In A Universe Where Twelve Year Old Vegas Meets Fifteen Year Old Pete And They Spend A Few Hours Together.

Hands up! 2/2

Jack/ZhaoZi soulmate au

Everyone had soulmate words tattooed somewhere on their body. They were the first words that you would ever hear your soulmate say. Due to this, they were beheld with a certain degree of importance. Society loved the idea of soulmates, frowning on those who rejected or ignored their soulmate marks. Those who were born without marks were often outcasted, viewed as unloveable.

Zhao Zi always trusted his grandma. She had said that his soulmate would be someone who could care and provide for him. Because of this he paid no real attention to his words, preferring to judge his soulmate by their character than by their first words like the romantic he is. This was regarded as unusual. Words were so attached to emotion that Zhao Zi’s indifference often shocked people.

“Why should I pay so much attention to my words?” He had asked when one of his coworkers pointed to the neat letters across his collar bones. “I’m going to meet them wether I like it or not. It’s not like our first exchange is going to determine the whole relationship”. His wisdom made sense and after that people stopped asking.

It was perhaps lucky that he didn’t take his words seriously. Who would have the words “Can I have a bite?” tattooed on their person. Zhao Zi just assumed that his soulmate was a foodie like him. Besides, he could have gotten worse. His best friend, Shao Fei had the word “No” stamped on the back of his neck. It had been the warning of a bad relationship which had lasted for four years before Shaofei and Tangyi got their act together and confessed.

The whole thing had given Zhao Zi way too many heart attacks and emotions. And whilst their relationship was finally healthy with Tang Yi out of prison, they were so lovey dovey that even Zhao zi felt awkward. He genuinely considered himself a happy go lucky type of guy, trying not to let himself get down too often. When his parents left, he was okay because he had his wonderful grandmother. But when his grandmother died, it was Shao Fei who had kept him together. Although he was happy for his friend, he couldn’t help but feel an increasing sense of loneliness and disillusion with the world. His boss’s and AZi’s betrayal had been the icing on the cake.

More and more Zhao zi had found himself alone in his little house eating the type of unhealthy dinners that his grandmother would have hated. It seemed that with every passing day, his house only seemed to get bigger in its emptiness. Not that he let it show. At work he was as cheerful as ever, ignoring the new boss’s scoldings and the comments from the international division. No one noticed if he wasn’t eating as much as usual, or doing any more random acrobatics. He was fine.

So why was he stuck doing another weird undercover?

“Why do I have to be the stripper?” He complained, more like whined, to Shao Fei. They were back stage of the dingy strip club called the blue rose, the floor sticking to their shoes as they blinked in the terrible lighting. ZhaoZi was wearing knee length shorts with a see through white shirt and a stupid police hat. Shao Fei was dressed in a bright pink jacket on top of casual clothes. ZhaoZi had never wanted to swap clothes more.

“Because you’re the only one who can do anything acrobatic”, Shao Fei responded. “And the target likes boys like you anyway. We’ve been trying to get this guy for months Zhao Zi. Please? I’ll owe you”. Zhao zi sighed. He was too nice.

“You’re mean ah Fei”, he pouted, tugging the police cap lower over his hair. Shao Fei grinned, the cute act never worked on him anymore. “Yeah yeah”, he replied. “I’ll have Tang Yi make you some home cooked food. Now I’ve got to go, wait for your signal”. He patted Zhao Zi on the shoulder before disappearing out on to the club floor, leaving Zhao Zi alone backstage.

Trying to quell his nerves, Zhao Zi went over the case in his mind. They had several leads from a murder of a prostitute pointing towards the known gangster and sex trafficker John Smith. It was not his real name of course, but it was what he was known by. The guy had so far evaded them but a source had placed him in the club on routine occasions. Zhao zi just had to get him to lower his guard.

After a while, Shao Fei’s voice came across coms, alerting Zhao Zi of his cue. Gathering his courage, he ducked out on stage. He was glad of the lighting, obscuring most of the watchers from view. The target was visible in the corner, watching him. Zhao Zi shivered and bent forward into a front flip. Grasping the pole with his legs, he pulled himself upwards. Ignoring his surroundings, he concentrated on his dance, spinning around the pole with his body contorted in different ways.

When the que came for them to surround the target, Zhao Zi felt a flood of relief to be away from the blinding lights. He could feel his shirt sticking to him under the heat of the lamps and practically hopped off stage. Trying to keep up his cover, he strutted across the disgustingly stricken floor towards where the target was sat leering at him as the rest of his squad slowly surrounded him.

He didn’t notice the man on the table next to the target until he leant forwards and grabbed Zhao Zi’s wrist. Surprised, he turned to be greeted by dark red hair and a Cheshire Cat grin. The man’s eyes glittered at him as his lips stretched wider. “Can I have a bite?” He asked and instantly Zhao Zi could feel his words heat up across his collarbones. Deciding to deal with the target first, he shook off the hand and held out his badge. “Hands up! You’re under arrest!”

Luckily none of the men resisted and they had them out of the club and into the police van easily. Deciding to let Shao Fei and the others deal with the formalities, Zhao Zi hung back, now nicely wrapped up in his coat. Footsteps alerted him to an approach and he glanced up to face the red haired guy from the club. The lighting hadn’t done him justice. Now, in the light of a nearby street lamp, the guy was handsome and lean. Zhao zi couldn’t help Looking the guy over. Wow! His muscles!

The guy grinned and held out a gloved hand. “Nice to meet you. I’m Jack”. Zhao Zi returned his grin and shook his hand. “Oh you’re my soulmate. Hi! I’m Zhao Li An But everyone calls me ZhaoZi”. The guy’s hand was nice and warm through the glove.

Jack’s grin morphed into a smirk as he looked Zhao Zi slowly over, from his head to his toes then back up to his eyes. “So, can I have a bite?” ZhaoZi frowned in confusion. “Are you hungry? I wasn’t able to grab lunch and I’m starving but all the shops are shut now”, he saddened at the thought of his pitifully empty stomach.

“You got any food at your place? I can cook for you if you want”, Jack offered. ZhaoZi beamed, grabbing Jack’s hand excitedly. His grandma was right! He couldn’t be more in love. “Really? Then I want egg, and ham, and noodles with chicken broth and orange juice...” listing off all the food he had been craving, ZhaoZi couldn’t help but bounce a little on his feet. “Well I’ll cook for you. Come on”, Jack said as they began walking down the street. Calling a quick bye to Shao Fei, Zhao Zi turned his attention to his soulmate.

“Grandma said you would be a good cook”, he remarked as they turned a corner. “She said that my soulmate would be able to cook and provide for me”. He watched Jack grin. “That I can do”, he stated.

““My grandma also said that you will stay”. Zhao Zi looked up at Jack, face anxious but hopeful. He didn’t want to lose anyone else. “Will you stay?”

He watched as Jack’s face lost its grin, becoming honest. “If shorty asks then I will stay”, he promised as he wrapped around Zhao Zi shoulders. Relaxing into Jack’s warmth, Zhao Zi felt a bit of his loneliness disapate. It would take time, but jack would stay. Maybe he wouldn’t feel lonely anymore.

Wei Ying scaring the dog (and the dog scaring Wei Ying)

Heaven Official's Blessing book 4 cover art 🦋

i am not someone who has ever said, written, or thought this phrase before but i had to sit on my hands every second of saltburn to keep myself from posting “this is SO MAJOR.” it’s so major. so so so so so fucking major. made in a lab for sickos of my exact variety. you will gasp. you will squirm. you will cover your mouth in shock. you will go holy fuck. people walked out. the girls next to me screamed YES! and i said yes with them. so major. so major. and as a bonus it’s one of those movies that pretends to be for intellectuals even though the storytelling is absolutely for simple people so you feel smart just for watching a very straightforward film. not even a film. a flick. what more can i say. finally a film about toxic obsessive girl friendships except they’re boys with names that only cats should have (oliver and felix)

Cats vs my mum

Cat: claws at the carpet.

My mum: no! You ratbag!

Cat: glares and pointedly continues.

My mum: You’re never gonna make friends because you’re an arse.

Me: ouch harsh*.

tin putting a piece of cantaloupe ( fruit ) into his mouth , while looking can directly in the eyes and saying “ cantaloupe is tasty “ has the exact same energy as ming eating a kit-kat bar and saying “ i love kit-kat “ to kit

and i’m loving it

Harsh 😂

mm whatcha say

In the latest edition of cql/mdzs rare pairs that completely blindsided me, let's talk about Jiang Cheng and Lan Jingyi.

This ship has the Vibe of that volcano experiment you had in elementary: Explosive? You bet. Educational? Probably. Wildly Entertaining? Hell yeah.

First off, endless Dramatic Potential. Age difference, power dynamics, secret relatioships, outsider povs reactions when they Find Out - take your pick.

Jin Ling. Half of the Drama Material alone is in the very spicy take "my best friend, and my uncle who practically raised me are together." Whichever end of the spectrum JL is on the support/acceptance scale, it's bound to be interesting.

These two are probably the most similar in temperament in the surface level but there's also enough differences to make the ship plausible. One of the things I appreciated in the rewatch is that LJY is often used for exposition dump and so he comes off as super knowledgeable about the world (eg. info on Dancing Goddess) Also, he's perceptive and smart. He's the first person to point out that WWX is not as crazy as he pretends to be as MXY. So he and JC could def have intellectual conversations (hello casefic/nighthunts)

Also when I rewatched ep 1-2 I noticed some Very Interesting things. In the few scenes they are both together with a crowd LJY doesn't speak up during tense scenes, allowing LSZ to be LWJ's Diplomatic Translator. But then there's this One Exchange when JC whips out Zidian at MY (who's already WWX) and he's like "wtf why didn't that work thats impossible" and GUESS WHO HAS THE AUDACITY TO SPEAK OUT WHEN EVERYONES INTERNALLY LIKE "wtf is going on oooh shit"

Thats right our boi LJY. Not only that but he literally says "sect leader pls stop" then proceeds to lecture JC on the features of his own spiritual weapon. LJY does Gusu Library have a cultivation wiki section because is this even public information?? How do you know these v specific things hmmmm maybe you have an inside source like the owner of the spiritual weapon?

And JC doesn't even scold him but instead Actually Slips Composure by asking him, LJY, on how he can be so sure that WWX isn't dead. LJY has to bluntly but unkindly reply that "people said you killed him." Cue JC's open heartbreak in his eyes. At this point it's a wide shot and it's a blink it or miss moment but LSZ lit squeezes LJY's hand to stop from talking at JC (and maybe roasting him)

Btw i didn't wake up one day shipping these two? Like I love JC with WQ and have enjoyed fics pairing him with WN, NHS, and LXC. LJY has been paired with LSZ and even JL and these fics I also loved

But then I read 1-2 fics that had this rare pair and thought "huh they're onto something" then I read more until I found myself scrolling through the ao3 tags and OH nO

Seriously half of the fics is either "I think your hot so let's bang together and maybe catch feelings along the way (mostly LJY)" and "outsider pov finds out about unconventional relationship. Reactions range from shocked surprise to downright decisive. More at page 11"

This pairing in emojis is: 😏😠 (while holding hands) and I can never unsee it so you shouldn't either

JUNG HAE IN and KOO KYO HWAN for W Korea (September 2021)

“Don’t wait until the last minute to do your assignments!”

listen. I don’t. But I am always trapped in a vicious cycle.

And the only thing that breaks this cycle is the dread of an imminent deadline