#if i need a third or more of my brain to focus on a book i can’t. i can’t do it

[linkspooky]

Bohman is a good character you guys are just mean

Yu-Gi-Oh Vrains is one of the better received spinoff series. Though, like any of the Yu-Gi-Oh spinoffs it's not without its faults. Usually I'm the first to admit the flaws in my favorite silly card game shows, even while I myself take them way too seriously. However, there's one common criticism I can't bring myself to agree with.

That is calling the main antagonist of the second season Bohman "boring" or "badly written." I've noticed fans unfairly blame Bohman for season 2's writing flaws.

Forget for a moment about whether or not you find Bohman's stoic attitude interesting or likable. If you look at characters not as people, but as narrative tools the author uses to say something about the story's themes then Bohman has a lot to say about VRAINS cyberpunk themes.

Cyberpunk is a subgenre of science fiction that tends to focus on "low-life and high-tech." As I like to put it, in Cyberpunk settings technology has greatly advanced while society itself lags behind unable to keep pace with the rate at which technology changes. Yu Gi Oh 5Ds is an example of a cyberpunk dystopia because despite having what is essentially access to free energy, and living in a society with highly advanced technology resources are hoarded by the wealthy and an unnecessary social class divide still exists.

In other words technology changes quickly while humans tend to remain the same.

The central conflict for all three seasons of Vrains are actually based on this very cyberpunk notion. That technology changes, updates, and becomes obsolete at a rate too fast for humans to ever adapt to. For Vrains, the conflict is whether humans can ever coexist with an artificial intelligence they created that can grow and change faster than they can keep up with.

This is well-tread ground in science fiction. The idea itself most likely emerged from I,robot. A science fiction book that is a collection of dirty stories that details a fictional history showing robots growing slowly advanced over time. The framing device is that a journalist is interviewing a "robopsychologist" an expert in the field of analyzing how robots think in their positronic brains.

One of the major themes of the book is despite the fact that robots are 1 - intelligent and 2 - designed by humans, they don't think the same way humans do. Hence why a robopsychologist is needed in the first place. One of the short stories is the first appearance of Asimov's three laws of robotics.

The First Law: A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.

The Second Law: A robot must obey the orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.

The Third Law: A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.

This is just one example. A robot no matter how intelligent it is will be required to think in terms of these three laws, because robots aren't biological, they're programmed to think in pre-determined patterns.

Of course clever enough artificial intelligences are capable of finding loopholes that get around the three laws, but even then they're still forced to think of every action in terms of the three laws.

Robots and humans are both intelligent, but if AI ever becomes self aware it will 1) be able to process information better than any other human can and 2) think differently from humans on a fundamental.

Vrains is themed more than anything else around "robo psychology" or trying to understand the ways in how the Ignis think and how that's different from it's human characters.

Robo-Psychology is actually a common reocurring theme. "DO ANDROIDS DREAM OF ELECTRIC SHEEP?" fearless artificial humans known as Replicants who need an empathy test known as the voight kampff test to distinguish them from human beings.

There are other Cyberpunk elements in Vrains. There's a big virtual world where everyone can appear as custom designed avatars, that's taken from Snow Crash or of the most famous and genre defining cyberpunk novels. There's a big rich mega conglomerate that's being opposed by a group of hackers.

However, the central question is whether humans and AI can coexist in spite of the fact that AI are much smarter and evolve faster than us.

Revolver's father believes the Ignis must be destroyed in order to avoid a possible technological singularity in the future.

The technological singularity—or simply the singularity[1]—is a future point in time at which technological growth becomes uncontrollable.  According to the most popular version of the singularity hypothesis an upgradable artificial intelligence will eventually enter a positive feedback loop of self-improvement cycles, each new and more intelligent generation appearing more and more rapidly, causing a rapid increase ("explosion") in intelligence that surpasses anything humans can make.

Basically your computer is smarter than you, but your computer isn't self aware. It needs you to tell it what to do. Artificial intelligence already exists but it's programmed by humans, it doesn't program itself. The technological singularity proposes that eventually a self aware ai, will be able to program itself and improve upon it's own programming- therefore ridding itself of the need of it's human programmers.

This is what leads us to Bohman, an AI designed by another AI.

THE THIRD LAW

Before digging into Bohman let's take a minute to discuss his creator. Lightning was one of the six Ignis, created by Dr. Kogami through the Hanoi Project.

The Hanoi project involved forcing six children to duel in a virtual arena repeatedly, and using the data collected from that experiment to improve the AI they were working on, creating what became known as the Ignis. However, after Dr. Kogami ran several simulations and found that the Ignis would one day be a threat to the humans that created them Hakase decided instead to try destroying the Ignis before that future ever came to pass.

We later learn that this isn't the complete story.

Kogami and Lightning both ran simulations of the future when the Ignis were in their infancy. Kogami's simulations showed him the Ignis would inevitably go to war with humans. Lighting however, ran more in-depth simulations and found that he was the one that was corrupting the data set. If you ran simulations of the five ignis without him, then the projected futures were all in the green, but any simulation with Lightning counted as a part of the group projected a negative future for both humans and AI.

Which means that if Kogami knew that the bug in the program was Lightning, he'd likely respond by just getting rid of Lighting and letting the rest of the Ignis live on as originally intended.

This is where the third law comes into play - a robot must protect its own existence as long as it does not interfere with the first and second law.

Now, I don't think Kogami used the three laws exactly, but artificial intelligences are programmed in certain ways, and Lightning was likely programmed to preserve itself.

Even a human in Lighting's situation would be driven to act as they did. Imagine you're in a group of six people, and you fid out that YOU'RE THE PROBLEM. That if they removed you, everything else would be fine. Wouldn't you be afraid of your creator turning against you? Of your friends turning against you and nobody taking your side?

Lightning is a bit of a self-fulfilling prophecy. Ai asks him at one point why he went so far as to destroy their safe-haven, lie and said the humans did it and pick a fight with the humans himself, something that might have been avoided if they'd just stayed in hiding. It seems that Lightning is just defective as his creator declared him, but you have to remember he's an AI programmed to think in absolutes. AI, the most humanlike and spontaneous of the AIs ends up making nearly the exact same choices as Lightning when looking at his simulations later on - because they're character foils. As different as they may seem they still think differently from humans.

When Ai explains why he made his decisions based around lighting's simulation, he tells Playmaker that he can't dismiss or ignore the simulation or hope for the best the way Playmaker can because he is data, he thinks in simulations and processes.

AI even admits to feeling the same feelings of self-preservation that Lightning did.

While Lightning may seem selfish, he's selfish in the fact that he's thinking of his own survival above all else. He's afraid of 1) his creators turning against him, and 2) his fellow Ignis turning against him.

To solve the first he decides to make a plan to wipe out his creators. To solve the second, he needs every ignis on his side when he goes to war. The first thing he does is destroy their safe haven and frame the humans for it so the Ignis are more inclined to take his side. He's so afraid of his fellow ignis turning against him he even completely reprograms one of them - a step he doesn't take with the others, he just imprisons Aqua. He probably thought having one more ally would make it more likely for the others to pick his side.

Every step he takes is a roundabout way of ensuring his survival and the other ignis- eve when he actually goes to war with the other ignis he intended on letting them survive. Though his definition of survival (fusing with Bohman) was different than theirs.

So Lightning seems to be working out of an inferiority complex, but what he's really afraid of is that his inferiority makes him expendable.

At that point you have to wonder, what does death mean exactly to a being who is otherwise immortal? Ignis won't die of age, they'll only die if they're captured and have their data stripped apart or corrupted. Kogami made an immortal being afraid to die.

Some part of me thinks though that even after taking all these steps to preserve themselves, the simulations were so convincing that Lighting accepted their death as inevitable. Which is why they made Bohman, to find some way for them to keep on living afterwards.

After all AI are data, ad having their data saved in Bohman is still a form of living by Lightning's definition.

Ghost in The Shell

Bohman is the singularity. He's an AI designed by another AI to improve upon itself. Unlike the rest of the Ignis who were copied off of traumatized chidlren, Lightning basically made him from scratch.

Ghost in the Sell is a famous anime cyberpunk movie directed by Mamoru Oshii. The title comes from "Ghost in the Machine" a term originally used to describe and critique the mind existing alongside and separate from the body. Whereas in the movie the "Ghost" is the huma consciousness, while the "shell" is a cybernetic body.

The protagonist of Ghost in the Shell is Major Motoko Kusanagi, a human that is 99% cyborg at this point, a human brain residing in a completely mechanical body. The movie opens up with a hacker namd PUppet Master who is capable of "ghost-hacking" which is a form of hacking that completely modifies the victim's memories utterly convincing them of their false memories.

There's a famous scene in the movie where a man tells the police about his wife and daughter, only to be told that he's a bachelor who lives alone and he's never had a wife and daughter. Even after the truth is revealed to him, the fake memories are still there in his brain along with the correct ones. Technology is so advanced at this point that digital memories (hacked memories) are able to be manipulated, and seem more real than an analog reality.

Anyway, guess what happens to Bohman twice?

Bohman gets his memories completely rewritten twice. The first time he believes he's a person looking for his lost memories, the second time he thinks he's the real playmaker ripped out of his body, and playmaker is the copy. He's utterly convinced of these realities both time, because Bohman is entirely digital - and simulations are reality, and so simulated memories are just the same as real memories.

I think part of the reason that people find Bohman boring is because he's a little strange conceptually to wrap your head around, as an AI produced AI he's the farthest from behind human. If you use the ghost in the shell example I just gave you though - imagine being utterly convinced that you had a loving wife and daughter only to find out in a police interrogation room you're a single man living in a shitty apartment. imagine after the fact you still remember that they are real, even though you know they're not.

That's the weird space Bohman exists in for most of Season 2 when he's searching for himself. He's an AI designed by an AI so he can be rewritten at any time according to Lightning's whim until Lighting decides he's done cooking.

The Ignis at least interacted with the real world because they were copy pasted from traumatized children, but all Bohman is is data. So, why would he see absorbing human memories into himself and converting them into data as killing them? He is data after all, and he is alive. He has gone through the process of having his own memories rewritten multiple times, and he's fine with it b/c he's data.

Nothing for Bohman is real, everything is programmed so of course he thinks saving other people as data is just fine. He even offers to do the same thing to Playmaker that was done to him.

If Lightning is following the path of self-preservation however, Bohman is following his program to preserve everything in the world by merging with it.

His ideas also follow the idea of transhumanism: the theory that science and technology can help human beings develop beyod what is physically and mentally possible. That technology exists to blur the boundaries of humanity, and what humans are capable of.

Ghost in the Shell isn't just a work of cyberpunk, it's a transhumanist piece. Motoko Kusanagi is a character who has had so many of her human parts replaced with mechanical ones she even posits at one point it's possible for her to simply have been an android that was tricked into thinking it was human with false memories just like Bohman, and she has no real way of knowing for sure. The only biological part of her his her brain after all in a cold mechanical shell.

Bato, who represents the humanist perspective in this movie basically tells Motoko in that scenario it wouldn't matter if she was a machine. If everyone still treats her as human then what's the difference? His views are probably the closest to the humanist views that Playmaker represents in VRAINS.

Motoko Kusanagi meets her complete and total opposite, a ghost in the machine so to speak. The Puppet Master turns out to be an artificial intelligence that has become completely self-aware and is currently living in the network.

The Puppet Master much like Lightning, and later Bohman is gripping with the philosophical conundrum of mortality. In the final scene of the movie, The Puppet Master who wants to be more like all other biological matter on earth asks Motoko to fuse with him, so the two of them can reproduce and create something entirely new. The Puppet Master likens this to the way that biological beings reproduce.

Bohman like The Puppetmaster thinks that merging will fix something that's incomplete inside of him because he's so disconnected from all the biological processes of life. Bohman doesn't have anything except for which Lightning already prepared for him or programmed into him. I mean imagine being a being that can have his memories reprogrammed on the net, that in itself is existentially horrifying. It's only natural he wouldn't feel connected to anything.

Motoko accepts the Puppetmaster's proposal. Playmaker rejects Bohman's proposal. I don't think there's a right answer here, because it's speculative fiction, it's a "What if?" for two different paths people can take in the future.

However, in Bohman's case I don't think he was truly doing what he wanted. Puppet Master became self aware and sought his own answers by breaking free from his programming. Bohman thought he was superior to the Ignis, but in the end he was just following what Lightning programmed him to do. He'd had his identity programmed and reprogrammed so many times, he didn't think of what he wanted until he was on the brink of defeat by playmaker and then it was too late.

When Playmaker defeats him all he thinks about is time spent together with Haru, with the two of them as individuals. Something he can no longer do anymore now that he's absorbed Haru as data, and something that he misses.

He's not even all that sad or horrified at the prospect of death as Lightning was, and he even finds solace in the thought of going to oblivion with Haru, because if he were to keep living it'd be without Haru. In other words the one genuine bond he made with someone else by spending time with them as an individual was more important than his objective of fusing with all of humanity - which he believed was also bonding with them.

This is really important too, because it sets up the Yusaku's rejection of fusing with Ai. Yusaku's reasoning has already been demonstrated to be the case with Bohman and Haru. Bohman was perfectly happy being two individuals, as long as he had a bond with his brother. When he ascended into a higher being he lost that. Ai and Yusaku might solve loneliness in a way by merging together into a higher being, they might even last forever that way, but they'd lose something too.

Once again the problem with AIs is that they think in absolutes. That's important to understanding Lightning, Bohman and even Ai's later actions. Lightning can't stand any percentage chance that he might die, so he kills the professor, destroys the ignis homeworld, pulls the trigger to start humanity himself, he even reprograms his own allies all to give himself some sense of control.

Bohman's entire existence is outside of his control. He's rewritten twice onscreen, probably more than that, and he thinks merging with humanity is the thing that will give him that control - by ascending into a higher being than humanity. However, the temporary bond Bohman had with his brother Haru, was actually what he valued the most all along. Moreso than the idea of fusing with humanity forever.

Even Motoko making the choice to go with the transhumanist option is something that's not portrayed as 100% the right choice. Ghost in the Shell has a sequel that portrays the depression and isolation of Bato, the Major's closest friend and attachment to her humanity after she made the decision to fuse together with Puppet Master. In that case, just like Playmaker said to Ai, even if she ascended to a higher form, and even if she might last forever now on the network, something precious was lost. Motoko may exist somewhere on the netowrk but for Batoto his friend is gone.

Ai exhibits the same flaw as the previous two, he ca only think in absolutes, he can't stand even a 1% chance that Playmaker might choose to sacrifice himself for Ai and die, so he decides to take the choice entirely out of Playmaker's hands. However, no matter what Ai would have lost Playmaker one day, because all bonds are temporary. It's just Ai wanted to have that sense of control, so he chose to self-destruct and take that agency and free choice away from Playmaker.

It's a tragedy that repeats three times. Ai too just like Bohman, spends his last moments thinking about what was most precious to him was the bond he formed with playmaker, as temporary as it was. A tragedy that arises from the inability of the Ais to break away from the way they're programmed to think in simulations and data, even when they're shown to be capable of forming bonds based on empathy with others.

All three of them add something to the themes of artificial intelligence, and transhumanism that are in play at Vrains and none of them are boring because they all contribute to the whole.

Which is why everyone needs to stop being mean to Bohman right now, or else I'm going to make an even longer essay post defending him.

#yu gi oh vrains #yu gi oh #playmaker #ai #yusaku fujiki #bohman #lightning #ignis #ygo meta

[lionblaze03-2]

Just wanted to let everybody know: ancient ties has tools now

want to comprehend this post? tags. Why did I write it all in tags

#What is ancient ties? WELL FINALLY #See uhhh ancient ties is my main warrior cats oc universe. With fanclans entirely populated with full lineups #And stories planned out through two arcs. #The first arc consists of two comics and a short epilogue converging the two and setting up arc 2 #Well. It SHOULD. It doesn’t YET but it WILL I’m. Working on things #We originally got 2 chapters out I believe but. An artist left the team and that would significantly change the style #Because I let them sketch and line after my paper boards! So I’m gonna just. Remake the whole thing from my boards #My book of eligible scripts #I can read them and I’m the only one that needs tooooo #Then the second arc is just one gigantic comic plan. Oof #Prequel also possible. If I let myself think too much there WILL be a third arc so. #Gotta try and focus my brain so I can just get one thing done. Just one comic would be good. #The first planned one is Twisted Bonds (the subtitle. It’s under ancient ties still) and it shooouldnt be too more than ten chapters #I THINK. Which is like 30-70 pages each give or take. Avg 50 #POSSIBLE. Very possible for a creature that only works weekends and fridays #I need a passion and I will make it. I demand you all begin to get invested in my universe I promise I’ll make stuff #I’m doing concept art for real I prommy #warriors #warrior cats #shameless advertising #for a series that doesn’t exist nonetheless! But it will so get excited and stay tuned please. I want to share them so much #warrior cats oc #warrior cats fanclan #wc fanclan #upcoming #upcoming comic #OH YEAH I NEVER TALKED ABOUT THE FUCKING POST. Uhhh #Yeah there’s tools now! Each clan gets unique ones. I’m gonna give them unique jewelry and some jobs too I think #Have some more fun. Less close to canon more silly and individually unique #Like. For example cavernclan (where tb takes place) is allowed gemstone names and. Probably gemstone stuff

[justporo]

Guilty as charged

A/N: So I saw this post about pre-vampirism law school Astarion by @lavendarr00 today and immediately my brain conjured up this idea of having a sort of friends with benefits arrangement with law student Astarion (to both of your benefit ofc) and I couldn't stop dreaming... So have this quick drabble before I move onto other writing...

~~~

You were repeating the same question for the third time to Astarion.

He answered for the third time - and still got it wrong.

The elf rolled his eyes. “This is useless, I need a break,” he pouted and let his head fall back, leaning back onto his hands, careful not to knock over the stacks of books, rolls of parchment and scattered notes.

You just enjoyed the sight: how his chest heaved when he took another deep and dramatic breath in, how the muscles in his arms moved, sleeves rolled up to his elbows. A sight to behold. But unfortunately looks were no characteristic that helped one to pass law school.

The two of you were sitting on the polished wooden floors of Astarion’s small but luxurious dorm room, studying for the bar exam - or some of you were.

This was the final challenge you had to pass, then you would finally be done with school.

“If we’re taking another break, we will never get through all of this,” you muttered and motioned towards all of the material surrounding you.

Astarion replied with a pained noise, head coming around again to watch you.

“Have mercy on me, my love,” he begged and threw one arm dramatically over his face.

“Astarion, tell me how you will pass the bar exam if you’re not at least trying to study,” you scolded him and watched as he gave you his best puppy eyes - the gold in them glinting.

“But I am trying,” he moaned and then sat back up again. His hands shot forward to grab your wrists still holding the book you had been reciting questions from.

“But we can’t all be as smart and scholarly as you, darling,” he murmured and dragged you towards you. “Or as beautiful. Or… distracting.”

As much as you tried to make a face at him for wanting to distract you, you failed. You lightly giggled as the beautiful elf pulled you onto his lap.

Sometimes you wondered if he had solely sought your friendship so you could help pull him through law school. Not that you minded. But then he really wouldn’t have needed to fall into bed with you - frequently. You would have helped him only because you liked him and enjoyed spending time with him. Not that you minded the time spent in his embrace at all as well.

Somewhere between you first arriving at Baldur’s Gate’s esteemed law institute where you had met Astarion - who always seemed to have a sharp quip or cheesy line on the tip of his tongue - and now, you somewhen had formed the habit of repeatedly falling into the elf’s arms and tangling in the sheets with him.

Neither of you had been seeking a strict commitment so this semi-exclusive companionship you indulged in was as much of a bond you both could work with.

How things would develop once you both left law school neither of you had addressed yet.

Maybe tomorrow you would bring it up. Maybe when you would have both passed the exam, celebrated with drinks and your friends and you would have undoubtedly found your way into his bed again.

But now, there were other things to focus on.

“How exactly is this going to help you study, Astarion?” you asked as his hands were wandering up your thighs and his gaze had fallen to where your chest peeked through the laces of your top. You couldn’t help but arch your back a little - make the sight a little more alluring to him.

He noticed and threw you a haughty glance and smirk, one eyebrow cocked teasingly.

“Oh, I don’t know if I’m being quite honest. But I want to test out a theory of mine,” he murmured as long, elegant fingers wandered up your body, immediately making it hard for you to focus on anything else.

“And what’s that theory?” you almost moaned in response and shifted your hips to get even closer to him. The movement bringing the delectable advantage of creating delicious friction for both of you.

“That you will stop bugging me about this damned exam once I have you naked beneath me,” he explained in a low, breathy voice as his fingers were already starting to unlace your shirt.

“Anything to get my clothes off I see,” you replied with a last rest of your wit before Astarion pressed his hot lips to yours and truly made you forget about really anything else. His tongue slipped into your mouth and you leaned into the kiss, drinking it all up desperately. Until the elf broke the kiss again, the gold specks in his blue eyes glinting mischievously.

“Guilty as charged, darling,” he murmured with the smirk you had gotten so used to and adored so much.

Then Astarion pushed you onto your back, knocking over books and scrolls. He immediately followed, lowering his body onto you, tangling your fingers with his before he pressed down your hands on each side of your head and showed you just how much of a convincing case he could make if he wanted to.

#astarion #baldur's gate 3 #astarion ancunin #bg3 spoilers #fanfiction #astarion x tav #bg3 #baldur's gate iii #poro drabbles #astarion x you #astarion x reader #poro headcanons

[drawlfoy]

the benefits of journaling p.1

pairing: diary!tom riddle x ravenclaw!reader

summary: you pick up an unassuming journal in diagon alley during an antiques sale without knowing that it's actually a part of a late dark lord's soul. sort of no voldy AU, set in the golden trio era where voldemort was defeated in the first war and thus harry has parents still.

warnings: she/her pronouns/reader that stays in the girl's dorms, language, eventual discussion of murder and whatnot but not yet!, you being a little femcel-aligned/obsessed, tom being awkward because he's been stuck in a diary without talking to anyone for 50 years, i fumble around trying to explain how to brew potions after taking only one semester of high school biology

please note that this tom riddle is definitely not the same tom riddle that dumbledore describes in canon. i read a few meta posts that rewired my brain and now my tom riddle is ~complicated~ and not just evil and murdery for the plot. so just keep that in mind lol

a/n: whoa is this....something other than draco on this blog? yes. im suffering right now and needed to get this out. hopefully i can get this longfic completed within 2-3 parts! i'm not using my usual taglist because i don't know how many of my draco readers want this

wc: 10k

The day you unknowingly bought a part of the late Lord Voldemort’s soul was like any other. It was overcast, the thick clouds a somber, humid ceiling hanging above you and Lucy as you made your way through the annual antiques sale in a dusty corner of Diagon Alley.

“Y/N,” said your companion for the day—a slight, freckled witch with mushroom brown waves and a perpetual smile etched into her mouth. “Look. This is so you.”

You looked up from the bookshelves of one of the stands. It took you a moment to see what she was holding, but once it came into focus, you rolled your eyes. “Oh, sod off. Not funny.” 

Lucy just cackled, tossing the crudely carved wooden snake back onto the pile wearing a wicked grin. 

The world is cruel in that you can scream once when you see Draco Malfoy’s pet ball python in third year and no one ever lets you forget it. 

You turned away from Lucy, looking back to the old bookshelf that had been moved onto the cobbled street. The rich mahogany wood was close to buckling under the weight of all the tomes stacked haphazardly atop each other—far more than would be advisable. 

But it wasn’t just the furniture that caught your eye. No, it was the glimpse of a black spine on the bottom, partially hidden away by an ancient encyclopedia on arithmancy. 

You knelt, carefully arranging your robes so that they wouldn’t pick up dust from the street. You narrowly managed to avoid sending all the books on top tumbling into the street by slowly sliding it out from under the stack.

An unimpressively sized black journal laid in your hand, looking entirely unassuming and incredibly boring. 

You frowned. A quick flip-through confirmed that it was in fact a journal—and that there was nothing written in it. 

Why would someone try to sell an unused journal at an antiques market? You wondered, turning it over in your hand. Though its pages appeared entirely pristine, you could see some wear on the cover. There were no markings detailing when it had been manufactured.

It could very well have been an antique journal, you conceded. But why anyone would want an empty journal made years ago was beyond you.

You went to set the journal back onto the stack, getting so far as to nearly loosen your grip and let it drop from your fingers, when—

You had to buy this journal. 

You weren’t sure why, or how. You just knew that this journal was coming home with you today, even if it was the least interesting thing you could’ve come across in your shopping trip.

“What’s that?” asked Lucy, appearing at your side and gently taking the journal from you. 

“Just an empty journal, I think,” you answered, staring blankly at it in her hands. 

“You know we can just get a normal new one at the bookstore, right?” 

“Well, I like this one,” you heard yourself say. “It has…character.”

“Character.” She snorted, holding it up next to her face. “This is the most bland looking thing I’ve ever seen.”

“Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.”

“Consider yourself blind, then. Surely they’ll charge you twice the cost for this since it’s allegedly ‘vintage’.” Lucy made liberal use of air quotes. “You sure you don’t want to stop by the bookstore before we go? It’ll be on our way.”

“No, it’s really fine,” you said, taking it back into your hands, “I really like this one for some reason. I don’t know. There’s just something about it.”

Lucy tilted her head, giving it one last odd look. “Whatever you say. You go check out, then. Mum’s going to expect me back soon and the queue looks a bit long.” 

The journal sat in your bag for the remainder of the summer, nearly forgotten as you went about your day. You opened it for the first time to examine it on August 31st, just a day before you were off to begin your 6th year.

There was writing that you hadn’t noticed before—thin, elegant script on the inside of the cover in black lettering. A simple “Property of Tom Marvolo Riddle.”

You stared, letting your finger trace gently across the parchment. There was a slight indentation at the lower swoop of the last letter “L”, like whoever had written it had pressed a little too hard with his quill. 

“Tom Marvolo Riddle,” you whispered, trying the syllables out on your tongue. You’d never heard of any wizard named that before. You wondered how long it had been since those words had been written. You wondered if Tom Marvolo Riddle was still alive, and if he was, why he saw it fit to mark his property and then swiftly lose its custody to an antiques dealer. 

Oh well. Sucks to suck, you thought dryly as you took the quill that you’d been using to finish updating your calendar and lifted it over the parchment. Whatever happened to the crusty old dinosaur that hadn’t even been able to make one full entry into his own journal before croaking or whatever was none of your business.

You’d barely started out how you imagined a normal person would begin a diary—a date, August 31st—when it suddenly became clear why this Tom fellow had been unable to leave a lasting mark. 

The ink hadn’t even begun to dry before it sank into the pages, disappearing in a blink of an eye.

“What the fuck,” you mumbled, dumbstruck. You dipped your quill in ink once again and drew a series of short slashes across the first page, using more ink than was strictly necessary.

In a moment it was as if they had never been there.

WHAT??? You wrote mindlessly in the freshly blank page as your mind spun. What kind of magic was this? And what was the point? 

No wonder you’d been drawn to it. It was probably dripping in all sorts of charms. Maybe the combination had been unintentionally alluring to particular passerbys. 

Before you could think any further, the clean page transformed again, but not at your hand.

Hello.

The word assembled letter by letter, as if a ghost was writing it over your shoulder. 

It seems you've found my journal.

You stared. A journal that could write back to you. Huh. A smile caught on your lips as you became glad after all that you’d chosen this one over a plain bookstore version. 

How old are you? You wrote, resting your chin in your palm as you waited for a response as to whether or not your new acquisition actually belonged at the antiques market. 

Sixteen.

You frowned. That was hardly vintage.

This was made sixteen years ago?

The response appeared quickly..

No. I'm sixteen.

Yeah. You were made sixteen years ago.

This time, the journal seemed to hem and haw at the response.

What year is it? Was the final answer that appeared.

What year do you think?

1943. 

A little off. you wrote impishly.

Oh really?

Just a smidge.

Define a smidge, please. 

What does it matter to you?

This seemed to stump the journal. 

May I ask who I have the pleasure of speaking with?

You may not. Then, because you had nothing better to do, you dipped your quill and drew out a Tic-Tac-Toe board, placing an X in the middle.

The board disappeared into the page, and for a moment you wondered if you’d annoyed your magical journal too much. But then it reappeared, this time with an O in the middle.

You huffed. When you took too long to respond, another line appeared below. 

I'm Tom. Tom Riddle.

You stared at the letters, the implications sinking in. If the journal had belonged to Tom—who was presumably a real person at some point in his life—then that would mean…which meant…

In seconds you’d slammed the journal shut and had your wand out, poking at the binding and being careful to avoid touching it again with your bare hands. Stupid, stupid you, buying something that had so clearly been engineered to lure you in, just like it probably had done to Tom back in the 40s. 

The antique market rarely had issues with unknowingly cursed objects. They were allegedly thoroughly vetted by the stand officials to ensure that something like this didn’t happen. But perhaps this one had fallen through the cracks.

There was nothing you could do for now except to wrap the journal in a blanket and throw it into your suitcase. As a muggleborn, there was going to be no real magic for you until tomorrow on the train. 

Better to investigate then, you decided firmly. With access to spellwork, you could at least cast protective wards around yourself and try to detect what exactly was wrong with it the next time you touched it. 

Yes, you thought. That cannot possibly go wrong.

~

“Y/N!” 

“Sorry, what was that?” You blearily blinked in the direction of Lucy and Ishan, both sitting there with an expectant look on their faces. 

“I was saying that I’m pretty sure that Parkinson and Malfoy are actually together this time,” said Lucy, frowning. “I just came from the loo and his head was in her lap. Revolting, to be entirely honest. I can’t believe I had to see that with my own eyes. But whatever. Are you feeling alright? You keep spacing out.”

“I’m fine.” You pulled the fabric of your robe over your wrist so you could gently scrub at your eyes. “Just—tough night last night. I barely slept.”

“I totally get that,” mused Lucy, nodding as her gaze fixed itself on the window. “I can normally never get to sleep the night before we leave. I just get so excited for the new year.”

You smiled. “Yeah.” 

But that hadn’t been your problem. Despite the creepy journal encounter that had left you with your mind spinning, you’d fallen asleep deeply the moment you’d gotten into bed. The issue had been staying asleep after all the dreams you’d had. 

You rarely dreamt. When you did and remembered it the next day, it was normally nonsensical and had to do with forgotten final exams or missing a lecture. But last night…last night had been different.

There was a boy. His hair was dark and his face cast mostly in shadow, his voice a tenor that seemed typical to boys in your year. He hadn’t been speaking anything you’d understood, though. The most peculiar, bone-chilling hissing noises came from his mouth as he bowed his head leaned over a vaguely familiar sink. 

Even though he wouldn’t acknowledge you, it was as if a channel had been opened between you two, like you could feel his emotions as phantoms within you. 

Franticness. Vindictiveness. A thirst for vengeance beyond anything you’d ever felt before.

You sat watching this mysterious dark haired boy from the cobbled floor, feeling the wetness on the stones seep into your robes, climbing up and up until it soaked your skin. 

At precisely 4 in the morning, you’d shot awake so distressed that you hadn’t slept a wink after. Needless to say, you were hardly what you’d consider to be well-rested.

The remainder of the train ride and the welcoming feast went on without a hitch. You managed to keep yourself from falling asleep at dinner and even joined in on the cheering for new Ravenclaws. The first years seemed to look younger and younger every year, you noted dully as you cut into the roast on your plate. It was making you feel awfully old.

Sixth year was supposed to be exciting—the year of N.E.W.T.S and figuring out what you’d concentrate in during your final year and getting to go to Hogsmeade without permission. But you hadn’t quite figured out what it was that you wanted to study. Being a muggleborn from a modest upbringing meant that you couldn’t be too frivolous. There was no amateur art or sports or celebrity career in your future. You couldn’t even count on marrying well—or marrying at all, in fact. None of your halfblood or pureblood friends seemed to understand that your family hadn’t already had an engagement arranged for you from the moment you were born. It was hard to look forward to a life that was so cloaked in uncertainty. 

That being said, you had more immediate concerns to attend to. Though the journal was tucked safely away in one of your suitcases far away in the Ravenclaw Tower, you couldn’t help but feel its presence. You were itching to get back to your dorm so you could steal away into a corner and begin to inspect it. 

Dumbledore finally dismissed the students after a rather uninspiring speech about the importance of dreaming big and staying true to yourself. You all but ran up the stairs, rushing to unpack all of your things.

“Merlin,” noted Padma from her desk. “That excited to move in?”

“I just want to go to bed,” you said, relishing the feeling of casting a spell to quickly stow away your skirts and button ups into your dresser. “Long day.”

“And even longer tomorrow.” Lucy was sitting at her desk, her feet crossed at the ankles. She’d somehow unpacked even quicker than you. “Does everyone have their finalized timetable for the term?”

“I’ve got Potions with Slughorn and Transfiguration with McGonagall on Mondays and Thursdays,” you began, unzipping your last bag and flicking your wand to send your school supplies to your desk. “Divination with Trelawney, Arithmancy with Vector, and Runes with Babbling on Tuesdays and Fridays. And of course the extended lab section on Wednesday for Potions.”

“Which lab section?”

“Morning,” you said. The diary was levitating from your wand now, looking unassuming and very innocent under the golden light of your dorm room. “You?”

“Same,” said Lucy, grinning. “I can’t believe you’re taking N.E.W.T level Divination. Do you hate yourself?”

“It was that or History of Magic.”

She nodded emphatically, turning back to make a marking in her planner.

With the dorm settled into a comfortable silence, you brandished your wand again, peering at the diary in front of you. 

There was nothing outwardly sinister about it. When you’d gone over to Ishan’s manor over Easter break last year, he’d shown you some of the (potentially unlawful) darker artifacts that his old pureblood family had in possession. They’d felt dark. This journal didn’t have that syrupy thick feel around it. Its aura felt sparkly, magnetic. Surely it couldn’t have been dark magic. Because all dark magic felt dark, right?

You gulped. You wouldn’t touch it with your bare hands anymore, you reasoned. Just spellwork and using the tip of your wand to maneuver it. Just in case.

Your 5 years of Hogwarts education had left you sorely deficient in useful diagnostic spells, so you dug around in one of your Defense Against the Dark Arts textbooks from previous years and found a section on spells to examine magical objects. 

Revelo you whispered, feeling the slight jolt of magic as the charm left your wand. 

Nothing, It didn’t even glow blue, a sign of magically active objects. 

Huh. 

You frowned. The slightly more obscure spell you’d heard Snape use once on a student’s suspiciously well-written essay didn’t yield anything either. 

“Whatcha doing?’

You nearly screamed, clutching your wand to your chest. 

Lucy grinned wickedly as she leaned over your shoulder and reached for your journal. “Ooh, is this that thing you bought at—”

“Don’t touch!” You quickly batted her hand away. 

“Sheesh,” said Lucy. “Chill. I wasn’t going to read it or anything. I was just wondering why you were waving your wand at your journal. Secrecy spells?”

“No,” you said. Your heart was racing, “Er—not quite. I actually haven’t written in it, you see,”

“Oh?” Lucy’s brows furrowed in confusion, “Explain the theatrics then?”

A half-baked lie formed at your lips that was about to spill when you stopped yourself. Lucy was your friend. She’d been your best friend since the moment you’d met on the Hogwarts Express during first year. There was no reason to lie.

“It’s so weird!” You motioned towards the diary with your wand. “I buy this, right, because I feel this weird draw to it. And I take it home and try to write in it, and suddenly the book starts writing back.”

“A self-writing journal?” 

“Not quite. Maybe. Maybe not, I’m not sure. It’s just—something’s not totally right about it, but I can’t tell if it’s dangerous or not.”

Lucy gave a good natured snort. “A journal? Dangerous? And from old Linda’s stand? Please. I see her going through everything in her inventory. The poor shopboy in charge of vetting items has to answer to her if he slips up. There’s no way anything actually powerful slipped onto the stacks.” 

You stuck the tip of your wand under the cover and carefully pried it open, pointing at the lettering on the inside. 

“Tom Marvolo Riddle?” She frowned. “Am I supposed to know that name?”

“I don’t know,” you responded at the swooping lettering. “But the journal talked back like it was Tom. Like, it introduced itself as Tom and said that it was 1943. And it acted like an….I don’t know. It was like it was a real person talking to me.”

“Huh.” You could see the gears slowly turning in Lucy’s head,

“Do you know any detection or diagnostic spells?” you asked. “I tried all the ones that we’ve learned so far and it doesn’t even detect magic. But it has to be cursed, right? If the last owner of this diary got sucked into it?”

Lucy was just beginning to open her mouth when ink began to appear.

It is rather rude to be casting all sorts of spells in my direction without warning.

You jumped. “Jesus Christ. Do you see that?”

“Yeah, I do,” said Lucy, but her eyes were crinkled. “Girl. Don’t worry. If it was dangerous, you’d probably know by now. You’ve had it around you for, what, two months? And you’ve already touched it. It doesn’t feel dark. I don’t think there are any slow burning curses that gradually trap you inside an object. If you’re still alright, you’ll probably stay that way. Maybe you should just ask Tom how he got there?”

“If I start disappearing, do try to keep me in this plane.”

“Noted.”

Nervously, you dipped a quill on your desk into an inkwell, waiting for a moment before thinking up how to word your request. In the meantime, a drop of ink fell to the page. It was quickly swallowed up by the parchment.

Sorry you began. Just wanted to make sure you weren't going to trap me in there with you or something

An understandable concern

“Just ask him the bloody question,” said Lucy, hitting your shoulder. “I want to go to bed.” 

“Right, right.” 

If you'd like me to stop with the spells, maybe you could tell me how you ended up in here in the first place

“Nice,” said Lucy. She was nodding thoughtfully. “Very smooth.” 

It took a long time for Tom’s answer to appear despite the fact that your writing had almost instantly disappeared. Finally, black ink began to rise. 

It was an accident. Nothing that can be replicated by you, however. There's no need to worry. I fooled around with the wrong book in the school library.

“School library?” Lucy leaned closer so that the locks of her hair dangled over your shoulder. “Ask him if he went to Hogwarts.”

Hogwarts? You wrote quickly. 

Yes.

In your sixth year?

Yes.

“Ooh.” Lucy hit your shoulder. “Maybe you can use this to get comfortable talking to boys, Y/N.”

You scoffed, blushing a hot red. “Excuse me! I’ve told you. I’m too busy for that.”

“Uh huh.” She twirled a piece of her hair around her finger. “Well, I think you should just keep it. It’s harmless. Like I said, it’s from one of the tamest parts of Diagon Alley. And you wouldn’t be able to get anything genuinely dark into Hogwarts. The wards would’ve detected it. Have fun with it.”

“Have fun with it?”

Lucy shrugged, bouncing once as she settled down on her bed. “I dunno. Think about it. I think a responding diary could be fun. Let’s say I’m not around to gossip one day. You have another outlet. Or maybe you could use him to help you study or something. Really, the possibilities are endless.” 

“True.” You mulled over the thought as you let your wand sit on its stand on your desk. Tentatively you grasped the soft leather of the journal and pulled it nearer to you. Tom was waiting for your response, after all. 

Me too you wrote.

And you still won't tell me your name?

“Do you think it’s a bad idea to tell him my name?” you asked Lucy, whipping around.

She set down her book and shook her head. “What’s he gonna do with it? He’s stuck in there.” 

Y/N. 

A splotch of black appeared on the other end, but it was quickly crossed out. 

How did you find me?

Antiques sale in Diagon Alley

I'm an antique?

Given that 1943 was over 50 years ago, yes

Nothing from Tom.

Is that not what you expected? You added. 

I'm not sure

Just as you were about to close the journal and head to bed, Tom wrote again.

And how are you liking your time at Hogwarts?

It's nice. Fall term starts tomorrow. 

You thought about leaving it there, but for some reason the words began to spill out of you. 

It does feel weird being so close to graduating, though. I don’t know quite what it is that I want to do yet.

Oh? But surely you must have some idea.

You pressed the end of your quill to your lips, debating whether or not to share it with this mysterious Tom. In the end, Lucy’s previous comment was what made the scales tip. What did it matter? Tom wasn’t going to tell anyone.

I would really like to go for a cursebreaking mastery abroad, but that hinges on what happens in my N.E.W.Ts this year. I need an O in Potions. 

I was taking N.E.W.T Potions at the time that I was trapped, Tom wrote. Perhaps I can be of assistance.

I can’t ask that of you.

Please do. It’s terribly boring being all alone in here.

You swallowed, watching the ink slowly sink back into nothing. 

What do you mean? What’s it like being trapped?

It took a while for a response to form.

Quiet. You’re the first visitor I’ve ever had. I’m still in Hogwarts, technically, but there’s no one else here. 

I’m sorry you found yourself writing before you could stop yourself. That sounds very lonely.

I don’t mind being lonely. It does get a bit dull, though. 

“Luce,” you said, leaning over the back of your desk chair. “He just offered to help me with Potions.” 

“See? Useful.” 

I've got to go to bed now. First day of classes and whatnot. 

Best of luck

Can you sleep where you are?

I don’t need to but I can

The words chilled you somewhat, but you pushed the feeling away. 

Well, goodnight you wrote. 

Goodnight

~

How were classes?

The ink appeared the moment you flipped open the journal. It was already two weeks into term, and you’d written to Tom nearly every night. You were curled up in bed, your blankets pulled heavy around your lap and your pajamas clean and smelling of lavender. A mug of tea lay steaming on your bedside table, its tendrils barely visible in the dim golden light of the candle you’d lit. 

As expected you wrote, yawning. How was your day?

Oh, you know. Thrilling.

You snorted.

“What are you giggling about?” Lucy’s voice snapped you back into reality. You looked up to see her peeking over the textbook in her lap, a smirk etched deeply into her lips. 

“Nothing,” you said quickly, but the way you slammed the journal shut gave it away.

“Talking to your fake boyfriend, huh?” teased Lucy. 

“I’m not even going to answer that.” You rolled your eyes. “He’s a fucking journal. It’s not like he’s real.”

“Didn’t he say he was trapped in there?”

You huffed. “I guess. He seems to have accepted his position in life, though. It’s not like he’s begging for help.” 

“No,” agreed Lucy. “But just think about it. What if you did manage to get him out? How romantic would that be?”

“Oh my god, shut up!” 

Lucy ducked away from the pillow you lobbed in her direction, cackling maniacally all the way. 

There you are. I thought I’d bored you. 

The words reappeared within seconds of you reopening the journal. You tried to smother the way your lips turned upwards at the sight. 

Sorry you wrote back, hoping that Lucy was sufficiently distracted with her textbook and would give you a rest for the night. A friend wanted to talk.

Does this friend know about me?

You held your quill to your lips for a moment before you wrote back.

Yes. She loves to tease over how much time I spend writing to you 

I take it she doesn’t understand

Quite the contrary. She’s the one who encouraged me to write to you in the first place, in fact.

How so?

Something about how it would be nice to be able to tell my secrets to someone who could never tell anyone else

Tom’s response took a bit longer to appear this time around. 

Oh? Any you’d like to share now?

Your heart skipped a beat as you looked at the drying ink. 

You first.

For a minute, you thought that maybe Tom had disappeared. The parchment remained blank and clean. Maybe he’d gotten bored with you and had gone off to…whatever he did in his empty version of Hogwarts. 

Then the lettering appeared again. 

I used to have a pet snake when I was a child. I was an orphan, you see, and the other children thought that I was too strange to play with. I was terribly lonely. The matron took us to the beach once, and I found this little grass snake in the weeds. I stuck it in my pocket and took it back to the orphanage with me. 

You lived in a muggle orphanage? 

Yes. Obviously. Once I was amongst magicfolk, people did find me quite charming. 

Why’d you pick a snake?

I liked having someone—or something, I suppose—to talk to. 

You stared as the ink sunk back into nothing. Talk. Snakes. Talking?

Are you a Parselmouth? 

I’ve already given a secret Tom wrote. Your turn. 

Will you answer if I give you one?

That’s only fair. 

Secrets—you barely had those. You’d grown up sharing nearly everything with Lucy since you’d been paired up in first year Charms class. 

Not losing your nerve, are you?

I’m just thinking you quickly wrote back. I don’t have many secrets. 

Surely you do. 

This isn’t a very exciting secret. Heat rose to your cheeks as your quill scratched against the paper. But I haven’t told anyone this. 

Go on.

I can’t tell anyone this because they’ll think I’m annoying. I do really well in classes. But I feel like I’m never going to be smart enough. It seems like nothing that I ever do will be enough to stand out 

I understand more than you know

What do you mean?

I was sorted into Slytherin. Coming from such a modest background meant that I had to prove that I was worth the space I was taking up 

A swell of…something rose in you as you stared down at the paper. You tried to imagine this mysterious Tom in the familiar green robes that you saw every day in Potions, scrunching his nose up over a book and studying hard. All alone—motivated by the knowledge that no one was rooting for his success—knowing that there was no name he could depend on to cover even one misstep—

You blinked. Whoa. That was some serious projection. 

I can’t really tell this to anyone else. All of my friends come from influential pureblood families, so they just don’t get why I don’t get to make mistakes or slip up. They think I’m so uptight

Exactly. They all have safety nets. The grades, the house points, the prefect badges—those are all just surface level. It’s your name that gets you anywhere important 

“You’re looking mighty serious over there,” said Lucy from over her textbook. “Trouble in paradise?”

You laughed tightly. “Er, no. Just talking.” 

“Uh huh.”

I always feel like it’s evidence that I don’t belong when I don’t immediately understand something in class you add into the journal. To your horror, tears started pricking at your eyes. None of your friends were muggleborns. You’d never been able to voice these things out loud—or on paper, in this case. Writing it all out seemed so sad now. Like today in Runes. It took me longer than usual to understand a translation technique for this ridiculous slate from the Middle Ages. I had to talk myself down from believing that I’m faking it and that everyone else doesn’t even need to try

Is Babbling still there?

Yes. She’s still teaching 

She was already too old to be coherent when she was teaching me wrote Tom. Tell me, do you have to rennervate her throughout the lesson to keep her present?

She was old back then??? 

Ancient. 

I can’t believe she’s still alive. You chewed on your lip as you thought. She’s practically a fossil.

Do you think of me like that? Old?

Would it make you feel better if I said I considered you vintage? 

I’m wounded

“Fucking get to the library and start researching ways to pull that poor boy out of there,” said Lucy from her bed, “Or stop giggling like that. Merlin. You’re killing me. You’re practically twirling your hair.”

“Shut up!” Slowly, you opened the journal back up after slamming it closed.

Your friend again?

Yes you scribbled back. She’s teasing me again about how I should try to get you out of here. Which I’m assuming is impossible, since I’m doubtful you’re even a real person

I’m very real

Your blood cooled. 

Then why haven’t you asked me to get you out? 

A pause—just long enough for you to feel suspicious. 

I’ve gotten quite used to my little home in here wrote Tom finally. And forgive me if I believe it a bit forward to immediately demand the first person to which I speak to orchestrate my extraction. 

Extraction. Interesting word choice, you thought. 

How polite. Part of you was beginning to feel the slightest bit uneasy. And what would this so-called extraction entail? 

That I haven’t quite figured out yet. The response was instantaneous. Ever since we’ve met I’ve been returning to the library in hopes of finding an answer.

Which book trapped you in here?

Another pause. 

I sincerely doubt it’s still in print wrote Tom. It was a very dangerous book with dark, terrible magic. I had no business digging around in it. I paid the price dearly. 

He refused to elaborate.

You spent the entire weekend digging through the Restricted Section, paging through every book you could imagine that had anything to do with Tom’s situation.

Nothing. Nada. Zero. You tried every querying spell you could think of. You were desperate enough to recruit Madam Pince by telling her that you were writing a paper for a class and needed to find anything there was on getting yourself trapped in magical objects. What she did dig up was at best irrelevant—tales of ill-executed Animagi rituals that resulted in the wizard getting stuck in their animal form and reports of interactions with cursed objects sending the users into a different dimension, never to be heard from again. 

But as you were leaving the library on Sunday night, feeling downtrodden and profoundly disappointed, you saw something that caught your eye: the Alumni section. 

It was one of those things that you always passed by without another thought. No classwork required students to reference previous Hogwarts attendees. It existed largely to appease the old families by nodding to their longstanding presence in Hogwarts, and the only friends who you had ever seen in this part of the library were purebloods curious about their ancestry. As a muggleborn, this was predictably unrelatable. There’d been no person of interest waiting for you in the old, dusty books that were shoved neatly into chronological order, no long-lost ancestor or namesake. 

Not until now. 

The click of your oxfords against the dark hardwood echoed as you came to a stop in front of the stacks. Every yearbook was the color of that school year’s House Cup winner, and the one with 1943-1944 on the thin spine was a rich, loud red. It slid easily from the shelf—which was a relief, because occasionally older books required permission to handle and were thus unremovable—and settled gently in your hands. 

For a second you pondered leaving the aisle and finding a table to crack it open and savor the moment, but the thought of having to explain why you were looking at the 1943 class yearbook would be embarrassing. Doubly so if Lucy found you—she’d never let you hear the end of it. So, case closed. You’d open it here. 

Oh god. You swallowed and used the cuff of your free sleeve to wipe the bead of sweat that had formed on your forehead. This was a terrible idea—or was it? Maybe he wouldn’t be your type. Yes, maybe he’d look just like someone who annoyed you in class or he’d have poorly kept hair or he’d have a creepy smile. Then you could stop thinking about—that.

And that shouldn’t even matter! You squeezed your eyes shut to dispel the thought. It was all Lucy’s fault for teasing you so much about him being your sort-of-weird-ghost boyfriend—part of you was starting to pretend like that was real. And it wasn’t. It couldn’t be. It didn’t matter that no boy before had managed to make you this excited to talk to them. It didn’t matter that he got you like no one else in this castle seemed to. It didn’t, because as of present he was actually a journal and not a corporeal being.

In short, you reminded yourself harshly, you were checking this yearbook to verify that a Tom Marvolo Riddle did in fact exist and attended Hogwarts during the time period he claimed. That was it—nothing more. 

Nervously, you let the cover flip open and began to card through the thick pages. Moving pictures of entirely unfamiliar students greeted you, flashing past your eyes. First years, second years, third years, fourth years…

You paused before turning from the fifth year page to the sixth, overwhelmed with the thought that whatever you saw was going to change the way you saw your interactions with the diary. If he wasn’t there, you’d need to re-evaluate how safe this whole diary scenario was. You’d need to go back and reconsider if anything you’d heard from him was ever the actual truth. And if he was…

You swallowed. You couldn’t pretend like you hadn’t been imagining what he’d look like on nights that you struggled to fall asleep. There was never a face you could settle on. Whenever you’d spin up something in your mind’s eye, the features would shift and morph into something entirely different before you could enjoy it. 

But it didn’t matter—it couldn’t matter, because it was crazy that you’d even been fantasizing about a potentially make-believe boy who only existed in a worn diary. 

You turned the page, and Tom Marvolo Riddle stared right back at you.

Tom looked every bit of what you’d expect a Slytherin prefect to be like. Everything about him was neat, orderly, and intentional, from the tidy robes to the obediently shaped dark waves atop his head that looked tragically soft. The only thing out of place was a single piece of black hair, dangling temptingly in the middle of his forehead. 

His lips were drawn into a polite almost smile, his image almost entirely still save for the slight bob of his throat that repeated as the image replayed, over and over again. 

Tom was pretty—much prettier than you ever could’ve thought up on your own. He looked unreal, like he’d been sculpted by some higher being’s hand with the express purpose of being devastatingly ethereal. 

And he’d been talking to you. Connecting with you. And he was real. The weight of your satchel over your shoulder reminded you that he was right there. All it’d take was a quill and some ink to speak to him again. 

The picture had repeated its loop one final time before you closed the book shut and pushed it back onto the shelf, hearing the pounding of your heart the whole way.

When you wrote to him that night, you tried your best to keep yourself imagining how he’d look writing back. Would he smile when he saw that you’d opened the journal? Would he laugh at your (admittedly stupid) jokes? 

September turned into October which tilted into November with such speed that you could barely breathe. Time barreled ahead as classes sped up, assignments piled on, and each day became just another challenge to survive. 

Tom remained one of the few constants in your life, alongside Lucy and Ishan. It was concerning how much you’d come to confide in him, telling him things that you’d never dare to share with anyone else. You told him about the little accomplishments that you could never bring up to your friends, like Professor Snape insulting everyone’s potion except yours and what McGonagall wrote on your most recent paper, calling it one of the most well-researched essays she’d gotten from a N.E.W.T level student. You even told him how Lucy occasionally got on your nerves and how it made you feel like a bad friend. 

He was a good listener and an even better conversationalist. When he wasn’t being your confidant, he was more than happy to indulge any academic topics of interest. You spent hours going back and forth, debating the content of the news headlines that you’d tell him about each day. 

With time, the memory of Tom’s face and intimidatingly good looks faded to the back of your mind. You’d barred yourself from going back into the Alumni section in the library lest you felt inspired to crack open his yearbook again and remind yourself just how attractive your imaginary friend had been when he’d been alive. If you did that, then you’d start fantasizing about a future where you invented some sort of way to pull him out, and that was just silly. You had exams, and Tom didn’t seem particularly rushed in leaving his journal—or he’d at least come to accept that he’d never leave.

Despite this new normality you’d built around the strangeness of the journal, some things still felt tense. You’d grown comfortable with Tom—arguably more comfortable with him than nearly anyone else, save for maybe Lucy, since you couldn’t ever imagine opening up the journal and telling him all about the fact that it was your time of the month and detailing exactly how your cramps were making you feel—but there was this underlying sense of anticipation. For what exactly, you weren’t sure. You just knew that things couldn’t be like this forever. Something had to give. 

In the end, it was Professor Snape who started it. He’d looked down at your cauldron and said something about how your Draught of Living Death base was the most elementary thing he’d ever had the misfortune of laying his eyes upon and that you were lucky to even be allowed into the class, and something inside you broke. 

You’d tried so hard on that potion. You’d followed the instructions to a T. You’d diced everything evenly and stirred it with the precision of a muggle performing brain surgery. Potions had never been your best subject, and you tried to make up for it by trying harder than everyone else. Normally it worked, but N.E.W.T potions was something else.

Tom was taking longer than usual to respond to this particular soliloquy that night, a few letters surfacing before he scribbled them out.

I know this might seem scary he finally wrote. I’ll understand if this frightens you too much. But I think that I may be able to help. 

What do you mean, scary? Are you a mean tutor or something?

I mean that I can show you how to brew that Draught Tom replied. 

Show me?

If my research is correct, it’s possible that I can temporarily cross you over into my world. 

Your heart thudded, your hands suddenly clammy. 

“Lucy?” 

“Yeah, what’s up?” Lucy tossed her book onto her desk and turned to face you. “Oh no. Did something happen? You look awful.”

“Gee. Thanks.” You swallowed. “Er—sort of? I was writing to Tom about how crazy Potions class was today and he told me that he could help me. Like actually tutor me.”

“Is that not a good thing?” 

Your mouth was dry. “No. That’s not it. He means like, tutor me tutor me. In person. He says he can cross me over into his world temporarily.”

Lucy froze. 

“I have to say no, right?” It was so, so stupid that you were asking that. Of course you had to say no. There was no telling what he could do to you if you said yes. Maybe he was actually a demon that was attempting to possess you. Maybe he was going to eat your soul and use your body as a husk to feed on the other students and—

“I mean, probably not.” She thoughtfully pressed the top of her quill to her mouth. “Think about it. You guys have been in contact for months and nothing supernatural has happened. We already came to the conclusion that the journal isn’t dark magic because the wards would’ve kept it out.”

“But what if I get stuck with him? I haven’t been able to find anything about this type of magic before. I don’t know how it works.”

Lucy hummed. Then realization flickered across her features. “Hang on. I think I have something that might help.” 

She dug around in one of her desk drawers until she produced a small spool of half-used thread. It was golden in color but so thin it was nearly iridescent. 

“What’s that?” you asked, squinting at it. 

“It’s Invisible String,” said Lucy, already rolling it out and pulling it around your wrist. It was pleasantly warm against your skin, like it’d just been sitting out in the sun. As soon as it made contact with your body, it disappeared. “It used to be used for Ministry Employees who used Time Turners. Whoever is on the other end of the thread is able to pull the wearer back to this reality and this timeline. It’s very useful in avoiding nasty time related incidents. My dad took home a bunch of spools when Time Turners were officially outlawed. He taught me how to apparate with them since it can also work over long distances in the same reality—just in case I did something stupid.” 

“Wow,” you breathed, staring down at your wrist. There was nothing to stare at, of course. It was already gone. But it was an ingenious little contraption, probably charmed so many times with such obscure and rare spells that it would go for thousands of galleons if you tried to buy it yourself.

The perks of having a rich pureblood best friend, you supposed.

“As long as I’m holding the other end, I’ll be able to bring you back,” explained Lucy, holding the spool up demonstratively. “So, go for it. If that’s your only hold-up, I think you should go meet him. If anything, at least it’ll help your Potions grade.” 

You turned your attention back to the journal, worrying your lip for a second before you dipped your quill in the inkwell and wrote out Ok. 

“This is so exciting,” said Lucy from over your shoulder. “You have to tell me everything when you get back.”

“If I can come back.”

She dangled the spool in front of you. “I’ll make sure of that. If you’re not back by curfew, I’ll yank you back to this reality by myself.”

“Right.” Anxiety began to build in your middle, bubbling up until you were sure you were trembling. 

This might feel a bit uncomfortable was all Tom wrote before you were suddenly falling into a void.

When the inertia faded and light slowly bled back into your vision, you were sprawled on the floor of a Potions classroom that you’d been in when you were a second year. Tom Riddle stood tidily a few feet away from you, wearing the same formal school robes you’d seen on him in the yearbook. 

“Hello.” His voice was proper and measured. It fit him perfectly, but the fact that you were finally hearing him speak for the first time made you feel something that was highly inadvisable. 

“Hi.” 

For a moment, you just stared right back into his eyes as the silence closed in around you and the gravity of your situation sunk in. You’d really done it now, hadn’t you? As if to comfort you, the thread around your wrist warmed against your skin. 

“Don’t worry,” said Tom, like he could already tell what you were thinking.“You won’t be trapped. It’s me who’s bound to this world.” 

“And how are you so sure of that?” 

“This is a prison for my soul,” he said casually. “Not yours. You have nothing keeping you here.” 

“Right.” You slowly made your way from the ground to your feet, brushing off your robes and casting a few cleansing charms to dispel the dust clinging to you. At least your magic seemed to work fine here, you noted. It was a small comfort to know that you’d be able to defend yourself if shit went left. 

“I didn’t think you’d say yes.” Now that he was speaking more, you couldn’t help but admire the way he sounded—silken and smooth and entirely unbothered, like he did this every day. “I was sure that I’d scared you off.”

“You underestimate how much I want that Potions O,” you offered. 

“Never,” he said dryly. “Now that I see that you’re a Ravenclaw, I wouldn’t endeavor to make such ill-informed assumptions.”

You blanched, your head whipping down to take in what you were wearing. You weren’t sure why you were so shocked to see that you were wearing exactly what you’d had on moments ago at your desk—a midnight blue jumper with the Ravenclaw emblem stitched into the left breast, pulled on top of the white button up with the bronze and blue tie tucked underneath. That, and the standard-issue Hogwarts skirt and tights. Hardly dungeon attire—if you didn’t start brewing something soon, you’d be shivering. 

It all looked very silly compared to how many layers Tom was wearing. His prefect pin glinted under the dim lighting of the Potions classroom, and you tried your best to keep your heart from swooning. 

“Did I not tell you that I was a Ravenclaw?”

The corner of his mouth twitched up. “I don’t believe so. I would’ve remembered.” 

“Are you surprised?”

He cast his dark eyes up to the ceiling and scrunched his nose in a way that you thought was meant to convey a serious bout of thinking. “Not quite. I was stuck between that and Slytherin.”

“Slytherin?” You couldn’t stop the way you grimaced at this.

“I thought we had enough in common for it to be plausible.” 

A thrill shot through you. “I’m sorry to disappoint.” 

“I suppose I can't be too taken aback,” he said mildly, stepping neatly back and conjuring a cauldron to appear on the tabletop to his right. “You are a muggleborn. I don’t know of any who have been sorted into Slytherin.” 

This wasn’t news to you, but Tom’s delivery stung more than usual. The implication hung heavy in the air that you were somehow in the inferior house, only placed in Ravenclaw because of your blood. As an afterthought—as a convenient place for you to be put away. 

“That’s true,” you said, stepping closer until only the brewing table was in between you two. “But I doubt that I’d have been sorted there, even if I had been born a pureblood. The whole glutton-for-knowledge thing about Ravenclaw has always been me.”

“I disagree.” Tom summoned over a few jars of ingredients with a nonverbal wave of his wand. “If you’d been born with purer blood, you wouldn’t be so desperate to find a way to compensate.”

You flinched. Ouch. 

“I’m very aware of why I feel the need to work so hard,” you snipped. “But I really don’t think that has anything to do with my genuine academic curiosity. If I was so single-minded in using knowledge for compensation then perhaps I would have been a Slytherin.”

For a moment, his dark eyes flashed with something that you couldn’t quite catch before his face ironed itself into something impassive once more. “Excuse me. I didn’t mean to offend.”

You frowned, watching as he placed familiar ingredients on the table and began lining them up. “It’s fine. Just a bit of a sore spot, that’s all.” 

He gave you a look that made you feel like you’d just pointed out the obvious. Which you had, clearly. But it was offensive regardless. 

“I’ve assembled all the ingredients for a Draught of Living Death,” he announced, stepping back from the table and waving one pale hand at the spread in front of you. “You said you had trouble with brewing the base. This makes sense, since more complicated potions require more stable bases. I’m not wrong in assuming that you’ve always been adept at following instructions and brewing perfect potions before this year?”

He waited for your nod to continue.

“N.E.W.T Potions is different in that it challenges your intuition. Before this, you’ve been able to coast by relying on the guidance of others. But with potions like the Living Death, you need to be able to think on your feet. Even the slightest variation in your ingredients—the age, the quality, the place of origin—can be what ruins an otherwise perfectly good brew. Every potions recipe you see in school textbooks makes implicit assumptions about the quality and age of your ingredients. If, say, it’s an unusually hot day when a supply shipment arrives and the gillyweed oxidizes, the instructions for a more difficult potion won’t anticipate that you need to temper it with volcanic salt.

“That’s where you come in. When you’re preparing your base, you need to have an intimate understanding of the properties of each ingredient and how they interact with each other. This way, when you notice something isn’t quite average with your supplies—as is common in a school where ingredients are shipped in bulk—you can adjust.” 

Tom paused, his eyes meeting yours. You blinked once, then broke the contact to look at the cauldron.

No one had ever explained that to you before. No one had ever taken the time. Snape certainly hadn’t been interested in lecturing about why so many students were incapable of  producing viable potions—he was far more content with insulting his pupils for being inadequate. 

“I never knew that,” you admitted, finally looking back at him. He hadn’t moved an inch. “That makes so much sense.” 

Though your words were far from creative, honesty dripped from your voice.

“Right then,” said Tom, nodding tightly and stepping back to gesture to the ingredients. “Try to prepare the base again. This time pay attention to the state of the ingredients.”

You got the work, thinly dicing the beetroot while you set the moon water to simmer in the cauldron. 

“This was bruised,” you noted, motioning to the cubes you’d just cut. 

Tom nodded, looking at you rather expectantly. 

“...which means that part of it has already oxidized,” you continued cautiously. In truth, you hadn’t spent much time learning about the different chemical properties of the ingredients. That felt too concretely muggle, too blatantly biological. “Which means that the enzymes have, uh, had their bonds ruptured?”

“And…?” 

“And that means I need to…” You squinted down at the vegetable, trying to conjure up any knowledge you had about enzymes and potion making. It probably wouldn’t be volcanic salt. Would it? “I don’t think that I can use volcanic salt as a binding agent this time. If my memory serves correctly, moon water becomes unstable in the presence of pure minerals. So that means…acid? Lemon?”

Tom slid a vial over to you, a ghost of a smile on his face. “Mix a little into the beetroot before adding it.”

You uncorked it and let the citrus juice sink into the purple cubes, running slightly down the cutting board and pooling in the wooden crevices. 

The rest of your base preparation went just as smoothly, with Tom offering up the odd helpful comment while you nodded and committed it to memory. 

You finished with a base that looked nothing like the disaster you’d created just hours ago. You were just barely able to keep yourself from grinning and throwing your arms around Tom’s neck as you both began to clean up and vanish the contents of the cauldron.

“Well done,” said Tom, spelling the cutting board clean. The vibrant pink marks from the beetroot vanished. “Consider me impressed.”

You nearly exploded with giddiness. 

“Thank you,” you said very normally. He was standing so close to you now that if you reached out, your fingers would skim his robe-clad arm. But you wouldn’t do that, because that was weird. Because he was living in a journal and he was somehow bound to this strange alternative reality. Because you weren’t even sure if it was possible to touch him. Because even if it was, Tom Riddle did not seem like the type of person who would be partial to physical affection—especially not from someone like you. “Do you—have you found anything out about how you can escape?” 

Tom’s fluid motions as he tidied the table only stuttered for a moment. “Some. Nothing concrete, though.”

“If you told me exactly what it was you did to get stuck in here, I’d probably be able to offer a lot more help,” you pointed out in a way that you hoped didn’t sound too cajoling. 

He didn’t say anything. 

“Come on,” you pressed, putting your hands on your hips. “I’ve aired out all my dirty laundry to you. You can tell me. I don’t think there’s anything you could say that I haven’t already guessed.”

“Really?” drawled Tom, his eyes locking on yours. “Nothing at all?”

“Nothing,” you affirmed. 

“So why don’t you tell me what happened?” 

You rolled your eyes. “I don’t know. That’s why I’m asking.”

Men could be so frightfully dull sometimes. 

“There’s a book,” said Tom with a deceptive casualness, “That should be in the Restricted section. It’s called ‘Secrets of the Darkest Arts.’ Read that. If you’d still like to know afterwards, I’ll oblige.”

You let out an exasperated sigh. “Fine.” 

The work table was all cleaned up, no trace of your previous potion brewing except for the lingering scent in the air. 

“Well,” said Tom. His hands were folded neatly behind his back as he remained a respectable distance away from you. “I suppose I should be sending you back.”

“I suppose,” you echoed. “Will I—do you think I’ll get to see you again?”

You regretted it the moment the words left your mouth. Hopefully the blush on your face could be written off by the excuse that you were just brewing. 

This time when he looked at you, it felt like he was re-evaluating something. “Whenever you’d like. I’m not especially occupied.”

Before you could stop yourself, your face was splitting into a bright smile. “Of course. I was definitely asking because of your busy schedule.” 

He blinked twice. Then he opened his mouth, closed it, and fidgeted with his tie. It was the most obvious sign of discomfort you’d seen from him the entire evening. 

“Right,” he said stiffly. “Ehm—yes. It was pleasant to have you here.”

“Pleasant?” you echoed, your eyebrows raised. 

“I mean that I’ve enjoyed the time that we’ve spent in correspondence,” he said, waving a hand like that made what he said any less awkward.

“Tom, I was teasing you,” you said. “I don’t need some sort of confession about how you can actually stand being around me. I can tell.”

“Right,” he said again. “I’ll send you back now.”

Before you could add another remark about how weird he was being, you were catapulted out of the dungeons and back into your desk chair.

“Merlin’s Beard!” gasped Lucy from behind you. 

You blinked, letting your eyes adjust to the bright lighting of your dorm. 

“You literally came out of nowhere!” said Lucy, coming around to put her hands on your desk and stare at you. “I was getting worried, too. Padma is coming back soon. I thought that I’d have to devise some sort of plan to keep her out of the room so she wouldn’t ask why you materialized out of thin air.”

“Yeah,” you said, your eyes unfocused.

“So what happened?” 

“I—” You exhaled. “Lucy, I’m so fucked. He’s actually really cute.” 

“I knew it,” said Lucy, shaking your shoulders. 

“He helped me brew the base for the Draught of Living Death,” you elaborated. “He’s a really good tutor. He spoke for like 5 minutes about the properties of different ingredients, and I swear I’ve learned more from him than from 6 years of Snape’s lectures.”

“And did you guys talk?”

“A little.” You frowned, thinking back on the interactions you’d had. “He was really odd when I asked him about what I needed to do to get him out. Even weirder when I asked if I was going to see him again. He made some comment about how he wasn’t exactly busy and I said something that implied that I knew that but wanted to know if he liked seeing me, and he was super awkward.”

Lucy cringed. “Well, I mean, if I’d been stuck in a diary for 50 years without talking to someone, I’d probably be a little strange too. Tell me how he is when he talks—or writes, I guess—to you next.”

The next time Tom responded to a diary entry, you had news.

Tom you wrote. Are you there?

Yes.

Can you bring me back to you?

Why? Do you need another Potions lesson?

You rolled your eyes. Not quite.

Well, no. I won’t let you back until you’ve read the book I told you about.

That’s why I’m asking! I’ve tried looking for it everywhere. When none of the querying spells worked, I went through the entire Restricted Section by hand. Nothing! I asked Madam Pince and she told me that that book had been banned since before she’d gotten the position as librarian. I’m probably on some watch list now

That is troubling. 

So if you’ll be so kind, please let me back in so I can use your library. Thank you in advance

There was a long pause that you imagined Tom took to sigh and run his fingers through his hair in exasperation. Then:

Very well. 

You were falling through space once again.

final a/n: thank you for reading! let me know how you feel about it! this is my first time writing for tom so im kind of nervous or whatever

#tom riddle x reader #tom riddle x you #tom riddle x oc #tom riddle x y/n #tom riddle imagine

[thewritetofreespeech]

Tressym can be Fickle

WORDS: 692 RATING: G PAIRING: Gale x Tav SUMMARY: based on a very real arguement between my husband & I on who our cat likes more.

It had been a long, arduous, grueling day at the academy.

Though Gale loved his new role as a professor and educator, teaching the young minds of witches & wizards all across Faerun to harness their magic, induction week was the worst. He felt his life was in less peril fighting the Elder Brain or any of their other enemies & cohorts along the Sword Coast than he was now. Testing the new inductees to file them accordingly to their skill. ‘Skill’ being a very loose word tossed around this week.

He returned home that evening with a heavy sigh through the door, an even heavier thud of his satchel filled with books, and a desperate need to be tended to by his spouse. The whole day had been about soothing the egos, feelings, and on occasion literal wounds of new students that Gale thought he deserved some tending to now.

“Tav?” He called out as he put his cloak away. Usually, they greeted him at the door. Or at least acknowledged him when he came home. Curious, Gale walked through the house to try and find them. His search not long as he came upon Tav in the living room. On the couch by a low fire, with Tara on their lap. “Well….don’t you two look cozy.”

“Hmm, we rather are Mr. Dekarios.” Tara agreed. “Or at least we were, until someone started shouting.”

“Apologies for shouting in my own house.” Gale snipped at Tara. Taking his own plush armchair across from them. “Since when did you become a lap cat? And, before you get too ruffled under the feathers, it’s a figure of speech.”

Tara hummed. Seeming to debate about not letting it go but was perhaps indeed to comfortable to make a fuss. “Very recently I suppose. I never had an interest until now.” The tressym purred with her eyes closed as she tilted her head up towards Tav and her head scratches.

“You never took an interest with me.” Gale said with a deep frown.

“You do not have nails, Mr. Dekarios.”

The wizard growled and stood up. Unable to watch his dearest friend and lover betray him like this in front of his own eyes. It was still early for dinner but he stalked off towards the kitchen to focus his frustrations on what to eat.

A few moments later, Tav came in. Looking confused on why he was so upset. “Sorry.” He apologized quickly. “It’s just been a long day. And I am glad that you and Tara are getting along now. Guess I’m being….overly sensitive at being shut out. Tressym can be fickle, but I’ve never known Tara to change her mind about anyone. Again, not that I’m not pleased you two are getting along. I just never thought I would suddenly be second in her estimation.”

“Suddenly second? Please Mr. Dekarios.” The couple turned to see Tara trot in. Seeming interested in their conversation. “I wouldn’t say that you were suddenly second. Not given my high esteem of your mother. A better estimate is which one of you is second on the day, and who is third.”

“Really Tara? Kick a man while he’s down??”

“But, I’m a reasonable creature. Perhaps my estimations can be over swayed. Perhaps with a bit of chicken? Fried pigeons if you have any?”

“So a creature of reason but not honor, eh?” Gale stated, with a wave of his hand as if he wish to brush away this whole conversation.

Before he could leave, Tav wrapped their arms around his waist. Pulling him close. The smell of their hair in his nose. Something like ‘you’ll always be number 1 to me’ muffled into his chest, which causes him to smile and hold them back.

They tell Gale to go upstairs and relax. Take a bath if he liked, while they made dinner. That sounded heavenly, so he did just that.

When he came back down, he was not amused by the roast chicken on his plate. Nor the grinning little tressym in the corner, licking her chops like she’d just swallowed a canary. Or, perhaps, her bribery chicken.

#;ask and ye shall receive (request answers) #gale dekarios #gale of waterdeep #bg3 gale #gale x tav #gale x reader #gale dekarios x reader #gale of waterdeep x reader #baldur's gate #baldurs gate 3 #baldurs gate #bg3 scenarios #bg3 imagine #imagine #scenarios #baldur's gate 3 #baldur's gate scenarios #baldur's gate imagine #baldurs gate imagine #baldurs gate scenarios #epilogue gale #tav #bg3 tara #tara #bg3 fanfiction

[the---hermit]

26|05|2023

21/50 days of productivity

Today was a bit chaotic. I am happy with everything I manged to do in the morning, because I was losing focus, but I still got a lot done. On the other hand, when I got to the hair salon to get my haircut I had to wait over 40 minutes because they were late, and that made me very unproductive in the afternoon. My goal was to write down notes for an entire chapter, and by the time I got home and everything I simply didnìt have enough time and energies to do so. I did a part, and I'll finish the rest on Monday morning. I am still planning on taking the weekend off from studying, because I really need a little break if I want to be able to work well in the next couple of weeks. I plan on doing a bit of work in the garden, and continue reading my book, and then who knows?

Productivity:

practiced Irish on duolingo (still on the bare minimum side of things but it's all my brain can handle atm)

posted this update of the 2023 genre bingo

set up the next weekly spread in my bullet journal

finished writing notes for the second chapter of M. Detienne's Creation Of Mythology

read the whole third chapter

started to write notes (and highlight them) for the third chapter

planned what I'll have to study next week to stay on track (and somehow got ink all over myself while doing that. no, I don't own a fountain pen, I am just a fool)

started downloading the recorded lectures of another class (I am downloading them just in case, I don't want to risk them being deleated. One of these days I'll download the rest)

Self care:

read first thing in the morning

got an haircut (I'm embracing the short hair for the summer, I even went a bit shorter in the back, and I am really feeling it atm)

📖:The Creation Of Mythology by Marcel Detienne, The Left Hand Of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin (little update for those who have been asking. So far I am intrigued by the story, I knew very little before going into it. I am struggling a bit because it's not the lightest read and at the moment my mental energies are not at their best. I find myself struggling the most with longer chapters, so I am pretty sure this is a me problem rn. Anyway I am enjoying it so far, I particularly like those in-between chapters that tell short stories and legends or that simply give you a bit more insight on the world it takes place it)

🎵:Calm Down (A Little Bit Calmer Now) by All Time Low (there will come a day in which I won't be obsessed by something they release, but this is not that day)

#studyblr #studyinspo #uniblr #university #studying #student life #bookblr #currently reading #50 days of productivity #productivity challenge #productivity #journaling #desk #study space #notebook #notes #journal #knife gang #mine #the---hermit

[starrgaziinggg]

FRIENDS WITH BENEFITS | lee minho

PART ONE

You finally meet the man your friends Felix and Hyunjin have been blabbing about for the past couple months, and he's a royal pain in the ass.

Lee Minho is a legacy at your university. He received an honorary award when he graduated, got a position as a dancer in a company a week after receiving his diploma...and was renowned as the schools famous ice-cold fuckboy.

After coming back from a three month tour, you're introduced to him through your uni friends...and your life does a 180. It's hard enough to pass classes whilst also trying to navigate your failing relationship...but the added tension that comes with the dance prodigy you seem to be spending more and more time with?

Some would say it's too much to handle.

|Non idol AU|university AU|friends to lovers|

part one

"It's answer B."

Your brain fails to compute the sentence, instead shutting off the world again as you continue your deep sleep.

Until, that is, someone to your left elbows you in the boob.

"What the..." taking your head off of your arms you sit up straight, trying to get a better grasp of your surroundings. To your right, you see Felix looking at you with wide eyes. You look to the teacher of your lecture at the front of the class and, of course, he is staring straight back at you. You look back at your blonde haired friend, who's mouthing the letter, 'B' over and over.

"B?" You say out loud, your answer coming off as a question as your voice comes out deep from sleep.

"The correct answer, however it would have been more beneficial if Mr Lee hadn't have given the answer to you. And, for the love of god, please stop falling asleep in my classes," your professor sighs, paying his attention back to teaching the rest of the students.

"Thanks for the help, Lix," you say to him sleepily. He just gives you a warm smile back.

"Um, hello? If I didn't wake you up you'd never have given him an answer in the first place," Hyunjin says with an annoyed tone from the left of you.

"All you did was assault me, pervert," you say to him with an eye roll. He scoffs and pushes your shoulder. You pretend it's the sorest thing you've ever felt and flop over Felix, clutching your shoulder. Hyunjin just gives you his signature disgusted look before paying his attention back to the lecture.

"Why are you so tired for, anyway?" Felix asks you quietly, and Hyunjin turns to face you to listen to your answer.

"I have this stupid dance thing I need to do for this showcase one of our dance teachers signed me up for, and I have never been more uninterested in learning a dance in my entire life," you moan. "It's so mundane. It literally sends me to sleep every time I try to learn it."

"That bad huh?" Felix whispers. You widen your eyes and nod your head.

"I'll show you it later and you'll understand where I'm coming from," you reply. "It's only the second week of semester one and I've already given up."

Hyunjin, Felix and you were third years in university, the three of you studying the same dance course. You'd banded together after being paired for the group practical dance exam last December, quickly realising you were probably the three most capable dancers on your course. You'd nailed the exam, gone out for drinks to celebrate and been close friends ever since.

"We can go to the rec later today to see it, since we finish classes early today," Hyunjin says, and you nod your head. The rec was what everyone called the recreational dance studio. There were a number of studios in the arts department, including the rec (the more run down, lesser used studio), the more modern set of studios in the new dance building which were used constantly and lastly the huge, high ceilinged building that stood separately. It was where classes were taught and it was gorgeous, the interior grand and old fashioned, but you had to book to use it out with class hours.

You turned and desperately tried to focus on the lecturer. This particular lecturer, Mr Kim, seemed to sport a grudge specifically reserved for you, and it was starting to really piss you off. He'd always pick on you to give answers during class, especially when he could tell you weren't paying enough attention.

When your lecture finally ends, you pack your stuff up into your bag and follow the two boys out of the lecture hall and onto the courtyard of your university campus.

"That was the most boring hour of my life," Hyunjin complains as the three of you fall into step towards your last class of the day, practical dance.

"You say that after every non practical dance class," Felix points out, and Hyunjin just mimics him with a roll of his eyes, slinging an arm around your shoulder.

"You coming out with us tonight?" He asks you. The boys were constantly trying to get you out with their friend group, for whatever reason. You'd met some of their friends before; Jeongin, Seungmin and Jisung since the three boys also attended the same university as you. There were others, though, you hadn't met. Chan, Changbin and the famous Lee Minho. He was the only one out of the group who's name you'd recognised when the boys had talked about their friends. Albeit for all the wrong reasons.

"Don't think so," you say, and the two boys groan in unison. "I have a lot to do! I don't see the two of you with a showcase to prepare for."

"That's because you're a better dancer than us," Felix says, giving you a nudge. Hyunjin removes his arm from your shoulders and goes to walk backwards, facing you.

"Speak for yourself, Lix. I could give her a run for her money," he says cockily, before returning to your side. "Anyway, you hardly ever come out with us when it's not school related. We're starting to thing you're really boring."

"Hey!"

"That's not true," Felix says, but you see Hyunjin raise an eyebrow. "We just enjoy spending time with you, and our friends are always asking when they can see you next. Lino is desperate to meet the dance prodigy friend."

"And who might that be?" You say jokingly. You'd been dancing since you could walk, and you'd been told time and time again you had an exceptional talent for the sport. You worked hard, you put in the time and effort and most of the time it paid off. "Who's Lino?"

"Don't be dim," Hyunjin says to you. "And it's Minho, Lino's his nickname."

"You know, our friend who's now a professional dancer?" Felix said and you nodded, knowing exactly who Minho was.

You finally arrived to the practical dance studio and entered, dumping your stuff and changing your shoes to a pair you felt comfortable dancing in. This was your hip-hop style class, one of your favourites, so you were just wearing joggers, a crop top and trainers.

"He's just came back home from his tour, that's why we're going out tonight - to celebrate," Felix explains, tying his blonde mullet back into a ponytail. Hyunjin does the same with his long blonde hair, having recently dyed it bleach blonde from his jet black, matching Felix. The two of them sweat profusely when they dance, so if they don't tie it up, things get messy.

"Please come," Hyunjin says once he snaps the bobble into place. You flip your head over so you can tie your own hair up, too. "It will be fun!"

"I would love to, but..." you trail off, and the two boys give each other a look, eyebrows raised.

"If this is about that boyfriend of yours being a dickhead," Hyunjin starts, but stops when Felix slaps him on the arm. "Hey! You've said it yourself; he is a dickhead!"

"Yeah, but he's her boyfriend," Felix says with a sympathetic smile. "Is it, though?"

You huff at the two boys with preying eyes, awaiting your response. "None of your business."

"It definitely is," Hyunjin says to Felix loud enough for you to hear, and you shove him gently. As dramatic as your friend is, he stumbles back, clutching his shoulder. At that moment, your dance teacher for this particular class walks in and you start stretching.

You loved the hip hop style of dance this class taught, as it was very different to the styles you'd grown up learning. Contemporary and ballet was your strong suit, but you loved to step out of your comfort zone.

The class flew by, as most of your practical classes did. It was safe to say the three of you preferred your practical classes much better than your written classes. By the end of it, you were energetic and pumped up, fuelled by dancing, whereas your two friends were sweating in a heap on the floor.

"How you're still standing is beyond me," Felix huffs, rolling so that is back is on the floor. "That was the most intense class ever."

Hyunjin fist bumps him before dramatically smacking his hand back into the floor and making a huge deal out of it when it obviously hurt.

"It was so much fun! You don't understand how much I've been wanting to dance something interesting after doing the choreo for the showcase," you say, sitting down beside your friends and pulling out your phone. Your best friend Sooyun had messaged you a couple times asking what time your classes finished and what you were doing for the rest of the day, but you'd had radio silence from your boyfriend, Doha. Typical.

"So, what's the showcase for anyway?" Felix asks, finally heaving himself up into a sitting position.

"It's some back to school thing, for the arts department in the universities in our area. I don't really know, all I know is it's prestigious, one person gets chosen from each school to compete and if I win I'll get a money reward for the uni," you explain as much as you can since you don't really know much about it. You were given the choreo from one of your dance teachers, learned it, and that's all you could do.

"Well done for getting picked," Hyunjin says, no hostility in his voice. The three of you managed to get along so well because you were genuinely happy for each others achievements. Most people on the same course would feel resentment when someone was chosen for something and they weren't, but that was never the case for the three of you. "Is it something we can come watch?"

"Well this year our university is hosting it, so you can come if you want to. It will be super boring though, just warning you," you say, but secretly it gives you a feeling of warmth that they're interested in seeing you perform. Sooyun hadn't bothered asking about watching you, and Doha said he'd probably be busy. It wasn't as if you expected them to drop everything and watch you do something mundane, however a little appreciation would be nice.

You all start packing up your things and head out the door, starting the short walk to the rec. When you reach it, you see a couple other dance students are practicing various dances or just chilling with their friends. The best thing about the rec was that it was constantly open, so students could use it whenever they needed, which came in clutch during exam time. It was almost constantly full when practical dance exams were due.

"Okay," Felix says, finding an open space and slumping down to sit against the mirrored wall. "Show us the dance."

Hyunjin takes your bag and sits beside Felix, placing your bag next to him and raising his eyebrows as if to say, 'go on.' You use your phone to put on the music your teacher had sent you and place it on the floor as you begin the dance. You had the choreography nailed, but since it was so boring, as you watched yourself dance in the mirror even you felt as though you were watching an eighty year old attempt an interesting dance.

Hyunjin and Felix watched patiently until the music stopped and you did your ending pose, not a drop of sweat on you. Felix attempted a weak smile while Hyunjin rolled his eyes.

"I understand what you mean," he said instantly, and you laughed, sitting on the floor in front of the boys. "How are you ever supposed to win?"

"Exactly! It's like she's set me up for failure," you whine, referring to your dance teacher.

"My sisters created more interesting dances for me when they were toddlers," Felix laughs, pulling you up from the floor after your dramatically lie back, ashamed of the dance you'll have to perform next week.

"Honestly? I'm super tempted to just re do the choreo. How will the judges know? It's not as if it's a set choreography or anything, this is genuinely what Ms Kwon created for me," you explain, a mischievous twinkle in your eye which both boys noticed.

"Look, I like Ms Kwon. She's a good teacher...but she cannot choreograph for shit. It's a known fact, have you not heard the other practical teachers talk shit about her?" Hyunjin comments, and Felix nods his head, turning to give Hyun a look.

"I know that look," you say quizzically. "What are you thinking?"

"If Yongbok is thinking what I'm thinking...that we spend the rest of our afternoon re-choreographing your shit dance and you win the competition," Hyunjin says confidently, looking at Felix for confirmation. Felix sends him back a wild grin, and the two boys turn to you expectantly.

You raise a skeptical eyebrow. "I dunno, Ms Kwon will kill me."

"I can tell you with full certainty that if you dance her choreo you will lose, bad. Even Minho couldn't make that dance look good," Hyun comments, and Felix nods his head. "If you get in trouble, Lix and I will take the blame. Ms Kwon adores us, she'll let it slide."

You ponder the idea. You knew you'd have a better shot at winning if you danced your own choreo, especially if Hyunjin and Felix helped you. You also knew you'd feel like an idiot dancing Ms Kwon's choreo, especially if your friends came to watch.

"You two are the world's worst influences, you know that, right?" You say in defeat, and you watch your friends high five each other.

You spend the next two hours listening to the music you'd been given and using the basis of Ms Kwon's choreo to create a new dance. Hyunjin, Felix and you have always worked really well together, and this is no different. Ideas flow out of each of you, and when you put them all together you have the basics down of a really good dance.

Your panting by the end of hour two, when Felix stops you for the day. "Let's call it there - it's already five pm and our table is booked for seven tonight," he explains, looking at you expectantly.

"Sounds good to me - we've done so much in such a short amount of time. I'm sure by next Friday you'll be more than prepared with the new choreo," Hyunjin says, picking up his bag. "You sure you don't want to come out with us tonight?"

You don't answer at first, checking your phone to see if Doha has messaged you back. Instead, the only text you've received is from your family group chat, your dad asking your mum what she was making for dinner. You roll your eyes fondly at the messages, thinking about when you'd next visit your parents since they were in Busan and you went to Uni in Seoul.

You looked up at Hyunjin as Felix went to the other side of you and you made your way out the rec. "I had asked Doha to come round tonight for movies but he's not replied to my texts since yesterday."

Hyunjin rolls his eyes. "Fuck that guy. I mean, don't actually fuck him, like fuck him, you know what I mean? He never replies to you, he never lets you go out - I don't even know why you're with him!"

"Hyunjin!" Felix says with a shocked expression, moving his head in front of you to mouth, 'shut up.'

"Sorry, but I'm just being honest. Felix thinks the same, it's a shame that you never come out with us, and don't get me started on that evil witch you call your best friend -" Hyunjin begins ranting, until Felix cuts him off.

"Hyun, enough! She already knows what we think," he says, before grabbing your hand and giving it a squeeze, turning to you. "And it's your life, don't listen to him."

"It's fine, Lix. I get why you guys are fed up with it, it's annoying that I never see you outside of uni, I know. It's just...we've been together since we were sixteen, and although things are a bit rough right now...it wasn't always like that," you explain, a sad sort of expression on your face. Felix nods understandingly.

"Please come out with us tonight," Hyunjin attempts one last time, stopping as you reach your student accommodation. You have your own room on a floor with three other people; one of whom being Seungmin, which is one of the reasons you got so close to Hyunjin and Felix out with dance this year. You laughed when you got your second-year accommodation and saw Seungmin's familiar face in the kitchen. Felix and Hyunjin are on the same floor in a building a ten-minute walk away. "Just for a bit, and then we will stop pestering you."

Felix and Hyunjin both look at you, anticipating what you'll say.

"Okay, fine," you huff, whilst the boys are almost jumping around with joy. "But when I want to go home, I'm going home, okay?"

"Fair enough!" Hyunjin almost shouts, a huge smile on his face. "Seungmin knows the place, you can walk with him. Oh my god, Minho's going to be so happy!"

Hyunjin starts skipping towards his dorm building and Felix gives you a hug, shaking his head. "He's such an idiot, but he's a persistent idiot. If you feel uncomfortable tonight I'll walk you back myself. And if your boyfriend gives you any trouble for being out with us...I'll get Chan to fight him. See you later!"

You laugh at your friend as he walks quickly towards Hyunjin. You shake your head fondly whilst using your key fob to enter your dorm building. When you get to your floor, Seungmin's in the communal kitchen/living area making ramen. You had grown close to him this year, being the only person in your dorm you knew.

You were glad you'd stuck to your guns and applied for boy/girl accommodation rather than only girls, which is what Doha tried to get you to apply to. He didn't understand why you'd ever want to live with boys, and you explained that you'd lived with only girls in first year and loathed it, and you wouldn't subject yourself to that again.

"Hey loser," Seungmin says to you with a braced smile. "You're late back."

"Long story. You know my super boring dance for the showcase competition thing?" You say, sitting on one of the high stools at the kitchen counter. Seungmin nods, stirring his ramen. "Hyunjin and Felix just helped me re-choreograph it."

"Oh, very rebellious," he says with a laugh. "But very necessary. I didn't know if you'd be out for dinner but I made extra ramen anyway, want some?"

You nod enthusiastically. "You're my favourite. Oh, also, Hyun and Lix were practically begging me to come out to the bar with you guys tonight, so I gave in. You can walk with me, right?" You ask him.

"You're actually going out with us tonight?" He says, shock evident on his features. "What's Doha saying about that?"

"Does everyone hate my boyfriend?" You say with a laugh, sensing the tone in Seungmin's voice as he says your boyfriends name. They had bumped into each other a couple times since you moved into your accommodation a couple weeks ago, and you thought they'd got on okay, but apparently not.

"It's not like I hate him, he just...I don't know. I get a weird vibe, but nothing to do with me. Anyway, yes I can walk with you. Now please go shower, cause you stink, and when you get out I'll have your ramen ready," he says, going back to stirring the noodles. Perhaps your favourite thing about Seungmin was how straightforward he was. It was one of the reasons you got on so well so quickly.

You do exactly what Seungmin says, taking a shower and washing your hair to get ready for the unexpected night ahead. You check your phone again, just incase Doha has replied, but he hasn't. Figures.

You send another message, adding onto the three you've already sent today, just explaining that you were going out with Hyunjin and Felix and their friends. You wait a couple minutes after pressing send, just to see if that sparks Doha's attention, but it doesn't, so you throw on a dressing gown and huffily go through to the kitchen.

There's two bowls of ramen sitting on the table, and of course Seungmin hasn't waited for you to start eating. You join him, digging into the food he has made for you.

"Mmm, this is great, thanks Seungmin," you say through mouthfuls of food. He nods at you appreciatively.

"So what made you decide to finally go to the bar with us?" He asks you.

"You guys are making it seem like I never spend any time with you!" You laugh. "I see you, Hyunjin and Felix literally every day, and I've been out with your group multiple times!"

"Sure, but only a couple times in the whole almost year you've known us, and you haven't even met half our friends yet," Seungmin points out, and you groan exasperatedly.

"I don't know. I just try my best to keep Doha on his good side, and he obviously doesn't like me spending all my time with guys. He prefers me hanging out with Sooyun," you explain in as best a way as possible.

"Oh, the she-witch?" Seungmin states instantly, and you roll your eyes. There was an incident at the end of last semester where Sooyun had bumped into you and Hyunjin walking around campus. She attended your university, whereas Doha attended the Uni in the next town over. She'd invited you both to go to a cafe with her, and you hadn't thought anything of it, but when you parted ways Hyunjin had told you how much he couldn't stand her the next day at dance practice.

"So first you hate my boyfriend, and now Hyunjin's made everyone hate my best friend too?" You say with a small smile, trying to stay positive. You were starting to really like Seungmin, you got on really well with Hyunjin despite your playful bickering, and you adored Felix...but every time they brought up how much they loathed your best friend and boyfriend you couldn't help but feel that horrible feeling in the pit of your stomach. These were your friends since high school, and you it honestly worried you how all your new friends seemed to dislike them.

"It's not like that. Sorry, it's really none of my business," Seungmin apologises.

"No it's fine, I get it. I guess you guys are just looking out for me."

Seungmin hums with a nod, agreeing with you. The two of you finish up eating and you take the bowls, taking them to wash them in the sink.

"Hyunjin especially. He puts on this front like he doesn't care about anyone or anything, and hides everything behind some nippy sarcastic comments, but he cares a lot more than you think," Seungmin explains. You've realised how intuitive he is, and it's so interesting to hear him talk about his friends.

"Anyway," you say, an attempt to divert the topic. "I decided to come tonight because I had plans with Doha but he's not replied to me all day. I've seen he's been active though, so I don't know what's going on, and please don't give me a lecture on how it's not a 'healthy relationship' or whatever the fuck, because I'm fully aware."

Seungmin just raised his eyebrows, drying the two bowls you've just washed and putting them in his designated cupboard.

"Sorry," you apologise. "That came off far too snippy than I intended it to."

"Don't sweat it. Just focus on looking pretty for tonight. Minho is desperate to meet you," Seungmin replies, no distaste in his tone. He seemed to understand whatever mess was going on in your head regarding your relationship situation, and you were thankful for that.

"So I've heard. Why?" You ask, walking through your hallway and stopping outside your bedroom door. Seungmin was the door opposite from you.

"Just cause he's a dancer, and the gruesome twosome haven't stopped singing your praises for the past year," Seungmin explains, and you laugh at his stupid nickname for Felix and Hyun.

You salut him, and he reciprocates the action as you disappear into your bedroom to get ready, a little ritual the two of you had started instead of saying goodbye. You spend the next hour doing your hair, makeup and picking out an outfit. After great consideration (having no idea what is bar etiquette suitable), you finally choose to wear leather jeans and a long sleeved crop top, trying to keep your outfit casual, but also making an effort. You wanted to make a good impression in-front of the people you hadn't met yet.

Seungmin knocks on your door at quarter to seven, and you come out after grabbing your bag and a jacket. You fall into step as you leave your dorm building and follow Seungmin as the two of you walk out of the campus grounds.

"So Hyunjin said you guys go to this bar often?" You say as you walk down the street.

"Yeah, pretty much every week. Now that Minho and Chan have graduated, we hardly see them since Minho's been on tour for three months and Chan works his ass off. Changbin works too, in addition to his uni course, but he still shows face a lot," Seungmin explains.

"So you guys have been friends since highschool?" You ask. Hyunjin and Felix had talked about their friend group often, but never in huge detail.

"Yeah, some of us from before then. I've known Jeongin since I was a baby, and Felix and Chris the same. We became close in high school and have kind of stayed in the same group since then," Seungmin tells you. You listen intently until Seungmin stops at the door of a cool looking bar. "This is us."

He pushes the door open and your instantly met with a group of boys sitting at a long table in the back corner of the bar. Seungmin goes before you, manoeuvring through the chaos to get to his friends. They greet him happily, and you try to put faces with names. You obviously recognise Felix and Hyun, who stand up to pull you in for a hug, and you recognise Jeongin and Jisung, but you can't remember out of the remaining three boys who's who. One, with dark hair and huge biceps, who flashes you a smile, you think must be Changbin - the music producer who spends half his life in the gym. Then, the handsome guy with a constant smile and accent, you figure must be Chan, the Australian. Then, that leaves...

You pull away from your hug with Felix as he holds your hand, something you've noticed he does a lot, to pull you so you're sitting beside him at the opposite end of the infamous Lee Minho. He was two years above you in university, and you remember all about the 'legacy', the famous dancer who was the best student the arts department had seen for years. You'd even been told by some of your lecturers you could give him a run for his money.

"So, this is your friend," Changbin starts as soon as you and Seungmin are seated. "It's nice to finally meet you in person."

"Lay off, Bin," Hyun says instantly, noticing his flirty eyes. "She's got a boyfriend."

"Shame," is all Changbin says, taking a sip of his drink. Beside him, Hyunjin gives him an elbow to the ribs.

"Seriously, we've finally got her to come out with us, don't give her a reason to never do it again," he says, glaring at his friend beside him. You laugh, waving your hand, an attempt to break the ice.

"Don't stress so much, Hyun. He's just trying to be nice," you say with a polite smile. Jeongin, who you've spoken to a couple of times before, raises an eyebrow at you.

"Ulterior motives," he says ominously, earning a laugh from everyone at the table.

"I don't think we've met before, I'm Chan," the man who you assumed was Chan says to your from a couple seats away, flashing a charming grin. You smile back, introducing yourself. "What do you guys want to drink?"

Seungmin tells Chan his drink of choice and you do the same, watching as he goes up to the bar and pays for the two drinks without a second thought.

"Is he always -" you start, aiming your question at Felix.

"Yeah, he's like the kindest person in the universe, you get used to it," he says with a grin. You nod in understanding and thank Chan when he comes back with your drink. You sip on it cautiously, beginning to settle into your friend's friend group.

"So," Changbin says, directing the conversation towards you. "You're on Hyunjin and Felix's dance course?"

You nod your head in reply, taking another sip of your drink.

"She's not just on it, she dominates it," Hyunjin says dramatically, hyping you up in front of his friends. You gaze goes straight to Minho, and you start to wonder if maybe Hyun and Lix had talked about him so much that you were subconsciously focusing on him.

"Is that so?" Minho says, speaking up for the first time. Hyunjin looks towards him and nods.

"Not even kidding. She was chosen out of the whole course for this showcase on Saturday. And she's got the highest grade in the year," Hyun carries on, and you feel your cheeks reddening at the compliments.

Minho whistles, leaning back. "Is this showcase something that can be watched?"

You almost widen your eyes at the words. This guy you've never met before wanting to watch a showcase you were in. "Yeah," you say, trying to sound as calm and collected as possible. "It's at the university, Saturday night, though I assure you it will be incredibly boring -"

"I'll be there," Minho cuts you off, and you see Felix wiggle his eyebrows from beside you. Thankfully, before you can combust, Seungmin speaks up.

"I'd like to come and watch too, if I can," he says to you, and you smile knowing your friend cares enough to take an interest in you. He's met with Jeongin agreeing, and then Jisung too, and before you know it all the boys are talking about how excited they are to see you dance on Saturday.

"See," Felix whispers from beside you. "I told you they'd love you."

You nod at him with a smile, thankful that his friends were accepting of you crashing their night.

"So, how was tour, Lino?" Chan asks, looking towards Minho as he does. The group falls quiet, listening intently.

"Amazing. Honestly better than anything I could've imagined. It was fucking tough though - no breaks, just constantly on the go. I think I had maybe two days in the whole three months that I didn't have something going on," he explains. You're intrigued with his words, knowing he's a professional dancer, hired to accompany whatever dance position his company need him for. Felix explained he'd been touring with a k-pop group as a back up dancer for the last three months.

"Jisung missed you," Changbin teases. "He kept saying how he misses you living with him and how he hates us all." Jisung scoffs at this, but you don't miss the fond look Minho shoots him.

"That's stretching the truth," Jisung starts, but it's met with a laugh from almost all the boys, and you know he's lying.

"Anyway, next round on me," Minho says, and the boys whoop knowing they get a free round. "What do you all want?"

Felix offers to help Minho carry the drinks, and after you tell the two boys what you want you're left with the rest of the group, sitting beside Changbin.

"So this boyfriend of yours," Changbin starts, and Hyunjin practically punches him on the arm.

"They've been together for like four years, dumbass. Leave the poor girl alone," he says glaringly.

"I'm just kidding, calm down Hyun," Changbin laughs, before he turns to you. "Seriously, I'm kidding. I think you're lovely, but you're not my type."

"The feelings mutual," you laugh, thankful that Changbin wasn't actually hitting on you. "It's funny to see Hyunjin get so protective, anyway."

"Isn't it!" Changbin laughs, and Hyunjin sends him a disgusted look. "He pretends to be so high and mighty, but he's such a baby."

"Okay, dickhead," Hyun laughs. "I didn't invite her tonight for you to rip the piss out of me in front of her."

"Aw, Hyun, don't get mad now that your friends like me better than you," you say in a mocking tone, earning a laugh from Changbin.

"I like her," he states abruptly, and you can't help but be proud that you're fitting in well.

After Minho and Felix come back with a drink for all of you, you fall into natural conversation with everyone. You discuss Seungmin's classical music course and how he's getting on, Chan's job and whatever else intrigues you. Before you know it, you're another three drinks down and definitely starting to feel them. The boys decide to play a game of pool, hogging the pool table beside your table in the bar as soon as the last group leave. You decide to watch rather than play, checking your messages to see whether you'd had a reply yet. Radio silence.

"I see why the boys have been hiding you from me," someone says to you, jolting you out of your thoughts as you switch off your phone. Minho slides into the seat beside you, taking a sip of his drink.

"And why's that?" You say in return, turning to face the man beside you. For the first time tonight, you let yourself really look at him. He's so insanely pretty it's a joke, sharp jawline and gorgeous side profile. You have to physically snap yourself out of the trance he has you in, reminding yourself that although you and Doha are going through a rough time, he's still your boyfriend.

"You're just too perfect," he says with a smirk, and you scoff. If he's saying you're perfect, he's kidding himself. "I don't think I've ever looked as forward to watch someone perform as I am to watch you on Saturday."

"That's only because Hyun and Lix have hyped me up to you as much as they have you to me," you point out, sipping your drink. "You're not interested in the game?"

You nod over to the boys hollering around the pool table beside you and watch as Minho flashes you a smile. "Unfortunately I've been disallowed to enter into pool competitions. They get pissed off when I win."

You roll your eyes at the man's cockiness. It's as though he knows the effect he's having on you and wants to play into it as much as possible.

"So you went to our uni," you say instead, changing the topic. Minho nods. "You're a bit of a legacy on campus, you know."

Now it's Minho's turn to scoff, leaning back in his chair lazily. "For all the wrong reasons, I presume."

You laugh at this, nodding your head. "You are certainly a hot topic amongst the girls, that's for sure."

"Well, if you're ever in need of a friendly fuck, I'm your guy," he says nonchalantly, and you almost spit out your drink at his boldness.

"I'm fine, but thanks for the offer," you say with a sharp tone of voice. Who the hell does this guy think he is? It's at that point Felix falls into the seat beside you, his eyes thick with drunk as he starts to slur his words.

"He's not giving you too much of a tough time is he?" Felix smiles lazily, resting his head on your shoulder. It's late, and you know Felix can't handle his drink well, so you allow it.

"I'm being a perfect gentlemen," Minho counters with a raised brow.

"If offering to fuck is being a gentlemen, then sure," you reply, an edge in your tone, but when Minho gives you a genuine laugh, your facade drops and you join him in laughter. You still can't figure him out, but you laugh with him nonetheless, enjoying letting loose for once.

"Jesus Minho, lay off for once," Felix laughs, knowing his friend doesn't mean any harm. "Her boyfriend would beat the shit out of you if he could."

You roll your eyes, knowing the hard man act Doha puts up a lot of the time is just that - an act. Minho's demeanour would be enough to send Doha running, you thought.

"As if," Minho scoffs. You're about to reply when Seungmin walks over to you with a huff.

"Time to go, loser. I lost bad," he says with a pouty face, and you stand up, manoeuvring around Felix as you laugh at Seungmin to grab your jacket and bag to join Seungmin on the walk home.

"You're not staying until the end of the game?" Minho asks, looking towards Seungmin as his friend shakes his head.

"It will go on for hours. Hyunjin and Changbin are on the verge of physically fighting at this point," Seungmin explains, looking over to the two boys. You watch as they argue about who's turn it is and laugh, walking towards them to say your goodbyes. Hyunjin gives you a quick hug and mentions class on Monday, whearas Changbin, Jeongin, Chan and Jisung smile at you.

"It was lovely to meet you," Chan says, and you reply before turning to hug Felix goodbye.

"Thanks for coming," he says as he wraps his arms around you. "I hope they weren't too awful."

"I actually had fun," you say as you pull away from him. You turn to Minho, giving him a half smile.

"I'll see you on Saturday, I guess," you say to him, letting Seungmin help you put your arms through your jacket.

"You will indeed," he winks at you, and you roll your eyes as you walk out the bar, holding the door open for Seungmin.

"So," he says as your hit with the cold September air. "Do you hate our friends?"

"Quite the opposite," you say with a fond smile. "I'm surprised I got along with them as well as I did."

"I'm not," Seungmin said, which made you smile. "I could tell they'd like you. Even Minho spent a lot of time with you, and he's a great judge of character. Don't tell him I said that."

You laugh at your friend as you continue your walk to the dorm building.

"Thanks for walking with me," you say to him when you unlock the floor door. "I appreciate it."

He gives you a toothy grin, waving his hand. "No sweat. Just know that they will be on your ass about coming out with us again now."

You roll your eyes and for the second time today give your friend a salut, as he reciprocates the action and disappears into his bedroom.

You look at you phone and still, no text from your boyfriend. You groan at this point, seeing he has been active on social media but is apparently just choosing to ignore your messages. You knew that you'd been going through a rough patch, not seeing each other half as much as you used to, but seriously? A whole day with no reply?

You go to bed that night feeling a mixture of emotions. It was almost as if you could feel a shift in your life, as if you knew things were starting to change. For the better or worse, you didn't know. But for some reason, you were feeling ten times more anxious for next Saturday than you were before.

PART TWO HERE!

taglist

@miamyre @skzgallll

#bang chan #changbin #felix lee #han jisung #hwang hyunjin #hyunjin #jeongin #hyunjin imagines #lee know #hyunjin x reader #hyunjin x you #stray kids #seungmin #stray kids x you #hwang hyunjin x you #hyunjin fluff #skz fluff #skz lino #skz smut #skz #minho lee #minho x reader #minho x you #minho smut #minho angst #minho fluff

[butterflydm]

The news about Tanchico does confirm that when Rafe said a closer adaptation of TSR, he really meant a close adaptation, because that was definitely the easiest storyline to shift to another city that would appear again later on if he wanted to combine storylines (Perrin's plotline could only happen in the Two Rivers, and Rand's plotline can only happen in the Aiel Waste).

So I think a reread of TSR is in my future, lol, so I can refresh myself on the story beats.

Tanchico means Egeanin, I would guess. Otherwise you'd move their story closer to everyone else's action. So the show likely plans to keep the pressure on re: the Seanchan.

It does make going to White Tower feel even less likely (and I already had the likelihood of it pretty low) because that would be a LOT of ping-ponging for Elayne and Nynaeve, to go from the west coast to the middle of the continent and then back over to the west coast in the space of something like two or three episodes purely dedicated to traveling around. At least for Egwene, the White Tower is kinda 'on the way' to the Waste. The White Tower is definitely NOT on the way to Tanchico from Falme, lol.

The biggest question that I have is how long we'll get before the characters split up into their various plotlines and if any of them come back together again at the end of the season. From what else Rafe said at NYCC, it sounds like they are not dipping very far into TFoH at all, because he talked about focusing on a single book this season. There will definitely be things from books 1-3 in there, because we know Elaida, etc. have been cast and need some kind of introduction, but the main focus will be book 4.

A pretty good chunk of TSR does take place before anyone goes to the Waste, so I wonder how much of that we'll get. I do expect us to get the official final breakup of Rand & Egwene, though I doubt it will be comedic like it is in the books. I feel like they shouldn't rush right into Rand & Elayne afterwards (which is a major reason that I do hope they're planning to reunite Elayne & Nynaeve with Rand's side of the storyline at the end of the season, because that gives some space in between the breakup and then Rand and Elayne having serious emotions about each other), and Rand & Aviendha are built for a slow-burn. Plus I would expect Lan and Nynaeve to get some time together (their only time together in s2 was Nynaeve's vision in the third archway) before they split up (for the rest of the season?).

If Doman is the one who carries Elayne & Nynaeve to Tanchico, then that's the set-up for him to meet Egeanin there. Then Elayne and Nynaeve could potentially take a Sea Folk raker at the end of the season to reunite with Rand's half of the cast? But that really depends on how quickly Rand's side of the story is moving.

I definitely don't remember all the plot beats of Nynaeve & Elayne's side of TSR, so that reread is in order, yeah. But their TFoH plotline of having Nynaeve and Elayne just wandering the continent for most of s4 because Nynaeve can't remember the word 'Salidar' would feel like such a random & pointless sidequest especially since Rand & Elayne and Nynaeve & Lan still need a lot more weight in their romances at this point (and I'm saying that as someone who likes a lot of their circus arc in TFoH).

Even with knowing that they'll be following TSR more closely, I am definitely expecting a lot of surprises in s3. They did a really good job in putting in some elements in this season that I was not expecting but that I really loved (having Mat be the one to give Rand the wound in his side was so galaxy-brained of them; and having Elayne be the one to heal it really tied together her original meeting with Rand into the different way that the show has introduced her).

#wot s3 speculation #wot speculation #wot s2 spoilers #wot #wheel of time #wot on prime #wot book spoilers #the shadow rising #the fires of heaven

[xoabrielle]

logical b. hargrove x fem!reader

billy hargrove knows how to work his way into someone's heart, no matter how smart the person is.

cw: angst, hurt, cheating (sort of, reader and billy aren't in a relationship), mentions of smut. no use of y/n but use of the nickname princess

thank u miss rodrigo for the new album - my ideas are off the charts! thinking about doing a GUTS inspired series because miss olivia ATE with that album.

Master manipulator

God, you're so good at what you do

He was sex on legs, a walking Greek god. He knew just what to say, just what to do. How to get you to bat those pretty eyelashes and want all of his attention. He was just that good. 

The bell had just rang for the third period's end. English was never Billy's subject, it wasn’t something he got. How the hell was he supposed to understand what Shakespeare meant? 

You loved English. You lost yourself in books and spent lunch in the library. There was something so captivating about being trapped in another world, away from Hawkins, away from high school. And everyone knew you loved English - so when Billy needed a tutor, who else was he to turn to besides the pretty girl in his class who understood books like he did Friday nights. It was simple at first, he would wink at you in the hallway and give you those eyes. The ones that screamed he was a bad idea, right? 

He had stopped by your locker, wanting nothing more than to sweep you off your feet. So when Billy leaned against the locker and looked down at you with a smirk, you were a goner. “Heard you're the brains of English class. Mind teaching me your tricks, babe?”

Yeah, you were hooked.

And I fell for you like water

Falls from the February sky

But now the current's stronger

And I couldn't get out if I tried

By your third tutoring session, you had long forgotten about books and the symbolism behind Romeo and Juliet’s romance. You were more than happy to focus on Billy. How good he felt kissing you, how his thighs in those jeans rubbed that spot that itched so well when you moved. How his hands fit nice and snug in your hips. There was no denying it, Billy Hargrove had worked his charms so well that you just couldn’t resist him. “We gotta”, another kiss to your lips, “Gotta get back to the homework-.”

“Fuck the homework,” Billy murmured against your lips, too engrossed in the way you felt against his lips and how plush and soft your skin was. You were a vision, atop his lap as he just kissed you and kissed you. Books didn’t matter, you did. At least that’s how he made you feel.

A final peck to his lips and you were grabbing your book again, reading out loud the passage that he was trying to understand. Billy groaned - uninterested and unable to figure this shit out. He wanted to go back to feeling your lips on his, try his luck at something more. “C’mon princess, one more kiss?”

Princess. The nickname that had held an effect on you for the past few weeks. The way it came out of his mouth as he inhaled a cigarette after school, or now when you were alone in your room with the door closed, his hands on your hips as he tried to pull you flush against him once more. You shouldn’t, you really shouldn’t, but god he looked so perfect like this. There was a pause before you spoke, voice soft and collected, even if you did not feel that way on the inside. “Figure this out and I’ll let you do more than kiss me, Hargrove.”

Billy figured it out, and you fell harder and harder into his trap.

And now you got me thinking

Two plus two equals five

And I'm the love of your life

'Cause if rain don't pour and sun don't shine

Then changin' you is possible

Tutoring sessions turned into something more. 

Car rides to and from school, kisses outside of the bedroom. His hand was on your thigh when you would sit and read in his passenger seat. It was peaceful, it was unexpected - it was terrifying. Kisses when he got the answer right, him testing how well you could read when his fingers were deep inside you. Post bliss cuddles where he read aloud and you listened, long drives at night where he’d stop at some sketchy gas station to get those gummy worms you liked. How he’d steal the blue ones only, so you started setting them aside for him. 

It was the end of the day, Friday night plans in whispers among Hawkins High students. You gathered your books at your locker, waiting for Billy to come over and make a comment about how he thought he might need an extra session. 

Instead, you meet him at the Camaro, cigarette almost gone as he leans against the door. You smile when you see him, denim-clad and hair-perfected, baby blues that make your knees weak at every turn. “I was waiting for you at my locker.” 

“Talkin’ to Hagan.” His response was short, pointed. You nodded and got in the car anyway, knowing it was either this or the long walk home. His hand goes to your thigh like your usual, but it doesn’t feel..right. Maybe it was the English nerd in you, analyzing the situation that didn’t need to be. Or maybe it was the feeling deep down you were attached and he wasn’t.

“Are you coming over tonight?” You ask, glancing over as he drives toward your house. He shrugs his shoulders, the answer not a no but not a yeas. Has the novelty worn off? “I thought we could maybe watch a movie or-.”

“Going to that party tonight, princess. Can’t tonight.” You fixed your books in your lap, nodding. Your disappointment must have been written across your face because Billy was pulling into your driveway and looking at you. Tucking a strand of hair out of your face. “Don’t get so pouty, princess. I’ll stop over after, save some time just f’you.” 

He leaned in for a kiss, and you kissed him back. Maybe this was something real after all. Maybe that warm fuzzy feeling in your chest was okay after all. 

The sky is green, the grass is red

And you mean all those words you said

I'm sure that girl is really your friend

Our problems are all solvable

He never showed. 

You waited and waited, chapter after chapter. You even kept your window open, but he never showed. Saturday bleeds into Sunday, Sunday into Monday. To say you were surprised when the blue Camaro came rolling into your driveway was an understatement. You got in the car like you normally did, but Billy’s hand didn’t go to your thigh. It stayed on the steering wheel. ”I missed you on Friday.”

Billy shrugs “Got hung up at the party. No big deal.” 

The words cut sharp. No big deal. How was this not a big deal to him? “Well i waited for you, so I was disappointed is all.”

“God, princess. I said it’s not a big deal. Fuckin’ drop it.” You glance over at him, his jaw clenched and eyes stuck on the road ahead. You turn out to look out the window, thoughts confused and stomach anxious. 

Billy doesn’t look at you when you get to school. Simply rolling into the parking spot and making his way toward Tommy and Carol, leaving you to walk to your locker alone. You wanted to cry, to scream. But this was your doing. You believed him when he said he cared when you were a breath of fresh air. The novelty had worn off. 

The rumors spread fast, the latest gossip form the rager emitting like a forest fire across Hawkins High. Billy and Lacy, who had spent all night attached at the hip. Who had gone home together, who had been playing a cat and mouse game for weeks. Lacy, who he seemed to want more than ever before. Lacy Lacy Lacy.

It hit you like a ton of bricks, the idea of him with someone else after everything you had shared. Was this all you were, a stepping stone? A means to a good grade? A trial run for Lacy? It made your stomach churn, and your blood run cold. Your hands clammy. Surely it wasn’t true.

And then you see it - Billy with his hands in Lacy’s back pocket, her ribbon matching his shirt. That stupid grin and those stupid eyes that once lit up your world, now lightning up hers. If only you had used your head instead of your heart.

Your gaze meets, your eyes peering into his. He offers no explanation, no apologies. Just a world of crumbled walls and lies layed bare. You turn away, too hurt to comprehend anything. You take a seat in the back of Englsh class, a funny feeling in your stomach that there was no one to balme but yourself.

If only you had been logical.

logical, logical, love is never logical

logical, logical, love is never logical

logical, logical, love is never logical

#billy hargrove #billy hargove x reader #billyhargrove #angst #billy hargrove x yn

[v3nusxsky]

Hi babe!! I love your work! I was wondering if you would be able to write a larissa x fem reader where r is having trouble sleeping so larissa offers to read her a bedtime story. Then she falls asleep in larissa arms. You can also add to this if you like and BTW can you make it really cute so it melts my heart. Thank you!!🤍🤍

Hey my lovely Anon! Thank you so much I had to give this a good shot I hope you don’t mind I added in hints of age regression as it seemed to flow well.

Lullaby

*Authors note~ saw this prompt and instantly knew it would be a self indulgent fic for myself. I've imagined this scenario so many times throughout my insomnia patch I'm thrilled to bring it to life.*

Trigger warning ~ none? Hints of age regression mentioned

Prompt~ see the ask^^^

☾☾☾☾☾☾☾☾☾☾☾☾☾☾☾☾☾☾☾☾☾☾☾☾☾☾☾☾☾☾☾☾☾☾☾☾☾☾☾

You always hated this time of year. You could never settle around this time. Similar to seasonal depression your past experiences had left a few months of the year unbearable. And March was one of those months. The first of the year but shortly followed by April. So it was only natural that by the third week of March you were fed up. Sleep didn't seem to be something within your reach. It was making your ability unreliable and unbearable really. Empathy meant having good emotional and mental control, but how could you have either if you were constantly exhausted?

Lessons were a struggle, student's seemingly picking up on your lack of enthusiasm and yawns throughout the lesson. Uncommon for you, you were normally so bubbly and enthusiastic about your lessons. During these times you tend to opt for working from text books limiting the amount of focus you had to maintain. The next thing you noticed was how you slipped every now and then, the emotional barrier you created to keep your feelings inside falling every now and then. You notice as the class let out collective moans feeling your exhaustion before you snapped the barrier back up embarrassed. You'd apologise purposefully of course and truly they didn't mind, they were worried about you. Which is why they did the only thing they knew. The informed Larissa of what had been occurring the past three weeks.

During your planning period you heard the clicking of her signature heels on the floor. She knocked and you allowed her entry wondering why she'd be visiting you during the day? You hadn't missed any paper work, and no issues in lessons or with any of your dorm children that you were made aware of. It was that conversation that made you realise how obvious you were being. And Larissa had even teased about reading you a bed time story, that had you thinking when was the last time you let dove out? Ah yes with your ex. Gosh that long? No wonder you were feeling this exhausted this year. Last year you regressed daily, this allowed you the release and you often found you could gain a little sleep if you fell asleep when regressed.

But that wouldn't be possible here. At Nevermore no one was aware of the fact you regressed, it was a new job and truthfully you were always scared of people's reactions when they found out about dove. Truthfully it wasn't how people made it sound. You didn't dress up in baby clothes or wear nappies. No it was more allowing your mind to regress, your speech would regress and you'd enjoy things any child of that age would. Nothing untoward about it. And the fact you knew some people even thought it could be sexual made you feel physically Ill. No this was a coping mechanism and one you were missing. That was a topic for another day tho.

You lay in bed once again frustrated with the lack of sleep claiming you. Toying with the idea of texting Larissa about that bed time story. It was embarrassing really, but your brain had not let the thought go. Imagining how safe you'd feel tucked up into the older women's body as she cooed words from a book at you, sleep would claim you and you wouldn't need to fight it. In her arms you'd be safe. She'd hold you smiling as soft snores left you. Or even her humming one of your favourite lullabies lulling you into a perfect slumber. That was it. You had to try. And she had offered right? You picked your phone up from the nightstand and shot off a text, if she answered then you'd deal with it if not you'd wait it out and forget all about it.

Your phone dinged with a response almost immediately as if she had been waiting for you. You blinked a couple times to make sure you were reading it correctly. You were. She had instructed you to bring whatever you needed and join her in her office. You grabbed your fluffy blanket/hoodie and your phone, slipping on some slippers and made your way down the halls. When you arrived you knocked gently painfully aware of the late hour. She immediately gave joy the go ahead to come in and what you were greeted with was truly special. Her long hair was released from its perfect usual position. It now hung loosely over her shoulders the waves adding a whole new look to the older women. She then had a blanket wrapped around her shoulders, hiding her nightwear from you but also keeping her warm. She gestured to you to go into the adjacent room... her bedroom. Holy shit this really would be a bed time story.

That's how you were all snuggled up to the older women listening as she read to you. Her voice and her close proximity to you soothing you in ways you never thought anyone could. You were vaguely aware of what the book was actually about, weatherly heights, but you mainly focused on how light and soft her voice was as the words just seemed to flow. You could feel yourself sleeping into a sleepy state as she finished her chapter. Only then did she place the book down and shift to hold you closer to her. Now you could burrow your face into her neck, feeling the rhythm of her beating heart. And that's when the tone of a familiar lullaby reached your ears. Unknowingly to Larissa this caused you to regress.

Lavender's blue, dilly dilly,

Lavender's green

When you are king, dilly dilly,

I shall be queen

Who told you so, dilly dilly,

Who told you so?

'Twas my own heart, dilly dilly,

That told me so

Call up your friends, dilly, dilly

Set them to work

Some to the plough, dilly dilly,

Some to the fork

Some to the hay, dilly dilly,

Some to thresh corn

Whilst you and I, dilly dilly,

Keep ourselves warm

Lavender's blue, dilly dilly,

Lavender's green

When you are king, dilly dilly,

I shall be queen

Who told you so, dilly dilly,

Who told you so?

'Twas my own heart, dilly dilly,

That told me so

She hummed out the last line noticing the steady rise and fall of your chest indicating sleep had finally taken you. Only in that moment did she allow her smile to fully reach her eyes, she knew she had feelings for you yet not the confidence to admit them. When she saw you becoming absolutely exhausted she knew she had to help somehow. And if allowing you to sleep snuggled into her was what you needed then it was something she would gladly provide. With a sweet kiss pressed into your head and a whispered I love you she then let sleep claim her.

Word count ~ 1249

#fanfic #larissa weems #wednesday netflix #gwendoline christie #larissa x you #larissa x reader #larissa weems x reader #principal larissa weems #anon request #anon <3 #anon ask #anons welcome #lovely anon

[mortyvongola2-0]

Period Pains

Pairing: Kakashi Hatake x Reader

Genre: Drabble, fluff

Word Count: 1k

Warnings: afab!reader, period/menstruation symptoms, fluff

A/N: I'm in a Kakashi brain rot right now if you couldn't tell. This was originally made for my OC, in a wonderful chat with my lovelies, but I decided it wouldn't be too difficult to turn into a reader insert~

Read it on AO3

There it was, that familiar feeling in your lower abdomen. The beginning of cramps that you knew would be plaguing you for the next few days, perhaps a week. It was late this time, probably due to stress from your latest mission. You pressed your chapped lips together with a frown.

The cramps were the absolute worst, even with painkillers there would be some days where you were down for the count, not to mention the intestinal discomfort that accompanied them. You wouldn’t be able to be too far from a bathroom for the first few days. A whine of annoyance left your throat. Periods are the worst.

“What’s wrong?”

You glanced at the silver-haired man on the couch next to you and immediately all you wanted was to whine and be coddled by him. You held yourself back though, figuring you could save it for when your sensitivity was at its worst. “My period is coming.”

“Oh, I see,” he set his book down on his lap before running a hand through your undone hair. The both of you had already changed into your sleep clothes.  “Is there anything I can do for you?”

Hold me, rub my cramps away, buy me chocolate- oo no wait cookies. “No, I’m okay for now.”

“You sure? Do you have everything you need?”

“Hm,” You pressed your head further into his hand. “I think so?”

“That sounds more like a question than an answer.”

“I’ll be fine.” He let out a thoughtful hum and brought an arm around your shoulders to pull you into his side. Kakashi kept his arm draped over you and you leaned closely into him as he picked his book back up. “This definitely doesn’t hurt though.”

You were right, the next morning you woke up with painful cramps and an intense need to use the restroom.  Most of that day went relatively alright, your cramps bothered you, but you were still able to do most things, and the second day went by in much the same manner. But the third day was terrible, the absolute worst.

Kakashi had woken you up gently to press a goodbye kiss to your forehead as he headed to work and usually, you loved it, but that morning you were agitated that he had woken you up. So, instead of telling him to be safe, like you usually did, all you managed was an irate goodbye. You went back to sleep for a few more hours after that, then when you finally got out of bed you stubbed your toe on the nightstand that you swore hadn’t always been in that exact spot because you never would’ve stubbed your toe otherwise. Your cramps were killing you, they had you constantly hunched and if you weren’t standing you were curled up in a ball on your bed.

Specifically on his side, because you missed him.

There were so many foods that you were craving but you had none of them and you knew going to the store to get any would be too taxing. You really really wanted something sweet, those cookies you’d thought about the other day, but none magically appeared before you, which also irritated you. You couldn’t focus on anything, nothing was helping. As another wave of intense cramping hit you, you couldn’t help but think about how miserable you were.

Pain-killers weren’t working, your food cravings were going unfulfilled, and you’d even run out of your favorite bubble bath so you couldn’t even try that to relax! You felt so sensitive and there was no one paying attention to you! By the time your boyfriend came home, you were squatting on the kitchen floor sobbing as you tried to open a jar of pickles.

You heard his chuckle- when did he get home? - and glared up at him from your place on the tile. “Don’t laugh,” you pouted, your voice more of a whine than the agitated grunt you had been going for. You sniffled as he squat down beside you, you heard the shuffle of a grocery bag as he set one down beside him. “It’s not funny.”

“No, no, you’re right,” he responded, you could see the upward turn of his lips even under his mask. “It’s definitely not funny.”

Annoyed, you shoved the unopened jar against his chest and he took it, his eyes still wrinkled with mirth. Your agitation grew. The sixth Hokage lowered his mask and gave you that chauvinistic smile that you loved. A huff left you and you pointed and told him, “It won’t open.”

“Well, if a shinobi as strong as you can’t open it, then this can’t be an ordinary pickle jar.”

Another sniffle. “It’s not.”

“I know,” he chuckled again and brought a finger to your eyes to wipe at your frustrated tears.

He looked away from you and down at the jar. The silver-haired man made a show of inspecting it before opening it with one quick twist. You wanted to cry all over again.

Kakashi set the now opened jar down before sliding over and wrapping his arms around you in a tight hug, he couldn’t help the laughs that escaped him every few seconds as he tried his best to console you. “Don’t laugh at me!”

“I’m not, I’m not. Honest.”

Despite you agitation with him you melted into his embrace. His warmth comforting and even those patronizing chuckles caused a weight to lift from your chest. “I loosened it for you,” you insisted.

He hummed in affirmation and pressed a kiss to the side of your head. “Absolutely.”

After a few more seconds you felt a bit better but you still didn’t want him to let you go. You didn’t even care about the stupid pickles and their evil jar anymore. “Can we go to bed early tonight?”

“Of course, but how about we eat these cookies first?”

You peaked down at the bag he held up. They were your favorite cookies, from your favorite bakery, the one across from the bookshop. That time, you did start to cry again. “You love me so much,” you cried.

“Hm, maybe a little,” he teased.

Both of you ate the cookies, you ate the majority, and laid down to go to bed. You felt much better after complaining to him about every minor thing that had gotten on your nerves that day, and soon as his warm hand pressed against your lower abdomen when you spooned, your cramps lessened to an annoying ache. You fell asleep feeling much better and exceedingly loved.

tagged list: @therantingfangirl @justmyownreality @hashira-mal

Thanks for reading~

#kakashi fluff #hatake kakashi #period fic #kakashi hatake #kakashi hatake/reader #kakashi hatake x you #kakashi hatake x reader #hatake kakashi x reader #hatake kakashi x you #kakashi #kakashi fic #hatake kakashi fic #kakashi hatake fluff #reader insert #mortyvongola2 fanfic #mortyvongola2 fic

[animeniacss]

So Close Yet So Far - Mingyu x Reader - Chapter 6 - The Night to Remember

Synopsis: Your college friend, Kim Mingyu, has had a grip on your heart since the first day you met. Over the past few years, as you acquired more friendships and memories, those feelings only grew. However, recently, Mingyu has seemed a bit more distant, at least when it comes to any ideas of romance. It only gets worse when rumors fly that he's off to Japan to receive a marriage proposal! Unsure what to do, you wonder how you can keep Mingyu by your side without jeopardizing your friendship or your growing feelings. You never expected that waking up one drunken morning next to two hot angels would be your ticket into Mingyu's heart.

Genre: Romance, College!AU, Modern Fantasy, Comedy, Angsty

Length: approx. 5k words

Feat. Mina of TWICE

Chapter 6 - The Night to Remember

 You are my son, you are taking over my company, and you will do as I say!

           Mingyu closed his book, clicking his tongue in annoyance at that sentence continuing to clog up his head. He hadn’t spoken to his father in the past few days, since their heated argument. He ignored every call that came through, not wanting to deal with his father’s ridiculous request. He had more pressing matters to focus on. As he saw you order your smoothie up ahead, Hoshi practically hanging off your shoulder as he tried to decide his order, a deep hum escaped his throat.

           Why is she being weird? Did I do something wrong? He thought to himself. He crossed his arms, which tightened up the sleeves of his shirt. I hope after dinner we can go back to normal. Just the thought of your sad face made Mingyu’s heart hurt a bit.

           As Mingyu was trying to reorganize all of the thoughts in his brain, two people sat on either side of him. When he looked to his sides, Joshua and Jeonghan were there. Mingyu frowned, unamused.

           “What?” he asked.

           “Woah, what’s with the third degree?” Jeonghan asked, frowning.

           “We just wanted to see what was bothering you,” Joshua asked.

           “Nothing is bothering me,” Mingyu said. “Mind your business.” He felt the stare that they shared across him, and he huffed.  

           “Wow, they are perfect together, huh?” Jeonghan asked.

           “Almost as if we’re talking to her right now.” Joshua agreed. Mingyu frowned.

           “You guys can’t just leave her out of your mouth, huh?” he asked.

           “We only want to help her,” Jeonghan said.

           “With?” Mingyu asked. The men leaned back on the bench, shrugging without giving a real reply. Mingyu sighed. “Well, I don’t think she needs your help.”

           “Oh, she does,” Joshua said.

           “I can help her with whatever you think she needs help with.”

           “Can you?” Jeonghan asked, eyes widened. “Is that why you’re going on a date?”

           “It’s not a d-.”

           “It’s absolutely a date.” They both said. Mingyu felt his cheeks go pink, his heart sped up just a bit. “Does she know it’s a date?”

           “I have no idea,” Mingyu said. “I had to work at it just to convince her to go to a nice place instead of where we usually eat. I think she’s upset with me.”

           “Why would she be?” Jeonghan asked, looking at Joshua from over Mingyu’s shoulder. They were very curious to hear his reasoning.

           “I don’t know. I thought it was that rumor that happened when I went on my trip, but it doesn’t seem she’s gotten over it.”

           “…Is it a rumor?” Joshua asked. He blinked, unsure why that question left his lips. Sure, he was curious, but he felt like he should have been a bit more subtle about it. Especially when Jeonghan looked almost as shocked as Mingyu did. Mingyu’s eyes narrowed, but Joshua remained calm as Mingyu held up his hand, showing a ringless ring finger.

           “Yes. Just a rumor.” He said simply. “But I guess something else bothered her. I can’t make out what it is, and I don’t think she’ll tell me.” Jeonghan and Joshua wondered if he was seriously oblivious, or being vague due to lack of trust between the three. However, they decided not to press into that part too much. “I want Saturday to go well.”   

           “We can help you there!” Jeonghan said. Now, Joshua was the one to look just as shocked at Mingyu, both looking at the black-haired angel. “We see her all the time. We would love to make sure you have everything you need to make sure that you both have the best date ever.”          

           “It’s not a.” Mingyu stopped himself from repeating what he already knew would be ignored and sighed. “Why should I trust you? Every time I see you, you’re both arguing over her.”

           Now, both Joshua and Jeonghan were silent. “…You got us there,” Joshua said.

           “Yeeea.” Mingyu shook his head, wondering how these two seemingly perfect individuals were so…what was the word? Ridiculous?

           “She really does have the patience of a saint.” He muttered to himself. He looked between the two of them again.

           Try trusting them.

           “What exactly do you have in mind?” He asked curiously, looking at Jeonghan.

           “Aaaah, we’ve convinced you.” Jeonghan leaned back in his seat nodding his head. “What do you think she’s going to wear?”

           “Well, I-.”

           “Wrong!” Jeonghan said immediately. Mingyu flinched at the sudden shout in his direction, however gentle the voice carrying it was. “If this is your first date like you say, how would you know? You don’t. We will know.”

           “…How?” Mingyu asked. Jeonghan smiled.

           “You have to trust us.” Mingyu looked over at Joshua, who nodded in agreement.

           “We have no reason to steer you wrong.” He said simply. “For her sake, at least.” Mingyu felt a bit more at ease with Joshua’s comment tacked on, and he sighed.

           “Fine, I guess. Even though I am still horribly confused.” Before anyone could continue speaking, the group made their way back over, smoothie in hand. Hoshi handed an extra off to Mingyu, who thanked him. When they saw Joshua and Jeonghan there, you frowned.

           “When did you guys get here? We didn’t get you anything.”

           Joshua and Jeonghan stood up, approaching you as you sipped your drink. You looked between them, confused as you were taken by the arms. “Hey!” You frowned, trying to pull the drink to your lips again.

           “Let’s go. We need to talk.” Jeonghan said.

           “What?” You looked at Joshua, who only nodded in agreement before you were reluctantly led off down the dirt path. Mingyu leaned forward but stopped himself as you three continued to walk off. He sighed.

           “You would never think that two people that handsome would be so weird,” Minnie said.

           “Seriously,” Seungkwan said, sipping his drink. Hoshi set his drink on his lap.

           “I’ve seen it happen before.” He admitted. When everyone looked at him, he shrugged. “I don’t talk to him anymore.”

           “Oh, you’re boyfriend?” Seungkwan grinned as Hoshi shoved him.

           Meanwhile, you continued walking along with the boys down the path. “What are we talking about?” you asked. Joshua and Jeonghan looked at one another.

           “Yeah, what are we going to talk about?” Joshua asked.

           Jeonghan paused a minute, then shrugged. “I have no idea….” He admitted.

           You and Joshua looked at one another in confusion as Jeonghan let out an amused laugh.

🐶🐶🐶🐶🐶🐶🐶So Close Yet So Far🐶🐶🐶🐶🐶🐶🐶

Saturday felt like it was so far away, but when Minnie showed up to your house early that exact morning with breakfast in her hand, you realized it was much closer than you thought. Joshua and Jeonghan were nowhere to be found when you woke up that morning. It seemed they most likely didn’t stay in the house as you slept, which was fine. Throwing on a quick outfit, you and Minnie headed down the street towards the mall.

           “I still cannot believe you turned down Mingyu’s credit card,” Minnie said.

           “Just drop it,” you begged. “I can find something nice that I can afford.”

           “Yeah, but-.” Minnie motioned to the large and extravagant boutique named Twenty-Eight Zero Six that you both were passing on your walk. “I wanted to walk in there and look like we were important.” You laughed a bit. “Imagine all of the workers showering us in name-brand clothes that models and celebrities are wearing!”

           “Sorry.” Was the only thing you could think to say in response. “I’ll buy us lunch if you drop it.”  

           Minnie pouted, nodding her head. “Fine, then.” When she grinned, you felt a bit more relaxed. “Regardless, we are going to make you look so hot for tonight.”

           “Oh, please.” You groaned, and Minnie led you into the first store.

           Meanwhile, nearby, two figures slip into the store right behind you.

           “I don’t think we should be spying.”

           “Relax. We’re just getting some intel.”

           “Why can’t we just ask her?”

           “Joshua, do you think they want us joining them on their girl’s day?” When Joshua shook his head, Jeonghan nodded. “Exactly. For this date to go well, we need to know everything we can and tell Mingyu. Not only will he be able to provide them with the best date possible, ensuring our success and re-entry into heaven, but he’ll also trust us a bit more, which also ensures our re-entry into heaven. It’s a win-win situation.”

           “But I thought you liked teasing him,” Joshua said simply. Jeonghan laughed.

           “I never said we were going to stop.” He clarified. Joshua shook his head before looking back over at you. He watched you and Minnie start scanning the racks of dresses nearby, pulling a few out and pressing them to your body for a quick mental image. “So, what information do we get by spying on them?” he finally asked.

           “Well…” Jeonghan hummed. “If we know what she buys, then we can tell him how to best match her.”

           Joshua felt a few more questions in his head as he watched Jeonghan step a bit closer, hiding behind a few racks of coats. He had a strong feeling Jeonghan was just winging it at the moment. Joshua stayed in his spot, shaking his head as he watched Minnie fill your arms with dresses. He saw you stumble a bit as you held the beautifully designed outfits and stepped forward a bit. However, he stopped himself just as you regained your footing. Both you and Minnie seemed to giggle a bit, before disappearing down an aisle.

           For a second, Joshua had to remind himself what his goal was to do on earth.

🐶🐶🐶🐶🐶🐶🐶So Close Yet So Far🐶🐶🐶🐶🐶🐶🐶

           You had tried on several dresses, yet none felt…right. They felt either way too fancy, or not fancy enough. As you stepped out in a sleek black number, rubbing your hands along the velvet sleeves, you looked at Minnie. “Did you find the name of this new place online?”

           “No luck. Their socials must not be fully up and running yet. Weird.”

           “I guess when you have good connections to the rich you only need word of mouth.” You mumbled, turning to yourself in the mirror. “What do you think of this?” When Minnie looked up at you, she shrugged.

           “Eh. It’s ok. It looks like you’re trying too hard.”             

           “You’re the one who says I need to try harder.”

           “Not that hard.” She stood up from the chair. “I saw a few other dresses back there. I’ll go find some more. Try on that pretty red one.” As Minnie disappeared into the store, you closed the changing room door. You pulled it off the hanger, a strikingly deep red dress, with a shorter dress hem that it had compared to others you had tried on. “I feel like I’ll look ridiculous in this one.” You muttered to yourself, before reluctantly trying it on anyway.

           After looking yourself over in the mirror, you tried to imagine yourself wearing this dress to a fancy restaurant. Being seated below high-vaulted ceilings and chandeliers. Drinking wine as deep as the dress color. How would you do your hair? Makeup? What kind of accessories would match this? You felt so out of your element and you weren’t even at the restaurant yet. Looking down at your hands, you rubbed them together. Let’s try this. You mumbled to yourself. Lifting your hands, you snapped both of your fingers.

           Deeper in the store, Jeonghan and Joshua felt their eyes twitch, practically lighting up. They shot a glance at one another, dropping the magazines they had now been using to hide their faces as they sat on one of the benches. They had stopped following when you mentioned heading towards the dressing room and only looked up for a brief second to see Minnie restart her hunt through the aisles. They shared a look, setting their magazines down and heading over to meet you.

           When they approached the fitting rooms, they saw your shoes poking out of the dressing room, the only one that was full. Jeonghan and Joshua shared one more look, trying to decide what to do to get your attention in an…appropriate manner. Jeonghan simply stepped back and called your name.

           “Are you okay?” he asked. You took a second to respond by opening the door and stepping out in your current attempt at trying to find a dress. The minute the men saw you, their eyes widened in shock. You smoothed out the skirt which clung tightly to you, and fixed the sleeves that puffed out just around the upper arms to the elbow, before smoothing to a tight grip around your waist. It was slightly more low cut than what they normally see you in, showing that there was a need for a necklace. You seemed to notice their stunned silence, because you immediately got flustered, shifting in your seat.

           “You don’t like it?” you asked.

           “We didn’t say that,” Jeonghan said. He looked over at Joshua and immediately noticed that his friend was stunned to silence. “You look nice.” He nudged Joshua, finally bringing him back. “Right?”

           Joshua immediately nodded his head. “Yes. Of course.” He said quickly.

           “I need you guys to do me a favor.” You said. You saw the duo seem excited to actually be asked to do something this time, and that excitement made you a bit happy. “Can you go to the restaurant and get an idea of how fancy it is? I don’t want to feel too underdressed.” You pulled out your phone, showing them the few pictures and the name that Mingyu had sent you the night before. “It’s an Italian place in Ilsan.”

           “Aaah. Okay.” Jeonghan said. “We’ll go look.” He said.

“Okay. I need to know before tonight, alright? Now, go before Minnie comes back. I really don’t want to come up with a reason you’re here.”

Jeonghan nodded. “Fine, fine. Alright.” He looked at Joshua, who was still staring directly at you as you fixed your sleeves once again. You had now turned to look at yourself in the nearby mirror, trying to play with your hair to visualize how you might want it styled. As you stood upright, you held your hands in front of you, balled into a little fist.

“What are you doing?” Jeonghan asked.

“Seeing if I would look frumpy with flowers in my hands.” Your arms moved around slightly in front of you as you visualized what a bouquet might look like in front of the dress. “Since the dress is so short, I’m worried a big bouquet will look a bit ridiculous. You know?”

“Makes sense.” Jeonghan nodded.

“You think he will bring you flowers?” Joshua asked.

“I hope so.” you smiled. “I think flowers are romantic.” Joshua and Jeonghan made sure to make a mental note of that before you asked one final question: “You like this one?”

Joshua scanned you over one last time, and something in his chest beat just a second too quickly. He felt his ears go hot, and he quickly rubbed them a bit in hopes that would cool them down. “Yes.” He said.

When you smiled, his ears only got hotter. “Thank you for your help.” Before turning back to the mirror.

           Jeonghan nudged Jeonghan, motioning outside. “Oh.” Joshua shook his head. “Right.” He followed behind Jeonghan as they headed to the front of the store. He smiled a bit, before looking yourself over in the dress one last time. A few minutes later, Minnie came back and was practically screaming about how amazing you looked.

           Outside, Jeonghan turned to Joshua. “What was that?”

           “What was what?” Joshua asked.

           “THAT!” Jeonghan shouted, pointing to the door of the store. Joshua shrugged.

           “I have no idea what you’re talking about.” He said. He simply walked down the road, swinging his arms a bit as if nothing had happened. Jeonghan blinked, looking over as Joshua turned around, hands behind his back. “You coming? Or am I going alone?” He asked. A groan left Jeonghan’s lips as he followed after Joshua, the duo immediately making their way down the road.

They needed to be back quickly. And their lack of flight was only felt in moments like these.

🐶🐶🐶🐶🐶🐶🐶So Close Yet So Far🐶🐶🐶🐶🐶🐶🐶

           “I think the dress you picked is perfect,” Minnie assured. You sighed, the sensation of a brush running along your hair. You shifted nervously. “It’s just the right mix of formal and cute. The important thing is that Mingyu thinks you look cute.”

           “I guess so,” you said. You close your eyes, taking a minute to enjoy the sensation of your hair being brushed. The brush pressed into your scalp and pulled down, sending a tingling and comforting sensation through your head and neck. The door opened, causing both you and Minnie to look over. Joshua and Jeonghan strolled in casually, chatting to themselves as they did so.

           “Do they have a key?” Minnie whispered to you, leaning down to make sure they did not hear. “Mingyu doesn’t even have a key.”

           “I left the door unlocked.” That was all you could respond to.

           “We won’t be long,” Jeonghan said. When he saw you look confused, Jeonghan smiled. “Mingyu said he was getting ready at Seungkwan and Hoshi’s apartment.”

           “They asked us to join,” Joshua added. Your smile only widened at the idea.

           “Really? I’m happy to hear that.”

           “The restaurant you’re going to is nice. I think what you picked-.” Jeonghan motioned to the red dress hanging up on the bathroom door. “Will work just fine.”

           “Okay.” You seemed relieved at the news. “I would be so embarrassed to be underdressed.”

           “If you just let Mingyu pay we could have completely avoided that by going to a nicer boutique.” You ignored Minnie’s comment as she finished with your hair, pulling and tugging it in different directions. “What do you two think?” Joshua and Jeonghan looked up, watching as Minnie pulled your hair up into a curly updo. “Up.” She dropped it down, allowing your hair to fall loosely around your face. “Down.”

           Jeonghan and Joshua walked over, seeing your cheeks tint pink as they leaned close to examine you. Jeonghan reached out and tugged your hair up. He and Joshua muttered to one another before Joshua reached out and took hold of a few small strands, letting those strands fall in a frame around your face. The feeling of their fingers brushing along your cheeks and head made you feel a bit flustered, and you looked down at your lap.

“Don’t fall in love with us, now,” Jeonghan said, seemingly catching your feeling of embarrassment. Joshua laughed a bit as your eyes snapped back up at the grinning angel. “There.”  They leaned back a bit, and Minnie took a look as well. When her eyes sparkled, you felt a bit embarrassed.

“How on earth did you two decide to major in law or all things?” Minnie asked. As you felt your hair fall loose once again, you saw Jeonghan and Joshua look directly at you, amused smiles on their faces.

           “Yeah,” Joshua said. “How did we?” You grabbed the nearest thing – a pillow – throwing it at them as they hurried away in amused and playful laughter.

           “Get out of here! I need to finish getting ready.” You shouted. The men shouted their goodbyes to Minnie before hurrying out of the apartment and closing the door behind them. You sighed, crossing your arms. “They’re a handful.”

           “But they’re nice.” Minnie made sure to add. You nodded. “They seem like good people.”

           “Yeah. They are good people.” You repeated, smiling at the thought. You had only known them for about a week, but you have found yourself warming up to them much quicker than you had originally thought. The craziness of the situation felt normal now. You couldn’t imagine the duo not being around.

           “And they’re cute,” Minnie added. “I mean they look like two angels straight from heaven.” The laugh you emanated was a bit more…forced than it was before.  

           “Right.” You muttered out. A moment of silence rang through the room before you finally said: “I hope this goes well.”

           “It will,” Minnie assured.

           “I’m worried it’ll be awkward.”

           “Has it felt awkward?” she asked.

           “Mmm…” you took a moment to think about your interactions the past few days. “Yes and no.” You stated. “I feel like it’s been pretty normal. But whenever he tries to do nice things for me…I feel like I don’t deserve it.”

           “Like the credit card thing?” You nodded. “I had to admit I was shocked when he didn’t bring you anything from Japan this time.”

           “I know. But I already decided I can’t be upset. I didn’t ask for anything, he didn’t say he would get me anything. It’s alright. He’s already been very good to me.” You smiled sadly as you pressed your fingers together. “But still, I can’t help but feel my heart hurt when I think about it.”

           “That’s normal,” Minnie said. “Maybe he’ll be so stunned by your look tonight that he’ll buy you whatever you want afterward.” You laughed a bit, shaking your head. “Mingyu’s crazy about you; friend, girlfriend, whatever. He doesn’t treat us the same way he treats you. So, I don’t know what you did, but it worked.”

           You smiled softly. “I don’t know if I’d say all that.” You admitted. Minnie sighed a bit. “But thanks.”

           “Sure.” Minnie smiled. “Now-.” She patted your shoulders. “Let’s get you in that dress. I’ll go grab the necklace.” You watched as Minnie hurried to the bags you had settled on the chair. As you rose from your spot, you headed towards the bathroom, grabbing your dress and closing the door to get ready.

🐶🐶🐶🐶🐶🐶🐶So Close Yet So Far🐶🐶🐶🐶🐶🐶🐶

           “Aaaah, Mingyu-Hyung! Come out and let us seeee.” Seungkwan begged from his spot on the couch. Hoshi sat beside him, typing away on his phone. Joshua and Jeonghan, who had just arrived, stood behind the couch and watched.

           “Alright!” Mingyu called. When he stepped out, closing the bathroom door behind him, Hoshi and Seungkwan gasped in dramatic surprise.

           “AAAAAA, Hyung! You look amazing!” Seungkwan gasped, rising from his spot.

           “Yeah, I’m jealous.” Hoshi grinned. Mingyu chuckled, fixing the jacket of his suit. He glanced himself over in the mirror once, before looking back at his friends. They were throwing compliments like they were tennis balls, each one bouncing off Mingyu as he grew increasingly flustered. Joshua watched his cheeks turn an embarrassed pink. Joshua saw Jeonghan was offering a thumbs up to Mingyu as he continued to make sure every part of his outfit was perfect. He took the focus on Mingyu to think back to you in the store, scanning over your hair and smoothing out the different parts of the dress that clung to your body. He looked over to Mingyu’s belongings on the table. He eyed up some flowers that sat on top of it all, a stunning and most likely expensive bouquet of roses just as deep a red as your outfit.

           When he looked back, he saw Mingyu approaching the group. Seungkwan and Hoshi looked him over, continuing to gush.       

           “She’s going to fall over. I can see it now.” Mingyu watched as Seungkwan pushed Hoshi to a clearer space, before dramatically falling to his knees and taking Hoshi’s hand. “Oppa! You’re so handsome, my gosh! Please let’s get married now!” The high-pitched voice made Mingyu snort.

           Hoshi, not one to ever give up on the bit, gripped Seungkwan’s hand. He dropped his vocal tone to a dramatic low: “My love, we shall run away together and be married in the morning!”

           “Oh my God.” Mingyu groaned, unable to contain his amused laughter as his friends continued to reenact a very dramatic scene. “This might be the worst drama scene I’ve ever witnessed.” In hopes of avoiding any more of the embarrassing performance, he looked over at Joshua and Jeonghan, both of whom were also amused by their antics. “Are you sure this will match?” he asked, motioning to his tie. “It was the closest to ‘deep red’ I could get so last minute.”

           “Perfectly,” Jeonghan assured.

           Joshua paused a second, watching as Mingyu nodded and smoothed out the tie. He finally said: “Comment on her hair specifically.” Mingyu blinked, slightly confused by the request. “She seemed the most concerned with how to style it with the outfit. I think she’ll appreciate that.”

           Mingyu nodded. “Okay. Got it.” he pulled his wrist to get a good look at his watch. “Okay, I should get going." He said. He turned to his friends, fixing his suit jacket once again.

           “Fighting, Mingyu!” Hoshi cheered, pumping his fists. Mingyu nodded, balling his fists up in determination.

           “Fighting.” He said. He looked at Joshua and Jeonghan, both of whom offered thumbs up of support as well.

           “Fighting.” They also said. Mingyu smiled, the mere idea that in a matter of minutes, he’d have you in his car driving to the best restaurant on this side of the country. You’d be on his arm for the entire world to see. He wanted to show you off as he grabbed his belongings and headed out the door. When it closed behind them, Seungkwan and Hoshi plopped themselves down on the couch.

           “Want to order dinner?” Hoshi asked. The duo nodded, before looking up at the angels standing behind them.

           “Hm?” Jeonghan muttered. “Aaaah, no. We have to go, too.”

           “Wha- you do? Where?” Hoshi asked, now fully turned towards the duo. Joshua and Jeonghan were hoping to catch a peek at the both of you starting your date, gathering information on how it goes to better help set anything up in the future.

           “Home,” Joshua said simply. “We have some homework to get done for next week.”

           “On Saturday night?” Seungkwan asked, frowning. “Wow. Handsome and studious. No wonder they’re so popular.” Joshua and Jeonghan chuckled. “Next time?”

           “Absolutely,” Jeonghan said. They wasted no time saying their goodbyes before heading out the door, hurrying down the stairs and onto the streets of Seoul.

“That compliment on her hair was kind of genius,” Jeonghan said, making Joshua look over. He shrugged their pace finally slowing to a brisk walk down the street.

“I just want it to go well.” He said.

🐶🐶🐶🐶🐶🐶🐶So Close Yet So Far🐶🐶🐶🐶🐶🐶🐶

           “Spin for me! Spin for me!” Minnie squealed. You laughed, doing as she requested and allowing for her to see an entire view of you. She shouted. “Oh, he’s going to be asking for your hand in marriage after this!”

           “Oh, stop.” You laughed, though you felt a bit giddy when she said that. You looked down at the dark black pumps that you had fished out of your closet from a year or so prior, ones that hurt your toes but God damn it did they bump your height up just enough to be tolerable. You looked at the clock. “He should be here soon.” Minnie hurried over, making sure to check that your hair was perfect and your accessories laid just so.

           “Those two picked right with your hair. The strands frame your face so nicely.” Minnie’s compliment made you smile. “But I’m sure that means nothing to me. When Mingyu says it-.” You laughed a bit. “Okay, okay. You look perfect. Do you have your bag?”

           “Oh, uh-.” You grabbed your bag, a small, maroon clutch that you bought just for this outfit. It had a bit of silver décor that matched well with your silver jewelry. “Ready.”

           “I hope you have so much fun!” Minnie clapped her hands together. “I’m going to stay right here so you can tell me everything when you get back. No arguments.” You laughed a bit.

           “Okay, then.” You said. You were still admiring yourself in the mirror, unable to look away. The idea of this date – you hoped Mingyu considered it a date too - being the pinnacle of setting your relationship on a new path made you feel on top of the world. Nothing could ruin this night. You couldn’t let it.

           It was then that you heard the knock.

🐶🐶🐶🐶🐶🐶🐶So Close Yet So Far🐶🐶🐶🐶🐶🐶🐶

           Mingyu was pulling up to the apartments, parking in his usual spot in the resident parking lot. Turning off his car, he got out of his spot to notice another nice car parked on the other side of the lot. Cocking an eyebrow, he took a second to catch a glimpse of who was inside. He did not see anyone, simply shrugging his shoulders. He had more important things to worry about as he headed into the door of your apartment building and towards the elevator

           Click. Click. Click. Each floor the elevator ascended made Mingyu shift nervously in his place. It was never-ending. To keep himself focused and sane, Mingyu fixed his tie and made sure every part of his outfit was smoothed out just right. The flowers were clutched in his hand, and the visual of them shaking a bit was the only way he could tell he was shaking. Relax, Mingyu. This is just like anything else. Don’t make it weird. His pep talks to himself continued as the elevator jolted to a stop. With a deep, confident breath, he waited for the doors to open before him.

🐶🐶🐶🐶🐶🐶🐶So Close Yet So Far🐶🐶🐶🐶🐶🐶🐶

           “Coming!” You called. Hurrying over to the door, you felt a grin plaster on your face. Looking at Minnie, you smoothed out your dress one last time, and Minnie brushed a few rebellious hairs down onto your scalp once again. “Okay.” With a deep breath, you opened the door. “Hey-.” Your smile immediately dropped.

           Before you stood a stunning woman. She had long, curly black hair that dropped to her shoulder blades. Her skin was a porcelain white, colored meticulously by a few beautiful shades of beige and cream makeup. The only things that you caught on her face were a few scattered moles, one under her lip, and one on the side of her nose. It only added to her beauty. She rubbed her hand along the side of her tight black pants and fixed the sleeve of her lavender blouse. When she finally caught your eyes, your breath hitched at her stunningly captivating eyes.

           When she uttered your name, almost as if she was asking herself a question, you could only nod. Her smile only widened as she stuck her hand in your direction. “Nice to meet you. I’m Mina Myoui. I’ve heard so much about you.” 

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#seventeen fanfiction #seventeen imagines #seventeen #kpop #fanfiction #reader insert #svt fanfiction #svt x reader #choi seungcheol #yoon jeonghan #scoups #mingyu x reader #joshua hong #hong jisoo #boo seungkwan #vernon #junhui #lee jihoon #woozi #kim mingyu #mingyu #svt mingyu

[n0thingiscool]

Hot Takes From Troll Accounts - re: Breaking Bad and the MSM's General Influence on Populous Beliefs/Behaviors

Exhibit A) absurdly-“useful”

Except mainstream anything has an immediate influence on the masses hence why electing a pro Nazi rapist to office was fucking BAD for the population and the safety for women, POC, queer folk, and people with disabilities… ya goofy misdirecting troll account see you next tuesday. 😂

Exhibit B) wackweeder, grimeclown, and cactusseeds

No, to answer your question - grimeclown. But that’s kinda not really the focus.

*eyes rolling at cactusseeds* - tell me you work for media without telling me you work for media.

For wackweeder - you say “media illiterate” like that’s a bad thing. Lmfao. I prefer to put my limited time in reading published studies, reading historical books, interacting with people who value educational content (not you), taking STEM classes, and beating my ass up in fitness arenas than working on my “media literacy.” I have all my social media feeds to tell me shit I don’t care about in relation to mainstream television now, anyway. It’s not like I get to bury my head away from any of it as much as I would love to. But why the hell would I want to watch brain rot with what limited time I have on this planet. I rhetorically ask. Here’s the key response to your overall population influence illiteracy - media influences everything including drug usage. This is why most developed governments are so sensitive about tobacco and alcohol ads in the presence of children. It doesn’t generally matter how the shit is portrayed. If it did then Nancy Reagan’s “War on Drugs” TV specials would’ve had some positive effect on the masses. Hint… it didn’t.

https://academic.oup.com/alcalc/article/44/3/229/178279

Now - you can go ahead and make the argument that BB the show, itself, could’ve turned people away from using because there are zero studies to counter that argument but that’s disingenuous claim to make at best. Personally, I feel more comfortable looking at all the other numerous studies looking at drug and alcohol usage influenced through media, in general, and applying that data to the picture at hand because that is a rational thing to do.

For a lay example - why don’t news outlets publish suicide rates? Because it increases suicide. Just because it looks bad in the broad scheme doesn’t mean it has none or an anti-influence. That’s not how this works. I can think of other media influencing mob behavior: Flash mobs. The increase of street takeovers in a post Fast and Furious world. How little girls think they need to look like some twig on the runway. How little boys think they have to hide their emotions because the machismo men on their favorite shows do so. How Bhutan’s GNH (presumably - the documentation has all but vanished from online sources I had read from in the aughts - shoulda saved it back in the day…) fell after the introduction of Western Media. And so on…

People are easily influenced, man. They teach in journalism school (yes, I went) the average American reading and comprehension level is at the equivalent of the third grade. When you see mofos out there believing Q-Anon conspiracies without second guessing you know that fact isn’t far off. We’re not anywhere near as evolved a you want to believe.

Exhibit C) roadkillbuffet

I can’t tell if this is sarcasm or not but Breaking Bad was not the first gay kiss on television…

But also… if the comment isn’t sarcasm or a troll then - “but Breaking Bad was the first gay kiss on tv therefore if you’re calling a meth based television show out you are homophobic” - is a piss poor argument to make for the queer community. Of which I am in, btw.

If that were actually true and BB was the first show to validate queer relationships then how homophobic is Hollywood to take that first dive into validating queer lives in a show about meth? I’m going to guess this is a sarcasm response though. No one can be that off base… can they?

Exhibit D) "I can't read this" Cool. Go back to your basic memes.

#ask response #influence #influencer #media #behavior #mob rule

[nikkiiiscute]

One Headcanon for everyone one in the neighborhood! (Except for u Home D:<)

Note that this is when everyone was still alive / human sooooo yeah.

🍎Wallace would sometimes weirdly talk to the puppets and would call them by his friends' real names. Example : "Julia's hair is soft today, Right Barnabus?... Yeah she's like a.. Hair master, hehehehe" "Said something about my hair? uhhhh.. Dory (Dory is a nickname for devil dorelaine) said not to touch the puppets during lunch... Hello? Wally?"

🐶Barnabus likes to have an airhorn to sneakily sneak up and it's kinda like this, "BWAAAAAHH!! hahahaha, I'm never getting tired of Aira" "*huff huff* First.. YOU KNOW I CAN'T STAND NOISE!!! Second... You.. Named your airhorn Aira? Third... Your paying for my book.. Do you have a 50? Thank you." "Aaalright alright sorry, Ayy how ya doin lil buddy?... Ehh.. Wally?"

🌸Julia would often give people nicknames that are fun (and may or may not be from Jonas (Jonesy) heres a look. "Hiya Bya! Sup Franko! You too Eeedee! Hello Popsie, good day to ya! Lookin good Barney! Howdy Howdy! Oh hi walls, Said something about my hair? uhhhh.. Dory said not to touch the puppets during lunch... Hello? Wally?"

☀️Byeol / Sally will come up with episode concepts with sammy Julia as they got a good story to tell and would show it to Dorelaine as an Episode Proposal kinda like this, "Ronald Dorelaine, What do you think of our most Astounding, Most Remarkable episode?" "Hope ya like it Dory! I like a new side character move in :>" "Oh just in time! What is your Creative Brain thinking about this Spectacular Script huh Wallace?"

🦋Frank will always have a book or two during Lunch Breaks so they can keep up with entomology / lepidoptorology while on the job, Why not we take a look? "Hiya darling, What's the new topic? Is it okay if I can see?" "It's about Chimeras, It's a rare thing with butterflies that can give them Asymmetrical Wings and yes dear, you can see the pages" "How you two lovebirds doin?" "Hiya Howdy, Doing great. Say, Do you know any sneak peaks for the new episode?" "Nada, But I got one more readin' buddy! Say, How'd ya like to know things about my favorite bug? ay Wally? "

✉️Eddie is clumsy in work, It's obvious that Byeol added this trait cuz he would ACTUALLY trip on set. Here's a nice preview. "Hiya Frank! I got the package ya- AAGH!! oof!... I'm A -Okay!" "CUUUUTTT!!! Eddie, You really need to stop being a klutz or else it will fuse into your characte- Ohhhh! That needs to be written down, this WILL be added to your character! Now I'll just ask Dorelaine for approval" "Aaand there's my clumsiness fused into Mr. Dear. Which is actually kinda cool. Ya hands still sweating Wally?"

🐛Howard is the person that prepares the sets and Eddie helps out, I feel like Howard would be indecisive about how the layout of it should be, Heres a snippet. "Gee.. I-I dunno if the flowers should be pansies or marigolds..Uhhhh I think both! then it'll be the main focu- THAGHH!! I CAN'T THINK OF A LAYOUT!!" "Ay! ay! Calm down Howdy! ya just need some brain rest and actual rest, Ya stayed up 'till 4! I think the 'Bodeguero' thing is getting to ya head. So, Whaddya say?" "uhhh, Sure thing barn. EDDIE!! TELL DORY THAT I NEED A BREAK!! AND TELL DORY MS. PERDIZ'S NOT FEELIN' WELL AIGHT!?" "Got that covered!" "*heavy exhale*... Oh howdy - do lil guy.. Didn't notice ya Walls"

🐦Poppy is prolly the one with the sewing / repair puppets as she can do the job either at Home or Work cuz she's convalescent like my mom. So she's rarely in the Poppy suit and Voice Acting, That's why Partridge is rarely seen. Last part I swear. "Hello dearies, I'm back from my doctor's appointment." "Hiya mothe- I mean! Ms. Perdiz! How's your stomach doin?" "Doing well dearie! now, you said something about Mr. Darling puppet having a tear? Hello? dearie are you okay? Mr. Darryl? Wallace?"

❌ Samuel is dead, He has no info on him. We are so sorry.

#welcome home #julie joyful #eddie dear #frank frankly #wally darling #poppy partridge #sally starlet #barnaby b beagle #howdy pillar #welcome home theory

[lazulian-devil]

The Villains of Skulduggery Pleasant 2

Now before I start, I want to point out that Book 2 has an absolute myriad of Bad Guys™.

The book introduces not only Dusk (who is great at making everyones day just a whole lot worse. Just fun to be around. Only bit Valkyrie, killed the Lord Vampire of Dublin™ Moloch and is generally just... So much fun!), but also the whole Diablerie Subplot (oh look, China is getting a backstory upgrade), Billy-Ray motherfucking Sanguine (who is in one way or another responsible for a third of my favourite quotes from the books), the Torment and Roarhaven (and all that bullshit), the reflection quite literally cracking (this could never possibly become important later on), the whole Faceless One dimension and whatever was going on with Thurid Guild.

So uh, yeah. Book 2, for being actually quite short in comparison to the absolute Grimoires Derek would later be known to write, is a dense friggin book. You might ask yourself "Wow, this sure is a whole lot more dense than the first one" and thats because Landy had at this point already won and be nominated for enough awards that his writing adventures would be a solid thing for him.

The first book was a leap of faith, the second was the beginning of a saga.

(Tangent: I personally think Landy plans and writes books in pairs of threes, as even Phase 2 was originally supposed to be nine but then turned into six books by force of publisher. Because I read them on a Kindle, I am very much aware of how much longer they have gotten with each installment and I think that he, like many an author, would absolutely benefit from cutting down some of the sizes of his books. But book 2 is still very much on the shorter end, if not the second shortest book of the series).

So, after all these absolute bangers of villains, who will I focus on? The one that dies (which is honestly how I think I should do these. Just slowly talk about everyone who actually dies and leave the "I will appear in a trillion books" villains for last, in favor of my sanity).

Baron Vengous.

In a world filled with sarcastic, silly villains, Vengous is the stern military guy that doesnt talk a lot.

And I mean that literally. Besides like... One or two speeches the guy just doesnt talk much.

Ive managed to complete Book 7 in my reading insanity and have read up to 13 before that (reading them as they come out) and I can say with a solid 78% conviction that he is the most "normal" villain and antagonist the series has ever had.

Hes straightforward. Hes methodical. His status as a General of Mevolent is based not only in honestly insane levels of power, but in his pure military might brain and body.

Baron Vengous is the absolute most opposite anyone could have written to Serpine. He almost seems specifically written to oppose him in as many ways as possible. If Serpine was the Vibe, Vengous is the Antivibe.

You get my point.

We actually get an in depth look into him later (where? Leibniz. In terms of trouble, always assume Leibniz) and even among those people, he is somewhat normal. Apart from his wife.

Oh and the other character trait he has. What was that again? I can barely remember.

Ah. Right. Faceless One fanaticism to the point of self destruction.

It makes you wonder what he did after the Amnesty, as he is broken out of prison by Sanguine at the beginning of the book and its never quite explained why. Serpine was just vibin' in his castle. Maybe he did some human sacrifices to his beloved gods and got caught for it. Who knows. (Afaik, its never explained what he did after the Amnesty to end up in prison in the first place and at this point, Im convinced it doesnt really matter and was just a neat way to introduce Sanguine).

But Vengous just isnt a very... Interesting character. He only works so well because Sanguine is a delight anywhere he shows up and Dusk is just utterly terrifying. The Baron is almost too normal among them.

You need proof? Fine. Let me grab my Kindle real quick.

Insert transition music.

Alright, so. Vengous first appearance (Chapter 3: Vengous) paints him as the man in control, the guy who has been in prison for eighty years (Im sure cellphones blew his mind) is out and looking for revenge. He doesnt say a lot. His first actual words are "You're late." to Dusk (who he later points out in his internal dialogue isnt even a man to him). This gives us two insights into his character: First, his stoic mentality. He just murdered someone. Hes entirely calm. Lifes are a casualty to him. And second, he holds enough power or reputation that a very skilled vampire is not only working for him, but accepts being talked down to by this man.

Later in Chapter Ten: The Armour, Sanguines inner dialogue says "The Baron was not a man to be trifled with, especially at a time like this". Once again, we have a whole chapter that shows of several things (passively) about the Baron. He is a planner (shown by his knowledge of the armor and its requirements, the supposed knowledge of where Vile died and his general tactical demeanour being described), he is someone who seems to be in control at all times (shown by him casually watching a bunch of infected under Dusks command dig away) and he is incredibly patient (shown in previous chapters by him being able to wait 80 years and then just "get on with it. Sure, hes mad at Sanguine, but his plans are more important).

And then we add something a little spicy in the mixture: Hes not only a fanatic, hes also an asshole. Ooooohoho.

Its Chapter 18 in which our Protagonists finally meet him and he simply despises Skulduggery. But thats not whats actually interesting. The Chapter reveals him to be self important. Sure, hes a leader, stoic, goal oriented. But hes also cocksure of himself. (A trait he shares with about 84% of all characters in the SP universe).

Skulduggerys taunts go right over him.

"Skulduggery nodded. "So, you married or something? Do I hear the pitter patter of tiny evil feet?"

"I will destroy you."

Normal reaction, ey? The scene goes on quite a while longer than that, but only hammers home this point even more.

The Baron believes himself superior. Righteous. Blessed, probably.

What kills him in the end? His self importance. And how does he react to his death?

"But... But this isnt how Im supposed to die", He said weakly. "Not... Not like this. Not by your hand. You're... You're an abomination."

And then he crawls towards the actual abomination he summoned, pleads it to tell them (the Faceless Ones) that hes sorry for failing them.

The Grotesquery moved its hand so that it touches Vengous' face. It looked almost tender, until the hand gripped and wrenched and the Barons head snapped to one side.

Vengous is a fascinating villain, because he stands calmly among the flashy and vibrant. In a long line of batshit insane people, his insanity is the one that hits closest to home. Many, many villains in the future would be obsessed with religion (the Necromaner Temple, the whole Diablerie plot, later on Darquesse). But all of them are so overpainted, so saturated, that many are just that: A mockery of real life fanaticism.

And the Baron still feels like someone who is rootes in reality. He truly believes that he and the Faceless Ones are superior. His last act is - and I cannot stress this enough - apologising to his gods.

This man. This stoic, straightforward man. This absolute unit. Former General of Mevolent. Words like a scalpel, tactician, wit and gumption combined.

Hes just as insane as all of them. But his insanity is so much quieter. So much more refined.

And that makes him scary.

While I would like to end here, lets summarise real quick:

Vengous has mostly two traits that make him stand out: Straightforwardness and Fanaticism.

Hes a pretty boring villain in comparison to his counterparts.

He is - at least in my opinion - one of the most realistic villains in the series. His insanity is believable and while its not as flashy as those of others, its a kind of insane that makes your skin crawl as soon as you think about it.

He stole Skulduggerys Armor. If you know that Skulduggery is Vile, there are some really interesting scenes that allude to it.

His Leibniz counterpart, for once, seems to actually improve on the OG one. He talks more and he even shows a certain twisted kindness to Valkyrie in explaining her everything. I would almost argue that the Baron of Leibniz is more interesting than the OG Baron. Also, silly wife Eliza. Such a stupid joke.

If he had been succesful, he would have actually ruined the world. Legitimately. The stakes were so high and the man remained so calm. Imagine trying to resurrect your gods. Imagine resurrecting Jesus, all the while having the vibes of a Military Dad with PTSD.

Im afraid that I never found Vengous that compelling. The writing in Book 2 is immaculate though and Dusk and Sanguine are amazing.

I give him a... 7? 8 out of 10?

Also: remember to stay hydrated. Eat a snack. Stretch. You deserve it.

Wanna read more of my mad ramblings? Heres Part 1 with Nefarian Serpine and Part 3 with Batu!

#skulduggery pleasant #baron vengous #character analysis #ramble post #again this is way too long #literary analysis #villain #sorry y'all #SP villains

[samynnad102687]

Quiet in the library

@struttingstag April 5th Prompt: Quiet in the library | 1530 words James/Regulus/Sirius | Warnings: NSFW, blow jobs

James was at the library studying with Regulus for the third day in a row. Regulus wasn't studying though, he was just making James study since he had his NEWTs coming up in a month. It didn't help that Regulus kept biting his bottom lip every time James got the answer correct, which happened quite a lot and the longer they sat there the tighter James' jeans became.

"Reg... if you keep doing that, I'm going to end up launching over this table to ravish your neck until we can get to our secret room," James whisper-yelled across the table after he slammed the transfiguration book closed.

"Aww, baby," Regulus cooed. "Am I distracting you?"

"You know you are." James scoffed as he rolled his eyes.

"Well, maybe having you ravish me in the library is my end goal. Did you ever think about that?" Regulus asked as he batted his long lashes at him and James had to adjust himself in his seat.

"You're the one who wanted me to study." James threw his hands up in the air in frustration.

He didn't know how much longer the blood flow was going to continue to go to his brain before it all travelled south in a hurry. Regulus laughed quietly before he stood up and walked around the table to stand behind James and whispered in his ear as he ran his hand up and down James' chest.

"Ten more minutes and I'll let you do whatever you want when we get back to our room. Okay?" James nodded dumbly.

Regulus straightened and started to walk away.

"Where are you going?"

"To get the last book that you need."

Regulus disappeared into the stacks a minute later. James was trying to calm his body down so he could focus. He could wait ten more minutes. Right? James was about to open the book in front of him again when Sirius appeared and plopped himself down in Regulus' chair with a huff. James gave him a confused look before he started speaking.

"I don't get it," Sirius said as he looked around for a second before he locked eyes with James again.

"Get what?"

"What's so special about Reggie? Well, no, I know what's special about him but why him and not me?" Sirius complained. "What does he do better than I can?"

"What are you talking about?"

"We have been best friends for years and we've done stuff in the past, right?" James nodded. "So why him?"

"Well, for one," Regulus smirked from behind Sirius, who nearly fell out of his chair at Regulus' sudden appearance, "I'm better at sucking cock than you are."

"You are not!" Sirius gasped as he put his hand over his heart in offence.

"Pretty sure the noises you were making the last time I sucked you off prove that I am." Regulus shrugged as he sat down next to his brother.

"That's beside the point," Sirius pouted before he turned away from Regulus, who was quietly laughing, and back to James, who was trying to hide his smile behind his hand.

"Is that why?" Sirius asked, gesturing to Regulus.

"I mean, he is quite an expert at it but that's not the only reason," James replied with a shrug.

"Told you," Regulus taunted as he stuck out his tongue at Sirius who was still pouting.

"What if I prove I'm better?" Sirius asked suddenly with a determined look on his face.

"What?" James choked out. He wasn't sure if he heard him correctly. "Better at what?"

"Sucking cock."

"You really think that you're better than me?" Regulus scoffed as he rolled his eyes.

Now see, James loves Regulus. He really does but he has also fantasised about Sirius in the past. They had done some stuff but it never went any further than making out and fondling each other over their clothes. They were teenage boys who just hit puberty and they were curious. James didn't know what to say. He looked at Regulus for a minute with the question on his tongue but Regulus seemed to have already read his mind.

"It's up to you, Jamie," Regulus said nonchalantly as he leaned back in his chair and gestured to his brother with a lazy wave of his hand.

"So what do you say, James?" Sirius asked hopefully.

"What? Now?"

"Yeah. I mean you're already worked up," James glared at Regulus before looking back at Sirius. "Why not let me help you out?" Sirius finished.

"We're in the library," James remarked aghast.

Regulus stood up and walked around the table again to whisper in James' ear.

"He's not going to let it go until you let him suck you off. Plus, if you let him do that, I'll let you tie me up later. I know how much you love doing that."

James could feel his cheeks heat up and he was sure the three Hufflepuff girls could see it from across the library.

James nodded slowly as a soft 'okay' fell from his lips.

Regulus grabbed his hand to pull him up from the table. James went willingly and followed Regulus without hesitation. He didn't know where they were going but he didn't care.

"Are you coming?" Regulus called back to the table where Sirius was still sitting with a confused look on his face.

Sirius jumped up so fast that he nearly knocked the chair over and walked quickly over to them. By the time they stopped, Regulus had dragged them to a secluded part of the library where they kept the outdated books that they refused to get rid of. Regulus pushed James into one of the armchairs before he ran his hand up James' chest lightly and positioned himself behind the chair but close enough to keep his hands on James.

"Let's see what you got, brother."

Sirius nodded and dropped to his knees with a thud and started to release James' cock from its confines. It sprung up quickly once his jeans and pants were pulled halfway down his thighs. Regulus started to run his ring-clad fingers through James' hair, tugging gently at the roots. James' heart flipped in his chest at the prospect of having both brothers at the same time.

"What are you waiting for, Sirius? He's willing and I can already see him leaking from the tip," Regulus scoffed as he ran his lips along the helix of James' ear, making him shiver with anticipation. "If you don't hurry up, I'm going to kick you out and take care of him myself."

Sirius didn't waste another second and swallowed James down in one go, gagging slightly. James moaned at the sudden wet heat and Regulus put his hand over James' mouth.

"You have to be quiet, baby. This is the library remember," Regulus breathed into James' ear and James nodded before he let out another muffled moan into Regulus' hand.

Sirius started to swirl his tongue around James' cock as he bobbed his head faster and faster. James was starting to see stars at the corners of his vision. Was he better than Regulus? James couldn't tell. He was good with his tongue, James would give him that. He could feel himself crawling to the edge and peering over it. He was teetering and when James went to tell Sirius that he was close, he was cut off by another muffled moan from deep in his throat.

"You're close, aren't you, baby?" Regulus asked, always in tune with James' body.

James nodded as he closed his eyes for a second to focus on the feel of having Sirius between his thighs and Regulus behind him. Regulus removed his hand after another rather loud muffled moan and replaced it with his lips, swallowing the moan that followed.

"Quiet, Jamie. You need to behave if you want your treat," Regulus whispered seductively into James' ear, causing his whole body to shudder and his hips to buck up into Sirius' mouth before he spilt down his throat with no warning.

Sirius swallowed every last drop, licking James clean before he pulled off with a smug grin.

"So?" Sirius asked. "Who's better?"

"I- I don't know," James replied as he looked between the brothers.

James was still coming down from the high of his orgasm as Regulus put him back into his jeans. Regulus was trying to hide his own smug grin as Sirius scoffed and threw his hands up in the air. James was sure if Sirius had a chance to prove it by himself then James might be able to make a decision but he was still reeling from having them both at the same time. Could he have them both at the same time?

Once James had calmed his body down, Regulus grabbed his hand again and pulled him along back to the table to pack up their stuff. Sirius was trailing behind like a sad puppy.

"Good boy," Regulus whispered into James' ear after he pulled him in for a kiss after they left the library.

If the three of them ended up in James' and Regulus' room, that was nobody's business except their own. 

Also posted on Ao3: Library Surprises

#marauders fandom #dead gay wizards #regulus arcturus black #james fleamont potter #marauders fanfiction #regulus x james #sirius orion black #james x sirius #james x regulus x sirius #Stag microfic