Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: The Amazing Digital Circus (Web Series)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Relationships: Jax & Ragatha (The Amazing Digital Circus), Jax/Ragatha (The Amazing Digital Circus)
Characters: Jax (The Amazing Digital Circus), Ragatha (The Amazing Digital Circus)
Additional Tags: Bunnydoll, Angst with a Happy Ending, Hurt/Comfort, One Shot, People Pleaser Ragatha (The Amazing Digital Circus), Soft Jax (The Amazing Digital Circus), Stargazing, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Late Night Conversations, Tenderness, Ragatha Needs a Hug (The Amazing Digital Circus), Jax is Bad at Feelings (The Amazing Digital Circus), slow burn in a single night, The Digital Stars Are Witnesses
Summary:
Ragatha has a secret spot on the hill behind the circus - the one nobody else seems to care about. She goes there when Caine's adventures leave their marks. On her body. On her mind. Tonight, she needed it more than ever.
She wasn't expecting company. She certainly wasn't expecting Jax.
But he sits down anyway. And somehow, impossibly - he stays.
hello!! I want to make a request ; is it alright if you can write about how seong je would be with a mute!reader? i just think it’d be an interesting dynamic ..! hmm other details i’d add is the reader often giving affection in a form of gifting (letters mayb?), cooking him a meal or quality time :) you may write this in whatever format you want!! thank youu and have a nice week (ps love your writing)
synopsis — seongje is a whirlwind of noise and chaos, but he finds unexpected peace in your silence.
now playing — sweet - cigarettes after sex
pairing — geum seongje x gn!reader (hard of hearing, selectively mute)
genre — hurt/comfort, slowburn, angst with soft moments, unconventional romance (nothing is conventional with seongje)
cw — ableism/mocking of hearing disability, bullying, violence (including implied offscreen physical assault), power imbalance, toxic behavior, minor blood/bruising, strong language
wc — ~2.1k
note: this was a pleasure to write <3 i hope i did ur request justice, anon. and please do not hesitate to tell me if i wrote something wrong or inaccurate to the experiences of hoh individuals.
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seongje doesn’t do “quiet.” he doesn’t do subtlety, either. his entire existence is loud—his presence is a storm that makes everything feel tense and unpredictable. that’s how he’s known: the unpredictable, impulsive force, the mad dog. so, when he sees you for the first time, it’s almost like a challenge.
you’re sitting there, silently, in the bowling alley, a forced audience to the bullying happening around you. the union’s delinquents have gathered, sneering as they taunt you. they wave your hearing aids in front of you like a sick joke, expecting you to react. but you don’t. you’re quiet, your face unreadable, eyes glued to the floor, trying to stay as small as possible, like you’ve done countless times before. it’s a game for them, nothing more than a way to make you feel like an outsider.
“hey, freak, what’s wrong? can’t hear us?” one of them mocks, swinging your hearing aids back and forth with a smirk.
the noise is deafening to you in a different way—a slow, rising pressure in your chest. you want to speak, to make them stop. but your voice won’t come, and the words you want to say die in your throat, replaced by that quiet ache of helplessness.
that’s when seongje steps in.
he’s not supposed to be there. he’s supposed to be in baekjin’s office, probably arguing or being a general pain in the ass—but the noise coming from the alleyway catches his attention. he comes striding out, a curse on his lips as he surveys the scene, his eyes lighting up with the familiar flash of anger.
“what’s with all the fucking noise, fuckers?!,” seongje shouts, his voice dripping with disdain as he eyes the delinquents, but his gaze lands on the one holding your hearing aids, who freezes up as soon as he realizes who’s standing in front of him.
“aww, you guys are really fucking pathetic,” seongje steps forward, his mood shifting from bored to dangerous in an instant. he slaps the delinquent’s face, knocking the hearing aids out of his grip, and catches them before they hit the floor.
the delinquent stumbles back, startled, and seongje doesn’t miss the way his bravado slips. “hey, if you want to get your ass kicked, i’ll be happy to oblige. otherwise, get the fuck out of here,” seongje growls, and his voice carries an unmistakable warning.
the delinquents scatter quickly, realizing they’re not really looking forward to get beat up by the wolf himself. seongje watches them leave with a bored smirk, but his eyes return to you, where you’re still sitting silently, your gaze downcast. his anger bubbles under the surface, but it doesn’t seem to be directed at you—it’s more frustration at how they treated you. and, maybe… it’s confusion. because why would he be frustrated?
he despises those who put on a front, acting all tough and dominant when they're around someone they know is weaker, but turn into cowards the moment they face someone like seongje. the hypocrisy makes him sick—they don’t even have the balls to face him.
you look up at him then, your lips parting as if to say something, but the words stay locked inside. seongje stares back, a little too long, before he gestures to the now-empty bowling alley with a roll of his eyes.
“shit, it’s way too quiet in here now,” seongje mutters, half to himself. “i need a fucking drink. you coming?” his fist reaching out to you, making you flinch, but he simply turns and opens his palm to reveal your hearings aids, offering it back to you, his gaze not even meeting yours.
you hesitate, a flicker of uncertainty crossing your face. seongje doesn’t wait for a reply. he knows how this works—he doesn’t need words from you to tell if you’re okay. you’ve already said more than enough with that silence of yours.
it’s a few weeks later when seongje starts to notice something he wasn’t expecting—something soft. you’re not the type to speak, but you show him things. you leave him little letters. they’re simple at first, just words on paper—carefully written, neat and soft. but each one has meaning. you might leave him a note after a chaotic day, telling him, thank you for helping me today—a gesture he’s not used to.
seongje can’t stop himself from reading them over and over, even if he pretends they don’t matter. he tosses the first one aside in an exaggerated motion, but later, when he’s alone, he pulls it out again, trying to make sense of it. there’s something oddly comforting in your words. something real. his usual sharpness dulls just a little when he reads them.
it’s a typical night, and you don’t expect anything to go wrong. seongje has always been unpredictable, but you can’t stop yourself from trusting him. there’s a strange sort of understanding between the two of you now. he doesn’t need you to speak, and you don’t need him to be anything but… himself. still, you don’t expect what happens when he calls you to meet him in a parking lot late one evening.
the dim light from the streetlamps makes the whole place feel cold and detached. you spot him standing there, leaning against the hood of a car, his eyes narrowing slightly when he sees you approach. but there’s something different tonight—something unsettling in his stance.
"come here," seongje says, his voice almost too casual for the tense atmosphere.
your breath catches in your throat as the boy on his knees comes into focus. you've seen him around before—he’s one of the delinquents from the union. the same one who’d been taunting you in the bowling alley, waving your hearing aids like some cruel joke. that memory hits you sharply, and your stomach churns with discomfort as you recognize him now, his face bruised and bloodied, a lip split open, looking like he’s been through hell.
but why is he here? why is he on his knees, shaking in front of seongje? what happened to him?
seongje stands over him, his posture casual, his grin wide and wicked as he watches the boy with almost bored amusement. he kicks the delinquent’s side lightly, like it’s a game, and the boy flinches.
"come on, kid," seongje says, his voice teasing but edged with something darker, something almost amused by the kid’s fear. "just like we practiced."
the delinquent on his knees doesn’t speak, his eyes downcast, probably too terrified to even look up at seongje, but his shaky hand lifts. you watch as he tries to make the "a" handshape, his fingers clumsy as he attempts to sign. seongje looks down at the boy, his grin stretching wider as he watches him fumble.
the delinquent hurriedly completes the sign, his hands shaking, his breath coming in short bursts as he struggles to perform it correctly. he spins his hand in a half-hearted clockwise motion, and you can tell how hard it is for him to even try. he looks humiliated, and maybe that’s what seongje wants—to make him feel small, to show that he’s the one in control now. like how the boy probably felt back in the bowling alley with you.
“sorry.” he signed.
as the boy finishes, seongje pats his shoulder with an almost affectionate thud, a grin still plastered on his face. “good job,” he mutters, voice dripping with mock praise. but his eyes flick to you, then back to the delinquent, as if waiting for some kind of reaction.
the delinquent scrambles to his feet, not daring to say a word, but you can see the fear still fresh in his eyes. without another glance, he stumbles off into the shadows of the parking lot, and seongje doesn’t follow him, not bothering with any more theatrics. “now that’s how you apologize,” he sighs contentedly, glancing at you from the corner of his eye as he walks back to where you two came from.
you don’t respond, but you follow him. because, despite everything—despite how messed up all of this is—he’s still the one who, somehow, happened to feel like the safest person to be around. despite his… unique antics.
despite the way he does things no one else would dare to. because even if he’s rough around the edges, unpredictable and loud, seongje never made you feel small. and that, weirdly enough, was enough.
seongje’s desk at the bowling alley becomes a quiet sort of shrine to you—littered with your letters and notes, half-crumpled from him rereading them over and over. he never bothers to clean it up. they’re scattered across the surface like leaves in a storm, but he knows exactly where each one is. it’s an organized mess, chaotic in the same way he is. but if anyone even looks at them too long—tries to pick one up, makes a joke about the handwriting, even breathes too close to the edge of his desk—they’re basically asking for a death wish.
“touch it and you die,” he’ll mutter without even looking up, one foot kicked up on the desk, cigarette dangling from his lips. it’s not even a threat—it’s a promise.
somewhere in between the late night meetups—where the world is quiet and it’s just the two of you—and the stolen moments in back rooms lit by vending machine glow, seongje softens. not in a way that’s obvious to most, but in ways you catch. like when he plays bowling with you late at night at the union headquarters, just the sound of pins crashing echoing through the empty lanes. he’s terrible at it, but he doesn’t care. he would fair better hitting someone at the back of the head with these bowling balls. he only really lights up when it’s your turn.
you roll the ball, knock down every pin, and before you can even react, he’s throwing his hands in the air, exaggeratedly signing applause, a wide grin stretching across his face.
“that’s what i’m fucking talking about!” he shouts, clapping loudly on top of the sign for applause he just made, just because he’s still him—loud, obnoxious, impossible—but now he’s loud for you.
yeah… to seongje, you’re like a stray puppy at first. small, quiet, following him around without saying a word, eyes always wide and watching. at first, he thinks it’s kinda funny—endearing, even. you don’t talk back, don’t flinch when he’s loud, and you’ve got this habit of showing up with little notes or food like some soft, strange ritual he doesn’t understand. he starts calling you “puppy” just to mess with you, ruffling your hair whenever you come around.
but somewhere along the way, that fondness stops being just a game. no, you’re not a pet to seongje. but maybe, you became an equal.
he starts waiting for your notes. starts leaving his office door slightly cracked, just in case you come by. he catches himself watching you instead of his phone. gets weirdly pissed off when other people so much as look at you wrong.
and the night he realizes it’s different—that it’s not just him babysitting some quiet kid—it’s when you sign “stay” with soft hands after a long night, and he does. no grumbling, no jokes, just settles next to you and doesn’t leave.
after that, it’s not a question. you’re not a puppy. you’re his person.
and yeah, maybe he never said you were dating. but everyone knows. you leave your food in the union’s fridge, your letters in his desk, your comfort in the chaos of his life. and he protects you, respects you, listens to your silence more than he’s ever listened to anyone’s voice. and no one in the union dares to bring it up or even question your soft presence in the nitty gritty bowling alley.
seongje is loud. like, really fucking loud. he talks with his whole body, yells when he's annoyed, laughs like he owns the air around him, and never knows when to shut up. he's noise and motion and chaos wrapped in one, dangerously sharp-edged boy. but you—you're quiet. not just in voice, but in presence. you move gently, offer kindness without demanding attention, speak in ways that don’t need sound.
and somehow, in all the noise of his world, your silence is the only thing that ever made sense. he used to think silence was empty, but now it’s where he finds comfort. he’s still loud, still volatile, still the type to throw a punch first and maybe ask questions never. but now there’s this... softness around the edges. a space he carves out just for you. like you’re the eye of the storm, and he’s always, always circling back to you.
in your quiet, he feels understood. and maybe that's the wildest thing about this whole mess—that a boy made of sound found peace in someone who never had to say a word.
note: aaa i feel like this so short >><< i wanted to give them more of a backstory but for now this is what i’m going with. if you’d like to see more of them that’d be nice 🫶 this is such a different take from collarless tho, and it’s nice to also write a softer character to contrast our tough collarless!reader to explore more dynamics with seongje.
i don’t aim to reform or soften seongje, but have the peaceful presence of the reader be incorporated into his life without changing his ideals and personality.
I love the contrast between Waterboy's internalized and Flambae's externalized insecurities.
Waterboy clearly takes every insult to heart, not questioning whether they are actually true but assuming that they must be. So he ends up just feeding back into that toxic loop, nervously stuttering more and furthering his anxiety with every comment being made about him. He isn't hurting other people, but he is unintentionally demeaning himself and, by extension, keeping himself from improving
Flambae, on the other hand, clearly has a complicated relationship with his own self-worth. He hears people talk shit about him, and immediately uses the emotions flaring up inside him to prove them wrong. His lashing out doesn't necessarily hurt him, but it does hurt the other people caught in the crossfire. And it also means that just like Waterboy, he's incapable of improving himself.
Put together, they could end up further pushing themselves into hating the preconceived idea of who they are.
But there's also that tiny possibility that Flambae's overconfidence could push Waterboy to be less harsh on himself. And Waterboy's lack of judgment means Flambae doesn't have anything to prove wrong, so he isn't forced to be so on guard 24/7.
“I’m giving this to you. Keep it.” Seo-Jun handed you the lilac music box with a bright smile.
“What? No, I can’t take that!” you protested, surprised. It was only your second date, and he was already offering one of his most treasured possessions.
“Y/N, I want you to have it. Please,” he said softly, his tone earnest.
You hesitated, but then took the delicate box from his large hands, studying its intricate details. A warm, unfamiliar sensation washed over you, filling you with a comforting sense of something long missed.
“Thank you,” you murmured, your voice barely audible.
Seo-Jun’s deep, soft laugh echoed through the room. “You’re welcome.”
Suddenly, you stood up and made your way over to him. He had been so careful, so respectful, keeping his distance—ironic, considering how your first meeting ended tangled in your linen sheets.
He looked up at you, confusion in his golden eyes, as you cupped his face gently in your hands.
“I want to thank you properly,” you whispered before pressing your lips to his.
The kiss felt like heaven, something you could lose yourself in forever. You felt his smile against your lips as you pulled away, teasing him.
“What’s that smile for?”
“It’s the taste of your lips,” he replied, mesmerized.
“My lips?”
“Yeah, they’re sweet and so soft. I haven’t been able to stop thinking about them since we last parted.”
Heat began to rise within you, the desire intensifying.
The humanity of the characters in Dispatch!: The beauty of reality, or almost like it.
Dispatch is a BEAUTIFUL game! And not only visually but it's story is deep and it has details that make it more real, maybe if they didn't add this details - and flaws - the game wouldn't be SO good as it is! Let me explain:
Usually when we were kids, we had an certain vision about heroes, the main characters were usually (not talking abt antiheroes ok) the good guys, the saviors, the PERFECT SUPER-HUMANS (keep that phrase in mind) that made all the good they made because it was their fate, their responsability or because 'it was the right thing to do' am I right?
That's the first conception of 'hero' that Dispatch broke, first of all, the main character, Robert Robertson III, begins his story being Mecha Man already, there was no path for him to become a hero, unlike what we often see in movies, which are a journey of how the hero became a hero.
Later in the story we find out Robert is now broke, depressed and basically HATED by everyone because he failed to carry on his family's legacy and now is retiring, and the worst of all: it didn't have a solution, because his suit was broken and... NO POWERS. But the absence of powers never stopped anyone from being a hero!. (I don't know where I've heard this but there was a quote that said 'not being a superhuman doesn't mean you can't be super')
As the events pass we see that... OUR CHARACTER IS A LOSER! (No offense Robert i love you!) But that is what it is, someone fragile, with no use to society, and broke, how are we supposed to believe that a person like that would return being a hero.
And another thing I've realized: his story wasn't pretty, it wasn't fun, it wasn't his choice, it was almost like a burden, being Mecha Man to carry his father's and grandpa's legacy, it was his fate since he was born. It's harsh. It's painful.
But, after all that Robert has a glimpse of hope when Blonde Blazer appears to him.
Remember when I said about heroes being perfect super humans and having a sense of justice? Well, In Dispatch this concept is broken by simply adding a new scenario, were they have in this universe a company called SDN (Superhero Dispatch Network).
But, there was a difference: this company made up a new program, called as we know "Phoenix program", That's all about reintroducing former villains back into society by DISPATCHING them into missions, simple or complex, that makes sense, because it creates a sense of care and responsibility towards the population they once used to harm. And that's good, BUT here's the point... the villains are not SO BAD. It's almost like "don't judge the book by its cover"
When we go deeper into the game and the story, we find out that whoops! The bad guys aren't so bad! But how so?
Because they ALL have what it's stamped in the title: HUMANITY (even if most of them are not humans but YOU GET IT)
1. Invisigal: She is introduced to us as an..stalker, spy, and annoying girl, someone who anyone could see clearly that IS a villain, not because she was evil, but her actions in the beggining they accuse her of not being a very moral person.
And she admit it later in the game, saying that "her powers are villain ones, not like BB, not like Phenomaman, who didn't have nothing to hide" but for her was different, all she did was hiding, used her powers to take advantage of others. But talking with her we see CLEARLY that she's not good with it, she's embarrassed, because of all she has done, because she herself didn't belive she could be a hero, do something nice, she regretted it, so who else would believe in her? The Z-team did.
2. Malevola: I mean... LOOK AT HER, she IS the 'supervillain' profile, but, there's something I've noticed during the game and you probably did too: she is holding on.
Yes, that's what I said. Picture this: you have demonic powers, and you can smash people in one blink, but... she was NEVER shown to us as someone evil, and it breaks our perception, and i love it. She cares for her colleagues, she pays attention to details of their lives, she has humanity in her, otherwise she would just burn everything to the ground and call it a day.
3.Punch-up: A little gut that made a deal with a sorceress to gain the immense strength of ten men. This magical pact, which allowed him to transition from a struggling carnival strongman into a powerful fighter, came at the cost of his body shrinking. This man if he kept his height would be a MENACE! That's his "thing", did you notice a pattern yet?: someone who everyone thinks is A, actually is a B, understand? That's the whole dynamic of the characters. They have everything to be evil, but... they're not. And in the case of the punch-up, this becomes clear; it's almost like a equal proportion scale, something incredibly strong being compared to a flaw (or something good) but extremely weak. That will make sense, believe me.
4. Flambae: My favorite character, he is SO funny! Like... he actually is a wall king fireball jerk, but why do we like him so much?
Remember the directly proportional proportion scale? The amount of potential for evil that someone has will be directly proportional to... in Flambae's case, it's "cornyness". He is charismatic, being a jerk? Yes! That's the kind of character we see and ask "What's the deal with him?" And we are so invested that he might have an "redemption arc" that we simply like him, and later in the game, when he finds out Robert is Mecha Man, he gets mad- obviously, but he just leaves... and later he SHOWS UP in Robert's place, and is willing to deal with the fact that he can't change who Bob is, but he will "someday dissipate his hatred towards bob. And you will be less of a bitch for me" and that contrasts with the whole character, it shows that behind that narcissism and hate he is - even if a little bit- mature.
These were the analyses of the most "contrasting" characters that I could find. The others are just the same dynamic as those listed.
For Sonar for example would be: he is a WEIRD BAT but, somehow... he is SO NORMAL that it's hilarious!!!
For golem: he is seen as an abnormality, a monster, but he's just a tennager, he feels lonely.
For prism: i couldn't figure anything out, pls help me if you're into it.
For coupè: same as Prism.
I'm glad you've read this far! What did you think? Do you agree with the analysis or meh? Let me know. ♡
Ok, just a few words about Blonde Blazer's management... she said they had to cut someone off the Z-team and GOD KNOWS what this person who would be cut would do with their life now.
I mean... Is there any other company of superheroes willing to hire a FORMER SUPERVILLAIN? The Phoenix program was all about reintroducing these kinds of people back to society by giving them something useful to do, like... hello? "Don't be evil" kinda stuff.
This critical point of having to cut someone off a REHAB PROGRAM, is something wild for me, BB said "they have to know we're serious" BUT, HOW DO YOU EXPECT THAT A FORMER VILLAIN WILL GO BACK TO THEIR NORMAL LIVES AFTER BEING CUT OFF AND NOT GOING BACK TO BE VILLAINS? LIKE WHAT?.
And what happened with "everyone gets a shot"? ok, they're not doing their best at scoring at the scoreboard, but at least they're doing something useful to people, to the company, and mostly: NOT BEING VILLAINS?!
Am I missing something?
Edit: PLUS, while Robert's at the hospital, we can see BB had to replace Robert's place until he got better, and she said she is is 'a little bit rusty', but!
How in heavens do you expect that your BOSS won't be good at it's job? (No hate btw) but I don't why they made BB be the literal image of responsibility and maturity in the game but added those simply little details that someone like her shouldn't commit, but, i think this is what makes the characters human!!!
(Ok that's great after all, this game is a masterpiece, it's amazing, it's.... phenomenal)😭
I'm not sure if this is going to link correctly but there's also an anti AI skin going around on AO3. It prevents people from being able to just copy and paste your work into an AI bot.
I applied it to all my works. It has also drastically reduced how many bots leave comments on my stuff because they can't read the text.
I'd faint if someone wrote a fic where Flambae's a real asshole and sees Robert struggling with the supine but doesn't show up until he can't take it anymore.
Then he makes a little speech about being a 'real hero' and it's so harsh that it leads Robert to release all his repressed feelings, of being 'weak' and being unable to be mecha man again.
It could suit so well being hurt/comfort or hurt/no comfort, yk what i mean, angsty stuff.
