Detail:The Fallen Angel,2007, by Arantzazu Martinez|If you are sensitive to the majestic beauty and delicacy of this painting, don’t go searching for his head. Just enjoy the little things about life.
So uuuuhhhh…got my daughter a yogurt this morning and learned something new.
Guys I just realized they meant there’s a city in Texas called Ding Dong. I thought the people at GoGurt were really like, “DING DONG! WAKE UP SHEEPLE. BIG GOVERNMENT DOESN’T WANT YOU TO KNOW. TEXAS IS REAL. LOOK IT UP. GET THIS TO THE PEOPLE.” Like some big exec at Yoplait is ready to lose his life over exposing a national secret through the medium of childrens’ yogurt snack tubes.
In art class on Friday my friend enlisted the advice of our art teacher bc she was stressing about being the 7th wheel on a big group “date” to the movies to see the new Jumanji. Our teacher was at a loss for words after hearing her ramble about the date
genre: angst, some fluff, mutual pining, (un)requited love, reader likes lying to themselves, exes but also !soulmate au?
wc:1.7k
(a/n: kind of my first serious drabble on this blog, ya’ll i dont even know what this is. i just blacked out and started typing shit at 1 am last night. was originally supposed to be around 20k aka a full length fic but hmm. gyuldaengies i am here to inform all of you with regret that i am one of you now /j. music inspo for this was ‘i love you so’ by the walters, feel free to listen to it as you read this steaming mess! special thanks to @beyoncesdragonand@praninllove for being the sweetest hypepeople ever pls)
Loneliness strikes the hardest when one hopes for company.
You nearly trip on the extension box uselessly lying on the floor with oodles of wire splayed out uselessly. You had forgotten to reel it back in after using it for your laptop last night. Who in their right mind lived in a bedroom with a singular plug point? You briefly reminisce about Seungkwan nearly punching the life out of your landlord before moving out of this apartment the both of you had originally agreed on cohabiting. The tiny smile that makes your lips curl up is involuntary but definitely not unwelcome. Where was he anyway? Wasn’t he supposed to be here with Chan already? You whip out your phone and cradle it between your head and your neck before squatting down to reel all the excess, neglected wire from the extension box back in.
The phone rings, and it doesn’t take long for your best friend of five years to pick up and growl unabashedly.
“We’re still on our way, (name). Stop calling!”
Your neck cracks, and the mobile almost slips as you whip your head to look at the clock on your wall. “On your way from where, Jeju? What in the world is taking you so long?”
There is a windy yell followed by a smack on the other end of the line. You also hear lots of panting, and that’s when it clicks.
“You’re..walking to my place.”
“Our ride broke down.” It’s Chan’s voice in your ear now.
“Well damn.” You get up and dust your pants a little before shoving the cursed wire filled box under your bed with your right foot. You really didn’t care how convenient it was at this point, you were never going to use it again for the foreseeable future. “How far along are you?”
“We’re on the bridge!”
Too late for them to go back then. Maybe they could crash at your place for the night before they got their crap together, it wasn’t like they lived ten minutes apart from you after all. You tell them this, and they agree. You end the call after you hear Seungkwan threatening to hurl Chan off the bridge for walking close enough to him to constantly end up stepping on his toes.
It’s hard not to let their chaos affect you. You feel a little ready to have fun, a little young and reckless despite all of that dreary paperwork sitting on your coffee table. Most of it was due on Monday. Was today Friday already? ‘Course it was, that was why Seungkwan and Chan were coming over. Movie nights were a tradition the three of you had followed since your university days no matter how hard life was going down on you. It was a tradition you followed even when you were at your worst, why would you jam the brakes on it when the only thing holding you back was an ugly stack of papers?
You weren’t inherently an organized person, but you were willing to try every once in a while. You scuttle around the apartment, intently scouring all the rooms for anything out of place. Existing seemed a little easier on days like these, days when you didn’t have to worry about everything at once. Days like these were like a hot balloon slowly drooping down to the ground just for you. You could climb on and feel lighter, you could feel yourself float away from everything that haunted you on all the nights you couldn’t will yourself to go to sleep.
The doorbell rings. Pizza guy or your friends?
It was neither of them. Your hot balloon deflates a little, and then it pops, harshly flinging you back into reality.
“Oh.”
Why was hehere?
Mingyu’s eyes widen when they fall upon you. He looks confused, a little frustrated even. He’s dressed to impress, with his hair neatly slicked back and a (riskily positioned) Rolex on his wrist. Heat rushes to your neck, because you’re suddenly growing very aware of your messy bun, your bare face and your unbelievably embarrassing Totoro pajamas. The primal urge to pat yourself down was growing exponentially by the minute.
You resort to staring blankly at the unopened bottle of wine with a pink bow around its neck dangling from his hand for almost a full minute before you look up at his denim jacket and clear your throat. “Can I help you?”
The confusion in your voice seems to stir him out of a stupor you didn’t know he was trapped in. He was fumbling for his phone now. “Sorry uh, I think I got the wrong door. I had no idea you lived here.”
His tone is a little distant, just like yours. You wonder when your friends would swoop in to save you from this mess of an interaction.
“Okay.”
Mingyu looks the same. It’s not like a person could drastically morph into a stranger in such a short span of time. Interacting with him was inevitable with that soul bond you both had. You two were always somehow bumping into each other at the worst places and times imaginable. That split he had razored into his eyebrow that you had noticed for the very first time when you had catastrophically rammed your trolley into his very full one at the convenience store nearly a week ago was still there. Maybe it had dulled a little, you couldn’t tell. You make the rookie mistake of unconsciously looking for that ever present mole on his cheek, and you almost bite the tip of your tongue when something familiar, something so delicate and longing threatens to seize your breath.
The opposite poles of a magnet were meant to pull each other with a lot of force, but what if they didn’t want that? Ironic. Mingyu did feel like everything you could ever possibly want, but why did he also feel like something too good to be true, something you could never have?
You’re brought back from your reverie when he coughs a little into his fist before the call connects and he raises the slightly cracked screen of his phone to his lips. “Hi babe, I think I got your door number wrong? Was it not 314?”
He was probably on a date then. Was it okay to assume? You’ve never heard him call any of his friends “babe”, so. It didn’t really matter to you anyways. It was another one of those silly little mistakes, him colliding with your day like this. He was going to leave soon, you could go back to waiting for Seungkwan and Chan, and before long, the three of you would be buried neck deep in the plot of a chunky psychological thriller. Everything was going to be fine, you weren’t going to let this ruin your day anymore.
“314? I’m at 314 though?” He’s still here, and he’s still on the phone. His hands were moving a little too wildly for someone carrying a wine bottle. Why was he even holding the neck of the bottle like it was the hilt of a sword? Wasn’t he supposed to be holding the body?
Foreshadowing was one hell of a bitch. You were right, unbearably so. There were glass shards everywhere, and all you saw was red. You weren’t seeing red because you were mad, there was red wine all over the welcome carpet right at the entrance of your apartment.
“Fuck.” He’s bending down haphazardly, panic lacing his actions. “Fuck, I’m so sorry. I wasn’t-”
“That’s alright.” You’re almost swatting him away from the ground, away from all those glass shards. The last thing you wanted to do with your time tonight was spend it with Kim Mingyu at the E.R. “I’ll clean this up, don’t worry.”
Don’t worry? You mentally curse yourself for sounding so stupid as you walk further into your apartment to get a dish filled with water, a wet rag and some disinfectant to get rid of all the sour wine smell. He’s still standing outside when you return, and you’re positive he’s staring at you when you messily fold your sleeves to start tidying up the floor, to start tidying up the pandemonium threatening to spill from the broken wine bottle inside your heart. “You don’t have to run late to your-” you catch yourself in time-”whatever, the bottle technically crashed inside my apartment, I can fix that myself. Just buy a new one or something.”
Maybe this was all you could do for him. A man you once knew, a man you (once, emphasis on the once) loved. You could let him go. You could clean up the mess you were maybe partially responsible for and wish him the best.
Maybe this was the only way you could care now.
Mingyu’s eyes narrow a little at your words. You try not to groan audibly when he (finally) steps inside and crouches down right beside you. Your shoulders are touching, the proximity is too much for you, and you try not to pop a vein when he pulls out a wet rag from a bucket and starts collecting all the small, dangerous glass pieces with quick, deft movements. This was out of your hands then, the fucker was definitely going to stain his denim-fuelled ensemble now.
“Ibroke the bottle inside yourplace, it doesn’t make sense for you to be doing this.”
Cool. How were you going to tell him you were doing it because you wanted him to be gone as quickly as possible and not because you didn’t want him running late for his date? It’s a little too domestic for your taste, the both of you hastily arguing over which corners of the room you were going to cover. It was waytoo domestic, the way he had to stretch his arm over your shoulder and pick up an ugly piece of green glass you had previously missed. You try your best to not grow comfortable, you try not to let the warmth from his demeanor seep into your bones.
You fail miserably.
“(name).”
“Mm?”
“It’s not a date. she’s just a friend.”
Your heart cracks a little. A bitter laugh bubbles from your lips as you throw down a fresh rag on a particularly wine-soaked spot a little too aggressively for your taste.
Alright I know, another unrelated post but humor me here, I need to get this off my chest.
I know this won’t seem like a huge deal, but knowing this is a show for little girls it just feels so frickin’ wrong for so many reasons. Hopefully this can be a warning for other parents/guardians/older siblings as well. Keep in mind I’ve never ever been a “cancel culture” type person just because something minescule bugs me, nor have I ever been some cliche Karen-style parent bitching to a company about “this is inappropriate so its your fault my kid was watching this!” Rather than take responsibility. I am the parent first and foremost, and yes, once I recognized the inappropriate nature of this I changed it immediately. At first I even thought maybe I was overreacting, I kept watching to see if maybe I was misreading the situation and I found it only got more uncomfortable. So yes, I did turn this off. However, it doesn’t excuse that this show is still made for and marketed to little children, particularly little girls (I’m talking between 2 and 13). The purpose of this post is just a warning to other parents or people with younger siblings who may come across this show.
So today, I decided to put on a show called “Flowering Heart” on Netflix for my 3 year old daughter.
Keep in mind when I found this, it wasn’t in the teens or adult section, it was on Netflix Kids. Specially the Netflix Kids page. I grew up on anime since I was little, so naturally I wanted to find some cute magical girl shows to introduce to my daughter (pass down the nerd torch).
Granted it appeared harmless enough. A cute magical girl anime from Korea about 3 best friends who meet a magical Prince from a different world, and together through the power of magical makeup compacts and friendship they work together to give people hope and fight the “hopeless energy”. Seems cute enough, and I really wanted to introduce my daughter to magical girl shows, a lot of them are great for little girls. So it started off pretty good, even I was warming up to it at first.
AT FIRST.
To give you a little clarity about why I grew to dislike it rather quickly, first of all, the main character is a 5th grade little girl. A 12 year old. Now in some other animes they do have younger children as their leads. Magical Do Rei Mi, Glitter Force, Little Witch Academia, even Ghibli films like Kiki’s Delivery Service or Ponyo, that’s really nothing too unusual. But here is where I had a huuuge problem:
Her romantic interests? They are two teenage boys.
Yeah. I’m not talking a grade above or something. Supposedly the two male leads are 14 and 16. Even her rival? Also a 12 year old little girl, Shuela, who just so happens to be engaged to one of the magical princes (literally named Prince Trump) and is in love with him. The main character, Ari, joins her two best friends Suah and Min fight the unseen meddling of Shuela trying to create “hopeless energy”.
By transforming into fully grown women.
Yes, you heard right. These twelve year old little girls are able to transform into fully grown, adult women who take the power of whatever makeup disguise they use (ie police officer, stewardess, life guard, pop idol, etc.) that varies based on the emergency of the episode (mostly situations like a figure skater who lost her motivation, or her friend is having a hard time babysitting).
This also includes several romantic interactions with our lead Ari, and her object of affections, Prince Trump.
Prince Trump, mind you, is completely aware that Ari is secretly this “adult”. He knows she’s a 12 year old, and actively flirts with her.
At first I thought it was a little weird the boys appeared older than the girls. I thought maybe it was just a style choice, that they were closer in age than I thought- nope. Teenage boys. I mean they don’t even try to hide the age difference by making them shorter or making the girls look older like Sailor Moon (who was 14 at the start). No.
These girls look and act like 6 year olds, including their very childish outfits to make them appear even younger- despite being 12. Meanwhile these boys act, sound, and appear to be in their twenties.
Maybe I could just ignore it, suppress the utter nasty of it all and just enjoy them kicking butt as magical girls if the romance itself was an after thought. Oh no no no! You see, this is the main focus of the anime!
A love triangle (er, square) between two ALMOST ADULT MEN and two 5th grade girls (and yes, they do clarify these girls are in 5th grade and that these boys are 17).
This extends to the other male love interest, Prince Chess, who jumps from being a chubby blue hamster dubbed “Tubby” who lives in the main leader’s bedroom, and a very attractive teen boy. Now he is no better, including blushing when he holds hands with Ari, and being jealous of his brother Trump when Ari goes on the ferris wheel with him. Even commenting his cotton candy didn’t taste sweet anymore because she had a crush on his brother. This wasn’t “he met her in her magical girl form and fell in love but doesn’t realize she’s a child”. Both boys met her while a child, and both boys are aware even in this magically made adult body, she is actually an underage girl.
Its just-EUGH! The more I watched it the more the situation dawned on me how nasty it was. They don’t play it like a cute crush or just a fling (like how in Kodocha, Sana thought her bodyguard was in love with her, but he made it very clear he’s an adult and that’s not appropriate). Again wrong. This is portrayed as a serious romance.
I seriously don’t get why they didn’t make them late middle school or high school age?! Why a bunch of elementary students are being romantically shipped with high schoolers?! It really is a shame, because the art is very cute and pretty, hell most of the characters are pretty likeable with decently done voice acting. (Granted the plot drags on for a while) But I seriously cannot get past these underage children being romanticized with teenage guys. I’m amazed that’s even on Netflix and Amazon Prime! So yeah, take it with a grain of salt if you’d like, I know there’s gonna be some who disagree with me because the reviews have been very split down the middle (some adore this show, others say it’s obviously inappropriate), I myself am still very mixed about it as it was a good show up until this main issue (I didn’t even get to the love rival almost letting a child DROWN so she could collect the “hopeless energy”). If you disagree and enjoy this show, more power to you I guess(?), this is really just to give a heads up if you or someone you know have kids and were thinking about putting this on. My advice? Just opt for Magical Doremi or Hamtaro instead.
