#this one is kinda fun very cheesy but also I kinda gave up halfway through lol | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

coldflame96 · 3 years

Text

Wrapped up in you

Summary: Sharing a scarf with your girl when you don’t like things around your neck is something that can be so personal..

Rating: T

Also found on AO3 and FF.net

Based off that picture in the very last scene with Kyoru sharing a scarf <3

“Wow!" He heard her gasp. "It's snowing!" But then she furrowed her brow. "But it was so mild this morning."

Neither of them had brought coats with them, but Tohru brought her scarf with the pom poms. She really loved that thing and it was cute.

"Kyo-kun," she grabbed his hand. "Are you cold?"

He didn't think he could ever truly be cold as long as she was around.

But he did shiver a bit. "A little. The temperature really dropped."

"Well here!" She took her scarf off, handing it to him. "Maybe this will help."

He knocked her head gently. "Then you'll get cold, dummy."

"I'll be okay!" She waved her arms. "I don't want you to get sick!"

He could tell this was gonna go nowhere fast. He rolled his eyes fondly and grabbed the scarf. She looked at him expectantly and he got an idea. It was cheesy, but knowing her, she'd probably love it.

He pulled her in closer, wrapping one end of the scarf around her neck, and the other end very loosely around his own.

"There." He said triumphantly, breath visible, "now neither of us have to be cold." He punctuated with a gentle whack with one of the poms and she giggled. He paused and then whacked her again. "Huh, this is kinda fun."

He was met with a whack on his own cheek with his girlfriend grinning impishly. "You're right, it is."

He gently whacked her again, this time pressing the pom right on top of her nose, shaking it as she tried to bat it away.

She tried to do a little twirl but the scarf wasnt quite long enough for that so she just did an awkward twist. The temperature was dropping by a lot and her nose was starting to turn red.

He leaned over to kiss it and she gave a questioning look.

He shrugged. "It looked cold."

She grabbed his hand, peeking at him from under her lashes. "I think my lips are cold too."

Subtle. He cradled her face and kissed her gently. "Better?"

"Still feels pretty cold."

He hummed, kissing her again. It was something he never really got tired of doing. She fisted her hands in his uniform jacket as he just kissed her slowly, careful to keep it chaste.

"Oi, lovebirds," he jumped when he felt a hand slap his back and saw Uotani to his side. She smirked. "When you're done being gross, you might wanna actually head home before you turn into snowmen." She put her arm over her head like a visor. "It's supposed to snow all night."

"Oh really?" Tohru asked. "I had work tonight."

She grunted. "So did I. But I called off. You should too."

She frowned. "I wouldn't wanna trouble them-"

He'd heard enough. "You're not walking to work in a blizzard. If you don't wanna call off, then just have Momiji do it for you. His dad owns the place."

She bit her lip. "I suppose…"

"Momiji Sohma is quite fond of you," Hanajima came out of nowhere. "I would imagine he wouldn't expect you to risk yourself in such weather."

"C'mon, we should go." Uotani said, wrapping an arm around Tohru's neck. "It's already cold and it’s only supposed to get worse."

She relented and he followed behind her closely, the scarf still hanging off his neck.

"Apparently we're supposed to get 15 cm," he heard Uotani say vaguely.

Tohru clapped her hands in excitement. "Really? Wow. We could play in the snow!"

"We could have a snowball fight." And then Uotani smirked. "Betcha I could beat Kyon."

He rolled his eyes. "Don't start a fight you can't finish, Yankee."

She snorted. "Yeah okay. You know your ‘bad boy’ image is ruined with that scarf around your neck."

He shrugged. It wasn't like he had anything to be embarrassed about.

Tohru was talking to Hanajima now about something, her face lit up. He smiled softly. She was happy and that's all he cared about.

The wind was really picking up and everyone in the group did a full-body shudder. It really was getting freezing and the snow was sinking into his clothes uncomfortably. Tohru was trying to hide it, but she was shivering. How did she manage to wear skirts in this kind of weather?

They parted ways with Uotani and Hanajima and no sooner than they rounded the corner, he wrapped his arms around Tohru's waist from behind.

"Are you cold?" He whispered.

She nodded. "Only a little."

He kissed her temple. "C'mon, let's get home."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

By the time they got into the doorway, her teeth were chattering and he rubbed her arms to try and warm her up.

"My, my, my," he heard Shigure say from the kitchen door and he looked up to see him standing there, looking way too amused. "I understand you kids are in love, but there is a time and place."

"Piss off," he snapped. "It's snowing and freezing outside."

"Well, that's why coats exist." He said smugly. "Honestly, Kyo-kun, do you not ever check the weather forecasts?

He was gonna punch this asshole. He felt a light tug on his shirt and he brought his attention back to his currently shivering girlfriend.

"D-do y-you m-m-m-mind if I shower first? I...c-can w-wait if you w-want to."

He pushed her back gently towards the bathroom. "Go shower before you get sick."

"O-okay."

It was once he heard the bathwater running that Shigure turned back to him, smirking. "Nice scarf." He gave him a flat look in response, which he took as a cue to continue talking. "Tsk, tsk, you made a rookie mistake just now."

"What are you talking about?" He asked on impulse, and then came to the conclusion that maybe he shouldn't have.

Shigure's grin only grew wider. "When a beautiful woman you're with is going to the shower, it's only natural you offer to join her."

Kyo grabbed him by the collar, growling, "Don’t talk about her like that, you fucking creep. I’ll kill you!”

"Scary~" And then something else seemed to come to him. "Where's Yuki-kun? Don't tell me you left him out there."

"How should I know? He was never even with us."

And that was when the phone rang. Shigure waved, saying "I'll let you handle that” and then went back to his own room, hopefully to die.

He scoffed. He didn't usually answer the phone but he had a good idea who it was.

"Hello?" He sighed out.

"Kyo?" Yuki's voice came through the speaker. He sounded surprised, which was fair.

"Yeah?"

"Where’s Honda-san?"

"In the shower.

"I see. when she gets out, tell her not to save me any dinner. The weather's getting bad so I went home with Kakeru."

"Fine. That it?"

"Yeah."

"Great. See ya."

"Wait."

"What?"

"You and Honda-san are alone...don't do anything stupid."

His face heated up. "Shigure's here, you jackass." He gritted. And probably eavesdropping. "And that's none of your business."

"Oh, he's actually home?"

"Yeah."

"My condolences."

"Whatever. Anything else?"

"No. You can hang up now."

And he was about to do just that but something paused him. "Oi."

"What?"

"You too," he mumbled through gritted teeth because he really didn't wanna think about Yuki doing anything like that. "Don’t do anything stupid."

A pause and then a "Thanks" before the line went dead.

"Oh, was that Yuki-kun?" He heard Tohru behind him, her skin flushed from the steam and her hair still damp. “Is he alright?”

He grunted in affirmation, trying not to look at how a stray water droplet ran down her neck. "He's fine. He's at Manabe's, so don't wait up for him on dinner."

She made to hug him, but then reeled back. "Kyo-kun, you need to get out of those wet clothes! You'll get sick."

If it were just them, he would suggest she help him with that, but Shigure was here and he was not gonna give him the satisfaction of that.

He patted her head. "I'm going."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Without work to go to, her and Kyo-kun took the night in. She had already changed into her sleepwear (which consisted of one of his shirts that was way too big on her and a pair of flannel pants).

He had changed too, in a loose long-sleeve and a pair of sweatpants.

With Shigure-san here, they couldn't exactly do anything more than kiss, so they'd just ended up watching a movie.

He'd fallen asleep halfway through and was currently clinging to her, head on her chest.

She could really admire him without being questioned when he was asleep, how his nose wasn’t set completely straight, the smattering of light freckles on the bridge that were more pronounced in the summer.

She lightly stroked his strong jawline and his arms tightened around her waist.

She smiled to herself. He was such a cute sleeper. She lightly threaded her fingers through his fiery hair, noting how it curled around his ears now.

It's getting so long..

She heard her phone vibrate from the nightstand and strained to reach it without disturbing her sleeping boyfriend.

She saw the message was from Uo-chan and then shot up in alarm at the attachment.

She heard a light groan and saw Kyo-kun blearily blinking his eyes open and she felt a little guilty.

"Wha's goin' on?" He mumbled.

"Uo-chan just sent me something."

He hummed. "'Splains why you woke me up."

She was pretty sure he was being sarcastic based off the grumpy look on his face but paired with the messy hair, it didn't have much of an effect.

"Look at this." She shoved the phone under his nose and watched him squint as he put his own hand over hers.

It was a picture of them, sharing the scarf with snow falling around them. Neither of them were looking at the camera but she was chatting with Hana-chan, though the angle of the photo cut her poor friend off, and Kyo-kun just watched her, looking content.

He normally hated getting pictures taken so it was rare to see him so relaxed in one.

"Was this from today?" He asked.

"Yep! Uo-chan took it." Then she cocked her head. "I wonder how she managed to do it without us noticing."

He stretched, his shirt riding above his waist, which she attempted to steadfastly ignore for her own sanity.

"Probably because I wasn't looking at her."

He always said things like that so easily and it was a marvel each time.

"I know you hate pictures," she started hesitantly, "but do you mind if I keep this one?"

"I don't mind pictures," he said softly. "Not with you, anyway."

She blushed, smiling to herself. "Right." She put one foot down on the carpet. "I'll go ask Shigure-san if I can borrow his printer."

A warm hand grabbed her wrist. "Do it tomorrow," he said. "It's late." And then he slumped on top of her. "I want my pillow back."

He was actually pouting and it was quite possibly one of the most adorable things she’d ever seen.

She just stared at the picture of them, smiling softly, Kyo-kun’s chin on her shoulder.

"You look cute," he murmured.

"I look the same as always, don't I?"

"Yeah."

He was warm. Like a steady heater on her back. It made her feel sleepy.

At some point, she’d been gently coaxed on her back again, eyes heavy and her boyfriend a comforting weight on her chest. She managed to text Uo-chan a 'Thank you' through bleary eyes before letting sleep take her.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next day, she bought a frame and added the picture to her shelf next to her mother and Kyo-kun’s beads.

“You’re such a sap,” he’d said when he walked in and saw it.

But he couldn’t hide how his eyes kept softening when they landed on it.

Not from her.

#kyoru #fruits basket #kyo sohma #tohru honda

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carebearbliss · 4 years

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How NCT 127 would confess to you

A/N: This took way longer than it was intended, but here it is! Hope you enjoy~

Taeil

Taeil went over the plan at least 50 times to make sure the delivery would be as smooth as he hoped it would be

Probably couldn’t really sleep the night before cause what if you reject him????

Plans on singing a love song specially for you, like a private mini concert in a rented out café you two frequent a lot

When you get to your usual hangout spot, the lights were out and you were confused af

But then as the lights went back on again you saw Taeil standing on a makeshift stage and the café was decorated with cute fairy lights and balloons and all

Then music started playing as he serenaded you sweetly and honestly you were already sold from the minute he started singing ngl

Kinda messes up what he prepared to say to you afterwards because he doesn’t want to screw it up but also when he looks at you his mind kinda goes blank

So happy and relieved when you tell him the feeling’s mutual that he lowkey almost tripped on the way back to his seat cause he lost feeling in both his legs

Lots of shy and awkward gazing and blushing on both parts, but when you meet each other’s gaze he gives you the brightest smile ever

Overall just really adorable????

Johnny

I swear 10/10 this guy had something elaborate and romantic planned out the moment he realized his feelings for you

Would probably pull out something kinda cheesy to impress you, like playing your favorite song on the piano (or teaching you how to play, o o f)

I can see him taking you on walks around the city afterwards, someplace quiet with a nice scenery that would provide a nice backdrop for his confession

Tells you he’s gonna go pick up a call real quick, then kinda disappears

You get lowkey angry like wtf Johnny w h a t are you doing, but then he sends you text messages to a sort of scavenger hunt

Was actually planning on just telling you verbally what you mean to him and how he feels for you but then realized he’s not really good at doing that face to face so this is his fun alternative

Anyways, he gives you hints and directions through text message and at each ‘landmark’ he directs you to, you find small notes where he wrote down what exactly he likes about you and moments he realized he’s in love with you

Basically the boi wrote you a love letter but scattered around at least 7 different spots while he’s hiding who knows where

By the time you get to the final spot you see him standing in front of you with a large bouquet in his hands (for you) and this silly grin on his face

Lowkey almost moved you to tears as he told you he likes you

You spend the night looking at the stars and walking hand in hand as you two talk about anything and everything at the same time

Taeyong

Y’know those smooth pick-up lines he pulls out of his sleeves? Yeah, prepare for those cause they are definitely coming your way

Would probably go for a sweet and sentimental confession

Lowkey tries to hint at his feelings for you by recommending love songs every now and then

One day he randomly shows up at your doorstep with your favorite flowers in one hand and a gift in the other (and also some snacks and sweets cause why the heck not)

I can see him gifting you something very meaningful, like a photo album with pictures of you two and places you went together or an entire playlist of songs that made him think of you

You thought it’d just be a normal hangout with your best friend

But then he tries to coyly recommend a song to you and asks you to listen to it and tell him what you think of it

5 seconds in you realize it’s actually him singing a self-made confession song for you

He gets embarrassed halfway through you listening to the song cause you keep staring at him with this touched expression on your face

But when the song’s over you’re just kind of left speechless until you tell him “me too.. I like you too” and it’s like his heart stopped skipping a beat and he was sent straight to heaven on earth

All in all just a really sweet and thoughtful confession asdfghjkl;

Yuta

Ever since Yuta realized how he felt toward you, he’s been trying his best to not impulsively blurt out that he likes you, especially because he’s not sure if it’s mutual

Occasionally can’t help but murmur “you’re so cute” under his breath when he’s spending time with you though

You know he tends to be quite playful and flirtatious around you, so whenever he tries to make advances you just play it off as him joking around (half the time he’s actually seriously stopping himself from stealing a kiss ngl)

One day he decides to ask you out on a date over the phone and you agree thinking it’s just him being goofy again cause what else could it be??

Yuta takes you on a hiking date, aiming to take you to this nice and scenic viewpoint and confess there

But things take a different turn when halfway through the hike you realize that he was actually being serious about this date and he realizes you thought he was playing around

Then he kind of goes off on this impulsive rant like ‘Damn it Y/N I’ve been flirting with you for an entire year why do you keep thinking I’m not being serious about this’ and yeah he kind of floops out that he’s been crushing on you ever since y’all met

So things didn’t really go as planned but you had a serious conversation about it and by the time you reached the viewpoint you were already holding hands and smiling fondly at each other :’)

Doyoung

Has been torn for weeks about how to confess to you and it’s showing

He wants to plan something that would make sure you knew how much he cared about you, so he scoured every possible source he could find, including the internet, all his good friends he could confide into, and even asked his parents who confessed to the other and how..

Anyways, when Doyoung meets up with you he still hasn’t made his mind about how to confess

And technically he wasn’t planning on doing so either, until he saw how battered up you looked from an ugly fall off the stairs last week and how you tried to hide that wearing a big hoodie and sunglasses

During winter

You thought he didn’t notice though until he kind of had enough of your act and just pulled off the hoodie from your head and took off your glasses to reveal this bigass purple bruise on your face, still evident beneath your make-up

Doyoung couldn’t help seeing you so vulnerable and inattentive toward your own wellbeing and so gave you an entire lecture nagging at you to be more careful

Over the next few days he comes by unannounced to check the safety of basically your entire home to make sure you wouldn’t trip again and also takes care of your bruise and minor grazes on your arms and knees

And it just so happened that he accidentally murmured “How did I fall in love with such a clumsy human being” just when he thought you didn’t hear it

You replied with “How did I fall in love with such a nagging mom-figure” and well, the rest is history :’)

Jaehyun

Actually, you kind of knew for a while now that he probably had a crush on you because of that one time he accidentally sent a text to you that said “I don’t know what to do, should I confess to Y/N?”

You read the message before he quickly deleted it and since then both of you pretended that never happened

Anyways, I can see Jaehyun taking you out for a nice dinner at this new and trendy restaurant (complete with lit candles and fancy music and all)

He’d try his best to appear calm and composed, and he would’ve succeeded had his hands not been trembling when he poured more wine in both your glasses

Probably has this whole speech ready in his back pocket just in case he forgot what he wanted to say

But before he can start on that you casually say “So is this how you’re planning on confessing to me?” and Jaehyun automatically answers yes before he’s processed that you in fact knew all along how he felt for you

You let him finish his confession speech though cause he worked so hard on it, and you obviously accept to be his girlfriend

He even prepared a little surprise for you together with the staff, it was a cute cake with both your names in the shape of a heart

The date ends with you two talking and having fun conversations at the restaurant until it closed (and you had to be kicked out)

Jungwoo

I see so many ways in which Jungwoo would confess, simply cause he can be so shy and reserved but also really sassy and goofy at the same time

Anyways, I think he’d go for something a little more subtle than his hyungs would, kinda secret admirer style?

The first time you realized you had a secret admirer was when you found a note in your bag containing a compliment directed toward you and a cute drawing next to it

You thought it was really sweet and so Jungwoo continued sending you love notes and putting it in random but somewhat inconspicuous spots, like your locker, your books, etc.

This went on for a couple of months until one day Jungwoo decied it was time to make it known that he was the secret admirer, so he started announcing in a note that he was someone you knew well

That’s when you started finding notes at the most random of places: inside your phonecase, heck even the inside of your shoe

You had absolutely no clue who this person was and were growing kind of agitated at the fact that you couldn’t send him notes back, until Jungwoo slipped up once and complimented you in the exact same way as your secret admirer did

On the day he planned to confess, you were just casually studying together (or more like, you were trying to study and he was just staring at you boredly)

Jungwoo waited patiently until you finished, then told you you had something stuck in your hair

And as you reached for it, you found it to be a folded piece of paper stating “I like you”, with Jungwoo smiling knowingly at you

Mark

Would be a panicking mess, let’s be real

Asks all the hyungs for advice on what to do

Mark would take you to someplace special for the both of you, like the place you first met or where he first realized he has feelings for you

He wouldn’t hold a big speech or make it into a big event, he’d want to keep it simple and to the point so as not to burden you too much

I see him just wanting to make it a fun day when you two meet up, confession or not

Like a walk along the river or at a park, some icecream, maybe even biking or (roller)skating around and picknicking

Tries to find the right timing to break the news to you, fails miserably at doing so most of the time

You knew he had something to say though cause he avoided making direct eye contact with you throughout the entire day

But when he’s ready, he musters up all his courage, coughs a little as a way of making clear that he has something to say, and then just goes for it

Panics halfway through the confession, like he just turns into this shy blushy mess, especially when he stutters or messes up his words

Kinda rambles his way through it but looks you directly in the eye when he says that he likes you

Would add something like “I hope this doesn’t affect our friendship” after confessing cause that’s legit been the nr. 1 reason why he was hesitating confessing to you

Overall would be really nervous about it, but also very sweet and sincere!

Haechan

9/10 would go for an over the top public confession, just cause he can

You two met up at this arcade, your usual hangout spot to relieve yourselves from stress and play fun games together

You originally thought it would be just a normal day meeting up with your longtime friend, but turns out you were completely wrong

Cause the minute you stepped into the venue, you were met with all kinds of festive decorations, balloons, and familiar faces shouting “SURPRISE!!!” at the top of their lungs

Turns out Haechan planned a surprise party for you complete with hilarious banners with him making heart signs

When you turned around to look at Haechan, he was kneeling on the floor holding a big bouquet of your favorite flowers and this giant teddy bear

As he looked up to you, he asked you to be his girlfriend, to which you said yes and were met with a rainfall of confetti and cheering

You spent the day playing fun games with your boyfriend and friends

(And to Haechan’s discontent and envy, you kinda beat him at almost every arcade game there was to play)

#nct #nct 127 #nct reaction #nct scenario #boyfriend #nct taeyong #nct johnny #nct haechan #nct jaehyun #nct mark #nct jungwoo #nct doyoung #nct taeil #nct yuta #kpop reaction #nct edit #nct confess

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ccwastaken · 4 years

Text

Jeff gets bullied by two gay people

No I am not going to give my stories serious titles ever.

anyway this takes place directly after this story

Words: 1573

"Ben?"

"Yeah?"

"Come in here, I have a job for you."

"Alright- gimme a second-"

"Ben, pause the game."

"I will! I just gotta-"

"Benjamin!"

"Fine!"

The blonde boy hit the pause button harder than necessary and climbed off the couch with a huff. Right in the middle of a boss battle. He poked his head into the kitchen. "Yeah?"

In the kitchen stood three people. A grey creature wearing a blue mask, a brown haired boy wearing a face mask, and a giant, faceless cryptid known for stealing children. Ben's brothers and father.

"I want you to take these clothes up to Jeff's room. He's just next door to Toby." The faceless cryptid, also known as Ben's adoptive father, Slenderman, said. Ben took the clothes and nodded. "And tell him to come downstairs when he's dressed."

"Kay." Ben looked down at the clothes as he walked upstairs and down the hall. Jeff, the mansion's newest resident, was in the bedroom at the very end of the hall. He knocked on the door.

No answer.

Either Jeff was still asleep at twelve thirty in the afternoon, or he wasn't answering. Ben knocked again. Then again. He huffed and knocked again, only to hear a quiet "come in" halfway through it. He smiled a bit and opened the door.

The room was shrouded with darkness. Sitting on the bed was a pale white figure with messy black hair. He had a massive bloody gash in his face, and eyes that seemed to stare straight through Ben.

"Da- Slender sent up clothes for you," Ben held out the pile of clothes. "No idea if these are yours or a replacement pair but-"

The figure, Jeff, didn't move for a moment. They just looked at each other before Jeff crawled to the edge of the bed and held out his hands. Ben walked over and handed them over. "Oh and you're wanted downstairs." He gave Jeff a quick smile and left.

Initially he hadn't really trusted Jeff but- well he didn't seem all that bad. Sure he attacked Slender but- Slenderman could be pretty scary! He seemed like a nice kid. "He looks about my age," Ben thought to himself as he walked downstairs. "That's kinda neat."

Jeff waited until the boy's footsteps were gone before looking over the clothes he'd been given. A white hoodie, black jeans, and a grey t-shirt, along with socks, underwear and even a pair of trainers. Huh. Almost identical to his previous outfit, but with less bloodstains.

He got dressed quickly and left the room. He looked up and down the hall and relaxed. It was empty, as far as he could tell. He walked towards where the stairs were, looking around with cautious curiosity.

And then something tapped his shoulder.

Jeff, out of reflex, immediately whirled around and punched the tapper in the gut.

"OW- Fockin' 'ell..." The tapper turned out to be the cockney accented clown (mime?) Jeff had met last night. Jack. Before the boy had time to apologise though, Jack gagged, and threw up. Jeff stepped back quickly in disgust, then realized there wasn't actually vomit on the floor. It was candy. Jack chuckled softly and picked up a couple candies, then held them out to Jeff, his arm extending a bit in the process. "Want some?" The clown/mime gave him a cheesy grin.

"Uh- ...no." Jeff stepped back away, then turned and quickly made his way towards the stairs as quickly as he could. Anything to be away from the weird candy spewing clown man who was pouting behind him.

The living room seemed to be less active. Nobody was there except for Ben, who was furiously mashing buttons on his controller. Jeff decided not to greet him. He seemed too preoccupied.

He pushed open the kitchen door and stepped in. In the kitchen stood three people. Slenderman, the giant faceless cryptid that had very politely kidnapped him yesterday, a brown haired kid that looked a little older than Jeff who wore a face mask, and a third person, who wore a blue mask with black, crying eyes.

"Ah, Jeff!" Slenderman clasped his hands together. "There you are. Did you sleep well?"

Jeff shrugged. "Yeah- alright."

"Was your room okay? Bed comfy?"

"Yeah it was- it was fine-"

"Do your clothes fit?"

"Yeah I'm- I'm good-" Jeff shifted on his feet anxiously. Slender nodded.

"Toby, can you grab Jeff's breakfast from the microwave for me?" He asked as he pulled out a chair for the boy. Jeff sat down awkwardly, fiddling with his hands. A plate of waffles was placed in front of him.

"Thanks." Jeff reached up to grab his knife and fork and-

"Jeff?" The boy looked up. "Are your hands bleeding?"

"Uh-" Jeff tensed. "Little bit yeah- heh- my uh- my skin peels real easy so-" Jeff fiddled with his hands again. A tendril pulled his wrist away and Slender leaned down, examining Jeff's hands.

"Hmph." Slender relinquished the boy. "Stay here." He said before leaving the kitchen. Jeff watched him go.

"Aaaand the award for fastest to piss off Slender goes toooooo...." Jeff looked behind him to see the person in the blue mask do a drum roll on the countertop. "Jeff whatever-the-hell-your-last-name-is!"

The brown haired boy next to him laughed beneath his face mask. Jeff just stared at them, unsure of how to react. "Oh c'mon, don't gimme that look." One of them said, probably the blue masked one. The brown haired boy looked at the masked guy(?), then back at Jeff.

"Uh- hey. My name's Toby." Toby raised a hand in greeting as he spoke. "You're the new kid?"

"Yeah." Jeff replied simply. Toby walked over and sat at the table next to Jeff.

"Hey there's still dishes here!" The masked guy protested. Toby looked over at him.

"It's two plates and a mug." He countered before looking back to Jeff. "That's EJ by the way."

Jeff could hear EJ grumbling behind them. He wasn't really sure what to say so he and Toby just stared at each other for a few moments before Toby drummed his hands on the table anxiously and glanced away. "You like to stare, huh?"

"I don't have eyelids." Jeff replied bluntly. He looked over at his waffles instead and cut into them.

"PFFFF- Heh, you gotta sense of humour at least."

"No I literally don't have them." Jeff looked at Toby again. The older boy squinted for a few moments before his eyes widened in surprise.

"Holy shi-"

"Language." Slender walked back into the kitchen, interrupting Toby's confusion and panic. He made quick work of wrapping Jeff's hands in bandages. "There. Now no more peeling, got it?"

Jeff gave him an unamused look in return. Slender stood back up and straightened his tie. "I'm going out to get some things. Show Jeff around, you two." He almost seemed to smile as he tilted his head at Toby. "Especially you, Toby, since Jeff is right next to your room."

"Will do." Toby replied, seemingly more relaxed now, though his head twitched a couple times. Slender nodded and left the room. Toby looked at Jeff again. "So like- AH-" He was interrupted by EJ dropping a damp dish cloth on his head. He pulled it off quickly and glared at his masked friend, who sat across from him. "What was that for?" He asked, his head seemingly twitching in irritation.

"Not doing the dishes," EJ leaned back in his chair. He seemed to look at Jeff from beneath the mask's pitch black eyes. "So you literally don't have eyelids?"

"I haven't blinked in two years." Jeff replied. "My life is constant pain."

EJ inhaled sharply through his teeth. "Yikes." He replied. "Eye Drops should help that."

"Yeah I got some last night." Jeff took another bite of waffles while the other two seemed to debate asking what happened to him. It was silent, save for Toby's shoulder jerking awkwardly and making a quiet popping noise.

"So how old are you?" Toby asked after a bit.

"Fifteen." Jeff replied. He glanced from Toby to EJ. "You?"

"Twenty three." Toby replied.

"Twenty two." EJ answered as he rested his feet against the edge of the table.

Okay wow they're old. Though, Toby really didn't look his age. As for EJ- well Jeff couldn't tell. "What's the mask for?" He asked. EJ tilted his head at him in amusement.

"You wanna know why they call me EJ?" He asked. Jeff frowned in confusion.

"Sure?"

"Don't freak him out." Toby murmured.

"Nah, he can take it," EJ lifted the mask off and looked at Jeff. He had ashy grey skin and pointy ears. He opened his eyes to reveal nothing. His eye sockets were completely empty. "The E stands for eyeless." He said with a toothy smirk. Jeff could see fangs in his mouth.

"...y'know I think being eyeless is a whole lot better than having no eyelids." Jeff finally replied. There was a moment of silence before both EJ and Toby broke into hysterical laughter.

"I LIKE THIS ONE!" EJ barked after he'd finished cackling. He rested his trainers against the edge of the table and pointed at Jeff with a clawed finger, grinning. "You're fun, kid."

Jeff's lips quirked up into a genuine smile. They- liked him. Genuinely. They found him funny even though he'd said very little and barely knew him.

He liked it here.

#creepypasta #jeff the killer #eyeless jack #ticci toby #slenderman #slender mansion #laughing jack #writing

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unibrowzz · 3 years

Text

Mod (finally) reviews all 67 winners of the Eurovision Song Contest Part IV: The 1980s

Ah yes, the 80s. One of my favourite decades for music overall, and one of the only decades in Eurovision where I wouldn’t immediately jump at the chance to change most of the songs that won, the other decade being the 2000s.

But at least with the 80s there was more quality songs per year, whereas the 2000s was mostly drivel.

I also count the 80s as being somewhat of a turning point in the contest’s history, and by that I mean it always seemed to me like it was the decade where the UK really began to stop caring. Most people know the song that won in 1985, but nobody knows what won in 1986. Everyone knows Johnny Logan won twice, but couldn’t name his second song. Everyone knows Celine Dion competed, but can’t remember if she won or what she sang.

That and countries also started experimenting with more modern sounds and outfits towards the end. The early 80s is just an extension of the 70s I swear.

But that’s enough of all that, how do I find the winning songs?

1980- What’s Another Year?

Country: Ireland

Artist: Johnny Logan

Language: English

Thoughts: Ah yes, the song that makes every 50something woman in the UK and Ireland all doey-eyed and rosy cheeked as they remember back to when they were a teenager watching this on TV and drooling at the lovely looking sad Irishman singing his sorrows into the microphone. Or that’s my experience with this song anyway. Another experience is that most vintage fans I know tend to dislike this song on the grounds of it beating out [insert song here] Everyone has their favourite from 1980 since it was honestly a pretty strong year, but even though this song isn’t my first place for that year I can still clearly see why it won. See, 1980 had a lot of pop songs, so a slow, sad song like this one was bound to stand out, whether it was popular or not. Luckily for this one, it turned out to be a popular choice. Other songs wouldn’t be so lucky… Back on track though. Like I said, this is a very sad and melancholy song with sad and melancholy lyrics, which not only made it stand out in its year, but also made it stand out amongst other Eurovision songs of its time. It’s strange to think, but at this point in the contest’s history there hadn’t been a winner with lyrics so solemn and personal. See, in modern Eurovision, every other song is the artist baring their soul about their horrible ex-boyfriend, or their depression, or past abuse, or whatever, so knowing there was a period where songs like that were so rare is just… surreal to me.

Is this my personal winner for this year? This or Greece tbh, I don’t mind this one

If no, what is? Greece- Anna Vissi- “Autostop”

Personal ranking (out of 67): 23rd

1981: Making Your Mind Up

Country: United Kingdom

Artist: Bucks Fizz

Language: English

Thoughts: Ah yes, the UK winner that nobody really likes, but the BBC still forces at us anyway because they’re proud they came up with a gimmick that everybody remembers. Or maybe it’s not that well remembered, but nobody would know that because we’re reminded of it every year. This song is… alright. Just alright. The first listen of this one is always the best, because after a while it just gets kind of annoying. The singing ESPECIALLY starts to grate you for a while. Even in the studio version the two girls sound unbearably shrill and whiny, and I’m not sure if that’s their fault or the songwriter’s (since if I remember correctly only one of them was a professional singer). I’m seriously convinced there’s no way for a female vocalist to pull this off without sounding terrible. Again, this one’s perfectly fine and serviceable, but that doesn’t mask the fact it’s still the worst UK winner and the worst winner of the 1980s too.

Is this my personal winner for this year? No

If no, what is? Portugal- Carlos Paião- “Playback”

Personal ranking (out of 67): 58th

1982: Ein Bißchen Frieden

Country: West Germany

Artist: Nicole

Language: German (Translation: “A little peace”)

Thoughts: This song gives me a really warm, nostalgic feeling, and I don’t know why. I mean, I know this one did well internationally, so it’s possible I just heard it as a kid, but given how I grew up in the early 2000s, “Eurovision is a shitty freak show full of weirdos from the USSR who gang up on the UK and don't vote for us on purpose” era Britain, that’s highly unlikely. Anyways, this is such a warm, fuzzy kind of song. It has a lovely… round-the-campfire, singalong kind of vibe, like this is meant to be sung by a load of long haired hippies with flowers in their hair and CND symbols drawn on their cheeks. And it’s… … Also kind of bland. If you’ve been reading my personal winners so far, you’ll have noticed I definitely have a soft spot for old German entries, so it’s a shame I find the one song they actually won with to be so… generic. It’s like they got tired of being unique so decided to send the same saccharine fluff everyone else was sending, and guess what, it paid off majorly, because this song was a huge hit at the time. Something about that kind of bothers me, like, out of all the entries they sent, it’s the one that’s the most “Eurovision-y” that ended up winning. And there’s something depressing in that.

Is this my personal winner for this year? No

If no, what is? United Kingdom- Bardo- “One Step Further”

Personal ranking (out of 67): 50th

1983: Si la vie est Cadeau

Country: Luxembourg

Artist: Corinne Hermés

Language: French (Translation: “If life were a gift”)

Thoughts: You want a tip on how to stand out amongst Eurovision fans? Say you like this song. Probably won’t make you very popular, but you’ll stand out at least. I will confess, I, too, was part of the hate-wagon for this song. Like most fans I knew, I’d complain about how boring and uninteresting it was and how it, ahem, “robbed” so many other entries, and how basic it was, et cetera, et cetera. But… honestly? It’s not even that bad. Sure I had other favourites from 1983 (the ones I could stand watching anyway, the host that year was so unimaginably terrible I gave up watching halfway through. I DARE you to watch the whole thing without wanting to neck yourself), but this song gets way more hate than it deserves. I honestly don’t think this song is half as bad as I made it out to be myself, or as bad as the fandom makes it out to be. It’s got a decent melody, some solid vocals, some appealingly 80s instrumental, like there’s a lot I like here. …Until you read the lyrics and realise they’re almost as half-assed and lazy as All Kinds of Everything’s, but I digress. Did I prefer other songs from that year? Of course. Am I going to complain about this one winning? Nah. It’s alright.

Is this my personal winner for this year? No

If no, what is? Sweden- Carola Häggkvist- “Främling”

Personal ranking (out of 67): 41st

1984- Diggiloo, Diggiley

Country: Sweden

Artist: Herreys

Language: Swedish

Thoughts: Whenever I was a younger fan I used to describe this song as being drunk-dad-at-a-wedding-music performed by three sentient Ken dolls, and I still stand by that statement. And I don’t really know how else to describe this one. It certainly has its charm, and it’s still a likeable song, but it also feels very… vapid. Like if this song were a person, they’d be a bit of a bimbo. And I mean, the song’s about how the singer’s oh-so-happy and prancing down the street in his brand new shoes, so that’s probably a fair description. Part of me wonders if that’s down to old Eurovision songs being vapid in general or if it’s down to the schlager genre itself requiring songs to be kinda neutered and happy-go-lucky, but even though I do like this song, it does come off as being a bit bland. A bit by-the-numbers and playing-it-safe. And I don’t mind songs like that, but I’d rather they didn’t win, y’know?

Is this my personal winner for this year? Not really

If no, what is? Italy- Alice & Franco- “Il Treni di Tozeur”

Personal ranking (out of 67): 15th

1985- La det Swinge

Country: Norway

Artist: Bobbysocks

Language: Norwegian

Thoughts: Ah yes, the song which finally hauled Norway into first place after years of being a regular last-placer. Maybe the UK should take some notes instead of blaming Brexit. Or Russia. Or Iraq. Or anything other than their own apathy, for that matter. But this is about La det Swinge and not the UK, so what are my thoughts on it? Well it’s… It’s the kind of song I imagine my mom and aunt would sing at a wedding if they ever attended one. It’s a very fun song, a little cheesy, sure, but it’s hard to not like a song that’s this upbeat and cheery. And yeah I know it’s because it’s schlager and that’s generally a really cheerful genre by default, I touched on that in the review above,

Is this my personal winner for this year? This or Israel

If no, what is? Israel- Yizhar Cohen- “Olé Olé”

Personal ranking (out of 67): 14th

1986- J’aime la Vie

Country: Belgium

Artist: Sandra Kim

Language: French

Thoughts: This song is an enigma because I’m an absolute slut for 80s pop, yet, for some reason, I find this song painfully average and uninteresting. Now, I’ll get it off my chest and say that 1986 was also a painfully average and uninteresting year, and most of the time I just felt myself remembering the singer more than the song, and even then I struggle to remember what some of the acts even were. It was just such a boring blur of a year I’m surprised the juries even managed to stay awake to pick a winner. And I GUESS you could argue that this song is so upbeat and peppy that it woke them up, but that doesn’t excuse how bloody generic it is. Like, this is the most generic 80s song you can imagine, and not in a good way. It feels more like stock music than an actual publicly released pop song. Had it not won, I doubt it would’ve stood out to me at all; it would’ve just faded into the background with all the other muted, 80s-coloured mush from this year. Basically, there’s a reason the singer’s age is the only thing noteworthy about this song.

Is this my personal winner for this year? Not really

If no, what is? Luxembourg- Sherisse Laurence- “L’amour de ma vie”

Personal ranking (out of 67): 49th

1987- Hold me Now

Country: Ireland

Artist: Johnny Logan

Language: English

Thoughts: Ah yes, the superior Johnny Logan winner. And I’m not sure why everyone forgets this one because Mother of Mercy this song is in another league entirely compared to the other schlock Ireland’s won with. Like this is their best winner, no competition. One of their best songs overall as well. One of the best entries from the 80s, one of the best winners of the 80s, one of the best winners… Yeah, I really like this song. I’ll admit to sleeping on this one for too long myself, always dismissing it as some boring Irish ballad to go with all the other boring Irish ballads they somehow managed to win with (we’ll get to that later), and always agreeing with people who said XYZ country (always Yugolslavia) should have won instead. Basically I learnt the hard way to never judge a song on its country and genre. But one day I found myself in the midst of a revisiting trip, going back to winners I didn't pay much attention to, just to see if there was anything I’d missed the first time round. And something about the lyrics in this song resonated with me a lot more than I thought they would. In a strange way, it made me feel older; like I’d grown up and was able to relate to the words in a song and appreciate it more than I could when I was younger. The line “what do you say when words are not enough?” especially hits harder than it should; as someone with autism I tend to find showing emotions difficult, even in virtual conversation where I’m not using my voice or face, because… Well, what do you say when your words aren’t enough?

Is this my personal winner for this year? Yes

If no, what is? N/A

Personal ranking (out of 67): 2nd

1988- Ne Partez pas Sans Moi

Country: Switzerland

Artist: Céline Dion

Language: French

Thoughts: Telling people Céline Dion won this thing is a new favourite hobby of mine, just to see the confused reaction. And that’s the most interesting thing about this song because it’s… fine, I guess? It’s a perfectly serviceable 80s power ballad, but there’s no bells and whistles to make me sit up and declare it any better than just “okay”. It’s basically the ballad equivalent of J’aime la Vie from 1986, in that it’s extremely 80s and also in French, but there’s nothing to make it that memorable aside from the singer herself. And even then this isn’t the song that made her famous anyway. Even her singing doesn't make this one stand out, partially because the song doesn't do anything special with it, and partially because she just blends in with all the other good singers of this era. And that’s kinda sad to think about.

Is this my personal winner for this year? Hmmm....

If no, what is? Greece- Afroditi Frida- “Clown”

Personal ranking (out of 67): 22nd

1989- Rock Me

Country: Yugoslavia

Artist: Riva

Language: Croatian

Thoughts: So this is another song it really took me a while to get into (there’s lots of those, trust me) and one that was very briefly in my top three overall favourites. It’s slid down a few slots since then, though I would still say it’s… Somewhere in the top 15. I don’t really have a lot to say about this one, if I’m honest. It’s just a good, fun, solid song which stood out in a very dull and ballad-saturated year, nothing more, nothing less. The lyrics are nice too, being about a bored musician who learns to love music again by teaching himself how to play pop songs to entertain his friends. That’s a unique subject and I can imagine it resonating with a lot of people who’ve fallen out with a hobby they used to love because they took it too seriously (providing they either speak Croatian or have looked up the lyrics, of course). I mean, it resonates with me at least. All in all, I just like this song for its message more than anything else.

Is this my personal winner for this year? No

If no, what is? Portugal- Da Vinci- “Conquistador”

Personal ranking (out of 67): 9th

#Eurovision #mod's winner reviews #posting now because the tag will be CHAOS come 7 lmao #esc winners

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nachohypno · 4 years

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Pine’s College Jocks 2 Ch. 2 - Two Player Game

A naked Mike was kneeling in front of me, enthralled by my cock as it swung side to side. His glazed eyes were fixated on it like it was the only thing that mattered to him.

“What are you?” I asked him.

“Your jockboy slave…” he said, dazedly. “I’m under your complete control…”

“And what am I?”

He smiled at that question. “My owner and master… And the love of my life…”

Mind controlled Mike was almost as great as nervous cutepie Mike. I had him perfectly programmed for these little sessions of ours. He craved them, and I was happy to give what the public wanted!

“Your owner, you say?” I said, without stopping my cock’s movement.

“Yes master… You own my mind… my body…” He took a big sniff of my cock, getting my scent. A dopey smile appeared on his face. “…I belong to you… And I love you, master”

“Good jockboy. And when I wake you up, you will be eager to obey everything I tell you, won’t you?”

He nodded “Yes master…”

I stopped moving my cock and snapped my fingers in front of him. These little trances I put my slaves in resulted very useful for adding suggestions or programming. And they looked hot while under.

He blinked a bit, gave my cock a small kiss and got up again. “Learned my lesson, bro. I’ll leave your Switch where you left it after I use it”

I had another thing in mind “So… ‘the love of my life’, huh?”

He blushed, his whole face went red. “T-That’s… W-Well, that’s how I feel like, bro!”

I chuckled and gave him a good kiss in the lips. “Don’t be embarrassed. I love you too, my sweet and cheesy boyfriend”

“Damn bro” He smiled “I can’t get enough of you, apparently”

“That won’t save you, though. Why don’t you go ahead and start preparing our breakfast?”

His eyes glazed again as he said “Yes master!”, before running off to the kitchen. I wasn’t mad because he used my switch, I just wanted an excuse to play with him for a while. He was probably going to make the breakfast anyway

I pulled my underwear back up, I didn’t need to dicknotize my boyfriend any further. Then, I walked back to the living room of the apartment. I sat down on the couch, waiting for breakfast to be ready, and checked my phone.

I noticed I had messages from coach Peter, saying he’d been researching as I asked him to, for possible coaches I could recruit for the club. It was a good way of retesting my powers, after that big break I took. Only using my current mind links and the mind control through speech was the safe bet, but a year has passed and I had to check things out.

Since the sport club’s owner 'had' to fire all his employees, I couldn’t open up yet. I had to get new employees, and I saw that as a chance to reuse my powers once again, and also win a good handful of slaves in the process.

Peter sent me a few of his fellow coaches’ pics. He apparently knew them from previous sports championships. I told him we would speak more about the matter later. He answered with a happy face emoji.

And then, Mike arrived with breakfast.

-----

My classes flew by today. I couldn’t stop thinking about the research I’ve managed to do with my little personality project. Keeping my place as one of the best in the class was kind of hard, now that I have more hobbies than studying and gaming.

Coaching a team, fraternity stuff (Which included the occasional party that Mike forced me to go to), and now managing a sports club. The list just kept growing and growing. And yet, I still managed to get good grades.

Practice would start in a few hours, so I thought about calling Peter and asking him to pick me up with his car. That way, we would start with the recruiting coaches right away.

However, I got an unexpected change of plans. Gary, my first slave, sent me a few worried messages. We still talked about normal stuff from now and then, and he liked to spend any free minute he’s not partying at his college, visiting me in here.

[Bro, something super strange happened last night at a party] Gary texted.

[What is it?]

The next thing he sent was an audio, explaining the whole situation. [“Last night, I was with some bros at the local bar. Y’know, celebrating our good grades and looking for something to bang while getting drunk”] I rolled my eyes ["when suddenly, this strange guy came closer to me. For some reason, I felt like I was talking to you while he spoke… he was so convincing, telling me to go with him to be a good slave"]

At this point, I thought ‘What the heck?’

[“But! As the good slave I am, I whispered to him that I wasn’t interested. He seemed weirded out for my answer, then kept insisting on the matter. Until he asked if I had a master already. I wasn’t sure if I should answer him, so I told him to give me his number and I would text him later with the answer”]

Good thinking Gary, not sending weird strangers to my door.

[“But I tell you bro, his words felt so powerful for some reason, and I felt compelled to obey him. Maybe he has powers like you have? You should talk to him; to see what he wants or if he’s not a faker. Wait, let me write you his number”]

Well, I think I don’t have anything to lose.

I sent the mysterious guy a simple [Hi] And waited for him to answer. In the meanwhile, I postponed the enslavement of those coaches.

This was something bigger than just making some random guys drink my cum to become linked to me. This was possibly another guy who also has mind control powers!

After a few minutes, the other guy answered with a [How r u?! So good to hear from u, been waiting all day!]

Huh, he seemed nice.

[I’m good, how about you?] I wanted to ask directly about the powers part, but I was afraid if that would seem rude.

The other guy seemed as anxious as I was, because he said [I’m awesome! But I think we have a matter to chat about, would you like to meet in a coffee shop?]

[What about my place? Would be more fitting to chat about these… things] I appreciated the secretism. I didn’t want to chat out loud in a public place about mind control. [It’s a few hours away from my friend's college]

[Fair enough, send me the address and I’ll travel there ASAP, if it’s that close. We could meet today, man!] That was fast. And now I was scared, what was I going to do? It was just a chat with a possible new friend, right?

I sent him my location through Maps and asked him to tell Gary to come too. He knew the place already.

This was going to be something fun, right?

-----

A few hours passed, and I decided to cancel today’s recruitment and just do a normal football practice. The sports club wasn’t going to open until I got enough coaches working in that place, so I was kinda free of guilt.

I went with Mike back to our place, and checked that everything was clean enough to receive our visitor.

It was just a matter of time, just a while more and… *knock knock*

I went to open the door, and there he was.

“Yo!” The man said. He seemed older than me, maybe in his late 20’s/early 30’s? “So glad to finally meet ya!” He had a British accent, and that made Mikey chuckle. Luckily, this guy didn’t notice him yet. He was wearing a sweater with a shirt underneath, and black pants. His torso was big, like the body from a rugby player.

“Hey, I’m Pine” I mumbled, obviously nervous.

“Great! I’m Leo!” He gave me a big, tight hug. Gary entered behind him and closed the door. I looked at him over Leo’s shoulder and he mumbled a “Hi!” with a nice, but nervous smile. Glad to see I’m not the only one nervous in here.

“So, is it true?” Leo let me go of his bear hug and looked around “You have a nice place, dude. Did you get it with your powers or…?”

“Wait wait wait. First things first, do you have mind control powers too?”

“Hell yeah, and I love ‘em! I assume this fella here already told you what happened when I tried to control him” He said, pointing to Gary. He just stood there, looking around. Gary had been at my new place already, he visited a few times. “But, it didn’t go as planned. Man, I was so scared. I was like ‘Oh god, am I losing my powers?’ But, I tried with a waitress and it worked perfectly!”

He was talkative, good to know.

“Would you like to take a seat on the couch? Do you want something to drink?” I asked. I had to be a good host!

“Do you have juice?” Leo asked as he sat on the couch. I went to the kitchen and served him some orange juice, before returning and sitting beside him “Thanks man”

He finished drinking and resumed his storytelling. “As I said, my powers didn’t work for like the first time ever. That scared the hell out of me. Your guy told me he wasn’t interested, which was really disappointing. No one ever managed to resist me!” Another sip of his juice “But yeah. Bing bang bong, we arrived here and there’s another mind controller!”

I never thought about a term for my powers. I didn’t even know where they came from. ‘Mind controller’ sounded right, but weird at the same time.

Gary called Mike over, which followed him with a frown, towards the kitchen. Leo still hasn’t noticed my boyfriend. I preferred to leave it that way, what if the guy tried to control him?

“So what about you? How long since you’ve had your powers? Tell me everything, I’m so excited!” His excitement was pretty obvious at this point. I was sort of excited too, but also scared.

This guy seemed, and probably was, older than me. That could also mean that he was more experienced and powerful.

I explained him my side of the story. The whole senior year ordeal, how I enslaved Gary, coach Mark, and the two football teams. He seemed interested, and never stopped listening. He asked if I did something else besides from that, and I mentioned the college football team and the frat president.

“Nothing else? But you had these powers since… when?” Leo sounded disappointed.

“A year and a half… maybe two years, I don’t know exactly when I started having them, but I know they appeared halfway through senior year”

He nodded and looked around “Well, you do have a nice place on here. Got it with your powers, right?”

This was getting unnerving. He talked about his powers like a mean to get stuff instead of… I don’t know, the right way?. “Not exactly…” Being the assistant of the mind controlled coach counts as a job?

He nodded slowly. “I’ve got mine when I became 17” He started “I remember being in complete bliss about it. I come from a very good family, don’t get me wrong.”

We got our powers around the same age, maybe it was a coincidence?

His story didn’t end there “But, that wasn’t enough for me. I’ve always been a guy that wanted more, and out of nowhere, the world seemed to give a way to get that for me! I was at senior year in my high school during that time. But I didn’t have the idea to enslave a whole sports team at the time, may do that now” He chuckled. “I did enslave a few guys, and girls, to serve me. Just people I found hot at first. Then people that would be useful in the future, like guys from wealthy families”

That didn’t sound so good.

“I would tell you my whole life, but that kind of summarizes it. Just me, using my powers to get what I want. Can’t say we’re exactly on the same page here, but it’s alright. I respect you, dude. It’s great having another one like me around!”

He finished his glass of juice. I thought that would be a good escape route. “Would you like more juice? I can get you more”

“Yeah, but do you mind if that hottie from before is the one who serves it? I love seeing hunks obeying orders. Uh, Garrett was his name?”

“Someone called?” Gary appeared from the kitchen. I assume he and Mike had been listening the whole conversation. It’s alright, probably curious to see if this guy was good or bad.

“Yeah! Would you mind bringing some more juice?” My friend frowned at the order, but I nodded behind Leo, to avoid causing a scene. Gary went back to the kitchen and came with another glass of juice. “Thanks, man!” He said at Gary.

“No problem, do you need something bro?” He asked me.

I looked at my glass and shook my head in denial.

“Wait!” Leo spoke up. “I have an idea, but first” He looked at me “Can I try something with your slave?”

Both guys were looking over at me. Mike was peeping through the kitchen’s door, with curiosity.

I didn’t know what to say, so I looked at Gary and mumbled “Are you up to it?”

My first slave shrugged “Yeah. Maybe you can see why it didn’t work last time” He sat beside Leo on the sofa, as he left his glass of juice and got in place

“Awesome!” He waited for Gary to get ready and stared into his eyes. I thought it was some weird focus thing, to make it work better. He was older than me, he probably knew ways to have his powers take more control of the victim. “You want to obey, don’t you?”

Gary gave the guy a sly smile and answered “Yeah…”

Leo smiled too, it seemed to be working. “Yeah, you want to obey me, isn’t that right?”

That’s when it went wrong. Gary seemed about to nod, but he snapped out of it and said “Not really, bro” His smile faded, and he was looking at Leo with a frown. He got up from the sofa and walked to the kitchen again.

I was relieved. He didn’t seem able to control my slaves, no matter that he’s older than me. Leo pointed that out too, with a little joke “Seems like we can’t share slaves, huh?”

I noticed Mike was still peeping through the open door, and Leo noticed him. “Who’s that one?”

“My boyfriend” I said quickly, giving him a big, but not so nice smile. I didn’t feel threatened, but better to assert dominance.

“You have a boyfriend? Is he under too?” Leo asked with curiosity. What’s with him asking that? Like my powers are my only way to get stuff. He was nice, but his obsession with the mind control seemed unhealthy.

“…Not really. Well, kind of. We have a mind link, but we just play with my powers, he consented it and is aware of everything that happens while under”

“Oh. Well, I wouldn’t mind a one night stand with one of these guys if you’d allow it” He winked.

“Uh... Again, ask them about it. I prefer to leave it to them” But Gary and Mike didn’t seem eager about that. They shook their heads in denial.

“Uhm. Now this got weird. Better get going, but first” He finished his juice and took his phone. “You have my number, right?” He asked. I nodded and he continued “Great, let’s keep talking man. It was great getting to know you!”

“Same!” I offered my hand for a shake. He shook it and headed to the door.

“Have a good day!” He said, before leaving the apartment.

Mike and Gary left the kitchen, finally

“What a weird guy” The later said.

“He was… alright. And he seemed happy to get to know me. It’s good to know his powers don’t work on me, or you” I finished my juice and took the glass to the kitchen. “But, everything went amazing, and luckily we don’t have an enemy”

“His accent was funny, though” Mike said. “I mean it. Fuh fock saek!” He tried to imitate the exaggerated British accent from Leo. It was really funny. The three of us laughed, before I let out a yawn.

“I don’t know about you guys, but this whole visit thing got me tired” I looked at my watch and it was pretty late already. “We have an extra bedroom; would you like to stay there?” I asked Gary. It was late, and I don’t know if he would like to return to his place now.

The jock nodded. “Sure, no problem” He waited to see if I had anything else to say, maybe a ‘oh Gary, come sleep with us! We have a lot of space in our bed!’

But it wasn’t the case.

Mike seemed nervous, I could tell. And I decided to take care of that instead of making what would probably be a very hot threesome with me controlling this pair of hunks.

I said ‘good night’ to Gary, faked a yawn and went to my room. Mike followed me, after giving a bro nod to his ex-teammate and turning off the lights.

I changed into my pajamas while Mike just stripped down to his underwear. We both laid down on the bed and he just stared to the ceiling.

Alright, time for a boyfriend chat. “Is everything alright? You seem nervous” He liked being straight forward, so let’s take that approach

“Uh, yeah. Everything is alright, bro” Again, he didn’t sound as usual. “But…” He got sideways, facing me. “D-Do you… Ehem. Do you love me, bro?”

Where was this coming from? “Of course I do! You’ve been my best friend since forever, and well, we’ve been dating for a whole year now, and it’s been amazing. We already had this chat, you know I love you”

He gulped “You won’t… You wouldn’t let another guy take me as his slave, would you?” That was it. He was scared. Poor Mikey, he probably feels worried about my constant use of my powers over him, now that another player joined the game.

I passed my hand over his hair, trying to comfort him. “I would never do that. Not to you, not to anyone. You are like a brother to me, I could never do that to you, Mike”

He nodded and said “I trust you. I like being yours and doing what you want… Being tranced is fun too, that swinging cock idea is awesome. But that guy from before and the idea of possibly being controlled by him… I’ve been scared since he arrived, babe”

“Don’t worry, nothing is going to happen to you” I kissed his forehead “I love you Mikey”

He seemed more at ease. I could easily use my powers to erase any worry or fear on him. But that would be stripping him of his humanity. It was good to feel, from a psychologist’s point of view.

He returned the kiss and pulled me in to cuddle “I love you too, Piney. Thanks so much for being with me”

“Anytime, Mikey. Anytime” Tomorrow I would get back to my plan: Enslaving a few coaches to help save that sports club. If Leo wanted to join me, he was welcome. But I would be careful around him, until I confirm he doesn’t have bad intentions.

The room’s door opened, all of a sudden.

Gary entered with a pillow under his arm. He was in his underwear, just like Mike. “Sorry. Mind if I sleep with you, bros? I feel a bit uneasy after what happened” He said, walking over to the bed.

I looked at Mike, he was frowning. The romantic moment wasn’t really ruined, but he didn’t like Gary that much.

“Uh… Sure, come here” I said. I hoped that Mike wouldn’t mind.

“Thanks, man. I really appreciate it” He put his pillow at one of the sides and got under the covers.

Now, I was surrounded by hunks, and I tried to not think with my cock and just randomly throw the bedsheets aside to start a threesome.

Gary faced my back and tried to cuddle with me. I was hugging Mike and he was hugging me. This felt great, but I could feel the animosity between the pair.

Yep. This is going to be weird.

-----

Chapter 3 is already available in my Patreon! And by pledging you also get access to other stories before they go public!

#PinesCollegeJocks #hypnosis #hypnotized #straight to gay #gay hypnosis #brainwash #brainwashing #brainwashed #mind control

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dxmxnxshxnx · 5 years

Text

@blacktofade was talking about a sugar daddy au and uh, i couldn’t help myself so here

also this is dedicated to @pinkbergara and @yourlocalshaniac

Ryan Bergara sat, slumped over, at UCLA’s library computer, eyes widen in shock.

No way. No fucking way.

He blinked, hoping his brain, still weary from moving into the dorm, was just tricking him.

There, on the screen displaying his bank account information, still sat the total: -489.73.

Fuck.

“I don’t know what I’m going to do,” Ryan bemoaned, shoving another spoonful of stolen Rocky Road ice cream into his mouth.

Kelsey, the owner of said ice cream, had her eyes trained on the TV screen. If Ryan didn’t know her better, he’d probably be irritated that she wasn’t listening.

Thankfully, he did know her, and she was listening. She was just hyper focused on winning this COD match (which he totally gets). He was in her apartment, laying on the couch and mourning his debt-free life. His feet rested in her lap, as she sat cross-legged at the other end.

“I’d apply for another loan, but it takes forever to get them approved and I’ll be over-drafted while the bank figures it out,” he sighed, brows furrowed in thought. “And I don’t really want to sell my soul for school. Not to mention I’ve just spent the whole summer trying to pay off my first loan... and I had money saved up for that from high school.” Which was completely drained first semester. “Holy shit-”

Ryan suddenly sat up, almost knocking the ice cream off his chest. He grabbed the gallon before it could, but the panicked look in his eyes didn’t disappear. “Holy shit, Kelsey, what the fuck am I gonna do for food? I only paid for my books! I still haven’t paid for tuition or my dorm or-”

Right then, the noise signaling the end of a match played, and Ryan glanced over to see the yellow line highlighting Kelsey’s name at the top of the list.

His leg was pat and he looked back to see Kelsey giving him a sympathetic look. “We’ve all been there,” she said, “I had to ask my mom for food halfway through the first semester. You can eat at my place while you figure it out!” Kelsey gave him a sweet smile and Ryan felt very, very guilty all of a sudden, stirring the melted remnants of ice cream left in the gallon.

He knew she was struggling to pay her tuition as well and she had worse luck than he did. She had to get an apartment this semester because dorms were full. She had to get a roommate because an apartment located close to campus in LA cost an arm and a leg. And then the whole food thing... Here he was complaining about his life when she had it much, much harder.

“No, Kelse, I couldn’t do that.”

“What? Why not? Listen, we broke-ass college students gotta stick together.”

God, she was always so optimistic. Ryan admired her for that. When he heard about her not getting a dorm, she just smiled and said, “It’ll be cool to live in the city! Maybe I’ll find some fun places! Ooh! And I’ll have better Wi-Fi!”

When she was looking for a roommate, she was so excited, mentioning that she “couldn’t wait to meet a cool new friend!”

Kelsey was the strongest person he knew and he worked at LA Fitness IN L.A.

“I just feel bad about it, because I know you’re struggling too.”

“Hey, I’ll be just as poor if you come over and eat a sandwich with me once in a while.” She shrugged. “I’d rather be poor and have good company than rich and be surrounded by people I hate.”

Ryan laughed, “You romantic fucking English major.”

Kelsey said nothing in response, just gave the widest grin that Ryan had ever seen.

“Come on,” she said, pushing Ryan’s feet off her lap and reaching forward to grab another controller. She handed it to Ryan, “Play some COD with me. I’ll give you something to really cry about!”

More than a dozen lost matches later (hey, Ryan was a NBA guy), Kelsey and Ryan were dancing in the kitchen to some stupid meme song that was in Kelsey’s playlist, laughing like manics. They had abandoned COD a while ago, deciding to finally listen to their rumbling tummies and making cheap ramen, lovingly flavored with the spiciest hot sauce they could find in the house.

Despite the music being loud enough to probably annoy Kelsey’s neighbors, it wasn’t loud enough to drown out the door hitting the wall.

Kelsey’s roommate was home.

“Sara!” Kelsey greeted, spinning around immediately. There, by the door, a paint-covered woman, with curly brown and eyes that gleamed impishly. Kelsey, once again, had a wild grin on her face, one that both of her friends knew said mischief. “Show us your moves!”

Sara, despite looking a bit ragged, smiled her own grin. She watched Kelsey show off her own moves for a minute, grin just growing wider and wider, before it finally broke. She laughed, as she dropping her canvas bag by the door and kicking off her shoes. Then, she was boogieing her way over to Kelsey and Ryan, doing some cheesy disco move that had Ryan doubled over and laughing and Kelsey imitating it (again, fucking romantic, cheesy English major).

As much bad luck as Kelsey had, she had just the same amount of good luck. It was like a scale; every once in a while, one side (usually the bad luck side) got a pinch more, tipping her luck that way before the other side got a pinch more and so on.

Ryan remembers the day Kelsey was interviewing roommates. He’s sure his whole class did too, because his phone was going off non-stop during a movie they were analyzing and despite being on silent and flipped over, it kept lighting up the room because Kelsey could not stop raving about this one woman she interviewed -- which, of course, was the lovely Sara. Kelsey was head over heels for Sara from the minute they met.

Sara was a Art major and, apparently, her and Kelsey had SO much chemistry that Kelsey HAD to choose Sara.

(It was true, though. Kelsey would write something for her class and it would inspire art-blocked Sara to draw something for her class and vice versa. Kelsey was bad at cleaning and good at cooking where Sara burnt water and was basically Marie Kondo. They both loved playing video games -- they both played DPS and had a fun time creating chaos in game. Ryan would call them soulmates, but Kelsey got too embarrassed whenever he said that, so he gave her a little bit of mercy and usually kept that to himself.)

“What is going on?” Sara shouts. She does a twirl to the beat and then holds her arm up for Kelsey, signaling her to grab her hand and twirl underneath it.

“Ryan’s in debt and his life is over!” Kelsey jokes, shouting over the music. Ryan distantly remembers the time Sara’s last class gets out -- 9:30 -- and wonders if they should turn down the music. “So we’re having a Dia De Los Muertos inspired funeral for him!” She lets go of Sara’s hand and just dances in her space. Sara does not seem to mind the close proximity at all.

“Oh shit!” Sara responds, “That fucking sucks, dude!”

“Yeah! He can’t even buy food!”

Sara glances over at Ryan, who is currently doing some shitty version of the cha-cha. “Really?” Kelsey nods and even though it looks like she’s nodding with the beat, Sara knows her better. They twirl opposite directions, almost looking choreographed, and when they come back together, Sara has a look on her face, head tilted and smile tight.

“What is it?” Kelsey asks and Sara holds up a finger. She twirls away again, this time, going farther and farther until she reaches Kelsey’s phone on the island of the kitchen.

Stopping the music (which Kelsey’s neighbors are probably thankful for), she spins around to give the two confused faces a bright smile. “I know how Ryan -- and us, of course -- can score some free food, if you’re up to it.”

Kelsey’s face lights up, “I love free food!”

“Didn’t we just eat?” Ryan says, he’s smiling though, because his grumbling tummy agrees with Kelsey. Hey, he’s a man who works out and has a high metabolism... and he’s “growing.” He’s always hungry.

And Kelsey... well, she’s Kelsey.

“So... how are we doing this?” Ryan says, with a lopsided smile. Ryan realizes how much they look like a pack of gremlins up to no good -- which they kinda are. Suddenly, the whole “I’m in horrible debt” thing isn’t looming over this day and he realizes that Kelsey was right -- it’s hard to be miserable in like-minded company.

“So,” Sara starts, using a voice that sounds like she’s giving Kelsey and Ryan an inside scoop. Ryan now pictures them as a group of spies, preparing to infiltrate an important ball. The two in question lean in, despite them being the only people in the house, and Sara continues, “So, in Art History today, we were learning about some art that was painted by people who were. Fucked. Up. Like they were drinking absinthe and doing coke -- I was joking with my friend, Keith, telling him how they must’ve been some WILD partiers and how it put me in a partying mood. And he told me that he and his little crew were going to this party at this bar on 6th street. And, this is the best part-”

Sara look back and forth between Ryan and Kelsey, excitedly. “Eugene was the one who got invited, so you KNOW it’s gonna be full of people who got that mun-nay! We should hit it up and see if anyone will buy us drinks and food and stuff!”

“Hell yeah!” Kelsey exclaims, “Mooching off the rich for the win! Down with capitalism!”

“You got that right!” Sara says, “Mooch the rich!”

“Mooch the rich!” Ryan agrees. He throws his fist in the air like some French revolutionary and the look of excitement that appears on Kelsey’s face is so funny, he can’t help wheezing at it.

Kelsey and Sara carry on without him, shouting “MOOCH THE RICH!” and pounding their fists in the air, getting louder and louder with each shout.

Ryan’s tearing up from laughing so hard now, because holy shit, Kelsey’s neighbors are gonna think they’re some sort of anarchist cult doing weird cult stuff behind loud music and are Sara and Kelsey doing a picket circle in the kitchen now??

-- fuck, Ryan loves his friends.

#shyan #skeptic believer #sugar daddy!AU #sugar daddy!shane #lynn writes #i feel ryan in this fic #WHOA this got long #sorry #they'll probably be more #sometime...#I ALMOST DELETED THE ENTIRE THING AND I WAS SO SCARED OMG #okay #i've decided this will be part one bc it is entirely too long so ryan will go to the party #NEXT TIME ON DRAGON BALL Z- I MEAN SKEPTIC BELIEVER INC

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letstalksymphogear · 5 years

Text

Symphogear, EP. 6

Last Time on Grand Theft Auto:

Tsubasa recovers from the world’s gayest coma as Hibiki trains her mind while putting aside such silly concepts as “the love of my life” and “literally being with my girlfriend.” After cooling Miku’s paranoia with her brand new washboard abs, Genjuro prepares the team for a pizza run across the city to deliver a dangerously hot pizza pie named Durandal. Chaos emerges as the delivery is intercepted by a rival pizza gang, lead by the nefarious Gremlin known as Yukine Chris. But, before the pizza could be claimed, dedicated pizza deliverywoman Hibiki not only steals it back, but eats it, harnessing the power of the pizza and unleashing cheesy pasta based chaos around the location.

Ryoko is so into it that she taps into her superpowers and protects Hibiki after she passes out. The delivery is considered a failure, and no tip is given.

And so, the journey continues...

Meanwhile, in this weird, tricked out mansion...

Chris meditates on some water metaphors of her own.

“that pacman colored freak took only touching it to activate a cheap ass french sword that gave her weird demon powers and its taken me YEARS to use this dumb stripper outfit and the funny cane that goes with it, what the FUCK man, what even is my life”

“maybe... maybe honeybaked hams ARE that powerful...”

“NO! turkey is the superior meat! it’s healthier, lower in fat, and way more tasty! fuck you! i’ll get my goddamned revenge!”

Chris begins musing about Fine’s motivations to capture Hibiki; during these, we’re treated to some brief image flashbacks of Chris’s life.

Suddenly, those jokes about food are a lot less funny.

It doesn’t take a genius to put two and two together as to why this young woman is helping a strange nudist dominatrix spread alien terror across the city of mumblednoises, Japan. She doesn’t really have many an option on the table. It’s either help the weird kinkster with her plans, or die.

Despite everything, she has a high opinion of Fine, for the same reasons someone might have a high opinion of a television show if it were the only show they were ever exposed to. She is deeply afraid of being alone again, because she has lived through such misery that the very thought of existing out in the cold again terrifies the shit out of her.

The Sun rises casually amidst Chris’s thoughts.

“ah shit. it just hit me. i literally have spent the entire night standing here instead of actually going the fuck to sleep. goddamnit.”

On such a devious metaphorical twist, Fine stands behind her as the Sun rises.

“yeah, jokes on you. i couldnt sleep for shit either. turns out, all nude, no blankets? in japan? real bad idea.”

“thats why i decided to GO GOTH, babey! whattaya think? do i give those witchy vibes, huh? real ‘black magic woman’ santana hours? feeling cute, gonna head out with the girls and summon satan in the woods kinda aesthetic looking shit? come on, be real with me. does this not look baller?”

“you look like morticia decided to go to the grocery store to buy some wonder bread, but other than that, its a step up from your usual pussy out attitude, so sure”

“you know i decided to get some brain cells on loan from Brain Cells R Us, and ive been thinking this solomon cane stuff is solomon lame. i dont need this dumb oversized harry potter cosplay prop to get shit done. also, murder is... sorta bad? im still trying to get the brain cell stuff down.”

“i can punch just as good as goody two shoes if not better.”

“lol go do it then champ, im gonna go cut down a forest of trees now”

And so, they both just kinda... stand there.

“QUACK, NEXT SCENE, QUACK”

Meanwhile, Tsubasa is rapidly trying to rehabilitate herself from her wounds like walking like a madman, her IV drip presumably filled with Taco Bell brand Doritos Locos Tacos super spicy nacho cheese. Taco Bell: Live Mas.

“im gonna clear every fucking taco bell in your goddamned memory, kanade”

“think outside the bun! wait, what? that was a taco bell slogan? ah fuck it, im dead. what nerd’s gonna try and correct me?”

“i would, kanade. i am that nerd.”

Tsubasa is hell bent to try and understand Kanade’s simple philosophy of helping others selflessly. Unfortunately, when Kanade died, she took all the brain cells between them in the process, so coming to this epiphany is a work in progress.

“listen its a fucking miracle you are 1. alive and 2. able to have your blood run on the garbage melted plastic taco bell tries to dupe people into believing is cheese so why dont you just lie down and think of better franchises to eat from”

“no! you dont understand! taco bell is a franchise of the PEOPLE! their meals are cheap and filling and- and the chicken quesadillas are of good quality for their price! i promised kanade- my vow to the death. taco bell... ergh... now and forever... i-”

“wait. my gay senses are tingling.”

It’s Hibiki, probably running track with Miku.

“oh yeah... her... i should probably apologize to her. about trying to kill her. and then letting her almost be kidnapped. and just giving her a general hard time about something that wasn’t explained to her in the slightest for months. she’s a good bean.”

Tsubasa proceeds to never canonically apologize to Hibiki throughout the entirety of all 4 seasons of Symphogear.

Look at em run. See, it’s a metaphor, because they haven’t communicated yet and they’re running from their problems! But they’re running towards Tsubasa, who is part of the representative problem these two share! Clearly literary genius.

It’s like someone went halfway into writing an NTR plotline and went “maybe this isn’t a good idea to market our songs on.”

Hibiki is still thinking about her Hellshake Yano moment with Durandal. Mainly how she nearly killed someone with it. Hibiki is very starkly in the “killing is bad, and wrong” camp of morality, a trait currently unique to her that she’ll wind up teaching literally everyone else she meets one way or another.

Some could argue the L stands for Lydian, and they’re wrong. It stands for Lesbian.

“that was one hell of a run, hibiki! im pooped! why dont we go to the locker room and call it a day, have a nice shower and just get some dinn-”

“this is the last straw.

i clean your plates. i cook your food. we eat, shit, shower, and sleep in the same FUCKING area, and this is how you repay me? huh? you think being your wife is easy shit, hibiki? half the damn time you’re running off like clark kent having food poisoning and the other half ive gotta babysit you, the emotional equivalent of a preteen clown, to make sure your life doesn’t self destruct harder than Atlantis sinking into the ocean. im done! i am DONE. im reopening my tinder, im slamming my ass BACK into okcupid, and im gonna date some CUTE ACADEMY GIRLS that treat me BETTER than this ABSOLUTE BETRAYAL OF HEART AND IM NOT CRYING I SWEAR ITS JUST THE SWEAT IN MY EYES AND HIBIKI HOW COULD YOU-”

“oh yeah, sure! hey, lemme just do a few more laps, ive just been feeling judgmental about myself and my figure, you know? gotta push myself further...”

“o-oh yeah, sure. no worries, ill wait for you. love you too, hibiki...”

The girls bathe together, as good friends typically do.

“hey you ever notice the showers here have like, weird psuedo-luxurious minipools to bathe in? like, how rich is this school?”

“whoever made this place is either rich or a pervert. or both, probably!”

Miku remarks that Hibiki has changed since she’s entered Lydian, in a manner most unheterosexual.

“oh FUCK you really DO have washboard abs now! ohhh my god.”

“damn, those abs were heavenly. let’s get pancakes later.”

I won’t screenshot it but something to note is that they actually wear each other’s corresponding underwear colors (or even, if you want to examine more closely, each other’s underwear). Here’s an equivalent scene to give you the mental image.

This is the face of someone who knows what they want and already have it. Such is the power of Kohinata Miku.

Meanwhile, Genjuro comes back from the funeral of the guy the Americans filled violently and with impunity.

“yo that all black look looks baller. i should borrow that look... id look pretty gothy in it.”

“ryoko i sympathize with your sharp, fashionista eye but this was for a funeral, i was paying my respects to the dead. thats the usual dress code.”

“didnt know they updated that. i remember back in my day, we just went in white garments and chanted in latin!”

“shit was fire. literally. lots of funeral pyres.”

“lmao ryoko buddy your larping sessions arent actual history”

“hey dont shit on larping around me. i used to be a professional larper while i was majoring in acting. helped really sell my career when i had to pretend to slay the Dark Lord Jyarloen atop the mountain of skulls in Hargobor after my family was killed by the Dark Army. asshole.”

“haha yeah, larping, thats cool yeah, i do that

i...

i larp.”

“oh yeah? you wanna join my larping session sometime then? we’re gonna do an ancient babylon plot thats inspired by some anime, itll be fun”

“.....................................im super into realism.”

“i know im dressed for a funeral but id like to not part ways with my dignity yet. besides, we’ve got serious shit to talk about. basically, we’re on the verge of getting shitcanned.”

As it turns out, the death of this politician removed the last obstacle of opposition to maintain the 2nd Division, as the average criticism against the 2nd Division is “why are we funding this mystery division when we don’t know what they do”. Of course, the sensible idea for an organization that defeats the Noise is to declassify it, given people of different jobs and positions have physically seen the Symphogear in action, but you know. “Oh no, the other governments will come after us” stick gets shaken.

“im in a union. i know my rights. you’re not taking my acting job here away from me.”

“im not going back to be a preschool teacher. its been ten year. the bites on my ankles still havent healed...”

“yeah man, shit sucks ass. i cant fund my adoption habits if im fired.”

Look at these cinematic parallels. Symphogear truly is a franchise made by someone living in 3030.

“worst part is the new minister is super into america. he’s a... westaboo.”

“a westaboo?”

“westaboo?”

“did he just unironically say westaboo”

“he said westaboo. oh my god. this is the hell timeline.”

“i mean people kept calling me that for worshipping all these fighting flicks so i guess it fit? i dont see the problem here”

Meanwhile, in Lydian Academy...

“so it hit me, right? we’re ALL girls. and we ALL sing. now, humor me a moment. what if... what if we’ve all been recruited to potentially be superheroes... through our singing? like, there’s no coincidence that all this shit happens around us, right? and a famous singer LIVES here? i saw the black cars outside! weird shit is happening here- im not even gonna eat the all you can eat bar anymore!”

“kathy there is literally no such thing as superheroes who sing. this place is more likely to be a organ harvesting op than whatever madness you’re saying”

“what? you need me, a singing superhero, to go stop a problem happening underneath the school, a location meant to recruit young women into potentially becoming fellow crime fighting singers?”

“yeah im too busy poppin’ caps in asses so go kick ass in my place”

“sure!”

“.....................................who ya talkin to, hibiki?”

“the boss! gotta go do a thing again...”

“hibiki, i dont like the fact that capitalism is tearing us apart.”

“you’ve gotta join me in the revolution, hibiki. you. me. luxury automated gay space communism. aint it the dream? share my vision, hibiki. its glorious.”

“n... no...? no gay space communism today? well, what about tomorrow? or the next day? or... maybe the next day? baby steps, you say? but, direction action, hibiki! we’ve gotta strike now!”

“it’s okay hibiki. when i take over the world and destroy all first world government leaders, and unite the globe in my encompassing reign and love... ill make sure to spare you, and be my bride to be.”

“thanks miku. im just not ready yet for the globe to burn in an unending ball of fire as the continents fuse into a new utopia composed of our combined wills. also, ive really gotta go, its genuinely an emergency.”

“for the cause!”

“yes hibiki... for the cause...”

Admittedly, you can see the stages of grief Miku goes through when she sees Hibiki say she can’t join her for pancakes. It’s sad. This side story sucks.

Meanwhile, as it turns out, the problem Hibiki needed to resolve was checking on Tsubasa to see if she hadn’t dissolved into Taco Bell brand hot n’ spicy Tabasco sauce.

“god, cant believe taco bell was closed. now i gotta deliver these lame ass flowers”

“cant wait to get threatened again. wonder what she’ll say. ‘hibiki, i should have killed you when i had the chance.’ or ‘you’re so goddamned weak. i could break your spine with my fingernail’, or some other stuff about metaphors. oh, my stops here”

“HEY BITCH WHATS GOOD-”

“HOLY SHIT”

“you are already”

“dead.”

#symphogear #recap #anime #comedy #sponsored by taco bell

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hotsterfield · 7 years

Text

Hit List pt. 2- Tom Holland

Word count: 1726

Part One

"Luckily enough, I have an apartment close by. If you're afraid of being seen, that is" He smirked, before he gently tugged my lips. That was it. He was now the next name on my list, however long it was going to take.

“I’m not afraid of being seen. I just like it private” I said, as I slowly pulled away from him, taking a sip of my drink. For a short moment he didn’t move, but eventually he sat up straight again.

“You’re kind of a tease, do you know that?” He laughed, while shaking his head. Of course I was a tease. I didn’t want him to be in control, so I wasn’t going to give him what he wanted. I was going to let him come close enough to touch it, and then move away, right before he can get it. Makes most people come back again.

“Oh really? Why am I a tease?” I asked innocently. “I think you know exactly why” He said, as he moved closer to me once again. I followed his lead, and leaned in a little.

“I told you. I like it private. I’m not sure I’ll be able to stop, if I get a taste. I’m the kind of girl who goes for the entire pizza, and not just a slice” I whispered the last part, just loud enough for him to hear. He had a smirk on his face, as i once again pulled back. He took another sip, but you could clearly see the colour rising in his cheeks.

"May-maybe we should do something about that" He was a bit taken back. The confidence he had had earlier was disappearing. I think he was starting to realize he didn't have the upper hand.

"Oh Thomas. What kind of girl do you think I am? I never go with anyone on the first night" I gently shook my head at him. "But if you really want, you could ask me on a date, and pray that I say yes" I made sure to look him in the eyes, and gave him a couple of seconds, before I got up and walked towards the bar.

"Come on. You can't already be bored with him? It's only been two hours" Andrew shot me a look as I sat down. "Sweetheart, I'm just getting started." I counted down from 5 with my hands, and with perfect timing, Tom sat down on the stool next to me. I turned to him, and sent him a sweet smile.

“Natalia. It’s about one. If you give me 45 minutes, I can give you a great date in the park. It’s a beautiful night, and I promise it’ll be a date you’ll remember” He said with a slick smile. His confidence was back. I narrowed my eyes a bit, but before I could answer, he spoke again. “Great. So I’ll see you in 45 minutes. In the middle of the park” And with those words he left, leaving me a bit astonished.

“A guy. Shut you up” I turned my head towards Andrew. “never thought I’d see that happen. I’m going to take a wild guess, and say you’re not the only one getting started” I couldn’t help but smile, because he was right. Tom had shut me up. No of the others had done that.

“He going to be a challenge. But I’ve never been one to say no to a challenge. Especially not if it turns into a competition” I stated. This one might take a bit longer time than the others. But I’ll get my way, I always do.

“The usual bet? If you get him to fall in love, and break his heart, I’ll pay your tab. If you get your heart broken, you’ll pay” It was a thing we had. Andrew just threw out the tab usually, and it never really cost him anything. It was just a fun add to the game.

“Darling. You know you might as well just pay it now” I smirked at him, as I emptied my glass. I patiently sat and chatted with Andrew for half an hour, before I walked to the park.

***

I was amazed when I got to the park. He had laid a blanket on the ground. Lights in the tree, illuminating the area around the tree. There were two big paper cups with white lids on, a MacDonald’s bag, and a pizza hut box. I felt speechless. It looked so pretty, like something from those cheesy chick-flicks. But he didn’t need to know how impressed I actually was.

“This is. Cosy” I said, as I walked to the blanket. He gestured to the ground, and I carefully sat down. Now the dress was getting very impractical, because it slid up a bit. At least I had shorts on too, but still.

“What can I say? I’m just that good” He sat down, right next to me. His leg barely touching mine. “What do you want first?” He asked, as he pointed to the food. I grabbed the brown paper bag.

“Burgers” I said as I opened the bag. It was plain cheeseburger menus. You could never really go wrong with that, and that annoyed me a bit. He already did well. He just set the standard for the next couple of weeks. I had to come up with something that could top this.

“So, where are you from? Where did you live, before you got here?” He asked, as we started eating. I always hated that question. I didn’t like thinking about where I came from, there was a reason I left. I was just looking for a place to be myself, and be happy. I just needed to figure out who I was first.

“Scandinavia. I finished high school, and then I just. Left. I guess. Travelled a bit before I got here” I sent him a smile. It was now the real acting began. Making him think I was opening up to him, but never actually telling something really personal. “What about you? Haven’t seen you around before?” I asked. I was guessing he was from around here, but who knows?

“I’m from here, actually. I’ve been in the United States for the past 6 months. It was fun, but it’s good to be home again” His burger was already gone, and I was only halfway through mine. Boy, he ate fast. “When do you plan on going home?” He asked.

“Well, I’m going home after this. If you mean back to where I was born, the answer would be never. I’m not going back. There’s nothing for me there” I didn’t matter to me anymore. I was so happy to finally be able to say those words, but I still sent him a sad look, hoping he would feel bad for me.

“I’m sorry to hear that. Do you mind me asking, why?” He asked carefully. Maybe this wasn’t going to be that big of a challenge after all.

“I just never fit in. I felt like a had to fit a certain box, that I wasn’t meant for. I could never step out of line, but I never fit inside the lines. Packing my bags, leaving and never looking back has been my plan since I was 10” I confessed. It was true. I’ve also told all of my friends at home, so it’s hardly a secret. But he didn’t need to know that.

“That sounds rough. I never really fit in either” He sent me a caring smile. I finally finished the burger, and he reached for the pizza. Pepperoni. Another classic.

“Really? I find that hard to believe. I bet all of the girls were all over you” I flattered him. He had a bad case of baby face, so he most likely hit puberty pretty late, which usually means none of the girls are interested. But he looked flattered.

“They weren’t!” He laughed. “I was bullied, a lot. Mostly just for being a dancer. So naturally, the words faggot and gay was thrown my way… That’s until I landed the role of Billy Elliot. Things changed then” He smiled at the memory. That was sweet. A big actor was bullied. Nothing really new there, but he seemed very humble about it.

“You’re a dancer?” I asked, a bit surprised. Billy Elliot was about ballet, if I remembered it correctly. He didn’t strike me as the ballet type.

“Yeah! I’m a gymnast too! It’s actually part of the reason I even got the role as Spider-Man. The flips are a very important part of the role” He joked.

“So you weren’t kidding about being Spider-Man?” I looked at him surprised. “So you’re a dancer, a gymnast and Spider-Man. If you can cook, you’re practically my dream guy!” I told him. It’s was kinda true. Spider-Man had always been my favourite hero. I was a dancer myself, and something about guys being able to dance was just so hot.

“Well, thank you” He chuckled, as he stared to eat the pizza. We sat in silence, just eating for a while. I ate around two slices, before I was full. Tom kept eating. The chilly air was starting to get to me, sending shivers down my body.

“Cold?” The boy asked charmingly, with his mouth full of pizza. “Yeah. But I should probably head home anyway” I stood up, and got ready to go.

“We could also go to my place? It’s not that far from here” He also stood up. I looked back at him. He almost looked like a deer caught in the headlights. He was just so adorable.

“I’m good. Besides. I already got plans for tomorrow” I smiled, as I turned my back towards him again. I had no plans tomorrow, at all. Maybe a quick work out, and some movies. But otherwise, there was nothing in my calendar till Monday.

“Can I at least get your number? So, we could maybe take a second date?” He asked, as he grabbed my hand, preventing me from leaving. I turned my head back to him.

“I think you know where to find me tomorrow night. Maybe I’ll give you my number then” I smirked at him, as I started walking towards my apartment, mentally preparing for tomorrow night.

#tom holland #tom holland imagine #tom holland x reader #peter parker imagine #peter parker x reader #spiderman imagine #spiderman x reader #tom holland fanfiction

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kpop-stole-my-sanity · 7 years

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How to Fix A Bad Day... // Jeon Jungkook

Summary: In which you’ve had a terrible day, and boyfriend bunny kook tries his very best to cheer you up :)

Genre: flufffffffff

Word Count: 1,800+

A/N: Well, this is super strange for me because it is my FIRST post, so I hope you enjoy and come back for more... PLEASE REQUEST!! :D Also, please give me some constructive criticism???? Too much context? Not enough action ;) ?? Let me know, and I’ll make improvements!! :D P.S. It’s like really long???? for a first story kinda maybe-ish idk why tho i think i have a problem with these kinds of things??? request AUs and stuff I wanna try to do those cute bullet pointed scenarios tooooooo!! :DDDDDDD

Monday, 9:23 PM Mondays. You thought, as you jammed the key in the front door. Stepping inside, you let out a heavy sigh, not even bothering to take off your shoes before sinking into the cushions of your couch.

Sure, Mondays were always the worst day of the week, but nothing could have prepared you for the nerve-racking, heart stopping, painstaking shit show that ensued that day.

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Monday, 6:38 AM

You groggily walked over to your desk, barely able to keep your eyes open. Mondays were already terrible, but this particular Monday, you had to get up early. Without any explanation at all, you were required to be present at a meeting with one of the Chairmen of the board... who happened to be halfway across the world at the moment. See, now that meant him dictating the exact time of the meeting that would be most convenient to him, and not taking into consideration that you had to get up at 5:15 AM in order to get ready and arrive to work on time.

Placing your bag on the desk, you proceeded to shed off your huge coat before hanging it on the back of your chair. You powered up your computer and let out a deep sigh before logging into your email. You liked checking your email first thing in the morning, because there was often information within emails from colleagues and bosses that related to the events of the day. Surely enough, an email from her boss sat at the top of the list, curiously titled: “Proper Attire.”

Clicking on it, it opened to reveal: Dear Y/N, I apologize for having to send this email so late, but it is very important that you wear the proper attire for this meeting. This means that your attire should be of the utmost professionalism, and should not be sexual, revealing, or suggestive in any way. This meeting will be very important to both your career and mine. Please come to Meeting Room 14 at 7:15. Thank you.

You couldn’t help but be somewhat offended by your boss’s choice of words. Sexual? Revealing? Suggestive? What kind of person did he think you were? Determined to carry on with the day, you decided to not linger on it. After checking a few more emails, you looked at the clock: 7:08. You decided that it was time to make your way to Meeting Room 14. When you arrived, you were met with 4 other people, all of which were large, middle age men, who you’ve never seen before. You stood a little further away from them, assuming they were there to meet with someone else, and checked your phone as you waited for your boss. You had received a message from your boyfriend, Jungkook:

Kookie: Hey love, sorry I couldn’t hang out yesterday... :( You: Hey, don’t worry about it, another time :) Kookie: Are you free tonight?? :DDDD I can come over and we can have pizza and watch Netflix?? heh Netflix and chill ;)) You: perv. But yes come!!!!! I’ll probs be home around 7? Kookie: Sounds great! See ya laterrrr

You allowed a small smile to form on your face before putting your phone in your pocket. You could see your boss walk down the hallway, and went to go greet him. Before you could, the men from earlier cut in front of you, giving their own introductions. You gave your boss a questioning look, but he just shrugged and suggested that everyone go inside. He directed you to sit next to him, and allowed the others to sit wherever they wanted, but there seemed to be a distinct pattern already. You suddenly realized what you were standing in the middle of. You were brought here as a representative of the team progress, in as a result, your boss’s progress.

Soon, the Chairman was online and video ‘meeting’ with you all. You guys started to do reports on what achievements that each of the teams have made, with you ending the circle. As soon as you began speaking, there were noises and words of disparagement. People did not want a woman to be in a position of power, and they were very clearly expressing it. When the chairman asked everyone to pitch ideas for an event that the company was having later, you pitched an awesome idea... which was ridiculed and brought down... until one of the men in the meeting brought it up again. Except they did not even acknowledge that it was your idea. Luckily, the Chairman took noticed, even commenting on it. That made you feel a bit better, but not enough.

When the meeting was over, your boss congratulated your efforts, and said that there would be more opportunities for you in the future to express your ideas. This piece of good news was completely ruined when the other men laughed at him, quickly making their own snarky comments towards your direction. “A woman will never get the job.” “They’re just keeping her around because of the pretty face.” There they stood, mocking you, and you wanted nothing more than to walk over there and wipe those nasty smirks off their faces. But your boss, sensing your anger, grabbed your wrist and dragged you towards the elevator.

As soon as the two of you stepped in, you let out a loud sigh. Your boss, understanding your frustration, told you to take the rest of the day off. “You did good work Y/N.”

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Monday, 4:57 PM

After your boss had graciously allowed you to take the day off, you still found yourself working for a few more hours before finally allowing yourself to leave the office. As much as you wanted to ignore the words of those men from the meeting, you couldn’t help yourself from having the urge to prove that you deserved to have your position. It didn’t end there though. On your way home, a stranger had spilt their ice coffee on you, so you were a sticky mess with a very ruined blouse. Needless to say, you were in a pretty sour mood and wanted nothing more than to just go home, eat ice cream, take a shower, and sleep. You just got into your apartment when your phone buzzed:

Kookie: What kind of pizza do you want?

It took a while before you realized what he was talking about.

You: Actually Kookie, I’m really tired. Work was kinda terrible... can we hang out tomorrow? Kookie: NOOOOOOOOOOO!!! I MISS YOUU :((((((((((( You: Sorry... love you!!

You sighed, feeling terrible that Jungkook missed you, but you really didn’t think your attitude would have really been much fun for him. You didn’t want to ruin the night with the repercussions of your bad day. You took out your ice cream and ate a couple of spoonfuls before dragging yourself into the shower. You rinsed off the ice coffee that coated your upper half, and decided to not wash your hair tonight, since you didn’t have to energy to go through the whole process of blowdrying it. It was early, but you happily crawled into bed after your shower, desperate to replenish your sleep.

Just as you were finally drifting off to sleep, your doorbell rang, causing you to groan in displeasure. WhO CoULD PoSsIbLY BE AT YOUr DOoR RIghT NOWWWWW!?!?!? You stomped to your door, prepared to yell when....

Jeon Jungkook. Dressed in a full bunny costume.

All your anger dissipated the second you laid eyes on him. Wearing a bright smile, he held a pizza pie in his left hand, and a bouquet of fresh red roses in his right.

“Ta-dahhhhhhh~~” “Jeon Jungkook... you dork.” “Excuse me, I’m a cute dork.” “Yes, you cute dork.” “Thank you.. so are you going to let me in or..?” You laughed before moving to the side to let him in. Watching him struggle to shove himself through your doorway was probably one of the funniest things you have ever witnessed, and when he finally made it through, he was sweating and heaving like a mad man.

He was incredibly uncomfortable, but if his discomfort brought a smile to your face, he would stay this way forever. Jungkook absolutely adored you, and could not stand it when you were upset. He tried so hard to think of a way to cheer you up, and luckily all his hard work paid off. He was honestly half expecting you to be annoyed and slam the door on him, but what Jungkook didn’t know was that he was the light of your life.

He was the best thing that ever happened to you, as cheesy as it sounds. Just seeing his face would have cheered you up, but you hated seeing him worried about you. You preferred it when he was smiling, because then you knew he was happy. You knew it was selfish, but a sad Jungkook would break your heart, and if it were you who made him sad, you would feel absolutely horrible. You stood there, wondering what in the world you would do without him when his voice broke your train of thought.

“So do you feel better now?” he questioned, tilting his head slightly. “Much better,” you replied with a smile, “Now get that thing off will you?” “What, is the bunny costume turning you off?” he teased, wiggling his eyebrows and doing a little dance for good measure. “Well actually, I was gonna give you a kiss, but if you’d rather just wear the bunny costume, that’s fine with me.” You took the pizza and flowers and smirked, quickly turning around and running to the kitchen before he had time to object. He gaped at your retreating back before letting a wide grin spread across his face. He took off the bunny costume, glad to be able to let his body breathe again and ran after you.

You had put the pizza on the table, put the flowers in a vase, and were leaning against the counter waiting for Jungkook to come in. When he did, he walked up to you, placing his hands beside you and successfully trapping you between him and the counter. He looked down at you, a gentle look of adoration in his eyes, and brought his face dangerously close. He glanced down at your lips and whispered, “You owe me a kiss.”

Unable to take it anymore, you reached up and tangled your hands in his hair, bringing his soft lips to meet yours. The kiss was long and sweet, filled with love. One of his hands made its way to your waist while the other caressed your face, pulling you in to deepen the kiss. His teeth playfully grazed against your bottom lip before he finally pulled away.

“Thank you,” you whispered, “for being such a great boyfriend tonight.” “Tonight? I’m always a great boyfriend,” he smiled cheekily. You chuckled and gently smacked his arm. “Shush. Now, let’s eat?”

You started walking towards the dining table when Jungkook latched onto your arm. You looked at him, raising an eyebrow curiously. He smile warmly before placing a gently kiss on the back of your hand.

“I love you Y/N.”

“Love you too, Kookie.”

#bts #jungkook #jeon jungkook #bts scenarios #bts imagines #jungkook scenarios #jungkook imagines #bts fluff #jungkook fluff #bangtan #bangtan sonyeondan #bts jungkook #jk #jjk

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star-hoya · 7 years

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170304 – INFINITE Rally III Fanaccount

So those who follow me on Tumblr would know I flew to Seoul to attend the rally on the 4th of March. The atmosphere outside Jamsil Stadium was awesome as usual. Fans were mostly decked out in their cutest outfits, many braving the cold to go through with short skirts and no leggings whatsoever, there was even one fan that went wearing only the pyjamas Woohyun wore on his Lie Down V App #cute. Orderly lines formed with different fansites giving out freebies at different points in time. It was very important to check Twitter by the minute or just run wherever the crowd went to see a new line formed. Fansites were mostly sitting around in cliques, so you’ve got the Hogam/Laile/Turning Point/Honeytree/Yeolna (I think) at one area, Springrain/Monodrama/MadeinL and Royal (I think) at another end and many others scattered around. There was also a photo taking area with the boys’ standees and also containers with the boys’ outfits displayed (x).

(Warning: This fanaccount is really really long with photos too)

The fan meet would start at 5pm, so we entered the venue at around 4pm. They were having this event whereby inspirits could send in their photos they took at the venue via MMS and it would get displayed on screen when they did their last song, however as much as I tried, I couldn’t get my MMS to send so sadly, I didn’t get to participate in this. MVs of past INFINITE songs started playing and fans started getting energetic and riled up.

The boys started punctually with ‘Bad’, rising from under the stage to ground level and cheers emerged. Dongwoo did the solo dance today and it was a whole new level of hot! He was grinding the floor at one point and I went OMG. At this point, I have to say I got a seat at the last row of Level 2, but pretty close to the stage nonetheless, especially to the extended stage and the big screen. There was nobody to my right, but to my left sat the cutest Korean inspirit. We couldn’t understand each other but many times we just looked at each other and laughed and cheered together while waving our lightsticks, and covered our eyes when our boys were being too cheesy. I guess that’s the true meaning of how music bonds people together!

INFINITE started their ment at this time, because of how cool Dongwoo looked during his solo dance, the boys tried to make him dance the same thing to Woohyun’s Nod Nod! So they just randomly sang the chorus on stage and Dongwoo attempted to follow it through before falling onto the floor laughing (I think?) A few of the boys introduced themselves as different types of candies following Sungjong’s ‘I’m your lemon candy Sungjong’ and Woohyun even said he’s ‘our heart Woohyun’.

‘Between me and you’ was next and Sunggyu introduced this song as one he really really liked. The boys didn’t have those elevated stages this time so they just stood on different steps. There was this cute part where Myungsoo blew at his fringe after acing his high note.

They had their second ment here, they brought out the chairs so I knew it was gonna be a long chat. And I’m not sure why but I wrote in my notes that they were talking about ‘Bad’ here? Oh well, anyway they said for ‘Bad’ there was this part at the start that goes betting on you~ and Sunggyu said that they actually did a few different lyrics changes to it sometimes (didn’t really get this part) and he asked Dongwoo to tell us what he changed it to. Dongwoo said he’d sing it as Sajangnim nice~ lol. They then made Minseok sing ‘The Eye’ to which he did a fantastic job! They were laughing at something (I can’t remember what haha omg what’s wrong with my fanaccount) but Dongwoo almost fell off his chair!

They talked about the world tour (haha, that was a year ago but I guess they really enjoyed it) and they said how they would split into different teams during their private time. Sunggyu/Woohyun/Hoya were the opera team, Dongwoo/Myungsoo/Sungyeol were the walking around (visiting landmarks) team and Sungjong was a team on his own (oh baby why don’t you wanna join the others?) But Sungjong said he actually liked doing things alone in a different country. I think the boys teased him about having more staff following him for one person than them when the smaller teams went out. I think he had three staff with him while the teams only had two? I don’t know my Korean language skills are pretty non-existent. But there was once Howon actually went to Disneyland with Sungjong haha #hojong.

And since they were on the topic of world tour, Woohyun made them speak in different languages! Basically doing some simple self-introductions. Sungyeol started with Thai, Sunggyu was designated to speak in Chinese, Myungsoo to speak in Japanese, Woohyun asked Sungjong to do it in Korean #lol, and he tried making Howon do it in Bahasa Indonesia but Howon didn’t know so he put his mic to his mouth and tried mumbling while looking pretty embarrassed twice #cutie. Dongwoo then spoke in English and he got too excited because he was standing and stuff so Woohyun asked him to ‘sit down’ in English! I think at some point Minseok commented the boys could speak pretty good English and Dongwoo said yes or something and they talked about stuff, presumably about breakfast and Dongwoo just said ‘Morning rice’! They also mentioned their sleep routine or was it their skincare routine. I don’t know what happened but Woohyun also spouted out English and said ‘Music is my life, you know what I’m saying’ #lamehaha For how vocal Howon normally is, he was pretty quiet the entire time, maybe tired from filming?

Minseok then commented (read off his cue cards hahaha) that Sungjong did really well in Knowing Brothers and Woohyun came out and said that Sungjong wasn’t trying to be funny or comical by pretending he didn’t know how to control the soccer ball, he honestly tried to do it but failed and it turned out looking so funny. Then, a soccer ball rolled onto the stage from the side lol and they made Jongie try it out once more to bounce the ball off his chest. As expected, he hit it with his head again and the ball flew towards the standing section lol.

They also talked about Sunggyu’s solo album, and about the double title tracks and how every member like ‘The Answer’ however Sunggyu pointed out that he along with Howon really enjoyed Kontrol more. The boys also asked if Minseok had any questions he wanted to ask himself, because he was conducting the session based on questions off the cue cards, and Minseok was like ‘I have absolutely nothing to ask because I know everything’. Minseok then went to the edge of the stage and held his microphone out to a Myungsoo fan at the standing section to ask if she had any questions but I think she was too star struck because she didn’t say anything. Continuing on with questions, they were asked to point out who would really have it hard without the rally (as in who really really needed this rally) and almost everyone pointed at themselves except Dongwoo. Sunggyu then asked ‘is it okay for you to not have this rally?’ lol.

They made Howon do the acrostic poem with ‘Mu-Han-Dae-Jib-Hoe’ as in ‘INFINITE Gathering’ and there were a few words whereby Howon paused extensively to think but he made a really good one judging from the reactions from the fans. Woohyun then asked if they should go on to their next stage now and fans said yes and he said he could see fans signalling him that he was talking too much and the session should continue and fans did the cross sign with both their hands to ask him to stop talking (I’m sure he was joking at this point haha)

A video came out while the boys went backstage to change and it was of them wearing suits and looking so so handsome. It was the suits the boys did their V App in previously. And I think they played a few games in the video to decide who would be king for the games they’d do on stage! The games came in the order of:

1. Noraebang (They sang Come Back Again but only got 83 points haha, Sungjong sang The Answer, Dongwoo got Shot, Woohyun did Nod Nod and got 99 points),

2. They had counters attached to different parts of their bodies and they had to shake it to get as many counts as possible! It was hilarious seeing them shake with all their might,

3. They had to eat something, I think it’s spicy? I’m not sure about this one,

4. They were given a word of phrase each and one member had to do the actions while other members guessed what word/phrase that was,

5. They were give a can of coke (I wonder if it’s because they’re no longer Pepsi’s endorsers so they chose coke on purpose haha) and had to finish the whole can without burping perhaps (but many boys gave up halfway).

Anyway, Woohyun was selected as king through the games! We got DNA Korea version as our next stage and I was such in awe because when they did that dance move where they swung their hands that was so powerful!

They stayed on stage for their next ment and chatted about That Summer 3! One part they were talking about the Busan concert and Woohyun said he had a runny nose then he really needed to wipe his nose because he could feel it coming out and Dongwoo said he could’ve done it to the dance moves during Be Mine and demonstrated it on stage lol. Minseok also did a Come Back Again dance move and fans went ‘wowwww’ and immediately Woohyun went ‘It’s not right he didn’t even do it correctly why are you wow-ing for’ lol what an idiot XD.

The King throne/chair was moved out and they started the missions with inspirits! I think there’re lots of fancams for this so I won’t elaborate too much. Dongwoo was first to spin the wheel, and while Woohyun had the crown and was sitting comfortably on the throne, Dongwoo managed to spin to the crown sign on the wheel and the king changed to him! He was so happy whereas Woohyun looked confused and shocked, kinda like ‘I haven’t even started having fun and I already stopped being king???’ Jongie was next and he had to do 2X dance play. He went in front of standing and asked who knew how to dance to ‘The Chaser’ and the crowd just swarmed in front so he picked a fan wearing glasses and the security literally carried her over the barricades and onto the stage. She did pretty well considering it was 2x! She was a Jong fan and Jongie hugged her in the end. Sunggyu was next, and his mission was to gift a fan his hoodie and Dongwoo chose standing section for Sunggyu to gift his gift to! I think Myungsoo was next and he spun the wheel to get the same mission as Gyu. He chose to gift his tumblr jar to a lucky fan on Level 3! And I have to say I was super super lucky because where I sat, that was the route he took to head up and down the stairs onto Level 3 so I got to see him up close and personal. God Myungsoo, he smiled and waved while heading up.

Sungyeol (I think?) was next and he had to dance to girl group dance and it was TT he had to dance to! He did it on stage it was cute. Woohyun was next, he got the mission to re-enact a scene off ‘Goblin’ and he was also chosen to go to Level 3, and once again he took the route Myungsoo took so I saw him really close too. Woohyun and the fan were really cute, they were so shy the first time round so they had to do it one more time and the fan burst out crying at some point. And Woohyun was hugging her and patting her head. Then Howon was next and he kept spinning the stuff other members had already completed so he had to keep spinning the wheel. Finally, he got a new mission and it was to wear couple tee with a fan and he made everyone scream. At first, he wanted to go to Level 2 and Yeollie said ‘since your mummy is on Level 2 you should gift this to her’ and Sunggyu said ‘you can take a selca with her too.’ He eventually went to standing C. He was in front of my section too so I saw him quite close and he’s so handsome and looked so sweet when he said he wanted to take a selca with the fan too while wearing the shirt. I think one side of the shirt said ‘pretty’ and Howon said he’d take that and gave the fan the other shirt lol. When the fan took out her phone, he was quick to note that the display screen was Woohyun lol #mypoorbaby After the mission, he sent the fan off and when she turned he did the action of wanting to hug her but she didn’t see it so he just wrapped his hands around his waist and pretended he was hugging himself lol.

They then ended the ment and continued with songs, this time ‘Love of my Life’ in Korean too, the one Myungsoo did for his solo at IEA. Howon was still wearing the couple tee at this point so it was cute.

We got another video where the members summarised their last 7 years with their thoughts and memories and I got so emotional I was tearing up at this point because look at how far we’ve come!

The boys came back out again and sang ‘One day’ which will be one of my favourite stages to witness live!! Another ment here and they made all the members do Sungjong’s neck movement from ‘Bad’. I remember Gyu doing it like how he’d do his morning aerobics #grandpagyu. Woohyun kept saying he’d prefer doing Jong’s other line ‘이제 깨닫는다’ more and he kept imitating it saying Sungjong would pose there and wink. Howon did a super sexy improvised version of the song. He also did the action to the first line of ‘One Day’ haha. Sungyeol said he’d do a 100% imitation of Jong’s movements and even Jongie was surprised and he went ‘oh am I really like this?’

They said ‘The Eye’ would be the last song and proceeded with that stage. They went backstage and inspirits started chanting Dorawa dorawa Dashi Dorawa~ and this has got to be one of my favourite parts of the fan meet because inspirits chant it tirelessly and we know the boys will be out with another amazing part of the program. After about 3-5 minutes, the screen showed the comeback teaser for May 2017!! I know I told my inspirits-only admins before that the video was safe to watch but boy I was wrong. Watching it on the big screen and seeing the boys’ faces up there was amazing!!!

The members gave us another song ‘As good as it gets’ this time coming down from different doors of Level 2 #Ifeltsoblessed. Honestly towards the end, I was on my feet most of the time with my cute Korean inspirit seating mate since we were at the last row and nobody sat behind us and I enjoyed the ending part so much I couldn’t really remember much of the end heh. But the members shook a lot of peoples’ hands before going back up on the stage for what would be their ending ment (except it wasn’t as we already know). We did Myungsoo’s birthday support banner then when it was his turn to speak and the place just lit up with white banners for him and it was beautiful. We sang ‘Happy Birthday’ to him and Woohyun was like ‘okay can we have the cake now please’ except the cake his fansite prepared didn’t get wheeled out not sure why #awkwardpause. Haha, we chanted for Myungsoo not to cry when he wasn’t crying. And then the members went chanting ‘please cry please cry’. Myungsoo said something like we were his happiness these seven years and he was so sincere in it it was very touching.

When Hoya did his ending speech, the stadium was particularly quiet because everyone was listening earnestly to what he had to say. Then suddenly from standing we could hear the staff shouting really loudly ‘Come out’, presumably to an inspirit who was taking shots of the boys. It would’ve been really awkward for the fan, so Howon stepped up and joked ‘you want me to get out?’ and the members also joked about it a little and then Howon and Woohyun and Sungyeol were apologising to the staff to let the fan off the hook. They’re such angels. During Sungyeol’s ment I think he also mentioned something about 7 years and I can’t remember what he said but a fan shouted 7000 years and Yeol was like ‘I’m not the Goblin okay?’ For Woohyun’s Ment, he was talking and then suddenly a fan said ‘arrasseo~’ and he was like that sounded like a primary school kid’s conversation, like how he would chat with his friend. Then, after that every sentence he said the members and fans replied him with ‘arrasseo’.

Right now as you know the boys were supposed to just end it with one last song. However, the boys being the boys with their love for us and for the stage and because the atmosphere was so so high. They asked if they had time to do a few more songs as service for us!! On Woohyun’s side the staff said no, but at Dongwoo’s side the staff said okay so the boys went ‘alright we’ll do it as what the staff (on Dongwoo’s side) said! :D’ We wanted songs like ‘The Chaser, Be Mine’ however I think they couldn’t find the tracks for it as we settled for ‘Entrust and Cover Girl’ first! The boys again went out onto the extended stage and also onto Level 2 so I was quite close to see their faces clearly too. They were enjoying it so so much!!! They did ‘Nothing’s Over’ next (completely random but because they didn’t want it to end) They were apologetic because they couldn’t find the AR for it only the MR, and we went ‘Of course the MR is fine!!!’ You could hear how well and stable and loud the boys sang. Kings, talented kings only INFINTE!!!

They were so hyped but they knew the staff wouldn’t find any more tracks for them so our sing-along karaoke session started! Medley after medley of songs where the boys just sang together with inspirits. The feeling to be part of that was the best really especially to see yourself surrounded by others who shared the same passion as you! My Korean inspirit partner and I were just waving our lightsticks and singing all that we could! Woohyun, Dongwoo and Hoya were especially good in starting new songs for inspirits to sing along and I was particularly surprised because Myungsoo too, started a few songs!!! He was so into the whole thing!! The boys even said they wanted to bring their after-party onto the stage they just needed some alcohol and they could continue partying with us even if they’re drunk and can’t stand properly. They even sang ‘Monster Time’ and at this point Sunggyu was on the floor laughing at how ridiculous and amazing the whole thing was. Towards the end, they also sang the theme song of Digimon and Pokemon!

Last (yes, the final one) ment here but I can’t remember what they said before concluding their stage with ‘Thank You’. Myungsoo cried at this stage and Dongwoo rushed to give him tissue. The boys went to both sides of the extended stage and did 90-degree bows before heading back onto the centre stage for one final bow. Still a lot of them were teary-eyed and took long looks at different sections of the stadium, trying to soak in on everything.

The fan meet felt more like a concert and INFINITE made me realise how lucky I am to stan the right group. I know I always say how each concert I attended was the best, but seriously, because I wasn’t expecting so many songs for this fan meet, I really can’t express the feeling to be there, to love them. 44,000won for almost 4 hours of a dream come true? Thank you INFINITE!

#infinite #personal #fanaccount #infinite rally III #170304 #my post

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theanimewarren · 7 years

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Top 25 Anime Series - 2017 Edition

Oh man, I can't believe I actually managed to come up with this damn list. There are so many changes to my previous top 25 list, it's almost scary. But I promised I would for my dear friend, Doaks as part of the celebration of his finishing his 100 top 10 lists (see his post here https://kitsu.io/posts/8688917 ), so I really dove in and gave it my all to come up with the list. Hopefully I'll be able to explain why I placed the shows on the list in a way that makes sense as well.

I do have to say that that I couldn't actually narrow my list down to 25 though. I got it down to 35 by some miracle. Once I had that ordered the way I liked it, I decided to take the remaining 10, pick 5 of them that made decent talking points and listed them as honorable mentions to the list. I'll be going through those first, then proceeding on to the true meat of the dish, my top 25 anime series! So let's get on with it!

The Honorable Mentions:

5. Bunny Drop/Sweetness and Lightning/Aishiteruze Baby/Listen to Me, Girls. I Am Your Father/etc.

This is the only time on this list that I am going to cite several shows that are not all part of a single series, but I honestly couldn't pick just one of them to represent this topic. Suffice it to say though, I really enjoy these series that deal with the single parent role to a small child. Most of my examples deal with a teenager or young adult in the role, but it doesn't have to be that way. Sweetness and Lightning and Bunny Drop have the parent role filled by someone who is old enough to know better for instance. They all share the same sort of storyline thread though, seeing the ups and downs of parenting from both sides of the relationship and how bonds form and grow as time goes on. You could probably lump Barakamon in with these as well, though Handa-sensei doesn't quite fit the role of legal guardian, but there is still a lot of the same sort of storytelling involved. Poco's Udon World would also fit here, just with that added supernatural element. But yeah, I really love these shows, but alas, not nearly as much as the ones that made the final list.

4. Yoru no Yatterman

https://kitsu.io/anime/yoru-no-yatterman

We've long since gotten used to the concept of a reboot. At least once a year, it seems, there's a new anime reboot of some old series. I'm sure that in Japan, there are actually a fair number of people who either remember the original shows or know about them because they're parents were raised on them, or had a soft spot for them. For us westerners though, this is not always the case. You might get a few of us who happen to stumble across an old show like Time Bokan or Gatchaman, but how many really delve into them? I love older anime and even I'm not well versed in the more obscure series beyond about the mid-90's. That being said, I did make an effort to get some information about Yatterman and the various other characters involved in the Time Bokan universe (it probably has a far better name but I don't know it offhand). Now, why did I do this? Because this series did such a good job of making me want to relive these characters. I knew it was a reboot of sorts, but I didn't know the characters. I could tell it was a total love letter to them and the shows they were from though. If I had grown up with it, I'd probably be in tears of joy the whole time for the wonderful job they did, from many returning characters and set pieces to even the simplest subtle nods left here and there in the show. I loved this show for that. It's not often you can get a sense of nostalgia from something you couldn't possibly have proper nostalgia for, but Yoru no Yatterman did it, and I applaud it for that.

3. Strawberry Panic

https://kitsu.io/anime/strawberry-panic

So, anyone who's spent some time with anime is probably at least somewhat familiar with Yuri. It's not a hard thing to find though. The basic idea has been bastardized for use in many a harem series or comedy series for the laughs. But how many of us know the difference between that and the more proper, pure form of Yuri? Probably more than I'd expect, but still, it's a huge difference that I wasn't totally aware of before I watched Strawberry Panic. I'm very glad I did though. While I'm sure the very idea of Yuri, even in this form, would unsettle many westerners, I found the whole idea very captivating to watch. It was so pure and innocent, and yet it stirred emotions in me that I never thought I'd feel from a show that I thought would be a step below softcore lesbians before I watched it. Boy, was I wrong. This show opened my eyes to yet another facet of anime that that I really need to explore more.

2. Tokyo Magnitude 8.0

https://kitsu.io/anime/tokyo-magnitude-8-0

This is a series unlike anything else I think I've ever seen. I mean, we've had many a disaster movie made in the west. They tend to be either super cheesy summer flicks as far as I've ever seen, though I'm sure there are some decent ones out there. In anime though, I don't know that I've ever seen anything quite like Tokyo Magnitude 8.0. The premise alone is pretty bold coming from a country that is quite possibly one of the most active in the world when it comes to earthquakes. All the same though, there is just something amazing about the execution of the whole story. It's sensationalized a bit, but overall it's a great lesson in the kinds of things you might expect in a huge disaster, and it does that while still telling a powerful and moving story at the same time.

1. The Pilot's Love Song

https://kitsu.io/anime/toaru-hikuushi-e-no-koiuta

For myself, this is one of the more shocking entries on my entire list. When this series ended, I was so pissed off. I have stated many times how much I hated this show for how it ended. But I've reflected on it a bit since then, and you know what? I like it. I mean, yes, the ending is a terrible cliffhanger that never got resolved and there is a bit of the plot near the end that's kinda disappointing as well. The journey to get there though. That is something I enjoyed a lot. The world was also quite cool as an experience, and I wish I could have more of it. Oh, and while I won't delve into this big time, I do appreciate any series that isn't afraid to kill off cast members in a meaningful way, and for a purpose. So yeah, in a lot of ways, This is actually a really great show. The only reason it didn't make the top 25 really is the way we were shafted out of an ending.

Alright. Now that we're past the honorable mentions, it's time, for the shows that I love more than any others. The shows that make me happy, keep me entertained and generally could be the only shows I ever needed if I was stuck on a desert island. Here, are my top 25 anime series!

Top 25:

25. Taisho Baseball Girls

https://kitsu.io/anime/taishou-yakyuu-musume

Considering how highly I spoke of some of the shows in the honorable mentions, seeing this show here is probably quite a surprise to some of you. To that, all I can say is that this show gave me many things that I enjoy just by themselves, but all together in one package.

Sports series. Check.

Moe cast. Check.

Historical setting. Check.

Decent comedy backed by a good story. Check.

All around, it just pleased me in so many ways to watch this. It does feel like the moe edition of “A League of Our Own” at times, but for me this isn't a bad thing. Watching our two initial leads build a female baseball team at a time when so many things were changing in the world, let alone, Japan was just inspiring on a certain level. Add to that the fact that this series has all the proper staples of a sports series without being so long it's hard to watch, and I'm hooked. Both times that I've sat through this series, I've very quickly marathoned through it because I just can't stop once I've started. That's how good it is for me.

24. Mitsudomoe

https://kitsu.io/anime/mitsudomoe

Now, I love me some comedy. But like anyone, my tastes in comedy can be hit or miss at times. I've dropped more than a couple shows where I just didn't get the joke. But when I do get the joke, oh man, it's all over. I'm sure this will be a running theme through this list, but there is one thing I can say about Mitsudomoe that I can't say about any other show on here. Never have I laughed so hard watching anime, and in every episode too. I'm talking big, laugh out loud, in tears and bawling from how funny things get. For some, the humor can surely be low-brow, even sick and disgusting at times, but not me. I just laughed my ass off and moved on to the next episode ready for more.

23. YuruYuri

https://kitsu.io/anime/yuru-yuri

I honestly almost took this off the list entirely. But then I thought back to why I kept up with this show as the OVAs and third season came out. While this series does pander to the less proper Yuri I mentioned above, it's not nearly as bad as some series I've watched. I almost feel like it's the missing link between the two camps of Yuri. It lacks that pure and innocent side, but it doesn't have the overly sexualized side to the degree that we usually see either. It mostly uses it for heartfelt moments or comedic effect, which is a lot more fun to watch. Also, the cast is just brilliant, the OP is catchy as all hell in most seasons and the animation looks great, even to the point where I didn't notice the studio change.

22. Chuunibyou demo Koi ga Shitai!

https://kitsu.io/anime/chuunibyou-demo-koi-ga-shitai

Okay, simple answer to why I like this series. Because I was Rikka and Yuuta as a teenager. Not to that degree, of course, but I can relate to what it's like to want to be something you aren't and to live in my own world rather than face the harsh realities around me. Now if only I had been able to turn mine into a halfway decent harem in the process, hehe. But yeah, beyond that, I just love the way this series executes it's approach to these delusions, both from a story standpoint and from a visual standpoint. Showing us the world as it really is and as Rikka see's it was a wonderful touch and it still pleases me when I think about it. Also, the whole thing about how sweet and innocent the relationships in the seres were portrayed was just great. I know a lot of fans felt the series didn't pay off in the end. I, on the other hand, fell it went exactly where it should have given the personality traits of the characters involved.

21. Shiki

https://kitsu.io/anime/shiki

So, let's analyze this series for a second. It's about vampires, sorta. It holds a lot of the common tropes we all know to be true of vampire stories. But it does avoid some of them and change others to suit it's needs. It also makes sure that, while it's a very dark and depressing series, that has plenty of very bright and flashy elements to it to catch the eye, most notably, the truly unique hairstyles of townsfolk. These two things would probably send any hardcore fan of vampires running away long before the series can sink it's teeth into them. For those that look beyond these two things though, this is probably one of the better vampire stories out there, period. It retains so much of it's gothic roots while making sure it stays modern and original, creating this perfect blend of suspense and horror that even I, someone who is not usually a fan of said things, can be drawn in. Also, that first OP is just awesome, and the sole reason I'm slowly becoming a huge fan of Buck-Tick.

20. Space Dandy

https://kitsu.io/anime/space-dandy

This show has so many things for so many people in it that your enjoyment is pretty dependent on how many of those things click with you. For myself, there was only really one episode that didn't click with me, and even then I saw it as a bit of a spoof on things like it, so I wasn't too bored. Dandy just does so much right and checked so many boxes for me that to list all the reasons why I loved this series would be like writing a term paper, and I sure ain't doing that right now. Let's just say I love it for the boobies and be done with it, okay?

19. My Daddy Long Legs

https://kitsu.io/anime/my-daddy-long-legs

Anyone who knows me, knows my big passions outside of anime are music and reading. Music we'll touch on later. For now though, let's talk about books. Specifically, let's talk about classic literature. I'm sure anyone reading this has at some point taken a class where they had to read some old classic like Tom Sawyer or Little Women or something. Well, there's an anime version of quite a few of these classics held in a series known as World Masterpiece Theater. Now, I personally love these series, having seen a few of them now. They do a great job of presenting classics that I may or may not have read in a way that is entertaining while not taking too much away from the original story (usually). For myself, I've oddly found that I got the most enjoyment out of the ones from books I've never heard of or have very little passing knowledge of. My Daddy Long Legs is a book I've since picked up and enjoyed because of this series. I will say they changed a lot of details for reasons I'm not too clear on, but nonetheless, the series is very enjoyable and one I would definitely watch again. Judy is a great lead character and all the stuff she goes through to get where she does by the end is just inspiring. And on top of all that, this series got me to go out and buy the book it's based on. I can't say that for any other anime I've watched (not counting manga and light novel adaptations of course).

18. Nanaka 6/17

https://kitsu.io/anime/nanaka-6-17

I don't think I've ever thought so much about my own childhood as I did after watching this. It just amazed me. To have all the things I didn't know I'd forgotten pointed out in a very simple way like that was a life lesson I didn't see coming, and I love this series for that. Before, I would always have a reason to justify my doing something of importance to me. I can't just go buy a mandolin and attempt to learn to play it because it might be fun. There has to be a reason that sounds mature and responsible, right? Wrong. This show managed to remind me that there are times when it's okay, and possibly even the better option, to think more like a kid than an adult. The whole thing is done in such an adorable way too. I honestly felt for Nanaka through the whole series, watching her struggle with concepts that would boggle any kid if they were thrown into them, all while making the adults around her realize that they might be looking at it all wrong in the process.

17. Romeo no Aoi Sora

https://kitsu.io/anime/romeo-no-aoi-sora

And we're back with more World Masterpiece Theater action. This time it's a book I knew nothing about before I watched this, and one I'm realizing now that I never did get around to buying afterwards. I really must fix that. But yeah, I can say that I had a great time watching such a powerful story, with a great cast and a well executed ending. It was also a nice mini-group watch so there is that bit of fun to make sure this series sits up there as something memorable for me and the other two involved. There's just something that can't beat watching a series with some good friends.

16. Azumanga Daioh

https://kitsu.io/anime/azumanga-daioh

We'll surely be hearing about comedy a couple more times on this list. This one is a pretty charming series to watch though, and ranks with only a handful of other series where I've read the source material, I enjoyed it so much. I think what got me here is just how off the wall the comedy can be at times. The teachers are just nuts, but the students all have their own, err, quirks about them as well. It just all works out to this brand of insanity that draws you in with one thing and keeps you there with a dozen more. I also have to give it credit for being a 4-koma manga adaptation that doesn't feel like a ton of short comics tied together, while still being very true to the manga. It's weird how it pulled that off.

15. Macross 7

https://kitsu.io/anime/macross-7

Remember how I said we'd get back to music later. Well, here we are. I love music, so what better way to keep my attention than to base a series around the idea that music can stop evil and save the universe. And while I really want to acknowledge the entire Macross franchise here, I have to give special kudos to Macross 7, almost solely because it has the best soundtrack of the franchise, and a soundtrack in the top 5 of all anime I've ever seen. The tracks just rock, and fit well into the story as a whole. So well in fact, that one of the better tracks (in my opinion of course) has shown up in every Macross iteration since. I may be wrong, but I'm not sure anything from the original TV series managed to do that. Just a track from the movie, Do You Remember Love? (someone will surely prove me wrong on this, right?)

14. Super Sonico

https://kitsu.io/anime/super-sonico-the-animation

This is not on the list because of mindless T and A. This is on the list because it was the most unexpected slice of life miracle I've ever seen. Because it had a decent soundtrack. Because it devoted an entire episode to her pet cats. Because it knows how to take a character that looks like the ultimate fan-boy wet dream and make that one of the last things to cross your mind while watching it. Oh, and also because it has one of the best Christmas episodes in anime. If you haven't watched it because you think it's all about the fan-service, go watch it. If you still think I'm wrong, we can discuss it, but I think Episode 7 will be my winning card. Never have I been more surprised by the content of an episode than when that episode aired.

13. Steins;Gate

https://kitsu.io/anime/steins-gate

Time travel stories always fascinate me. If they're done especially well, I love them even more. While not the best time travel story I've ever come across (go read Tim Powers' novel, The Anubus Gates if you're curious), Steins;Gate is certainly very near the top of the list. With a very engaging cast and the kind of drama that I wish was present in any of the other series linked by the errant semicolon, I just have to keep coming back to this one. It was also one of my first anime when I really dove into the fandom a few years back and holds a bit of a nostalgia slot in my heart. Oh, and also, that soundtrack is just brilliant.

12. Nodame Cantabile

https://kitsu.io/anime/nodame-cantabile

Ah, Nodame Cantabile. This is actually the most recently watched anime to make this list. I honestly only competed it early this year. This one did so many things right for me though, so it easily made the list. To start, the music selection here is just about perfect for a show revolving around classical music. The choices weren't always super obvious picks, but they didn't get so obscure that a casual viewer would feel lost or bored. It was a mix of well known and not so much so, and being the huge music fanatic that I am, this was perfect. Add to this that Nodame is just so damn charming as a character and that the rest of the cast is so very enjoyable to watch interact, and you have something I could have easily plowed through in a couple of days. It was a real struggle not to fly through, instead really forcing myself to take some time with it. I'm so glad I did though. This show will not be forgotten by me or many that watched it.

11. Galaxy Express 999

https://kitsu.io/anime/galaxy-express-999

Okay, so I haven't actually finished this show yet. In fact, I've been watching it for nearly 3 years now and am only a smidge past the halfway point. So why is it on this list? Because it is that show that I can go to when I don't feel like watching anything else and just enjoy an episode in peace. There is an overarching story to the show, but for the most part, we only see that in the first couple episodes and brief reminders from the cast when something happens to remind us that this is why they are on the Galaxy Express, bound for the planet where Tetsuro can get a mechanical body for free. Otherwise, this show is just a lot of one-off stories, often with morals. This is where my love of the show comes in though (well, that, and the fact that I love Leiji Matsumoto's artistic style). I love these stories. They are not always complex, but they are very often surprising and unexpected, and told so very well. For a show from the late 70's, this one just blows me away sometimes, because I never think of it as a time when we'd get something like this. That's probably my bad western mindset towards animated shows of the time though, and I should be shamed for this. Still, this is a classic and I love it.

10. F

https://kitsu.io/anime/f

I wrote a big review on this series after I watched it, which I will link here.

https://kitsu.io/reviews/13194

The short version though, and why I love it so much, is that this is probably one of the best anime endings I've ever seen. The show is wild at times, and a bit unconventional in how it portrays the sport it's based around, but man, the rivalry between the main characters is just brilliant, and it ends so perfectly. I love it! I only wish this had a better fansub than it does. Someone really needs to fix this.

9. Aria

https://kitsu.io/anime/aria-the-animation

Wait, what!? Aria isn't number 1 anymore? You must be in shock over this if you know me and how long it's held that spot. Well, all I can say is that I really put a lot of thought into this list, and I realized something. I do really love Aria. It's a wonderful series with great stories, some of the best music in anime and a cast to die for. Still, I have 8 other shows that I would more quickly watch if given the choice. It sounds weird saying that, but that's how it is. My tastes have shifted a little and become more clear in the past year or so, and that's what moved Aria down the line. I love it for it's slice of life nature and the calm, peaceful stories it give us. It just doesn't have something else to really grab and hold me like other shows that pair in more drama or comedy, which seems to be where my tastes have gone. Still, I'll recommend this show to anyone that asks if I see it missing from their lists. It's a must watch, like every show in my top 10 (I will back this up if anyone dares question that statement).

8. Emma: A Victorian Romance

https://kitsu.io/anime/eikoku-koi-monogatari-emma

So, I really have a thing for British history and culture. It's one of my other big geek things besides music and anime. So of course, a show that feels like a mangaka tried to be Jane Austin for a while is obviously going to catch my attention. And as you can see, it was really, really good. Romance in anime is a genre unfortunately plagued by unfinished stories and plenty of bad tropes that we're all sick of. Emma takes a different track with it's Victorian romance styles, and I think it does it beautifully. The cast is very enjoyable, the story moves along properly and the romance is a wonderful thing to watch unfold. And of course, it has a proper ending! I also have to give a shout out to this series for great accuracy in historical detail. So many sites of old London town were brought to life here, which was a joy to see.

7. Nichijou

https://kitsu.io/anime/nichijou

And speaking of British culture, well, okay, Nichijou doesn't have any link to it. If ever there was a series that feels like I'm watching an anime rendition of Monty Python's Flying Circus though, this would be it. There are totally random side jokes and stories that go nowhere, jokes that start in one sketch and end up in another one, and a sort of humor that doesn't feel Japanese at all, aside from the setting. Maybe this is why, for the longest time, the only western release of this show was in Australia. Hmm? Anyways, this show makes me happy when I watch it, with much laughter included. The cast is something I can't even begin start praising and the art style is just amazing for a weekly show. If you haven't seen this yet, I dare ask you, “Why not!?”

6. Cross Game

https://kitsu.io/anime/cross-game

Best first episode ever! Simple as that. If you aren't hooked and ready for more by the end of that episode, you might as well hand in your anime fanboy ID card and find a new hobby. Seriously though, this show is just amazing, starting with that first episode, and just building from there. The cast is near perfection, the story is not nearly what you would expect from a sports anime and the culmination of the series just works so well. I honestly could not be more pleased with a show. Also, it has a song for drawing the cat and shows off fan art. How cool is that?

5. Eden of the East

https://kitsu.io/anime/eden-of-the-east

Eden of the East is a show I didn't really think about putting on my favorites for a long time. Then I realized I had been rewatching every year, and enjoying it just as much every time. I don't know exactly why I like it so much. It's just kindof become that show that I have a mood for, put on and have a good time for a couple days. I think it's just a combination of a fun cast and an interesting story with lots of movie references that I actually get. Then again, this could be another case of a series that I watched early on in my return to anime and it holds some nostalgic value. Either way, I think it's great.

4. Yawara!

https://kitsu.io/anime/yawara

I'm sure most would not pick this as their series of choice from Naoki Urasawa, but dammit, it's so good! And I don't even like Judo. But then I watched Yawara and found it to be the most interesting sport for a few months. Then again, this series isn't just here for making me like a sport I knew nothing about. It's here because it mixes that up with an intriguing romance plot and a great cast of characters that I'll never forget. Also, it did a great job of fleshing out side characters that I honestly didn't expect. It pleased me so much with two particular characters because one deserved the attention and the other grew so much from the bumbling idiot he started out as. It was just amazing to watch.

3. Working!!

https://kitsu.io/anime/working-1

You know those series you relate to because you've been there and done that. Working is that series for me. I mean, my food service jobs were nothing nearly as insane as this series, but I can relate so much to the things that happen at Wagnaria. The cast encompass so many of the types of people that I've dealt with, only with the insanity knob turned to 11. This series also gets a nod from me for having some of the catchiest opening themes I've ever seen. Not the best, mind you, but damn if I didn't watch them every freaking time.

2. Maison Ikkoku

https://kitsu.io/anime/maison-ikkoku

Right, now we're in to the really tricky entry for me. I really, really wanted this to be number 1. I loved so much about this series when I watched it. I relate so much to Godai and his struggles, more so than nearly any other anime character I can think of with the possible exception of Anna in When Marnie Was There (but that's a whole other list). I understand what it's like to be in a crappy living situation with people that drive you up the wall on a daily basis with no regard for your personal space. I know the struggles of trying to make it through college. And like a lot of us, I understand the desires love gives us, even when they seem unrealistic and someone else is trying to get the same girl you want (granted, my experience with this one ended up much worse in the end, but yeah). These alone are big reasons why I absolutely love the series. But there's more. The cast is just a joy to watch, from the most annoying characters on up to all of my favorites. There is plenty of off the wall comedy like any good Rumiko Takahashi series, but there is so much heart behind her work, and nowhere else do I see that than in this series. It is the perfect romantic comedy as far as I'm concerned, and a joy to watch through. This is also the only anime, because it's out of print in the west, that I would more than willingly drop the money to buy on DVD (that price currently being well beyond $1000 last I checked). That's how much I love this show. It would be number 1, except that number 1 happens to be...

1. Ichigo Mashimaro

https://kitsu.io/anime/ichigo-mashimaro

Remember way back in the honorable mentions section, how I talked about that whole single parent slice of life subgenre that I love so much? Well, this series is kinda one of those. I mean, not totally since there is some indication that there are parents around. We never see them though, so this show is really all about an older sibling taking care of her younger sister and her friends. Of course, this group of characters works in such a way as to make sure that only the best possible comedy happens whenever possible. I can't even describe the joy it gives me in these moments. The jokes just have me in stitches. But there is an equal amount of heart in the show as well. It still has my absolute favorite Christmas episode ever. For all the jokes in that episode, the innocence it portrays and the care that most of the characters go to to protect that is just a thing of beauty. So yes, I love this show. Often times, it is the show that I drag out first when someone asks for a recommendation, and I've yet to get anything but a good response when said persons finish the show. And if that's not enough to show my love, well then, how about this. This is the only anime that I own twice. I bought a DVD box set back when it was still out of print, and then I bought a copy of the Blurays when Sentai Filmworks picked it up last year. I have not gone to the trouble to do this kind of upgrade for any other series, and probably will not, even though I have many series that I can now upgrade. This is the only one I see a reason to have done so. And believe me, it was so worth it! It feels so great to finally have the OVAs for this series too.

And with that, it looks like we're done. If you made it this far, I really want to thank you for reading all of that (unless you skimmed through it all, then shame on you, I put a lot of work into this and now you hurt my feelings). While this is of course, only my list, I'm feeling brave enough to ask what you guys think? Do you agree with anything? Disagree with a reason better than “It's Shit!” or any other mean spirited remark? Should I do a list like this for movies or OVAs? Whatever it is, I'd love to hear it. So thanks again, and take care!

#top 25 #anime #2017

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geeeooorrrge · 7 years

Text

And Everything In Between - a Paulo Dybala/Alvaro Morata fanfic

Hi everyone! Sorry for the late update, it was soooo busy preparing for the lunar new year. But this is essentially the final chapter of this fic, the next one will be the epilogue. Also, I've updated the playlist again, for the final time!

At this point I'd just like to say thank you to all of you, for all your likes and messages about this fic, and for your feedback on it. I really appreciate all your support and I truly wouldn’t have made it this far if not for all of you. Thank you for not giving up halfway through this long-ass fic and following me to the very end. Thank you for enduring my presence in the tags. I really enjoyed writing this and I hope you enjoyed reading it just as much. This is truly the most fun I've had in a long time - and everything, together with the trivia and one page of planning, is 506 pages on Microsoft Word. So you can imagine how much of a pain in the ass it is to open and save :p

But anyway, thank you all so so so so so much. I hope you'll follow the new Isco/Franco fic which I will be posting together with the epilogue this week :)

Thank you so much and enjoy!

Title is from Sun by Sleeping At Last.

Chapter list and summary | Read on AO3

CHAPTER 45 – WE ARE INFINITE AS THE UNIVERSE WE HOLD INSIDE

Less than a week after Juventus returned to Turin, Paul left for Manchester United.

Paulo didn’t get to see him. Didn’t get to say goodbye. Didn’t get to say thank you for your support right from the very start.

But he finally met Gonzalo and quickly hit it off with him, so that sort of took away a little of the pain.

Alvaro skirted around the subject cautiously, like he wasn’t sure how much Paulo wanted to talk about Paul. Paulo half expected him to just recklessly go ‘I told you so,’ but Alvaro didn’t. Alvaro was maturing. Paulo was so fucking proud.

“Maybe you could text him,” Alvaro said when they were on the phone before Paulo was flying to London for another friendly. Out of the blue, with no preamble of any sort. “You know, Paul,” he said, his voice lowering on Paul’s name like he didn’t know if it would somehow trigger Paulo to hear it.

“Yeah,” Paulo said. He was sort of already just. Zen with it. “Hey, you know they asked me if I want to take Paul’s number?”

“The number 10?”

“Yeah.”

“Do you wanna?”

“I don’t know yet. What do you think?”

Alvaro went quiet for a few moments, then, “It’s up to you.”

“Yeah? But I kinda like 21.”

“Hey, um,” Alvaro stammered. “Could I say something?”

“Of course, Alvi.”

“Could you just. Just wait?” Alvaro asked timidly. “Like, think about this number change and just wait and don’t make a decision yet.”

“Yeah, I’ll think about it, why?”

“You’ll see. You’ll know when it happens.”

Paulo narrowed his eyes although Alvaro couldn’t see him. “What’s gonna happen?” he asked.

“Told you, you’ll know when it happens.”

“You’ve got something planned, haven’t you,” Paulo said. “You’re a fucking tease.”

“I’m not gonna say anything,” Alvaro giggled.

“What if I kiss you until you do?”

“You can’t.”

“But I am. I’m kissing you until you open your fucking mouth and tell me what’s up.”

“Mmhmm? And what if I don’t?”

And then it quickly escalated into another session of phone sex that Paulo and Alvaro were so increasingly having. It was actually a pretty good routine. It seemed to get rid of Alvaro’s need for constant physical affection. Paulo didn’t have the same intense need, but. But he was getting orgasms out of it, so why not?

Anyway, Paulo didn’t manage to get anything out of Alvaro, so he waited. He didn’t really think much about it, just waited, like Alvaro said, for the surprise to hit him.

------

When Isco asked for a copy of his key, Alvaro didn’t really think much about it. Sure, it was slightly suspicious, but Alvaro thought maybe there were just some of his things at Isco’s apartment that Isco wanted to drop off.

He only realised why Isco had asked for it when he woke up on the morning of his presentation to something warm pressing against him on the other side of his bed.

Alvaro briefly thought fuck, why the fuck is Isco in my bed, before he opened his eyes.

And saw Paulo – Paulo, in all his glory, lying next to him, legs curled up in front of him so one thigh was shoved in between Alvaro’s.

Alvaro knew there had to be a reason why he was sleeping so soundly.

Alvaro’s first reaction was to reach over and place his palm on Paulo’s cheek to check if he was real or if he was just a hallucination. He felt the bump in Paulo’s cheek as he smiled, the curvature that fit perfectly into the palm of Alvaro’s hand.

“Hello,” Paulo whispered.

“Hi,” Alvaro whispered, before he suddenly broke down in tears of relief. “You’re here.”

“Of course,” Paulo continued whispering, like there was this little bubble of peace he didn’t want to burst. He wiped Alvaro’s cheeks with his thumbs. “Wouldn’t miss it for the world.”

“I thought you were going straight to the Bernabeu.”

“I couldn’t wait to see you.”

Alvaro closed the gap between their faces and pressed his lips gently on Paulo’s. He felt a faint glow start radiating throughout his entire body, emitting from his chest, where his heart was currently pounding so hard he could hear it in his ears. The glow of Paulo’s presence.

Alvaro pulled Paulo into a tight hug, their bodies pressed together from head to toe. “I missed you so much,” Alvaro breathed into Paulo’s ear.

“I missed you, too,” Paulo said softly, his hands running soothing circles on Alvaro’s back. “Seems like it’s been forever.”

“When are you going back?”

“Tomorrow morning. So I have a night with you.”

“Yeah?” Alvaro smiled.

“Yeah.”

“What are we going to do?”

“Anything you want, Alvi.”

Alvaro moved to kiss Paulo on the cheek. “I love you.”

“I love you too, Alvi, I love you so, so much.”

“How’s everything?” Alvaro asked, holding Paulo at arm’s length and examining him as properly as he could from their positions. “Is everyone treating you well? Are you eating well? You look like you’ve lost weight.”

“I haven’t lost any weight, Alvaro.”

“You sure?”

“I’m very sure.”

“Well, you haven’t grown taller either.”

“Fuck you,” Paulo shoved Alvaro aside. He picked up his phone and opened Instagram. “Hey, let’s take a photo. You know that new thing Instagram just made? The one that’s like Snapchat?”

“Yeah, but I haven’t used it yet.”

“Why?”

“I don’t have anyone I wanna take photos of,” Alvaro said matter-of-factly. Because, well. It was a matter of fact. “You weren’t here.”

A slow smile spread across Paulo’s face, the same time that a tiny blush appeared on his cheeks. “Cheesy fuck,” he said.

“C’mon, we can take one now.”

So Paulo took an aerial photo of the both of them, lying in bed, Alvaro gazing lovingly at Paulo as Paulo smiled at the camera. He posted it on his story with an emoji of the Spanish flag.

“You’re gross,” Paulo remarked, staring at the photograph, clicking on his story every time the time ran out so he could look at it again. “Look at your face. It’s so gross.”

“I’m in love with you,” Alvaro said. “That’s how someone looks like when they’re in love.”

“I don’t look like that,” Paulo said adamantly.

“Wanna bet?”

“Why do you wanna bet when you know you’re gonna lose?”

“Fuck you,” Alvaro said, trying to tickle Paulo.

It soon escalated into another wrestling match that ended with Paulo on top of Alvaro, straddling him, trying to mess up Alvaro’s hair, which had already grown out since the Euros. He didn’t notice Alvaro grabbing his phone and taking a photo of them – just their top halves – and posting it to his own story with a blue heart.

“See?” Alvaro said, showing the photograph to Paulo to make him stop fiddling with Alvaro. “You look gross, too.”

Paulo tapped Alvaro’s little circle again to examine the photograph. “I look less gross than you,” he mused, a cheeky smirk on his face.

“You totally don’t.”

Paulo gave a little giggle. “Fine, fine. We both look gross.”

“I love you, Paulo.”

“I love you, too,” Paulo said. He took the phone from Alvaro and viewed the story again before resting his cheek on Alvaro’s chest. “I guess I’m in love with you, yeah?”

“Mmhmm,” Alvaro pressed his face into Paulo’s hair, temporarily intoxicated by the familiar scent.

“You gotta go get ready?”

Alvaro sighed, wrapping his arms tightly around Paulo. “I just wanna lie with you forever.”

“We can do that tonight.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. Now go get ready.”

“Come with me.”

So Paulo followed Alvaro everywhere and got ready with him. They showered together and put on their clothes together, and Alvaro said again that Paulo had lost weight but Paulo pointed out that Alvaro had lost weight, too, so they both agreed that maybe it was just all the flying around and the jet lag. They stood in front of the mirror together, Alvaro in his fancy suit and Paulo in a dark grey buttoned shirt and black jeans.

“You look hot,” Alvaro said as Paulo adjusted his tie.

Paulo gave a shy laugh. “You look hotter.”

Alvaro gave Paulo’s arms a squeeze. “You’re so big now. When I met you, you were so tiny I could pick you up and throw you into Portugal.”

“Shut up,” Paulo smiled, giving Alvaro’s shoulder a light smack. “When I first met you. I don’t know. I felt so comfortable. I liked you a lot. I looked up to you. And, I don’t know. I just felt that we were so alike, we liked the same things and we hoped for the same things, and we saw the world the same way. And I hoped that one day I’d make it as big as you, I mean, I’ve always preferred Barcelona but. But you were playing for fucking Real Madrid, I don’t know, it’s just so huge and I hoped that one day I’d get to play for a club that was just as big.”

“And you are, yeah?” Alvaro gently ruffled Paulo’s unstyled hair. Alvaro liked it best when it was unstyled. “You’re playing for a huge club now.”

“Yeah,” Paulo turned his smile to the ground, giving Alvaro’s lapels a final pat-down. “Alvi, we made it big.”

“So fucking big.”

“When you met me,” Paulo swallowed the lump that appeared in his throat. “When you met me, did you ever think I’d make it this far?”

“Of course,” Alvaro said earnestly. He’d never, ever thought any other way. “I mean, I know you didn’t play for the Argentine youth team. I know you were like, virtually unknown because of that. But you were so good, Paulo, the first time I watched you play, I couldn’t take my eyes off you.”

“You still can’t,” Paulo pointed out, and well. That wasn’t false.

“That’s because you’re so fucking beautiful,” Alvaro said, wrapping his arms around Paulo and pulling him in for a hug. “You’re so beautiful.”

Paulo gave a soft chuckle, tucking his head under Alvaro’s chin. “Shut the fuck up.”

“C’mon now, don’t cry or you’ll ruin your make up,” Alvaro smiled.

“Shut the fuck up,” Paulo repeated. He pulled away from the hug and moved to kiss Alvaro instead, his tender, gentle lips prying Alvaro’s apart, his tongue working its way into Alvaro’s mouth. His hands slid under Alvaro’s suit jacket, forming two warm pools on Alvaro’s lower back through his dress shirt. And the feeling – just the feeling of Paulo, the bumps and muscles and bones that Alvaro was more than familiar with, quenched all of Alvaro’s thirst, all the accumulated want and craving suddenly disintegrating into thin air. Paulo was here. Paulo was here and no matter how short the visit was, nothing else would ever matter more.

“I’m going to have a boner at my presentation,” Alvaro murmured into Paulo’s mouth.

“Serves you right.”

“Paulo,” Alvaro sighed, pulling away and holding Paulo by the shoulders. “I just. I just can’t. I can’t put all of this into words. These past seven years, meeting you, hoping to play with you, actually getting to play with you…Paulo. It’s just. It’s a dream come true. You know, you don’t really realise it until it happens, you don’t realise how big it all is. But now, looking back on it…I don’t even know. I don’t know how to put it all into words.”

“You don’t have to,” Paulo whispered. He tucked a stray bunch of Alvaro’s hair into the gelled pile sitting neatly on his head. “I love you.”

“I love you, too.”

“All this time,” Paulo said softly. “All this time, this seven years. It just tells us that no matter what, we’ll always make it out. Me and you. Paulo and Alvaro. As long as we’re together, we’ll always make it out unscathed.”

“Yeah?” Alvaro smiled. “Yeah. We definitely will.”

“And then we can get that big dog you’re always going on about.”

“No, we get married first. It comes as a set. Get married and get a big dog.”

“Anything at all, Alvi. Anything you want.”

“I want you.”

Paulo smiled and Alvaro caught a little glimpse of it before Paulo dove into another hug. He held on to Alvaro as Alvaro started walking out of the room, only letting go when they got stuck at the door. Alvaro took his hand as they walked to the front door.

“So, you prefer Barca?” Alvaro asked, even though he had always known.

“Yeah. They’ve always had more Argentines.”

Alvaro pried his hand out of Paulo’s. “Sorry, man, this is a hard no. I gotta break up with you. Bye, Paulo. Go back to Turin. Regresa al Turin.”

“Fuck you,” Paulo shoved him in the shoulder, laughing loudly. “You know I’d never act on it.”

Alvaro chuckled and took Paulo’s hand, holding it tight until they got to the car. And even then he only let go of it briefly as they both climbed in, Paulo driving and Alvaro in the passenger seat. He reached over and held on to one of Paulo’s hands.

“I’m so glad you’re here,” Alvaro said.

Paulo smiled. “I’m so proud of you, Alvi.”

Alvaro leaned over and gently pecked Paulo’s cheek.

Paulo didn’t stop smiling for the rest of the journey and Alvaro felt this strange sense of peace. This strange sense of contentment that Paulo was right beside him, and no matter how brief a time they had with each other, it would never fail to make Alvaro feel whole. Alvaro had spent his entire life chasing this feeling but just never getting it right. This feeling of being so at home with someone, every second of every day, no matter how far or near they were. Alvaro finally understood why it had taken him so long.

Because no matter how clichéd it sounded, home wasn’t a place. Home wasn’t even a feeling.

Home was Paulo.

------

Paulo received a huge kiss from Alvaro right in front of all the cameras at the Bernabeu before he left to get ready for his presentation.

Paulo turned away from the cameras, wanting to head to the presentation room but suddenly so dizzy and at a loss to which direction he was supposed to walk in.

“Paulo, welcome to the Bernabeu, how are you today?” he heard one of the reporters ask before he could escape.

Paulo just. Just turned to him, and said, “Proud.”

He received a collective smile from everyone there. Paulo flashed a big smile back, just, you know, for the cameras. This high-profile reporting of their relationship was something Paulo knew was going to happen from day one, from their coming out press conference. Paulo just had to deal with it. He thought maybe he was doing a wonderful job. Alvaro sure thought so, at least.

Besides, the warm welcome they got from the media meant that they were welcome in Madrid, too. Paulo was overjoyed at that fact. Madrid loved them just like Turin did. Paulo truly had two homes away from home.

The media helped him out, for once, by pointing him in the right direction. Paulo scurried down the hall until he saw Alvaro’s family ambling their way down it, on their way inside, too.

Marta was the first to see him, giving a loud squeal when she did. She wrapped her arms around Paulo and gave a tight squeeze. “Hey, lil brother.”

“Hey,” Paulo smiled.

Alvaro’s parents gave him warm smiles and said they were glad he was back in Madrid, and. And that was enough for Paulo. Just those six simple words, ‘we’re glad you’re back in Madrid,’ was more than enough for Paulo.

They all filtered inside the presentation room, and Paulo stuck to Marta so they’d end up sitting together because, well. Paulo was still a little afraid of Alvaro’s dad. But he ended up wedged in between Marta and her dad, so he decided to spend most of the waiting time just staring ahead.

He only succeeded for like, five minutes, before Alvaro’s dad asked, “Have you been to Alvaro’s new apartment?”

“Yeah,” Paulo said. “It’s a nice place.”

“I heard you helped him pick it out.”

“Yeah,” Paulo said again, smiling.

“You have good taste.”

“Well, it was Alvaro who chose it in the end, so…”

“Nonsense. We all know Alvaro’s taste is nowhere near decent,” Alvaro’s dad said, before realising. “I mean, not that you aren’t good, just –“

Paulo burst into laughter. “His taste for other things,” he finished for Alvaro’s dad.

“Yes,” Alvaro’s dad said, clearing his throat. “Paulo, I just want to say. I’m very proud of the both of you. Of how far you’ve come. You pressed on with it, you pulled through right to the very end, and look where it’s got you. I’m very happy that…that you two know what you really want and you’ve worked so hard for it.”

“Thank you,” Paulo smiled, turning to Alvaro’s dad but only managing to make one second of eye contact before he had to turn away again.

“And. And you’re welcome in our home anytime you want, yeah?”

Paulo’s heart skipped a beat. This was like. It was like final, verbal confirmation from Alvaro’s dad that he was accepting Alvaro and Paulo. Paulo understood that Alvaro’s dad had been in a constant learning journey when it came to Alvaro and Paulo. He knew it was time that he had to give to Alvaro’s dad. But now, to hear this, to know that. That Alvaro’s dad had reached this advanced stage in his journey where he was comfortable enough with the idea to support it – to welcome Paulo, to accept Paulo and Alvaro as a couple, to accept that Alvaro wasn’t exactly the son he’d planned to have, to embrace who Alvaro was and not block out everything that was preventing Alvaro from being the ‘ideal son,’ and most importantly to be comfortable enough with all of this that he was willing to say it out loud – it finally put a full stop to everything. Their story was complete. Alvaro and Paulo’s story was complete.

“Thank you,” Paulo whispered, afraid if he spoke any louder he would burst into tears. “This…it all means a lot to me, really. Thank you.”

Alvaro’s dad smiled. He draped an arm over Paulo’s shoulders and pulled him close in a half-hug. “I know you see me as a dad. I’ve told you before, Paulo. You’re my son, too.”

Paulo nodded silently.

“I hope that Alvaro being here, in Madrid…it hasn’t affected you two, yeah?”

“Not at all,” Paulo said.

“Good, because, you know. I’d rather he be with you than with anyone else in the world. You two are going to do such great things together.”

Paulo smiled. His hands were shaking, so he stuffed them between his knees. Alvaro’s dad seemed to get it, so he let go of Paulo as they watched the happenings on the stage. Watched as Alvaro came outside and took a seat in the front row, but not before turning and flashing a dazzling smile in the direction of his family and Paulo. But more of like, directly at Paulo. It melted all of Paulo’s bones.

Marta nudged Paulo in the side. “You’re disgusting.”

“You’re jealous,” Paulo shot back. Marta was like a sister to him. His only sister. Just like how Paulo had been Alvaro’s only brother.

Paulo smiled to himself. Alvaro just couldn’t stop giving.

The room fell into a hushed silence as the lights dimmed and an announcement came on about the tribute video of Alvaro they were going to play. Paulo clasped his hands together, suddenly nervous for no reason at all. It just felt like he was nervous for the sake of being nervous, because his body was telling him this was a huge day for Alvaro and for whatever reason it was something to be nervous about.

The video was of Alvaro’s goals in a Real Madrid or Spain shirt, all his screamers and point-blanks, all his cup wins and ecstatic celebrations. And his mushroom head, God, his mushroom head that Paulo was so fucking fond of.

Paulo couldn’t believe how far they’d both come. How much they’d both grown, albeit in different ways. As Paulo watched all those goals he couldn’t help but be overcome by a huge wave of pride. He was there for all of it. He was there for all of it, all of Alvaro’s growing years, all of his goals, the entirety of Alvaro’s transition from youth to senior and into the star he was today. And yet, even though they’d both made mistakes, nothing between them had ever changed one tiny bit.

Alvaro was the strongest force, the sturdiest pillar of strength in Paulo’s life. And no matter what happened in the future, no matter what happened in the world or in their lives, Paulo never, ever wanted that to stop.

Paulo’s eyes flitted between the main screen and the smaller screen next to it that showed Alvaro as he watched the video. Well, they mostly lingered on the small screen. Alvaro looked pretty expressionless on the surface, but from his eyes Paulo saw a mixture of nervousness and nostalgia. And pride.

The lights came back on as Perez stepped on stage to give a short speech to welcome Alvaro back. Soon after, Alvaro was invited on stage.

Paulo wasn’t actually aware that Alvaro had to give a legitimate speech. But he suddenly realised why Alvaro had been so nervous – why Paulo himself had been so nervous. Maybe it was his fucking tattletale subconscious working its magic. But anyway, Alvaro looked anxious as he cleared his throat and prepared to speak, so Paulo chased his gaze and gave an encouraging smile when he caught it.

“Hello, everyone,” Alvaro started, his gaze alternating between Paulo’s face and the script on the podium in front of him. “Thank you for all your support and for being here today. I am very glad to be back. My two years in Juventus were undoubtedly the greatest growing years for me, but now I am back in Madrid and right now this is where I want to be, back home. I’m very proud and honoured to get the chance to play in a Real Madrid shirt once again and I hope to return all of your faith.”

And then Alvaro stopped looking at his script and just focused on Paulo’s face, and from where Paulo was sitting he could see how dilated Alvaro’s pupils were, how eager his gaze was. Paulo’s eyes were trapped in it. He couldn’t look away.

“I’m taking the number 21 this time – not because my chosen number wasn’t available and not because I wore the number 21 a few seasons back. I chose the number 21 because of what it means to me. Paulo – my boyfriend, Paulo – wears this same number. I met Paulo on the 21st day of the month of June. And when we finally got the chance to play together in Juventus after all our years of wishing, Paulo was 21 years old. So now, I will wear this white shirt with pride for the badge on the front, and I know I will take every step forward with Paulo right behind me. On that note, I would like to thank all of you for all your support and acceptance, thank you to my family and friends, thank you to all of you who are here today. I am very touched that you have put so much faith and trust in me and that you have tried to understand me and not give up on me. Thank you for making Madrid a home I can come back to. And lastly, thank you, Paulo. Thank you for taking the time to come here to Madrid, to a stadium that isn’t your home. Thank you for everything you’ve done for me. I love you. Thank you, everyone, I cannot express in words all my gratitude for everything that you have done for me. I hope I will continue to make you proud. Hala Madrid!”

Everyone started clapping loudly, and Alvaro looked so overwhelmed and he was still staring at Paulo, and Alvaro was crying and he was desperately trying to wipe his tears and Paulo was suddenly equally overwhelmed because Alvaro in the past, Alvaro before he accepted himself, would never have cried in public. He would have held it in; no matter how hard it was, Alvaro would have held it in. And Paulo just. He knew it was a weird reason to be proud, but he was.

When they gave Alvaro the shirt with the number 21 on the back it suddenly hit Paulo – this was the surprise. This was why Alvaro didn’t want him to change his number.

Marta nudged Paulo in the ribs as he watched Alvaro pose for photographs. “You’re crying,” she pointed out.

“Am not,” Paulo retorted, although, well. He was.

“Pfft,” she said, and stood up as they were called to the stage for group photos.

Paulo hurriedly wiped his tears and followed Alvaro’s family up the stage. They made a path for Paulo so he could stand next to Alvaro, and of course Paulo didn’t deny them. He went all the way up to Alvaro and stood next to him, and jabbed his middle finger into the small of Alvaro’s back.

“D’you know which finger I’m pointing at you right now?” he asked.

Alvaro burst into gentle laughter as he gave Paulo one of the sleeves of his jersey to hold on to. “Yes, I do.”

“I’m not going to change my number,” Paulo informed him.

“I hoped you wouldn’t,” Alvaro smiled. “Told you you’d know it when it happened.”

Paulo shielded his mouth from the cameras with his free hand as he whispered, “Fuck you.”

And then they had to chill and pose for the photos, and shit, Paulo was fucking holding a Real Madrid shirt with his number on the back and he bet there would be tons of photoshopped photos with the ‘Morata’ changed to ‘Dybala’ accompanying the transfer rumours and just the thought of it made Paulo want to laugh.

“Hey,” Paulo said when they were done and heading out so Alvaro could change into a full kit for pitch-side photos. “What if I come to Real Madrid, what number do I take then?”

Alvaro’s eyes widened excitedly, before narrowing again when he realised Paulo was teasing him again. “That’s not gonna happen.”

“Did you take 21 so you could be next to Isco in the locker room? Do you have a crush on him?”

Alvaro’s eyes narrowed further. “Did you come all the way over here to make fun of me?”

“No, I came all the way over here because I love you.”

Alvaro smiled a warm smile and Paulo’s bones melted again. He leaned over and pressed his lips gently on Paulo’s. “I love you, too. I’m so fucking happy you’re here.”

“I’m so fucking happy I’m here,” Paulo said. “Now go get changed.”

“Will you come help me?”

“Can I?”

Alvaro burst into laughter at how eager Paulo must’ve looked. “Uh, nah, I think you’d better not.”

And then he left with a little giggle, and Paulo followed Alvaro’s family out to the side of the pitch, where they were brought on a very short tour of the sidelines and benches.

Paulo took out his phone to send a quick email to Allegri about the shirt number – only to see an email from Allegri already waiting for him in his inbox.

Paulo, I know, you’ll keep the 21. Enjoy your time in Madrid and I’ll see you in training.

Boss

Paulo typed a quick thank you email and looked up to see a reporter approaching him. The same one who had been interviewing Marta earlier on.

“Paulo, hello,” she said cheerfully. “Welcome to the Bernabeu.”

“Thank you,” Paulo managed to say, though he was caught completely off guard.

“How does it feel being here, seeing Alvaro here?”

“I know he’s really happy to be home, after all he grew up playing for Real Madrid. I’m very proud that he’s made it back here. As long as he’s happy, I’m happy, doesn’t matter where he plays.”

“You’ve known Alvaro since you were teens, haven’t you?”

“Yeah, since I was fifteen. Alvaro got promoted to Castilla at the end of that season.”

“Would you ever consider playing in Spain?”

“Well…” Paulo said sheepishly. He couldn’t really say anything, so he just flashed his most charming grin at her.

She laughed. “I know, I know, no comment.”

Paulo decided it was probably better he didn’t mention Barcelona, so. “I’m sure Alvaro will do great things here and I’d like to thank everyone again, on behalf of Alvaro, for all your support, I’m sure he’ll be very glad to see how many people turned up.”

“We’re all very happy to see him back, too,” she smiled. “Oh, here he comes. Thanks, Paulo. If you don’t already know this yet – we’re all rooting for the both of you!”

It touched Paulo, really, that no one hesitated to remind him that they were very welcome in this city. Over and over again, even. That nothing had changed in their transition from Turin to Madrid. They had burst into the scene and made it theirs. They’d lit up the world. And Paulo was so, so honoured that he was able to do it with Alvaro by his side.

He stood aside with Alvaro’s family as Alvaro entered the pitch to a boisterous crowd. He knew it’d always been Alvaro’s dream, to walk out on the Bernabeu grass with a crowd cheering him on, ever since he was a teen. He didn’t exactly get that when he was promoted to the senior team, and needless to say when he scored against Real Madrid while playing for Juve. This was the first time he really, truly, got all the attention on him, and knew that all the applause was for him.

Alvaro paused for a second to marvel at the sheer number of fans who’d turned up – they were occupying every single one of the seats that had been allocated for this event. They were holding banners. Spain flags. Old Morata jerseys.

Cameramen swarmed around Alvaro as he began juggling the ball, before being directed to stand in different poses. Paulo stood where he was as Alvaro’s family went over to him to take photos, because after all, it was family time. They all had identical delighted looks on their faces and it was so adorable.

Alvaro eventually caught him standing alone and waved him over, and when Paulo gestured for them to continue, Alvaro just. Just marched over and grabbed Paulo’s hand and dragged him over to where everybody was, causing them to burst into fond laughter.

“Can I have one alone with Paulo, please,” Alvaro said impatiently when Marta continued hovering around them.

“Pfft,” she said, rolling her eyes and stepping aside.

Alvaro and Paulo instinctively wrapped their arms around each other, Alvaro’s draped across Paulo’s shoulders and Paulo’s curled around Alvaro’s waist. They smiled brilliantly at the camera. Paulo was temporarily transported back to their last day of the 2009 training camp and the photo they’d taken then, the photo he’d included in Alvaro’s scrapbook.

And like Alvaro had read his mind, he turned to Paulo and said, “For the scrapbook. 15th August 2016.”

Paulo tiptoed a little to kiss him and the crowd went fucking wild.

“Mmm, now more Instagram photos,” Alvaro murmured.

Paulo laughed. Sure, Alvaro was childish and a bit of a narcissist but honestly, who wasn’t? Besides, the way Alvaro was meant that he never ever failed to turn any situation into a good one and Paulo just. Paulo had always needed someone like him.

He was dragged along by Alvaro again as Alvaro got a bag of balls and emptied them on the ground, picking them up one by one and throwing or kicking them to the crowd. He passed some to Paulo, so Paulo joined in.

“Hey,” Paulo said as Alvaro passed him the last ball. He placed his hand on top of Alvaro’s as he took the ball. “I love you.”

“I love you, too,” Alvaro said, smiling as Paulo launched the ball into the crowd.

They re-entered the tunnel together, hand in hand, behind Alvaro’s family. Paulo stuck by Alvaro for the rest of the time. He went with Alvaro to get changed, clung on to Alvaro’s arm when he was brought on a short tour around the Bernabeu to get re-acquainted, and let Alvaro wrap him in a hug as they headed back down the hallway to grab Alvaro’s things from the locker room so Alvaro could head to training.

They met Isco outside the locker room, which was a surprise, actually, since he was supposed to be on his way to training as well.

“What the fuck are you doing here?” Alvaro asked.

“Rude,” Isco said. “I came to see my favourite couple.”

“Isn’t that you and Franco?” Alvaro said.

Isco briefly looked around to confirm there weren’t any lurking cameras before he flashed his middle finger at Alvaro. Paulo burst into loud laughter because, well. If they were a couple, they’d be Paulo’s second favourite. But Isco didn’t seem to like talking about it, judging from – well, judging from everything Alvaro had told Paulo. So Paulo just remained silent.

They stood at the door waiting for Alvaro to change. Isco nudged Paulo with his shoulder. “Hey. He’s really happy that you’re here.”

“Yeah?” Paulo smiled. “I told him a billion times I’d be here.”

“Yeah, but you know him,” Isco shrugged. “He won’t believe it until he sees you.”

“Thanks for, you know. Being here for him. When I can’t be.”

“I kinda don’t have a choice,” Isco laughed.

“Neither do I,” Paulo whispered conspiratorially, and Isco burst into laughter so fucking loud Alvaro turned around to see what was going on.

“I’m very happy to see you, Paulo,” Isco said once he’d calmed down enough. “You two, together. It just. It seems right. It doesn’t seem right to see Alvaro without you. Or you without Alvaro.”

“Thanks,” Paulo smiled. It didn’t feel right to not have Alvaro by his side, either. But just the thought of Alvaro, just the image of Alvaro in Paulo’s mind when he closed his eyes, like it was imprinted on the back of his eyelids – it was enough to get Paulo through, day by day, hour by hour. “And thanks for, you know, telling him that we should talk. He told me about that, and I guess…I guess if he hadn’t called, then we’d still be left hanging. Both of us. So…yeah. Thanks, Isco. It means a lot.”

Isco suddenly reached over and gave Paulo a hug instead of replying him, and it felt different because almost everyone Paulo knew was like, a head taller than him but Isco was the same height as him and it was a nice, friendly hug.

Well, that was before Alvaro suddenly barged in and nudged them apart, draping his arms over both their shoulders.

“Getting a little cozy here, aren’t we?”

Paulo laughed. “Fuck you. Jealous fuck.”

“Don’t be jealous, c’mon, gimme a kiss,” Isco said, leaning in and puckering his lips at Alvaro.

“Fuck off, Francisco,” Alvaro removed his arm and swatted Isco away, but Paulo leaned in to do the same as Isco was doing and Alvaro just. Just looked so helpless. “Fuck you, is this some dwarf conspiracy?”

“Rude,” Isco said again, before walking ahead of them, presumably to give them some private time. “I’m taking my own car so I don’t have to see you two fucking making out.”

Paulo hopped into the driver’s seat before Alvaro could protest. He made Alvaro key the training ground into the GPS, and he started driving.

It was comfortably silent until there was a rut in traffic and Paulo turned to see Alvaro just staring at him, his pupils so dilated the brown was missing, and this look of thorough affection on his face.

“What?” Paulo asked.

Alvaro said nothing, just leaned over and planted his lips gently on Paulo’s, working them open. They were soft and moist on Paulo’s, and they tasted like home, they tasted like the feeling Paulo had spent the last month craving.

A sudden loud blast of a car horn jerked them apart, panting heavily from the short but intense kiss. Paulo saw that the traffic light had turned green and there was a huge space in front of them, and he looked in the rearview mirror and saw that Isco had stopped behind them and was making an absurd kissy face at them.

“It’s Isco,” Paulo said when Alvaro strained to see who it was.

“Why is he stalking us? Didn’t he leave before us?” Alvaro asked. “What a weirdo.”

“It’s free gay porn,” Paulo pointed out as he hit the accelerator again.

“Gross,” Alvaro smacked him on the shoulder. “Fuck, Isco – us, him watching – fuck. I never thought you’d be able to turn me off, but you’ve proven me wrong.”

“Fuck you,” Paulo said, shoving Alvaro aside. Alvaro caught his hand and held on to it, laughing softly to himself.

Paulo drove the rest of the way with one hand because Alvaro didn’t let go of his other. He held it gently, playing with each of Paulo’s fingers, sliding his own fingers into and out of the gaps in between. Softly massaging Paulo’s finger joints. Murmuring about how tender Paulo’s hand was. Kissing the back of Paulo’s hand. Digging at Paulo’s cuticles.

He was reluctant to leave the car when Paulo pulled into the parking lot. He sat in place and gazed sadly at Paulo like if he did it well enough, he wouldn’t have to go for training and he could go home and cuddle with Paulo.

But it didn’t work that way, so Paulo promised, “Lots of cuddles after training.”

“Yeah?” Alvaro smiled. “Promise?”

“Promise.”

“You also promised me a shower blowjob a million years ago.”

“You’ll get that too.”

“Yeah?” Alvaro said again, this time looking really eager. “Okay, I’m going now. Drive this back, I’ll get Isco to drive me later.”

“I love you,” Paulo said as Alvaro keyed his address into the GPS so Paulo would know how to get home. “You’re going to do so great, Alvaro, you are, and I love you and I’ll see you at home.”

“I love you, too,” Alvaro leaned over and pressed a final kiss on Paulo’s lips. “I love you so much.”

“You sure it’s okay for Isco to drive you? Do you want me to come pick you up?”

Alvaro shook his head. “You know, you were right when you said it’d be good to get an apartment near Isco’s.”

Paulo beamed. “Of course.”

“Bye, Pau. I love you. Drive safe.”

And then Alvaro got out of the car but refused to budge until Paulo started driving, but even then he stopped Paulo to check if the GPS was working, and God, Alvaro was so overprotective but Paulo fucking loved him. Through the rearview, he saw Alvaro finally start to walk into the complex once Paulo had driven a safe distance away.

Paulo spent the entire journey home smiling to himself, thinking that even if he gave up his life to come to Madrid and be Alvaro’s trophy boyfriend, trophy husband – he wouldn’t mind even a tiny bit.

------

Paulo was already in bed by the time Alvaro got home.

He’d posted a photo on Instagram, the photograph from earlier of him and Alvaro on the pitch holding the ball put side by side with that photo of the both of them on the last day of the training camp in 2009. He’d captioned it, Who would have thought we’d come so far? Words cannot even begin to describe how proud and happy I am. Alvaro had liked it once his training had ended and he was home about a half hour later, while Paulo was in the midst of scrolling through the comments.

“Go take a shower,” Paulo said as Alvaro simply stripped off his sweater and hopped into bed.

“I showered there. Isco wouldn’t let me get into his car if I wasn’t clean. It’s so weird. He wasn’t like this before.”

“Yeah?” Paulo smiled. “Well, if you don’t shower I can’t give you the shower blowjob you can’t shut up about.”

And Alvaro was up in a flash and he ripped off all his remaining clothes like he was the Hulk and marched right into the bathroom, screaming at Paulo to hurry up.

So that was how Paulo finally paid off what he owed Alvaro, despite it having only arisen because of an offhanded comment by Alvaro and a promise from Paulo just to make him happy. But he got his own shower blowjob from Alvaro as a reunion present, so. No one was complaining.

They rolled into bed again afterwards, slightly more exhausted. Alvaro posted his own Instagram photo, one of them kissing on the pitch as the happy crowd watched on. My happy place, was its simple caption. Paulo got the first like and he was childishly proud of it, earning himself a judgemental glance from Alvaro.

“What d’you wanna do now?” Paulo asked once they’d put their phones aside and settled in comfortably, lying down facing each other.

“Nothing,” Alvaro said softly. “Just lie down here with you and stare at you forever.”

Paulo smiled. He gave Alvaro’s chin a little squeeze. “We could do that.”

Alvaro removed Paulo’s hand from his chin and held on to it tightly. He gave the back of it a soft peck. “Thanks for coming over here.”

“Of course,” Paulo whispered. “It was fun. I wouldn’t want to miss it for the world.”

“We’re going to make it, yeah?”

“Mmhmm,” Paulo said. He hadn’t even the slightest sliver of doubt in his mind that he and Alvaro were going to be forever. “Definitely.”

“I love you, Paulo.”

“I love you, too.”

“I’m not afraid of anything anymore,” Alvaro said softly. “Nothing at all. I just. I just wanted you to know. You make me so strong and nothing is impossible, nothing, because you’re right here by my side and you give me all the strength I’ll ever need.”

“Alvaro,” Paulo whispered. He placed his free hand on Alvaro’s cheek. “This is my dream come true. You know that, yeah? This…you. You are my dream come true.”

Alvaro smiled. He closed the gap between their faces and pressed his lips gently on Paulo’s, the familiar feeling still sending shivers up Paulo’s spine. Paulo slid his hand into Alvaro’s hair, still a little damp from the shower earlier. He let Alvaro pull him closer, so close they were practically stuck together from head to toe, one of Paulo’s thighs shoved between Alvaro’s again.

And even though it was their last night together – their only night together – it didn’t feel so bad. It didn’t feel like a goodbye anymore. Because Paulo knew they would continue to have many, many more nights like this, pressed as close together as they could physically get, for eternity.

“I love you,” Paulo whispered when they pulled apart from the kiss, heads pressed together.

“I love you, Paulo.”

“You know that photo I posted on Instagram?”

“Yeah?”

“Do you ever think about it? Like, how we met, how we weren’t supposed to meet, you were supposed to get another random Argentine dude, but we met anyway, and. And where we are today? It’s just. I don’t know. Have you ever thought about it, all the way from the very start to right now? Like, those two photos, side by side, like a before and after, 2009 and 2016.”

“And everything in between?”

“And everything in between.”

“No,” Alvaro whispered. “I don’t dare to. I’m afraid that halfway through, I’ll wake up, and I’ll realise that the entire thing was just a dream.”

Paulo smiled. “Me, too.”

“Let’s think about it right now.”

“Together?”

“Together. ‘Cause then we can convince each other it wasn’t a dream.”

“Maybe we’re both dreaming the same dream,” Paulo said.

“I’ll be fine with that. I’m fine anywhere as long as I’m with you.”

They found themselves comfortable positions, still all wound up in each other, and started. Right from the very first day, the 21st of June 2009. And they spent the entire night just talking, just talking and talking, occasionally trading soft kisses. They didn’t skip past even the most painful parts. Every single detail was discussed to the best of their knowledge.

And by the end of it, they were both finally convinced that the past seven years, one month, and twenty-five days – every bit of it was real, every tiny moment of it was just as real as the existence of Paulo and Alvaro themselves.

And Paulo also realised something else.

Even though all this time had been mostly spent in a state of mental fluctuation, in an almost constant state of delirium and desperation intertwined with the occasional good day – Paulo had only ever needed to look right beside him, where Alvaro was. Where Alvaro had always been, and where Alvaro would always be.

He only needed to look right beside him to realise – he wouldn’t have traded even one second of those seven years, from the 21st June 2009 to the 15th August 2016, for anything in the world.

#alvaro morata #paulo dybala #dybata #real madrid #juventus #juve #isco #football fanfiction #aeibpdam

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omgnsfwisnsfw-blog · 5 years

Text

NSFW #2.2: Chum

The crescent moon shone in the clear, star-dotted sky above. The warm air blew in a soft breeze, and all around were the whooshing of waves. The scent of salt gave the air a not-unrefreshing tang. And on this beach, far from home, the waves broke over Mike McGuire’s ankles, the Bronx Brawler wearing a black sports-bra like top under a gauzy vest of orange fabric they’d picked up at a trip to the marketplace along with black shorts that went about halfway down to their knees. Along with the moon, a few inflatable lanterns were placed strategically in a semicircle into the sand, giving the scene an air of quiet ambiance. There were thoughts running through their head, thoughts that were totally untoward with the serenity around them. They were bottled, for now, like a storm confined to a teacup ready to be unleashed at the proper time. But for this second, they breathed it in. “Mom used to take me to the beach as a kid. Pool, too. She taught me everything she fuckin’ knew and I took to it like a duck. Not as good as her but most people ain’t.” They sighed, and looked behind them to the person they were speaking to. “Sometimes I really wish I was a fuckin’ shark. I’d just swim all day and eat stupid shit-talking bitches alive.” John Bishop Church was near, also dressed for the setting, in a simple black tank and matching board shorts with green racing stripes down the sides. His arms folded over his chest and he frowned as his mind clicked through how to respond to such an admission. His shoulders slumped as nothing came through. The camera phone, set on a tripod, framed them both in the picture clearly. The scene faded to black. There were precious seconds in this blackness before a voice, John’s, chimed in, “That about sums it up, right, Brenna Gordon?” The picture came up again. A few more lanterns had been thrown in quickly, the inner LEDs glowing orange and green, the lighting a bit brighter now. Mike shook their head, letting out a harsh sigh. “You know what? I am fuckin’ disappointed. I mean, I could go with the standard ‘I thought we were friends’, but I’d just be kidding myself. I thought you were cool enough but facts’ facts, I didn’t really know you all that well. But I did think pretty good of you, enough to know you ain’t to be fucked with, you’re dangerous as shit in that ring, even enough that I didn’t think you were the kind of person to fuckin’ regurgitate the same tired BS already crapped out by silly douchenozzles I pictured you a better caliber of person than. Shows how the fuck much I know.” Their shoulders shrugged in a distinctive ‘oh well’ manner. “To say we haven’t heard all of that before would be an understatement. But I get it,” John nodded, “This is a new audience and so the old idiom of ‘If I haven’t seen it, it’s new to me.’ applies here.” John stepped further back into the water. “So let’s dive in,” his tone was dry but with a lilt of borrowed sarcasm, “This big conclusion, Brenna? I agree with Mike. Whether it's two malcontents in a department store, a braggadocious silver-tongued Texan, or YOU, Brenna Gordon, it all sounds awfully familiar. Because we say we aim to be the best, that we claim to be the best - we are self-righteous,” his gaze narrowed, “So tell us. How are we supposed to approach this?” He turned to Mike. “Mike, I hope we can manage to win. It’d sure be nice but if not, oh well, losing is just as fun.” “Golly gee willikers, Church, that it would. Also I’m sure glad we don’t have any aspirations about leaving this tag division or any others better than we found it. Who wants to elevate the game when the status quo is just peachy fuckin’ keen?” An exaggerated wink, accompanied by an ‘OK’ gesture. The pinky and ring fingers are then lowered as Mike’s cheesy expression melts into a glare. “And just as a side note, a heavy chunk of our merch proceeds go to shit like the Trevor Project, Project Innocence… you know, not that it matters but since we’re apparently playing Selfless Good Guy Bingo here thought I’d educate your lily-white ass. Not like it’s right there on our website or anything.” John stepped back to Mike. He put a hand on their shoulder. “I understand what this is about, though. Doing anything to blur and obfuscate what this is about. With your infinite knowledge, you try your damndest to stake claim to what we are, what we aren’t. But we are here right now to put this ship back on course. Brenna, your partner Berlin seems to have the right idea. Tag. Team. Wrestling.” “See, I like him. But then, I liked Brenna, so I’m kinda not in the position to trust my initial impressions of people right now. If Brenna’s effect on you is to make you more like her? I’d head for the hills, my dude, before you start acting like you’re perpetually on the rag. But let’s play harpy’s advocate here for a minute. Let’s pretend that we really are writing you off because you don’t meet our standards for what a tag team should be. We’d be walking into an ass kicking. You know why? Because I see something. Something I don’t see very often unless I’m watching tapes of me and Church. Last time I saw it in another team we lost our straps, so you two had better believe the last fucking thing we’re gonna do is underestimate you. But I wonder… do you know what to do with that? Has your chemistry been tested and galvanized like ours has?” “Don’t know. We didn’t know much about Berlin’s history but thanks to him, we have somewhere to start,” and then John raised a finger up, “and yes, one of our golden rules is to never underestimate our opponents. That doesn’t mean we don’t listen and observe. Like what exactly stops Berlin Anderson from learning about us on his own instead of waiting for hearsay from a person who has never shared a ring with us before? Another thing, the greatest tag teams ever? They stood together, brothers-in-arms, and they did not speak at cross purposes.” “Are we one of the greatest tag teams ever? Nah. Despite what you may think we think, we ain’t that full of ourselves. Maybe one day we’ll stand with the Foundations, the Legions, the Busters, the Express. The same dedication to the art flows through our fuckin’ veins, after all.” Another wave broke around their ankles, perhaps a bit shallower as the moon pulled the tide back little by little. Step by step, they emerged out of the water. They both crouched in front of the camera. “One final thing, Brenna Gordon, only my friends call me John. You’ve made it abundantly clear what you are.” “Opponent. Adversary. But most importantly? In our way. Later, chum.” Grinning like a great white, Mike reached toward the camera and cut out the picture. Mike sighed as the extinguished light on the phone signified that their words and actions were once again private. They helped gather up the lanterns, turning off the lights and deflating them until just a couple were still lit. Holding onto one, they sat down on the sand, looking out to the water as it rose up to lap at their toes. “I thought we were done with this bullshit. I know you said we weren’t here to make friends, but not being treated with fucking disdain by somebody I thought was cool - again - would be nice.” Brenna’s words hadn’t been as devastating to them as other words and actions had been in the past. Still, though, it wasn’t pleasant. John sat down beside them. His hand squeezed around Mike’s wrist lightly, “I didn’t want to say but she never was going to get us. She doesn’t know us. Doesn’t need to.” “Does anybody?” It was a gloomy thought, they supposed. But who did they have but each other? Now that they thought about it, they could really count their friends on their fingers and have digits left over. Their fanbase was loyal and always nice to have, but Mike knew better than to equate fandom with friendship. John didn’t think about that too much. He liked what he liked. To a fault, whatever routine he was given, he would adhere to. For better or worse. And so their circle was tight. He deflected perhaps the morass nature of this query, “Sure. But present company excluded, this business isn’t much for that. And maybe we were accountable for some of that. But outside of that? Your family, I’d consider them friends foremost.” Mike smiled up at him in the way they wouldn’t consciously do if there was a camera on them, and scooted a little closer, their head resting on his shoulder. Something crossed their mind then, something they’d asked about once before. They’d gotten a little information then, but something in them always craved a little more. Anything that could get them closer to him. “...can you tell me a little more about yours?” There was an extended period of silence between the two. “Not much to say…” John trailed off. He wasn’t ending the conversation. However, it’d been so long. He had shared with Mike about the lack of contact. Relationship trends would indicate that the little notoriety that John had obtained in the last year in something other than what used to define his existence would draw that sort of attention. John was sure he had extended family. He didn’t live in a vacuum. But, he wasn’t sure. He couldn’t really remember who they were. And while it had been many years since he really thought about her, his mother, always seemed to understand who he was - even if he didn’t. As if in mid memory, he blurted out, “I didn’t want to join the wrestling team in middle school. My mother insisted. Said I had the right mind for it.” He didn’t want to admit that he could barely remember her face. His ties to that life had been washed away. John’s mother may have planted the seed but she never saw her son succeed and grow to love the sport of wrestling, in all its forms. The following tendencies may have sounded familiar to Mike. “I’d fill up notebooks for each event I’d compete in…” He cut himself off, clamming up. Internally, something utterly devastating pushed against him. It was an impossible desire to have something that he could never have. And while the details were blurry due to the passage of time, he could envision the enormity of that very moment that brought this on. John remembered clearly lamenting to his mother that she was the only person who seemed to understand his line of thought. She laughed at that notion. She said that it wasn’t too hard. And that she would hope John could find that elsewhere with someone else. A different bond. He was too focused on the breaking of his routine to attach any credence to what she said. And it was too late to share his enlightenment now. He lowered his head, the impact of that void finally hitting him after all these years. Mike almost said something. The last few minutes had been nothing but the night wind and the steady sound of the ocean. Someone else might have been confused or annoyed at the drop-off, or have said something by now. They just pressed themselves a little closer. They wouldn’t invalidate his feelings by telling him not to be sad, especially about something like this, but there was no reason he had to be sad alone.

#location: morocco #valor pro wrestling

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