➷ 01 ➷
-“oh, the way he makes me feel that love isn’t real -– cupid is so dumb”
or
unlike you, your brother’s best friend just doesn’t know when to quit
word count: 1,766
warnings: probably just the reader making you cringe lol, give her a break--she's 11 lmao
tags: brother’s-best-friend!beomgyu x reader, ??? to ???, angst, fluff(??), beomgyu is the cool boy-next-door, reader is an independent girlboss (or trying to be, at least), beomgyu’s gonna be GROVELING, simp!gyu, pathetic pining from both sides lol, maybe some cringe from reader (she was a teenage girl in love, have some empathy plz😭)
notes: LMAO SORRY TO POST KINDA LATE, I FORGOT I PROMISED TODAY HAHAHAHA
another short chapter, but i promise the next couple of chapters are a lot longer! enjoy mini reader, beomgyu, and soobin tho :)
–> masterlist <–
Ten Years Ago
If there was one thing your family agreed on, it was that Soobin was the shyest person around.
You and Soobin were very close, having a lot of the same interests and mannerisms. You didn’t disagree on many things (yet), but there were only a handful of differences between you two. You were eleven years old, making your older brother thirteen, and about to go into his final year of middle school. But the main thing that had set you both apart was that while you had many friends, Soobin had absolutely no one. He was a very sweet and funny kid, but he was too shy for his own good, unintentionally pushing the majority of the people his age away.
You had hoped your brother would make some friends during his seventh year, but had little to no luck; apparently, the Bunny Girl Senpai Fanclub wasn’t taking many applicants and the Pokemon Card Collectors Club was a bunch of gatekeepers. Middle school boys.
“What if I just faked being sick?”
Soobin held his head in his hands as he was waiting for his pop tarts in the toaster. You sat on the counter across from him, shoving down a bowl of Frosted Flakes. You didn’t have to leave for another hour when your mom would drive you to the primary school a few blocks away. Soobin, on the other hand, was supposed to set off for his first day of eighth grade soon, but was stalling as much as he could before he had to start walking over.
You snorted, “For the whole year? Fat chance of that happening, you’re the worst liar.”
Your brother lifted his head and glared at you, before sighing loudly and crying, “I hate school, it’s filled with people who are scary and take your rare Charizard card!”
You opened your mouth to reply, but were interrupted by your house’s doorbell ringing. You looked towards the front door and turned back to Soobin expectantly. But your brother wasn’t paying any attention. To your (un)amusement, he was still sulking about, well, just about everything. Like you said, middle school boys.
Shaking your head, you hopped off of the counter (carefully, as your dad had shown you) and walked over to the front door.You figured it was one of your neighbors or the mailman. You usually weren’t allowed to open the door yourself, but that completely escaped your mind when you opened the door and were faced with an unfamiliar boy.
A cute, unfamiliar boy.
You mentally thanked your mom for braiding your hair in two with your favorite butterfly clips now.
“Hi,” you said, a small grin taking over your face. “I’m Y/n!”
The boy looked at you and smiled back. “Hey, Y/n, your mom or dad home?”
You nodded your head. “They are, but they’re running around getting ready. I can definitely help you though!” What can you say, you were a confident kid.
“I don’t know, you might be a bit too little,” he teased you, making you scoff.
“Little? I’ll have you know, I can deal with anything, even crazy!”
He laughed a little at that and then said, “Of course! I’m sure you’re super responsible at the age of..?”
“Eleven,” you bragged, tucking a stray hair back into one of your butterfly clips.
The boy nodded in deep understanding and said, “Well, little Y/n, I’m Beomgyu. I just moved here and my mom told me you guys had someone my age here too! I figured we could walk to school together,” he said, rubbing the back of his head.
Your eyes widened at that, a warm feeling taking over your stomach.
The boy was cute, duh. But his easy offer of friendship, something your brother had struggled to find, made you know that this Beomgyu had a kindness to him that not many his age did–according to Soobin.
Your grin widened at the boy in front of you, nodding your head eagerly. “Just give me a sec,” you squealed, excited for your brother. “OPPA! YOU’RE FINALLY GONNA MAKE A FRIEND!”
Years later, you look back and remember the loud laugh Beomgyu had let out at your call, his excitement outweighing the awkwardness Soobin exhibited when he appeared at your doorway with a pop tart hanging from his mouth.
You look back and remember Beomgyu easily befriending Soobin with his wide smiles, animated hand gestures, and cool stories about his new pet bird. The way he eased your brother’s nerves and got him laughing, already offering to share the other pop tart in his pack.
You look back and cringe sometimes at the confidence those lame butterfly clips gave you. But you take it back when you would remember Beomgyu, with an arm around Soobin’s shoulder, had turned around while the two boys were about to take off for school, saying in a singsong tone, “Nice to meet you, little Y/n, love the butterfly clips, by the way!”
But most of all, you remember the way your cheeks flushed. The way he made you feel like you were cute too. Like you were special. You remember how that was the first of many times he would fluster you with his compliments.
You were only eleven, but at that moment you would look back and remember how this is where you became a fool–a fool for love.
“You look really good,” he whispered to you.
It took everything in you to not show how much he affected you. Unlike the many instances before though, you actually succeeded this time around. Your focused gaze on your brother and father’s random discussion about his anime watching habits kept your eyes from widening, and your well placed makeup did a good job of hiding the flush that desperately wanted to highlight your neck and cheeks. It bothered you very much how Choi Beomgyu could still get under your skin.
“Thanks,” you replied shortly, not letting your eyes leave their spot on Soobin.
–Your brother was whining about how there was no harm in watching anime when he already got his work done for the day–
Despite your subtle avoidance of him, you knew it wasn’t reciprocated by the way his breaths brushed against your ear. The way his eyes were on you, you could feel them as if they were burning you. It felt like he was truly drinking you in after so many years of not getting a single glimpse of you. But that was all you would allow him.
“I, uh, it’s nice to see you again. It’s been a while,” he continued, trying to catch your attention.
You hummed disinterestedly.
–Your father had taken to pointing out Soobin’s body pillows, to which he groaned loudly, claiming that was actually Beomgyu’s gag gift to make him look sus–
But Beomgyu was not deterred.
“Congrats on, well, everything from the past four years! I know college can be pretty crazy!”
You winced a little at that, remembering how your mom told you Beomgyu had actually dropped out of college about three months after you left for school. Despite Beomgyu doing amazing in school when you were still around–there was talk of him possibly graduating at the top of your class–he practically tanked his classes the following fall semester.
“But of course, if there was anyone who could deal with crazy, it would be our little Y/n, huh,” he laughed a little–that same damn laugh he had when you first met. “I mean, you are pretty amazing—”
You weren’t sure what he had gotten up to after you left, but you weren’t interested in hearing anything. Not about him, his future, and definitely not about how amazing he thought you were.
“Wow dad, this shrimp tastes great!” You shouted your false gratitude, successfully interrupting Beomgyu and the argument between your brother and father.
All the chatter stopped for a second, before your dad grinned at you. “Thanks, bean, make sure to grab some more then! You’re looking too skinny, anyways, are you sure you ate enough out there,” he asked, wiping his hands on the front of his apron.
You laughed and nodded, both at your dad’s question and Soobin's grateful stare for changing the topic. Eventually, your mother started another conversation about how Soobin’s friends from school were doing.
“I thought you didn’t like seafood,” Beomgyu muttered to you when he got the chance.
For the first time that evening, you looked back at him.
You realized, with a painful squeeze in your chest, that Beomgyu had grown past the stage of cuteness that you had adored when you were younger, and in your absence, became beautiful. Sure, his puppy dog eyes stayed the same, holding that familiar kindness and curiosity as before. But now, his face lost its round edges and became chiseled, looking as if his features were carved by Aphrodite, herself. His hair was dyed brown and had grown out a little into what was beginning to look like a mullet, giving off a boyish look that his typically mischievous expressions matched easily. Not only that, but he looked like he’d really grown into himself, physically and mentally. Granted, he wasn’t in the best place when you had left four years ago, but the way he carried himself was refreshing. Attractive. Him.
“I didn’t, but I do now.” You took another bite of the shrimp on your plate. “I mean, it’s been a long four years. The things I liked before changed quite a bit while I was gone. ”
You watched Beomgyu’s face fall a bit at that, his puppy dog eyes becoming downcast as he looked towards his own plate of chicken. There wasn’t much on his plate to begin with, but it seemed he wasn’t going to be eating any more after that.
“Yeah, I guess they would after so long,” Beomgyu whispered, pushing his food around with his chopsticks.
You turned back to your own food to try and get your mind off of him, but he stopped you with his next words.
“If it changes anything, so have mine.”
This time, you couldn’t stop your eyes from widening. You turned towards Beomgyu, to see him looking at you with what you could only assume was guilt.
“I just wish they had done so earlier.”
–> next <–
82 notes
·
View notes
Why Ibara Would Pretend to Pick Up If a Toddler Handed Him a Fake Phone
So you may have read my two previous posts about Ibara: An Analysis on Whose Bed is Whose in the Tsumugi and Ibara Section of their Dorm and Additional Thoughts About Ibara & Aesthetics
(You don't need to read those to understand this one. Just thought I'd plug them in 🙂)
This post is a bit sillier. As if the two other posts weren't silly enough as it is, I'm going even sillier - so this one is definitely not meant to be taken as seriously. The title is another random thing I saw going around on Twitter months ago where people claimed their fave character would pretend to pick up the phone or not if a toddler handed them a fake phone. Frontline Watchdogs came out on Engstars recently and I believe it is very relevant to this question!
Ibara WOULD pretend to pick up the phone if a toddler gave him one and this is WHY!!
One of the many great scenes from Frontline Watchdogs that stood out to me is after Ibara pushes Mary too hard by exercising her too much and she ends up needing an IV. He intended to let Mary rest in Hiyori's dorm as the scent of her owner would be comforting.
However, Kanata and Rinne (Hiyori's dormmates) prove to be chaotic presences in the dorm: Kanata wants to feed Mary raw fish, and Rinne wants to use a giant isopod plushie to play with her. Needless to say Ibara does not deem this a suitable place for Mary to rest properly!
And how does Ibara choose to get out of this situation??
...by pretending Mary TALKS to him. The cartoon-like comedy of this gets to me every time... just WHAT was Ibara's thought process?? It's like saying 'oops, I left the oven on at home'?
Surprisingly, this works and Ibara saves Mary from Rinne and Kanata.
I'm mentioning all this because the next image below is extremely relevant.
What's this? It's Ibara petting the stuffed Daikichi toy in office mode. Let me emphasize PETTING. He crouches down and PETS him.
As if he were a REAL DOG...
There's actually two different interactions the idols will have with Daikichi (and most plushies in general, it seems). There's the idols who crouch down and pet the plushie, and - as Tomoya is demonstrating here - there's idols who lift the plushie. You could say... he holds it like a toy, in comparison to Ibara's petting.
It's my hc that the idols who pet the plushie like to pretend that the plushie is a real representation of Daikichi and treat it as such. The idols who lift the plushie, they see and treat it as it is: a toy.
─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ───
(Optional thoughts: Another aspect is my personal interpretation that Ibara simply cannot be evil to people who are smaller than him. There's him feeling bad about potentially ruining Hajime's reputation in Bogie Time, being a nice teacher in Ibara Lecture, helping Mitsuru find the bread flavoured soda ((despite how weird it is that he wants... Bread flavoured soda)), and helping Tori calm down when they were stuck in an elevator.
Notably most of the people I listed are shorter and younger than him. He is a nice senpai overall. Kohaku... well... Kohaku is not like other kids... lol??)
─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ───
Anyway… this is the insane and extremely Ibara-biased, probably not strongly informed connection and conclusion I'm making: Ibara is willing to pretend that Mary can talk, and he can pretend that the Daikichi plushie is real - therefore, the answer to the age old question!
Would he pretend to pick up if a toddler handed him a fake phone?
I believe he would based on the 'evidence' I've laid out!!!! 🫵
I think this is a good opportunity to segway into other instances of Ibara's absurd and imaginative self, such as his literal mice-shaped drones in Vagabond that scurry around in the walls spying for him. He even uses one of them to exercise Mary. What sort of cartoon villain nonsense...
And one of my fave quotes ever from his silly, silly mouth:
I am endlessly in awe of Ibara's mind. As this post hopefully highlights, Ibara is so un-normal in ways that are so delightfully unexpected and he expresses it in full seriousness.
─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ───
Anyway, I guess the meaningful conclusion I can make from all this for you to all think about is that - as is mentioned here and there by other characters - Ibara has his moments that really reflect his age. Underneath the business man, 'adult' persona he uses to survive in the adult world, he can be an extremely silly teenager who pretends dogs can talk to get out of an awkward situation, mouse shaped drones are a good idea, that making people dress up as cows is a hilarious punishment, and was so upset at Nagisa not telling him about a toothache he wanted to brush his teeth for him.
Although the damage has already been done with his awful childhood (or lack of), and with him being 18 he doesn't have many years left of being a teen anymore - I really enjoy the moments where he acts his age. It would do so much good for him to be able to be a kid, when he had little chance to be one at all.
64 notes
·
View notes
(Headcanon)
Thinking about a Kyoto first-year, let’s call him Kimio, who develops a puppy crush on Geto.
Geto who warmly greeted the Kyoto students for their first goodwill exchange event. He was gracious enough to show the students around the campus too, urging the other students to ask questions and feel welcome.
Geto also spoke everyone’s names with the softest tone; Kimio seems to think Geto says his name particularly sweetly. On top of everything else, Geto is always open to training and giving pointers in physical combat. He's kind, he listens, is strong, and very attractive.
So yes, Kimio has a huge crush on Geto. Every time Kyoto students visit the Tokyo campus, Kimio makes a habit gifting Geto chocolate, hair pins, keychains, etc.
It’s not an official confession, but it’s close enough. Though Geto is too nice to outright reject Kimio. There are so few jujutsu students as it is. Everyone would find out about it, and a certain someone with black, opaque glasses wouldn’t let Kimio live his rejection down.
Alas, the crush is obvious that other people comment on it, specifically the other Tokyo students.
(Nanami, dryly: “yeah, good luck with that.”
Haibara: “go for it!” :)
Shoko just laughs, then throws a thumbs up.)
***
It comes down to during their second goodwill exchange event. In the dorms, Kimio heads to the bathroom right when Geto is exiting, who only has a towel hanging low on his hips.
Kimio rapidly blinks, feeling his cheeks heat up. “H-hi Geto-senpai!”
Geto jumps a little, not expecting someone to be right there when he opened the door.
“Hello, Kimio. What are you doing here?” he smoothly sks.
“Uh, I’m here to shower…?” Kimio answers, tilting his head. Now that he’s taking a closer look, Geto looks a little distracted; his eyes are a bit hazy, and he shifts them from Kimio to somewhere in the bathroom, then back to Kimio.
“Oh, right. That- makes sense. Enjoy your shower. I’ll be off!”
After a quick wave, Geto books it to his dorm down the hall. Not that Kimio notices Geto’s eagerness to leave. He’s just happy that he saw Geto-senpai and…(un)dressed like that as well.
But before Kimio can walk into the bathroom again, someone else blocks the doorway.
One towel circles their waist and one coils around their neck. In the absence of pitch-black sunglasses are a pair of the brightest, most crystal-like blue eyes the Kyoto student has ever seen.
“G-gojo-senpai!?”
“Yo,” is all Gojo offers, using the towel around his neck to tousle his hair dry.
“I…didn’t know there was more than one shower in there,” Kimio comments with a laugh.
Gojo raises a brow. The corner of his lips quirk up. He adjusts the towel on his waist by pulling it tighter, which emphasizes the ratio of his chest and waist.
“There’s not.”
Gojo walks away after that in the same direction Geto left, a noticeable bounce in his step.
Kimio is a bit confused but doesn’t think too much of it. Gojo-senpai and Geto-senpai did seem like close enough friends to shower together…in fact, they were almost always seen with one another, Gojo’s arm around Geto’s shoulders, and Geto’s eyes always on Gojo…
Well, they were best friends after all. Even Kimio is not blind enough to see that. With that last thought, he finally enters the bathroom.
Unfortunately, when Kimio turns the shower on, the water is ice cold.
And for the duration of his shower, it stays: ice cold.
45 notes
·
View notes