more of a giggle. Yoongi hates that he notices this, hates the warm feeling that immediately sprouts in the pit of his stomach – it's not very often someone giggles in his vicinity, especially when no one else is around. He's usually either got his AirPods in and his hood up, or he's saying some self-deprecating joke that just makes the other person uncomfortable.

He glances over at you. You don't look uncomfortable at all. In fact, you're slouched, as if being in Yoongi's presence is the most natural thing in the world.

He decides to slouch, too.

“I used to be a maths student,” you say. “It was difficult.”

“I can imagine.” He pauses. He has a right to ask a question, doesn't he? Asking questions is a human right, isn't it? “Why did you transfer?”

“It was just. . . . difficult,” you repeat, shrugging at your lack of a better term. “I mean, clearly I enjoyed it at some point, or else I wouldn't have chosen it in the first place, but it's a lot of work and it just wasn't. . . . I don't know, like, fulfilling enough. You know what I mean?”

Yoongi doesn't. He nods anyway.

“So I decided to give Modern Arts a try.”

“Is that not bad for your grades?” Yoongi spits out before his confidence wavers and he crawls back into his tiny hole of isolation. “Like, hopping from course to course? What happens if it turns out you don't even like Modern Arts?”

You shrug. Your pout says you don't entirely care. “Then I'll find something else.”

“Must be exhausting.”

“Not really. What is exhausting is dragging yourself out of bed every morning to go to a class you don't even like. I'd much rather be a little bit behind and happy than ahead and hating every minute of it.”

Again, Yoongi doesn't really understand. Maybe it's because he's been settled in his major his entire life – from the moment his fingers touched the keys of that piano, he's never wanted to leave it. He took Modern Arts for the same reason most other students take Modern Arts – because they want to study Modern Arts.

You, however, don't seem to care too much about structure, or the future at all, for that matter. You hop from course to course like it's no big deal, like the end of year exams aren't the things that are going to determine your overall worth as a human being.

At least, that's what Yoongi thinks. His grades mean an awful lot to him, but he's heard differing opinions.

“I'll figure myself out,” you say. Yoongi didn't realise he hadn't replied. “We all get there in the end.”

Yoongi hums. It's the only response he can think of, but you seem perfectly content with it.

The two of you sit like that until the first bell rings and the class gradually begins to fill up. Miss Seymour walks in wearing a slightly oversized body-suit with parrots on it, along with a pair of dangly earrings that look about three seconds away from snapping her earlobes off completely.

Yoongi gives her a small smile. He isn't sure why. He must be feeling nice this morning.

Hoseok and Namjoon walk past his table. Hoseok claps him on the back, offers a greeting before his brown eyes flick to you; you're busy scavenging in your bag again, and Yoongi watches as you pull a piece of gum out, frown and then quickly toss it back into your bag.

“Hello!” Hoseok almost-yells.

Your head snaps up and round, a grin immediately taking shape. Yoongi thinks it's been practised, because there's no way in hell someone can smile so well in such a short amount of time. Without warning, too.

“Hi!” you almost-yell right back.

You two give each other a high five, and Hoseok walks away.

Yoongi frowns, turning to you. “Do you and Hoseok know each other?”

“Hm?” You've gone back to studying the contents of your backpack.

“You and Hoseok. Have you met before?”

“Oh. No. I've never seen that guy in my life.” You look at him over your shoulder. Yoongi has the sudden urge to brush your hair away from your mouth. “Is he a friend of yours?”

“No.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah.”

Behind him, Hoseok and Namjoon howl with laughter.

---

Yoongi is starting to get angry.

The blank page, the half-chewed pen, the fact that he's going to have to buy another Refill Pad because he's ripped almost all the pages out of his other one. Call him dramatic, but he's ninety percent sure absolutely nothing in his life is going to work in his favour ever again.

The library isn't even half full, which is weird, because it's exam season and it should be. Nonetheless, the quiet murmuring distracts him. He knows he's just looking for an excuse to get away from his music homework, which makes his anger even worse. Who can you trust if your own brain is going against you?

He squeezes his eyes closed, placing his head against the table. He doesn't want to make a scene, but if this final nerve gets plucked in the next ten seconds, he's fully prepared to flip his chair and scream at the top of his lungs.

So maybe it's a good thing that you seem to be having an even worse day than he is.

He hears you opening the library door. Everyone does. As per usual, your foot gets caught on the door frame and your casual walk turns into a stumble. The apologies fall from your lips, your folder crashes to the floor, and the entire library goes silent.

Yoongi looks up. You're on your knees, gathering up a pile of papers. Nobody is helping you.

“Sorry,” you mutter on repeat. It breaks Yoongi's heart a little bit.

He stands up and goes over to help you; it's not a heroic move. To be quite honest, he's only doing it because he wants to get out of that god damn seat, and the distraction of your misfortunes is a welcome one. He drops to the ground beside you and starts bundling up the pages, rapidly thinking up a conversation starter that might make you feel a little more comfortable.

Your eyes snap up. “Yoongi! Hey!”

Apparently you have the conversation starter covered.

He tries for a smile. It probably looks too forced. He quickly looks back down. “Hey.”

“God, I'm such an idiot,” you continue. “I probably just distracted you from some, like, really important homework, didn't I? You're probably so far behind now. You really didn't have to help me if you're busy – this is me just – you know – being me!” You laugh awkwardly. You flick your gaze around at the staring students before looking away. “Fuck.”

“You're fine,” Yoongi grumbles, keeping his head down. “They'll forget about this in about ten minutes.”

“I hope so. This is the fourth time I've fallen in the past week. Fourth!”

“Maybe you should remember that the door frame is-”

“It's elevated. Yes. I – uh – I understand that.” You pluck the pile of papers from Yoongi's arms. He sits back on his heels, watching you be awkward for the first time since he met you – it's weird. He isn't sure if he likes it or not. Then again, he wasn't sure if he liked your overly-bubbly personality, either, and he's beginning to think that maybe he's being a little selfish trying to grab for the best of both worlds.

You shuffle the papers a little bit, give Yoongi an awkward smile before the two of you finally realise you're still kneeled on the floor. You start to rise, stumbling only once. You manage to catch yourself this time.

“Thank you,” you say. “Uh. . . What are you doing here, then?”

You want to start conversation. Yoongi feels oddly flattered.

Instead of giving you a direct answer, Yoongi nods in the direction of his study area, beckoning for you to follow him. He offers you the empty chair beside him, and you sit down with your legs crossed. Yoongi makes an effort to stay as far to the left as possible, just in case he takes up your space. He doesn't want to take up your space.

You peak over at his blank sheet of paper and frown. Then, your eyes trail towards the array of information sheets, and realisation dawns on your expression.

“Oooooh. You're doing the music homework.”

“I'm trying to do the music homework,” Yoongi corrects. “It's a lot easier said than done.”

“You know, I'd nearly forgotten all about that.”

“Well, it's due in a few days. You should probably get started on it.”

“Probably.” You place your pages on the desk, setting up camp, per se. Yoongi finds that he doesn't even mind your plans to stay. “So have you got any idea what you're gonna write about?”

“Nope.”

“That's not a good start.”

Yoongi shrugs.

You hum, sitting back. You tap your chin thoughtfully, and Yoongi wants to tease you about it but he doesn't really think you two are close enough for that kind of thing yet, so he doesn't.

“Have you ever been in love, Yoongi?”

His head snaps up. “What?”

“You know.” You roll your hands. “Have you ever been in love with anyone? Like, romantically in love.” Yoongi stares at you. You sigh. “Okay then. We'll make it less heavy – have you ever thought you were romantically in love with someone?”

“What does that have to do with anything?”

You tap the information sheet – specifically, the word LOVE written in big capital letters at the top.

He swallows. “Oh.”

You lean forward. “Judging by that reaction, I would say you have.”

“Well you're wrong, because I haven't.”

Your eyebrows fly up. “Never? Not even when you were in primary school? Did you never have one of them relationships where the guy – or girl – would give you a flower on the playground and then you'd think you were in love for, like, a week?”

Yoongi raises a brow. That's all the answer you need, apparently.

You guffaw, shaking your head. “Min Yoongi, you have missed out. I was going to suggest writing something about that, but your inexperience has once again trumped my plans.”

“Sorry.”

“Maybe you can write about discovering love, then.” You're talking almost to yourself, even though your suggestions are aimed at him. “Being your age and not knowing what romantic love feels like – you could write about it from the perspective of someone who doesn't really know what all the fuss is about.”

Yoongi nearly winces. “It's not that I don't know what all the fuss is about. I've just never . . . cared about it.”

“Ever read Romeo and Juliet?”

“Of course.”

“Did you think it was romantic?”

“More stupid than anything else.”

You blink. “Yeah. Yeah, you definitely don't know what all the fuss is about.” Yoongi opens his mouth to retort, but you leap up and cut him off. “But that's a good thing! It means you have something to write about!”

“That's going to be so depressing.”

“So? It's art. It's allowed to be depressing – as long as it means something.” You point at his blank page. “Or, in this case, as long as it completes your homework assignment.”

Yoongi looks down at the table. It's a start, he'll admit, but the idea hasn't piqued his interest. He knows when he's excited for a project, because he feels it in his bones and his blood, and his fingers itch to grab the pen and start writing – at this moment in time, he feels none of that.

Nonetheless, he humours you. “I'll think about it.”

“Please do,” you reply, before you grab his hand and start scribbling numbers on the back of it. “And please keep me updated on your progress, because I'm just as lost as you are.”

Yoongi tugs his hand back. “Is that your number?”

“Yep! Please text me. Just text. Phone calls make me uncomfortable.” You pause. “Although I might like phone calls with you. I don't know. It depends.”

Yoongi blushes, looking away as you stand up and say your goodbye's. He doesn't know where you're going, and he isn't sure if that's an appropriate question to ask, so he simply smiles and waves you off before slumping back in his seat.

As soon as you leave, his anger returns ten-fold. He didn't even realise it had disappeared as soon as you fell into the room.

----

Yoongi likes rivers. He always has, and he's quite certain he always will.

Ever since he was a little boy, rivers have been a source of inspiration for him. He thinks it might be the noise, the faint trickle that could be water, or the footsteps of someone coming up behind him. He can lose himself within that sound for hours on end, and those hours will still feel like nothing more than a few minutes.

His favourite river is the one just behind his uncle's house. It's big. Benches line the side of it, so he always has a place to sit. Ducks walk around in the grass, and they jump into the water and they make little noises that only add to the peaceful ambience.

Yoongi stuffs his hands in his pockets and walks along the riverbank, trailing his fingertips along the top of the weeds. His music homework burns a hole in his backpack, but he's trying hard to ignore that. For now, he just wants to settle in.

It's night time, but that doesn't bother him. He can work in all conditions – in fact, he wrote one of his favourite songs sitting under a canopy when it was pouring it down. He remembers that day well, how his uncle had basically screamed at him for risking his own health all for the sake of a sheet of paper. Yoongi had no regrets.

He finally settles down on an empty bench and takes the sheet of paper from his bag. He presses it against one of his sociology textbooks, but at this point, he doesn't even care about presentation; he just wants something on the page. He wants to get it finished, because in the next two days, he's going to have to hand it in and he'll be damned if he lets one stupid project jeopardize his final grade.

So, he sits down and he gets to work.

He hates it all. It's like pulling teeth, each and every one of his thoughts being forced through sludge in his brain. Nothing sounds right, and he can't get anything to rhyme, and honestly, nothing he's written is even coherent.

He bites his bottom lip. He has to keep his anger in check, of course, because he's in public and god forbid he show any amount of emotion outside the house. He really does just want to hurl the piece of paper into the river, though, and maybe yell some curse words, even though that's unnecessary and will do nothing for him in the end.

Instead, he moves the textbook from his lap and stays seated. He stares out at the river, silently cursing the water for not bringing the usual bout of inspiration when he needs it most. He can already hear Namjoon and Hoseok in the back of his mind, telling him this project doesn't even matter and it's just a simple homework assignment – neither of them care as much as he does, and maybe that's normal. Maybe Yoongi's the weird one, obsessing over his final grade as if it matters.

“Oh! Look who we have here!”

Yoongi's head snaps up. His lips part. He's going to say something, but the words get absorbed by the confusion over the fact that you're currently standing behind him.

“What?” It's all he can manage.

You grin, skipping to his side. You're wearing a thin jacket today, along with a plain white shirt and a pair of jeans that are marked with grass stains. Your shoes are the same, and there's tiny strands of grass in your hair that Yoongi has to fight to ignore.

“It's me!” you exclaim, as if Yoongi would forget. “I didn't know you came down here.”

“I – uh – my uncle. . . He lives. . .” Yoongi awkwardly gestures to the top of the hill, where his uncle's house is.

You nod, not even following the direction of his gesture. Yoongi wonders why he bothers. “I've just never seen you around before. I come here almost every weekend.” You swing your leg over the back of the bench and perch on top of it. Yoongi shuffles over, silently offering you the place beside him, but you're quite content sitting right there.

You nudge his backpack with your shoe. “The music homework?”

“Yup.”

“You know, I finished mine the other day. After our little chat in the library.”

Yoongi looks up, shielding his eyes from the sun. “Really? How long did it take?”

“About ten minutes.”

He frowns. “Lucky you.”

“Hey, that's not to say it's any good.” You nudge him with your foot. “I'll admit I rushed it. I bet yours is gonna be ten times better than mine.”

Yoongi scoffs. “I actually have to have something to hand in to be better than you.”

You fall silent, and Yoongi wonders if he said something wrong again. He doesn't even care at this point, though, because the sheet beside him is still blank, and he has absolutely no idea what to do about it.

Love. Such a stupid, dumb concept. Did Miss Seymour even take into consideration that maybe some people don't believe in love? She may find this to be a bit of a surprise, but not every teenager in the world is a hopeless romantic – some of them just want to curl up and watch Netflix. Some of them are perfectly content being on their own. Some of them don't even want to think about love and it's complexities, because life is difficult enough without it.

God, he's being such an idiot. He knows this. It's a homework assignment – so what if he doesn't get the expected grade? So what if Miss Seymour looks at it and laughs? So what if his emotional capabilities are sitting at zero?

It doesn't matter. Nothing fucking matters.

“Yoongi?”

He doesn't look up.

You reach forward and place your hand over his own, and it's only then does he realise he's been gripping the strap of his backpack a little too tightly. The blood has drained from his knuckles, rushing to his fingertips until his fingers look like candles.

He quickly releases and pulls his hand into his chest. “Sorry.”

“You don't need to apologise.” You tilt your head. He can feel you staring at him, but he doesn't meet your gaze. “Are you okay? This isn't bothering you too much, is it?”

He closes his eyes. “I just . . . really don't want to fail.”

He isn't sure why he's telling you this, why you would even care, why he even cares. But the words are out, and suddenly you're sliding from the back of the bench to sit beside him, and then your head is on his shoulder and your humming something Yoongi isn't familiar with, but he wants to be familiar with it because it sounds so beautiful coming out of your mouth.

“You're a very tense man, Yoongi.”

He snorts. “Oh?”

“Mm. That was one of the first things I noticed about you when we met.”

“How tense I am?”

“Yeah. That, and the fact that you don't seem to care about it at all.”

“About what?”

“How tense you are.” You squeeze his upper arm, as if all the tension you're describing is in that single muscle. “You've just kind of accepted that that's how you are. Haven't you?”

“I've never been any other way.”

“That's sad.” You sit up. “Why don't we go in the river?”

Yoongi's head snaps up, eyes suddenly frantic. “What?”

But you're grinning, and Yoongi knows you well enough to know that isn't a good thing. You rise from the bench, and you're already tugging your shirt off before he has a chance to tell you to stop. There is no shame to your movements, no worry whatsoever.

Yoongi wants to know what that's like.

“Come on!” you exclaim. “The waters cold!”

“Exactly!” Yoongi stumbles up, reaches for your hand but suddenly it's at the button of your jeans and Yoongi flinches away. “Y/N, stop. The dark won't stop us getting caught.”

“So what if we get caught? I'll keep my bra on.”

And then you're tugging your jeans off and leaping into the river.

Your scream echoes through the trees. A tiny splash of water lands on Yoongi's arm and he grits his teeth – you were telling the truth. The water is ice cold.

“You're gonna get hypothermia in there!” he calls out.

“Don't be silly! Just get in! It warms up eventually!”

Yoongi closes his eyes; you're going to drive him mad.

Apparently, you're also going to persuade him to jump in an ice cold river.

He's peeling off his shirt before his sensible brain can kick in. And then it's his trousers, and then his socks and then he's lowering himself into the river, using the river bank as a grip.

You wade over to him. His eyes widen, and he tries to bat you away, but you're laughing as you tug his hand and pull him into the water. He grits his teeth, trying to bite back the scream threatening to rise to the surface.

It's replaced by a laugh, instead.

He's more surprised than anyone. You stare at him for a second as he tosses his head back and wipes his hand over his face, trailing the ice cold water drops down his skin. He can feel your eyes burning holes into the side of his head, but he doesn't even care, because this is the most daring thing he's ever done and he feels so free. He feels like an actual teenager.

It's weird.

Finally, he drops his hand. His fists splat against the surface, splashing you. You squeal, snapping from your trance long enough to splash him back.

“We're not having a water fight,” he says, walking backwards. “That's just cheesy.”

“Awk, come on,” you scoff, splashing him again. “Why can't we just let ourselves be cheesy once in a while? It's freeing.”

Yoongi rolls his eyes, but splashes you anyway. It's the start of a fight, a battle where Yoongi ends up dunked under the water three times, and you end up curled around the trunk of a tree on the river bank, kicking your foot at Yoongi any time he tries to grab for you. The two of you are laughing so hard, no pauses, no care in the world, and Yoongi is sure he's going to wake his uncle up and get a scolding for this, but he doesn't even care.

God, it feels good to just not give a fuck.

Finally, though, the night closes. Not even the moon can illuminate the grass, and the two of you finally decide it's time to pack up and head home.

Yoongi falls on his back on the river bank. You follow close behind him, and it's not even a big deal that you're only in a bra and underwear and he's only in a pair of soaked black boxers. You stare up at the stars, his hand on his stomach, your hand trailing through your tangled hair, and everything seems so right.

Yoongi didn't realise just how tense he was until he was calm again.

“My mum's going to kill me, you know,” you say.

Yoongi snatches at a dragonfly. “Oh.”

“But I had fun, so it doesn't matter.”

“Yeah.”

You spare him a glance. “You don't talk much, do you?”

“Not really.” Yoongi looks over at you. “But I had fun today. More fun than I've had in . . . in a very, very long time.”

You grin, and suddenly Yoongi isn't even worried about what could be lurking in the darkness. “I'm happy to hear that.”

You look back up at the stars, even though you have a curfew that you're clearly breaching, even though you're both soaked and will probably get some sort of cold from sitting out in the grass all night. Yoongi joins you, biting his lower lip to hide the smile wanting to force it's way to the surface.

Suddenly, he knows exactly what he wants to write about.

----

Yoongi really shouldn't be this nervous. This is his best friend. Namjoon, who has read his work on countless occasions, who has given him nothing but complete honesty from the very beginning.

And yet somehow, this feels different.

The two of them are sat in Yoongi's room this evening, an uncommon affair considering Yoongi has indulged himself fully in his studies these past few months; despite his mother finally letting him bring friends over whenever he wants, Yoongi keeps the front door locked and his curtains drawn, just to keep distractions at an all time low.

Today he makes an exception.

Namjoon sits on the spinning chair. Yoongi is cross-legged on his bed, eyeing the taller man because that's all he can think to do, besides tossing himself out the window. He doesn't even know where the nerves have come from, but they only double in size when he looks up to see Namjoon raising an eyebrow at the sheet of paper that has been giving Yoongi grief for days.

Yoongi leans forward. “So....”

“Bro...”

Yoongi flinches back. “Is it bad?”

“It's a bit. . .” Namjoon tilts his head as he searches for the correct word. Finally, he gives up and looks at Yoongi with a raised brow. “You really feel like this?”

Yoongi snatches the paper back. “It doesn't mean anything.”

“And you think I'm stupid. Great. Great. That's fantastic.”

“What are you on about?”

Namjoon gestures towards the page. “Yoongi, you were obviously writing about Y/N. I've barely even spoken to the girl and I can see that.”

Yoongi has the sudden urge to laugh.

But he doesn't laugh. He should be laughing. He wants to laugh, because maybe a laugh will make his denial a little more believable.

Instead he just stares. He feels his fingers curling round the page a little tighter. He really isn't doing a very good job of being subtle.

His voice is a little too high when he says, “You're crazy.” He coughs, standing up and marching to the other side of the room, just because he needs to move before Namjoon's eyes burn a hole in his face. He focuses his attention on the mirror nailed to the back of his wardrobe door and starts fixing his already styled hair. “I don't even know Y/N that well, anyway. How would I even be able to write an entire song about her?”

“You know her well enough,” says Namjoon. “You two are always talking in class.”

“We don't talk.”

“Are you forgetting that I literally sit right behind you?”

Yoongi hollows out his cheeks, dragging a strand of hair down his nose; it's getting long. He wonders if you like it long, or if you'll perhaps prefer him with a shorter style. “There's nothing in there that indicates it's about Y/N. It's just some bullshit I made up to get something on paper.”

Namjoon hums. Yoongi closes his eyes – that's the noise Namjoon does when he's about to prove somebody wrong, and Yoongi doesn't really want to be left embarrassed in his own god damn home.

“What about the line where you talk about how cute it is when this random person stumbles?”

Yoongi fluffs up his hair some more.

“Or the line where you go on about how you admire their personality, even though it's literally the complete opposite of your own?”

Yoongi pulls on his lower lip, inspects his teeth.

“Oh! How about the line where you describe this person making you feel alive for the first time in years?” Namjoon hums. “You didn't tell me you two went out together.”

Something snaps. Yoongi spins round and jumps onto the bed, snatching the page off the desk on his way past. He shoves it towards Namjoon.

“Fuck, is it really that obvious? What line gave it away?” He groans, trailing his hands through his hair. “I can't read this out in front of everyone if she's gonna know it's about her, Namjoon.”

Namjoon takes the sheet and gently places it on the bedside table. “It was a good song.”

“I don't care-”

“What are you so worried about anyway? It's obvious she likes you back.”

Yoongi blinks. “Fuck off.”

Namjoon's eyes widen. “I'm serious!”

But he isn't. He can't be serious. Kim Namjoon, the most serious, honest man Yoongi has ever met, is lying right to his face.

“Right,” Yoongi exclaims, “so I'll just have to write something different then.”

Namjoon grabs his wrist. “Don't you dare.”

“I'm not handing that in. There's no way.”

“But it's good! You'll get the highest grade in the fucking class with that, bro!”

Yoongi scoffs. “Yeah, I'll pass on a good grade if it means sparing my dignity.”

Namjoon gasps, flinching away as if Yoongi's skin has burned him. “I never thought I'd hear you say something like that. This is gonna go down in history.”

Yoongi rolls his eyes, and then he's making his way towards the bedside table, and then he's picking up the sheet of paper.

Namjoon cries out, tries to grab his wrist but Yoongi is quicker, and Yoongi is determined, and Yoongi is embarrassed that he ever let himself get so wrapped up in his own emotions that he actually wrote something like that.

He spent two hours trying to put his feelings into words. In two seconds, the candle flame has demolished everything.

----

Yoongi has never been so tired in his entire life.

Now, Yoongi has lived a very productive life. A fairly long life, too, considering he's very nearly reaching his nineteenth year. Throughout that long existence, he has been properly energized perhaps a total number of four times. He's used to exhaustion.

But today's exhaustion is really just taking the piss.

He is genuinely willing to fall asleep on the desk, which is dangerous both because of the risk of getting caught, and the fact that two of his best friends sit directly behind him and will not hesitate to write inappropriate things on his forehead, or the back of his neck, or whatever lick of skin they can find peeking out of Yoongi's black hoodie.

So he stays upright, even though it costs him a great deal of energy that his coffee is not currently refilling.

He takes another sip and hopes for the best.

“Gooooooood morning!”

Yoongi ignores the immediate flutter in his stomach.

“Morning.”

You place your bag on the table and start laying your books out. “How are you this morning?”

“Good.”

“You don't sound good.” You slap a hand to Yoongi's forehead. A bit of his coffee sloshes over the side of his cup. “You haven't got a temperature.” You lean down and meet his eyes. “Just tired?”

“Exhausted,” Yoongi grunts, nudging you away.

You giggle, finally taking a seat. “Well, at least you don't have to worry about your music homework any more – that's one less thing to stress about.”

“I wasn't stressing.”

“You've been stressed out for the past two weeks.”

Yoongi shrugs.

You roll your eyes, leaning your head on your hand. You're staring right at him. Yoongi wants to look away, but his eyes find yours and they struggle to leave, which is becoming an embarrassingly common occurrence recently.

“What?” he asks.

You nod towards his bag. “Can I read it?”

“Read what?”

“Your homework!”

“Uh, no.”

“Why not?”

“Because you might copy it.”

You stare at him. Yoongi hides his smile behind the rim of his cup.

You slap his arm. “I'm serious. I want to see what you finally came up with.” Yoongi rolls his eyes, but it's with a fondness he can't really disguise at this point – to be honest, he doesn't see a point in trying to hide it any more. You've cracked his shell. Those walls he's been building since first year are crumbling down, and no amount of denial is going to hide it.

So, he reaches into his open bag and pulls out the sheet of paper that is the reasoning behind his deterioration this morning; the words scribbled on that page kept him up until three am, and even now he's not pleased with how they turned out.

He just needed something. After scrapping his original idea, he was put right back to square one – he needed an idea, he needed inspiration, he needed to find a muse, but that muse never came. Any time he thought of the word love, the only image that popped into his head was you in that river a few nights ago, the water glistening against flesh he shouldn't have seen because you two were just friends, only friends, and friends aren't meant to see those body parts.

You take the page from him and start reading. Yoongi notices the way you absently chew on the sleeve of your hoodie as your eyes trace the page. He might have thought that was gross on anyone else, but he smiles when he sees you doing it.

Fuck. He's whipped.

He's watching you read, and he's waiting for your reaction, but he regrets this immediately when your face slowly starts to fall. Your eyes go first, moving from side to side a little faster, as if you can't wait to reach the end of the page. Then your grip tightens. Then your sleeve drops from your mouth and you're holding it with two hands.

Then, you inhale and hand it back to him.

He slowly takes it back, not once taking his eyes off you. You've gone from saying good morning and teasing him, to suddenly not even wanting to look in his direction. You instead keep your eyes on the desk, where your thumbs are fighting one another beneath the sleeves of your hoodie.

Yoongi risks leaning forward. “Did you like it?”

You nod. It's a little too quick to be believable. “I can see why everyone thinks you're amazing at Modern Arts.” You laugh, but it's forced. “Miss Seymour's gonna love it, Yoongi. Good job.”

He tries to smile. He tries to believe you. He tries to ignore your sudden silence, which is so strange to him because usually he's the one wanting you to be quiet. He's the one who deduces his responses to nothing more than one word answers or grunts, or even a nod of the head if he's feeling particularly tired that day.

But now you've gone quiet and Yoongi doesn't really like that.

He leans back in his seat. He can't really say anything, can he? What can he say, besides asking you what was wrong with his homework. Did you not like it? Sure, it's the worst thing he's ever written, but it means something completely different when a person he wants to impress thinks the same.

Miss Seymour walks in shortly after that, and the lesson begins.

She gathers up the homework, picking a few people at random to come up to the front and read theirs out. Yoongi gets slightly annoyed when his name isn't called – usually he hates being called to read, but for the love of god, if he'd have known he was just going to hand in some lyrics without needing to spit them out to the whole class, he might have kept his original draft.

Oh well. Too late now.

However, amongst those people reading, Miss Seymour chooses you.

You grab your page and stride up to the front with a confidence Yoongi isn't sure he will ever see you without. From the very first day he laid eyes on you, you've had that aura – that atmosphere that just says I don't really give a fuck what you say. Yoongi craves it, but he likes it much better on you.

You stand at the front. People start reading. Yoongi keeps his eyes on you.

And then it's your turn.

You don't inhale, don't awkwardly laugh, don't even look at the crowd as you start reading from the page, and despite the confidence that is so present in the way you stand, Yoongi can't help but take notice of the grip you have on the sheet of paper, the way your voice trembles just that little bit at the beginning.

The beginning, where you describe stumbling into class.

The beginning, where you describe sitting beside this mystery person.

The middle, where you talk about useless conversations consisting of one word answers, grunts, the occasional nod of the head.

The middle, where you say you thought it was all for nothing until one night under the stars. There was a river, and so few clothes, and laughter that you'd never heard before because it was coming from this special individual and you'd realised with a start that you hadn't heard them really laugh before.

And then the end, where you talk about how weird it is that you've fallen for someone like that.

Like that.

You don't specify. You don't really need to.

Yoongi feels like he's going to be ill. His stomach twists, and his fingers grip the edge of the table, and if he pays really, really close attention he can hear Hoseok and Namjoon squealing in the row behind him. But also, if he listens close, he can hear his heartbeat thundering in his chest as he remembers the way the page shrivelled up in his hand last night, the words he'd written about you no longer meaning anything because they no longer exist.

After you've finished your reading, you ask Miss Seymour if you can be excused. It's in such a quiet voice. Yoongi has to lean forward to hear it, but Miss Seymour nods and tells you how fantastic you've done before you smile and leave the room.

Namjoon taps Yoongi on the shoulder. “Bet you feel like a dick now, huh?” Yoongi closes his eyes, his heart erratic.

----

He finds you in the garden after class.

He has another class he has to get to, but he doesn't care. He walks right past the door of the sociology room and straight into the garden, where he can see your bright yellow hoodie hidden amongst the bushes.

He knows this is stupid. He should leave you alone. He's messed up enough for one day, and the fact that he's willing to risk fucking it up even more makes him want to punch himself in the face – but the idea of leaving you like this makes him want to punch himself even more.

Yoongi sits down beside you. The old wooden bench creaks beneath his weight, and he has the sudden urge to get up and just stand, but that would look awkward, so he doesn't.

He stuffs his hands in his pockets and looks up at the sky.

“Looks like it might start raining soon.”

You look up at the greying clouds. Your shoulder brushes against his when you lean back, and neither of you move. It's pleasant, almost, but there's a tension between you that no amount of physical contact will be able to conquer. Yoongi just has to suck it up and realise – sooner rather than later – that words and apologies are the only thing that can make this right again.

“I think you got the highest grade in the class, you know,” Yoongi continues. “Miss Seymour really liked your lyrics.”

“Good. That's. . . . really good, yeah.”

Yoongi glances at you. “What inspired you to write that?” God, why is he even asking? It was so obvious. You meant for him to catch on, meant for him to understand what you were trying to say, and yet he sits beside you now and acts oblivious.

You close your eyes. “Nothing.”

“Really?”

“I just wrote about love. Like I was told to do.”

“Yeah.” Yoongi turns his body towards you. “But you were going on at me about needing some inspiration. So, what inspired you?”

“Again, nothing.”

“You're lying.”

“You've gotten awfully chatty in the last fifteen minutes, haven't you?”

Yoongi bites his lip. “You know, the lyrics I showed you in class weren't the first ones I wrote. I had. . . I had another draft that was a lot better than that one.”

“So why didn't you hand it in?”

“Because I thought it would be too obvious.” He gestures between you. “If I'd have known we were doing this, I would have kept it the way it was.”

You stiffen. Yoongi can see the confusion in your face. You open your mouth to say something, to perhaps ask a question, but you close it and instead choose to just look over at him.

Yoongi shrugs as if you'd spoken. “It was a lot more honest. It was. . . a bit more meaningful than what I handed in.”

“Can I read it?”

“No.” He closes his eyes. “No, you can't. I burnt it.”

You pause. “Oh.”

“It was about you.”

“Oh.”

“Was. . . Was yours about me?” He sounds like a five year old. He sounds like a bloody five year old!

You look down at your hands, bundled up in the material of your sleeves, fingers just peeking out over the top. “Yes,” you mumble.

Yoongi's heart skips a beat, even though it really shouldn't, because he knew. He'd sat in class and listened to your retelling of that night under the stars; he wasn't an idiot. He'd written about the exact same thing, for crying out loud.

Nonetheless, his heart thunders because you've just confirmed it. There is no doubt any more. There is no but what if...

Yoongi nods. “Oh.”

You giggle. The noise startles him, and he glances over to see you awkwardly shielding your mouth from view. Yoongi raises a brow, and before he can think better of it, he's reaching forward and plucking your hand back to your side.

It lays in between you both. Yoongi places his hand on the top of it, twists your fingers together. You both just stare at the point of contact, and Yoongi doesn't know if you want anything more, or if this is finally making you realise that Yoongi really isn't the guy for you.

Because he isn't.

“This is so fucked up, you know,” he whispers.

You tilt your head. “What?”

“You shouldn't like me.”

“Why not?”

“Because I'm . . . like this.” He gestures to himself. “And you're like that. Us being together . . . . Life doesn't work that way for people like us.”

You go quiet. Yoongi doesn't look at you.

Not until you lay your head on his shoulder.

His breath leaves him in a single moment. His fingers tighten round your own. As if the blood from his brain has been completely drained, he lets his head drop on top of yours, and it is there, sitting with you in the garden, that he takes a deep breath, and he starts to realise that maybe not everything is so bad.

Maybe there's a bit more to life than what the future holds.

Maybe Yoongi should spend a little bit more time focusing on who he is now, rather than wasting away with the idea of being something bigger.

----

“So, I don't actually like Modern Arts all that much.”

Yoongi scoffs. It's too early for words right now.

You're laying on his chest this morning, playing mindlessly with the buttons on his cookie pyjama top. He rubs your shoulder with one hand, the other plays with your hair.

“You don't sound surprised,” you continue, but you don't sound surprised that he doesn't sound surprised.

“I'm not,” he replies. “You're not exactly a very stationary individual, love.”

“But I tried this time.” You look up, resting your chin on his sternum. “I quite liked sitting beside you. That was honestly the only reason I was dragging myself out of bed every morning.”

Yoongi presses a kiss to your nose. “I appreciate the company.”

You grunt and go back to playing with his shirt buttons. Yoongi goes back to messing with your hair.

“So what made you come to this painful decision?” he asks.

“I just. . . tried it, and I didn't like it.” You shrug. “Miss Seymour will understand, right? I think she only likes me because I'm going out with her star pupil.”

“I thought you were going out with me.”

“Ha ha.” You look up at him again. “When did you start getting so sarcastic?”

Yoongi simply grins. You poke his gums, just like you always do. He pretends to bite your finger, just like he always does.

You both laugh, and it's the most beautiful noise Yoongi has ever heard in his life. He's created music that has left grown adults in tears. He's listened to orchestras play live. He's listened to the tunes of a piano his entire life, and yet none of that can beat the sound of your laughter ringing in his ear at seven am on a Monday morning.

He should probably be getting ready for school. He really can't be bothered, though.

“What course are you gonna try out next?” Yoongi asks once the laughter has settled.

“Might give English a go. Fall in love with whoever I sit with in that class. Move on. Repeat.”

Yoongi pinches your hips. “Don't even joke.”

You kiss his chin. “Sorry. I had to.”

“Did you, though?”

Your kisses trail up to his lips, and Yoongi hums at the contact. You pull away, grin and say, “Yes,” before you sit up and start getting ready for the day.

Yoongi sighs, watching you pull your spare pair of jeans on – you always leave a set of clothes in Yoongi's wardrobe, just in case you accidentally end up staying the night. This is happening more and more often recently, but neither of you are addressing the issue, because neither of you mind.

“I'll go to one more Modern Arts class today,” you say, struggling to keep upright with only one foot on the ground. “Then I'll talk to Miss Seymour about transferring.”

“Sounds good,” says Yoongi. “Do you want me to stay with you after class?”

You raise a brow. “Do you not want to go to lunch with your friends? It'll only take a few minutes, Yoongi.”

“Exactly. But then you won't be in my class any more. I need to spend as much time with you as possible.”

“I live down the street.”

Yoongi raises a hand. “No arguments.”

You roll your eyes. The sun glares down on your skin. It makes your hair look a little shinier. It makes your smile look a little brighter. It makes Yoongi want to grab you and pull you back under the covers with him.

But he doesn't. He rolls out of bed and joins you in the task of getting dressed. The two of you talk about school and your days plans, and then you decide you're going to come back to his place afterwards, and Yoongi has to stop himself from giggling because you don't even have to ask any more – you just decide you're coming over, and that's it.

He loves it. He loves you.

He thinks back to a few months prior when he was sitting in his room, fretting over a piece of paper that seemed to be the bane of his existence at the time. He remembers wondering what Miss Seymour even saw in the topic of love – back then, it was so stupid to him. It was unfair. He's young, and he's still learning how to control his feelings, and he's still learning how to understand them – and even now, months into this relationship, he still struggles to understand it sometimes.

But now, as he gets dressed beside you, he wonders what took him so long to get those lyrics out. Right now, his feelings seem so obvious. Right now, he can't quite pinpoint why he ever thought love was a bad thing.

221 notes · View notes

fovapo5888 · 3 years

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How to Keep Your Dog From Running Away Plus How to Build a Very Cosy (Free) Pet Bed

How the big four commands save lives

According to the National Health Service and media reports, over 4,500 incidents a year in the U.K. involve dogs and people, with children being the biggest victim group.. You are more likely to be bitten by a dog than win the lottery! https://namingyourdog.weebly.com/blog/selecting-memorable-dog-names

One incident is an unwelcome statistic but until you accept that your pet dog runs away because you let it these incidents are going to continue to occur. There are 5 basic steps, 4 big commands and 3 essential pieces of equipment which you need to learn how to use effectively to gain control and to build discipline into your dog. This guide explains how to do this and how to stop your dog running away. A collar and lead are working instruments of control, just the same as holding your child's hand. Mobile phones are another safety device we use with our children to maintain contact and for a much safer and secure environment. Our dogs are no less important and are at a higher statistical risk than our children. Your voice alone is not going to be enough. Whistling is hard work and it assumes your dog finds the whistle more compelling than what is at the end of its nose. You must start to appreciate that stopping your pet running away is a skill to be learned and developed on an on going basis, and like people, the input of patience and unconditional love, will very likely be paid back. The probability is that if your children are model children then your dog probably will be too, but that doesn't mean it is going to be easy to train, it just means you probably have the mindset and determination to keep your dog safe and disciplined. I admit this article may be a bit controversial but the techniques work and will not harm or hurt your dog. Neglect and ignorance is a much bigger killer. If you want to stop your dog running away there are 3 things your must achieve:

Instant response Your dog's whole and undivided attention Complete obedience You need to understand that there are 3 reasons why your dog will run away:-

Sex Cruelty Owner mismanagement All three of the reasons as stated above can get your dog killed or seriously injured. If you then overlay lack of success with the 3 disciplinary aspects you have serious issues to deal with and you need to correct this quickly or risk your dog causing death or serious injury. The end result will be the loss of your pet by lethal injection, gunshot or fatal injuries. If minors are involved and they are your own family it will destroy not only your life but that of your entire family. This is how I see it anyway and it is this that motivates me to get it right. Your pet running off is not to be taken lightly. I propose to examine a few simple helpful hints that might make your life more bearable and improve your relationship with the animal at a level you can both appreciate and work on to good effect. I am going to ignore the first two reasons that cause running away. If you need guidance to deal with them please give your dog to a loving home, this article is not for you. Your dog is born with senses which once engaged are so compelling that you pale into insignificance the minute they are engaged. You don't need to be a dog whisperer to understand this, but you can see it for yourself the minute you call your dog back. It is not a great moment when your dog embarrasses you for your inability to handle it. I think one year in a dog's life is about 6.5 of our years, so by the end of year one your dog should be starting to make out sounds, short sentence structures and words. The four most important commands in order are:

sit heal down stay Dogs are quick learners. Not only do they know your mood, they take everything right to the edge all the time and they are also very persistent. The sooner you start teaching them the better, try to make it fun without finishing up with a fat dog. Remember your children should not be force fed a big McDonalds every time they get their table manners right and The National Hedgehog Road Skills award has never been won by a hedgehog. A lead is the equivalent of your child's hand. You communicate through it just the same way. You would not let your child pull you off your feet, especially on a main road, so use the same discipline with your dog.

Step 1. It is always your fault

I really don't think that Springer Spaniels with their long floppy ears can hear you properly over 30 metres away unless you really shout which makes you look in control doesn't it. When I was younger I had a liver and white springer 'Bramble'. He never knew to this day what hit him when he was busy rounding up sheep. I would have been able to play for the British Lions with a rugby tackle like that, the dog went flying, not in the least bit hurt, just caught in the act. He yelped just with fright, but never chased sheep again and after this incident if he could hear me he responded instantly to all the big 4 commands.

Step 2. How to stop your dog pulling you off your feet.

A sharp and very hard tug on the lead pulling your dog back behind you will do the trick. After the second or third time they will desist. This is obviously easier to do when your St. Bernard is a puppy, which is why i say start straight away. Bad habits are developed by the owners not the dogs. Never allow your dog to pull. Start by holding your dog's hand (the lead) and work firmly in a disciplined and in a fair way, and reward good performance and discipline and work on behaviour that falls short. Little and often is good and a routine is helpful. The thing that really gets results is patience. You would not take your child out into a distracting environment to teach them so don't do it to your dog either. Get the dog's attention and eye contact and progress will improve. If you are having trouble getting the dog's attention increase the treat value e.g. fillet steak. This is about hearts and minds and developing absolute trust. The time to use treats is at the outset of teaching the command. Once the dog understands what is required of it, a pat on the head and some encouraging words is sufficient.

Step 3. How to slow your dog down to your speed

How many of you would not hold on to your 6 year old child's hand in the city centre? Would you expect your six year old to speak fluent Russian? No, so don't expect your dog to understand what sounds the same to them. Use the lead to build confidence and lots of patience. By the time your dog is six months old they will be getting more biddable, more curious and more determined but up to the first year you can never be certain. However you are desperate to give your dog the freedom of that run about. A game keeper taught me a very good tactic called hobbling. Your dog's collar should always allow you to get three fingers under it, if you can't it is too tight. Simply stick your dog's front paw through the collar, it looks cruel, its not and you can catch a dog on three legs, it puts the odds in your favour, so you now have the opportunity to train your dog to stay close to you, or get it back safely. Don't use a retractable lead it encourages your dog to pull. Dogs on retractable leads are not properly trained (such a statement could be highly controversial but I would presume that those owners won't be reading this type of article so there won't be anyone to offend!)

Step 4. Timing - how long does it take to train my dog? I think 300 hours gets a basic job done before your dog will specialise into say rescue, field sports, or social human tasks like police or military work. It takes a good year to settle and train a dog. If you get the big 4 commands in quickly and early the dog will start to perform well but it will take at least a year so be patient and persist. Practice all the time - practice makes perfect. ( it also helps you lose weight!). I now have a black and white Springer Spaniel and she was terrible for running off. This was my fault. On dark evenings I only needed to get distracted for a second and the dog was gone. There I am in the dark and pouring rain, shouting my head off and the dog is in the next county. Twenty anxious minutes later I get a ball of mud back! Never be cross with a returning dog, it is after the fact and they may misinterpret you, causing trauma and confusion. Simply make a note to self to set up a training session in a controlled environment to fix the problem whilst kicking your own bottom and not the dogs!

Step 5. How to stop your dog running away

You spend hours and hours working with them, you teach the big 4 commands and when they are over six months old and really understand the commands then you have to bring discipline to bear or face the possibility of an unthinkable incident. I have tried whistles, chasing after her and just leaving her, none of which are satisfactory and just exposes the dog to danger. If I can't control the dog at both short and long range she is useless in the field other than as a pet. So how do I stop my pet from running away. A game keeper suggested an electric collar. I dismissed it out of hand as being cruel, but it is not as cruel as watching your dog in agony pinned down under a car wheel. I decided to try an electric collar but resolved to be kind and fair. It has transformed the dog without any cruelty at all and this is how it works: First and only after 6 months minimally, and only when the big 4 commands are in place can you use one. My collar has an audible alarm which the dog can hear even when she can't hear or see me. She quickly learned to respond to this bleep, it means only one thing 'Heal'. Since wild life has hearing and great vision too, we get to see lots of it when we are out now because we are quiet, the dog is under control at all times and above all is safe. Your dog and especially Springer Spaniels will want to do as you ask. You must be there at the time of any incident which demands attention or arresting and a bleeper really is on the spot and instant. If the dog doesn't respond there are 8 settings to 'tweak your dog's ear', building up to a shock. All of these are much gentler than rough handling or hitting the dog. All of them hurt a lot less than impact with an HGV. I must stress that if you don't have the big four commands in place and a confident dog you should not deploy such a device, just keep your dog on a lead. The collar is only for the dog's protection and control and the charge, which is about the same as a static shock from a door handle, does not cause the dog much discomfort, but it lets her know I want her attention when all else fails which is pretty rare these days. I don't know how the shepherds do it but they have my admiration. I don't need my little dog to achieve those levels. We have lots of fun together and she adores my two girls, mind you she adores everyone including the postman! I think that patience is the secret and then it's a matter of time.. She also has a special settee in our garden room (but never assumes this right in the house), and a dog house made out of straw bales which she loves as it is very warm. She also knows where the edge is, and pushes it like crazy, but she is safe and well behaved and under control at all times because she can hear me and every day that goes by her knowledge of language and disciplined procedure improves. I think I will always use an electric collar now, it is a safety device which makes me much less apprehensive about the dog's behaviour because I can focus on expanding the dog's comprehension of commands, so her behaviour continues to improve and she plays an even bigger and much more enjoyable part in day to day activities. If you don't want your pet to run off get to grips with the collar, lead, teaching, rewarding and discipline and be heard - the best way to do that quietly is with a bleeping collar - really it works. I think these new devices are the dog equivalent of a 2 way radio. No soldier goes into combat without one. I think they are here to stay and used responsibly will transform your life and make teaching your dog a real joy and with much less stress. Remember it is your finger on the button and you decide whether you are a dog trainer or a dog breaker - I know which I am.

How long does it take to teach your dog the big 4 Commands?

It takes about 20 minutes armed with some really 'must have' treats, and then repeat the training a day or so later for a few minutes until you see it work immediately. I use mackerel fillets but anything other than chocolate will do the trick. For every minute of training you need an hour of practice to get the command working consistently and then three or four times longer to get them all working together. You will pay for gaps in your routine and you will be able to notice when others have handled your dog. Dogs will always push to the limit to see what they can get away with so you have to be that limit and you can't always do that by being nice and feeding the dog treats. Never break your dog by cruelty and bullying to get the obedience you want, a broken dog does not work properly and anyone who has trained a dog will spot a broken dog a mile off, you can't hide it and you can't repair the damage.

A command should be instant, it is useless if it is not and may get you, your children, the dog or some poor unsuspecting motorist into an unthinkable situation, it is worth the effort.

Should you let the dog on the sofa - Training Versus Behaviour?

Oh boy is this a hot potato! Firstly your dog knows the difference between the scruffy couch in the playroom and the one in the living room but you may have to work more on the training. You can let your dog do anything you like provided you put the effort in with the ground rules, but here is a simple guide.

Your dog has two basic barks, one to warn and the other is more playful. Learn what they are and what they mean. If you don't want a yappy dog you will get the opportunity at about 10 months to sort it out.

Don't allow your dog to behave in a way that would be offensive to others, I am sure you don't need a list from me.

You can use a smack, a firm push or voice commands so long as it is immediate. If your dog is beyond reach you will need to either be very quick (voice and run) or use an electric collar. A sharp shock beats a fight or injury. If this is administered at the start of the action the dog is unlikely to repeat the offence. You won't break the dog doing this. Prolonged aggression or fierce punishment fills your dog with terror. I have heard them start to yelp before a blow is struck because they know what is coming. Could you do your job knowing someone is about to give you a good kicking? Neither can the dog. I have never seen a broken dog that didn't bring a lump to my throat and have me biting my lip to hold back the tears. Like the dog I suffer quietly in silence unable to speak.

Being a good dog owner and handler

Bad behaviour develops as a result of lack of effort or selfishness by the owner. Like your children the more patience and time you spend with them and effort you put into your dog, the more reward you can expect with a strong measure of devotion paid back. Like children they will pick up trauma between adults and they don't like it. Neglect will result in the dog making up its own rules and then you will need a dog psychologist to intervene. Unless the dog is ill and requiring 24 hour supervision, I would advocate they should have their own special place. A kennel is usually the best so they can have peace and quite to relax and dry/chill out and be themselves. You wouldn't normally have your children in bed with you, so I think it is a bit odd to have your pets there too. Lack of common sense is what develops poor animal behaviour. Plenty of exercise, good diet, discipline, routine, care and attention will work for your dog.

In summary, the three essential pieces of equipment required are a lead, a collar and an audible device that can be heard anywhere instantly by your dog which upon being heard recalls your dog to your side.. If a measure of force is required then this device should have the ability to administer it or be backed up by it.

How to Make a cosy dog bed for free - well almost

I think a great bed makes a very happy dog, especially if they have a full tummy

As an engineer, specialising in materials handling and storage, when it comes to a bed for the dog I wanted to create a cosy place for her to sleep. For several months I persevered with pet cushions etc but they just get filthy and are not very easy to clean or warm to sleep on outdoors. In winter this year we had two feet of snow, which the dog loved but it was cold for her and I wanted something better.

Pallets are often equipment you can pick up for free. Two or three of them are very simple to convert into a bed. 1000mm x 1200mm is a perfect size. If you have an outhouse, garage or shed they will fit easily inside. It doesn't matter if the dog chews them, the wood can be recycled or used for fire wood and if you use straw, the straw can be composted or burned. Now this solution is not for everyone but the dog will love it and you may grow to love it and here is why:

The straw helps clean the dog The dog can scrape and arrange the straw as it wants it The pallet and a few straw bales make a very cosy den Filled with straw your dog can live comfortably outside in all weathers Living outside is better for the dog Dogs will grow their natural seasonal coats in line with the climate. Inside they go into a state of permanent moulting, outside unheated they can live more naturally. The straw is cosy and warm the year round especially with the added protection of 380mm to 450mm of insulation on 6 sides The pallet keeps your dog off the cold floor - essential. Straw bales range from £1.75 to £3.50 Before you go into blind panic about scabies or mange, I have never had any trouble. However if you are worried ask your vet, I think you will find that the modern treatments keep them at bay anyway. Do watch out for nails and cardboard (stapled on). Plywood makes good tops if the wood is spaced or a bit rough and then the deep straw does the rest.

My dog really loves her straw bed and is quite happy to get into it and I rarely see her little black nose come round the edge of the bale until I call for her.

There is an awful lot of nonsense talked about training and not much help with the real control commands when they don't work. Much of the time it is just not possible to intercept mistakes and behavioural dysfunction in time to correct it in a way the dog can quickly grasp the requirement. This just makes it tougher on both you and the dog.

I am a materials handling engineer by profession, and a keen motorcyclist which I use for work most of the year round. The BMW GS 1200 Adventure is a challenging and awesome machine, so if you are in commerce or industry and want to build or equip a new warehouse or production unit, please go and visit my website.

I have had spaniels most of my life, having grown up with them. I have always found it hard to get help with the really tricky bits of training. I prefer to train the basics and build my own relationship with my dog and I like to see her working in the field doing what she does best and then getting her to come back to me in an orderly way and not via the adjoining county. I usually send the dog for a season with a keeper to specialise, it's a bit like doing a ski season for the dog.

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superemeralds · 5 years

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ive had my own idea for a sonic movie that would still be live action and a generic child-friendly action-comedy just like the “real” sonic movie is (presumably) gonna be

IN SHORT!

The main character that makes a duo with sonic for the majority of the movie is a young girl named June.

The overall plot is very similar to sonic x, but altered to fit the time span of the usual one and a half hours movie length in movies like that.

detailed description, explanation of the pictures and character info under the cut!

Through a mal-induced chaos control eggman and sonics friends get transported into the real world. this time space rift causes some really weird stuff to happen and June gets seperated from her dad, who was just on his way to bring her to school.

at first she thinks its cool to meet a talking blue hedgehog in a really pretty nature-y place and skip school to play with him, but soon they notice that they are not alone. Eggmans robots got transported to our world too! June gets captured because she is seen with sonic and therefore identified as a threat by eggmans robots! Sonic runs after her towards what seems to be eggmans base.

meanwhile the dad was transported to a really high place, whihc is bad cos he’s got fear of heights. Luckily tails and knuckles appear and offer to help him down

both teams start looking for eachother, but get interrupted by various obstacles. June and Sonic get hold off by eggmans schemes, while Dad and Sonics friends stumble upon amy, who just escaped a military research facility. she hoped that cream would be with the others, but it seemed that they had to go back and save her. the Dad used to be a hobby boxer, but since he’s a lawyer he doesn’t really do that much anymore. it surely helped him when taking out those government officials. its funny how a lawyer breaks the law, right? there’s many jokes on that and his character development goes from strict father figure that doesnt allow fun and insists on obeying the law to a wild and free man who does what’s right, even if he has to break rules. (also he screams “sorry” every time he KOs someone because hes that kinda guy)

June and sonic manage to infiltrate the egg carrier that was transported into our world and set it to crash and render all his stuff useless!

However, the ship is on course for the city which they didnt realize until it started losing height. eggman pretends that he can still stop this if the people are willing to make him their unquestionable ruler, but sonic and june are determined to stop the ship themselves. sonic keeps eggman busy while June is in the command center trying to find a way to make the ship change course and go crash in the ocean.

in the end everything is exploding and falling apart and eggman is fleeing, June managed to change the ships course and runs up to sonic telling him he needs to run, sonic says that she doesnt have to tell him twice and they go.

sonic gets blown to the side by an explosion and trips over debris, making his knee bleed a little (u cant see blood bc this is kid friendly hes just hurt like theres dirt or smth lol) and he tells june to run and not worry, but she comes back and lifts him on her back and is determined to run as fast as she can to get outside

when she reaches a door she screams because she’s scared. they are close to the ground, but not close enoguh to make it alive if she jumped... then sonic hugs her from behind and says “jump on my command” and shes like. no way. but he says “trust me we’re not gonna get hurt if we hit water” and shes like “but i cant swim that well” sonic chuckles “me neither” and then she gets the memo and is all determined and ready and they make it and its magical

they might also have a scene thats a nudge to 06 where sonic is very Positive and gives good life advice.

while everything seems like its perfect eggman is starting plan B of his conquer the others were all alarmed by the crashing egg carrier and therefore came speeding in the modified car tails rebuild for Dad (it can turn into a fucken plane. Dad and June are finally reunited and he thanks sonic for watching after her, and sonics like nah ur daughter totally watched after me shes a hero.

and then they work together to stop eggmans final boss robot and save the city.

at some point they all found chaos emeralds somewhere. and sonic can turn super to finish eggman off. yeah that sounds cool.

that also makes him and the others fade back into their own dimension, bc hes Got That Power

in the end its just him, June and Dad iin midst of a park in the city with debris and shit and June is like. sonic dont go we jsut became friends

and sonics like. treasure the memories you make and live life to the fullest bc u only got this one shot and u gotta make the best of it. n her dad is all agreeing and shakes his hand and is like. thanks sonic

and June hugs him and cries but smiles and sonic says nice smile bc im kinda getting emotional writing this all out and then he disappears in a flash of light and in that moment it cuts to the mom on the side of the park in her car with the window down going “what the-” and credits roll

thanks for reading

okay i know most of this was really silly and unfinished but granted i was making this all up as i went on and on about this and like. yea. i brainstormed this in like. 2 horus time completely from scratch, only using sonic X as basis for the plot and the humor of popular and successful action comedies as inspiration for the tone of the movie

as for the characters i just thoguht a carefree girl thats tired of being stuffed into a mold meeting sonic and learning that its okay to be herself and do what u think is right, learning that kindness really is the most powerful thing on earth and that friendships are precious??? hell fucking yeah!

also child character is more relateable than a fucking cop. kids will be able to relate to June, while adults (long time fans most of all) will be able to see their past self in her.

as for the dad, a lot of adults might see themselves in this dad role who just wants the best for his kid, while being stuck in a boring job that doesnt really fulfil them, but pays the bills and the lifestyle the family has.

I also really wanted characters that you have not seen before. Whenever i see a black dad he has a shaved head and thats kinda boring its just. basic. nothing agianst dads with shaved heads but why is Every Single(black) Dad Bald/Buzzcut? so i gave him dreads because why not? looks cool when he does action shit. whoosh whoosh

i knew i wanted a kid and i knew i wanted a girl. im really fond of puffy pigtails and i decided to go with a black girl just because! it was the very first thing that came to my mind when i was looking for an adventurous girl that wants to go on adventures with a blue talking hedgehog.

plus loving black dads that lov their girls rly rly need rep u_u

as for sonics design, i tried to compromise with the movie’s need for a more realistic sonic by making him overall fluffier to hint at texture, but keeping his core design and proportions.

the same goes for all the other characters.

I’m still very thinking emoji about eggman, I think it would be best to have him be either played by a fat person. Like Really Fat Person to resemble his original design (hes fat okay who cares abt slanky legs) or have him be CGI/partially CGI due to the fact that he’s from another dimension.

and uh. that’s all i have to say for now! it’s 1am and i should get to bed!

#sonic the hedgehog #sonic movie #my art #long post #shadows idea stash

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mythgendered · 6 years

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Archie Mega Man: No, it’s ACTUALLY about ethics in video game robotics!

Alright guys, cards on the table: I’ve talked a big game about what I like about the comic so far, with words like theming and worldbuilding and fleshed out characters, but now we’re really getting into it. We’re about to take our first real dive into the story that Flynn has been prepping for us. We’ve had fun in the first three arcs, setting up the stories to come with talks of free will and what it means to be a self aware robot, mashed in with fun adventures and at least one robot dog.

But now the kid gloves are...well, they’re still on, because this is still the super fighting robot comic and we have a lot of goofy adventures left in us. But! we’re switching to something cool, something that says less Mickey Mouse and more...Sonic the Hedgehog.

So let’s put on out fingerless kids gloves and dive into Spiritus Ex Machina, or TERRORISM AND THE ETHICS OF CREATING FEELING MACHINES!

Heads up, this is a long one.

With Dr Wily foiled again and seemingly off the radar, the Light family is afforded some relative peace -- and just in time for the Advanced Robotics Trade Show! It’s a time of meeting new faces and reuniting with old friends, and we are introduced to two of Doctor Light’s oldest friends and fellow roboticists: Dr. Mikhail Cossack and Dr. Noelle Lalinde.

The trade show isn't just about exchanging ideas, as Doctors Light and Lalindre take the stage to debate robotic ethics; namely, is it right to give a thinking, feeling AI to a robot meant for dangerous tasks? Is it ethical to let a robot feel emotion, even negative ones?

The debate gets heated, but before it can continue, the convention is hijacked by a terrorist group known as the Emerald Spears (ha, ha). The Spears are a militant anti-machine group, and they seek to put an end to the field of robotics through any means necrssary-- first through debate, then with the explosions they’ve planted around the convention center.

That leaves Mega Man, Roll and his new companions Pharoh Man and Quake Woman with little time and fewer options to save the day-- because while they’re programmed to help, how can they when they can’t harm humans?

And here we are! We’ve finally arrived at the meat and potatoes of Archie’s Mega Man, and what Flynn has been working toward for the past few arcs. Everything I said I loved about the comic takes shape here, built atop the foundation laid in Time Keeps On Slipping and even the first four issues.

There’s a lot to enjoy here, so let’s take things part by part.

Since Mega Man X introduced repolids and their free will, the franchise has had great potential for a conversation about the ethics of robotics, about how far science can go, or how far it should go. This is a conversation that Ian Flynn is clearly interested in, and the comic is all the better for it. It’s these questions that, while in the background of the last three arcs, are now irrevocably hanging over the cast’s heads, looming over everything they do.

Is it right to create thinking, feeling robots? If we give them the ability to feel and choose, are we putting a gun to our head? Conversely, if we limit those choices, are we condemning thinking, sentient creatires to a shackled, hollow existence? Is it fair to take away that independence, especially if they won’t be able to care about what you’ve taken? At what point does the gift of life become a cruelty-- and to whom is it the most cruel?

If I’m sounding a bit pretentious, I hope you’ll forgive me--but these are the kinds of questions that drive the comic from here on out. And while Rock and his allies continue to struggle against the forces of evil, at times those supervillians merely serve as merciful distractions from the real, troubling implications of he world Thomas Light has ushered in. A world that, by series canon, arguably ends up hurting more than it does heal.

It’s a wonderful level of nuance that Flynn brings to this setting, and one that grounds the otherwise cartoony classic era in a way that more naturally leads into the darker X series-- while still preserving the fiun spirit of it all. I’ll admit, I’m something of a sucker for these “soft existential crisis”angles in scifi stories, and the comic manages to balance it out with the super heroics admirably.

In fact, it’s that balance that drives the arc’s central conflict!

Rock isn’t fighting a group of rogue, reprogrammed robots, here. The Emerald Spears are wholly human, and that doesn’t just tie our heroes’ hands, it shackles them. Elec Man openly gripes about his uselessness, even bringing up that if he still had Wily’s evil programming, the story might have ended a lot sooner.

(Which, itself, is very relevant to the arc’s proceedings)

The conflict is something of a puzzle-- how do our heroes save the day without breaking the one rule they literally can’t break? The answer becomes working around he Spears, tricking them where they can and disarming them to reduce their threat. Ironically, it isn’t until the Spear’s impromptu new leader, Xander Payne (who we’ll get to in a moment), loses his patience and gets trigger happy that our heroes can fully fight back.

All the while the doctors trade words with the Spears’ leadership, continuing the ethics debate started at the arc’s beginning.

It’s a brilliant blending of physical and philosophical conflict, each joined together for a coherent, compelling storyline. This is easily the best the run has seen, with a gripping and intelligent arc that also sets up the stories and themes to come.

I know I’ve been repeating that a lot over the course of these pseudoreviews, so here’s the best time as any to just lay out our themes -- Flynn’s themes. Themes of what it means to be a living, thinking machine, and of what impact living machines have on the world. Themes of scientific progress, and where we should or even can draw the line. Themes of forgiveness -- who we can forgive, and who we maybe should stop giving chances to, and can we forgove ourselves? What consequences do our actions have, and at what point do good intentions stop mattering?

These are the questions the comic asks time and again, and rearely do they have clear cut answers, because these arent questions that can be answered simply. But they’re questions that need to be asked, and are asked, and the comic is just...so much better for it, guys.

Hey, I said up top this reread would be a lot of gushing.

But let’s start talking nice about other stuff this good good arc does right!

As I said back in the first storyline, Flynn makes good use of his Mega Man lore to worldbuild. In three arcs, we’ve gotten references to Blues and Mr X, heaps and heaps of foreshadowing to the X era, and now we sre formally introduced to the Cossacks and future Mega Man 4 boss Pharaoh Man. It really ties the setting together-- of course these titans of robotics would know each other outside of Wily attacks. It’s also just nice to see these characters have a tangible presence in the workd prior to their “intended” introduction in their respective games.

Plus, lookit that big hug Thomas gives his friend. That’s cute as heck!!

But even with the worldbuilding, it also gives us that sweet, sweet dramatic irony we love.

Yeah Pharaoh Man, thats sounds like it would be rough!!

Flynn gets a little cheeky with the irony and he foreshadowing, but it honestly gets me every time and I love it.

But this arc doesn’t also just bring out the goods with established characters/- we also get a whole feast of brand new original characters!

Spiritus Ex Machina introduces us to Dr. Noelle Lalinde and her own robot master, Tempo, also known as Quake Woman. And guys? You know I talked a lot of love for Agents Stern and Krantz. I love them. They were great characters when they were inteoduced, and they will continue to be great characters in every story they feature in.

But I absolute ADORE the Lalinde family, and Tempo herself may just be my favorite of all the comic’s original characters.

(Also, say hi to Pedro in the corner there! He’ll be important soon, and meshes the comic’s strengths of OCs AND established characters.)

In addition to adding a much appreciated female presence to the Mega Man Universe, Tempo and Lalinde embody many of the comic’s themes of sentient AI, robot emotions and familial forgiveness. Theirs is a tragic, but ultimately happy, story of pain, loss and growth. I. Love. Them.

This arc primarily focuses on Dr Lalinde, and how Tempo’s accident affected her and hew worldview-- explaining the hard stance she took against Thomas “my robots are my children” Light during the debate.

Tempo is more of a...presence than a character here, which is the point-- Lalinde took something from her, something unimaginably precious, and left her literally a shell of what she once was. Future issues will focus more on Quake Woman herself, and we’ll get to see how these same effects impact her, so I’ll save that discussion for later. This post is already getting long enough, and I haven’t even touched on the bad guys yet!!

The Emerald Spears are...alright antagonists. They serve as effective bad guys in Dr Wily’s absence, and their more realistic approach to terrorism contrasts well with the Mad Doctor’s own theatrics and literal mustache twirling. I don’t see Xander payne chainsawing a Japanese cyprus with a cord plugged into it.

They also provide a more philosophical counter, by harshly and violently pushing back against the pro-robotics ideals of Dr Light and his colleagues. They fear and hate the dangers advanced robotics pose, and are working to prevent the undermining and extinction of humanity. And honestly? Take one look at the X series -- heck, the Zero series!! -- and tell me they’re not a little right to worry.

I mean, they’re absolute monsters who threaten countless lives in pursuit of a bruitish, self serving and discriminatory worldview but uh...things really arent great for humanity in any of the multiple bloody robot wars that consume the planet over several series and centuries.

What I’m saying is, theres another layer of dramatic irony when your shortsighted, idiotic doomsday cult happens to be right, you know? This never happens in the Battle Network timeline!

The Emerald Spears are bunch of preachy, annoying jerks, but their presence is welcome in this setting, even if Xander Payne is an absolute weenie!!

In what appears to be a soft retcon, Xander Payne is (re)introduced to us as this sunglasses dude from Issue #2. Since hen he’s become a fanatical, robot-hating terrorist leader because, uh...

Because Elec Man zapped him and now he’s got a sick robot eye??

Ok, so Xander’s is not exactly the most...tragic of backstories, especially by this comic’s standards. He might be, in fact, 100 percent a dick. And yeah, that mostly has to do with him trying to bomb a bunch of innocents and his own men, but its really informed by him being such a baby about it all!

I’m of two minds with Payne-- on one hand, he’s kind of a whiny baby throwing a tantrum at advanced robotics, and he has a really gross pencil stache. But again, there’s a certain narrative beauty to a major antagonist being this much of a weenie while, again, kind of also being right!

His presence is not as irritating as it could be, and he largely justifies himself with later, far more interesting revelations than “I never asked for this sweet robot eye.”

But enough about that! lets talk about he really interesting bad guy!

Dr Wily rules the B Plot of this arc, which sees him exploring the mysterious Lanafront Ruins and discovering several ancient technologies-- the largest of which begins building for him a brand new army of robot masters.

This is largely set up for future arcs, the Super Adventure Rockman adaptation in particular, but--

Actually, can we take a moment to sppreciate how cool it is that the comic adapts Super Adventure Rockman of all things? And well before Mega Man 3! That is just so wild to me, and reson #413,612 why I adore Ian Flynn’s writing.

But anyway, In addition to setting up future arcs and adaptations, Dr Wily’s subplot here lays the foundation of the...well, of the Wily Family. The Wilybots had loads of personality in the MM2 arc, and that doesn’t go away when Ra Moon ressurects them. They banter, talk with each other, welcome in the newcomer MM3 bots and...it’s really solid setup for character beats to come. Wily and his robots have been fairly straightforward antagonists to now, but once he Curse of Ra Moon takes its toll, the character development train barrels toward them at full speed.

But we’ll get to that.

For now, we leave the arc with one last character introduction, though we’ve seen him at least once before.

If it isn’t apparent by now, I think Spiritus Ex Machina is a wonderful, wonderful story arc. It’s a kind of turning point for the comic, where the storytelling steps away from the face value of super fighting robot antics and really considers their consequences and implications.

It’s where the comic’s world really comes alive, with more characters and a more realized setting. Things are different from here on out, in exciting and wonderful ways. Like I said last time, hearts will be broken, allies will be made, and worlds will collide -- and I’ll be loving every second of it.

God bless this comic, y’all.

#for archielasting peace #mega man #megaman #this is where i get REALLY wordy guys

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eurolinguiste · 6 years

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When it comes to learning languages, the expression “all work and no play…” is true. Without any playtime, language learning can be dull.

That’s not to say there isn’t value in doing the book work – there is a ton of value. It just means that it isn’t all you should do.

Finding a way to engage with your language beyond hitting the books is important to not only succeeding in your learning, but in connecting with the language on deeper level.

Media has been used for generations as a medium for language learning. Films, television shows, books, and music have all proven powerful methods for immersing yourself in your new language. But there’s another powerful way to learn a language through rich context and interaction. A method that makes the language that you learn more memorable because of all the connections you form while doing it.

Video games can be a powerful language learning tool, and there are loads of different ways to use them to maximize the time you spend both playing and learning.

I’ll get into just what these are in a moment, but before I do, I want to share a word of warning. This post is massive.

There’s a lot of ground to cover, so let’s get started.

Level 1: Introduction to Learning a Language with Video Games

In addition to being the language enthusiast behind Eurolinguiste, I’m also a gamer. I’ve used video games to improve or maintain a variety of languages on a variety of systems and I’ve found it to be a highly effective element of my language learning routines.

My history with gaming dates back to my early childhood when my brother and I would hijack our dad’s NES system to play Ice Hockey and Super Mario Bros., huddle around our neighbor’s Sega Genesis to take turns at Sonic the Hedgehog, or rack up points for tricks in Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater on the original Playstation.

As I got older, entered the realm of PC games, and realized I could lock my brother out of my saves by swapping the game language, games were no longer entertainment but a learning tool. My curiosity peaked, I suddenly enjoyed the challenge of playing games in new languages and in figuring out enough of the walkthrough I found online in a different language to get to that next level.

Today, I play games almost entirely in other languages. It’s only when support for a language I know isn’t available that I resort to playing in English.

Some of my favorite games are The Legend of Zelda and Skyrim, so they’ll make quite a few appearances in the examples below.

The Stigma Behind Gaming as a Learning Tool

Video games still to this day often get a bad wrap. I’m sure at some point in your life you’ve heard someone say they’re useless or a waste of time, but studies have shown that there are a surprising number of cognitive benefits to playing video games. In fact, in an article from Psychology Today, the author states, “The bulk of the research suggests that the claims about negative effects of video gaming are largely myths and the positive effects are real.”

These include everything from improved visual processes, improvements in spacial attention and the ability to track objects, reduced impulsiveness, overcoming dyslexia, improved problem solving, improved ability to multitask, increased mental flexibility, and more. Plus, your time spent playing video games can also count as language study time if you play your cards right.

Why Learning a Language with Video Games Works

When we find ways to make what we’re learning more engaging, it becomes more memorable. And when you’re playing a game, you’re highly engaged.

The interaction, the processing and the figuring out that goes on while playing all add up to an immersive and interactive language learning experience.

Here are just a few ways video games can be a powerful language learning tool:

Repetition

The more you see something, the more likely you are to remember. Games are a great place to get repetition. There’s a good chance that there’s a limited set of moves/options you have as you play, so you’ll get a lot of exposure to the vocabulary for these actions. Plus, most games today have a story of some sort, so you’ll get repetition in the narration as well. Finally, there also tends to be a limited number of objects or places you interact with within the game, so these too offer you plenty of repetition.

Procrastination Becomes Action

If you’re into playing video games, there’s a good chance it’s one of the things you do when you put off doing your “work”. But when you use games to learn a language, suddenly your procrastination becomes action. Your playing becomes a learning opportunity.

Pressure

When you don’t understand what’s going on in the game, there’s a good chance you’ll lose (or your character will die). This can be frustrating, so it’s a good incentive to learn fast.

Positive Association

A big part of why we have a hard time sitting down to spend time with our languages is because it feels like work. Flashcards, textbooks, and study aren’t often high on the “fun” list for many, but games are. When you associate language learning with gaming, you’re creating a positive association. And this positive association makes it easier to sit down and do it.

Context

When you study random word lists or even a themed chapter in your course book, what you’re learning can feel a little out of context. Do you really need to know how to buy a train ticket in German? What if you never travel to the country? If, however, you find that knowing how to investigate certain areas at a train station to get to the next level is important, you’ll have a context for picking up that vocabulary. It’ll suddenly be much easier and much more engaging than simply reading dialogues in a book, memorizing a word list, and doing workbook exercises.

Friends

There is a community for almost every major game worldwide. This means there’s a good chance you can find a group of people who speak your target language and who love the same games as you. Whether it’s through an online game, forums about the game, or other message boards, there are tons of ways you can connect with people who share your interests.

Accessibility

Don’t want to invest in platform games? No problem. If you own a phone or a computer, you can still get all of the benefits of games without having to buy a gaming system.

Level 2: The Setup

To get started with gaming in a new language is simple. In the past, if you wanted to enjoy games in different languages, you often had to buy the version of the both the system and the games from the country that speaks your language (I may or may not have bought a Japanese version of the Nintendo 64 along with the Japanese versions of the Zelda games and by may, I mean I definitely did). Instead, changing the language today is just a matter of changing the settings.

There are two places you can change the language settings of your video games.

The first place to change the settings is within the system or computer itself. This means, if you’re using Steam, you’ll change your Steam settings to your language of choice. If you’re using a Wii Switch or an Xbox, you’ll change your system settings.

Here are links to do this for many of the major platforms. How to change the language settings for your:

Playstation 4

Nintendo Switch

Nintendo DS

XBox

Windows PC

Steam

Second, you’ll want to change the settings for the game itself. Often, changing your system’s settings will also change the language settings for your game (but not always).

When changing your game language, you first want to be conscious of what languages are available. Some games have subtitles or captions available in more languages than they do audio (this means that sometimes I may play a game with the audio in one language and the subtitles in another). And certain games only have support for a limited number of languages.

If you’re not sure if a game is available in the language you’re studying, you can often check the game description. This will let you know if you can enjoy the game in your language or if you need to look elsewhere.

Finding Games in Your Language

Getting games in your language doesn’t need to be a challenge. If you live in a country where your target language is spoken, it’s as simple as walking down to the nearest game or electronics store. But if you don’t, Steam is one of the best alternatives.

Steam is an online gaming platform that gives you access to an incredible selection of games for Windows, Linux, and Mac OS. And the best part? You can filter all of those games by language.

And, not only can you search for games by language, but you can also search by games developed in specific countries. That means you can find games developed by the country of your target language, ensuring that you get high-quality content in your language.

Buying Compatible Consoles, Downloading Audio/Subtitles

When all else fails, or if you’re into some of the more classic games like me, you can always buy a game console from the region that speaks your target language. You may need to buy converters or adaptors so that you can power it on safely, but it’s a great way to get around having to tweak settings or worry about what’s available and what isn’t.

Some games also have player-generated subtitles or audio that you can download. These aren’t always the best quality, but depending on what is available otherwise, might sometimes be better than nothing.

Level 3: Types of Games and Their Content

Not sure if video games are your thing? Don’t worry.

There are tons of different types of games out there and there’s a good chance you’ll find something you think is entertaining and engaging. Here are just a few of the game genres out on the market:

Online Multiplayer Games

First, I’ll cover a broad genre of video game. Many of the genres below can also be online multiplayer games (though not all). What’s the difference?

With online multiplayer games, you interact with other players within the game (rather than play by yourself). In some of these games, you may work as a part of a team and in others, you may just “run into” other players as you progress through the game. These types of games also have chat features, so you are able to interact with other players in the game beyond any in-game dialogue or actions.

Some of the most popular games in this genre are World of Warcraft and League of Legends.

Interactive Movies

If you enjoy a good story with some interactivity, interactive movies and visual novels are a great option. These games are often called “interactive fiction” and they contain a lot of dialogue.

Popular games in this genre include Game of Thrones, the Walking Dead, and even Myst.

Action Games

Action games cover a wide variety of options – everything from platform games (like Donkey Kong) to first person shooters (like Call of Duty). These games rely on the response of the player, so you may often find yourself more focused on the gameplay than the language content.

Popular games in this genre include Super Mario, Call of Duty, Guitar Hero, and Doom.

Role Playing

RPG games, or role playing games, feature a character who moves through a storyline. The world often includes monsters, towns, dungeons, and castles, as well as character development (leveling up, gaining skills, and experience). Often, the player has a choice in how the unfolds and this is determined by how they interact in the world.

Games in this genre include The Legend of Zelda, Final Fantasy, and Skyrim.

Simulation

Simulation games are games where some aspect of fantasy or related is simulated. This may include running a business, a city, vehicle simulation or life simulation.

Some of these games include FlightGear, the Sims, SimCity, and Tamagotchi.

Strategy

Strategy games are games that require critical thinking and planning in order to win the game. This often include games with battle tactics and other war-games.

Within this genre are games such as Civilizations, Age of Empires, and Fire Emblem.

Sports

Sports games include racing games, sports and competitive games, and sports-based fighting games. They are a form of simulation games, but specifically built around sports.

Within this genre are games like FIFA, Pong, and Grand Turismo.

Games for Children

There are many educational games targeted at children, but just because they’re built for a younger audience doesn’t mean that you won’t get a lot out of them.

Companies like Nickelodeon and Disney have a wide variety of games for younger players in other languages (Juegos Nickelodeon, Nick Jr. France, or Disney Japan). Because the games are simple and targeted towards an audience with a limited vocabulary (relatively), they’re an easy entry point and often very educational. https://ift.tt/2uqObsA

Language Learning Games

In addition to playing games in other languages, you can play games that are designed for language learners specifically.

These games are still focused on acquiring a new language, but they’re presented as a part of an engaging platform.

In this genre, you have games like InFluent, Drops, and My Chinese Coach.

Text Rich Games VS Games with Little Text

When selecting games, bear in mind that the content you can use for language learning will differ drastically. Some games will have more audio dialogue, others more written instructions, and others still a mixture of the two. Depending on the language you’re learning and the stage you’re at, having a lot of audio content can be extremely helpful. It encourages to work on your listening comprehension. On the other hand, if you’re a beginner in your language, playing a game with mostly audio instructions may prove too much of a challenge and a game with a lot of text dialogue may be better suited to your level.

If you’re not sure what the audio and text content of a certain game will be like, you can do a search on Youtube for “[name of game] gameplay” to get a quick impression of what the game is like.

A point worth noting is that it is good to try out a variety of game types so that you’re sure to get a mix of audio and text input.

Level 4: How to Use That Content to Learn a Language

Now that you know what your options are for games, here’s how you can get the most out of your combined gaming and language learning experience:

Join a community of some sort. Whether it’s the community of an online multiplayer game or the forums on Steam, there’s likely a community of gamers who speak your target language. Find them and take part in the conversation.

If the game is online, choose servers where your language is spoken. Several years ago, I played an online game on my phone where joining a guild was critical to your success in the game. I found that if I joined the French servers, it was a great opportunity for me to practice French.

Try your best to use your target language. Even if the people you interact with speak English, do your best to keep the conversation in the language you’re learning.

Play at times when players from the country that speaks your language are online. You’re more likely to have a chance to interact with them.

Play a game where some of the vocabulary intersects with how you use the language outside of gaming. For example, a game like the Sims is great for learning the names of everyday objects whereas a game like Fancy Skiing might be a better option if one of your hobbies is skiing.

Experiment with the text and audio in the game. Because many games let you set one language for text and another language for audio, you can play with these settings to maximize your comprehension.

Make sure you choose a game that you enjoy because you’re most likely to learn from a game that you enjoy playing.

Just playing the game won’t teach you the language. You need to engage with the game and look up unfamiliar words. I usually add any frequent, unfamiliar words to my Memrise decks and do a bit of review between play sessions.

Level 5: Going Beyond the Games Themselves

Beyond the games themselves, there are tons of ways to use gaming and the gaming community to work on your language.

Not only will the following methods help you get more exposure to your language, but it will also give you the chance to produce in the language (speak and write).

Twitch, Mixer, and YouTube Games

Twitch, Mixer and YouTube Games are online streaming services that many gamers use to share their playing. And the best part – you can find game vloggers who speak a variety of languages.

When using this platform, the best way to find streams in your target language is by looking up the name of the games that interest you in your target language. The easiest way I’ve found to do this is by looking up a game on Wikipedia and then changing the article language. So, for example, the Legend of Zelda in Korean would be 젤다의 전설. I can then use that to search for streams about Zelda in Korean. You can then favorite the channels so that you can follow their game streams in the future.

Twitch and Mixer, in particular, allow streamers to set their broadcast language. And that means you can search for streams by language.

And since it’s slightly more difficult to find YouTube gamers by language, here are just a few to get you started:

French – CyprienGaming German – Yankeeunit91 Spanish – elrubiusOMG Chinese (Taiwanese) – RSPannie72127 Japanese – Pazudoraya Russian – Bullseye

Game Forums

Because the gaming community is so large, there are tons of communities around the world that start up discussions about the games that they enjoy.

One particular forum style site is Reddit. There, you can find several threads about games in different languages such as French, Spanish or German.

Walkthroughs

Walkthroughs are available as either text or video. For example, Beam is a German gamer who provides detailed walkthroughs in German and on Next Stage, you can find French game walkthroughs. The popular gaming site IGN is also available in a wide selection of languages, and they have very well written walkthroughs for a large number of games.

Blogs

In addition to all of the above, there are also game blogs and review sites where you can read about the games that you enjoy (or find out about new games) like this one in French. https://ift.tt/2zJ8nLx

To Sum Up: Choose Wisely

In gaming, there are a lot of ways you can get exposure to your language, but there’s one thing worth noting before you dive in.

Choose wisely.

Before converting your study time over to games, consider what your goals are in learning the language. While it may be fun to play certain games, not all of the language you learn may be useable outside of the gaming environment.

For example, some games use a lot of fantasy (or invented) vocabulary, others have a lot of words that focus on weapons or attacks, while others still may be strictly sports vocabulary.

It’s alright to choose games that cover this territory if it’s something you’re interested in (and that you’ll discuss). Plus, you’ll pick up some grammar along the way. But if you’d like to have conversations about anything not covered in a game, make sure that it’s not the only thing you do.

By complementing your other resources with video games, you can banish the guilt from procrastination, inject a bit of genuine fun into your learning, and master niche and varied language by actually using it to get epic wins!

What about you?

Do you play games in your language? What games do you play and in which languages? I’d love to hear from you in the comments below.

The post Language Learning with Video Games: How to Make Games an Effective Learning Tool appeared first on Eurolinguiste.

#IFTTT #WordPress #language learning #travel #eurolinguiste

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pocket-luv101 · 6 years

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Lawless and Mahiru was a ship that started as a joke but it grew to be my third favourite Mahiru ship XD I was like “Mahiru is a ray of sunshine and you can make a decent ship with him and any character because he has such a great dynamic with everyone. Imagine him with Hyde!”

This is a mini AU where Lawless and Mahiru makes a contract. This became way longer than I thought it would so this will have two parts.

(Part.1) || Part.2

“Stupid Eve making carry her shit.” Lawless grumbled to himself as he carried a heap of clothes. The ‘servant’ aspect of being a Servamp had never agreed with him. He was a vampire that would last forever while the human would eventually die without making anything of their worthless lives. With his own hands, he had proved that time and time again.

As Lawless turned the corner, he crashed into someone. He cursed when he fell onto the ground ungracefully and the costumes flew from his arms. As he sat up, the person he bumped into said, “I’m so sorry, I didn’t notice you there. Here, let me help you up.”

“Pay more attention next time you—” Lawless’s words were cut off when the boy took his hand without any hesitation. He looked up at the person he bumped into and paused for a moment. His large brown eyes were apologetic as he helped him to his feet. Because most of his Eves were celebrities, he was used to their haughty behaviour and sometimes forgot that humans were capable of small acts of kindness.

“You’re not hurt, are you?” He asked and Lawless looked over him curiously. The hotel was exclusively for celebrities but he didn’t recognize the person from any shows or movies. Of course, he could easily be one with how attractive he was. He didn’t act like any celebrity he knew though. He helped gather the costumes even before he could ask and began refolding them. Furthermore, he asked, “Where are you taking these? I’ll help you carry them there. This mess is partly my fault.”

“I’m just taking these to the end of the hall so I don’t really need your help.” Lawless tried to brush him off but he was already moving down the hall with an armload of clothes. He looked genuinely happy to help so Lawless started to walk next to the teenager. As they walked together, Lawless watched him from the corner of his eyes. “Why are you helping me?”

“Thinking simply, I should help you after I bumped into you like that. If I made you late delivering this, I’ll take responsibility and talk to your boss. I’ll make sure that you don’t get in trouble.” He said confidently and Lawless had to chuckle at how serious he was taking a small mistake.

“My boss’s pretty strict so I don’t know if she’ll just take an apology. Are you an upcoming star or something? Maybe offering her a ticket to your upcoming movie or something will be enough.” Lawless suggested but he shook his head in reply.

“I’m just a normal high school student so I can’t really offer something like that.” He admitted and Lawless wondered if he worked in the hotel or if he was an assistant to one of the celebrities. He didn’t wear a uniform and his clothes were rather modest so he knew that couldn’t be the case. The teenager must’ve understood his confusion because he explained. “My friend is staying here and I was visiting him. I bumped into you as I was leaving.”

His friend must’ve been famous because only celebrities were able to stay in the exclusive hotel but he was rather modest about that fact. He never even mentioned his friend’s name despite how most people would brag about knowing a celebrity. Lawless found himself curious and wanted to know more. “How long have you known your friend? You two must be close if he stayed in touch with a regular person.”

“Lawless!” His Eve called his name from the end of the hall before he could speak more with the teenager. He groaned to himself, not happy that he would have to listen to her screeching. She was a famous actress that only played nice for the media. She stepped out of the room and crossed her arms. “I have been waiting for you for hours. I need to have them all fitted for my next appearance. You’re completely useless.”

“Well, my boss is calling for me.” Lawless groaned. “See you later, Kid.”

“Let me talk to her first. She looks pretty mad.” The boy stepped forward and bowed to her. “Pardon me, it’s my fault that Lawless was late so please don’t be angry with him.”

“And who are you?” She turned her nose up at him as if he was nothing more than something beneath her feet. But he didn’t shrink back from her glare and he kept his back straight. “How dare you try to talk to me? I don’t recognize you. If you don’t leave, I’m going to call security and throw you both out.”

“How dare you speak to your assistant the way you did?” He threw her words back at her. There was a measure of pride in his voice as he chastised her. “It was my fault that he was late so I came to apologize to you. But I will not stand here and listen to you yell at him for my mistake. I may owe you two an apology but you also owe Lawless one. Lawless is a person, not your servant! Your position does not put you above him so you should treat him with respect. Everyone’s life has value.”

His last statement caught Lawless’s attention and he couldn’t stop himself from laughing. The teenager quickly turned to him with his hands on his hips. “Don’t laugh, Lawless. You have the moral high ground right now so don’t undermine that by falling to her level.”

His crossed expression was a little intriguing to Lawless and thoroughly entertaining. They all turned when someone approached them. “What’s going on here, Mahiru? I heard you yelling from my room and came to check on you. Is someone bothering you?”

“Oh, sorry, Licht. I guess I kinda got ahead of myself.” Mahiru apologized with a bashful, apologetic smile. “I guess I should be leaving. Bye, Lawless. If your job doesn’t pan out, talk to me and I’ll talk to my friend about hiring you. This is Licht, an upcoming pianist.”

“Hey, don’t offer people a job for me.” Licht scoffed but Mahiru only chuckled at his glare. Then Mahiru took out one of Licht’s business card and scribbled his number on the back. He pressed it into Lawless’s hand before he walked away with his friend. Licht had to comment, “You really are too nice.”

“I love helping people.” Mahiru shrugged. “Just a few more good deeds and I’ll be an angel like you.”

Lawless watched them leave with curiosity. The boy was a normal human and different from his other Eves but he seemed interesting. His gaze was only pulled away from him when his Eve spoke to him. “I’m sorry for being late. How about I treat you to dinner as an apology? I know this restaurant we can go to. Their food is to die for.”

Lawless, in his hedgehog form, rolled around the mud and ran through some bushes to make himself look dishevelled. Once he was satisfied, he scanned the park for his target. He found him walking through the rain with his pianist friend. Mahiru wasn’t a celebrity so it was hard to track him down but he overheard Licht tell his manager that he was meeting with a friend soon.

“I hope you’re worth all this effort.” Lawless mumbled as he waited for them to walk closer to the bush he was hiding in. Mahiru didn’t seem to have an extraordinary gift or skill so he doubted he would last long as his Eve. But, after having so many celebrities for Eves, it was nice to mix it up and make a contract with an ordinary human.

Seeing his chance, Lawless scurried out of the bushes and collapsed in front of the pair. He was confident with his acting skill and grinned when Mahiru stopped. Lawless pretended to be hurt and it seemed to fool him. Mahiru knelt next to him and balanced his umbrella on his shoulder so he could gather him in his arms. He smothered a snicker when Mahiru fell into his trap all too quickly.

“He looks hurt. I wonder what happened to him.” Mahiru cradled him against his chest. It shivered and tried to burrow into his warmth so he wondered if it was attacked by another animal. With one arm, he held the small creature securely. He used his free arm to take off his scarf and wrapped it around the hedgehog. “There you go. That should keep you warm. I wonder if he’s someone pet.”

“I’ll ask him for you. As an angel, I can speak to animals. So, Mr. Hedgehog, do you have an owner?” Licht leaned closer and Lawless almost burst out into laughter but he held himself back by some miracle. But the delusional pianist could use him and he whispered so only he could hear him.

“Please help Mr. Hedgehog, bright angel. I lost my home and I need a place to stay. Tell your human friend, Mahiru to adopt me.”

“Of course, Mr. Hedgehog! Mahiru, this angel hedgehog has given us an important mission. You are to house him!” Mahiru looked hesitantly between the two. Even if Licht wasn’t staring expectantly at him, he wouldn’t be able to say no. He knew he end up worrying about the hedgehog if he left it so the simple solution was to adopt it. When it nudged its nose against his hand, Mahiru became more certain.

“Okay, I’ll take care of him.” Mahiru petted it and was careful not to be pricked. “If you’re going to be staying with me, I should give you a name. Your red eyes look like someone’s I know. How do you like the name Lawly?”

Lawless wanted to laugh but he squeaked and nodded instead. Mahiru smiled brightly down at him and Lawless wondered how long that expression would last. But, with the first part of his plan complete, it was time to move on to the second phase.

Mahiru screamed when he woke up. What else could he do after he found a guy sleeping next to him? He fell asleep with Lawly next to him but there was someone else in his place now. After the panic subsided, he recognized him and yelled. He took a broom and waved it threateningly at him. “Lawless, what are you doing in my house? How did you even find out where I lived? I’m calling the police.”

“Mahiru?” Lawless’s voice was weak and that fact stopped his tirade for a moment. “Please help me. You’re the only one that can.”

“What is it Lawless? Are you hurt?” He cautiously moved closer to him but didn’t lower the broom.

“I’m dying. I need to find an Eve or else I’ll turn to ash.” Mahiru was confused until Lawless went on to explain that he was a Servamp and the concept of an Eve. “I’m so sorry that you got dragged into this. I didn’t want to involve anyone in this mess. A rogue vampire killed my Eve. If a Servamp goes to long without one, they’ll die.”

Lawless added a lie to further invoke his compassion and he knew that it worked when Mahiru looked at him sympathetically. Then, determination entered his eyes. “How do you become an Eve? I can’t let you die and turn to ash on my bed when I can help you.”

“Are you sure?” Lawless asked and Mahiru nodded. He gestured to the scarf he gave him and told him, “A contract when the human gives the Servamp a personalized item and a name. You already did that yesterday when you thought I was a hedgehog so you only need to say my name again.”

“Wait, you’re Lawly?” The moment Mahiru said the name, a bright light burst around and circled around them. A chain formed between them briefly before it faded. Mahiru was still confused by the situation and he was contemplating if Lawless was telling him the truth but the strange light that appeared confirmed it.

“There’s just one more thing,” He took Mahiru’s hand and tugged him closer. Lawless brought his wrist to his lips and wrapped his arm around his waist to keep him from pulling away. He felt Mahiru stiffen when he bit him gently. After a moment, Mahiru relaxed but he still had a wary glint in his eyes. When Lawless let him go, he quickly moved away from him and off the bed.

“So, I’m your Eve now…” Mahiru said. He didn’t feel anything different about his body. Lawless appeared completely casual as he jumped off the bed and went to explore his small apartment. “Wait, Lawless, we need to talk. I still have some questions. What do we do now?”

“Well, nothing much. I’m going to protect you now that you’re my Eve but I doubt I need to do that much when you’re just an ordinary student. I’m just your adorable pet hedgehog now.” Lawless walked through the living room and scanned the pictures lining the wall curiously. In each one, Mahiru had a sunny smile. The warmth in his smile told him that it wasn’t something he merely did for the camera. He knew that a genuine smile was rare to find but he didn’t think that Mahiru had a reason to frown.

“Is this guy your father?” He gestured to one of the pictures.

“No, that’s my uncle. My father left shortly after I was born and my mother died when I was just a kid. My uncle took me. If it wasn’t for him, I wouldn’t have a home. I’m grateful for everything he has done for me. This is my mother.” Mahiru gestured to a small shrine placed in the corner. It was well kept and Lawless could see how much he loved his mother.

“She was beautiful. You look a lot like her.” Lawless commented. From the corner of his eyes, he saw that Mahiru had a fragile smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes.

“My uncle travels a lot for his job so he’s not home much but we’ll have to tell him that you’re my pet hedgehog. I don’t think he’ll be happy that a guy I just met moved in and that he’s a vampire.” Mahiru said. He moved to the kitchen and took out a first aid kit. “You seemed like you were in a lot of pain earlier. Let me treat you.”

“I’m a vampire so you don’t need to worry about me.” Lawless lifted his shirt for him to see that he didn’t have any wounds. His smooth movements also told Mahiru that he wasn’t hurt in the least. While Mahiru was relieved that he wasn’t hurt, he was also suspicious of that fact. He looked like he was in agony earlier and he said that a rogue vampire attacked him. Wouldn’t there be a wound from a fight? Mahiru shook the doubt from his head and told himself that it was because Lawless was a vampire.

“Okay. Since I’m already in the kitchen, I’ll make something for us to eat. Would you like a Japanese or English style breakfast? I can quickly make some batter for pancakes is you want something sweet after yesterday.” Mahiru offered and he was already taking ingredients out of his fridge.

“You don’t need to make me anything special for breakfast. Just fry my up some eggs and toast a piece for bread for me.” Lawless shrugged and joined him in the kitchen. He took a few slices of bread himself and asked. “How many do you want? I’ll throw them in the toaster for you.”

Mahiru lived alone most of his life so he wasn’t used to someone helping him in the kitchen. He took back the bag of break and said, “I’m fine cooking on my own so you can just sit at the table. Anyways, you must be tired from your fight yesterday. After you lost your Eve… Are you sure you don’t want anything special for breakfast? It’s no trouble at all.”

“You don’t need to give your pity.” Lawless slumped into a chair and his voice became dark. “Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage and then is heard no more. It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.”

“Isn’t that from Shakespeare’s Macbeth?” Mahiru tilted his head in confusion as he tried to decode the words. His back straightened when the meaning dawned on him. “You think life’s meaningless? But didn’t Shakespeare also say: The weariest and most loathed worldly life that age, ache, penury and imprisonment can lay on nature is a paradise to what we fear of death. Death is a terrible thing.”

Lawless was a little surprise that he could quote Shakespeare and raised a brow at him. In reply, Mahiru shrugged. “I’m not a big fan but we’re studying him in school. He has a complicated way of saying things. I like to keep things simple. ‘Simple is best’ is actually my philosophy. Thinking simply, we need to make the most of our lives while we can. You never know when the person you love will leave.”

His eyes inadvertently fell onto his mother’s shrine. But when he turned back to Lawless, he didn’t see the grief he expected. From how he described a Servamp and Eve’s relationship, he thought they would be close partners. Lawless appeared almost detached from her death. Then again, Mahiru shoved his emotion below the surface when his mother died. He wondered if Lawless was doing the same.

Mahiru found that he wanted to help Lawless with his grief like his uncle did for him. He placed a plate of warm food in front of him. “Eat and regain your energy. Tell me if you want anything more or if you just need to talk. We’re partners now.”

I was thinking of making this a multichapter thing but I don’t have time for another big project so I’m just going to have a second part to this AU

#servamp #lawhiru #servamp lawless #mahiru shirota #fanfiction

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robotnik-mun · 7 years

Note

Answer ALL OF THEM.

....oh you dirty *BITCH*....!

A cartoon you remember that nobody else does.

At times I feel like the only person on Earth who remembers Exosquad.

It’s a real shame, because Exosquad was one of the best toons of the 90s and proof positive that just because something was made to tie-in to toys, doesn’t mean that it has to be little more than a mindless extended commercial.

A cartoon you like but nobody else seems to.

That would be Beast Machines. A sequel series to the uber-good Beast Wars, this series caught a lot of derision for its shift in tone, design and character. Given the context though, I didn’t really see it as being ALL that divergent, with our heroes returning to a world where Megatron rules all and forced to learn how to use new, techno-organic bodies in order to combat him. Given the stress of the situation, I thought it wasn’t really THAT much of a stretch that the character’s personalities would change so much given the trauma of what had happened. Ah well.

A cartoon you don’t like but everybody else seems to.

That would be the Looney Tunes Show. At times I feel like the only person on Earth who just wasn’t impressed with it. I mean its not horrible or anything, but I feel like I’m the only person around who wasn’t all that wowed by it when it came out.

A cartoon you wish would be forgotten.

Sausage Party. For being a simplistic, puerile, overhyped puddle of mediocrity, it deserves to be swept into the dustbin of history.

The worst cartoon you’ve ever seen, and why?

You know, I had to give this some thought, but that would have to be Mr. Pickles. Mr. Pickles is basically an amalgamation of everything you could ever hate about ‘adult’ cartoons in the US- it’s ugly, unpleasant and pointless. The humor is one note and entirely reliant upon grossing people out in the most nauseating ways possible, and there is literally no one to root for- the dog is the Devil, every human being alive is monstrous, ugly and stupid, the only person who is clued in on this is a feeble old man who lives to be bested and tormented by the devil dog, and given how awful everyone and everything around him is you’re just left to wonder why he bothers. Everything about this series is just irredeemably, endlessly unpleasant.

The worst moment you’ve ever seen happen in a cartoon.

That would be the ‘Bunny Pajamas’ incident in Hey Arnold. See, there was this episode where quite by accident, Arnold discovered that Iggy, the coolest kid in school, liked to wear Bunny Pajama when sick. After having the information pried out of him by Sid and Stinky, Iggy forces Arnold to walk out in Bunny Pajamas in public as a means of forgiveness, utterly humiliating him in the process. What’s worse is that Sid and Stinky only *guessed* the truth. There was just... nothing after that. No resolution or anything. It was just a weirdly mean-spirited of an otherwise excellent series.

The worst thing you’ve ever seen happen to a cartoon that ruined it.

The love triangle nonsense in Legend of Korra. I just... couldn’t let myself be invested anymore after it, I just couldn’t. I learned to detest everybody involved, and so I left the series before it could fester any further.

A cancelled/forgotten cartoon you would bring back to television.

I have to pick just one? Geeze... well, I’m gonna break with tradition, and say War Planets. WE DESERVE AN ACTUAL RESOLUTION DAMMIT!

An animated character you remember but nobody else seems to.

Nilus the Sandman. I seriously feel like the only person who remembers that this guy was ever a thing.

An animated character you hate the most, and why?

Hmm... that would have to be Cheese. It was bad enough that this utterly useless and unspeakably obnoxious little cretin got more and more screentime on the show, but as time went on he practically became the mascot for Cartoon Network. He represents everything you could possibly hate about a character, and more importantly, the tendancy for executives to latch on to the lowest hanging fruit in the name of grabbing attention and views.

A non-animated property you would like to see as a cartoon

Oh, that’s easy- Starfox. I’ve always, always wished that there had been a Starfox cartoon out there and given the time the first game was released, I’m kind of amazed we never got one.

A trope or trend in animation that you dislike.

I’m not all that fond of the reatreat from action toons that has been going on for a while now, or the fact that cartoons are increasingly focused on comedy at the expense of everything else. It’s not so much that I don’t like comedy or anything like that, but I just prefer there to be a bit of variety and feel a genuine regret that things like Batman: The Animated Series or SwatKats are increasingly becoming a phenomenah of the past. Well, who knows, maybe Netflix will give toons like that a place to thrive- Young Justice will be coming back, after all. Here’s hoping that starts a trend, or rather, RE-starts a trend.

A currently airing cartoon that you know is going to be forgotten about in the future.

Pickle and Peanut. And thank God for that.

The best episode of a cartoon you really like.

Code of Hero, Beast Wars. One of the best Transformers anything ever, this is always gonna be a favorite.

The worst episode of a cartoon you really like.

Ro-Becca, from Sonic the Hedgehog. I love you SatAM, always will, but good GOD we could have done without that one.

A cartoon you feel deserves more recognition than it gets.

Disney’s Gummi Bears. Besides the fact that this series is what really got the ball rolling with Disney’s major TV rennaissance, the series itself is really quite incredible from both a visual and storytelling standpoint, especially with regards for the time that it was released. Despite having a fairly typical ‘Gang of Critters’ setup for the time, right down to each character being named for a trait (Gruffi, Tummi, Cubbi etc), every one of the Gummi Bears has a lot more going on than the surface would indicate, and there is a maturity to the worldbuilding and storytelling that belies what its name and appearance would suggest. Besides that, Princess Calla has to be one of the most badass princesses ever to grace television. This series is a gem, and its a shame it isn’t remembered and recognized more than it is.

A cartoon you feel deserves less recognition than what it gets.

Sausage Party. I’m mentioning it twice, but it really does not deserve the hype it got or the kind of reviews it got. In the history of adult oriented animation in the US, Sausage Party brings nothing new to the table beyond re-affirming that tired stereotype that ‘mature’ animation must be the most puerile and juvenile minded tripe out there. Everything from its supposed themes to the nature of its humor is just sub-par, and I will never, ever view it as anything more than a cheap gimmick film that banked on novelty rather than anything worthwhile.

The worst idea you can think of for an animated series.

Lara-Su Chronicles- The Series!

At what point did you realize a cartoon, any cartoon was starting to get bad?

Well, like many, I started to realize things were going downhill in the ‘03 Ninja Turtles cartoon once we reached the Flash Forward season. Now to be clear, I didn’t think it was a bad premise, and a lot of the ideas and designs in the season had a lot of promise. Unfortunately, that promise wasn’t really met- the season lacked a certain spark that those before it had. The magic was gone, replaced by something that just didn’t do the series justice. I lost track after that season, and from the looks of it I was right for doing so.

An experience with a cartoon you thought you were going to like but turned you away from it.

Wolverine and the X-men. See, I like X-men. I like Wolverine. So surely, I should like this right? Well, initially I did... but as time went on, Wolverine became less and less tolerable, particularly since it felt like Cyclops was getting shit on as a character to make Wolverine look better even though their dynamics were now completely opposite from what it had traditionally been. Which could have been interesting mind you, but nothing of worth was really done with it. I abandoned the series and never looked back.

Something you would like to see more than anything in a cartoon.

Hmmm... this is a fandom specific one, but honestly? I’d love to see a Transformers cartoon that does the old ‘Cybertronians Become Human’ bit, but to *actually* do it and explore the concept in a mature way, to explore how immortal war machines respond to suddenly becoming frail, short lived humans and all too aware of the fact, as well as learning how to endure a human existence. Maybe someday it will happen, but for now, I can but wish.

What do you feel makes a cartoon forgettable?

I think more than anything, writing and plotting can be the key to if a cartoon is remembered or forgotten. Being overly reliant on stock plots and playing it too safe more than anything can make a cartoon bland or cliched. I mean don’t get me wrong, there’s a lot more to it than that, but this is I think more than anything is what leads to a lot of cartoons winding up forgotten.

#sally-mun

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acesonuckles · 7 years

Text

Or Something pt. 1

[Sonic and Knuckles discover something very interesting about their hands... Soulmate AU.]

When Knuckles was born, he had a set path in life. He was the Guardian, the sole descendent of his species, and he was alone. Being alone was good—it was all he knew. It was serenity and peace and duty and self-worth. He never intended on heading down to the surface, but then fate intervened and he was plunged into a world he barely knew.

And then, he met Sonic.

Sonic, on the other hand, was the definition of an uncontrollable variable. He spent most of his life zone hopping, seeing the world, making hundreds of friends but no real companions. In a way, he was alone too—alone in the middle of a crowd, on edge with a charismatic smile, never quite connecting with anyone. He would have continued on his path indefinitely if it weren’t for a sense of duty and an egg shaped megalomaniac.

And that was how he met Knuckles.

They had been best friends since they were ten and eleven years old. They fought a bit, spent a lot of their free time together—treasure hunting, sightseeing, exploring—and stopped Eggman at every turn. Eventually, they became known as a sort of team: speed and strength, red and blue, snark and deadpan. Their team grew with the addition of Amy and her hammer, Silver and Blaze with their respective –kinesis, the Chaotix and their... teamwork. Their lives fell into a sort of routine in a way: spar, tease, travel, let Amy bail them out when they got up to their necks in trouble, stop Eggman, repeat.

Their lives would have continued at this pace if not for that one fateful sparring session. They were on the Island, bouncing around the Master Emerald, when Knuckles accidentally grazed Sonic’s arm a touch too closely. His claw sliced down his arm, all the way to his hand, where he shredded his glove. Sonic cried out and fell back, hissing, as crimson bubbled in rivulets down his limb. Knuckles, for his part, was immediately abashed, but he didn’t show it and merely stomped after him and gruffly yanked his arm up to get a good look.

“It’s only a flesh wound, you big baby.”

“I’ve got to get to a hospital!” Sonic demanded, and Knuckles couldn’t tell if he was being serious or not. “Who knows what kind of diseases live on your hands!”

Okay, so he was going to be fine. Knuckles rolled his eyes and pulled his arm harder. “Wait, I think you might be right. Come with me. We need to burn the wound out.”

Sonic’s eyes widened comically and he tried to struggle, but Knuckles was stronger. It was a fact of life, one that even the fastest thing alive couldn’t run from. “No! C’mon man! This isn’t funny!” He twisted, trying to slip out of his grip, and Knuckles only held on tighter, pulling Sonic’s arm up to give him less leverage.

The mark took him by surprise, even though he should have been expecting it. Soul mate marks were common on mobius, a holdover from a time when meaningful bonds meant survival and offspring, but almost everyone forgot they existed. The advent of gloves had allowed them to forget, had allowed people to live with the freedom to choose and experiment, but there was a story every now and then about a pair with matching marks. It was more common than Knuckles previously assumed living up on the Island, when the small emerald tattoo tucked into the crook of his thumb was an empty promise of companionship. His was a life of solitude; he never expected to find a match.

Especially in his bonehead friend.

“Hey, Knuckles! Mobius to Knuckles! You’re cutting off my circulation!” Knuckles blinked as Sonic’s voice brought him back and he immediately dropped the hedgehog’s arm like it was on fire. “Jeeze, what’s with you? You just up and froze out of nowhere! You take up palm reading or something?”

Knuckles shook his head hollowly, mechanically removing his own glove. He held it up, fingers spread, and saw Sonic’s brow furrow, body bent a bit to get a better look. His mouth dropped open, eyes swiveling to stare at Knuckles, baffled, confused, subdued, shocked all at once.

“Chaos,” he muttered, “we’re screwed.”

The first thing they did was fight, a full blown argument that turned into a knock down drag out. They hadn’t fought like this in years, and Knuckles wasn’t sure how it started, but suddenly he was flying through the air, an imprint of Sonic’s shoe in his stomach, lip freely bleeding, arms and legs cut up from a roll through the underbrush. Sonic didn’t look much better, more black than blue, seven shades beat right out of him. His arm was still bleeding, but he didn’t seem to care as he zipped around and kicked Knuckles around like a football.

In the end, they found themselves heaving for breath on the ground, bruised and battered. Sonic was a ball of red and blue, blood sticking his fur together, and Knuckles wasn’t much better, though his wounds were less obvious.

“The first thing we did as a couple is fight,” Sonic said into the stony silence, making Knuckles groan.

“Shut up. Shut up. Don’t. No.”

“You know,” Knuckles turned to look at the hedgehog because he didn’t recognize that tone of voice. The hedgehog was holding his hand up above his head, sun painting his face with broad streaks of gold, eyes trained on the little emerald etched into his palm, “this might not be so bad.”

Knuckles groaned again. “Yes it is. I can’t be with someone who fights like you. Who taught you to punch, a dragonfly?”

Sonic’s arm dropped and he rolled over to look at the echidna, loopy smile on his face. “At least I can kick. I bet you were always picked last for kickball.”

Knuckles shifted uncomfortably. “I never played kickball.”

Sonic blinked and then looked properly ashamed. “Oh, Chaos, I’m sorry Knux.”

“Don’t. It’s not like I regret it or anything. Without me, we’d all be dead.”

“Tell me how you really feel.”

“You’re useless, hedgehog.”

“Ouch, go on.”

“You’re brash and rude and too full of yourself.”

“But you love me.”

“But I l— Wait.” Knuckles choked off, pinning Sonic with a glare. “And you play these word games.”

“I’m a bit too quick-witted for you.”

“Your mouth is gonna get you killed one day,” Knuckles replied grimly. “And I’m gonna be the one who does it.”

“Only you, dear.” Sonic sighed and rolled over, arm draped over his head. “Oh, and by the way, I’m not living up here.”

Later, they huddled around a small fire, just off to the side of the Master Emerald dais. Sonic had his knees pulled into his chest, chin resting on the caps, expression blankly exhausted. The wind ghosted across Knuckles’ face, spirits stroking his cheek, helping him stay calm. The Master Emerald pulsed behind him, a warm, steady presence, and he took a deep breath.

“We don’t have to do this,” Sonic muttered into the silence, staring into the flames, hand tracing the pale lines on his palm. Knuckles had offered him one of his extra gloves, which garnered a wry smile, refusal, and a quip: ‘already sharing house and home?’ But Knuckles knew better; Sonic didn’t want to impose on him. The Guardian only had so many personal possessions and Sonic didn’t want to take something he couldn’t really afford to give.

Knuckles didn’t know how to read people, but he could read Sonic. It used to be that he thought it was because they spent so much time together, but now... Now he wasn’t so sure.

“We can just pretend we didn’t see,” Sonic continued when Knuckles didn’t say anything. “Just keep going how we’ve been going.”

Sonic was good at that—going and going and ignoring change. But Knuckles could sense something else just there, charging the air. Sonic gazed at him, eyes reflecting the flames, and Knuckles was struck with how lonely he looked.

“There’s an ancient story about two people from rival tribes,” Knuckles began, drawing a confused and wide expression from Sonic. “Most of it is lost to time, but there’s enough. They met one day in the forest and discovered their matching marks. They were filled with hope and joy, not only because they found their match, but also because this would hopefully break the feud. They went to their parents, but the elders of the tribes didn’t want to hear anything of matching marks. They forbid them from seeing each other.”

Sonic was riveted now. His face was properly disgusted at the idea of illegal happiness, as if he were personally being controlled. “Please tell me they didn’t listen.”

Knuckles sighed. “Of course they didn’t. And it got them killed.”

Sonic’s mouth dropped open. “Killed? Knux, this story sucks.”

“Would you— Listen, they ran away, and they lived for years on their own. They were incredibly happy. But then their tribes found them and they were executed for deserting and disobeying a direct order from the chief.”

Sonic snorted, an angry short sound. “Still sucks. If you were trying to let me down easy, you could’ve just said ‘nah, Sonic, we’ll just pretend this didn’t happen’ and then punched me. That would’ve been more enjoyable.”

“Sonic, let me finish. The pair kept journals and the tribes studied them, tried to figure out what made them want to hide from their families and friends, and they eventually realized where they screwed up. They got over their feud, and there was peace after that. Families formed based off marks and love, between the tribes and beyond.”

“So... They died, but they changed the world. No offense, but that story sounds like a terrible human movie.”

“It’s an ancient story passed down by my people,” Knuckles gritted out.

Sonic opened his mouth to reply, no doubt with snark, but then seemed to second guess himself. He paused, jaw slightly clenched. “That’s the first time you ever told me anything about your people.”

Knuckles grunted and shrugged. “If we’re gonna be sharing a life or some crap, might as well get started.”

Sonic stiffened. “You want to do this then? Like I said, we don’t have to.”

“I should be asking you. I’m stuck here with the Island. You’re the one who likes to run around.”

Sonic grimaced. “Yeah, but I can’t explain it... I’ve grown up with that mark on my finger, and I figured I would never act on it, but once I saw yours... I just... I don’t know. It felt right.”

“It was a commonly accepted theory that soul mate marks were a gift from Chaos,” Knuckles recited as if he were reading from a book. “My people said that Chaos designed each of us and paired us up accordingly.”

“And what about the people who don’t have marks?”

Knuckles rolled his eyes. Trust Sonic to find something to refute him. “Each person is complete on their own. Not everyone can be paired up. Single people are just as necessary as pairs.”

Sonic propped his head up on his knuckles, elbows sinking into his legs. “So, we’re designed for each other, huh?”

“Get those bedroom eyes off your face. You know that there’s no way in hell—”

“Chill, Knucklehead, you’re my best friend, but I’ll never date you, let alone let you anywhere near my mouth...”

Knuckles shuddered. “At least we agree on one thing.”

Amy, of course, was delighted. She was silent for a long pause after they told her, sitting in a booth in restaurant because they didn’t want to get the pulp beaten out of them, long enough for Sonic to start to fidget. (Which, Knuckles reflected, wasn’t very long at all. Sonic had a serious issue with sitting still, and it was starting to drive him up the wall.)

Then, she threw her head back and laughed, a loud, barking sound that drew every eye in the restaurant.

“Amy, please,” Sonic tried, hands rising, but she wasn’t having any of it.

“I can’t believe this! You two?! Oh my Chaos! This is the best day ever! Wait!” She broke off with a gasp, eyes lighting up. Her hands slammed down on the table, jostling the plates and glasses, making the hero of mobius practically jump into Knuckles’s lap. “You have to let me plan your wedding!”

Weddings and marriage were archaic traditions that were usually reserved only for the most romantic of pairs. Since soul mate marks didn’t always show up on quote-unquote ‘couples,’ and were actually more pre-disposed to more platonic pairs (evolution had learned that romantic-sexual pairings were unstable and trying to start a life with someone you lusted after wasn’t very effective, especially when the lust wore off and jealousy rose to take its place), such as siblings or best friends, soul marked people didn’t have to go through all the hoops of marriage. They just marched right up to a registry, showed their marks, declared their intentions to start a life together (most marked pairs always did; the fight wasn’t worth it), and that was that.

It was incredible, Knuckles thought to himself as he and Sonic loitered in front of the registry building, how two people could meet, latch on to one another, and find out years later that they were marked. It was pointless to resist really, especially since they had been getting along so well for three years now. It was almost a relief, to know that Sonic was his match. At least he could stand him, most of the time.

“So, I’ll be in charge of the finances,” Sonic remarked as they finally got up the courage to go through the doors.

“You’re funny,” Knuckles grated, trying to decide just how hard he would have to hit the hedgehog to knock some sense into him.

“And you don’t have any money, cloud hermit. At least I have a bank account.”

He had a point, but Sonic didn’t strike him as the most frugal. Then again, he didn’t own much either, when Knuckles thought about it. A few pairs of shoes, gloves, and socks, and that was about it.

“I want a house on the water,” Sonic continued, breaking Knuckles’ concentration.

“You can’t swim.”

“Yeah, but I can appreciate the ocean, you know. It’s pretty, in an oh-chaos-that-could-kill-me kinda way.”

“You are the most confusing person I’ve ever met.”

Sonic shrugged. “Not that hard, considering you only know like six people.”

Knuckles sighed but was far too tired to fight him. “Mystic Ruins.”

“Huh?”

“Mystic Ruins. Build a house there. There’s a place for the Island. Ocean.”

Sonic gave Knuckles a heavy look that the echidna couldn’t read. “You’ve got this all figured out.”

“Simple problem solving. It’s the best place for both of us.”

The look was here to stay. “So you’re not gonna spend all your time on the Island?”

“I will if you keep annoying me with pointless questions.” That came out a little rougher than Knuckles intended, but Sonic only smiled, a wide, face-splitting thing that made Knuckles blink.

“Got it.” He gave Knuckles a thumbs up and turned to the counter. “Let’s go rock these poor government types!”

#sonuckles #sonic #knuckles #amy #or something #ashe #writing

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misadventuresoftem · 7 years

Text

(Ruby the Mun AGAIN...)

AAAAAAAAAAAA OK, I am in a creative (??_??) mood tonight.

Tagged by @typhcccn! RULES: TAG 9 PEOPLE TO KNOW THEM BETTER. And holy fuck am I slow! Is it over a month old? FML. Also, no pics for this meme because derp.

relationship status: Single. Not ready for a relationship due to self consciousness issues...

favorite color: Royal purple, blue, green, black

lipstick or chap stick: I'd love to get on the regimen for both because dry, chapped lips really sucks

last song I listened to: Pokémon Mystery Dungeon - Defy the Legends Remix 2 by Kamex

last movie I watched: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.

top 3 fictional characters: .....WHOA WHOA WHOA WHOA WHOA. WAY PAST UNACCEPTABLE! I HAVE MORE THAN THREE HIGH FAVOURITE CHARACTERS. AND IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER [ofuck, it's long!]...

Emperor Mateus of Palamecia - Final Fantasy II (fan of him since 2009, few months before DFF. I LOVE the Castle Pandemonium music while playing FFII on the GBA. And, well... curiosity happens more on DFF. ^^;; ) S-E, I understand that Sephiroth's the most popular (AANNNNND the one who's continuity is being absolutely FUBAR'd throughout the years) FF villain, but JFC (whether it be "Jesus Fucking Christ", or "Jenova Fucking Cetra") MAKE SOME DECENT MERCH FOR THE EMPEROR! FUCK!!!

Sephiroth - Final Fantasy VII (fan of him since 2005. Was watching FFVII:AC -subbed- in an anime club. I was really curious. And I am still learning about him because of the continuity barfs.) Whoops, speak of the one 'Chosen by the Planet'. He is my first villain character choice to play as in the first Dissidia game on the PSP. The Emperor's my second [LUL!]. Ironically, I main Emperor Mateus more than Sephiroth. X'D (maaaaan, both men are GORGEOUS!!!)

Sonic the Hedgehog (fan of him since childhood!) This dude's too damn cool for words. He's my favourite video game hero of all time! And I swear that his game series is like the Phoenix. When a time the series is about to go south, it revives itself into crazy awesomeness. Cannot wait to get Sonic Mania and Sonic Forces! I am hoping that either of those two returns HYPER SONIC!

Cecil Harvey - Final Fantasy IV (fan of him since ~late 1990s) Favourite FF protagonist. I almost always tear up when he becomes Paladin at Mt. Ordeals. I just love that he overcomes a lot of stuff in FFIV. I HAVE NOT PLAYED FFIV: The After Years. I read that it's... a disaster? o.O halp(also, I am mad that in Mobius Final Fantasy that the game stuck his DFF card as a 3*+ Warrior card. Of fucking course that Cloud is the 5* Warrior Card. Uncool.)

Mewtwo - Pokémon (fan of him since 1999) When I was a teen, I was into a phase that cute stuff fuckin' sucks and Pokémon of the Pokémon designs are UGGGGGH... . Then, I watched a trailer of the first Pokémon film. When I saw Mewtwo attacking Mew [and other things], I thought "That's one badass motherfucker!". And thankfully that got me into Pokémon for me to own one. xP

Giratina - Pokémon (fan of them [I imagine Giratina of any of both sexes] since 2009.) The moment I saw the pre-order of Pokémon Platinum, I WANTED that Giratina Origin Forme figure. Despite my age being in the 20s at that time, I bugged my mom to pre-order it because I was broke. ^^; [she got herself and bro one as well. Win-win. I got her a Black a few years later :P] I was amazed at the Torn World [I know in Engliish it is Distortion World, but I prefer the JP name better]. The music, the environment, the crazy directions you go to... I was in awe. Sailor Jupiter - Sailor Moon (fan of her since the mid-1990s)

She is just so KICKASS! But sweet at the same time. Lita (Makoto) is like a big sister, eh? Her transformation music and attacks are adrenaline-pumping! The only media of Sailor Moon I am like NOOOO is Crystal. I tried to like it, but after Sailor Jupiter's debut episode I have a bad feeling... the fact that Nephl(r)ite NOT being OHKO'd by Sailor Jupiter like in the manga [which SMC claimed initially to be closer to the manga. . .] and the little reunion tease of the two makes me want to root for the two. But OFC... the four Shitennou have to die to protect their Prince. :| And I read that most of the time that the Inner Senshi are being useless. Cheque, please!

Kane - WW[F]E (fan of him since 1998? 1999?) My favourite Superstar! When I was a teen, I... I had a huge crush on him. >///< His muscles, his hair, his mystique, the times he seemlessly go back and forth between being an evil demonic character and being an adorable goof! Maaaan, I miss the fan club Kane Fanatics. I was probably the YOUNGEST member there. I got a memento from the club, too. A Kane hat I won at its FINAL contest. Anyway, there was one night that broke me into tears that is Kane related. June 23rd, 2003. The night that Kane lost his mask vs. title match against HHH. I cried myself to sleep.

Flowey - Undertale (fan of him since 2015) I love this guy. He's so expressive for one with no SOUL. I'd love to do a full, proper cosplay of him one day. I did cosplay as him last year, but the costume was so impromptu it hurts. xD

Finally for now....

Temmie - Undertale (fan of her since around 2016) I love her adorable looks and her sense of derp. She also gives me an excuse to type dumb.

Of course, I RP as a VERY canon-divergent variant of her. Time-and-space hopping one, even. Simply she found a tear in time in space from too many resets/deaths/false rebirths. I understand that some RPers here in Tumblr may WTF me, but on the flip side, I'm SHY AS HELL TO RP WITH SOME OF YOU! [simply because a derpy mewpupper travelling to potentially dangerous worlds seems absurd. But hey, life happens.]

top 3 ships: Sepheus (Sephiroth x Emperor Mateus), Sailor Jupiter (Lita[or Makoto) x Nephlite, and... oh... ummm... ooops. I am not much of a shipper! X'D

books I’m reading: @typhcccn said it best. The whole internet's a book!

And that's all?

TAGGING! @imperialmight (*YOU'RE* the one who I am shy to RP with. Here. I confessed.) @ask-captain-faris @dancing-dagger @jenovaiisim @mateusdemonemperor @artemisxbow @ablackwing @adventson AND OTHER HAM-AND-EGGERS WHO WANTS TO DO THIS.

#meme #long post #enjoy?#I guess

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cupkayke · 7 years

Text

Cupkayke Rewatches/Liveblogs Boueibu!

Season 1, Episode 6

I have no explanation for the stupidly long wait for this one other than the fact that I am a lazy motherfucker. BUT. CHALLENGE TIME- I’m in the midst of a mini vacation from work so when I’m not working on cosplay I WILL BE WRITING. Er, analyzing. Er, plotting. Er, SOMETHING.

Anyway! Onto the episode where Io pissed me the fuck off but still managed to be a loveable asshole in the end, anyway! Also LOTS OF UNDER THE SURFACE SHIT! YAYYYYY.

I also apologize if I miss responding to some comments on these; with as sporadic as my time on tumblr is these days (90% is on mobile) I can’t fucking remember what replies I’ve reblogged or not OTL

Firstly I haven’t really thought much about it but what’s up with the title for this episode? “Love is something you wear on your back?” Is that a reference to the “so generous he’d give you the shirt off his back” phrase? If that’s meant to apply to Io in this episode for his “loyalty” I think they missed the mark there...

Yumoto eats a lot apparently- damn son stop growing!

Was that a sex joke?

THAT WAS DEFINITELY A SEX JOKE BOUEIBU NOT 2 MINUTES IN I AM SURPRISED AT YOU alsolololololololololololololforever

FANCY STUDENT COUNCIL IS FANCY omg they’re so fucking rich why do they even have this setup it’s so ridiculous

I sometimes get the feeling that this is a wealthy private school, similar to Ouran academy, with scholarships for low-income students (IE Yumoto). The parallels are there- but as established later in the episode, why the fuck would Yumoto be given a scholarship because it’s definitely not academics.

Maybe the Hakone family is actually wealthy but they just live modestly because their parents are gone and Gora wants to make the fortune last?

I MADE MYSELF SAD.

Finger bowls????

Apparently I’m an unultured swine because I had to look it up. You dip your fingers in the bowl to clean your hands between courses really???

Can’t we just... y’know... use hand santizier? This is like... 2015 for you guys right?

However it’s hilarious that Kinshiro decides that FINGER BOWLS of all things are important enough to have for the three of them at lunch so he wants to see if they can afford it.

ALSO I JUST REALIZED THE FORESHADOWING HERE WITH IO HOLY SHIT-

I SMELL RIVALRY

Kinshiro is a grumpy butt. Look at his face. Eat a snickers, Kinchan. You get micro-managey when you’re hungry.

So we’re halfway through the season and Wombat is seemingly trying to point our boys in a particular direction. HMMMMMM.

Seriously I would love to know just how much of this is Wombat talking out his ass for the sake of the reality show and how much of it is shit he actually believes and he actually wants the boys to do a good job and ‘protect the earth’

I for one am on Wombat’s side because he’s fucking adorable but I do love the conspiracy/manipulation theory~

Ryuu and foreshadowing in 3...2...1.. WRITERS I SEE WHAT YOU DID THERE

Dat dead body smell

Even disgusted Akoya STILL manages to be gorgeous like whoah

Someone get this boy a modeling contract

PINKS THROWIN’ SHADE

I feel like this is the most lines that Akoya has had the entire show

I also realized during his little speech here that EVEN COVERING HIS NOSE his VOICE is still GORGEOUS.

Modeling contract AND record deal, PLZ

So smug

Who knew pretty could be so evil~

I mostly just laughed at the cap of the DC all like ‘SHIT HE’S ONTO US’

So smug x2

Also this is where I started PINKSHIPPING

Like seriously I will go down with this ship even tho IoRyuu is OTP PINKSHIPPING MAKES SO MUCH SENSE

Just the rivalry and the pettiness sign me the fuck up for some angsty, angry making out in the SC bathroom

Whoops I just wrote a mini fanfic

Anyway this is why Cupkayke can’t decide on OTPs for this series because multishipping is fun

Wombat looks fluffier this episode

Too many Yumoto cuddles?

Pink kohai and dad-senapis!

Seriously I love the idea of these three hanging out together it’s adorable

And En is apparently really fucking smart

The entire conversation about Yumoto’s academic abilities is really interesting-

Apparently he has very good spatial awareness (child show me your ways I cannot directions for the life of me) but poor language skills

I don’t know if I am qualified to speculate about his cognitive state but perhaps it wouldn’t be so far-fetched to say that from that tidbit, Yumoto perhaps has a learning disability?

But then again, here it’s played for laughs/Yumoto’s just lazy and doesn’t see the value in school

Perhaps though he’s not motivated because he’s never really been able to get an instruction style that jives with him? So on certain subjects he’s over being discouraged and just accepts that typical academic instruction just isn’t for him?

This entire scene is fascinating from the lens of a future educator (albeit I haven’t taken any development or learning courses yet) but as someone who likes school Yumoto is the type of person (if he doesn’t have a learning disability, that is) who would confuse me IRL lolololol

“What? You don’t like the rigorous structure and inherent validation system of grading that even though it causes me undue anxiety and stress it gives me a sense of self-worth and purpose and without people giving me deadlines I cannot function?”

Well that got too deep oops I apologize for the too much in-depth taste of Cupkayke’s psyche

Someone more qualified than I am feel free to analyze this scene

Now back to your regularly scheduled magical boy blogging

Lolololol Gora wanting better for Yumoto - such a good big brother

“DON’T BE USELESS LIKE ME” - wait a second

IS THIS A LOWKEY REFERENCE TO GORA’S MAGICAL BOY PAST? Considering Maximum Gorar’s weapon is an axe and he has lots of chopping attacks.... hmmmmmmm did I just discover another layer?

Obviously Gora doesn’t know about the Battle Lovers just yet (or does he?) but still- interesting.

En trying to make them feel better haha such a sweetiepie

Atsushi get out of here with your logic

SWEATS NERVOUSLY

SCREW MONSTER FORESHADOWING

En and his ragging on Yumoto. I wonder when he goes from finding Yumoto annoying/exasperating to actually being that caring senpai? I mean, he could just be trying to be playful, but with his face here especially it comes across as he’s annoyed

Idk it’s kind of fascinating tho how he did not care for Yumoto at first

YUMOTO I HAVE NO WORDS

T________T

Revelation; Io is popular

Somehow I didn’t get that until this point in the series, but then again Io isn’t the type to care about his popularity unless it makes him money

So I guess he’s just admired from afar like this lololol

Io has a stalker- complete with creepy monologuing!

More screw foreshadowing!

Yellow phone for Io! They’re actually really heavy-handed with the color coding but most of the time it’s in ‘blink and you’ll miss it’ moments. It’s like a fun game of I spy!

I can see where the headcanon that Akoya has a crush on Io started- the fact he goes out of his way to compliment Io is a bit telling.

Buuuut I still ship the Pinks over IoAko; but with the caveat of the Pinks both pining over Io and having their feelings unrequited! Oooooh the angst!

The cute evil is scheming

IO HOW CAN YOU SAY THAT SO EASILY

THEY WEREN’T EXPECTING YOU TO SAY YES EITHER LOOK AT THEIR FACES

...maybe you do get along with the SC Io you seem just about as evil and scheming as Akoya here-

WAIT WHAT AM I SAYING

WOMBAT IS SO CUTE IN HIS TITLE CARD AWW

I love how Ryuu is trying so hard look at him

Io what’s with that face! How can you betray them all so easily???

It makes no sense!

Creepy glowing Hedgehog

I still don’t know how Yumoto can get a ZERO in Japanese. Is it his grammar? Conjugation? Is Japanese like English is in the US where they go over literature and like Atsushi said he makes logic leaps that no one else does so he misinterprets the text? I AM CONFUSED. Wouldn’t he at least get some points?

Look at this adorable fucker thanking his boyfriend friend in English!

En is really fucking smart, though I doubt he guesses ‘everything’

This could play into En’s self-consciousness on how he’s percieved (see his panic about looking ‘old’) and perhaps he also only wants to be percieved as ‘lazily intelligent’.

It wouldn’t surprise me though if En did study a little bit, just to brush up on some things, or took school seriously but didn’t need to study because he’s really good at regurgitating info on tests

Either way, it seems like he doesn’t want people to know whether he actually cares about school or not so he just says he ‘guesses’ and gets 100s

Idk maybe I’m looking at the wrong angle but that’s not that far fetched I guess?

….Io… I am a very disappoint

Like this entire episode is out of character for him or at least my understanding of his character

Like, it’s not like he’s particularly very close to any of the DC except for Ryuu, but he doesn’t seem like the type to just up and ‘fuck you guys and everything we’ve been through’

Like it’s no secret he finds the Battle Lover thing bothersome but it’s likely he’s well aware of the fact that if he quits the DC he’s not going to stop having to wear the loveracelet and he’s still going to have to do all the embarrassing superhero things until he stops getting shocked by the thing

And like even if he’s really only in the DC because their ‘meetings’ give him enough downtime to invest in his business ventures I find it highly unlikely that the Student Council would pay him enough to make up for the loss he’d suffer because of his free time getting cut. And Io probably knew that outright.

Unless he is actually a teenage boy liable to acting without thinking! GASP.

Look, Io, you pissed off the Pink.

Really pissed him off! Ryuu sees through your bullshit.

Okay. Unpacking here- Io’s face in that cap says to me that he is well aware of how he’s being percieved. He’s well aware that he’s betraying the DC and the person who he would consider his best friend is calling him out on it. That look screams guilt.

However, what he says here- and here is where I am pissed the writers didn’t give us more context- he says ‘money is important/money doesn’t betray’.

Which if you take him saying this to its most logical conclusion, he’s saying that he feels the DC will betray him at some point. Being involved with the DC, which doesn’t directly make him any money, will hurt him in the long run to the point where he would feel betrayed.

He’s said this before; money doesn’t betray. I can’t remember which episode (which is sad because I just did a write up on it) but I know the context of the conversation was when they were talking about the concept of ‘Love’ with Wombat. Everything Io does is for money. Relationships seem to do jack shit for him.

But it appears here that this move is premptive. You have to do some inferring but it’s not so far fetched to say that Io has found himself caring for the DC (and potentially the Battle Lover thing) a lot more than he originally thought he would. And perhaps, based on previous experiences (what, we don’t know) he is afraid that they will betray him. Whether in terms of finances, emotions, or both, isn’t clear.

I feel like in the snow episode of s2 there’s a throwaway line about Io making Igloos that might have had some more under the surface about his past- for some reason I inferred he was often lonely as a child. I can’t remember why, though.

But I guess what I’m trying to say here is that this scene would be a whole lot more poignant if we had the entire narrative. Io is making this move, on the surface, because of money. But that’s foolish, especially for someone as smart as him, for the reasons I mentioned above. Even as rich as the SC are collectively, they probably wouldn’t be able to pay Io enough for his treasurer services to make it more lucrative than investing in his downtime with the DC.

So it seems like he is trading his relationship with the DC- a personal relationship with feelings involved- for a relationship with the SC, one that is primarily business-focused. From their outer appearances, Io definitely knows that ‘rich kids’ like himself don’t tend to focus on friendship, so he’d be relatively safe to keep things strictly business.

Which means Io finds the idea of a business-only relationship more appealing/safer than a relationship based on friendship.

And supposedly, by extension, even if he did have to keep being a Battle Lover, he could keep that relationship strictly business too, by simply showing up and helping fight monsters without actually spending any time with the DC.

But without the context, this is speculation. Is there anything in the novels/comics/games that add to this???

Ryuu is rightfully pissed off! But the look Io gives here says again ‘I know what I am doing is hurtful, but I made my decision in my/everyone’s best interests’. Supposedly.

GAHH I NEED MORE CONTEXT.

Supporting my theory that Io is simply being a stupid teenager! Which I suppose could also play into the slightly deeper motivations I speculated about. Buuuuut still... a bit of a cop out.

Monster that makes its own sound effects! Or one that’s attempting to be a Pokemon!

I love when the boys other than Yumoto get into the fight! Yay!

I guess they have time for full transformations since they’re missing one! (or they need to pad the episode runtime, MAGICAL BOY STYLE)

Such an empty yellow spot

Ryuu… you ran right into it... it’s like you weren’t even trying.

Well that sounds suggestive

THIS MONSTER IS RIDICULOUS I LOVE IT

EVEN THE OTHERS REALIZE IT

Poor Ryuu- I’d cry if I was tickled that much, too. I probably would have also pissed myself.

Io jfc you can’t just stop being ticklish because an enemy decides to tickle you!

Nonetheless, boyfriend is pissed

Oh wait- Io transformation by himself. More screentime padding!

In other words- “GET YOUR HANDS OFF MY MAN”

DAYUM IO- punch the monster through a fucking WALL. Somebody’s been working out.

Also idk why the color is so off in this action scene- it’s so daaaaark

“I’m so humilated and my pants are probably ruined”

“It’s about time you got your head out of your ass and saved my ass or I was gonna kick your ass!”

Yayyyyyy they made up!

Why is the monster adorable?

Sassing Yumoto, a DC pastime

PFFFT YUMOTO MY SMOL PRECIOUS CHILD NEVER CHANGE

Seriously why is a screw monster so cute

I don’t know if I’ve mentioned this before but it so looks like the CA’s pants are actually leeggings

Maybe that’s why Kinshiro wears a cape he’s self conscious about showing off his ass ffffft

DUN DUN DUN SPOTTED

Pssssssssssh you all are cosplayers at heart

Oh… is this why Yumoto’s bad at Japanese???

DUN DUN DUNNNNNNNN (x2)

I love this conversation- even without the underlying context it basically supports my theorizing (except for the implication that the SC would have potentially been more profitable)

Ryuu is right; he knows Io should have been able to calculate which was financially a better deal in three seconds. He probably knows that Io was struggling with something emotionally.

Io’s ‘I can’t tell you that’ is cheeky but I can take it 2 ways actually. Potentially, the SC was more profitable money wise, but the DC is more profitable for Io emotionally. So it could mean both of those things. Or like I thought earlier, the DC could be both emotionally and financially profitable and Io is just being a little shit because he second-guessed everything but doesn’t want to admit why.

Buhhhhh these boys.

Pshhhh En YOU DID NOTHING AND YOU’RE TIRED

OHHHH YOU GUYS AGAIN - interesting implications fufufufufufufufufu

You look like a cat Kinosaki

And lastly.. Dat face

Kinshiro has the evil villain glare/’stare into the camera like you’re on the office’ look down PAT

Well then! I don’t know if my ramblings about Io’s motivations made much sense but that’s like, the ONLY thing I can think of that justifies his willingness to leave other than he was just being a little shit and following the yen for no reason. Again, if there’s any other canonical evidence from other media that explains this episode please point me in that direction because I am confused! This explanation makes sense but... I don’t understand how the writers wanted the audience to take this episode. Reminds me of Tokyo Mew Mew where Zakuro repeatedly threatened to leave/actually almost did leave the Mew Mews, sometimes because of her own insecurities and sometimes because Mint was being a little shit and Zakuro wanted to kick her ass into gear. I don’t get that Io was playing with the DC to make them realize anything- this was he was working through something that we just weren’t privy to.

#cupkayke rewatches boueibu #cupkaykey rewatches boueibu #boueibu #binan koukou chikyuu bouei bu love!#binan kōkō chikyū bōei bu love!#binan high school earth defense club love!#Binan Koukou Chikyuu Bouei-bu LOVE!#Cute High Earth Defense Club Love!#boueibu meta

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