#“mr.” like not even “mister” just “mr.”. for all we know his name could actually be pronounced “em are” but everyone has been saying it

[sobeksewerrat]

M r . P l a n t

[toournextadventure]

when you love it

Summary: When is a monster not a monster? Oh, when you love it - Caitlyn Siehl

Word Count: 6.3k Warnings: swearing, injury mention, suggestive themes, blood mention, hurt no comfort (hopeful ending), extreme guilt Pairing: Wenclair x Vampire!Reader (part 2)

“We, the jury, find the defendant not guilty on the charge of murder in the first degree.”

Your fangs caught on your lip as you did your best not to smile. With the slightest turn of your body, you patted your client on the shoulder and congratulated him for getting off on murder. He was guilty as sin. You could practically smell the tainted blood coursing through his veins. It was abysmal; he was a horror to work with. Doubtless he would be murdered before he even left the courthouse.

His money was still just as good as anyone else’s.

The judge continued his usual spiel, the one you personally had heard many times over. Something about understanding the severity of the charges, how one must persevere to become more, to prevent such a situation from occurring again. She was getting much more emotional about the speech, putting more of a motherly spin on it. It was a lovely touch.

It wouldn’t work. But it was lovely.

“Don’t get yourself in too much trouble,” you said once the judge was finished and you could shake your client’s hand.

His smile was sinister. “I’ll be calling on you again.”

You made sure to show your fangs in your own smile. “I’ll be expecting it.”

The man gave you the creeps, more so than most of the clients you represented. Which was precisely why you allowed your shadow to escort him out of the courthouse to the freedom he had unjustly earned. You watched as he left with a smile that betrayed your actual thoughts.

If he called again, your rates would double.

“You did your job masterfully.”

You turned around, watching people continue to mill out of the courtroom. No one was facing you, not even the usual suspects. Even your best friend Detective Faus had already left. There was no one left to talk or discuss the events of the case. A pity.

Maybe it had been another hallucination; they were more frequent this time of year. Sounds of blood spilling, pouring down your throat like the first drink at the bar. The door opening, muffled words, wood splintering. The sounds made themselves known in your mind, drowning out everything else around you.

“Looking for someone in particular?”

No. No, that was no hallucination. You looked down to see a young man no older than 20 - though his spectacular mustache looked a bit old for him - standing beside you. It was no wonder you hadn’t noticed him, he was rather short. With a stunning crop of slicked back raven black hair, he reminded you of someone. Someone you did your best to forget.

“Thank you, mister…,” your voice trailed off.

“Pubert Addams,” he said with a charming smile as he held out his hand toward you. “Lovely to make your acquaintance.”

A wet gasp-

-a snarl-

-relief-

-pain-

“-A pleasure, Mr. Addams,” you said, grasping his hand as gently as you possibly could. “That’s a name I haven’t heard in a long while.”

“I believe you knew my sister and her wife in college, did you not?” He asked as he let go of your hand.

A breathy moan-

-airy laughter-

-a warm sigh-

“-Quite a long time ago,” you said, “but yes.”

“Yes, I knew it was you,” he said with a smile that was far too familiar. Eerily so. “Are you free for a short while?” He asked. “I have a proposition for you.”

You sighed and shifted the weight to your good leg. It left an ache that rarely eased, though certainly not for lack of trying. Thanks to the glasses, you were confident your distrust was hidden. It wasn’t that you didn’t trust the young Addams boy; he seemed decent enough. You had worked with enough sleazy people to know who to trust and who to be wary of.

There was just the little problem of not wanting anything to do with an Addams.

Though, you supposed you could give the boy the benefit of the doubt. After all, what would it hurt? If he was anything like Wednesday - and it was beyond clear he was - he would love the danger. The thrill of propositioning you would far outweigh the danger of having you near. A brave boy.

Just like his older sister.

“I suppose I have time,” you finally said with a toothy grin. “I’ll buy you a drink.”

“Oh, I’m not old enough to drink,” he said quickly as he fell into step beside you. Exactly like his sister.

“A coffee then,” you amended.

He had no objections.

His hands were shoved into his pockets as he walked out of the courtroom with you. The stench of rancid blood filled your senses before you saw the commotion outside. Your client’s body lay sprawled along the steps, his blood flowing from the tips of his fingers; no one dared try to stop the bleeding. At the bottom, the police were shoving the victim’s brother into their cruiser.

“An eye for an eye turns the whole world blind,” Mr. Addams said with a shake of his head.

You didn’t dare hide your smile. “A beautiful sentiment.” You continued to walk past the scene, not looking back to see if Mr. Addams was following.

His footsteps quickened their pace to match yours before he stood beside you once again. It was a short, silent walk to the little cafe you had started to call your own. The barista was a wonderful young girl; she had easily fallen victim to the vampire charm you did your best not to throw around. Though you were a little less careful nowadays, but that was your little secret.

“What can I get for you, sugar?” The young waitress asked once you sat down. She, too, had fallen victim to your supernatural charm.

“A quad?” You asked once Mr. Addams sat across from you at the little table in the corner.

“Heavens no,” he said with his own charming smile, “I’ll take a mocha, thank you.”

“An espresso, darling,” you said with a smile at the waitress.

Her cheeks flushed. “I’ll have it for you in a moment.”

You tried not to mention your surprise at the young Addams going against what his older sister had made seem like tradition. Or perhaps she had changed over the years; it was a possibility she had come to enjoy the sweeter things in life. After all, Enid certainly did, so it wasn’t entirely out of the realm of possibility. She always had been a lovestruck fool for Enid.

So were you.

You promptly ignored the thought.

“What is your proposition, Mr. Addams?” You asked as you continued to wait for your drinks.

“Ah, of course,” he said. He cleared his throat and sat up straight. “I would like to invite you to a soiree we happen to be hosting.”

“I’m nothing but a stranger to you,” you said simply. “What about me warrants an invitation?”

“My sister and her wife still talk of you,” he said. “Incessantly.” His smile was gentle; genuine. “I believe inviting you would make them happy.”

You didn’t grace that thought with a reply. If they still talked of you, that was their issue. Wednesday was certainly psychotic enough to desire your presence. Enid, also, could certainly be delusional enough. Seeing you again should bring them no sense of joy or peace; if anything, it should cause nightmares.

It didn’t matter that you often found yourself thinking of them in return. When you talked with clients who had a penchant for breaking the law, much like Wednesday. Committing their crimes guiltlessly for one reason or another. There was a difference in that Wednesday always had a good reason - even when you tried to make her believe she didn’t - but that could be easily overlooked when her cold brown eyes appeared in your mind.

And Enid was often seen in the young intern at your firm. Possessing a giddiness that was so often lost in people. Her colourful nails that you had been unable to forbid were like a flash of the past. The only difference was those nails were typing away at a computer instead of leaving scratches along your back. It was difficult, on occasion, to differentiate the two.

The waitress set the drinks on the table, giving you a wink and smile in the process. You smiled back, showcasing your fangs as she turned and walked back to the counter. If Mr. Addams hadn’t accompanied you, you would have flirted with the woman. Flashed a bit of cash, invited her home for a quick drink of your own before sending her back on her way.

You stirred your espresso for no good reason. At least it gave you time to think of your answer. Mr. Addams was gracious enough not to push. A wonderful change of pace from Wednesday, who would push until she regretted it. Which she had. Oh, she had, and you had all suffered for it.

There was no way you could tell Mr. Addams why you wanted to decline his invitation. If you even so much as hinted at the carnage you had caused, there was a high probability he would not only rescind his offer, but paint you as the monster you had already claimed for yourself. With good reason, of course, you hadn’t earned the title by sitting around.

On the other hand, just the mere thought of seeing Enid and Wednesday made your dead heart feel alive again. You had done your best to fill your nights with women. One after the other, never keeping them long enough to even learn their names. Each a new attempt to forget the two women who had taken your heart all those years ago. They never filled the hole; if anything, they made it bigger.

Perhaps…

“When is this little soiree of yours taking place?” You asked with a sigh, finally looking up from your espresso.

Now that smile was identical to his sister’s.

“I’ll fetch you the invitation.”

—---

You stood on the balcony of your apartment. Smoke curled around your fingers as the cigarette rested between them. The heat from the lit end was almost unbearable on your skin; it was a welcome feeling. City lights twinkled around you, creating constellations yet unnamed by the human race. Perhaps one day they would be prominent enough to fit in with the constellations of old.

It was the night before the soiree at the Addams residence. You had done your best to remain in control of your emotions the days leading up to it. Hell, you had even gone so far as to hire a few women just a few hours earlier to keep your thirst in check. You would rather receive a stake to the heart than risk another incident like the one that had created this situation in the first place.

And yet, even with all your preparations, you still couldn’t shake the feeling of impending doom that had carved a home into the center of your chest.

The balcony door slid open.

“You coming back, baby?” The woman asked.

It was a shame you didn’t remember her name.

“Come on, baby,” she said, and you felt warm arms wrap around your waist. “I know you want another drink.”

You did. God you did. Just the thought of another drink left your throat searing. You tried to swallow, but all it did was burn like liquid fire trickling down your throat. With a sigh, you lifted the cigarette back to your lips and inhaled. If you were going to be in pain, you may as well finish off your cigarette.

“I’ll be there in a moment,” you said with an exhale that left smoke falling from your lips.

The warmth left your waist as she went back inside, and you heard her talking to… the… other woman. God, you really needed to learn the names of the people you drank from. If anything, it was the least you could do; it was polite. But you didn’t particularly care. All you knew was they weren’t Enid, and they weren’t Wednesday.

You were pathetic.

You took one more drag of your cigarette, feeling the heat burn the skin on your knuckles. The thick smoke left the taste of ash on your tongue and did nothing to ease the scorching pain in your throat. You dropped the cigarette butt to the ground and stepped on it with your heel. You hissed when it singed your heel; you had forgotten you were barefoot.

If you had possessed any sort of soul, you would have felt guilt. There was something tugging on your invisible heart strings, begging you to care about the women you were surrounding yourself with. No, that wasn’t accurate. It wasn’t something tugging at your heart strings; it was two voices that had haunted you for years.

They single handedly ruined your night. With no shame and no clue that they had even done so, they had ruined it. The women around you weren’t the right women. Their skin was soft, but it wasn’t the same. Their freckles were in the wrong spots, and their nails and hair were the wrong colour. Each and every moan was the wrong tone, and these women just weren’t right.

It was a struggle, but by the time the night was over, you had more than gotten your fill. There was no possible way you would still be thirsty by the time you made it to the Addams residence. Though that didn’t stop you from grabbing a blood bag from the fridge and tucking it into your pocket before you left your apartment.

You stopped by the mirror in your hall to make sure you looked alright. It was custom made to not contain any silver, allowing you to see at least a semblance of your reflection. It wasn’t perfect, but it was like looking at someone through water. A little blurry, slightly distorted, but you could tell it was a person.

Your eyes were drawn to the dark scars that weren’t entirely hidden by your shirt collar. The majority of the scars were hidden, but not those. They were a stark contrast on your neck; a stark reminder of your monstrosity. Subconsciously, you lifted your hand to run your fingers over the taut flesh. They still ached.

Teeth ripping through flesh. You could hear the blood pumping from the wounds, pouring out over your hands as you tried desperately to stop the flow. Your own blood cascaded down your throat, erasing any satisfaction you had previously received.

You could still smell the blood. It made your mouth water.

You still wanted more.

You recoiled as if burned. Out of all the times you could have that memory, this wasn’t the optimal day. It didn’t require any consideration before you walked back to the fridge and grabbed a second bag, placing it right beside the first within your jacket. You had one shot; you weren't going to blow it.

It was a beautiful day outside as you approached the Addams mansion. The sky was overcast, almost allowing you to take your glasses off. Not that you would have, but it would have been a nice option to have. Large groups of people made their way up the steps and into the mansion. It truly was a stunning building; you had missed it.

You fell into the back of a group, ensuring you were silent and could walk in unnoticed. Yes, of course someone would notice eventually, but you wanted a chance to settle back into the excessively large house. The smell of the slightly-rotting wood was enough to ease your racing pulse. It smelled like home.

While everyone continued to slowly make their way into the ballroom, you went the opposite direction. Your hand trailed against the walls, maneuvering around each and every item that was hanging. The paintings and knick knacks and more recent looking photos. Some were new, or at least newer than you. They certainly hadn’t been hanging on the wall the last time you had visited.

The idle chatter of the crowd started to fade the further you went.The hallway turned into a slightly larger room filled with framed photos and awards. You let your fingers hover over the nameplates on the awards. Spelling Bee, First Place. A smile tugged at your lips as you moved on. Silver, Figure Skating. Down and down the line, you looked at award after award. There were names underneath, but you didn’t waste your time looking at them.

After the awards were the photos. You picked up the first one with gentle hands; a wedding photo deserved care. It was no surprise to see Wednesday in black and Enid in something so bright it was almost blinding. The image alone had your chest aching. They looked rather happy.

Their happiness didn’t distract you from the scars down the side of Enid’s face. The ones that traveled from the corner of her eyes to her jaw. Based on the colour in the photo, they were freshly healed. You couldn’t see Wednesday’s; she had a black lace wrapped around her wrist. From the look of Enid’s, you could imagine.

You set the frame back down on the table and stepped back. The curiosity had disappeared, quickly replaced with something heavy. With a tight chest, you backed out of the room and made your way to the ballroom with everyone else. The slight limp in your step worsened. A sigh fell from your lips as you had to lean against the wall and reach down to tighten the brace. Your jaw clenched almost painfully as the brace became insufferably tight around your leg, but at least it gave you the ability to stand on your own once again.

Until you were nearly knocked over by children running down the hall.

“Excuse me!” One of them called back. A chorus of the same words were quick to follow as the other children ran after the first.

“Behave!” You froze. “And don’t push people!”

“Yes ma’am!” The children shouted.

If you had known you would have such a visceral reaction just to her voice, you wouldn’t have accepted the invitation. You had no idea your body itself would react to her voice. If you could sweat, you would have been. Your fingers twitched. Don’t turn, your mind told you. Begged, even. Desperate, feral, pathetic.

“Cara mia.” You forced yourself to take a step. “You forgot your shawl upstairs.”

Don’t turn around, your mind said. It was frantic. You forced another step. And another. Each one heavier than the last, as if your body was fighting with your mind. You truly were a fool to accept the invitation, and there wasn’t even a word to describe yourself for actually daring to appear. Stupid. That was the best word.

“Are you a vampire?”

You sighed and took a moment to calm your emotions before looking down. One of the children that had been running around was now standing beside you, looking up at you with bright eyes and a cocked head. It reminded you of- no, you wouldn’t think of that. You turned to face the child and shifted your weight to rest on your good leg.

“I am,” you said with a singular nod of your head. “And you are?”

“Oh,�� they said with a smile. A large, wolfish smile. “I’m an Addams.”

You were thankful they couldn’t see your eyes. “Charmed.”

Of course they were an Addams. How could you ever think differently? The Addamses were magnets for trouble, and you didn’t have to know the child to deduct that they were, in fact, trouble. You turned away from them and looked back out into the ballroom.

“My mothers have a picture of you on their nightstand,” the child continued.

You wished they would leave.

“But you have scars, and the person in their picture doesn’t.”

You would have no shame in killing a child.

“My momma has scars too.” It would be simple. “They almost match yours.”

“Don’t harass the guests, dear.” 

Or perhaps you would simply kill yourself. It would certainly be less painful than whatever was about to happen. You could hear the echo of your dead heart beating loudly in your ears. Perhaps if you refused to turn around, she would continue walking. Walk right past you and into the crowd, leaving you behind as you so very much deserved.

But she didn’t continue walking as you desperately wished she would. She didn’t move out into the crowd, saying her greetings to the others as was customary. You could barely hear her footsteps at all above the incessant noise that you were wishing would get louder. Drown out all the thoughts and emotions bubbling up inside you.

“We weren’t sure you would come.”

You still refused to turn around. Even when you felt her sidle up next to you, her arm brushing lightly against yours. Oh, her warmth was glorious. You had forgotten just how lovely it was to feel her warming you up. To bring life to your soul in a way that only she was capable of. No amount of women in your bed had ever held a candle to her warmth.

“You look good.” Her voice was impossibly soft against the rising chaos of the soiree.

Growls and screaming echoed in your mind’s ear as you finally made the brave - or stupid - decision to turn your head. If you had thought your anxiety was bad before, you would have been impressed with your anxiety at that moment. The first thing your eyes took notice of were the healed, lightly coloured scars on her jaw.

The scars you had caused.

“You look healthy,” Enid said with a soft smile.

She looked so very grown. That childish glint in her eyes was still present, but she held herself with far more respect. The insecurity had long faded away, much like the scars that continued down her neck. The child was right; you almost matched.

“I fed before arriving,” you said. Your words felt like ash in your mouth. “No need for history to repeat itself.”

“We have more in the kitchen,” she said quickly. “If you need it.”

You opened your coat to show the two bags in the pocket. “I came prepared, thank you.”

She smiled a closed mouth smile and nodded before looking back out at the ballroom. That heavy feeling settled in your chest once again. After so many years, that was all you had to say to her? That you had fed already? Of course, that was probably the one thing she wanted to hear after so long. You were a fool. A damned fool.

“I hope the kids weren’t bothering you,” Enid said. “They get excited when we host gatherings.”

“They seem decent,” you said. Decent?? That’s the best you can come up with? “That one-” you pointed to the one with the bright eyes “-is rather talkative.”

Enid giggled, and for a moment, you felt young again. “Willa says she gets it from me.”

Willa. You could have laughed if it didn’t hurt so bad. Wednesday had always attempted to claim she hated it. Yet it never stopped the lightest blush on her cheeks when you or Enid would use the unassuming nickname. When was the last time you had even heard it?

Come on, Willa, put it down, I’m being serious.

You turned your body ever so slightly. You didn’t want Enid to see the scars creeping down your neck. Her hand brushed against yours. It was shameful how quickly you pulled your hand back, shoving it into your pocket. No good could come from her feeling the shake of your hand, or the scars that hid below the cloth of your clothes.

“Oh, there she is,” Enid said, this time reaching out to grab your arm a little harder than she probably meant to. “Stay right here, I’ll bring her over!”

The moment she left your side, the cold started to crawl back over your skin. It sunk into every vessel, every inch of your body, both inside and out. Attending the soiree was a mistake. A mistake that you couldn’t take back. Just like that night. Perhaps it wasn’t too late. You could leave before they came back and continue your miserable existence as you had been.

But then you saw them together, hand in hand. It was an unexpected thing to see Wednesday practically smiling at Enid. In public, that was. You couldn’t recall a single time she had smiled at anything in public. Yet there she was, walking closer and showing some semblance of physical affection in public. It was stunning. Your heart was almost beating.

Until your eyes landed on all the black lace that you knew covered scars no one could comprehend.

“I told you I saw them,” you heard Enid say as they both approached where you were frozen in place. “And I was right.”

Wednesday looked up at you with those stunning brown eyes. “So you were.”

Your fingers twitched in your pocket. Now that she was so close, you could smell her blood flowing through her veins. No matter how much you swallowed, you couldn’t ease the burn that was rising up your throat. You clenched your jaw tight, ignoring the sting of your fang piercing your lip.

Wednesday!

You didn’t know what to say. What could you say? “Hello Wednesday, I’m sorry for nearly draining you while you attempted to prove I wasn’t a monster.” Or even to Enid. “I apologise for trying to kill you when you stopped me from killing our girlfriend.” There was nothing you could say, to either of them, to justify what you had done. What you couldn’t forget.

“I told them you had their picture,” the previous child said as they approached along with the rest of the herd.

For the first time, you were thankful for children.

“So you told our secrets?” Wednesday asked. “You know what happens to those who tell our secrets.”

The old Wednesday would have sounded more intimidating and borderline threatening. Yet, even as her words said one thing, the soft look on her face said another. The children all smiled and tried to hide their laughter as they continued to look up at her.

“You’d better run,” Enid whispered.

Each of the children shared a look before running off, laughter following in their wake. It was almost… cute? Adorable, even? God, you needed to escape this place, you were almost turning soft. You needed to get back to your murderers and criminals, this was turning pathetic.

“As intimidating as ever, my love,” Enid said as she leaned down and placed a soft chaste kiss on Wednesday’s cheek.

It made you sick. The burn in your throat spread, turning into a searing pain in your chest and stomach. All that was left was the tingling in your fingers and legs and you were finished. You wished the inferno would swallow you whole, reducing you to nothing more than ash and bone.

“You seem pale,” Wednesday said.

It seemed you wouldn’t combust soon enough.

“I only arrived out of courtesy,” you said as you stood taller. “Now that I have said my hellos, I must say my goodbyes.”

You tried to act like the looks on Enid’s and Wednesday’s faces didn’t kill you inside. It was like a silver stake to the heart, spreading its carnage down every muscle fiber and blood vessel. After all these years, you had managed to hurt them again within only a few moments. And you didn’t even possess the decency to apologise for the first sleight against them.

“Do you have to?” Enid asked. “You could stay.” Her eyes fell. “We could talk.”

“Did Enid tell you we have more blood in the fridge?” Wednesday asked.

She circled her fingers around her lace-covered wrist.

“I don’t do house calls,” you said. You could hear Wednesday’s pulse over the crowd. “Especially with those I cannot pay penance to.”

And yet, you didn’t make a single move. Against your better wishes, your feet stayed glued to the floor. Each beat of Wednesday’s heart was enough to have your mouth salivating, yet you couldn’t leave. A memory popped into your head of Enid almost seeming disappointed that her blood wasn’t appetising to you. It was a fond memory, one you replayed often enough for it to seem like a core memory of your relationship.

“You could stay,” Enid said.

“We can go somewhere quieter,” Wednesday continued.

You didn’t want to go somewhere quiet, you wanted to go home. You internally scoffed at the word; you didn’t live in a home. It was just a building, with four walls and a new blood bag or two every night. You barely lived in it, instead opting to spend all your time in your office where nothing could remind you of the two women standing in front of you.

They were your home.

“Please?” Enid asked softly. Almost too softly. Even with your enhanced hearing you could barely discern the words over the jazz band that had started playing.

You sighed. Would it truly hurt to spend a few moments with them? To give you some semblance of normalcy that only they could provide? After all, you could see the muscles underneath Enid’s skin. If you truly lost control, surely she could stop you. She had stopped you before.

The scars reminded you of it every day.

“Very well,” you said with a slight nod.

Enid was the one to reach out and grab your hand, pulling it out of its pocket and linking her fingers with yours. Her nails dug into the back of your hand, drawing out a sting that was a welcome distraction. The ache in your throat was ever present as Wednesday walked right beside you while Enid led you out of the ballroom.

The hustle and bustle of the ballroom slowly faded into oblivion as you were led down the corridors of the Addams mansion. You could recall memories from each room you passed. Each with their own story to tell. Stories of stolen kisses, scandalous rendezvous, silent moments with the women you loved, but together and separate.

When Enid stopped in the kitchen, you would have laughed had it been under any other circumstance. It was clear they had the same thoughts on their minds when Enid sat you down and Wednesday retrieved a blood bag from the fridge. She placed it between you and her when she sat opposite you at the table.

How comical.

They both stared at you with unwavering gazes. What was going through their minds, you wondered. Were they feeling the same way you had? Broken, anxious about fucking up, convinced you had blown your chance? Or perhaps they were waiting for you to break and recreate what had happened on that fated night all those years ago.

You sighed when you deduced they wouldn’t speak first.

“You both look well,” you said in a croaky voice that, if they were wise, was indicative of the state of your instincts. Think of something else to say. “Are all those children yours?”

Think of something less ridiculous.

“Yes they are,” Wednesday said simply, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. It was almost condescending; you loved it.

“Pubert said you’re a lawyer?” Enid asked.

“Defence attorney,” you said with a nod, “yes.”

“Is it, ah, fun?” She asked.

You sighed. If the entire night was going to go along those lines - awkward and uncomfortable, tip toeing around every word - you would rather leave. Not a single positive thing could come from such a conversation. It was talking for talking sake. You all hated small talk, that was something that you knew had never changed, yet there you were, struggling to find any sort of conversation.

“It’s acceptable,” you said before placing both palms on the table. “I believe I really should be getting on.”

You attempted to push yourself up from the seat. Attempted being the key word. It wasn’t often your bad knee would buckle when standing; usually reserved for long nights in your office where you had barely managed to take bathroom breaks. Yet when you pushed yourself up, you felt the strain in your knee. It was a familiar feeling, that weakness before a painful tightness that so often forced you back into your seat.

And it did. Your grip on the table meant nothing as your knee shook for a nanosecond before giving out underneath you. Thankfully the gasp never actually left your lips. You could taste the copper in your mouth as you bit your tongue in an effort to stay silent. In the end, your entire leg trembled.

Enid and Wednesday stood up quickly, knocking their chairs back and watching your every move. You wished they would come to you; you were glad they didn’t. The looks on their faces was terrifying enough. Identical looks to the ones they had had that night.

“Wednesday, put it down,” you said when she refused to remove the knife from her hand.

“Your fears of being a monster are unwarranted,” she said as she gripped the blade tighter. “You wouldn’t hurt anyone.”

She had barely broken the skin before the scent hit you. It had been months since you had fed, and she had broken the floodgates. Everything about her disappeared except for the small drop of blood pooling at the bottom of her hand.

You didn’t feel yourself practically jumping toward her. You didn’t hear her gasp when you ripped the knife from her hand. You didn’t see the look on her face as you licked up the blood on her palm, or when you moved up her hand to bite the pulse point on her wrist.

But you tasted the nectar that flowed through her veins. You felt the strong pulse beneath your lips. You felt the scorching hot blood falling down your chin before you simply couldn’t keep up with the flow. Something vaguely pushed against your neck, but it was little more than a nuisance. All you knew was the blood in your mouth and the warmth on your lips.

Vaguely, you heard something. A scream, a growl, something breaking, you couldn’t tell the difference. It was nothing compared to the relief you were getting. How could you care about something in the outside world when you had such a delicious-

-something solid slammed into your body. The skin underneath your lips vanished, replaced by the cold air around you. When your body stopped rolling, you could feel the aches already starting to form. It didn’t matter. You zeroed in on Wednesday’s wrist again.

You were met with what felt like a truck slamming into your leg. Bones cracked, stretching the tendons and muscles with the new direction they were facing. It wouldn’t hold any weight when you tried to stand up. No matter; that was why you had two legs.

Something large and furry stepped in between you and Wednesday. Nothing about it was familiar in that moment. Instinct told you it was nothing but an obstacle in the way of your feed. It charged, and you swiped. Your fingers clipped something even as you felt its claws rake across your skin.

You tried to stand. Something sharp crossed your chest; the air was cold on your skin. When you stood up again, it was met with similar results. The third attempt got you closer to Wednesday. When something sharp clasped around your shoulder and threw you back to the ground, you stilled.

That hot blood you had gorged yourself on started to feel hot on your neck. Not in it, on it. You opened your mouth to speak and felt the liquid spew from your lips, falling down your face in all directions. Your hand lifted to the side of your neck. Your fingers pushed past the skin and then-exposed muscle.

As you pushed harder on the wounds, doing your best to staunch the flow of blood, the world started to come back to you. Blackness peeled back from your vision. The blurry world started to come into focus along with the sounds that you could finally discern as gasps and growls.

So did the pain.

You were drowning in the blood you had stolen. Your head lolled to the side even as you coughed again, spewing blood into the air like some demented fountain. A werewolf was across the room, hovering over Wednesday even as it transformed back into a person. Back into Enid. Her bare skin was shredded in places.

Wednesday was bleeding out from more than one bite mark.

You had attacked them. Both of them. The women you loved. They were bleeding out. Because of you.

You released the pressure from your neck and felt the blood continue to fall.

“I’m sorry,” you said softly. Something wet fell down your cheeks.

“I know,” Wednesday answered just as softly. It was humiliating.

It was lovely.

“Please stay,” Enid said. You looked down to see her reach her hand across the table.

You shouldn’t. You had nearly killed them, had gone into a frenzy that you hadn’t experienced ever again. What if it happened again with them? After all those years, you still loved them. You would never admit to anyone, but you kept their photos on your desk at work. You couldn’t risk hurting them again. Couldn’t risk killing them. You were a monster, and that fact alone was never going to change.

They looked at you expectantly.

For when is a monster not a monster?

You reached forward and placed your hand on top of Enid’s.

Oh, when you love it.

[formulafics]

Hi, love your fics!! ❤️❤️ Could I request a charles x reader? One where she's also a driver (your choice which team) and she's from Poland and their flags just look like 🇵🇱🇲🇨 and it's like a "funny" coincidence to the fans or something, maybe it's a charles and y/n thing to always point out how similar their flags are

★ IF YOU CANT BEAT ‘EM, JOIN ‘EM | CL16

Scenario: time and time again, your flag gets mixed up with your boyfriends’, and vice versa. this time around, something a little more interesting than just a mixed up flag happens.

Pairing: charles leclerc x fem!reader (mclaren driver)

A/N: i’m so sorry this has taken me so long to get to! thank you so much for your patience 🫶🏻 this is actually such a cute idea, i love it. i hope you enjoy the fic! <3 ALSO THIS IS MY FIRST CHARLES FIC ‼️WHO CHEERED?

charles_leclerc

liked by arthur_leclerc, oscarpiastri, f1, yn_ln, and 1,360,155 others

charles_leclerc good to be back on the podium…even with the flag mishap. i wouldn’t want it to be any flag but @/yn_ln’s.

view all 12,345 comments

yn_ln i could say the same for your flag. congrats on p2 baby you deserve it! 🥰

scuderiaferrari if you can’t beat them join them. right @/yn_ln ?

⤷ yn_ln 👀

⤷ rizzciardo hey so what does this mean lol

landonorris get a room

⤷ yn_ln bet 🤭

leclercnorrisrussel WE CAN BE WORLD CHAMPION I SAID

lovelyleclerc yk its a good day when yn and charles are on the podium together

lovelyleclerc WAIT A MINUTE WTF DO YOU MEAN FERRARI

yn_leclerc

liked by charles_leclerc, arthur_leclerc, landonorris, alex_albon, georgerussel63, and 864,562 others

yn_leclerc (accidentally) took his flag, joined his team, and now taking his name. 🤭❤️

thanks lando for taking the pictures 🫶🏻

view all 9,652 comments

charles_leclerc through sickness, health, and mixed flags 😂

⤷ yn_leclerc forever and always baby ❤️

landonorris thank god i don’t have to spend another year with you

⤷ yn_leclerc just bc we aren’t gonna be teammates doesn’t mean we aren’t friends 🤨 you’re not getting rid of me that easily mister. also i gave you photo credits i expect you to be nicer

pierregasly congratulations ❤️ love you guys

maxverstappen1 💙

georgerussel63 congrats guys 💙

carmenmundt so happy for you both! congratulations, mr and mrs. leclerc! ❤️

paularon_ @/arthur_leclerc can be the flower child at the wedding!

lovelyleclerc SCREAMING CRYING THROWING UP ARE YOU SO SERIOUS RIGHT NOW

ferraricharles BABE WAKE UP YN AND CHARLES ARE ENGAGED

stardustf1 serving parents more than ever with this one

yn_leclerc and scuderiaferrari

liked by charles_leclerc, alex_albon, f1, paularon_, arthur_leclerc, landonorris, and 876,542 others

yn_leclerc a wise man once said “if you can’t beat them, join them” and join them i did. 🤭 can’t wait to see what the 2024 season brings!

view all 7,672 comments

charles_leclerc i love you ❤️ can’t wait

⤷ yn_leclerc i love you more

oscarpiastri thank you for the seat

⤷ yn_leclerc your welcome pls take care of lando

⤷ thumbsuplando CRYING I ALREADY MISS YN AND LANDO SO BADLY

scuderiaferrari happy to have you! 🥰

lovelyleclerc everytime i get the notif that you post, i go insane. i just wanted you to know that!

norrisnation i’m gonna miss you in mclaren but im so happy for you 😭🧡

ynsnumberone MOTHER

⤷ rizzciardo it truly isn’t a yn post if there isn’t someone in the comments calling her mother

thank you for reading! all feedback is appreciated! — dae <3

💌 | @renarots @jsjcue @lovstappen @illicitverstappen @treehouse-mouse @minkyungseokie @lokietro @spidersophie @arkhammaid @vellicora @stopeatread @motorsp0rt @leclercvsx @cixrosie @piasstrisblog @vroomvroomverstappen @harrysdimple05 @sadieurlady @fastcarsandshit @kortneej81 @i-love-ptv @pretty-little-bunny382728 @elliegrey2803 @yagirlhayes

[lightseoul]

this with hawks or katsuki 😭🗣https://youtube.com/shorts/nAARZhCZydk?feature=share

link

a/n. OKAY first of all, i apologize for taking so long to respond to this ask! second of all, i modified the prompt from it being a childhood friends to lovers trope to an au where reader is bakugou's long-term sidekick of two years, just so that we won't diverge too much from canon! (part 2)

word count. 1.4k

"hey, dumbass."

you look up from the mission report you've been sticking your nose in for the past half hour. "i thought i told you to stop calling me that."

at that, he smirks. "you'd rather i call you 'extra'?"

"i'd prefer it if you called me by my hero name, Mr. Dynamight."

his eyebrow twitches at the sound of his moniker. "i thought i told you to stop calling me 'mister'."

you shrug. if he's playing the game, you will too.

"well," you cock your head to the side, "tough luck, huh?"

you drop your gaze back to the document before you can catch the infamous scowl that is indubitably directed at you. not that you're actually comprehending anything, though.

lately, being around the pro-hero has made it almost impossible to focus on your work.

which is stupid, because he's your boss and your his sidekick. focused, flawless teamwork is supposed to be the point.

what's more, the physical sensations are getting dangerously near the what-you-would-exprience-if-you-were-smitten area: sweaty palms, racing heartbeat, and your eyes darting towards wherever he is in a room.

or...you could just be scared of him, right? if there's anyone who can trigger your fight-or-flight mode, it's bakugou katsuki.

"you're lucky your my sidekick," he sneers.

you dare not look at him. you can almost feel him sporting that boyish smirk, and you know your heart can't take that.

what the fuck.

"hey, extra."

you look over your shoulder only to see bakugou decked in his hero gear, covered in dirt and grime from the day's work—eyebrows furrowed. you ignore him, directing your attention back to the front, where you're walking towards.

but he pipes up with: "i'm talking to you!"

you scoff. spinning on your feet to face him, you shoot him a glare. "would it really kill you to just call me by my hero name? heck, i'd even let you call me by my first name!"

at that, bakugou's eyebrows shoot up so minutely. "you serious?"

"does it look like i'm joking?" you ask, exasperated.

a few seconds pass before he responds.

"well, then," he shifts on his feet like he usually does. "i guess i'll call you Y/N."

your stomach flips at the sound of your name tumbling from his lips. you mentally chastise yourself before saying: "okay."

"great."

you're staring at your ceiling; the clock reads 2:34 AM.

with a huff, you turn to your side, feeling awake now more than ever.

the past week has been grueling—on top of the back-to-back missions that you had to work on with bakugou as his sole sidekick (he refuses to add another one, says the candidates are all just extras), you had to deal with these confusing feelings, which, no matter how much you try to extinguish them, will not go away.

it's affecting your performance now, too. one particular stealth mission forced proximity between the two of you, and you almost blew it with how you freaked out at having bakugou only a few inches away.

luckily, bakugou didn't say anything about it.

but a part of you—the part that's struggling so much because of him—wishes he did.

you're in his office when you decide to drop the bomb.

"the fuck is this?" he gestures to the document in front of him.

you steel yourself. it's now or never.

"it's my resignation letter," you say as calmly as you can.

a whirlwind of emotions dances across his features, before it turns into an all-too-familiar scowl. "what?"

"i'm resigning," you repeat.

"i heard you," he spits, "i just couldn't believe such ludicrousness can come from your mouth."

at that, you can't help but scoff. "even until my last day here you're still trying to pick a fight with me?"

"who said i'm trying to pick a fight?" he counters.

"i am!" you exclaim.

you contemplate whether or not to tell him he's been doing so ever since your first mission together, ultimately deciding against it. the last thing you need is to add anger to the long list of emotions you feel around your boss.

adoration and longing are already a huge pain in the ass.

"look," you lower your voice in an attempt to be civil. "i signed a contract which says i have the right to terminate my employment anytime, provided that i give you a heads up and a proper resignation letter."

you point to the document in front of you, "well, here it is."

before bakugou can even get a word in, you spin on your heel and march towards his office's exit.

your phone is ringing.

you hit pause on the Netflix show that you're currently binging before lifting your phone to your ear. "hello?"

"hey, Y/N?"

"that's me."

"oh hey!" the man on the other side of the line says again. "this is kirishima."

kirishima as in red riot kirishima? "hi," you parrot back lamely. "what's up?"

"i know this is a tall order," he starts, "but would it be possible for you to pick bakugou up? he's super drunk and asking for you."

your breath hitches. you must be hearing things yet you can't refrain yourself from prodding. "asking for me?"

"yeah. we have denki as our designated driver but bakugou refuses to go with him. he just keeps mumbling your name."

"you can drive, right?" he asks when you don't say anything.

"um, yes." you say, unsure if admitting it is the right decision.

"then please pick your ex-boss up," kirishima pleads, "he's refusing to go with anyone but you."

kaminari and kirishima are the ones that haul bakugou up to the passenger seat when you arrive nine minutes later. sure enough, bakugou, who's dressed to the 9s that it's fucking ridiculous how good he still looks, reeks of alcohol.

once they got him situated and secured in his seat belt, they circle the front of your car and knock on your window, which you promptly open.

kirishima's sheepish when he says, "we owe you one, bro."

"yeah," kaminari adds, "sorry for calling you up this late."

you smile at their genuineness, "it's no problem. i guess i can do him one favor after resigning so abruptly."

"why did you resign?" kaminari asks almost immediately.

"dude," kirishima chastises the man. bakugou remains passed out beside you.

"sorry," kaminari rubs the back of neck. "it's just that you guys were such a good team together."

"yeah," kirishima joins in. "we used to say you were the key to him becoming number one. you guys were that good together."

despite yourself, your face flames at his words. "yeah, well..."

"we understand if you don't want to talk about it, though," kirishima says.

"we're just a bit bummed out that you parted ways," kaminari adds. "he liked you a lot."

that earns him a slap on the arm and a pointed look from kirishima.

your heart is now thrumming at a ridiculously fast pace.

"well, we better go," you change the topic.

"of course! sorry for keeping you," kirishima says before proceeding. "oh, and here's his address."

turns out bakugou is heaver than he looks.

you're standing outside the car thinking about how to haul him up to his unit alone—with the passenger door wide open—when he stirs awake.

almost instantaneously, your heart picks up its pace.

"bakugou?" you try, voice small.

his eyes dart open when he realizes he doesn't know where he is. he looks panicked as he looks around, until he spots you and visibly stills.

"Y/N."

your stomach flips—again—the second he utters your name. "i'm here."

"where am i?" he asks groggily.

you glance toward the building behind you. "we're at your place."

it takes him a moment to register what you just said, brain probably still foggy from the alcohol.

"can you stand?" you ask after a few seconds of silence.

he shakes his head. "i don't want to go yet."

"but you're drunk," you reason. "you have to sleep it off."

bakugou doesn't say anything in response. he merely studies your face—or is trying his best while drunk—and you find yourself hoping he can't feel the warmth emanating from your face.

but when he does say something, it knocks you off your feet and pulls all the air out of you.

"i want to kiss you right now."

tagging. @katsukis1wife @rinalou @loverboyrin @brunnetteiwik

as always, reblogs and comments are appreciated! ˖⁺‧₊

[cerastes]

Does Chongyue rate on the Just Some Guy spectrum at all, considering how much work he’s put into not being Sui-related?

Chongyue doesn’t exist in the Just Some Guy spectrum in a way we’ve discussed yet, even though he has some overlap, because ultimately his essence conflicts with Some Guyhood on a fundamental level (of what has been discussed in Just Some Guy academia so far at least).

Just Some Guys all have the desire, and sometimes the expertise, to actually come across as Some Guys. Chongyue is a centuries old famed invincible general, title of Grandmaster, whose upcoming retirement is great news among leaders and figures of the highest authority and caliber. Chongyue is basically a celebrity and national hero. Chongyue is Mister Satan from Dragon Ball Z if Mister Satan had those Goku dukes and was actually able to throw hands with the biggest, meanest threats, and also a whole deal more humble, but the point is, man’s beyond notorious. Chongyue is A Guy, not Just Some Guy.

I understand where this sentiment comes from! He’s sealed the Sui consciousness and his true name into his sword, and this isn’t public knowledge, plus, he insists he only knows a little Kung Fu. The thing is, he is technically not wrong about his statement and he truly means it. He’s not trying to obfuscate, and this is a key part of Some Guyhood, he puts it in very laconic but pristine terms to Ling: He considers himself pretty average comparatively, considering the sheer amount of years he’s had to practice and master the martial arts, and confidently says that, were others to have the same set of tools he had, such as natural power and longevity, then anyone could achieve the level he’s at. He’s truly humble and honest about it in a way that is simply outside the scale of most other creatures in Terra to be able to relate to. Of course, this doesn’t mean he’s any less of a one man triple army able to decimate pretty much any quality or quantity of enemies with his martial prowess, but he’s not really underplaying it as much as he’s saying “no yeah but if you had the amount of time I had to grind out these sick spinkicks, you’d also be able to do this”. He’s the Soul Level 846 Chosen Undead that one-shots Kalameet three times over with one R2, and then doesn’t tell you “Oh, no no, it was an accident, haha! Oops!” the way Mr. Nothing would, Chongyue would instead say “Ok you might have found that impressive, but if YOU were Soul Level 846, you could very much do this as well! :)” and he means it! Just because Chongyue can 1cc Super Monkey Ball 2 doesn’t mean he’s particularly exceptional in his eyes, it simply means that it’s the only game he’s ever had for the last 400 years and, if you also played SMB2 for 400 years, you too could land the selfsame sick bounces into goals.

Now, you might be thinking, “wait, that could make him a Jaye of some sort, right?” Not quite! Jaye is truly convinced he’s unexceptional, hell, being exceptional in any way has not even crossed his mind, Jaye lives day to day acutely unaware that he has direct ties to both men you could consider the leaders of Lungmen. Chongyue is well aware that he’s a Sui fragment, and this, he hides, though less with the sundering desperation of someone who REALLY doesn’t want to be found out (like Nothing), and more like someone who’s got responsibilities to uphold, but if it ends up spilling out that he’s a Sui fragment, simply goes “Oh, it seems you know, alright,” and then take the appropriate action depending on what’s the most sensible road to take. Mr. Nothing and Sesa go out of their way to act like buffoons and charlatans for the express purpose of obfuscating their respective masteries, Chongyue has no qualms publicly showing his immense power and physical abilities to onlookers. 

If we had to put Chongyue in the Just Some Guy spectrum, he’d had to be on his own little space as A Guy That Thinks You Too Can Be A Guy. He’s not Just Some Guy, he’s definitely A Guy and makes no secret about it (without revealing ALL that makes him A Guy), but he also believes that you, with enough effort, time, and support, can also become A Guy of his caliber, and that he’s nothing special, he just has 6521 hours in TF2 and that’s why he can rocket surf and land air shots with the Direct Hit with 100% accuracy, not because he’s exceptional necessarily.

[vavoomed-for-crowley]

Valentine's Day

Aziracrow One Shot

"Are you sure?" Aziraphale asks, the doubt clearly hearable in his voice. "Isn't that a bit too much?"

"Absolutely not!" Maggie answers excitedly the same moment Nina answers: "Oh, absolutely!" Aziraphale raises his eyebrows at their lack of unity and frowns. "You want to make tonight special, don't you? So, do it!" Maggie tries to encourage him even more.

"I do! But- He's-" Aziraphale stops mid-sentence and huffs in frustration. His eyes wander to the name of the coffee shop sprayed on the blue wall. "Wait, does someone actually ever order death here?"

"What? No! Why should they?! It's just a name-" Nina exclaims and then sighs. She places a hand on Maggie's shoulder and squeezes it softly. A small gesture to show the appreciation of her sort of help. "Mr. Fell, changing the topic won't help. I know you're worried but today is about love. Just do what feels right. He'll love it anyway."

"Aziraphale" the angel corrects her. "I already told you we're past the formal, dear. Especially after what you've done for him."

"She's right, though" Maggie says and places her hand on Aziraphale's. "I mean, I'm sort of the go big or go home kind of woman, but Crowley loves you and your relationship the way it is. If this feels like too much, do what feels right."

"But I don't know what feels right!" Aziraphale yammers desperate. "After all that I have put him through, I want tonight tonight to be perfect. And he probably doesn't even care about today. Heaven, why should he even? Traditions were never his thing of interest."

"It's not about the day or any traditions. It's about you" Nina says softly but then grabs the coffee she had served Aziraphale and pushes him out the seat. "Now go home and listen to our advices. Mine more than hers. I wouldn't go too big. But nevertheless, I, myself, have a date to attend tonight and need to get ready and so do you, Mister". And as Nina pushes him out of the shop, the last thing the angel hears is Maggie's soft laughter and the excitement about their date tonight.

The angel straightens his clothes as if it is helping him to clear his head. But he's still pondering about the conversation he just had. As he reaches his desk, he places down the small box he has kept in his pocket and looks at them for some longer. What if Crowley would laugh at him and his idea? Maybe he would even get mad at Aziraphale for coming up with the idea at all. Heaven, he is so confused!

In the end, almost automatically, Aziraphale grabs his phone to call his demon and find out what to do.

Crowley just stumbles into his Bentley after placing the heavy box on the seat behind him, when he gets the call. "Angel" Crowley greets him as he picks up.

"Crowley..." Aziraphale says, kind of nervous yet happy to hear him but doesn't continue to talk. "Crowley, are you still there?"

"Just waiting for you to say more than just my name, Angel."

"Right, sorry. I'm-, It's just-" Aziraphale sighs. He can't even control his nervousness during a god damn call. "Sorry."

"Angel" Crowley repeats the nickname once more, his eyebrow now raised as if he could see Aziraphale through the radio. "Are you okay?"

"Oh, no worries, my dear! Just nervous."

"Nervous 'bout what?"

Aziraphale looks at the box in front of him, knowing he needs to find his courage again. "I was just wondering if you're still fine with tonight. We could cancel-"

"My dear angel" Crowley chuckles. "Are you nervous about us?"

"What? No! Well-" Aziraphale blushes. He just wants to make things right, why does that feel so hard today? Has he finally spent too much time on earth, becoming too human? Or is he too afraid to be rejected? Is he afraid to scare him away for good?

Once again, Crowley chuckles. "Angel, whatever it is you're breaking your cute little head about, don't worry. We'll be fine. It's just a stupid human tradition we're giving a try."

Silence. Aziraphale blushes, his cheeks a bright pink now, a smile on his face.

"Angel?"

"Sorry. Thank you" Aziraphale answers still with a smile. For heaven's sake, he is high over heels for his demon and he can't wait for tonight. He should've called him earlier. Crowley always knows how to calm him down.

"Okay" Crowley says. "See you at five then."

He ends the call and looks at the box behind him, screwing his nose at all the cheesy stuff he's gotten. He does not understand what humans like about Valentine's Day but his angel will surely love it. Just then, he remembers they've forgotten an important detail, so he calls Aziraphale.

"Crowley?" the angel asks surprised.

"Where do we meet?"

"At the bookshop, so I thought. Why? You want to meet at your place?" Crowley has never invited Aziraphale to his place before because he always says he wouldn't like it. Something about too cold, to black, too empty, too dark.

"Got any appointments today?" Crowley needed Aziraphale gone for at least an hour to make his plan work.

"What? No. You're being weird, Crowley!"

"Well, seems to be a weird day for the both of us" Crowley mumbles and tightens his grip around the steering wheel as he tries to come up with an idea to get the angel out from the bookshop. "Can you feed the ducks for me?"

"The ducks?" Aziraphale asks.

"At the St. James Park. Frozen Peas would be great."

"Are you feeding the ducks every day?" Aziraphale asks, not even being surprised about the odd question.

"Well, someone has to. They can't eat bread. I'm not going to ask again."

"Fine" Aziraphale answers sighing. "Oh, and Crowley?"

"What?"

"Happy Valentine's Day"

"Yeah, whatever. See you later" the demon says and quickly ends the call. The grip on the steering wheel has tightened again and his cheeks have turned into a deep pink as his head has lowered, trying to hide the blushing. The Bentley starts to play a cheesy love song, exactly knowing how the demon feels. "Absolutely not!" he mumbles, quickly putting in his favorite Queen album as the blushing gets worse. That damn car sometimes...

It would be an understatement to say that Aziraphale is nervous about tonight. Never before has he made sure that the bookshop looked as clean as possible, even though the demon would always make himself feel at home. But he wants today to be perfect and for Crowley to see the effort he has put into their date, without making things too cheesy. And when he leaves the bookshop, he's quite relieved to go feed the ducks and get some fresh air. It will calm his nerves. At least that is what he hopes for.

He knows what he did was wrong. Leaving Crowley, going to heaven. But he had really believed Metatron and that he himself as the Archangel could change things. Well, at least until he found out the truth about The Great Plan and when he came back to Earth, knowing Crowley was the only one to turn to for help, they had no time to talk about Crowley's confession, the kiss and anything else between them until the planet was saved once again. It had taken them months to work on the damage that has been done and finally end up together. If not for Maggie and Nina, they probably still wouldn't be.

Aziraphale has been thinking for a long time about spending Valentine's Day with Crowley. His demon can be sweet, yes. And he loves the Earth, the humans. But human traditions? Not so much. Yet, all the excitement in people's faces, all their plans and their happiness about their dates on Valentine's Day made Aziraphale want to join. And this day is just perfect for what he wanted to do for so long already.

Nervously, Aziraphale checks the time as he hurries back home. He's way too late. Should've been back about half an hour ago already to prepare the date. Now it's almost five. He's spent too much time in the park, wondering what it's about with Crowley and the ducks. Out of all animals, why does he like ducks so much? Talking about them, looking after them, analyzing them. He couldn't get the hang of it and when he gave up wondering, he had realized how late it has gotten.

Aziraphale unlocks the door of the bookshop and enters the living room, first noticing an unfamiliar scent in the air, coming from the kitchen. "Uh, hello?" he calls out.

"Angel!" Crowley exclaims surprised as he stumbles around the corner, panicky scanning the room and then his watch. "You're back early!" Quickly, Crowley covers the angel's eyes with his hands.

"Well, you're here early" Aziraphale answers as calmly as possible, not even worrying about having his eyes covered. "What are you doing?"

"Just..." Crowley mutters and looks around before he decides to place Aziraphale in the middle of the hallway. He's not done yet and it was supposed to be a surprise. "Keep your eyes closed, okay?"

Aziraphale just nods and can't help a small giggle escaping his lips before he feels Crowley leaving his side.

The angel hears noises, can feel movements nearby and still smells some food. It smelled... sweet? And there is wine. A bottle probably already opened so it can be served soon.

"You're not looking, right?" he hears Crowley shout.

"'Course not!" Aziraphale answers, even though he feels the curiosity rising inside him. Suddenly, he remembers what he had placed on the desk earlier that day. "Crowley?" he calls his lover now more nervous, not wanting him to find what he has prepared.

Suddenly, he feels the demon's presence in front of him again. Hands grabbing his own. "Just a second" Crowley says and Aziraphale just knows that Crowley has changed his outfit with magic and he's too excited to see what he now looks like. "Open your eyes, angel."

Aziraphale takes a deep breath and opens his eyes, a smile of excitement on his lips. Before he can even check out Crowley, the demon turns Aziraphale around to turn his gaze at the bookshop.

"What's this?" he asks as he sees what the bookshop now looks like.

A chandelier hangs in the middle of the room, candles are scattered on the tables, and a heart is made of candles and rose petals on the carpet in front of the couch. Calm, classical music plays quietly in the background. On the table next to the couch, is a plate with something heart shaped, probably mini cakes, two glasses of wine next to it.

"It's- Uh..." Crowley mutters, now scratching the back of his head, seeming a lot less self-confident as usual. "I figured since you like human traditions so much, maybe you would like to spend Valentine's Day like them. So... This is your Valentine's date. If you like."

The smile on Aziraphale's face grows, his cheeks turning in a soft shade pink, the warmth of his love for the demon filling his body. This is not just beautiful. Aziraphale loves every little detail about it. Beautifully romantic like in all the novels he has read.

Since he has not answered yet, Crowley continues, his words more of a mumble. "I figured you like cheesy. Maggie said-"

"Crowley, it's perfect!" Aziraphale says and turns to look into the beautiful yellow snake eyes of his lover as he blushes. "I can't believe you did that just for me!"

"You stupid angel" Crowley says softly, placing his arms around his angel's neck to pull him closer. "Of course. Anything to make you happy. Even when it wants to make me throw up."

Aziraphale blushes once again as their faces are only inches away now. He can almost feel Crowley's lips on his but if he surrenders now, he doesn't know if he'll be brave enough for his plan anymore. He quickly grabs Crowley's hand and pulls him to the couch and waits for him to sit down. He hurries to the desk to grab what he has prepared for tonight and sits down next to his lover.

"I don't know if we're doing this right. I mean, if I'm doing it right. You're perfect, I mean, this is perfect. But I fear, I'll be too nervous if I keep waiting" Aziraphale talks way too fast, causing confusion in Crowley's eyes. "My dear, we've been through so much. And you were right, it's always been the two of us. Because you're all I've ever wanted and... Crowley?"

Aziraphale notices a blurred vision in Crowley's eyes and as he moves closer, he can see that it's tears, blurring the vision. "Oh, my dear!"

"I just love you so much, angel" Crowley says and grabs the back of his neck to connect their lips. First softly, then hungrily kissing him until he slowly lets go of Aziraphale again.

"Move in with me" Aziraphale whispers and reveals the small box in his hand. He opens it to show not just a key to the bookshop, but two keychains attached. One, being a small house. The other one being two wings connected but one white, one black.

.

.

.

Okay. I don't know if you like this one. It's my little Valentine's special for you. I'm sorry for any errors. I stayed up way too long to finish this idea in time and I will regret the lack of sleep in a few hours.

But if you like it, please leave some kind of feedback or support.

[fanaticsnail]

Okay the yandere doffy has me thinking many thoughts!

Before I begin i must bring attention to the fact that Mr Mingo is based off of the title character from the tale of Don Quixote. Which is originally a cautionary tale towards chivalric romance storys that were popular at the time it was written (the 1600’s). And in the story Don Quixote is a man disillusioned with these chivalric tales (hes batshit crazy). Don Quixote decides to become a knight amd chooses a courtly lady to be his love. Expect he doesn’t know her name (and shes just a servant) so he calls her Dulcinea, which roughly translates to sweetheart. (Also our beloved Corazon is named after Don Quixote horse, Rosinante)

So like, personally, i cannot see Doffy as being anything other than a yandere. He just exudes crazy possessive energy, and just crazy in general lol. But i wont condemn Reader for being blinded by his kind facade at first, but then slowly realizing (as it becomes too late) that this guy is fuckin nuts.

So keeping these things in mind, i absolutely see Doffy calling the reader Dulcinea, but whether or not he actually remembers her name or not is up for interpretation (with all the code names hes given his subordinates i wouldn’t be surprised if he just doesn’t know/remember their real names).

Now i reveal my trap card, Corazon!

If this takes place before all the crazy sad stuff then i can seriously see Cora feeling kinda responsible for the Reader. Like shes just as innocent as any of the kids hes kept from joing. And maybe she even latches on to him once she realizes that Doffy isn’t that cool of a dude. And we all know intense situations bring about intense emotions, so of course Cora develops some feelings for Reader.

But oh does he feel guilty about it! Reader is already being manipulated and gaslit by Doffy and having a mix of intense emotions and feelings for him! This is no time to be adding another layer of confusion for her with Cora’s budding feelings as well.

I AGREE WITH ALL OF THESE THINGS SO SO MUCH. THIS IS AMAZING.

Okay okay okay, so there's a few ways I could go about this.

You are naive and truly do not know what a despicable human Doflamingo is and slowly and uncertainly begin to grow in love for him. Everyone pities you because of your misguided notions that Doflamingo cares for you, because to the outside: it looks like he's manipulating you. In actuality, he truly does love you, but nobody believes him.

You are fully aware the sway you have over Doflamingo. He loves you, and you use it to your advantage. He gaslight, gatekeep, girlbosses you and keeps you trapped in Dressrosa until he believes you truly love him in return: which you can never truly do because he is such a horrible person.

You know he is obsessed with you, but truly do not realise that he is because he loves you. Even if he confesses, you never truly believe it: especially considering he has killed everybody he had claimed to love (exception of his mother).

AND I'M SORRY, DID YOU SAY CORA'S BUDDING FEELINGS TOO??? 👀👀👀

Because I'm so there, you have no idea.

I am also very much digging the fact you called him Mister Mingo because I'm now rolling about it. I call him "Mingas" in my house, and my toddler calls him "Kormingo" 💀.

[t00thpasteface]

just watched the....... second half(?) of the mash movie earlier—i set it up to record so it's fine that i missed part of it—man, i was not expecting THEEEEEE radar o'reilly to show up in it and i was like oh haha short character with glasses that must be radar haha wait wAIT HANG ON A DAMN MINUTE THATS ACTUALLY RADAR O'REILLY WHAT THE FU—

AND THEN I LEARN THAT FUCKING RENÉ AUBERJONOIS PLAYED FATHER MULCAHY?????? AND ROBERT DUVALL WAS FRANK BURNS??????? AND BUD CORT WAS THERE TOO????????????? WHO WASN'T IN THIS DAMN MOVIE HOLY FUCK

honestly i was half expecting alan alda or patrick stewart or idfk harrison ford to show up and be like "hey" and then never be seen again

sorry for dumping all this in your inbox i just wasn't expecting a crossover event in my black comedy film lol

i can't wait to watch the whole thing

SNGJDFNJG radar being the one consistency is so funny. radar is so IMPISH in the movie!!! it definitely shows up in the show too but he's a fucking RASCAL in the movie. he's the one who put the mic under houlihan's bed AND he "found a donor" during a blood shortage by "volunteering" henry for it. also his line about "oh captain pierce just asked major burns a question about anatomy!" explanation to henry right before the Final Frank Freakout is fucking g-o-l-d.

YEAH RENE AUBERJONOIS... I STILL AM LIKE. LOL???? small world man. when mom told me the actors i recognized that name as Odo Star Trek but i had totally forgotten he's ALSO MR. HOUSE? like. i do not think you could get two more polar opposite characters than father "dago red" mulcahy and mister bobby house. and my god he's just so precious in the movie. like, show mulcahy already just sounds like he's on the verge of tears (love him MWAH) but movie mulcahy already LOOKS like he's crying. and movie hawkeye is so much more of a jackass but mulcahy still knows to count on him when he needs to. i could go on. i think i already have gone on in other posts.

i'm insane. do not even breathe the vaguest whisper of father mulcahy to me if you want a response under 100 words. what the fucking hell were we talking about

[xxsycamore]

SS-Rank Husband Duty

↬  💎  You don't even know how you managed to close the distance, but here you are. On the lap of your pretend husband. Doing something that a pretend wife is not supposed to do…❝ Performing an act reserved for married couples. One that would definitely bring us closer together. ❞

Shelby Snail x f!Reader • rating: E (MDNI) • tags: Fake/Pretend Relationship; Fake Marriage; First Kiss; Resolved Sexual Tension; Kissing; Making Out; Oral Sex; Cunnilingus; Size Kink; Size Difference; Shelby is packing; of course he is; Condoms; Vaginal Sex • wordcount: 3,246 • masterlist

a/n: Happy (belated) Birthday, mister President...of Cupid Corp 💘I wrote this fic one year ago after Shelby stole my heart.His route had EVERYTHING I wanted in a route and more. I can't wait for the fandisk!I miss my husband 😭

Gradually, dinners with your pretend husband, Mr. Snail, start to have an air of familiarity to them. Recently though, all your mind has been filled with is spending even more time with him than you normally do. You already explained to him your desire to strengthen the bond you two have, in order to guarantee the success of the mission - the more you practice acting like a married couple, the more convincing it will look. As his ever-so-trustworthy subordinate, Shelby had no reason not to listen to you. Any ideas you might have, you're encouraged to share with him.

And ideas you have.

Fidgeting nonchalantly with the fork around the remaining contents of your plate, you patiently wait for the moment he excuses himself for the night… watching from your peripheral vision the exact moment he diligently wipes his mouth clean with a napkin, about to stand up.

"Shelby…actually, I…"

Brows arched, Shelby's attention is all on you - and not just because of the sound of his first name falling from your lips. He still hasn't gotten used to hearing you address him so informally, and the proof is sitting on his face unmasked. Out of respect towards what you have to say, he doesn't gaze away to hide the faint blush.

You gulp down and continue, putting a note of laughter in your tone.

"I thought we could benefit from spending some quality time together after dinner."

Shelby produces a low noise of surprise. 'For the sake of our mission', he crafts the correlation quickly on his own, as expected of him.

"Very well then. What should we do?"

You feign thinking about it, the answer long prepared at the tip of your tongue.

"It doesn't have to be anything too engaging. Even a simple evening in front of the TV is okay. I suppose you still have work to attend to, so please don't feel too obligated to pay attention to the TV screen."

Hearing that, Shelby gradually calms down. As expected, you've come up with a plan of double, no, triple benefit - taking care of his business affairs from the comfort of the luxurious living room is a nice change of pace, doing so alongside his pretend partner would surely close any gaps they might have in sitting in each other's company comfortably.

"That's very thoughtful of you. Alright then, I will bring my laptop to the living room."

The noises coming from the TV prove to be the perfect ambiance for a relaxing couple's late evening spent together. Even for the ever-workaholic Shelby occupying the couch, work correspondence flows more smoothly somehow, as if carried on the wings of the summer evening's bliss. His tireless fingers dart across the keyboard to complete email after email, soft clicks of a mouse accompanying them from time to time as if joining the symphony. He feels your presence without feeling the need to shoot a glance above his laptop's screen too often.

Phone resting atop your raised knees as you sit on the armchair nearby, you've engrossed yourself in catching up with colleagues in the group chat - work matters quickly morphing into social matters and occasionally shared rumor there and there - the usual. As absorbed as Shelby is in his work, he hardly notices when you let out a giggle while reading their nonsense. You know you're supposed to take it slow with your plan, but soon even the phone games you attempt to play grow dull for your entertainment, mind occupied with other things. Paying half a mind to the movie you put on, one that you lied you haven't seen before, the knowledge of what is to come starts knocking on the door and you know you should start carrying out your plan.

Leaning up more against the side of the armchair, you're now facing Shelby more than you're facing the TV - and truth to be told, stealing a glance at him every now and then would captivate you more than any movie in the world, you can't be blamed in indulging yourself. His serious expression is only broken by a hint of a  smile every once in a while, probably indicating his self-satisfaction of a job well done. Other than that, he is absolutely stoic, as you're used to seeing him while in work mode.

It's ridiculous, it's pathetic, but you want him.

You've been wanting him for a long time now…

Taking in a slightly deeper breath, you think of recent events. You and Shelby bumping hands on accident, you and Shelby getting on the same wavelength as you speak the same words at the same exact time and exchange an amused glance; him running into you just before you drop your towel in the shower; the thump of the door shutting back in a hurry with a string of apologizes; the electricity sparkling invisibly between him and you when you bumped hands; the sight of what you swear could only be a hard-on the one time you needed some help with putting on your dress-

He always looks at you with the same eyes he looks at his work matters, with professionalism. And something else.

And you want to bring that something to light.

Granted, as absorbed as he is, he fails to notice the extension of your leg, then the other, accompanied by a half-faked yawn and arms raising as much as you can get them to, while still in the armchair. You easily prop up your legs to rest on the couch, in close proximity to your pretend husband.

Right on time, the movie's otherwise monotonous plot takes a sudden turn - the couple on screen, spies with different goals finding themselves working together on a dangerous mission, succumbing to their lust for each other in the heat of the moment. It's wild, it's ridiculous, it's all they can think about right now.

The sounds of their heated affair get to Shelby's ears, cracking the stratosphere of his professional world. He is startled by this unforeseen, awkward moment as soon as he realizes what it is about - and hiding his momentary stupor with a cough, he palms around his side in search of the remote.

The room is not too dim, you already allowed him the negligence of working after dinner instead of taking a proper rest, you're not allowing him to ruin his eyesight in the meantime, too. Still, he somehow misses your feet on the couch and his hand grazes directly on their underside, making you stir on the spot.

"That tickles, Shelby…!" You laugh, once at the sensation and then again at the haphazard way he changes the channel as soon as he gets his hands on the damned remote, apologizing for tickling you. His cheeks are red, too. Maybe he saw more than what he anticipated from the erotic scene while dealing with the distraction…

After some shuffling through the channels, he decides to turn the TV off for good.

"I think we should turn in for the night. We can do this again sometime, I genuinely felt relaxed tonight. And I can tell our bond…ahem…benefited from it."

Reasonable in his responses as ever, you think while nodding, letting him know you agree, but your tone lacks confidence.

"Actually…there is one more method of strengthening our bond that I thought about. I wanted to discuss it with you."

Shelby sets his laptop on the table, closing it, and prompting you to go on. To be fair, having you around for the duration of another short conversation is welcomed - was it not for the erotic scene urging him to turn off the TV and put an end to your time together, he'd anticipated some more of that. Sleep is the last thing on his mind after such refreshment as this change of pace.

You curl your toes, your hands' fingernails biting at the soft cushioning of the armchair in sudden reluctance. That's when your gaze falls on your otherwise innocent "husband" 's crouch, now tented with an obvious erection.

Oh…

He must be awfully distracted tonight as to forget that his laptop is no longer blocking the sight. Your heart leaps, confidence builds, mouth going dry nonetheless-

"It might be a stupid idea."

Shelby's beautiful, clear eyes sharpen in question, only to soften anew with a playful smile playing on his lips.

"You and stupid ideas? I doubt it. You know I trust your brilliant mind."

He is being generous with the compliments today, you almost bite on your lip, feet swinging slowly from side to side, close to his knee. Testing the waters, you nudge his knee a little. Then snake your way over his knee, until it rests dangerously close to the place between his legs.

Shelby shudders, but does nothing. He likely already realized just how much the arousal had gone to his head, too. His mind is a whirlwind of the worst of embarrassments, the memory of how much the scene from before matched a particular fantasy he had with you, and the anticipation which his rational mind bolds - he is dense but he is not dumb. You're…probably making a hint at him.

No, that can't be right.

He needs to focus and hear the rest of what you want to say, judge the best exit from the situation from there on, close himself in his bedroom and curse himself for these uncontrollable feelings.

There is no hiding it now. He looks at you, waiting for an answer, anything.

"Well, then, my idea is…"

Gripping the arms of the chair, you prop yourself up before the urge to press your foot directly on his bulging pants can defeat your sanity, and standing up you realize that you're hearing your own heartbeat in your ears. Finally being up and getting closer to Shelby, if not directly throwing yourself into his arms, is giving you maddening thrill. You don't even know how you managed to close the distance, but here you are.

On the lap of your pretend husband. Doing something that a pretend wife is not supposed to do…

"Performing an act reserved for married couples. One that would definitely bring us closer together."

Shelby produces another one of those groaning noises deep in his throat that you so adore hearing. He marvels at how good it feels to have you in his lap. Desires kept under a key emerge to the surface, images he banished from his imagination for good. Your lips on his lips, your waist in his hands, your body pressed close against his…

"Do you think you can carry out this particular, erm, husband duty, Mr. Snail?"

Going back to honorifics out of a sudden is making him stir again. He can only hope you didn't feel the way his cock jumped at the sound of it, underneath your butt. One, because it's embarrassing to be so turned on at the sound of your voice, and two, because he doesn't want you to take that as a positive reaction to this rude erasure of progress between you and him.

"With an SS rank, like everything else."

You don't believe his words at first. Such a sharp turn in demeanor is reasonably making you gasp in surprise.

His stern expression accompanies the trademark serious intonation. You don't have too much time to dwell on it, because the hands on your waist work to lower you to a lying position on the couch.

Behind the eyelids of your fluttered-close-for-a-second-eyes is cast a dark shadow of his towering figure. Before this moment, you had no idea how lonely your lips were without Shelby's warmth on them.

The kiss you share is a synopsis of everything you felt for each other up to that point, dwindled to the duration of half a minute. The pretended reservation, the push and pull, and lastly, the explosion of emotions.

His experience in such acts is limited, but not to the extent he would feel insecure about it. Granted, things change when it's you in front of him - you with your unfamiliar air of young love that he didn't know he was capable of inhaling. He feels like a horny teenager, heat rising to his face among other parts of his body.

His intuition tells him he should be ashamed of showing his lust like so, resembling a man starving, as he takes from your mouth what he longed to be his for such a long time now.

The way his tongue swirls around yours is exciting, wild, and making your head spin - is that the same company president that you've known for so long? Lust dresses his manners into an honest display of lust. Looking at him, his cheeks are flushed when he finally withdraws - but so are yours. You're equally out of breath, but more than that, you find yourself the stunned one, feeling as if you might explode if he touches you further.

And touch further he does.

Unassisted even when you wished to help, Shelby peels article after article of clothing off you - yet the heat clinging to your skin doesn't reduce, quite the contrary. In a daze, you figure it might be the same for him. Shaking fingers undo the buttons of his shirt, one, two, three, four, a big hand interrupting and almost tearing the expensive silky fabric in the process until he is all yours to touch, hills and valleys of muscle and all.

The feeling of his abs under your fingers is so nice, nicer than that one time you caught yourself daydreaming of it when watching him take lap after lap of his devoted swimming routine. Hands moving up, his shoulders are sturdy and giving you a sense of security - more so than the one time you fell off a chair in an attempt to reach a high kitchen shelf, and landed in his arms, gripping his shoulders.

The sheer amount of suppressed wanton you have for his man is coming to render you utterly, fully capitulated to his charm. And you don't mind.

Shelby appears to be not any better, sucking on a breath each time his trained lungs fail him in not letting out strained breaths. He wants to kiss you without pausing for a minute, to share his oxygen with you until it's enough for both and he can let go and believe this is not just another erotic daydream he is having about you.

He knows he hardly would get enough from now on. But that's fine. He has a duty to fulfill.

Resuming his position of towering above you, he is aware that he is smiling - because you are smiling back. You wrap your hands around his neck in an attempt to bring him back down for a kiss, and he uses the change to lift you up. Your legs wrap around his torso instinctively as he supports your weight, standing up from the couch and going in what you know is the direction of the bedroom.

The cool bedsheets on your naked back are heavenly, and the feeling grows tenfold when Shelby makes you squirm on them. Your back arches as his wet kisses drop lower, all of your skin caressed thoroughly as if he makes sure not to miss a spot - your nape, collarbones, the place in-between, the valley of your breasts and lower, on your tummy, the gentle hill of your sex…and yet lower. A kiss blooms directly at your clit, igniting the first sparks of definite, pure pleasure that is promised to you for the duration of the night. Shelby look at you for reaction. He is satisfied with what he sees, and smirks against your sex. He is very serious in his intentions to bring you to the throes of pleasure, not suspecting just how easy it is for you to come undone at the mere sight of him going down on you.

Your over-sensitive sex is a victim to his sweet ministrations as Shelby eats you out like a professional; the lewd sounds of his mouth greedily drinking your arouse is driving you crazy and the pleasure spirals until it reaches its peak. You scream and fist the sheets, your body soaring. When you come down from your high, Shelby is seemingly far away, making you whimper - in reality, he is only just busy putting on a condom.

"Always prepared, aren't you?"

Shelby shoots you another smirk, the redness dissipated from his face but only somewhat. True, he does take pride in being prepared for all kind of situations, but keeping those condoms around is like admitting to his secret hopes of this very scenario becoming reality.

He doesn't need to know you carry some in yourself for the exact same reason.

Teasing him should be left for a time where you can at least catch your breath, you decide, as you reach and grasp his hard cock. And your built-up confidence shatters at the realization just how big he is.

"Shelby I don't think-"

He shushes you. Groaning at the softness of your hands, he lets you grasp and stroke experimentally all you want, despite his urge to finally be inside you. His kisses are reassuring and his gaze is having that trustworthy light in it, and you maintain eye contact as you prepare yourself for the sensation of him pushing inside.

He rubs his blunt head into your inner lips, collecting the copious amount of lubrication you produced, dripping with fresh need even after that mind-blowing orgasm he gave you. You get used to the teasing touch eventually, shoulders relaxing as Shelby looks down at you, whispering.

"Why are you having doubts in us all of a sudden? I thought you already knew that we…"

He slowly, slowly makes his way inside.

"Are compatible in all aspects."

It feels like he is pushing in forever until he finally hilts all the way in, and you cannot bear the thought that you hold the whole of him inside you. Muscles contracting a little too tight, he whispers to you to relax.

"Shelby…" You moan out to him, helpless, needing to be held tight in the bottomless pit of desire that reveals itself in the wake of his following thrusts.

Your insides are on fire and it feels so good. He holds you in his strong arms, chasing after the same thing that you chase after, calling your name just as you call his. The desire to consume all of each other leads you two to another push and pull, with bedsprings creaking under the change of positions and with countless kisses shared inbetween.

In one perfect, blissful moment, you two truly become one, the waves of climax coming to wash over the both of you at the same time.

In the next moment, over the sound of your own heavy breathing, you hear his satisfied groans and feel as if you can pounce on him right away, if it isn't for the energy you need to replenish over the course of a very welcomed cuddling.

Shelby uses the chance to ask you a question in his raspy, sex-marred voice, and you shiver.

"Is my wife satisfied with how I'm carrying out my husband duties?"

Face buried in his chest, you mewl and start thinking of ways to let him know just how much you're enjoying it. You're not putting his trust in you when it comes to ideas to shame.

Taglist: @arsnovacadenza @ale-teodora @kimi00twin @otomelady @privilegedpancake @g-kleran    @pumpumnnnp @thesirenwashere @ravenarld @kimmy-banana @devonares @galaxyprison @sadshaxk @starshards26 @thewitchofbooks @acethephoenix256 @ikevamp-shrine-2 @nad-zeta @crystal13unny @keen19thcenturygoatsstudent @lordsister @ikemen-banshou   @themysticalbeing @otome-scribbles @rhodolitesrose @coornn @kpop-and-otome @queen-dahlia @kisara-16 @chaosangel767 @ikemenlibrary @queengiuliettafirstlady @aurora-morning @aquagirl1978 ​ @ikemenlover24 @mcofthemansion @joy-the-reader @katriniac @ikemen-writer @tele86 @lovely-bubb1es @aria-chikage @babyblue0t7 @rhodoliteschaos @shrimpy-kitsune Let me know if you want to be tagged/untagged!

[miss-choi-park]

Sin never tasted so...

Chapter 8 - Am I crazy

A TXT Yeonjun Fanfiction from Mrs. Choi-Park

CEO/non-idol/dom/bully!Yeonjun! / Confident/sub/named/fem!Reader!

Previous Chapter:

[...] His arm around me relaxed slightly as his knees rose and tangled slightly with mine.

I couldn't get the smile off my face even if I tried. It was actually nice to lie with him like that. I felt...safe? Was that the best word to describe my emotional state?

Suddenly Yeonjun's fingers traced gentle patterns across my stomach and that's when I knew it.

It was the right word.

Safe...

Warnings under the cut

Warnings: phone sex, mention of alcohol, sex and jerking off

Please remember that I fully respect the privacy of all K-Pop Idols and that this is just a fantasy. It's not my intention to harm anyone! (I've been a MOA since March 2023)

Still deep in a dream that was surprisingly carefree, but which I forgot as soon as I opened my eyes, I felt warm touches on the back of my neck. I blinked groggily at the half-dark room I was in.

I felt a large hand on my hip and tips of hair tickling the back of my neck. A warm, large spring in my back and... something hard that wedged itself between my buttocks.

My eyebrows furrowed as I soon heard small moaning noises behind me.

I knew immediately who had woken me up. Plus, I knew who wanted to break down his boner right now.

"Yeonjun? What exactly are you doing there?" I asked into the silence of the room.

"Hm...Good morning." Just came back. Shortly afterwards there were more kisses covering the back of my neck.

His big warm hand found its way under my shirt and began to caress my stomach.

"I am hard." Yeonjun murmured sleepily and started moving his pelvis lazily.

"I noticed that." I muttered back. In fact, I started to smile when Yeonjun just grumbled back.

I felt him move behind me, and shortly afterwards his lips on my cheek. His upper body curled me under him.

"Will you help me?" he asked when we first made eye contact.

"Oh no mister!" I grumbled, twisting away from him. The look on Yeonjun's face as we lay face to face was funny. He seemed clearly disappointed that my ass was no longer available.

His puffy lips were a pout and his eyes glassy.

"Don't you think we had enough sex yesterday?" I asked and Yeonjun fell back into the pillow.

"Hmmmmm!" He grumbled as he rubbed his face sleepily. I did the same. The sleep sand in my eyes felt burdensome and it was nice to have it out of my eyes.

When I looked back at Yeonjun next to me, a smile played on his lips.

"What is?" I asked quietly. I also had a smile on my face.

It wasn't long before I felt his hand on my hip again.

"Good morning, little one." He greeted me again. My smile grew wider. The pet name was actually kinda cute.

"Morning." I replied and closed my eyes.

"Did you sleep well?" Yeonjun asked softly and I finally felt his forehead against mine.

"Mh~" I grumbled and then took a deep breath. The warmth around me was just too cozy to stand up. My hands slowly moved to Yeonjun's chest as I moved closer to his inviting warmth. I actually enjoyed it...the closure...his touch and his calm breathing, which was so relaxed that I could think he was still sleeping.

"Can I ask something?" Yeonjun whispered and I just nodded. His soft, deep morning voice was soothing.

"A friend of mine is hosting a party on Friday evening and I don't have anyone to accompany me. Do you want to come?" I looked up at him. My eyes were probably so wide that Yeonjun had to laugh.

''I know you avoid parties I go to, it's just a question. If you don't want to, that's-''

''No no! I'm just surprised that you want...that...that we go together.''

Yeonjun studied my face for a moment before he started to smile.

''I don't mind parties you go to...sooooo...'' he finished his sentence with a shrug.

I had to look away.

I never thought that a little bit of sex would turn Yeonjun into such a softy.

''Ah...'', I said and looked back at him, ''I'll think about it.''

You have to let guys fidget a bit sometimes. Where would be the fun if I said yes straight away? Of course I would say yes sooner or later. The invitation was very tempting.

''Okay.'' Yeonjun said, neither happy nor sad and then turned around. He crawled to his side of the bed and grabbed his phone.

''Do you know your phone number?'' he asked and I was shocked once again.

What the hell was wrong with him?

First he invites me to a party and then he asks me for my phone number?!

''What for?'' I asked. I could hear the surprise in my voice even as I tried to control myself.

Yeonjun looked over at me: ''Well how else are you going to tell me if you want to come?''

We looked at each other in silence for a moment while I asked myself the question:

Is this really the same Yeonjun I've known for years?

''Unless you're planning on coming over again this week.'' he said with a grin on his lips. There he was again.

Little cheeky idiot!

I rolled my eyes: ''+82 663 7473''

''Okay.'' he said and tapped around on his cell phone.

After he seemed to be done, I saw him click call and hang up after the first signal: ''So now you have mine too.''

Shortly afterwards he put his phone down and turned to me.

''What time was it?'' I asked and Yeonjun's smile disappeared.

''That's right, you have to go back to university. It was...'', he picked up his cell phone again and took a look at the display, ''6:54 a.m.''

''Oh then we have to get up slowly.'' I said and sat up. Did I even set an alarm yesterday?! What if I had overslept?!

''Wait...'', Yeonjun protested and grabbed my arm, ''Who's going to help me now?''

His eyes wandered down briefly.

''God, Yeonjun! Help yourself." I grumbled back, rolling my eyes with a smile on my lips, and ripped my arm from his grasp. Shortly afterwards I threw my legs out of bed and heard a long groan from Yeonjun.

''I thought you liked it yesterday.'' he grumbled as I stood up.

''Yes...but I also said that I won't become your sex toy.'' I pointed out as I turned to him briefly and adjusted the blanket. Yeonjun looked at me like I was crazy.

''This doesn't make you my sex toy.''

''And how do you describe someone who agrees to a deal that commits them to constantly having sex with the dealer?''

Then silence.

''I thought so.'' I said playfully and walked straight towards the exit of the bedroom.

''Isn't someone who is a sex toy treated really badly?'' he asked as I put my hand on the doorknob.

Hmm...he was right. He hadn't treated me bad. Yesterday was actually pretty nice...

Nevertheless, after a moment of thinking, I opened the door.

''I still won't be available for sex 24/7.'' I called into the bedroom as I stepped out.

The living room/dining room was brightly lit. The sun had made its way through the heavy, gray winter clouds and found its way into Yeonjun's large but cozy apartment.

I turned into the bathroom when I noticed murmuring coming from the bedroom.

There was also enough light shining through the narrow but long window above the bathroom that I didn't have to turn the light on.

After last night...I no longer felt the need to close the bathroom door behind me as I walked to the sink and planned that I should wake my tired face with cold water.

''I'm not asking for it 24/7.'' I heard Yeonjun as the cold water flowed into my hands. I looked over at him briefly. He was standing in the entrance of the bathroom, fumbling with the end of his white T-shirt. I didn't answer and splashed the water on my face.

''Well...if you think it's better that I jerk off like a pervert with you in mind...please.'' he grumbled as I turned off the water and then looked at him through the mirror. I was a little surprised to see him without a shirt.

''Where'd your T-shirt go?'' I asked as he headed towards the small staircase next to the bathroom entrance. He turned briefly to me.

''Well...this...'', he pointed up and down his naked torso, ''...you can't get it anymore.''

I couldn't help but laugh. It was honestly really cute how pissed he was.

Yeonjun climbed the small stairs to his dressing room and disappeared as I grabbed a towel, to dry my face.

''But you can believe me on one thing! The thoughts will be really messed up!'' I heard him shout. I giggled and shook my head at the same time as I grabbed the brush that was lying in the same place I left it yesterday. I brushed my hair slowly, which stood out a bit too messily from all sides.

''So dirty you wouldn't want me to have them." Yeonjun grumbled as he came back down the stairs. A plain gray-green sweater and light gray jeans with black stitching. He was still fiddling with the black button on his jeans. My eyes automatically went to his hands and just below them.

''It doesn't look like you're having these dirty thoughts right now.'' I said with a laugh in my voice. Yeonjun followed my gaze down at himself in the mirror.

''No! Not right now!'' he said, annoyed like a little child, as he came over to me and grabbed the brush that I had just put down. I had to hold back my laughter.

''Then why did you need my help?'' I asked, resting one hand on the sink counter. Yeonjun looked at me in the mirror while my gaze was directly on him.

''Morning boners usually go away on their own.'' he said, a little less pissed off as he also combed his hair.

''But that doesn't change anything, that I wouldn't have been happy to accept your help," he grumbled again. I acknowledged that with a giggle. Shortly afterwards I put a hand on his shoulder and squeezed briefly.

''Could you go for a moment? I need the bathroom to myself for a moment." Even though we had crossed a huge boundary yesterday, I still didn't need his eyes on me, when I went to the toilet.

Even though Yeonjun mumbled something incomprehensible to himself, he left the bathroom.

*

''You'll write me when you've decided, okay?'' Yeonjun asked while I checked again whether I had everything important. I looked at him on the driver's side.

''Yes. That's why we exchanged numbers, right?" I asked the counter question.

The digital clock in Yeonjun's car read 8:28 a.m.. Just in time to put on my makeup in the dorm and gather my things for lectures. Yeonjun gave me something to eat at his home. A little bit of kimchi with rice and a sausage wasn't much, but would keep me alive until midday.

''I don't want to show up here again and kidnap you.'' Yeonjun said with a laugh in his voice, but that sounded a bit uncertain.

His tone made me smile.

''Hey...don't worry.'', I said, holding up my phone as I unbuckled myself, ''At least I already saved you.''

Yeonjun grimaced and looked out the drivers window: ''Yes...as idiot.''

I had to giggle: ''With a heart behind it.''

My hand flew to the passenger door and I opened it. Yeonjun mumbled something, but still stared out the driver's window. My smile grew wider.

I liked the new Yeonjun, so why not be nice?

I leaned over to him with my upper body, put my hand on the back of his neck and pulled him towards me, so that my lips pressed against his cheek.

''I'll write you, I promise.'' I whispered in his ear and then leaned back. Yeonjun's eyes were on me and after two seconds he started to smile. With this sight, I got out of the car.

Before I slammed the door, I heard Yeonjun shout something: ''I advise you to, potato!''

With a smile on my lips and a shake of my head, I slammed the door and walked around the car. I had to pull myself together to not turn around to look at his car again.

I never thought I would start the morning with such a good feeling.

*

After having to avoid the scrutiny of my friend Yuna this morning and having completed four lectures, wasn't allowed to let it be known in a phone call from my mother that I had sex with the son of my parents' mortal enemies, I was now lying on my bed completely exhausted. It was already starting to get dark outside. This morning's sunshine had turned into snow. It was now the end of February and I was starting to get fed up with snow and bad weather. Yuna had been with her boyfriend for an hour now. I used the time to turn over my textbooks.

Now I laid on the bed for five minutes straight, silent and doing nothing more than staring out the window above Yunas bed.

The snowflakes were getting a little thicker with every second and the wind seemed to be picking up. The girls in the room next to mine and Yuna's laughed every now and then, which I could hear well through the rather thin walls of the dorm. Suddenly my cell phone's ringtone broke the silence.

I raised my head. I left the cell phone on our desk. Should I get up? It was probably just another picture of Yuna having a nice time with her boyfriend.

As I put my head back on the pillow, my cell phone made itself known again. I rolled my eyes and groaned. But I stopped halfway through when a thought occurred to me.

It could also be Yeonjun? After all, we exchanged numbers.

My phone told me again that a message had been received. I raised my head again.

I caught my bottom lip between my teeth as I sat up. Without thinking about it, I swung my legs out of bed. The thought that Yeonjun who could have written me literally made me float over the laminate floor.

When I turned on my phone my heart skipped a beat. Sure enough, it said 'Idiot 🩷'... just like I saved Yeonjun.

Before I clicked on the message, however, I took a breath.

Why was my heart beating faster?

It was still Yeonjun I was talking about. No need to get nervous.

I cleared my throat and then clicked on the message.

The KakaoTalk chat was empty except for the three messages from him.

Yeonjun: How was your day?

I raised an eyebrow as I read that.

Yeonjun: You wanted to write me...

Yeonjun: Sorry, I'm really bad at this sort of thing.😿

I stared at the messages as I went back to my bed and sat down.

What did he mean by 'this sort of thing'?

I thought about what I should write back to him. But just as I clicked on the message line and my keyboard opened, a message came from him again.

Yeonjun: Have you decided yet?

The smile on my lips grew as I typed my answer.

Me: Impatient?

I stopped writing, but took the fingernail of my thumb between my teeth and nibbled on it. He read the message immediately and shortly afterwards he typed something. It didn't take ten seconds before something came back.

Yeonjun: Yes 😬

I giggled quietly as I took the nail of my thumb out of my mouth and wrote my next message.

Me: I don't know yet. My schedule on Friday is pretty full.

I enjoyed teasing him. His next message came immediately.

Yeonjun: Haha!

Me: No really.

I nibbled on my bottom lip like a little schoolgirl with a huge crush. It took effort to get the grin off my face.

Yeonjun: What are you planning to do?

Me: I always get invited to so many parties, I never know where to go.😓

Yeonjun: How can I persuade you, you busy businesswoman?

I had to laugh out loud. Immediately afterwards I slapped my hand over my mouth.

What was wrong with me?! Did I really enjoy teasing Yeonjun that much, or did I just find it cute to text with him?

Me: Come up with something.

With that, I closed my phone.

Stop it! What had gotten into me?!

Even though I felt my phone vibrating in my hand, I put it down and stood up. A warm shower now seemed more sensible than being happy about something that had nothing to be happy about.

Right?

*

After the shower I tapped out of the bathroom with only a towel tied around me. In fact, something seemed to be haunting my thoughts... something that lay on top of me like a whole mountain. It suppressed me. But there was also something else inside me that made my fingertips tingle. And deep down I knew what was haunting me.

Even though I didn't mentally admit it, I went to my bed and immediately grabbed my phone. I quickly turned it on. KakaoTalk showed me 6 messages. Two of them came from Yuna, but I skillfully ignored them.

I clicked on Yeonjun's chat. As if I wasn't fully aware of myself, my fingertips flew over the keyboard. When I had typed my message, I realized that Yeonjun had written 4 more messages that I should probably read first.

Something was wrong with me...my heart was beating faster, I could literally feel it beating against my chest.

Yeonjun: What does that mean?

Yeonjun: If you don't tell me what you want, it's hard for me to give you what you want.

Yeonjun: Oh come on, not fair!😿

Yeonjun: Fine, I'll think of something...

I caught my bottom lip between my teeth. My thoughts constantly flash back to yesterday. One thing was certain: I didn't regret it at all yesterday.

I collapsed onto my bed as I finally clicked send.

Me: I'll come with you.

That's all I wrote...but it left me so tingly inside that it almost took my breath away. I stared at my screen, hoping Yeonjun would read the message, but I waited in vain.

I stared at my display for one, three, five minutes without even seeing any read sign.

So I put the phone away and rested my elbows on my thighs. I put my chin in my hands and found a spot in the room where I could stare at.

I found the spot on the desk on my left.

Why was I so tingly? Why did I just say yes like that? I wanted to make him fidget...right? AND WHY THE HELL WAS YEONJUN FLOODING MY EVERY THOUGHT?!

I exhaled in annoyance as my index finger began tapping a restless rhythm on my cheek.

"I've gone crazy...", I muttered to myself, "You are supposed to hate him!"

Unfortunately, immediately after hearing this murmur, a pang went through my heart.

Ah fuck!

I turned my face into my hands.

"Come on! Pull yourself together! You can't fall in love with that idiot in such a short time!" I admonished myself.

But did that talk change anything? I was afraid of the answer.

When my phone made a sound again, I controlled myself not to pounce on my phone like a hungry vulture. Unfortunately, I had it in my hand quicker than I thought.

Actually the message was from Yeonjun.

Yeonjun: Oh really? Now that was easy.

I didn't even notice how I was rubbing my thighs together, which had nothing to cover under the towel.

Yeonjun: What did you do in the 20 minutes that convinced you?

I felt heat rising to my cheeks.

Shit! What was wrong with me?!

I wanted to kick myself for what I was thinking about. The hickey I still saw on myself in the mirror a few minutes ago, made me strangely restless, too.

Yeonjun: Hmm?

Should I write to him about what I had been thinking about...and was still thinking about?

No! No Sumi! You'll get yourself together now!

I jumped so hard that my phone almost flew out of my hand when it rang loudly.

It was my call ringtone...and the name on the screen gave me another shock.

Idiot 🩷

Why is he calling me now?! I stared at the button that would let me accept, somewhat unsure. Faster than expected, my thumb hovered over the symbol and finally pressed it. However, my cell phone was still in my hand even after I answered the call.

"Sumi?" I heard Yeonjun's voice through the small speaker of my cell phone, which I should actually be pressing to my ear.

"I know you are there." I heard him again as my heart threatened to explode and my stomach twisted.

I slowly brought my phone to my ear and swallowed thickly. This would be my first call with him.

"Yes...yes...I'm here." I stuttered into my phone. I heard a quiet laugh coming from my cell phone.

"Could you maybe reply to my messages and not just read them?" Yeonjun asked. His voice put me in a strange state of... hypnosis? I don't know how to describe it better. His deep voice made me jittery.

"Yes...guilty."

"To be honest, I had already thought of something really great, how to persuade you, where did the insight come from so suddenly?"

I swallowed as I had to close my eyes and give in to the goosebumps on my skin. My thighs rubbed together impatiently as my brain became a jumble of thoughts. Everything in my head was about yesterday. About...the sex with Yeonjun.

"Potato? Still there?" I heard him ask as I literally felt my core screaming for attention. And the feeling was back...I felt really bad...my conscience felt really bad, but something else felt really good...for my heart, my skin, my adrenaline, my mind and every cell in my goddamn body.

"Yeonjun?" I asked into the receiver with a shaky voice.

"Is everything ok?" He asked back and I felt myself starting to shake. Without thinking about it for long, I fell backwards.

"I... would like to have you with me right now." I muttered. Then silence on the other end of the line.

"Ah...okay, I can imagine what made you say yes." He said and I could swear his voice alone would make me melt.

Good God, I was horny...that fast? Wasn't yesterday enough for you Sumi?! Freakin' horndog!

"You would like me to be with you right now?" Yeonjun asked. My still closed eyes conjured Yeonjun almost real into my mind.

"Hm-mh...yes." I answered.

"I never thought I'd hear something like that from you." Yeonjun said with a laugh in his voice, which only made me more uneasy.

"Tell me, little one.", he began again and I had to hold my breath at the petname, "What else do you want?"

I let out my breath, a little louder than I intended.

"I think about yesterday all the time." I said honestly.

"What time exactly?"

"To...the...to the sex."

I had to bite my bottom lip as I opened my eyes. Did I really just say that out loud?

"Seems like you really liked it, huh?"

Something brought me back to the here and now. I sat up abruptly.

I definitely wouldn't have phone sex with Yeonjun right now!

"What are you wearing?" Yeonjun asked and I flinched.

"Yeon-Yeonjun! I definitely won't have phone sex with you now!"

"What?", then there was silence until after what felt like a minute he spoke again, "You started it!"

A smile crossed my lips.

"Ok...yes I did but this conversation ends now!" I said.

"You're kidding me..."

"Yeonjun I-"

Suddenly I noticed someone standing next to me. I jumped so hard that I even raised onto my feet.

My heart only began to beat properly again when I recognized my friend's face.

"Sumi?" I heard Yeonjun ask, the phone still pressed to my ear as Yuna looked at me with her jaw dropped. We looked at each other for a while. Nobody said anything.

"Sumi? Is everything okay?" I heard Yeonjun ask again when only one thing came to mind.

Yuna knew it! She knew who I was on the phone with and by the look on her face, she had probably heard me say 'phone sex' too.

"SUMI!?" Yeonjun shouted through the receiver and I came to my senses.

"Yeah, everything's okay...let's...let's talk later." I just said and lowered the phone from my ear. I heard Yeonjun say something else, but not exactly what. Nevertheless, I hung up.

Then my eyes went to Yuna.

We looked at each other in silence as I clutched my phone and tried to think of the best thing to say.

"Please tell me that this wasn't the Yeonjun I think it was." My best friend broke the silence.

Shit! What should I say now?!

"Sumi?" Yuna asked and looked at me as if I had just told her the earth was flat.

"Yuna...I can explain everything..." I began.

Oh yes?! Can you do that Sumi?! Can you do that?!

I slowly raised my hands up, as if I had been asked to do so by the police. Yuna knew who Yeonjun was. She knew that he had made my life difficult. She knew that my parents and Yeonjun's parents were mortal enemies. She knew that Yeonjun was an idiot and she knew that I...actually...hated him.

"Oh yeah?" Yuna asked, raising both eyebrows. My friends eyes were so big and round and everything in her face spoke of helplessness.

"I..." How should I put this in a harmless way?

The ringtone of my cell phone interrupted us. A quick look at the screen proved me that it was Yeonjun again, who also seemed to be a bit confused by my sudden hang up. I quickly pressed the ignore-symbol. First I would have to clarify this with Yuna.

"Yuna...I...that...that was." I started, but when I looked at my best friend's face, I didn't have the heart to lie to her, "Yes...that was Yeonjun. ..THE Choi Yeonjun."

She didn't deserve to be lied to.

Yuna took two steps towards me and put her hand over her mouth.

"Why?" She just asked and to be honest...I couldn't really give her an answer to that.

"I...do you remember that One Night Stand I told you about?" I asked and started scratching the back of my neck.

"No!" Yuna began and dropped her hand again.

I hardly dared to look at her.

"Yes...sort of." I replied and Yuna folded her hands in front of the core as she stared at the floor.

"And...", I started again and she looked up again, "It didn't stay with that one time."

"No!" Yuna just blurted out again and I showed her my teeth. Not in a smile, but in an anxious grimace.

"Yes...yesterday."

"You told me you were with your parents!"

"I'm sorry...I didn't know where this would lead to with him yesterday and didn't feel the need to tell y-"

"He's not forcing you to do it, is he?!" Yuna asked, closing up completely to me.

She clutched my still bare shoulders with her hands.

"What?! No...no it's consensual."

Yuna lowered her hands again.

"But why? I thought you hated him?"

I dropped my head: "Yuna, I can't tell you why... there's just too much that came up lately that I can't quite process it myself."

Then there was a brief silence in which I raised my head to look at her again.

"Do your parents know?"

I winced at the question: "For God's sake, no! They would be so disappointed in me."

"Do you like him now?!"

Then silence again.

Did I like Yeonjun?

The new Yeonjun... somehow yes, the old Yeonjun... after what he revealed to me in his car yesterday... yes... somehow.

I nodded while I still thought. Yuna ran her hands through her hair nervously.

"Wow...that's tough news..." She said as I began to realize what I had just admitted.

I...I liked Yeonjun. And to be honest...very much.

*

I was lying in my bed, looking at my best friend. After we had spoken, fortunately she realized that it was just the way it was. And I was really happy that she didn't act like I was completely crazy. She forced me to go on a double date, if I finally would know what I should call the relationship with Yeonjun.

Yuna had already fallen asleep half an hour ago, but I couldn't seem to find any rest.

I just admitted it earlier...I liked Yeonjun...yes...yes a lot.

But how the hell can I fall so hard for someone after such a damn short amount of time?! We didn't even go on dates...

I exhaled in defeat as I rolled onto my back.

Damn! That's not how it should work. I didn't even know if it was mutual...maybe Yeonjun really just wanted me as a sex toy.

My phone vibrated on my nightstand. I had already turned off the ringtone earlier so as not to wake any of us up.

That's right...I told Yeonjun on the phone earlier that we would talk later. We haven't had that talk yet.

So I grabbed my phone, pulled out the charging cable and turned it on. The message that made my phone vibrate wasn't from Yeonjun, but from my farm game. Nevertheless, my eyes widened all on their own when I saw the 9 missed messages and two calls.

''Oh crap!'' I whispered to myself as I clicked on the messages.

Yeonjun: What's going on?

A missed call.

Yeonjun: Did you just push me away?!🤨

Yeonjun: Has anyone come?

Yeonjun: Are you okay?

The next message came 15 minutes later.

Yeonjun: Hello?

Yeonjun: Can you please call me back?

Yeonjun: I'm worried? Did someone catch us?🫢

Then the second missed call.

Yeonjun: Oh man! Sumi? Please reply!

Then nothing again for a while. It wasn't until 40 minutes later that the next message came.

Yeonjun: ...did...your parents hear us?

The last message came 10 minutes ago was the one which caught my attention the most. He was right! What if Yuna hadn't been Yuna, but my parents.

Well...by the way, they didn't have a key to the dormitory and would never show up at the door unannounced...but still...we have to be more careful.

It was 10:47p.m. now, but if the last message was only 10 minutes old, he might still be awake.

Me: Sorry...I know I said we'd talk again, but Yuna is already asleep. We can write.

I waited a moment, but there was no answer. So I just wrote the next message. If he woke up tomorrow morning, he could read it straight away.

Me: Yuna suddenly stood next to me. I thought she would come later, but unfortunately she was already there... and heard everything.🫤 I can't and don't want to lie to my friend, so I told her everything. She won't tell anyone else. But we have to be more careful!

See you on Friday.🙂

With this message, my desperate expression gave way to a smile. I waited another two minutes, but I didn't get a response, so I put the phone back on the bedside table, plugged in the charging cable and then turned around. Even though I was still thinking about the conversation with Yuna, I eventually fell asleep.

*

Before I knew it, the days were flying by. Even though I occasionally received a few skeptical looks from Yuna when I was choosing my party outfit, I was looking forward to the party. Yeonjun and I hadn't really written intensively in the last two days until Friday, let alone talked on the phone. He had to go back to work on Wednesday, which meant we only replaced the bare essentials. That's why, strangely enough, I was even happier...to see him at Friday.

Finally I was walking across campus. Yeonjun had said he would pick me up straight from university when he got off work today. Yuna didn't let up until she persuaded me to briefly exchange a few words with Yeonjun, so she accompanied me. Today was an unusually mild February day. Well, it was March in 4 days, so that didn't seem quite so unreal.

I had put on my nice jeans, one leg of which was white and the other leg was black. I really liked these jeans because they were something out of the ordinary that I had never seen anyone else wear. Add a simple black crop top and a jacket over it. When Yuna and I arrived at the university parking lot, I looked around curiously for the car in which Yeonjun had picked me up on Monday. Unfortunately I didn't see him yet, so I turned back to Yuna who was looking at me with her arms crossed and a raised eyebrow.

''What is it?'' I asked and Yuna shook her head with a smile.

''You're really happy, huh?'' she asked and I started laughing nervously.

''Not me!'' I murmured and looked away again.

Truthfully, I was kinda nervous. I was excited to go to a party with Yeonjun, and also...to see him again. We haven't seen each other since Tuesday and after I realized that I liked him, my stomach was crumbly, and my adrenaline level was high. My pounding heart was also really fast, which wasn't really calming everything inside me either.

"Hey Sumi, listen.", My friend finally said, catching my attention, "I'll be honest, I don't completely trust Yeonjun. And even though he treated you pretty well the last few times you saw each other...I just want you to know that my Seongu has a car and we can pick you up at any moment, right? I'm just a phone call away."

I started to smile. It was sweet that Yuna cared about me so much. Since I couldn't tell my parents who I was going to a party with, Yuna willingly took on this part. Her boyfriend Seongu and I got along well and he had already agreed to jump if something happened to me. But I didn't believe I needed their help. Yeonjun had told me his friend's address where the party would be held, which Yuna had immediately saved.

"Cutie, don't worry, nothing will happen to me, it's not like I'm going to be dragged to an underground club." I said and put a hand on Yuna's shoulder. Yuna and I had checked where the house was on Google Maps earlier. It was a high-rise building in Itaewong...so no need to worry.

"I just want you to be okay." Yuna said and I couldn't help but hug her.

"I'll be fine, don't worry, really." I said in the hug.

When I pulled away from her again, she smiled at me. "If I didn't trust Yeonjun so much...I would never have said yes to the party." I said.

Yuna nodded and took a deep breath. Her eyes wandered over my shoulder as I slipped my hands from her shoulders.

"Speaking of the devil, huh?" She said a little more quietly and finally took another deep breath.

I turned around, my gaze fixed on the university parking area. I actually recognized Yeonjun walking towards us in the twilight. My body seemed unable to help but swallow.

Oh no...my weakness...suits.

He wore white suit pants and a white jacket, which he wore open. The simple black T-shirt underneath provided the perfect contrast. His hair was styled back again, but it seemed like it had been a while since it hung down a little on the sides, but not yet on his face. A small smile on his lips as we took eye contact. The small silver earrings in both of his eyes sparkled at me from time to time.

When he came to a stop in front of us, his gaze switched to Yuna. That gave me time to examine him. His typical perfume wafted up my nose and I had to pull myself together not to hug him.

"Hi." Yeonjun finally broke the silence, when my gaze went back up to him, I noticed that he was looking at me.

"Oh hey." I replied and Yeonjun started to smile a little wider, which I returned.

"Yeah...hey..." Yuna chimed in, both of our eyes going to her.

"Yuna right?" Yeonjun asked and Yuna looked as surprised as I felt. Did he really remember her name? The two had met perhaps three times and during that time I may have mentioned her name only once.

"Yeah right." Yuna muttered, looking beyond confused.

"Sorry, but unfortunately a plus one from a plus one is not allowed." Yeonjun said and looked at me briefly after looking back at Yuna.

"I don't even want to go!" Yuna replied and I thought I saw a small eye roll on her part.

"I only brought her here because I wanted to talk to you for a moment." Yuna explained and Yeonjun put his hands in his pockets expectantly.

"I'm curious." He said and started grinning.

Yuna's eyes flicked to me briefly. Her eyebrows rose briefly and I immediately knew what she wanted to say, namely 'He is unbelievable!'.

Her eyes left me as quickly as they came.

"Make sure she has a good night! Me and my boyfriend are just one of her calls away and we wouldn't hesitate-"

"It's nice of you, but that won't be necessary." Yeonjun interrupted my best friend. Before I knew it, one of his arms was around my waist. He pulled me close and I stumbled sideways into his chest. Yuna's eyes widened.

"I'll take care of her." Yeonjun said and Yuna's jaw dropped. To be honest, I was a bit embarrassed by the whole situation.

"Can we go now?" Yeonjun asked and I looked up at him. We made eye contact and Yeonjun's grin turned into a soft smile.

I broke our eye contact fast and removed his arm from around me as I looked back at Yuna.

"Yes. Don't worry, Yuna." I said to my friend as I saw Yeonjun turn around and start walking out of the corner of my eye. "I love you!" I said before I quickly hugged her again.

"Love you, too. Be careful!" Yuna replied as I turned around and ran after Yeonjun.

I raised my hand and waved at her with a smile as the distance between us grew larger.

Yuna was worried, I could understand that, but I really trusted Yeonjun enough not to kidnap me or put something in my drink.

Yeonjun had parked not far away, when we got into the car and I buckled my seatbelt, I almost felt like I had to apologize for Yuna.

"Why does everyone around you have such a bad impression of me?" Yeonjun began as he started the car.

"She's just worried." I tried to explain. "That wasn't necessary when you stayed with me Monday to tuesday." He said as he slowly pulled out of the parking space.

"Well, she didn't know that I was with you back then." I said something to consider.

"And yet you were back at university safe and sound."

"I'm not worried. Yuna is. She has always been cautious."

Yeonjun glanced at me as the car was parked out and he started to drive off.

"Aha...", he said, "We have to go back to my apartment quickly, I still have to freshen up."

I looked at him again.

"I thought you would leave like that."

"This is my work outfit. You don't dress like that at Taehyun's parties." He replied. I had to briefly consider whether I knew the name he had just told me. I thought he had just written the name when he sent me the address of the party. So it was his friend and the host of the party.

*

Yeonjun was a bit reserved towards me, I noticed that when we were in his apartment. He disappeared into his dressing room without saying anything as I waited in the entryway. Even on the drive to Itaewong he didn't really seem to want to talk much, as my attempts to talk were only followed by short answers. Neither a kiss nor any kind of physical contact. No statement about my outfit...nothing.

I looked at him every now and then in the car. He had replaced the suit from before with a light gray hoodie. Black slightly ripped jeans and a black leather vest. He had just loosened his hair a bit.

"Are you okay?" I asked as we stopped at a traffic light. Yeonjun looked at me. Only the light from the street lamps cast light into the car.

"Hmm..." was all he said as he looked out the windshield again.

"Really? You don't seem to make an impression..at all." I said and Yeonjun's gaze returned. He seemed to be studying me.

"If I tell you, you have to promise not to laugh."

I raised an eyebrow. Finally, the corners of Yeonjun's mouth turned up again: "I'm trying to hold back."

"In what way?" I asked as the traffic light turned green and Yeonjun had to look away again.

"In what way you ask?" Yeonjun asked the counter question as he drove off. I actually thought of something...but did he really mean what I thought?

"You look great! And I'd rather not tell you what I did at night when you weren't there." He confirmed my suspicion.

I quickly looked away as heat rose to my cheeks.

"Oh god, Yeonjun...you're an idiot!" I replied with a laugh in my voice.

"Hey! I just wanted to make it to the party in time." He said with the same laugh in his voice as I shook my head.

Then there was silence again.

"No really, I'm glad you agreed. There's a lot going on at the company at the moment and I need this distraction now, more than you can imagine." Yeonjun interrupted the silence as we turned into a parking garage.

"Do you have tomorrow off?" I asked. My dad sometimes works on Saturdays, so I wasn't sure if Yeonjun might do the same.

"I only work from home on Saturdays." He said as he looked for a parking space. Ok...well at least. If the evening lasted until three or four a.m. today, it would be brutal to get up at 7 a.m. in the morning.

When Yeonjun found a parking lot and parked the car, he looked at me again.

"Sumi?", he began as I unbuckled my seatbelt, "You know you don't have to worry, right?"

I looked at him a bit confused.

Oh...was this still about Yuna?

"Yeonjun, I would never have said yes to this if I didn't trust you." I said with a smile on my lips, which would hopefully reassure him.

Sure enough, Yeonjun started smiling as well and then unbuckled himself.

As we left the parking garage and turned onto the street, I looked around curiously. I've never been in this area before. It almost looked like a restaurant/club mile. Anyway, we walked past three restaurants and a few shops, which were already closed. On the other side of the street there were also colorful advertisements, cafes and shops that didn't exactly look cheap. Quite a few people were walking around on the streets or eating in the restaurants.

"How big is your friend's apartment if he can have a party there?" I asked Yeonjun as I looked at him.

"Quite big...but Taehyun isn't partying at his apartment, he's booked a club." Yeonjun explained and suddenly stopped. He reached out to me before turning into a passage. I quickly ran after him and without thinking about it, grabbed his hand, which he still had outstretched towards me. Yeonjun looked at me a little surprised when I caught up with him. Only when he slowly closed his hand around mine I realized why he looked at me so surprised.

I looked down at our joined hands in shock.

Next Chapter:

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Swap Beyond the Crystalverse Chapter 4: Paranormal Teens

Co-written with @crystalninjaphoenix Read Swapboys | Read Crystal’s AUs

Other Multiverse Stories: SITCV | SATCV | GITHV

Alt, JJ, and Marvin appear on a sidewalk. Across the street is an old-looking building with columns in front. No doubt that’s city hall. It used to have a lawn, a sort of courtyard type area, but now there’s just a wide pit marked off by posts with yellow tape around it. The front door of city hall is still accessible, but you’d have to walk a wide berth around it.

Can’t believe they still haven’t fixed that, JJ comments.

Alt blinks in surprise at the pit and glitches closer, crouching down next to it. “What caused this?”

“…Anti did? Kind of?” Marvin says slowly. “I mean, he didn’t mean to, but uh… yeah. There was a bunch of greenlight, it was crazy.”

“Oh yeah- guess that makes sense based on last time.” Alt comments as he stands back up.

“Anyway, we can wait for the others in here.” Marvin turns around and indicates the building behind him: a restaurant called Brenda’s that looks to be part of a fast food chain.

Jackie and the others are getting snacks, we don’t need food, JJ says.

“Whaaaat? I wasn’t suggesting that at all!”

Alt blinks then smirks, “Are you hungry then, Marvin? We can get food if you’d like- or like… a coffee.”

"I prefer tea, honestly," Marvin says. "Oooo, especially ones with strong flavors. You ever had mint tea? It's great. But, uh... I mean... we can get food if we want."

JJ rolls his eyes and laughs. Okay, we'll do that. But you're paying for the nuggets. He opens the front door and goes inside.

“Oh mint tea’s actually my favorite!” Alt laughs, “I could do either or- Bro’s more partial to coffee so we drink that more.” He follows after JJ, looking around the restaurant with curiosity.

The inside of this place looks exactly like the inside of a Wendy's. Even the logo is kind of similar, but with the word Brenda instead.

"Welcome to Brenda's, what can I--oh! Hey, it's the twins!" The worker behind the counter waves.

Marvin grins...somewhat mischievously. He glances at JJ, then back at the worker and waves. "Hey River! I didn't know you worked here!" JJ inhales sharply. Is his face turning a bit red?

"Yeah, it's just for the summer," the guy--a blonde kid around the twins' age--says, smiling. "Well, what can I get for you guys?"

Alt blinks a bit in confusion as he looks around then notices Marvin’s smirk and JJ’s flush. He hides a laugh behind his hand. “You guys get whatever you want, my treat.”

"Great!" Marvin says. "I'd like a ten-piece nuggets and a lemonade. JJ? What do you want?" JJ coughs a bit.

"Hey, I've been practicing BSL for an elective!" River says cheerfully. "Go on, hit me with something, I want to see if I can get it."

JJ nods and signs slowly. I would like a C-H-I-L-L-Y. A 'Chilly' seems to be the name of a chocolate shake-like thing... like a Frosty.

"Ooo, we'll get a small fries, too, then, to dip," Marvin says.

"Great, what size?" River asks.

Medium.

"Medium?" JJ nods.

"Sweet. And you, mister?"

Alt chuckles, “I’ll take a black coffee. And uh- a medium chilly and fries.” He says as he slings off his backpack and digs around for his wallet. He soon enough finds it and gives River his card.

"Awesome." River swipes the card, presses some buttons, and hands the card back along with a receipt. "I'll call out your name when it's time, Mr. uh..." He glances at the card. "Brody? You related to Chase Brody?"

Alt blinks and flushes a bit, “oh yeah uh- we’re… cousins. I’m visiting but he was uh- busy.” He grins sheepishly as he takes back his card.

Marvin leans forward. "He's on a date," he whispers.

"Oooo, with that Stacy girl? Stacy Seigel?"

"Yep!"

"Gotcha." River smiles. "Sit down wherever you guys like, I'll call your name."

JJ hurries over to a booth by the front door.

Alt laughs, “Thanks!” He goes after JJ and sits across from him. “…you good little dude?” He asks gently.

JJ kicks his feet a little. I... like River, he says. He then glares at Marvin as he sits down next to him. You knew, didn't you?

"That he works here? No, but like, it's a great coincidence, isn't it?"

Bastard.

Alt smiles, “Oh okay good I thought Marvin’s teasing got to you-“ He chuckles.

"Heh." Marvin grins. "You don't know he doesn't like guys. You've never talked to him about it. C'mon, man, it's been years, you gotta resolve this sometime."

Alt then leans forward and smiles knowingly at JJ. “…I like guys too, you know. Well and girls- anyone- but also not like… anyone it’s… weird. But, I have a boyfriend. It’s… really scary to like… let yourself out there. But… it’s also really great…” he holds his necklace fondly. “The scary part gets over quickly- then it’s just… amazing. I-If they feel the same way that is.”

JJ's eyes widen slightly. He nods slowly, not saying anything.

Marvin nudges his shoulder. "Yeah. He's right."

Oh, you've never liked anyone before, JJ comments. How do you know he's right?

"Cause I'm fucking smart."

JJ laughs a little. I guess... Mam and Dad won't let us date, anyway.

"Fuck them, though."

JJ laughs louder.

Alt laughs too, “It’s what makes you happy, dude. There’s lots of ways to go around your parents~” he says with a mischievous grin. “But seeing as you’re Marvin’s brother, seems like you might be well versed in that already.”

"Dude, I'm so fucking happy that JJ started going around them some more," Marvin says. "Fucking... grew some balls." JJ laughs again.

Alt grins, “Good! Every teenager needs a bit of rebellion I say~!” He then blinks and his smile drops. He sighs and touches his neck briefly. “Just… be careful. Don’t try to do… dangerous stuff, you know?”

JJ nods. Don't worry, I think we're being careful. It probably helps that Schneep and Jackie would get so mad at us if we got involved in something.

"Mad in a caring way," Marvin adds. "Y'know?"

Alt nods with a chuckle, “Oh I know- my friends are the same way.”

Marvin laughs. "Honestly I think the most exciting things we get up to are Caverns and Creatures games."

"Order for Mr. Brody!" River calls out.

Alt looks interested in that, “Oh? Is that like- Dungeons and Dragons?” He gets cut off before he can get his answer and he almost glitches before stopping himself. He quickly gets up to grab their food and bring it over.

When Alt comes back, Marvin immediately starts talking. "Uh, I've never heard of Dungeons and Dragons, but like, that might be a thing about other worlds, y'know? But yeah it's a tabletop roleplaying game that Jackie introduced us to! The whole group's been doing it since then, but don't ask Chase or Stacy about it they'll get all embarrassed about doing nerdy shit. It doesn't fit their images, yknow? But they really like it. Chase keeps making new characters but Stacy's been sticking with her one girl as often as possible, though it does make levels and balancing difficult, yknow?"

Meanwhile, JJ is enjoying dipping the fries in the chocolate chilly.

Alt laughs, “That’s just like dnd! I haven’t gotten to play yet but- Chase, my Chase, really wants to get a group together. I’ve always thought it looked fun but never really got a chance to play it, you know?” He says, following JJ’d lead.

"It's really fun!" Marvin says excitedly. "Oh, but the first time we played, some greenlight shit happened and we all got actually sucked into the game--Jackie had to GM to get us out but Anti kept trying to throw monsters at us--it was fucking insane! Kind of fun, but yknow, you don't want to do that all the time."

“Oh dude- not gonna lie that sounds insanely fun,” Alt giggles, “Then again one of mine and Chase’s favorite worlds we ever went to was a medieval one so… guess I’m biased!”

You went to a medieval world?! JJ gasps.

"Oh, that sounds so cool! Like going into a book!" Marvin's eyes light up.

Alt grins wide and nods, “Dude it was just like a book! It was a land called Glasúil and it’s kinda like an older Ireland but with magic and the camp we went to the first time was made out of dragon skeleton! We learned to sword fight and archery and fought a corrupt King! Last time was… hard but honestly? I can’t wait to go back and just have fun there- it’s really really cool.”

"Ohhhh that sounds so fucking fun," Marvin whispers.

And that's why you need your traveler fixed, so you can go back whenever you want. JJ nods. I hope we can help with that.

Alt laughs, “Yeah- and you know… to help other people and… well- to go on those other adventures you all remember that we don’t!” He grins. “…I’m glad we get to do more with you all… I wanted to visit so so bad-“

Not much time passes--just long enough for them to finish eating--when a silver car pulls up outside. "Oh! Hey, that's Jackie's car!" Marvin says. "You probably don't recognize it, he got it before going off to uni a couple years ago, but that's it!"

Alt blinks and looks outside and then grins, “Oh nice! Yeah he had a… green car before right?”

"He still does, it's his dad's," Marvin says. "The silver car is his though." He waves through the windows at the car. The door opens and Jack gets out, then Schneep. And then, suddely, Aodhan is sitting next to Alt. "Hi."

"Oh fucking hell!" Marvin jumps. JJ presses a hand to his chest, surprised.

Alt jumps a bit too, “Jesus man! You gotta be careful with that dude- you’ll scare the normal people around…!” He tries to whisper.

Aodhan looks around. "There's no one in the restaurant, though."

"It's the principle," Marvin says.

Alt chuckles, “Yeah dude- just in case- you don’t wanna accidentally glitch into a bad scene, you know?”

"Hmmm." Aodhan nods.

Outside, Bro hops out of the car, chewing on a long piece of gummy like it’s a piece of hay. He blinks at the windows then waves excitedly at the other boys.

"Oh! There's Bro! C'mon, let's go!" He gets up and heads out, the rest of the guys behind him.

"Anti, you gotta stop that," Jack says, mostly jokingly.

"Hello!" Schneep waves.

Jackie gets out of the car. "You guys got Brenda's? No fair!... Well, I guess we got a lot of snacks."

Bro grins wide as he sees Marvin and Jj, “Grown up twins!! Look at you two!!”

"Wow! You really look exactly the same!" Marvin laughs. "Alright, that settles it, weird time shit."

“Must be!” Bro laughs, “It’s been at least less than a year for us since we saw you last!”

It's so good to see you again! JJ beams.

Alt makes sure to take his fries and chilly and offers some of the fries to Bro then Jackie once they’re out.

Bro blinks then grins eagerly, taking some fries and leaning over to dip them in Alt’s Chilly.

Alt glares at him and pulls it away. “you could at least ask, asshole!”

“It’s big brother privilege!” Bro grins cheekily.

Schneep grins watching Alt and Bro. "Hah. Chase would do something like that with me all the time. So I suppose it is older cousin privilege too." He nods at Alt. "Frustrating, ja?"

Alt grumbles at Schneep, sipping the rest of his chilly.

"Alright, so where's your piece thing?" Jackie asks. "Somewhere around here, right?" He looks around. "You guys see anything weird?"

The guys all look around--and JJ suddenly gasps. He points across the street, where there's a van parked. A black van with a picture of an eye on it...just like the one on the card he got from the man.

Alt is about to reach in his pocket to check his tracker, but he freezes as he sees the van. He finds Aodhan’s shoulder and leans by Marvin too- “…alright guys- try your best to look normal while we search, got it? We can’t give them any reason to suspect us.” As he says this, he reaches into his pocket to properly check the tracker. The sooner they can find this other piece the better.

Meanwhile Bro is confused. “Huh? What’s wrong with a weird black van?”

"That's the symbol of the guy who stopped us," Aodhan says.

JJ reaches into his pocket and pulls out the card, handing it out to Bro.

"The... Department of Impossible Sciences, you said?" Jackie says.

Jack frowns. He takes a phone out of his pocket. "I'll stay back here and keep an eye on the van."

"Aw, you don't want to come?" Aodhan asks, sad. Jack laughs.

"Don't worry, I'll call you if anything happens."

The tracker tells Alt that the piece fell into the pit in front of city hall.

“Good idea, Jack-“ Alt says, then inhales sharply as he looks towards the city hall. “…we may have a problem though…”

“…what’s that?” Bro asks.

“…the piece fell into the giant fucking hole-“

“…ah.” Schneep says. “Well… the sides are not so steep. We should be able to climb in.”

“How deep is the pit again?” Jackie wonders. “It’s like… two stories or something, right? That’s not too deep.”

“But it’s gonna be a tiny little thing!” Marvin points out. “There’s probably a million rocks to look at!”

Aodhan blinks slowly. “Maybe… I can find it? I know where electrical stuff is. I like… feel it.”

“I mean… I can try too-“ Alt says, “I’m just worried about creepy van over there catching us. That suit guy got onto us for possibly stealing coins- they’re not gonna react well to us trying to scale the hole.”

Well... at least it's only the van, JJ says. It's in the city hall car lot, so maybe the person who drove it is inside?

"I'm gonna check if there's a person in the front," Aodhan says. He disappears for a moment, and then reappears a minute later. "I didn't see anyone."

"But that doesn't mean they're not gonna come out of city hall and bother us,"Jackie says.

Alt hums in thought, “Maybe…”

"We'll just have to be careful," Marvin says. "And fa--" He stops. "Hang on a moment... is that...?" A black car is driving down the street. It pulls to the side, parking right next to Jackie's... and out steps Chase and Stacy.

"Hey guys!" Chase waves.

Alt blinks in surprise though then smiles and waves, “Little Chase!”

Bro grins and waves wildly, “Little me!! Did you guys finish your date already??”

"Hey!" Chase waves at Alt--and then immediately becomes flustered upon hearing Bro's comment. "I, uh--yeah, we did."

"W-we could've stayed a bit longer, maybe, but we didn't want to be left out," Stacy says. She looks at Alt. "Hey, Alt! Apparently there's some weird time stuff going on so you don't know me. I'm Stacy!"

Alt blinks, “Oh uh- hi? Yeah we… haven’t met yet- nice to meet you?” He smiles sheepishly.

"You guys didn't have to stop for us," Jackie says.

"It's Schneep's fault for texting me everything you guys were doing!" Chase says.

"Wh--that did not mean you had to stop," Schneep says.

"No, it's chill," Chase shrugs.

Bro chuckles, “Well- this will make a great story for later regardless-“

"Uh, what're you guys doing?" Chase asks.

"The TRVLR part is in the pit somewhere," Marvin says, pointing. "But that van over there is suspicious. Jack's gonna keep an eye on it while the rest of us check out the pit."

Bro turns to look at the pit and hums. “Okay so… we need a good excuse for why we’re looking at the pit if we get caught… Alt and Aodhan could glitch down and the rest of us could just like- look around it to draw attention to us instead? Could that work? We could say you all are.. researching it for school or something-“

JJ nods. A school project is a good cover. It could be some sort of... environment thing. Or maybe about construction? Or city planning?

"Something like city planning, that'll make us look like goody-two-shoes," Marvin says.

"So you guys will have to be our, like, supervisors or something," Stacy says, looking at Bro and Jackie. "Cuz you're older, y'know? You wouldn't be in school."

"Hey, I mean... I'm uni age," Jackie says. "But yeah, I get where you're coming from."

“Yeah I’m like here to make sure you don’t get in trouble and shit!” Bro grins.

"We should go fast, then." Chase glances around. "The coast is clear now, we need to, uh, use that while it's like that."

Alt nods, “Okay good plan- Chase I’m using you for cover-“ He slips behind Bro and uses him to cover up as he glitches down in the pit. Bro hardly reacts- like he’s used to this.

Aodhan sees this and copies him, hiding behind Jack while he disappears.

Once that's done, the others all hurry across the street towards the edge of the pit. The pit is twenty feet deep at its lowest, fifteen feet deep on average. The walls slope downward. They and the floor of the pit are mostly dirt, with chunks of concrete and asphalt and lots of small rocks and pebbles. Some pipes and cables stick out of the side in places, but they're all deactivated. The pipes don't leak water, the wires don't spark, they're completely safe except for the tripping hazard they present.

Alt looks around the pit and whistles, “Damn- this is some impressive pit.” He whispers to Aodhan.

Aodhan blinks. "Thanks? I didn't expect it would, y'know... happen." He starts looking around, crouching close to the ground. "How do your powers work? I can just kinda... feel stuff when it's nearby. Like static electricity. I can also feel it when cameras look at me."

“Oh- that’s handy,” Alt says, “Uh- I could try that… learned a trick once about like- pulsing out my electricity to try to feel around me… but that might only work underwater… I can sometimes just sense magic too- you’re probably more useful here, dude.”

Aodhan grins proudly. "Yay!" He slowly walks around. "Does your magic thing help at all right now?"

Alt hums and tries to feel any magic lingering in the air, “Not sure… lemme see-“ He also starts walking around.

It's a big pit, so they're not having much luck at first. The group around the top isn't, either. But then...as Alt puts his hand in his pocket once, his hand brushes the pupil of the glass eye tracker, and he gets a vague sense that it's in the north part of the pit, closer to city hall. That divides the area to search by about four.

Alt startles a bit- and doesn’t expect to get the info. But he laughs and glitches over to the northern part, calling out to Aodhan, “It should be over here!”

"Oh cool!" Aodhan hadn't had much luck, so he quickly appears over there as well.

Alt grins and starts to feel around more for anything he can sense- or even see. It’s gotta be shiny right?

Up on the surface, the doors of city hall open, and out walk a man and a woman in grey suits, talking to each other. Marvin notices them first. He hurries over to Bro, nudging him. "Those guys are wearing the same thing the guy in the park was," he whispers.

Bro briefly glances at the man and woman as Marvin points them out and very subtly nods.

The two walk over to the van with the eye decal on it, disappearing from view for most of the guys.

But Jack, watching from the car, is able to see. He texts the others: Two guys are standing by the car now. Not getting in. Then a second later, The girl is walking towards the pit.

Bro reads over Marvin’s shoulder and nods, then calls out as he claps his hands. “alright kids! It’s hot so let’s get your research done quick! Get all the pictures and notes you need, alright?” He grins.

"All the smart guys get over here," Chase whispers. Schneep, JJ, and Stacy all cluster together as the woman in a gray suit walks over. Marvin takes out his phone and starts taking pictures. Jackie digs into his backpack and pulls out a digital camera, and Marvin mutters something about him being a show-off. Jackie chuckles.

"Oh, research?" The woman asks. "What is this? A school project?"

"Yes, ma'am," Stacy says.

Bro looks to the woman and smiles charmingly, “Sure is, ma’am! Keeping an eye on them while they get this done, you know! Researching city planning and all that-“

"Oooo, fascinating," the woman says. "City planning? How's the pit related?"

"Well, ah, you can see the infrastructure and such," Schneep says quickly. "So we are getting pictures for examples."

Tell her that we're doing research on how cities do a big project like filling this in, JJ says.

"Oh, I know sign language, young man, don't worry," the woman says. "How interesting. Though I hear there's been some difficulties filling this particular pit in? Has your research found anything about that?"

"Uh... not yet! But we might hear about it later!" Chase says.

Back in the pit, Aodhan picks up a couple objects from the ground. "Any of these look like your thing?" They all look vaguely techy.

Alt glitches to him and looks then over. He hums in thought then touches his tracker again- The tracker tells him that one of the objects, a long black bar made out of some matte material, is the piece they're looking for.

Alt looks over the objects then picks out the long black bar and grins, “this is it!”

Aodhan nods. "Alright, then!" He puts the rest of the stuff in his pocket, finding it cool enough to keep. Then he looks up. "Oh shit! They're talking with someone."

Alt blinks up and then sighs. “lucky you saw- I almost just glitched straight back up…”

Bro chuckles, “All part of their studies! I don’t know too much about it- just supervising, you know? Can’t have them around a big pit like this without a careful eye.” He smiles.

"Oh yes, I hear it's quite dangerous." The woman nods. She reaches into her pocket and pulls out a card. "Say, I work for an organization that's helping out with this pit, as well as other things around town. So if you all need any help, here's our phone number." She holds out a card like the one the man from the park gave JJ.

Stacy takes it. "Thanks, ma'am. Now we have to get back to work."

"Of course, of course, I'll leave you to it." The woman smiles, and turns around, heading back to the van.

Bro smiles and waves after her. But he lets his smile drops as soon as she’s gone. “Phew…! Good acting there, team!” He grins at the kids.

Thank you! JJ beams.

"Acting is his passion," Schneep chuckles.

Alt glitches up towards the top of the hole and whispers out, “Coast clear yet??”

"Hold on," Jackie warns, looking back towards the van. Then a couple different text tones ring out, and everyone checks their phones.

"Jack says they're getting in the van," Chase reports. "So it's probably fine now."

Alt grins and glitches up all the way, showing off the piece, “Got it!”

Bro shares his grin and pats him on the back, “Nice!”

"Fuck yeah!" Marvin grins. "Man... these TRVLR parts look really ordinary. I can't believe this stuff lets you travel through worlds."

Alt blinks then laughs, “Well- it’s all like… bunch of tech stuff- then my magic! So I think that helps the normal parts work.”

"You should probably clean that off," Schneep says. "Here." He reaches into his pocket and pulls out a piece of cloth. "I use this for my glasses."

"You use an ordinary cloth for your glasses?" Stacy gasps.

"What am I supposed to use?"

"Something like this." Stacy pulls a bit of silky cloth out of her pocket. "It's designed for glasses!"

"Ah. Well, I think I had one like that, but I lost it."

Alt takes the cloth from Schneep and starts to clean it off, “you know, I used to think it only worked cuz I was giving it electricity but I think it works because I’m also like… a Glitch you know? Broke the rules of my world somehow so now- I can use that to fuel the TRVLR.”

Aodhan appears next to Alt, fading in slowly to be more considerate. "D'you think I'm a Glitch?" he asks. "D'you think any of the anomalies were glitches?"

"I think that you'd count, yeah," Marvin says.

Alt blinks then smiles at Aodhan, “Mmmm maybe? Usually other mes are to be honest- there’s a few exceptions though, like our friend Schneep we just saw.”

“He doesn’t glitch like Alt does- he kinda does like this worm-holey thingy- but he got told by another Glitch he was one so like- probably something others Glitches can sense or some shit.” Bro adds.

Alt's phone lets out some static. "I'm pretty sure that this kid would count," Anti says slowly. "At the very least, he's something very strange. Now, you have both parts?"

Alt very slightly jumps- getting more used to hearing Anti, “Yup-“ He says as he puts the now clean part in the bag.

"Oh... do you guys need to go now, then?" Chase asks. "I mean--seems like this is important, so go ahead, but like... sucks that it was so short, y'know?"

Bro looks super sad and looks towards Alt to talk towards Anti, “Yeah Anti! We can hang out for just a bit longer can’t we?? We’re just breezing through these worlds with all our friends!”

"Well, once you have your TRVLR back you can come back whenever you want," Anti says.

"Booooo," Marvin says. "Fuck offfff."

"Wha--" Anti doesn't seem to know how to respond to teenage rebellion.

"Yeah, it's been forever since we've seen these guys," Jackie agrees. "It'd be nice to hang out a little while longer. Hell, Chase and Stacy were gone for most of the time."

"We, uh, had a nice time, though," Stacy says.

"Y-yeah." Chase nods. "But like... you know. Been a while."

Anti pauses. "Once we leave this world, all the rest of them will be new to you two. So... if you want to stay... it's understandable. But--I'll just repeat what I said. You can come back whenever once you have your TRVLR."

“I mean… they did say that we come back in… our future, their past-“ Alt says quietly. “Even if I wanna stay… I’m sure you guys have some much to tell us- Marvin hadn’t even showed me his magic yet!”

"Oh, there's so much I could show you, it's almost too much." Marvin grins. He crouches low to the ground, then jumps into the air, and streaks and fireworks of green appear around him.

Alt’s eyes sparkle with excitement, “Dude!! That’s sick as hell!!”

Hey, we're in the middle of the street! JJ points out. People could see!

Bro pouts, “Mmmm… this is hard!! I know we gotta fix this but… we missed you guys… and you’re all growing up and-! Jack and Anti are here too and we barely got to meet them! Well, Anti of course before but- you know what I mean!!”

Schneep sighs. "It is very sad, isn't it? But... your thing is important, yes?"

Anti coughs for attention. "Also, I'll remind you that the other me is still looking for us. Do you want him to appear in this world?"

Bro and Alt stiffen as Anti mentions the other Anti. Bro sighs loudly, like a child who’s mom just made a good point to ruin their fun, “Noooo- of course not… I guess that… decides it. I don’t want you guys to be in danger.”

Alt sighs too and crosses his arms, “Yeah… l-longer we stay here… the more likely he is to find us…”

Aodhan blinks. "I guess that Anti is a really bad Anti, then."

"We're a lot more capable than we were three years ago, yknow," Chase says.

Jackie shakes his head. "No, I know we are, but still... just that tone of voice, it sounds like this guy is really bad news."

Alt smiles sadly at Chase, “I’m sure you guys are! You were already little badasses last time… but we don’t even know how to fight this guy. He’s not physical and scarily strong… plus he’s trying to delete other universes so… don’t want that happening here.”

Aodhan laughs a little. "You can't delete universes! There are so many!"

"I am not sure how those two things connect," Schneep mutters. "I mean... does seem really hard, to get rid of a whole universe," Chase says, frowning. "Like... think of how big the galaxy is. And there are like... billions of galaxies in the universe."

"I'm sure you guys will figure something out!" Marvin says, beaming at the Brody brothers. "You two are amazing."

Bro beams back at Marvin and lightly punches his arm with affection. “Thanks lil dude!”

Jackie smiles at Alt and Bro. "Well... it sucks, then, but sounds like you have to go. But hey, you can look forward to more visits with us! I mean, we'll be younger, but maybe you'll see us again when we're this old some time in the future."

Bro sighs, “Yeah I guess… though like- through all this time weirdness- we at least know now that we have more adventures! That’s a plus!”

JJ nods. Exactly! They were really fun... but no spoilers.

"I can't wait until you guys meet me for real," Stacy says. "Uh... I was probably a bit annoying at thirteen, though. Just ignore that."

Alt smiles warmly, “I can’t wait- it’ll be awesome for sure.”

"So... are you two ready?" Anti asks. "Should I contact Sam?"Alt brings out his phone officially to nod at Anti. “yeah… guess we are. Into uncharted waters now, huh?”

"Indeed." Anti nods back. "Though I think this first world will be kind of similar to what you're used to." The phone screen is briefly overcome with colored static. Then green lightning unzips a rift in midair.

"Oh, is that how you guys get around now?" Aodhan asks, fascinated. "Kinda looks like a Fissure."

Alt blinks and looks at the rift, “Huh? Really?” He grins, “Guess we can use that our advantage next time.”

Bro smiles sadly, “You lads take care of each other, okay?”

Alt nods then grabs Bro before he starts to cry cuz he knows he might. Bro yelps a bit then waves wildly as they walk through the rift. “Bye!! We’ll visit soon!!”

"Goodbye!" Aodhan waves.

"We'll see you again," Chase promises.

Jackie, JJ, Marvin, Schneep, and Stacy all wave as the two of them disappear.

[hargrove-mayfields]

It’s Thanksgiving. Hawkins is still split in half, but hey, gotta stop and celebrate the little things, right?

Argyle isn’t feeling it. He misses his tia’s cooking. Joyce is a nice lady and all, but her turkey-

Wait, he’s supposed to be mad at her. He is mad at her, at all of them. He’s pissed actually.

But really, he’s devastated.

Even if the turkey wasn’t dry as a bone, he wouldn’t be eating it. He doesn’t have the stomach for it. The grief inside him takes up too much room.

Mrs. Byers catches on, after the first round of everyone else’s food is all cleared out and there’s some of little Byers’ little friends pawing for more. She asks him, “Argyle, honey. What’s wrong?”

Argyle isn’t the type to start shit, but if she’s going to ask, he wouldn’t mind airing it out.

“Talked to little red this morning.. Why didn’t nobody tell me my best friend was dead?”

They look confused. Mrs. Byers puts one of her always warm hands on top of his, and tries to force on a smile, “Argyle, nothing like that happened. We’re all still-“

He’s got to cut her off or he might feel something for her motherly concern. Not now. Not after what he’s been through for these people, “Nope. I went to the cemetery with red. Had to.. had to carry her on her wheels up to him. ‘Cause the path is too covered in grass. I sat at his grave for hours, man. Don’t tell me that didn’t happen.”

Still just faces of confusion. Funny how they treat him like he makes no sense. Someone dies for these people and they can’t even think of his name?

“Maybe you just need to relax..” He’s especially hurt when Jonathan tries to shut him down like that. That’s what broke him really. Makes him get a little louder, and a lot closer to spilling tears like salt water.

“Nah, I haven’t smoked for days, man. That’s what me and him used to do. I can’t just- I can’t..!”

Argyle has to stop there. He’s shaking so bad all the empty plates and glasses on the extra-long table are rattling. A bowl of mashed potatoes threatens to spill all over the leaf-patterned tablecloth. It all sounds like a chorus of souls as anguished as his. Reminding him of the root of his rage.

“Look, if I ever see that Neil Hargrove again, man, I will totally break my vow of peace. That.. shithead ruined everything.” A few faces of realization hit. Yeah. That’s what he’s talking about. And he needs them all to know how serious it was, “Billy had a car. He had big money saved up. We found his madre. Shit was gonna be okay… And then they left. 2,000 long miles away to their deaths.”

Little Jane reaches across the table to him, but Argyle can’t accept her hand. It’s not her fault and he doesn’t want her comfort. It’s not anybody's fault. How could they know he knew Billy?

But.. how could they leave him out too? When they told all their stories about what happened.. they never mentioned his name. He was just someone’s brother. And then he saw Max for the first time in her wheelchair, and he just knew it was bad news.

“My best friend is a goner and I never even got a chance to tell him that I love him. Life is majorly fucked.”

The wall decorations, the napkins, even Joyce’s sweater all say ‘Be Thankful.’ Argyle loses it. There’s big, heavy tears on his face now. He’s got nothing to be thankful for. He’s got nobody without Billy.

He looks around, at the dozen or so people in the room, and he feels by himself.

A sob wracks his chest, “I’m all alone, you know. Even here, I’m just all alone.”

~~~

Nobody had said another word to him when he got up and left the Byers rental. They all knew where he was going: the cemetery gate was left open for holiday mourners.

Climbing the hill is easier now that Max told him the way. Easier because he doesn’t have to keep his cool either this time. It’s just him and the rock in the place of his childhood best friend turned soulmate.

“Hey, hey mister blue sky.”

The ground is wet with freshly fallen and then melted snow, but Argyle doesn’t think twice before he’s sitting criss-cross-applesauce right in front of that grave. He reaches out and brushes off a stray wet leaf from Billy’s stone, and he sighs.

“I have had one hell of a day, man. You wouldn’t believe this shit.”

“Wish I could tell you about it for real.” Billy always listened to him so deeply. That kid would’ve sat there and listened to a fucking Shakespeare recited solely by Argyle. All he ever wanted was a friend. Argyle too. They were a match made in the closest thing to heaven the California shores had to offer, the boardwalk.

“I wish you could tell me everything that happened to you too. Never got to hear it straight from you.”

The wind rustles the leaves. It’s a sound Argyle will probably never get used to. Nothing like the Cali waves. For a minute he thinks about that being Billy communicating with him, but the Billy he knew would never leave his spirit in a place like this. He’s gotta be somewhere far, far from here. Argyle prays for that to be true everyday.

“Maybe you like the quiet. Maybe you wouldn’t want to tell me, I don’t know.”

It’s pretty damn freezing out. Joyce told him about some weird Midwestern wives tale, that if you sat out in the snow too long, you’d catch a cold and live forever. He just wants to be wherever all the noise isn’t.

“Sounds peaceful.”

Hours could pass just like this. Maybe he’d freeze and they’d find him here. What would they say?

They don’t know about Billy and Argyle. About holding hands under the water after dark.

They don’t know about the ice cream on their noses, and the cherry between Billy’s smiling pink lips on their first date.

They don’t know about the shy kisses. The gentle touches. The fear of falling in love.

But they were just kids. How could he know that’s would be all he ever had to hold on to, for the rest of his time?

“You know what I’m thinkin’?- I got it all figured out now, blue sky- I think you’re happy.”

He’d like to hope so. The sky is pretty blue today, despite the weather.

“You don’t gotta answer to anybody. You’re just on your own. Like me. Only that’s what you wanted, isn’t it?”

Shit, he’s crying again. Billy would be so mad to see him beat down like this. He was supposed to be the bright one, to dry up the tears with rainbow colored sleeves. Nothing could’ve broken him as bad as this.

“You just weren’t free up here.”

Surviving almost feels worthless now. Argyle needs Billy like the tide needs the moon. Bound together, never changing. Never moving on. Working in perfect synchronization.

Always loving.

“Hey. Wherever you are.. I’m thankful that you’re surfing your own wave now.”

The sun’s going down now. Instead of warm blues and pinks and yellows, it’s all gray. How quickly things change. All dreary. Argyle’s kidding himself if he thinks that’s something to be thankful for.

Whatever makes him feel better, because it’s going to be a long, long time before he has Billy in his arms again.

“I love you, blue sky. Thanks for being my guy… I’ll catch you later.”

[kittyball23]

Now we know that Spruce has a wife and apparently children, you could write a one-shots, about them and how they interact with Branch, JD, Poppy and Tiny... and especially Branch's vision of what He and Poppy would look like if they were married. Please and above all think about it.

Here ya go!

Nieces and Nephews (a Trolls fanfic)

Summary: Branch, Poppy, John Dory, and Tiny Diamond get introduced to Spruce’s family

__________________________________________

This was a little strange.

Branch had seen, interacted with, and even helped take care of little Trollings before in Pop Village, so that was nothing new. What was strange, though, was that the little Trollings who were bouncing all around him now were actually related to him. Because they were in fact his nieces and nephews. And that meant Branch was an uncle!

The only time he’d thought that there would be any little Trollings who were his family was if he and Poppy ever got to that point. He would be lying to himself if he’d said that he hadn’t had that lovely daydream sometimes, of a domestic scene in which he’d come home from a day’s work, share a couple of sweet smooches with his beautiful pink Pop Queen, and be attacked on all sides with hugs from their children…

He would sigh if he could, only the air was knocked right out of him in that present moment, when one of the Trollings knocked right into him, having not watched where he was going as he wrestled with one of his brothers.

Branch’s head was in a whirl as he tried and failed to count just how many in total there were, and he turned to observe Spruce, his older brother and the father of all the kids, standing to one side. The purple-haired Troll had an amused look on his face as he watched the children get up to their antics, and Branch shook his head. With Spruce’s romance-seeking behavior in his youth, it really didn’t surprise him that he’d gotten down to business so quickly, and now had a whole posse of kiddos to showcase for it. It did surprise him, however, that Spruce managed to maintain his marriage for as long as he seemed to have done.

His Trollings all had different features, yet Spruce was present in them all - whether it was the blue eyes, or the purple hair, or even a hint of abs in some of the older boys of the bunch.

But they were all the same in their curiosity about Branch and his companions - Poppy, John Dory, and Tiny Diamond - and why they were there.

Branch felt a tug at his leaf vest and heard a little voice below him right afterwards.

“Hey! Hey, Mister!”

“Uh… yeah?” he responded awkwardly.

“What’s your name?” the Trolling asked, blinking her wide blue eyes at him.

“Branch.”

“Branch?” she repeated, testing the word out on her tongue, and then looking back up at him. “Huh. Does it mean anything?”

“It’s something you find in trees,” he said with a shrug.

The Trolling cocked her head at him. “Huh? Whaddya mean?”

“Well…” Branch began, “It’s, um, you know… that part of the tree that kinda sticks out and has leaves on it?”

“Ohhh,” the Trolling said, nodding her head. “You’re talking about a frond! Like those!” She pointed up to the very top of some nearby palm trees.

“Err, well, not exactly - “ Branch started to correct, but was cut off when the little Trolling interrupted him with “Well, it’s very nice to meet you, Mr. Frond!”

Branch, however,  was not the only one being questioned. Poppy in the meantime was occupied with a little Trolling of her own.

“Is that guy your baby?” the Trolling asked, pointing at Tiny Diamond.

Poppy giggled. “No, he’s not.”

“Ohh… I guess that makes sense,” the Trolling concluded. “He doesn’t really look like you… or your husband!”

Poppy was taken aback by this. “My husband?” she asked.

“Uh-huh. That guy, right over there! He is your husband, right?” Poppy followed the direction his finger was pointing, and blushed heavily when she saw that it was at Branch.

“Oh! UH… n-no!” she squeaked, and then cleared her throat. “He’s, uh, just my boyfriend!”

The Trolling looked confused for a second, and then shrugged. “Huh. Could’ve fooled me. My Daddy looks at my Mommy the same way that guy looks at you. And usually it’s right before they kiss!” He scrunched his nose and made a face. “YUCK!”

“Heh heh, yeah… yuck…” Poppy tittered in agreement, but not thinking it would be so horrible if Branch’s lips ever made their way onto hers.

As Poppy did her best to recover from that little Trolling’s suggestions, Tiny Diamond was handling his own pair of Trollings.

“How old are you?” one of the two Trollings asked him.

“One and a half,” Tiny proudly declared, crossing his arms.

“Really?” the other Trolling said. “Wait, so doesn’t that mean you’re a baby?”

Tiny was appalled to hear this. “A baby? I’m not no baby, I’m a man!”

“Hmmm,” the first Trolling hummed in thought. “His voice is pretty deep. Maybe he’s right! But then, why are you so small?”

“And why are you naked?” the second Trolling piped up.

“I have clothes on,” Tiny insisted, holding up his yellow-tinted glasses at them. “See?”

“Cool!” the first Trolling said, swiping them from his hands and running off with the second Trolling giggling after him.

Tiny gasped. “HEY! Those are mine, come back!” he yelled, running after them.

Yet another Trolling was having his share of time with John Dory. This Trolling whispered at Spruce in confusion, loud enough for JD to hear.

“Daddy, who’s the funny-looking guy?” he asked.

JD huffed. He could take Tiny calling him a random dude, but this was pushing it! “Funny-looking? What exactly makes you say that?” he asked, crossing his arms.

The Trolling giggled. “Who wears a snowcoat in the summer?”

Oof, got me there, John Dory realized, suddenly all too aware of how warm his jacket was making him feel underneath the blazing rays of Vacay Island’s hot, hot sun.

“Junior,” Spruce said warningly to the Trolling, “That’s not the way we talk.”

John Dory smiled in relief for the reprimanding, at least until Spruce said, “It’s ‘who’s the funny-looking Troll,’” to which that smile promptly disappeared.

Spruce smirked, and then said, “And I told you, Junior, he’s my brother. Your uncle.”

“Wow, really?” Junior said. “But Daddy, how come you never told us you had a brother?”

“That’s exactly what I’d like to know,” a new voice piped up, loud enough to have also grabbed Branch, Poppy, and Tiny Diamond’s attention as well. Spruce flinched a little when the female Troll who’d arrived crossed her arms and gave him a pointed look.

“H-hey, baby,” he said, “I, uh… I guess the subject never came up!” Spruce flashed her a charming smile that would’ve probably made any girl fall to her knees in adoration, though the effect failed to work on her.

“Bruce,” she said firmly, “What exactly is going on?”

Spruce sighed. “Babe, I have to tell you something… starting with ‘Bruce’ not exactly being my real name…”

It was then that the purple-haired Troll went on to tell his wife all about the way he used to belong to the sensational boyband ‘BroZone,’ and how he’d had not one, not two, not three, but four siblings that he’d refused to speak of. At least, until two of them came right back into his life.

“Bruce,” she said, frowning in disappointment. “Or Spruce, whatever your name is - I can’t believe this.”

But while she couldn’t believe that he would keep something so vital like this from her, the children couldn’t believe the musical aspect of it all.

“You sang in a real band, Daddy?” one Trolling asked eagerly.

“With your brothers?!” another piped up.

“He sure did,” John Dory answered for her. “And I betchu we still got it!”

This got the children very excited, and they all began chattering at once.

“Ooo! Daddy, Daddy, sing one of your songs with your brothers!”

“Yeah! We wanna hear!”

“How many brothers did you say you had again?”

“He said he had four!”

“But how come there’s only two here now?”

“It doesn’t matter, Daddy can still sing with them!”

“Yeah! Please, Daddy, can you? Pleeeaase?”

Spruce glanced over at his wife. She just glared at him.

“Babe,” he whispered to her, “I promise you’ll like it, ‘kay?”

She snorted and turned away from him.

Confident that he’d be able to change her mind, Spruce turned back to their kids and gave them the answer that they’d hoped for. “Okay, sure.” He didn’t usually like to spoil his kids, but sometimes he found that as a Dad it was too difficult to resist.

“YAAAY!” they cheered happily.

Spruce chuckled, and peered at John Dory and Branch. “Sooo… any ideas for what we’re gonna be singing?”

John Dory began thinking, but was surprised when Branch made the first suggestion. “Anybody up for ‘I Want You Back’?” the blue Troll asked.

“Hooo, yeah, you just read my mind!” JD exclaimed, giving Branch a playful punch on the shoulder.

Branch frowned at him, still not comfortable with his physicalness, while Spruce agreed, liking the idea and eyeing the stage inside the tiki hut just beyond the dunes.

“You’re on!”

__________________________________________

A/N: Uncle Branch and Dad Spruce is something that I need to see happen in the movie for sure! 😍

[yes-i-am-happyaspie]

New Mini-Fic!!

Just a lil something that popped into my head the other day. Special thanks to spideysensible (on AO3) for helping me with some of the finer details.

At 717 words, here's a slightly different take on Tony asking Peter to stop calling him 'Mr. Stark.'

Enjoy!

---

Tony has been trying to get Peter to call him ‘Tony’ instead of ‘Mr. Stark’ for months. The refusal started as something akin to a game, a bit, something of a joke between them. But the longer it went on, the more bothered he became by it. Eventually, he decided he was going to have to sit Peter down to talk about it. 

“Pete, please. How many times do I have to ask you to call me Tony?” Tony questioned as the two of them worked side by side on the newest iteration of the spider-suit.

“Once more, as always, Mr. Stark,” Peter cheekily replied.

Rather than laugh as usual at the obvious banter, Tony grew contemplative. He understood that amongst the teasing, he’d never made it clear that he was serious. There was a small part of him that was worried he’d let the joke go on for too long. But he wanted to adress it. And after some thought, he decided that initiating that conversation sooner rather than later would probably be best “Hey, kid?” he questioned, already making his way toward the small break area. “Come sit with me for a minute. We need to talk.” He could sense Peter’s unease and smile reassuringly. 

Even so, Peter looked nervous as he crossed the room towards the couch.

“I know we’ve been making light of it- you calling me Mr. Stark. But I wanted you to know that it actually bothers me when you call me that. Mr. Stark is how colleagues, coworkers, reporters, and random strangers address me. But I know you; you’re practically my kid. And because of that, you calling me Mr. Stark makes me feel kind of uncomfortable,” he said. He sighed and ran a hand down his face before reluctantly admitting, “That and, well, it reminds me of my dad.”

Peter bowed his head. Tony placed a hand on his shoulder to reassure him. “You’re fine, Bud. This is on me. I should have said something a long time ago,” he said.

When he was sure Peter had relaxed, he began to explain. “With my friends,” he said, then paused and tilted his head. “With my family- Tony is my preferred name. I would really appreciate it if you could try to call me Tony.”

Peter nodded his head a bit at his lip. “I mean, I can totally work on that but-” he said hesitantly began. “But I’m probably going to mess up a lot. It’s just that my Aunt May- and my Uncle Ben when he was here- they taught me that it wasn’t good manners to call an adult by just their first name. They said that calling them mister or misses was a sign of respect and I just really want to show you that respect Mr. Uh- Tony.”

“Would it help if I told you that using my preferred name, is being respectful?” Tony suggested.

Peter nodded his head. “I know that. I do. And I want to. It’s just that it’s a habit that’s been drilled into my head since I was a little kid. And I know that’s not an excuse! But just wanted you to understand why I might mess up.”

“I appreciate you sharing that with me, Bud,” Tony said, smiling softly. “And while we’re on the subject, is there anything you would prefer I did or didn’t call you?”

“Do I have to tell you why?” Peter asked, looking up through his lashes.

“Of course not. We’re setting boundaries here, and boundaries don’t require an explanation. Not unless you decide you want to give one.”

“Well, there’s this one nickname,” Peter whispered. “You’ve never used it! But since you asked, I, uh- I don’t like to be called Einstein. Like, at all.”

Tony was a little confused but flourished his hand in acceptance all the same. “Done, deal, Kiddo” he quipped. “I can handle that. Anything else?”

Peter promptly shook his head.

“Great. You let me know if that changes, though. Alright, Kiddo?” Tony requested, hoping to keep the door open for future conversations.

To his relief, Peter agreed. “Perfect,” he said, hIs words accompanied by a genuine smile. “Ready to get back to those suit upgrades?”

Peter smiled between Tony and the workspace, replying, “Yeah, Tony. We definitely should.”

[secretsign]

🧡😶💕😴🏠🤕🐈🌸🌄🌂🪐✂️📱🎵🎥💰💉🛒❓

Thematic Headcanons.

🧡 for a friendship-themed headcanon

It's actually not difficult to make friends with HiMERU; you just need to understand that you aren't friends before you can really progress in that direction. However, as with anyone else, all it takes is paying attention to his preferences and reactions, and not growing complacent just because he seems to treat you amicably. Thoughtfulness goes a lot further with HiMERU than he'd have you believe.

😶 for a headcanon about a secret they know of / keep

You thought. Well, you thought wrong. Anyway, I think they know a lot more about certain Godfather-related issues than they let on... While I don't necessarily think Priest told them everything outright, I do believe they did their own digging, and were close enough to the center that they actually found something. It can be assumed that a lot of it is guesswork, but I do believe they came to know a thing or two about Priest's state of mind and his goals, which would make filling in the blanks of how it came to that point quite a bit easier. Of course, the majority of it is relatively worthless to them; they truly could not care less and want nothing to do with it. They saw it as knowledge with which to protect themself. Don't worry, Mr. "He was interested in me because I'm related to a certain big name idol," I see you. This is all just background for the actual headcanon.

And for those of you who were disappointed in me for not making everything about Kaname, just wait, because I'm going to make this worse. We already know that the video released during SS about Subaru's father was Priest's fault, but doesn't that sound familiar? A very, very similar video was released in a similar fashion before, one that targeted the sympathies of the other side of the conflict and resulted in the hospitalization of two promising young idols. To accept that HiMERU found out about that video (and they did, that much is very much canon) is to therefore assume they knew who to blame for it. And, after having been given the perfect tools for the task, how could they then not strive to turn HiMERU into a superidol the likes of which were all but history? How could they not use the man's own techniques to make a legend out of the boy he tried to destroy? It is an act of defiance, resistance, and revenge that mirrors Priest's own masquerade as Godfather himself. As they say: they are not building HiMERU for Kaname, but for themself, just to prove they can. Their story is overflowing with mishandled feelings of guilt, but I do believe this is a strong driving force behind their goals, moreso than simply holding the door open for their baby brother. And... this got long, but don't hesitate to ask for more details because this one is always on my mind. TL;DR Priest's obsession is HiMERU's inspiration and motivation both for taking up Kaname's identity.

💕 for a love-themed headcanon

I wanted to make this one about Kaname too, but that's kind of a cop out. So! Let's talk romantic love, which is probably what's intended here. I actually had something else written here, but I decided that it would make a better standalone post, so keep your eyes open for that. Anyway, you will likely never catch him engaging in PDA, but he has the capacity to be very affectionate in private, if his partner enjoys that sort of thing. (For the record, he will likely enjoy it, but he has no idea where he stands with it.) He's simply not used to it, even among friends, and the idea of that kind of vulnerability outside of a "safe" environment is a no no. You know, ignoring the other perfectly reasonable reasons he doesn't and won't, such as the issue of appropriate behaviour for idols to engage in. He will tolerate it in small doses where necessary. Don't think I haven't seen your onstage interactions, mister.

😴 for a sleep-themed headcanon

HiMERU does not tend to sleep restfully. He tries to maintain a very strict routine in order to help with it, and spends as little time near his bed when not sleeping as possible. Staying up late tends to be very disruptive to this delicate process, but sometimes it can't be helped... you know, like when a certain someone needs a babysitter. The proper thing for me to do would be to list that routine now, but I'm not going to do that. xoxo He probably should take sleep medication, but he won't.

🏠 for a home-themed headcanon

HiMERU actually does enjoy a cozy style of furniture that might not be expected of him. When he first began to furnish and decorate his place, aesthetic was secondary to comfort, as he wanted it to be as welcoming as possible for his little brother to come home to. However, even with other priorities, his sensibilities wouldn't allow him to simply bring home random pieces of furniture. The resulting arrangement incorporates gentle colours that would provide a much needed reprieve from sterile hospital whites and beiges without leaning too far into garishness. Given the opportunity, he would likely do something similar again; he came to enjoy the balancing puzzle.

🤕 for a pain-themed headcanon

They actually have a pretty low pain threshold; it's just that hiding it has been drilled into them, and so they keep it to themself, even if it's unbearable. This also applies to emotional pain— they feel it so strongly, and yet will not allow others a glimpse of their turmoil. This isn't really a headcanon. I cheated you again.

🐈 for a pet/animal-themed headcanon

He has had very little interaction with animals throughout his life, in general. He does not go to them, and they do not go to him. There is a mutual understanding to leave one another alone. Therefore, it makes him a little nervous to do so, even to pet a cat or dog. He doesn't enjoy unfamiliar experiences typically, especially ones that can't be prepared for ahead of time.

🌸 for a plant-themed headcanon

Kills them. Just kills all the plants. He's over-attentive and then under. He looks it up and meticulously cares for it by whatever arbitrary guideline list he finds for that specific plant, and then grows complacent because he has more important things to do. Therefore, he doesn't care for plants, period.

🌄 for an outdoor-themed headcanon

Voted very likely to succeed in a survival situation, although it would be messy. He can always, in any circumstance, "make do." But it won't be pretty. He is by no means a survival expert, nor does he have a lot of experience with it— he's just someone with good bodily control and lots of random trivia at his disposal that will help him make it through.

🌂 for a weather-themed headcanon

They love the sound of thunder and rain. Real ones may remember my headcanon about Kaname being afraid of thunder, and I'm here to tell you that this has absolutely nothing to do with that.

🪐 for a universe-themed headcanon

help girl what do you mean you want me to come up with setting themed headcanons for my idol from my idol game... I just think it must have been a terribly tense and awkward period of time studying idols for Kaname's sake given his history and all.

✂️ for a hair-themed headcanon

HiMERU originally allowed his hair to grow naturally, alongside Kaname, but decided to maintain a certain length once he became more successful as an idol. The image is everything. He knows it cannot change. His hair was actually shorter than Kaname's when they first met, and for a time, it was his preference. He's grown quite accustomed to his current style, though.

📱 for a media-themed headcanon

He's definitely one of those kinds of people who won't touch an e-book. Has to be physical. He won't get all pretentious about it right off the bat, but it's not something he prefers for himself and that's all there is to it.

🎵 for a music-themed headcanon

I don't think HiMERU likes music very much, actually. Just something mellow that can be passively listened to while reading or doing something else will do. "But Ember, why would someone who doesn't like music be in the music industry?" Do you remember his backstory? Anyway, the love he has grown for living as an idol isn't the music, it's the job itself. He has a passion all his own, not just for Kaname's sake, and I think the contrast that bears to Kaname's own regrets over choosing the path in the first place is delicious.

🎥 for a film/tv-themed headcanon

They have watched every production that Kaname has ever been in to an exhaustive and disturbing degree, until they memorized every word, until they analyzed every twitch... and then, just to be on the safe side, they watched a few episodes of each show without Kaname for good measure, or other movies with the same writers, directors, or producers. And so, you will find that HiMERU has an impressively broad catalogue of movie knowledge, even in fields they have no interest in.

💰 for a money-themed headcanon

HiMERU found out pretty belatedly about how much money was being passed back and forth to keep "his" name relevant in the months leading up to the incident at Reimei. It took a fair bit of effort for him to fix HiMERU's reputation, but the upside of the situation was that the increase in genuine quality after months of bribes, post production edits, and awkward apologies was likely the reason for his surge in popularity that allowed him to keep up with the unit-favouring changes in the industry. However, to this day, he finds himself very concerned with the flow of money surrounding him: where it came from and why, and where it goes. To him, it's another aspect of his image as an idol that needs to be maintained.

💉 for a medical-themed headcanon

HiMERU continues to frequent the hospital to visit Kaname every chance he gets, and even at times when he shouldn't. As much as he dislikes the scenery for various reasons, he finds it somewhat comforting when he's feeling unsettled. If he is unable to see Kaname, he will still often find himself nearby, just for familiarity's sake. Despite the circumstances, he feels safe there.

🛒 for a shopping-themed headcanon

HiMERU is an incredibly frugal shopper, only purchasing what's absolutely necessary... most of the time. He is not immune to impulse purchases by any means, and as a matter of fact, is more likely to do so as a thoughtful gesture towards others.

❓ for a headcanon of the receiver's choice

HiMERU shares his real birthday with his mother, and before she died, the two of them would share the first slice of cake. While he doesn't care to celebrate his birthday at all, he does still find time to have that slice on that day in her memory, even if that's all it is.

[the-himawari]

A3! Takato Tasuku - Translation [SSR] Night Mission (1/3)

*Please read disclaimer on blog

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Tasuku: Thank you so much for inviting me as a guest star this time.

Member of another troupe: The pleasure is ours. I look forward to working together again.

Tasuku: Yes, for sure.

*walks away*

Boy: Huh, where am I…? Mama…?

Tasuku: Hm?

Boy: …Euuugh. Mamaaa, where are you!

*car passes*

Tasuku: …! Watch out!

Boy: Wahhh!

*pulls*

Tasuku: …Phew. I made it in time. Are you okay?

Boy: I-I’m alright… but, *sniffle*.

Tasuku: It was a red light, you know? You’ll get hit by a car if you jump out like that.

Boy: But… but… My mama is…

Tasuku: Mama?

Boy: Mama’s goneee. UWEHHH!

Tasuku: Is this kid… lost…? I can’t even listen to him while he’s crying like this. What do I do—.

Fuyuki: Hey, you. Are you okay? Are you hurt?

Boy: …*Sniff*. Yeah, I’m alright.

Fuyuki: That was scary, wasn’t it? Everything’s going to be okay. Mr. Police Officer is here.

Tasuku: Aniki!

Fuyuki: Tasuku. Is this kid lost?

Tasuku: Yeah. It sounds like he got separated from his mom.

Fuyuki: Roger. Shall we head to the police station then?

-pause-

Fuyuki: Here we are. What’s your name?

Boy: Sakuragi Tsukasa…

Fuyuki: …! I see. It’s you, huh?

Tasuku: ? What’s the matter?

Fuyuki: Oh, nothing. I see. What a cool name!

Tsukasa: Thanks… *hic*.

Fuyuki: Alright, let’s look for your mother together. Don’t you worry. I’m absolutely sure we’ll find her!

Tsukasa: …Right!

Tasuku: … (They must be used to looking after children like this in this line of work. But my brother’s unexpected good at it…)

Fuyuki: Tasuku, c’mere a second.

Tasuku: What?

Fuyuki: I didn't say this in front of that kid since I haven't confirmed it yet. But there was actually someone who looked like Tsukasa's mother at the police station earlier.

Tasuku: Really!

Fuyuki: Yeah. I’ll try contacting her right now.

-pause-

Tsukasa’s mom: I can’t thank you enough…!

Fuyuki: Not at all. I’m glad you two were able to reunite.

Tsukasa’s mom: Come on. Make sure you say thank you, Tsukasa.

Tsukasa: Thank you, Mr. Policeman. Thanks for saving me too, mister.

Fuyuki: Don’t mention it!

Tasuku: Yeah. I’m glad you’re safe.

Fuyuki: Alright then, take care, Tsukasa-kun. Bye bye!

Tsukasa: Bye byeee!

Tasuku: We can breathe a sigh of relief now. Even if it was just a coincidence, you came over and saved the day.

Fuyuki: I was just out on my patrol. That aside, I’ve been trying to reach you on your phone. Didn’t you see?

Tasuku: Hm? …I was in starring in a guest performance earlier. Did something happen?

Fuyuki: So you see, we, the local division and the traffic division hold a traffic safety class for the children every year—. And in the class, there’s going to be something like a “role-model experience”. Could I ask MANKAI Company to help with that?

Tasuku: Us?

Fuyuki: We always ask actors from other troupes. But this year, if possible, I’d like you guys to participate.

Tasuku: A children’s traffic safety class… Whatever the case, that kid from earlier ran a red light, so we need a chance to show him an example. I’d be happy to help if it can prevent an accident like that… For now, I’ll mention it to the troupe members. Can I get back to you with an answer later?

Fuyuki: Go ahead. I’m hoping to hear good news.

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