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ashintheairlikesnow · 3 years ago

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Misread Details, Part Two

CW: Described death of whumper, BBU, implications of pet whump, references to noncon, dehumanization, sadistic whumper

Part One: Nanda | Part Two: Brute | Part Three: Robert

The Unsolved Murder of Henry “Brute” Hanlon and the Box Boy Killer

r/LetsTalkTrueCrime

•Posted by u/oshaycanyousee

2 weeks ago

I’m back, r/LetsTalkTrueCrime! I really appreciated the questions and discussion under my last write-up, and a few of you really encouraged me to keep working to provide a part two to my Serial Killer Box Boy series, so here it is!

In Part One, we looked at the mysterious death of Nathaniel “Nanda” Benson, who died of cardiac arrest due to an undiagnosed heart defect (and likely head trauma played a part) and was found at the bottom of the stairs inside his California home. The only valuable possession missing from his property was his legally-purchased Box Boy, who fled the city wearing Nathaniel Benson’s shoes and using his money to buy a bus and then train ticket.

The last confirmed sighting of the runaway Box Boy (and Benson’s possible killer?) was in Red Hills, California, a large-ish city a couple hours south of Benson’s house by train.

Questions remain around Benson’s death: did he suffer cardiac arrest and fall down the stairs? Did the Box Boy push him, with the shock of the trauma and injury leading to the heart attack that killed him?

Is the Box Boy merely a witness to a tragic but natural death, or the prime murder suspect?

And most importantly: If he wasn’t guilty, why did he run?

Less than a full calendar year after Benson’s death, the question of where the Boxie went after Benson died was answered… but even that answer only opened up more questions, and the sudden death of a second man places even more uncertainty into the story of a Boxie who might simply be an innocent victim - or who could be a serial killer whose makes a victim out of those who give him shelter.

Which leads us to the story of Henry James Hanlon, known to nearly everyone - including his wife - as “Brute”.

Henry Hanlon was born in a small town in Texas, but moved to Red Hills, California after finishing a stint in the Air Force.

His parents, James Hanlon and Estella Hanlon, maiden name Brickers, had had their first child, Henry’s older brother William “Bill”, right out of high school, born six months after their wedding day. Henry came three years later, and his sister Roberta “Bobbie” one year after that.

Henry was a perfectly normal, cheerful little boy, always toddling after his older brother and trying to join in the games of the older kids in town. His parents recalled him as the quintessential “middle child”, always resolving disputes and quietly getting things done. He received his nickname of “Brute” in fifth grade, when a classroom bully was harassing a female friend of Henry’s and Henry decided to take action. The only information I could really hunt down on this was some old school records that I found on a message board, and I can’t really verify if they’re real, but they suggest that the bully was sent home injured and Henry received a three-day suspension.

After that, it seems, anyone and everyone - even teachers - called Henry Hanlon “Brute”, and he never seemed to mind.

He received perfectly average grades, enlisted in the Air Force, served without distinction but without any significant incidents, and afterwards he moved out to California, where he settled into Red Hills (then a city with a thriving industrial district that was slowly beginning its slide into something rougher) and took a job with a manufacturing company, working in their warehouse.

“Brute” dated around a bit, but it wasn’t until three years after his move that he met the woman he would marry, Ellen Patricia Barry. She was a few years younger than him, and they met at a local bar that both were known to frequent. One of Brute’s former coworkers told police that Brute was big into pool and poker, both of which he would engage in when he went to the bar, and that he met Ellen during one of the poker nights, and that Brute stated that how easily she beat him was one of the reasons he was interested in her romantically.

Ellen claims they first spoke while playing pool, not poker, and also claims she’s never played poker in her life. Why Brute would have told his coworkers a different story is unclear.

They dated for about a year before they wed at Grace Baptist Church on a sunny summer day in 20XX. Ellen’s father gave her away while Brute’s little sister was the maid of honor. A year later, Brute’s daughter Elizabeth was born, and a couple years after that, their son Daniel.

The Hanlons lived a charmed life - they owned a cute three-bedroom cottage home (bought and given to them by Ellen’s parents as a wedding gift) in a good part of town with a little white fence around the property and a yard big enough for the children and dog to play in. Ellen was part of the local PTA and active in her church, and Brute himself had the appearance of a man totally content with everything he had.

But Brute Hanlon had a secret.

Ellen continued to believe he was employed by the manufacturing company, but he actually left his employment there years before his death. Instead, he seems to have transitioned into making his money “under the table”. Ellen wouldn’t discover any of this until after his body was located… in a secret house he’d never told her about, in one of the roughest parts of Red Hills.

Without her knowledge, Brute purchased a two-bedroom home with cash directly from its previous owner that was badly in need of repair in the Pauls Mill neighborhood. Once a “company town” from the 1930’s - 1950’s that was absorbed into Red Hills as it grew in the 60’s, Pauls Mill today is the kind of neighborhood where everyone knows if you belong there, or don’t, and it’s best if you belong.

Brute performed a few very cursory repairs to keep it livable, laid down some new carpet, and then used it as a kind of secret base for the unsavory activities he didn’t want Ellen or the children to know about.

While his family believed he was at work at the factory, Hanlon was in fact hosting poker games, selling illicit narcotics and unlicensed firearms, and generally making quite a bit more money than he had with legal employment entirely under-the-table. He would spend his day making connections (and money) through these activities, then go home right at 5 pm sharp to his loving family, eat dinner at 6 pm, help his kids with their homework and hear about their day, and settle in for an evening playing the loving husband and doting dad.

Somewhere during this time period, Brute told Ellen he was setting up a “poker night” with his friends again, now that the kids were school-aged.

What he did instead was drive down to the corner of Holt and McCormick streets, known to all locals as the Red Hills “red light district”, and pick up prostitutes, usually simply meeting with them in his car, but occasionally taking them to a nearby motel.

After his body was found, police showed his picture around to a variety of the individuals who make their living at Holt and McCormick, and more than a dozen locals immediately recognized him.

Some described him as a regular customer who wasn’t particularly special or notable beyond the simple fact that he never tried to renege on payment and could be relied on to always be looking for someone on a particular night of the week… but others, almost entirely male, said he could be violent. A few described being injured enough that they had to seek medical treatment after meeting him. The same individuals stated that he insisted on using dehumanizing and insulting language to speak to them during these encounters, and that he was often unable to perform unless he did so.

One individual, who gave his name as “Mix”, mentioned that the last few times Brute had engaged his services, he had brought along a collar and insisted Mix pretend to be a Box Boy.

During this time period, Brute continued to be an active, involved, and loving parent.

He was home right on time every night except “poker night”, attended his chlidrens’ recitals and baseball games on the weekends. He often took them to the Red Hills Zoo, local parks, and even did a weekend trip to Berras to see the Berras Aquarium, stay overnight in a hotel as a family, and then visit a redwoods park before returning home.

Six months before his death, Brute’s visits to the red light district abruptly stopped. Instead, he apparently met with a local prostitute, engaged his services, and took him home… for good.

The best record we have is that one woman, Needie Brandt, remembered seeing Brute leading a shorter, angular young man to his car one night, and described the young man as “one of those runaway Boxies, collar and all. Poor thing was half-starved”.

Runaways, especially Romantics, are picked up by police from time to time in Red Hills. Most Romantics don’t really know any other way to survive, so prostitution is a common way to make ends meet. Needie said the young man had been seen around the area for a couple of weeks, right alongside the rest of the working people in the red light district, and that after this one night she saw Brute Hanlon lead him into the car, she didn’t see him again.

Asked if she remembered a name, Needie only shrugged and said that even if she did, it wouldn’t be a real one. Which is probably a good point.

Somewhere in here, Brute began to date outside of his marriage while his family believed he was out with friends playing poker. He took dancing lessons with one Susan Krieger, had a serious relationship with a Lucy Graham, and was apparently occasionally taking a Natalie Dorn out for dinner.

Ellen was never informed about these out-of-wedlock interests.

Brute’s family knew nothing. When his eldest son went to state with marching band his freshman year of high school, Brute Hanlon was right there cheering him on.

Then, just two days later, he presumably went right back to brutalizing the Box Boy he was keeping in his secret second home.

We don’t have a record of what exactly transpired within the house after Brute took the runaway Box Boy in. What we do know is what the police found later on.

On October 18th, 20XX, around midnight, Ellen Hanlon called police to report her husband missing after he did not return from his regular poker night. His car was located in the parking lot of an abandoned FoodMart, but a friend of Brute’s came forward to say he often parked there and carpooled with friends when going out.

None of Brute’s possessions were inside, and it didn’t appear the car had been touched by anyone but Brute himself when it was dusted for fingerprints or signs of DNA. Brute’s friends who knew about his secret activities weren’t telling, and Ellen and the children didn’t know anything about their seemingly loving husband and father’s double-life.

At first, the trail seemed like it would go cold, and investigators were frustrated that they had so little to go on.

Then, on October 29th, 20XX, Brute’s neighbor (who apparently asked that his name not be given) called the police department complaining about how the small two-bedroom house next door had begun to smell “like something died in there”, and that he hadn’t seen his neighbor leave or return in days, which was very unusual.

When police arrived, the front door was unlocked. Officer William Keys, the first one inside, later described the smell as “unmistakable. I knew exactly what we’d find the second we walked in that door.”

He was right.

What they found was the bloodied and decomposing body of Henry “Brute” Hanlon, lying on his back in the middle of a small unremarkable living room, on a dirty and stained carpet. He had been viciously stabbed more than fifty times. One even went so far into Brute that there was an exit wound through his back. Medical examiners would later state that at least seven of his wounds would have been directly fatal, but that he had died within the first few and most of the wounds were technically post-mortem.

The murder had been committed by someone who had a very personal reason for the killing. Investigators believe this individual was “absolutely enraged”.

Next to his body was the murder weapon, along with a set of buckles and strips of leather that mystified the officers. These were eventually identified as modified leg braces, but rather than straightening bent or injured legs, they forced the wearer to keep their legs at nearly right angles, which would ensure they had to crawl rather than walk. They appeared to be homemade.

Bloodied smears and footprints led the officers down a hallway and to the bathroom, where there was evidence someone had showered, changed clothes, and then left.

The same neighbor who informed police about the smell also remembered seeing, on October 16th or 17th (later determined that it was likely the 17th, the day that Brute did not return home from “work”), a young man wearing an oversized coat, sweatpants, and a too-large t-shirt walk out of Hanlon’s house and down the street. The young man was on the short side, the neighbor said, had an angular face, and a visible scar at the corner of his mouth and another along the side of his face. He had the collar of the coat flipped up, and the neighbor doesn’t recall if he wore a collar or not.

He had dark eyes, and short but shaggy dark hair that seemed to have been cut hurriedly and unevenly, and he waved at Hanlon’s neighbor without pausing or speaking as he walked past.

Tests on fingerprints and DNA located within Brute Hanlon’s secret second home would reveal that the Box Boy who once ran from Nathaniel Benson after his death was the exact same one who ran from Brute Hanlon after murdering him. The Boxie’s fingerprints were all over the murder weapon… and everywhere else, too.

Within Brute’s home, more knives were found, along with what looked like a badly-crafted homemade whip and some other supplies. A few of the things investigators found appeared to be essentially identical to what was found in Nathaniel Benson’s home. Other things were different (“animalization” was mentioned in some of the reports, but what I’ve been able to find is seriously vague for some reason).

Possibly related, a series of dog leashes purchased from a local pet-supply store were found throughout the home, but there was no evidence of an actual dog. In the home’s main bedroom was a perfectly normal queen-sized bed that was clearly Brute’s, with a small side table, a large dresser, and an attached bathroom.

There was absolutely nothing outwardly out of the ordinary, besides the room being very plain and impersonal. Makes sense, since Brute almost never slept there.

In the second bedroom, however, there was army-style cot with a thin blanket and sheet, three folded shirts on the floor, two sets of bloody metal handcuffs hanging off the cot’s frame at the top and bottom, and a bucket next to the bed. Two metal bowls, clearly of a style meant to be a dog’s food and water bowls, were next to the door. One still had water in it. The window was painted and nailed shut, and bars had been installed over the windows.

Investigators determined the bars were on the house when Brute Hanlon purchased it and had been installed by the previous owner. No reason for that installation was ever given.

Investigation revealed trace amounts of evidence of blood, but nothing much. However, the living room and dining area both showed poorly-cleaned bloodstains that were much older than Hanlon’s murder, including discolored patches on the walls.

A contract for a 24/7 “master/slave” style relationship was found in the top drawer of the dresser, signed ‘Pet’ at the bottom, and with Brute’s name alongside it. However, both signatures match Hanlon’s handwriting, and the Boxie is not believed to have actively signed it, as he would be illiterate at best. Plus, Box Boys are not legally allowed to enter into any contract, anyway, since they can’t understand obligations at that level, so even if he had signed it, it wouldn’t have been considered remotely valid.

I mean, not that those contracts are legal, but... you get my point.

Also located in that drawer were more than one hundred photographs showing the Boxie in a variety of compromising situations and positions. Several of these photos had Brute himself clearly visible in them, and a few had other individuals who have since been identified as Brute’s associates in his more illicit activities.

Interrogations of those associates led to more than seven further arrests for illegal gambling, the production and sale of illicit drugs, and illegal weapons sales. Those interrogations are also how we know about what Brute Hanlon was up to in-between Little League games and Girl Scout meetings.

Those associates claim that Brute kept a “secondhand Box Boy”, muzzled him so he couldn’t speak whenever guests were over, and that often ‘poker night’ simply turned into a game where the assorted guests and Brute himself repeatedly assaulted the Boxie. The associates claimed they thought the entire thing was consensual, but frankly… given the overwhelming evidence that the Boxie had to be kept restrained and was often seriously injured by these assaults... that’s doubtful.

Ellen and her children, who had previously been very visible and spoke often to local news stations about Henry’s disappearance, withdrew after his body was found and his second, secret life revealed - and have never given a single public statement or made a public appearance since.

Ellen moved her children out of Red Hills, moving back in with her own parents, briefly, in northern California. Where they went after that is unknown, but they appear to have left the state and Ellen may have changed her surname. Investigators are firm in their belief that Ellen knew nothing about her husband’s secret life.

I would give my right arm to know what his son and daughter think about it, and if they ever suspected what their devoted dad was up to when he wasn’t at home.

So, what happened to the Boxie after he left the house and disappeared down the block from the witness who saw him?

In short… no one knows for sure.

After murdering Brute Hanlon and cleaning off the evidence that must have been all over him, the Boxie simply fades away. He could have been anywhere, doing anything at all. There is a brief sighting of him on CCTV footage at the local bus station, where he is in line to buy a ticket… and then abruptly looks up, apparently noticing the camera and looking directly into it, then turns and walks quickly away.

The footage is grainy, but the Boxie does appear to be wearing his collar.

He isn’t seen in Red Hills again.

Instead, he reappears one more time before his final murder and disappearance… more than a year later, in a little town right along the border with Nevada.

Part 3 will go into how the investigation into the death of a quiet little oddball named Robert Weber reveals a basement full of skeletal bodies. But our Boxie isn’t the cause.

Instead, Robert Weber’s murder solves a series of related murders police had been stymied by for more than a decade, and a Box Boy who may have been meant to be Weber’s next victim instead turned accidental vigilante with a final killing of his own.

Or maybe I should say, his final killing so far.

@astrobly @finder-of-rings @burtlederp @whump-tr0pes @raigash @eatyourdamnpears @orchidscript @doveotions @pretty-face-breaker @boxboysandotherwhump @outofangband @whumptywhumpdump @whumpfigure @thehopelessopus @downriver914 @justabitofwhump @butwhatifyouwrite @newandfiguringitout @yet-another-heathen @nonsensical-whump @oops-its-whump @endless-whump @cubeswhump @gonna-feel-that-tomorrow @whumpiary

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starfire-s · 4 years ago

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here’s a list of the best, mediocre and worst kdramas i watched in 2020

no one asked for this but it’s happening because i have thoughts (also all opinions are my own if you disagree then get well soon i guess... no i’m kidding make your own posts about it don’t hate me please) ahsjsj anyways click to read a lengthy post and if you actually read the whole thing then thank you i hope you enjoy this wild ride!

THE BEST KDRAMAS -

mystic pop up bar - this show had everything i ask from a kdrama literally i can name it all found family (to real family), well thought out characters, a mystery plot, special effects, soft romances that were well written, a happy ending! no show in 2020 even comes close to how good this one was! the writers literally guided you throughout the whole thing so you could come up with theories and didn’t do a ‘aha! gotcha’ thing where they want to prove the audience wrong but they wanted us to be right and satisfied! the worst part about the drama is that it’s still so underrated and people just brush it off as some random fantasy show but it’s so much more than that! 1000/10

flower of evil - who doesn’t want to see lee joon gi being the son of a serial killer, living with the name of a man who is in a coma, and hiding his real identity from his wife who is a detective? this show constantly had me at the edge of my seat on a weekly basis so the emotions i went through while watching this are unparalleled! the writers also did such a good job on writing a coherent story that made sense and tied up all the plot points in the end. just a really satisfying show to watch! 10/10

where your eyes linger - i literally bought a $8 viki pass to watch this show so it should tell you everything you need to know about how i feel ahsjsj the episodes were 10 minutes long but we got a good story with well written characters who got character development in a total of 80 minutes it’s insane! honestly it’s still hard to believe this show had rookie actors because they were just so emotive that you could feel all the happiness, sadness, yearning and pining! probably one of my fave kdramas this year because of the acting that i always constantly rewatch! would recommend 10/10

crash landing on you - okay so this drama was actually released on my birthday last year and it was a time in my life when i was going through a lot so maybe it’s the comfort this show provided me through that time this is why i have such a soft spot for it? like the romance was good, it was funny, there was found family, the nk soldiers were all softies, there were strong female leads, soft male leads!!! ahh!! no other show on this list made me think about the unification of south korea and north korea irl because i wanted se ri and jeong hyeok to be together 4ever! but the only issue i had with this show was the ending they gave seung jun if they didn’t do that i’d give this show a 10/10 but just for that they get a 9/10

psycho but it’s okay - this was one of those shows where you’re literally like ‘wow everyone here needs therapy’ but this show was amazing i loved the story telling and how each episode related to children’s book/fairytales! the writers also did a good job with how carefully they talked about mental health in depth without villainising their characters but actually tried to make the audience understand why they were this way which included all the side characters too who had a well thought out story in each episode! also the dynamic between moon young, kang tae and sang tae was everything to me the actors all did an amazing job portraying their characters, it truly was a healing drama. the only thing i didn’t like about this show was the whole plastic surgery plot with the mother like that was very far fetched but it provided drama so i’ll let it slide because the rest was amazing. this show is a solid 8.5/10

18 again - another underrated gem! who would’ve thought a remake of that zac efron movie could be this good!! lee do hyun stole this show for sure the way he portrayed his character and gave heart eyes to his kids (when he’s only 25 irl was the best thing i saw this year ahsjs) i loved the family dynamics in this show, i loved how it talked about what it’s like to be young parents and how society still think it’s taboo to be divorced! it’s a show that makes you laugh and cry at the same time and that’s why everyone should watch it! however, the biggest clown thing this show did to me though was that i got sls for the first time while watching a kdrama... hwang in yeop if u’re reading this i love u and u deserved better 🤡 that aside this show was a 8/10

itaewon class - i actually didn’t watch this drama as it was airing because i thought i wouldn’t enjoy the plot but when i watched it i binged the whole thing in 2 days and my biggest regret is i didn’t watch it sooner! everyone knows i have a soft spot for park seo joon since he’s my favourite actor i’ve literally watched all his dramas like he could star in the trashiest drama out there and i’d still watch it and be like wow (looking at she was pretty 👀) this show aside from the acting had one of the best revenge plots in a kdrama! just watching a character realistically hustle his way to reach the top while fighting the corrupt man whose son killed his father was so so satisfying to watch! however, the love triangle in this show was questionable idk what they were trying to do with that but it personally annoyed me! but still i’ll give this show a 7.5/10 because i enjoyed it a lot!

do you like brahms? - kim min jae and park eun bin.. that’s all you need to know about why this is a good kdrama! i’m usually not a big fan of melodramas and everyone knows i prefer rom coms but this show was just so perfectly melo that i loved all the angst and pain we got!! also just watching two introverted people awkwardly fall in love was amazing! the characters story arcs were also handled pretty well with song ah finally learning to speak up for herself and joon young learning to express how he truly feels! but... the love square? was probably the most annoying thing the rest in my opinion was nicely done! i know people had mixed feelings about the ending but i loved that after all the pain joon young and song ah went through they got a happy ending together! 7/10

find me in your memory - okay this show started off very slow and it was confusing at the start but as it progressed everything in the plot started to fall into place! i mean this show really took opposites attract to a new level where the male lead could remember every single detail from his life but the female lead had to forget some of her traumatic memories to help her cope with her life! they were also tied together through a mutual character who was a big part of their lives in a different way! just an interesting melodrama with interesting characters i liked it! and moon ga young... i love you queen!!! 7/10

THE MEDIOCRE KDRAMAS -

more than friends - was the storytelling in this show groundbreaking? no. was the acting decent? yes. also probably the main reason i stuck with this show until the end! i think we can all agree lee soo had the best character development on this show he started off as a bad boy who wore one ear stud to actually becoming a well liked character... who else did it like him? no one. also the chemistry between the mains was 🔥 but the second male lead was so annoying is there a opposite word for second lead syndrome because i had that for sure! i think the best part about this show was the people i watched it with on here... shoutout to the five of us ahsjsj also this show introduced me to a talented actor/singer like ong seong wu (y’all know my kpop knowledge is nonexistent so no i didn’t know he was in a band called wanna one) all in all a predictable show but i had fun watching it so 6.5/10

tale of the nine tailed - i didn’t actually watch this show i watched it through gifs and instagram posts ahsjsjs so am i qualified to talk about my opinion definitely no... will I talk about it anyways yes lmao. lee rang deserved better that’s all goodbye and take care. 5.5/10

start up - probably one of the most awaited opinions. y’all thought this would be in the worst kdramas section but i decided to give this show some rights. the show started off strong, lost it’s way after episode 6 and then the last episode gave me what i wanted so i have mixed feelings. the writing was not the best i think we can all agree, love triangle as a plot device? wow so groundbreaking 🤡 the characters on the other hand... i loved every single one of them i mean ship wars? i don’t know her. the show had a lot of potential that was wasted but we also got some cute moments between the characters so there was really no winning or losing with this show? but in all honesty you can’t put a talented cast together like this and then just decide to give the audience a mediocre plot but the writers did exactly that! i think i can redirect y’all to my ‘crimes this show committed’ post for a in-depth analysis. lastly nam do san was a GOOD and REFRESHING male lead and ji pyeong was also a GOOD and FUN second male lead!!! this show gave me the ugliest ship war ever that i was transported back to my high school tvd days so thank you for that!! but the cast was loveable and all had a lot of chemistry together so here’s a 5/10 maybe that's too generous but... i think the reason why i didn't enjoy watching this show as much was definitely because of the tag on here lmao

THE WORST KDRAMAS -

the king eternal monarch - i miss clowning this show so much. the amount of braincells i lost while trying to understand this plot... i should be compensated by the writers. however, woo do hwan was a treat to look at on a weekly basis... however the writers kept decreasing his screen time even though he had a dual role... make it make sense? and i cannot comment on the plot of this show because i still don’t understand anything? also in my opinion tae eul and lee gon were the most bland couple of 2020, there was no chemistry between them and there was just a random kiss in episode 5 and they randomly said i love you... where was the development? also lee gon was soooo boring and such a one dimensional male lead! literally all the side characters were so much more interesting and the cast was good... but this plot. 2/10

do do sol sol la la sol - i wanna fight the writer who decided that the plot twist on the show would be that jun is a minor? i had no expectations from this show but it looked cute and nonsensical but that plot twist made me run the other way so fast that i never looked back! just because jun is a boy they really thought this would be excused like lmao we all have critical thinking skills???? the clown behaviour. a solid 1/10

record of youth - i hate this show so much. imagine not utilising park so dam who just starred in the biggest oscar winning movie to her full potential. imagine just making her a love interest to park bo gum’s character in the year 2020. i watched it up until episode 6 and i kept waiting for her character to get development... but it never happened so i dropped this show. also this show featured the MOST useless love triangle i have ever seen in my life like what was the point? also park bo gum’s characters family was straight up annoying (minus the grandpa) but they got so much screen time like that should’ve been given to park so dam... also villainising a gay side character for no reason at all in the year 2020? this show was a waste of my time i want the 6 hours i spent watching this back. -100/10

backstreet rookie - i watched one episode of this and literally wanted to rip my eyeballs out of my head. idk what ji chang wook was thinking when he signed this drama i think he lost his ability to read because that's the only reasonable explanation for why he chose to star in such a dumpster fire show! this show had a racist character... had a high schooler kiss an adult... sexist jokes... just the worst things you can think of in a drama... this show had it. i still can’t believe so many people watched this show to the point where it had better ratings than pbio... really made me question everyone’s taste? but sorry can’t relate my taste is excellent so here’s the rating this show actually deserves -1000/10

if you made it this far... thank you for reading. let’s continue to love some kdramas together and get clowned by others in 2021! looking forward to it 😅

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thompsborn · 4 years ago

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do you have any spare ironhusbands or sambucky headcanons?

ABSO-FUCKING-LUTELY

oh my god okay i’ve been so fucking wrapped up in both ironhusbands and sambucky and absolutely nothing else for WEEKS because of tfatws (obviously if you have seen my endless spam of reblogs but can you BLAME ME) and the portal closed has ironhusbands so i’ve been just. oh my god i am happily drowning in this and them and i do not need nor want air. ok.

also these are all hc’s based just in canon not au, and lol warning this got so long help me, though my brain is so scrambled from tfatws finale that all sambucky thoughts are scrambled and jumbled so i wasn't able to coordinate them as well as ironhusbands so the ironhusbands section is definitely longer pfighf i'm so sorry i'm like this

ironhusbands:

when they met at mit tony didnt know shit. like. like nothing. he didnt know a single god damn thing about anything. like he was a genius he could solve any equation given to him and baffled professors when he was handed like two supposedly impossible equations to this fuckin fourteen year old and he just looked at them with like a mcdonalds burger or some shit hanging out of his mouth and just answered them no problem, but he was still such a hopeless idiot, and rhodey, also a genius attending as a sixteen year old, had to teach him the basics of life, like. making toast. tony how do NOT know how to make toast. its TOAST. you put it in the TOASTER. have you NEVER SEEN A—OH MY GOD HOW DID YOU FUCKING CATCH IT ON FIRE—

he does not perfect the clearly impossible task of making toast until he is 17 and rhodey buys him a cake to celebrate the momentous occasion even though tony went though 528 toasters

you are gold by the national parks. thats it. thats all i have to say. listen to the song and look up the lyrics. you’ll get it.

and also paper planes by jon bellion but specifically for after rhodey tells tony he’s gonna join the air force and tony is worried but doesnt know how to show it and they have like a chill night in and all tony can think about is how stupid he is and how he’s such a coward because he cant get himself to tell rhodey that hi!! i love u!! and im scared to lose u and that you’ll get hurt and maybe die or smth!!

when rhodey finds out about how tony was raised (going with mcu, where tony wasnt physically abused but more emotionally neglected and ignored by howard and always talked down to and compared to others and wasnt treated like he was worthy and never was told he was loved and everything like that) he gets PISSED. like he is MONUMENTALLY angry. and it takes YEARS for him to find out about this too. and it actually puts a bit of a strain on their friendship for awhile when they meet too

like rhodey knows about the starks obviously and he assumes tony is going to be this obnoxious arrogant rich boy asshole and is so not looking forward to being roommates but he was raised to have an open mind and give everyone a chance, but tony was raised to be wary of everyone and keep his walls up and his emotions in shackles because whatever he shows can be used against him, so they clash, you know? they dont fight or anything but theres tension bc it isnt right and they dont get each other.

rhodey tries to be nice and tony doesnt understand nice because his only example of nice is jarvis and his mom and even then his mom and jarvis are always off with his dad so he barely sees them so its still rare for him to experience the nice of them so he doesnt know how to be around someone nice all the time, and so he gets defensive and thinks about how howard drilled it into him to be wary and he thinks maybe rhodey isnt ACTUALLY nice but someone PRETENDING to be

and rhodey starts to feel justified in assuming the worst about tony stark because tony is all cold and distant and rude and is about to stop the keeping an open mind thing about a month into their first year but then he comes back to their dorm early from class one day and tony doesnt come in so rhodey is just standing there and watches for a minute as tony sits there staring down at his twenty sixth attempt at a letter he wants to send his mom becauss he knows his mom likes letters even though he could just call but they havent really called him (howards fault but he’s fourteen still and its hard to rationalize that howards busy life and controlling thumb extends past his son) and rhodey is just confused because tony just suddenly sighs and sniffles a bit and murmurs “this is so stupid” and crumbles up the paper and throws it in the garbage and rhodey cant help but peer into it and barely sees the words hey mom scribbled at the top and that. that. hm. okay.

so rhodey keeps trying because he wasnt supposed to see that but he did and now he kind of has a feeling that maybe tony isnt all that cold and distant and rude as he seems, maybe he just doesnt really know how to be any different, so he thinks about all the subtle little ways that his family has shown him they care about him and starts to invite tony to go get food or to study together even though neither of them really need to study or to help each other with assignments or just anything thats mundane enough to not raise suspicion but still starts to open the door and make tony relax around him just that little bit and then before tony realizes it the end of their first year is there and theyre like friends or something and it hits him that he’s gonna miss rhodey.

for the first time ever there’s someone other than his mom and jarvis that he’s actually going to miss.

rhodey grins at him and says that they’ll be roommates again next year because they have to be and that the summer will be over before they know it and the sentiment is nice but tony spends the summer alone wandering around a house too big and empty after being in a dorm that’s small and has a friend.

but rhodey doesn’t know this. like he knows that tony isn’t the kind of guy he originally assumed but he doesn’t know that he’s literally ignored and neglected and like emotionally and sometimes verbally abused so he’s kind of surprised when the next year begins and they DO end up being roommates again (because tony kind of asked his mom, on a rare day when he got to see her and howard wasnt around, to get mit to make sure they could be) and tony just HUGS him like its been years and they’ve known each other forever but he goes with it and hugs him back because maybe tony’s just more affectionate once he gets to know someone and rhodey is okay w that.

they get closer as the years go by and they graduate from mit together and they’re BEST friends and at the end of the year rhodey invites tony to spend new years eve w his family but tony cant bc howard is having some kind of gala starting at 5 because hes weird and dumb and tony hates it and he also isnt given the option of not going even though he doesnt want to but the entire way there howard drills into him about not fucking up and berates him for all the times he has in the past and when they get there tony is already just not feeling it so he’s like nope!! no!! i simply cannot!!

so he goes in and finds an exit thats in the back and he leaves and finds a fucking payphone of all things and he has rhodeys home number memorized for years now and he calls and someone he doesnt knoe answers and theres music in the background and voices and tony’s entire stomach is in his throat and his heart is sunken into his twisted gut because he just wanted one night where maybe he could smile next to his parents and feel like he fit with them but he couldnt have that and he asks to talk to rhodey and then he is and asks if its too late to accept his invite and rhodey is like yeah of course do u need my address bc its still only 5 pm and its a 2 hour drive between south philadelphia and manhattan so he’d make it with plenty of time before it got to midnight so yay

and tony is like. oh. hm. i dont know how to drive actually. that was a thing that no one ever thought to teach me even though i asked about it about ten million times. and rhodey is used to tony not knowing how to do things that most people their age can (see: the toast) and plus its not uncommon for people from new york to not drive anyway so he doesnt think anything of it and instead asks for tony’s address to come pick him up instead and they’d still make it back by like 9-9:30 so that would work too

and thats when tony is like. well.

about that.

he might be calling from a payphone.

on a random street corner.

and its kind of raining. and he’s cold. and he’s a bit dulled out from everything so he doesn’t really think about the fact that admitting this is going to lead to having to explain what happened and also why and that is happens often. but that doesnt matter because he kind of just wants to be with his best friend and not back at that gala with his dad right now.

rhodey is like,,, ok. ok. wheres a coffee shop nearby u can wait in. and tony thankfully is by a 24 hour one and tells him the name and the street corner its closest to and rhodey is like i’ll be there asap and tony goes and he waits.

a two hour drive turns into an hour and a half because rhodey is Worried™

but when he walks in tony goes from being all dulled out to being all HOLY SHIT because rhodey has a SPLIT LIP and he’s like WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED WHAT THE FUCK WHAT

and rhodey’s like no no its good my uncle was having fun and trying to wrestle with me and he accidentally elbowed me its all good man dont worry about it

tony isnt used to accidentally being hurt tho so he’s still like hmmm but he takes rhodeys word on it and they head out and tony wont say what happened or why he was calling from a payphone ?? which btw tony literally only was able to do bc there happened to be dropped change on the ground because boy would not have change on him ok, but rhodeys like alright lets go with this for now

so they gets to the rhodes house and it is in full swing with family and extended family and adopted family bc they are 100% the family that just adopts the neighborhood kids and the people who have no one else and like ex boyfriends and ex girlfriends even after the relationship ends bc they still are family despite not dating whoever it was they had been dating in order to be introduced to them so its a LOT of people and tony is like. this is semi familiar in terms a lot of people but this is NOTHING like what he has ever seen before holy fucking SHIT

rhodey is just like oh u have a small family then? so ur used to smaller gatherings?

and tonys like wtf are gatherings

and rhodey is starting to get a feel for what might be wrong but just takes tony inside to get him changed because he’s not spending new years eve at the rhodes house in a fucking expensive suit ok

tony is completely out of his element and like he’s not the only white guy there bc again the rhodes adopt people and those people are of every race and nationally you can imagine but he just isnt used to the vibe there are people laughing and sitting close together and playing games and theres music playing but not like classy music its music people can dance to and are dancing to and the food isnt the food he’s used to at galas and shit and nothing is what he’s used to and he just sticks to rhodey’s side like a fucking lost puppy and tries his best not to look like an idiot when rhodey introduces him to people and a lot of them know who he is but dont judge him or assume shit about him bc obviously if he’s friends w rhodey then he’s a good guy and they want to know him and thats enough

but tony is v overwhelmed bc what the FUCK IS HAPPENING this is nothing like anything he has ever experienced EVER

so eventually rhodey can tell he’s getting overwhelmed and takes him inside and lets him have a breather and then asks him about whats going in and thats when rhodey learns about what tonys life at home is really like and. anger.

SO MUCH anger

because not only has every single assumption he has ever made about tony been proven wrong, but now he knows that the best person he knows has never been treated the way he deserves and has never known a true home and comfort and love and safety and

and he’s gonna fix it

and this is the first step

so he takes tony back out and they’re still just friends but this is the day they both quietly realize they might kind of definitely like each other as more because tony is still so confused by the fact that what he knows isnt the normal and overwhelmed by how much there is and how different it is but rhodey holds his hand as a grounding point and whenever it might be too much they move off to the side where they arent completely gone but its less hectic and a bit more quiet and its just nice

tony goes to rhodeys house for every holiday despite whatever howard says

rhodey decks howard the only time they ever meet before tonys parents die and he has the most shit eating grin on his face afterwards that tony cant help but lose his shit laughing his ass off

anyway i didnt mean to ramble for so long about that specific idea so i’ll end the ironhusbands ramble with this one last thought, which is as follows:

rhodey gets hurt in the air force at some point, and it isnt that bad tbh but he does have to go the hospital and shit and gets stitches or whatever idk i dont know what specifically happens i just think it’d be just bad enough that it takes him a few weeks to be able to go back to work but he’s not like OH GOD HURT yk?

but like stated above tony was scared and worried when rhodey told him he was gonna go into the air force so he hears about this and they’re probably like almost 30 at this point because they’re dumb and it takes them forever to get their heads out of their asses (i say this even though in the portal closed it takes them even longer but i digress) rhodey has like his mon his sister his niece visiting him and they were worried but they know hes fine so theyre just talking and in a good mood and then—

door slams open. tony stark enter stage left. disheveled suit, fresh from a meeting he definitely was not supposed to leave, having flown in from maibu the second he heard and then had happy drive him and then got impatient because of traffic and ended up sprinting like ten blocks while happy was like what the FUCK

of course rhodeys family are well aware that these idiots are desperately in love with each other so they’re just like lol ok and just leave the room while tony starts fretting over him like he’s about to die himself if he doesnt know if rhodey is okay and rhodey is like tony tony dude tones stop tony im okay tony stop it

until finally tony just fucking breaks down like full on tears in his eyes voice cracking hands clasped as he leans against rhodeys bed and tells him that he was so scared and he is so scared all the time whenever rhodey is out there because all he can think about is losing him and him getting hurt or dying and it’s maddening and this is when they get their heads out of their asses and kiss for the first time

(irony at its finest bc later when they are married and tony becomes iron man rhodey refuses to not have a suit of his own because if tony is going out there in a metal flying tin can then he isn’t going alone and wow what a power couple)

sambucky:

firstly i’m going to go post tfatws, but i’ll make a bullet point before going into it so if you wanna read up until that point you can but most of this will be random little headcanons based post tfatws

also it isnt like a whole plotline thing like the ironhusbands ones ended up being these ones are more random and kinda all over the place but loosely connected

update from after writing this: i lied

let me start by saying my interpretation of why they are the way they are in civil war is because of steve

thats not saying steve is the bad guy i mean to say that they’re jealous of each other because they thought that THEY were steve’s best friend who the fuck is THIS guy i dont want him here go away

children. they are children.

which i find very funny to imagine from sams pov because he literally is a licensed therapist and would 100% recognize why he’s acting how he is but he’s petty enough to do it anyway

and also he literally was helping steve track bucky down but i like to imagine that sam didnt think they’d ever really find him again and it’d just make him and steve like super mega best friends or something because hes a CHILD

and then from bucky’s pov steve goes through all this trouble to find him and protect him and then this random guy is acting like steve’s best friend and gets to sit in the front seat ??? bullshit. absolutely bullshit. worst thing ever. so stupid.

its so funny to me okay its SO funny

its like that schoolyard thing where your friend makes another friend and you hate it so much that you do something stupid like color on their drawing or put gum in their hair or whatever but they’re adults with 1. super soldier serum or 2. a superhero reputation/avengers status and suit with wings. so thats a thing.

post civil war i dont think they get much yk. because bucky is out in cryo and team cap is on the run and i doubt theyre able to return to wakanda much, if at all, and then it’s infinity war and then it’s endgame and after endgame there’s the aftermath and the aftermath is a mess

i like to think they have some moments before tfatws though. not many but enough for that slight foundation thats we can kind of see in episode 2 yk.

okay NOW it gets into post tfatws so!!

SO post tfatws everything is different because now they not only have spent all this time together, but they understand each other in a way that they didn’t before. in a way no one ever has. not even steve, who may have known them before, but he isn’t here anymore and he wouldn’t understand who they are now vs who they were before and it’s different.

bucky finds comfort in sam’s home town. sam finds comfort in watching bucky find a home there and he doesnt know why.

also sam treats redwing like a puppy and lets him fly around on his own and gets pet and stuff and bucky acts annoyed but the longer it happens you can tell he’s like “oh my god why is this thing endearing”

bucky has nightmares and sam knows this but bucky doesnt know that sam also has nightmares until one night when they’re still in sams home town and they’re staying on the boat because sams nephews are having a sleepover with some friends and they didnt want to get in the way or smth idk i just want an excuse for them to be on the boat and somewhat secluded from people but bucky already woke up from his nightmare and is out on the deck to get some fresh out and then oop

sam havin a nightmare too

because fucking of COURSE sam has nightmares he has been through some shit too!! not being able to catch riley and everything that happened since meeting steve and thanos and he turned to dust alone in the bushes ok like yes everyone that died were traumatized undoubtedly (peter my baby boy baby im so sorry that you got the worst of it) but bucky was around people but sam was laying on the ground and probably just watched his hands as he disappeared and he was alone and like. jesus christ ok.

and then steve trusted him with every weight and everything that comes with the shield not knowing how much more the shield has when he gave it to a black man and just like he has nightmares everyone in marvel does its a fact

but bucky finds out like this and he is shocked even though he realizes he probably should have been able to guess that this is a thing and he knows so much more about sam now than he ever did but this is how he learns more. he learns about riley. he learns so much.

sometimes bucky has those like “oh shit” moments where he’s like “maybe i was kind of a dick to someone who didnt deserve it” and he already had one of those with sam about the shield but he has another one because he assumed shit about sam when they were being all childish and jealous about someone else being friends with steve but like fuck

steve and sam probably got it

the not catching someone. the way it felt to try and to reach out and to miss and to have to choice but to watch as they fell.

what’s different is that steve got bucky back. he got to have that relief, eventually, even if there was the pain of knowing bucky had been taken by hydra, but at least he knew bucky had made it.

sam didn’t have that. riley didnt make it.

therefore, bucky has his “oh shit”

and bucky was already going soft around the edges with sam (as clearly seen in the last two episodes of tfatws, ESPECIALLY the finale because like did tou SEEZ ALL THE HEART EYES oh my GOD) but it’s this that really makes something in him melt and he just. he loses the last remnants of whatever tension or resentment or whatever negative feeling he may have been clutching onto.

there wasnt much left. but now theres none. now its all washed away.

its gone, and he gets it.

sam is a licensed therapist and he knew the reason he was being all dumb and childish and jealous with bucky was because steve had another best friend but also because steve’s other best friend was the guy that had been a big factor in how him and steve understood each other and how they bonded and it

it had kind of felt like they lost part of that when they found bucky again in civil war and he kind of wanted to blame bucky for it even though he didnt actually blame him at all so all it translated to was that dumb kind of jealous thing instead

but now it’s just them. its sam and bucky and it isnt steve and it isnt about steve and it shouldnt be because its about them. its about the boat and the water and the way they sit and watch the waves while the silence settles over them and the way that bucky says, “im sorry.”

its the way sam says, “me too.”

and bucky says, “you dont have to be.”

its the way they stay there until sarah comes to get them for breakfast and sams nephews convince them to play with them and their friends and the world is still shit and there is so much to do but

but its this and its them and that can wait

it can wait

they can take their time if they want to

maybe they’ve earned that much, at least

(it isn't a fast development because they're a complicated pair and there's so much to the two of them that need to figured out individually before they can even realize how well they work together, but the steps are so much easier knowing that they have the other in their corner and bucky knows that sam's home town is a place he's welcome to go and sam helps him make his own dreary little apartment into something that feels real and tangible with a bed and a couch and when they've become something that resembles stable and they've found a balance and they're okay, that's when they realize that maybe they can try for the more that sometimes bubbles under their skin and that they started to think about the more they spend time together. the warmth that sam feels every time he sees bucky playing games with his nephew and the smile that bucky has to fight to hide and still can't fully suppress when sam stands tall and proud with the shield in its rightful place, and it takes time, it takes work, it takes carefully placed bricks to build the foundation they need, but they get there, and when they do...

when they do, they're already happy, and it just makes them happier, and that's what makes it so much better.

that's what makes it worth the wait.)

#ironhusbands #sambucky #headcanons #asks

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moonlit-imagines · 5 years ago

Text

A Bug’s Life

Peter Parker x Lang!reader

warnings:

a/n: i love this concept and also anon u r sweet and i just found out theres a marvel supervillainess named dragonfly but since i havent heard of her until today im using that name!

prompt: anonymous: “Can you please write a Tom Holland!Peter Parker x Female!Reader where the reader is the older sister of Cassie Lang (Antman’s daughter) and her and Peter fall in love with each other. ✨ Thanks so much! 😘”

Okay, so when you were a kid, you had always dreamed of being a superhero. You never thought you’d know your idols personally, though. You see, when your dad, Scott Lang, came back from prison, a lot changed. Suddenly, he was a superhero and no matter how much he didn’t like it, you wanted to be apart of it.

“Y/N, no, please. You’re just a kid!” You dad argued with you in the presence of your “uncles.”

“Scotty, I think it’d be good for her, you know? Like, she’s so smart and she’s got a lot of talent! I think she could learn a thing or two from Hope and Dr. Pym, right?” Uncle Luis egged on.

“Yeah, dad! Me and Hope have already been experimenting with some stuff and, I mean, Mom’s been bugging me over getting into some extracurriculars...” You reasoned with him.

“Yeah, y/n, like photography club or soccer, not being a crime-fighting bug!” Scott pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed, but when he looked back up, you were giving him puppy eyes. “Don’t...don’t do that.”

“Please, dad? I just wanna follow in your footsteps. You’re my hero.” You pouted your lip and didn’t break eye contact with him until he let out a load groan.

“Your mom is going to kill me.” He mumbled while you celebrated with Luis.

You became known as Dragonfly, Ant-Man and Wasp’s sidekick partner. It wasn’t long before you were affiliated with the Avengers and other heroes from across the galaxy.

The first time you stepped foot into the Avengers Compound was unbelievable.

“If only I could tell eight-year-old me how cool she’d grow up to be...” You whispered as your dad led you through the place. You were specifically requested for recruitment following a backround check that proved that you were qualified to train as a junior scientist! The program had just been started thanks to the young Spider-Man, one of the many heroes you had met before and would actually get to know after today.

“Alright, kiddo, it’s not too late to back out.” Your dad told you.

“It’s gonna be fine, dad! You know you can visit me anytime and I’ll come to see you and Cassie every chance I can get.” You gave him a warm smile to let him know it’s alright.

“I know...I’m just gonna miss you, you know?” He shrugged, but before the conversation could continue, you were greeted by Bruce Banner, aka the Hulk.

“Welcome! Nice to see you again, Scott.” Bruce shook your dad’s hand, then turned to you. “And it’s wonderful to finally meet the girl behind the mask.” He shook your hand.

“Nice to meet you, too, Doctor Banner.” You fit your small hand into his abnormally large (and green) hand.

“I’ve heard great things about you, Y/N. I’m excited to see your talent up close.” Dr. Banner chuckled. “I told Peter to meet us here, he probably forgot.” He walked to the wall and pressed the speaker button to the intercom. “Peter, can you meet us at the South Entrance?”

Moments later, a teenage boy came barrelling towards the three of you.

“Sorry! Sorry I’m late.” He apologized profusely. You giggled at the disheveled appearance of him. His hair was sticking up in the back and his flannel was half-tucked into his pants. “I’m Peter!” He stuck his hand out for you to shake. “Peter Parker. Spider-Man.” You took his hand gladly and shook it.

“Y/N Lang. Dragonfly.” You introduced yourself. “It’s been a while since we’ve fought together.” You pointed out. “Maybe that’s a good thing.” Peter’s eyes furrowed at that comment. “You know, not fighting.” You added.

“Oh, yeah, definitely!” Peter agreed.

“So, let me guess: you overslept?” You referenced Peter’s bold look and he quickly fixed anything noticeably wrong to him. Bruce and your dad were just observing the chemistry between you and Peter, exchanging entertained glances.

“Hi! I’m y/n’s dad, Scott. Ant-Man.” Scott interrupted as he waved to Peter.

“Oh! I remember you. You got really big in Germany and I had to web your knees until you fell down.” Peter brought up old memories and you covered your mouth to stop from laughing.

“Yep! That’s me.” Scott eyes got slightly wider. “So, I really wish I could stay, but I have a meeting with a client tomorrow morning that I can’t miss. Alarm company doesn’t run itself, you know?” Silence. “Anyways, uh, y/n.” He motioned you a bit closer so you could say goodbye. He crouched down and grabbed both your shoulders. “I love you so much and I am super proud of you. This is an awesome opportunity, kiddo!”

“Yeah, I know.” You said in a sort of disappointed tone.

“What’s wrong?” Scott asked.

“I’m just gonna miss you.” You frowned.

“Come here.” Your dad pulled you into a tight hug. “I’m gonna miss you, too.” The hug lasted at least sixty seconds before he pulled away and kissed your forehead. “Okay, now here’s your bag, go do some science!” He gave you your suitcase. “I love you, Pumkin.”

“Love you, too, dad.” You smiled, almost holding back tears. You really didn’t want to say goodbye to him, but it’s apart of life. Scott watched as you, Peter, and Banner walked down the halls of the Compound. Bruce and Peter were showing you your new room!

“What’s crime like on the West Coast?” Peter asked you. “I’ve only fought crime on the East Coast. And Europe. And Space.”

“Crime is the same coast to coast. It’s crime.” You shrugged.

“Well, that’s cool. Sorry, I’m not good at small talk.” He chuckled.

“Peter, you’ll be able to show y/n her room and give her a little tour, right?” Bruce asked as he slowed down.

“Yeah, no problem.” Peter nodded.

“Alright, great. I’ll be in the lab if anyone needs me.” Bruce walked away and left the two of you to it.

“Okie doke.” Peter clapped his hands together. “Well, this is the hallway.” Is exactly how he just began the tour. The Compound was actually, surprisingly, bigger than you expected. “And that’s the training room, there’s the kitchen, your room has it’s own bathroom, but there are other bathrooms all over the place. There’s a shopping list on the fridge if you ever have any requests, but fruit snacks are banned since I ate two full boxes in one day and threw up.” Peter gave that wonderful anecdote.

“Wow, that’s...impressive?” You tried to come up with something.

“I think the word you’re looking for is ‘disgusting.’” Peter and you shared a laugh as you approached your new room. He opened the door up and you stepped into the biggest bedroom you’d ever seen. “It’s taken some getting used to, you know, the big room, the big bed, the huge bathroom, all of it.”

“This is amazing.” You mumbled.

“Yeah! And Bruce said we can go shopping and decorate the room any way you’d like. I just got my license, so I’d be cool with driving.” Peter proposed.

“Yeah, I think that’d be pretty cool.” You agreed as you threw your suitcase onto the bed and started unpacking. “Uh, I’m kind of hungry...know any places to eat around here?” You started putting shirts on hangers and filling up your huge closet. You noticed Peter hadn’t answered your question yet, so you turned around to see what he was stalling for. He was just watching you. “Am I really that interesting?” You joked.

“What?” Peter blinked. “Oh! Yeah, sorry, yeah, there’s a few places around that we can go to. Assuming you’d want my company, of course. It’s your choice, really.” Peter rambled and you approached him.

“Duh, I gotta get to know my housemate better!” You pulled Peter out of the room and in a random direction. “Am I going the right way to the garage?”

“No.” He answered and you quickly changed directions. You were oddly comfortable with Peter already, and he wasn’t exactly against it. You were super sweet to him and you two have a lot of shared experience. Teen heroes trying to make a difference. And bug-themed.

Peter drove you to his favorite (and closest) restaurant for dinner, and on the way, he played his music on the playlist. Left Hand Free by Alt-J played through the speakers as you sang along.

“You like this song?” He asked and you nodded without a pause in singing. “Good, so do I. You have a really good voice.” He complimented, which definitely made you blush.

“Thanks, now sing with me!” You nudged his arm leaning on the console and resumed your singing.

“I don’t really sing.” Peter chuckled and saw you roll your eyes, then sighed. “Fine. You win.” He began to join you in song.

Well your left hand’s free, and your right’s in grip. With another left hand watch his right hand slip towards his gun, woah woah woah...

“You’re not too bad, yourself, Peter.” You told him as he pulled into a parking spot at the restaurant. The two of you walked in together and the waitress immediately recognized Peter.

“Hey there, Peter! Good to see you!” She greeted and grabbed two menus. “I see you’ve brought a date.” She raised her eyebrows and smirked.

“Oh, uh, she’s not—” Peter stuttered before you took over.

“Yep, it’s our first date! I’m y/n.” You introduced yourself.

“Well, it’s nice to see him with someone. Follow me, you two.” She let you over to a table and told you she’d be back for drinks in a minute. As soon as she left, Peter turned to you.

“When were you going to tell me this was a date?” Peter cocked an eyebrow with a crooked smile to match it.

“I’m sorry! I hope it’s okay I told her that.” You innocently replied.

“It’s more than okay.” Peter leaned forward. “I’m happy to be your date. We are moving a bit fast, though.”

“Are you sure? This is actually pretty slow for people our age. By now, they’d probably be confessing their love for one another.” You joked and he rolled his eyes.

“You are so right!” He snorted. “Jeez, it’s been so long since I’ve talked to someone my own age!” He sighed. “What about you?”

“I hang out with adults all day long. The only kid I hang out with is my little sister. Do you have any siblings?” You asked him.

“Only child.” Peter answered. “What’s your sister’s name?”

“Cassie. She’s sweet but it’s kind of weird coming back after the Blip and seeing her all big and everything.” You made random hand gestures to demonstrate that she was bigger.

“I know, right! I have classmates that I saw as infants that are now bigger than me!” He explained. The waitress came back and got you your drinks and took each of your orders. Back to the chit-chat. “Okay, now tell me, what got you into the hero-game?”

“Okay, well, my dad had just gotten out of prison, right?” That sentence itself made Peter choke on his drink. “Oh, calm down, it was a non-violent offense. He actually exposed corruption, that’s why I look up to him.” You explained.

“That’s good, that’s good. I’m glad. Go on.” He took another sip from his drink.

“Yeah, so then he robbed Hank Pym, who actually wanted my dad to rob him, then a bunch of ants broke my dad out of jail after he got arrested again for stealing from Dr. Pym, then my dad became the new Ant-Man and took down some bad guys, his new girlfriend, Hope, who is Dr. Pym’s daughter, took a liking to me and started showing me the ropes, so me and my Uncle Luis convinced my dad to let me make my own suit. Then Dragonfly was born.” You explained in full detail. “What about you?”

“Oh, yeah. Well, I got bit by a radioactive spider that was being experimented on in a lab, then I had a short-lived wrestling career, then my uncle who raised me died and I became Spider-Man.” He smiled and your jaw dropped.

“Holy shit, are you okay?” You asked.

“Oh, yeah, I’m good.” He admitted as you guys recieved your food. “So, anything else I should know about you?”

“I dunno.” You shrugged. “I like Star Wars.” You told him.

“Me too!” Peter exclaimed.

“No, you don’t. My dad told me Spider-Man called AT-AT’s ‘walking-thingies.’” You shook your head and laughed at the thought of that.

“Okay, so I’m not a huge fan, but our next date can be a Star Wars marathon?” Peter proposed.

“Yes!” You agreed a bit too enthusiastically. Peter smiled and the waitress brought an ice cream sundae with two spoons to the table.

“It’s on the house.” She told you two with a wink.

“Looks like we’re sharing.” You grabbed a spoon and got to work. Peter got chocolate all over his chin. He was kind of a messy eater. “You’ve got a little something...” You grabbed a napkin and wiped his chin clean.

“Thanks.” Peter picked his spoon up and moved it towards you. “Have you tried any of the brownie yet?” You took a bite of what he offered.

“Wow, that’s amazing.” You spoke through your mouthful.

“I hate to brag, but I make a pretty mean batch of brownies.” Peter bragged.

“You’re gonna have to prove it, Pete.” You wiped your face off and cleaned up your spot a bit. “You ready to get back to the Compound?”

“Yeah, yeah, let’s get going.” Peter left some cash on the table to pay the bill and walked you out to the car. The car ride back was filled with jokes and even more stories about your super-adventures. “So, you’re telling me that the first time you shrank, you cried?”

“Yes! Dude, it was an emotional experience. I’m telling you, I was not prepared for something so cool.” You defended yourself. “Now tell me something embarrassing about your powers.”

“I got stuck to a bathroom stall at school and they thought I was skipping class so they sent an aide and I was crying out of fear.” He admitted with pity in his voice.

“Oh, my god. That’s awful.” You giggled and grabbed his hand. “Have you recovered yet?”

“No, unfortunately not, but the handholding sure does help.” Peter squeezed your hand tighter.

“I’m glad.” You smugly replied and closed your eyes to listen to the music. You were kind of exhausted from traveling, so you knew you’d pass out the moment you hit your bed. Soon, you arrived at the Compound and Peter kissed your cheek to get you up.

“We’re hoooome.” He said in a singsong voice as your eyes fluttered open. “Sorry, that was weird.” He apologized, but you grabbed his face and pulled him in for a long kiss. More like a brief makeout, but potato, poe-tah-toe.

“You’re really cute, you know?”

381 notes · View notes

xmagicxshopx · 5 years ago

Text

Rush Hour Pt 1

Genre: Action Adventure, Angst, Romance, Comedy Rating: PG-13 - M Warnings: drug trafficking, human trafficking, language, smut (in pt 2) Pairing: officer!jungkook x reader , officer!taehyung x oc (Nari) Notes: AU fic. Not idol!bts. Single quote marks ‘ ‘ are for thoughts and double “ “ are for talking. Additional Notes: Thank all the crime shows my parents watch for this. XD Not to mention I love the Rush Hour movies. @u@

Tagging: @grxnadxs

Summary: You and your best friend are being framed for a crime you didn’t commit and there’s only two people who believe you. Agent Inspector Jeon of the Busan Police Department and Detective Kim of the Daegu Police Department. Can they rescue you before it’s too late?

MASTERLIST

Organized Crime.

South Korea’s biggest enemy.

Financial fraud, drug trafficking, weapons smuggling, human trafficking. It was all because of organized crime and it made the police departments absolutely sick. A beast they couldn’t contain, let alone kill. Drugs were their biggest problem, really. And what drugs couldn’t produce in real cash flow, fake won made up for it. Sickening. Absolutely sickening.

“Detective Kim---Agent Inspector Jeon has arrived.”

Having been standing there watching the city with his steaming mug of hot chocolate because he’s not a coffee drinker, he simply turned his head to the officer-in-training and smiled a friendly smile before nodding his head and saying casually,

“Let the asshole in.”

“Hey, I heard that, asshat!”

Detective Kim, more commonly known as Kim Taehyung, just laughed as he set his mug down to greet one of his best friends and favorite partners in law enforcement. Walking through the door was one chuckling Jeon Jungkook, otherwise known as Agent Inspector Jeon. After performing their super secret handshake, the both of them took a seat in which Jeon sighed heavily.

“They briefed me on the situation. One of them is from Busan so they sent me over. It’s a pretty ugly case. This organization seems to have quite the record.”

“No kidding. Drug and human trafficking?? Disgusting. Makes me sick.”

Jungkook watched his older bestie tossing the folder full of files onto his desk and he couldn’t help but feel bad for him. Kim Taehyung was a good man. An honest and traditional man. Someone who one day wanted to settle down and have a family. A wife and kids. He cherished his fellow human beings so human trafficking always hit harder for him than anything else.

“Hey. We’ll catch them, hyung. They’re going to slip up and that’s when they’ll hang themselves with their own rope. In fact, it sounds like they might already have. It says they’re on the run. Armed and dangerous. But we’re more dangerous. Besides....”

Kim looked away from the window once more to see what his younger friend might be trying to say. The sight before him made the male snort and shake his blonde head in amusement. Jeon Jungkook had since stood up from his seat and was standing in a fighting position while saying with confidence that only he could pull off,

“I’ve been taking boxing lessons. These dirt bags won’t see me coming.”

“Whatever you say, Jeon. Whatever you say.”

Meanwhile, on a train heading out of Daegu.....

“I’m scared....”

You could hardly hear your best friend and honestly you couldn’t blame her. Both of your voices were hoarse from the lack of hydration. The first thing you’d do once getting to the next town would be trying to buy some bottles of water. Your tongue felt like sandpaper. Trying your best to comfort the female next to you, you simply reeled her in and let her head rest on your shoulder.

Criminals.

In the eye of the public, that’s what you were.

The world knew you both as criminals but the world couldn’t be farther from the truth. You two were just a pair of best friends who had found themselves in the wrong place at the wrong time. Simple on paper but oh-so complicated in all actuality. With an internal sigh, you gently stroked your best friend’s raven locks as you spoke up softly,

“It’s going to be okay, Nari. I’m going to take care of us. Just stick with me and everything will be fine.”

Nari, your best friend of four years, nodded gently against your shoulder as she shifted a little closer in the bus seat the two of you were sharing. Honestly, the two of you weren’t used to the silence of the bus. The life you both had been living for the last four months was anything but silent. Guns, violence, moving from home to home. It was all so chaotic.

Human trafficking.

You were no longer considered a person. No. You and your best friend had become objects to be used by scum bags who called themselves men. To be used as they saw fit. Whether it be as a cover-up for a smuggling operation or to release sexual frustration, you were no longer considered a human being. It may have only been for four months, but it’s been the longest four months of your lives.

“Once we get off the bus, I’ll get us a hotel room, okay? I managed to knock the one guy out and grab his wallet. Let’s just hope this won is legit and not fake. Otherwise we’re screwed.”

You didn’t want to scare Nari, but you had to be realistic too. The situation was not pretty but you were going to do your very best to make this as easy for her as possible. Your best friend was a soft and sensitive soul so naturally this was extremely hard on her. Not just physically, but also mentally and emotionally. The physical scars would heal, but the mental and emotional? That was a whole other ballgame.

“Let’s get off here. Surely there’s a hotel or motel near by. If not, we can always ask around.”

Back at the Daegu Police Department....

“Okay. So your prime suspects are two females, both in their 20s and South Korean natives. Squeaky clean criminal records. Not even a parking violation.”

Both Taehyung and Jungkook found themselves sporting identical expressions of confusion as their eyebrows knitted together. While the younger of the two was staring at the huge TV screen that had the suspects’ passport photos on display, Taehyung was looking through each of their files and couldn’t believe his eyes.

“The one was going to school to be a kindergarten teacher with a minor in journalism while the other has an online degree in Police Science and has taken several self-defense classes.”

While the blonde detective was rattling off more information from the files, Min Yoongi who was Daegu’s Intelligence Analyst was bringing up those very same records up on the screen for Jungkook to look over as well. Dang. It was hard to believe these girls were their prime suspects.

“The files go on to say the university student, Nari, was currently shadowing a kindergarten class when she went missing four months ago. The Police Science graduate was currently working at a cafe in Busan when she too went missing four months ago.”

“So they were together when they went missing?”

Just as Yoongi and Taehyung were about to wager a guess to the younger’s question, a new voice entered the room as a young man that went by the name of Jung Hoseok strolled in. Hoseok, or otherwise known as Hobi, was a Forensic Psychologist and had been brought it to try and figure out why two girls with absolutely no prior criminal records would be suspects in one of South Korea’s largest drug trafficking ring.

“Possibly. According to their records, they live at the same address. An apartment building on the shadier side of town. Judging from their day jobs, I would say it was all they could afford. The Busan girl commutes.”

Jungkook turned around to look at the older males with his hands stuffed in his pockets, expression pensive as he stood there in deep thought before asking out loud,

“So maybe they did it for the money?”

With a casual shrug, Hoseok looked to the TV screen where the records and photos were on display. It just didn’t add up to him. He had dealt with a lot of cases and in all his years of forensic psychology, he had never seen anything quite like this. But then again.....

“It’s not uncommon for financial stress to drive a person to commit crime. For now, they’re probably going to be your only suspects. They were seen on the storefront’s security footage with the bag as they fled the scene. Looks like it was a deal gone South.”

It was then that Yoongi pressed a button on his tablet and brought up the exact footage Hobi was referring to. The four young men watched as the two female suspects approached two men who were twice their size. Again. It didn’t make sense to Hobi. This was a professional ring. Why would a ring leader who was supposedly one of the smartest men in crime......be sending in two puny girls in their 20s to perform a hand-off???

“Looks like the one put her self defense lessons to good use. But she’s lucky neither one of them got shot.”

While Yoongi spoke in his usual calm tone, the rest of the boys watched on as the footage soon revealed the spat that took place. One man was knocked out and Taehyung could see one of the girls swiping his wallet. The last few seconds of the recording was of the girls running off while leaving the bag behind. The bag was then taken by the two men who ran in the opposite direction. Dang.

“Okay, Hobi hyung. Put your brain to work. Why would those girls try to fight when they were just going to let them have the drugs anyway? What’s the purpose here? The only crimes they committed were assault and stealing a dirt bag’s wallet.”

The psychologist took a moment to consider the young inspector’s questions. Yes. What was the purpose of the whole transaction??? All the girls got away with was a wallet and who knows if it had any actual won in it. Even if it did, the odds of the won being legit were slim to none. Still......it wasn’t adding up......there was more to this story here. That’s for sure. It was then that Taehyung spoke up as he said in an authoritative tone,

“Okay. Jeon---call in Jimin from your guys’ Busan department and have him interview the cafe manager and the staff. You and I are gonna take a trip to the kindergarten class Nari was shadowing and see if the teacher might have any insight. Maybe they got close while working together.”

He then turned to the older males in the room and added in the same tone but with more softness and naturally more respect,

“Yoongi hyung, if you can get me any further footage, maybe even some traffic cams, I’d greatly appreciate it. Maybe we can track down where they ran off to. Hobi hyung, try to take a closer look at the footage we already have. Maybe you can spot something we aren’t looking at. See if you guys can enhance the video any. Get a closer look.”

With that, the four men went to work. Innocent or not, these two women needed to be found because they could be the key to bringing down the largest drug trafficking ring in South Korea.

“There’s a convenience store. Want to grab some supplies and food and then find a place to stay?”

After receiving a timid nod from Nari, you offered her a warm smile and gently tugged her along as the two of you headed into the store. There was plenty of won in the wallet you had swiped so thankfully they could afford the necessities without having to skimp. Shampoo, body wash, water, and food. Pretty simple. Well maybe some toothbrushes and paste as well. The two of you felt absolutely disgusting and probably looked just as much.

The hotel room would probably have little bottles of shampoo and body wash, but you planned to douse yourselves in both. Now that you got to thinking about it, both of your hair looked like rats nests. Comb and brush. Okay. The list was getting longer but still. You both were a little more than ready to start feeling human again. Could anyone blame you???

Once picking out the cheapest shampoo and conditioner you could find, you went to go pick up a bottle of body wash that was just as cheap. You guys didn’t need to be in a beauty pageant, just clean. After picking a brush and comb both, you gently tugged your bestie along with you to have her pick out some food.

Ever since the human trafficking started, Nari had nearly completely shut down. She became quiet and shut off. It was hard for even you to get her to speak. Like the few moments they had alone together while waiting for their next ‘owner’ to arrive and take them ‘home’. It was so heartbreaking because your best friend was once a ray of pure sunshine. A light in the darkness.

And now she had become part of the darkness.

“Okay, Ri, what sounds good for dinner tonight? I think some instant noodles are calling our name.”

You would have loved to just call room service. However, for two reasons, you didn’t go that route. One, it wasn’t essential and therefore you didn’t want to risk wasting your limited funding on it. Two, you didn’t want to give the organization or the authorities any ammo that might help either one of them track you both down. Oh how you wanted to use this guy’s credit cards. But you knew better. Credit Cards were so easy to trace back. It was safer to use the won notes.

After allowing Nari to pick out her bowls of instant noodles, you picked out some as well before buying a loaf of bread and some peanut butter. Carbs. You both needed carbs desperately. The organization and all of your ‘owners’ hadn’t exactly taken the best care of you. Apparently you didn’t need to have a pretty or healthy body to be a sex toy. Go figure. With all of your hygienic items in one basket and the food in the other, you gently tugged your bestie along so that the two of you could pay for the items and get the heck of here.

Coughing up more notes than you wanted to, everything was paid for and the two of you were soon out into the world once more. Honestly, the weather was perfect for a nightly stroll. It had been so long since you felt so.....free. Granted you were currently on the run but you’d take what you could get. Just before you had left the store, you asked the employee on the other side of the counter if there were any hotels close by. Turns out there was. Thankfully just a block away from the store.

“Come on, Ri. Let’s get a roof over our heads and some food in our bellies. You can have first dibs on the shower. It’s gonna be okay, bestie. We’re gonna be just fine.”

You could only hope you didn’t turn into a liar. Going over it all in your head, you were pretty confident that you wouldn’t be found. At least not for a few days. But your mind was already thinking of the next steps to take. Thinking and calculating. You knew better than to think you could be on the run forever. No. You just needed a bit of time before contacting the authorities and explaining the situation; hoping they’d hear you out.

“Morning, Jeon.”

“Morning, hyung. Ugh. I didn’t sleep a wink last night. Just kept thinking about those girls. Makes no sense.”

It was a new day and the game plan was simple. Information gathering. After that, the pair would get together with Yoongi and Hobi to analyze the data collected. Meanwhile, Yoongi was going to try and see if he could use traffic cams to map out where exactly the two girls went. They could still be in Daegu for all they knew. Hobi’s job was to pick apart the suspects’ body language and see if there was anything he could identify that might help them figure out why the girls are even their prime suspects. That part still didn’t add up with any of them.

Okay so maybe not such a simple plan. But it was a plan all the same.

“It was a good call to wear something casual. We wouldn’t want to scare the kiddos.”

Taehyung honestly hadn’t thought about it till late last night. He too had a hard time sleeping. All he could think about was the girls. There was this nagging feeling telling him these girls were innocent. He highly doubted they were armed let alone dangerous. Speaking of, as he popped the trunk to his personal vehicle, he said casually,

“Probably ought to hide the guns too. These kids are young but you know how they pick up on every little thing that’s out of the ordinary.”

“Good point. You’re batting a thousand today, hyung. I’m gonna have to up my game if I’m going to keep up with you.”

“Just put your mad boxing skills to good use should something go south and we’ll be square.”

Chuckling softly, the two made their way into the building and showed the receptionist their badges before being escorted to the kindergarten classroom Nari had been shadowing. It was odd to be working in something other than their usual suit and tie. Jungkook could get used to working in his button up shirt and skinny jeans. The two could hear lots of giggling and it warmed Taehyung’s heart. God how badly he wanted to be a dad. But he needed to focus. This was a job. Not a field trip. He couldn’t let his feelings get involved.

“Good morning, Mrs. Lee. I’m Detective Kim Taehyung and this is my partner Agent Inspector Jeon Jungkook. If you have a moment, we’d like to ask you a few questions concerning the girl who was shadowing your class. She disappeared a little over four months ago. Her name is Nari. Do you remember her?”

Turns out this Nari girl was quite the ray of sunshine to be around. Naturally shy upon first meeting but once she got comfortable, she was a bit of a chatter box. Kind of cute, really. She got along great with the kids and when she had first disappeared, they immediately picked up on it and kept asking where she was. The class had even made get well cards after being told that she was simply not feeling good and needed some time off.

The whole thing silently broke Taehyung’s heart. This Nari sounded like his dream girl. Aside from the criminal part. Which still didn’t make sense. This girl enjoyed reading, writing, anime, and kids. She enjoyed several things that he too enjoyed. It was a shame to think that she possibly turned to organized crime. But for what? What was the incentive to just drop everything and turn to crime? She had such a beautiful life and it seemed like it was something she was still working on building. Why just abandon it?

“Okay, Jeon. Playtime’s over. Let’s go.”

His partner had been of little help during the questioning. However, it wasn’t entirely Jeon’s fault. The kids were insistent that he play with them. Who was a man to deny so many sets of puppy eyes??? That was how Taehyung found his younger partner currently being used as a human jungle gym. He had a kid hanging off each arm as he flexed his arm muscles to help hold them both up. A little girl was giggling and squealing in happiness as she had been placed on his shoulders, hugging his face to keep herself from falling. What a dork.

“Okay, kids. Let Mr. Jeon go so he can get back to work. And what do we say to others who play nicely with us?”

“Thank you, Mr. Jeon!”

The chorus of high pitched voices was so endearing. Perhaps Jungkook was starting to see why his hyung wanted to be a father so badly. These little ones weren’t so bad. Well that was probably a result of good parenting. Not to mention it sounded like the teacher was trying to set good examples for them too. After smiling to the kids and trying to dodge their questions of whether or not they’d be seeing him again, Jungkook quickly made his exit with his partner who was smiling and shaking his head in amusement.

Kids. Go figure. It was then that both agents heard Yoongi coming in through their ear pieces. Taehyung had just been popping the trunk back open to get their guns when the Daegu native started speaking in a calm but rushed voice,

“You two better get back to the office. Hobi made a huge discovery that’s going to change this into a whole different ballgame.”

Well that didn’t sound good.

Making haste, the two drove from the school parking lot and headed straight for the station. It wasn’t often that Yoongi sounded so urgent. He was usually pretty cool, calm, and collected. That’s what made him such an awesome analyst. He was able to look at things with a clear head. It was a trait that many in the department wish they had as well. Arriving in the information room where the male worked, Taehyung said in a breathless tone,

“What you got for us, hyung?”

But it was Hoseok that spoke up in reply; his tone grave.

“Your suspects just turned into victims.”

Wait what???

Meanwhile, you were up bright and early. It was easy and yet difficult to sleep all at the same time. The exhaustion had knocked both you and Nari out the second your heads hit the pillows of your shared king sized bed. However, it seemed like you were awake every other hour. Your body screamed sleep but your mind was on full alert. It was hard to sleep peacefully when you knew danger could be around every corner. You could open your eyes and find yourself right back in the jaws of danger.

It was exhausting, really. But this was your reality for the time being. Looking away from the window, you peered over at the sleeping figure in the bed. Poor Nari. She looked so small and frail laying there in that big bed. It was comforting to see her getting some sleep. Hopefully dreamless and restful. Last night had been wonderful. Their first night where they weren’t held in some kind of captivity. No disgusting cages or dirty food and water. For the first night in four months, they were just two girls hanging out. No longer objects. But humans.

They were humans again.

Deciding it was safe to take a shower, you tiptoed your way to the bathroom and just cracked the door so that it wouldn’t let all the steam out. Gosh the shower last night had been amazing! Hot water, soap. It was wonderful! The both of you had brushed your teeth twice just for good measure too. While you allowed the water to warm up, you thought about the tasks at hand today. The plan sounded simple but it was going to be tricky regardless.

A disguise. You both needed a disguise. Just until you could get your thoughts together and a plan for when you notified the authorities. You didn’t want to just go waltzing in the Daegu Police Department with hands in the air. No. You needed a plan. You needed to be able to prove your innocence. And that was when you thought of those disgusting bracelets you had to wear. Ugh. They were the ugliest shade of orange too. It was surly a color you’d despise for the rest of your life.

“They’re what?!”

Jungkook tried to put a gentle hand on his partner’s shoulder but it got roughly shrugged off. Taehyung was furious. Absolutely furious. Seeing red. That was all the male could see as he stared at Yoongi and Hoseok. The two had just informed them that the two suspects were actually being trafficked and were part of the transaction that took place on the storefront camera footage they were able to obtain.

Human trafficking. These two poor girls were being handed off along with the drugs. It all made sense now. The one using her knowledge in self defense to try and disarm and distract the punks. Swiping the wallet and yet leaving the drugs behind. It all finally added up. These girls weren’t criminals at all. There was a reason their records were so squeaky clean. They never asked for this. They were forced into it. They didn’t go missing willingly. They were kidnapped.

“It’s gonna be okay, Tae. I was able to get access to the town’s traffic cams and I think I know what city they’re in. But you gotta calm down first. The chief isn’t going to let you go into this guns blazing and you know that.”

However, the blonde detective wasn’t entirely listening. It was like his ears were filled with water. He just stood there staring at the single clue that lead Hobi and Yoongi to discovering what was actually going on in the footage from earlier. Each girl sported an orange colored wristband. After doing some digging, Yoongi had discovered it was an inside tagging system for women who were being trafficked. Disgusting. Absolutely disgusting. It left a horrible taste in Taehyung’s mouth as he thought of Nari......Nari........

It was then that the feline looking male spoke up but this time directed his attention to the younger inspector.

“Kook---Take him to the cafe around the corner. I’ll forward you guys what I believe to be their city of refuge. It’s not too terribly far from here but it’s a drive. Looks like they took the bus.”

“Thanks, Yoongi hyung. Come on, buddy. Let’s go have a drink.”

That was how Taehyung wound up sitting at a small table with a steaming to-go cup of hot chocolate. Meanwhile, Jungkook had opted for an iced americano. Ugh. Gross. While the younger was looking over the traffic cam footage Yoongi had forwarded to his phone, the detective simply stared out the window of the local cafe. His partner had tried to place a single glazed doughnut in front of him to go with his hot chocolate but Tae had touched neither one; too lost in thoughts of the sweet college student trying to become a kindergarten teacher.

His dream girl.

‘I bet she wants to have kids too someday.....I’ll make sure she has that chance. I’m gonna find her. And I’ll save her.’

The young inspector, on the other hand, was more focused on you. What was your story? Certainly you weren’t going to be working as a barista the rest of your life. The fact that you had taken an online course in Police Science intrigued him. Perhaps you were interested in going into law enforcement? That would be cool. Especially since you were a Busan native. What would be the chances of you working in the same station as him?

“Okay, Ri. Today we’re gonna try and get some fresh clothes and maybe do something with our hair. Basically we need a disguise. Just until we can get our thoughts together and figure out how to notify the police without it looking like we’re turning ourselves in.”

It saddened you when all your best friend did was nod. Again....she used to be so talkative. So bright and cheery. You weren’t sure you were going to be able to take her out of this hotel room just yet. While your guys’ physical scars were already starting to heal, there were far deeper cuts that needed attention. Carefully taking a seat next to her on the bed, you gently wrapped an arm around her and spoke in a soft and soothing tone,

“Nari, baby. You gotta talk to me. I’m no therapist but I think being your best friend has to count for something. You can tell me anything. So please, say something.”

“You could have died.....”

Hmm? Out of all the things you were expecting Nari to say, that definitely wasn’t one of them. Before you could ask her to clarify, she did it for you as she added in explanation,

“They had guns, bestie. And they were shooting at us. They were shooting at you. I was so scared you’d get hit and die. I’ve lost so much. I can’t lose you too. Please---”

“Hey, hey. Shhh. It’s okay, Ri. It’s okay.”

You sat there at the foot of the bed hugging a sobbing Nari; gently rocking the both of you back and forth as you allowed the girl to cry out her feelings. You had been in such a constant state of survival mode, that you hadn’t taken into account how the dangers of the whole situation would affect her. Of course seeing your best friend get shot at would be traumatizing. Gently kissing the girl’s forehead while stroking her hair with a free hand, you said softly and soothingly,

“I’m sorry I scared you, Ri. It wasn’t my intentions. I just......I needed to get us out of there and it was the only way I knew how. And the good news is, we’re not only alive, but we’re free. No more drugs, no more trafficking. We’re humans again and we’re gonna get through this together. I’m with you every step of the way. Okay? Together?”

You held out your pinkie finger for her to take and was happily surprised to see her return the gesture by weakly wrapping her pinkie around your own. This was progress. It was the most Nari had said since the two of you escaped from the organization. Hopefully with this off her chest, she’d open up a little more and just maybe, things would get back to some kind of normal between you two. You really didn’t want to lose your best friend. Nari wasn’t the only one in that hotel room who had lost a lot.

With the both of you feeling a little bit better, you carefully stood up from the bed and brought your bestie along with you. It would be okay. You’d make it be okay no matter the cost. It was time to get out of these disgusting clothes and find something more suitable for wear. Not to mention your hair needed a trim something awful. Then again.....you were willing to go the extra mile for a disguise if it meant surviving to see real freedom.

Deciding it wasn’t smart to stay in one place for two nights in a row, you made the plan to get your clothes, get stuff needed for your hair, maybe purchase a couple duffel bags, and make your next move. That was as far as you had gotten in the planning. Should the two of you stay in this town or perhaps travel back to Daegu? Maybe Busan? Ugh. You just didn’t know yet. Okay. One step at a time, here. One step at a time.

Crossing the street, you had heard from the hotel desk clerk that there was a hand-me-down store for clothing not too far from where they were staying. That would be perfect! You didn’t need to look like models. You just needed some clean clothes to wear. And you had saw where a pharmacy was close by as well. You decided to dye your hair and cut it yourself but you just weren’t sure what color to get. Poor Nari, on the other hand, was way too happy with her hair and especially the color. So to try and find some even ground, the two of you had agreed on a hat. She could tie up her hair and wear a baseball cap. That would work.

While Nari wanted something pretty, you were more focused on trying to disguise yourself as much as possible. In fact, when you came out of the dressing room with a plain white t-shirt tucked into a pair of black skinnies and a black blazer to match; paired with black combat boots that looked like they could kill, Nari couldn’t stop herself from mumbling shyly,

“You look like a boy if it wasn’t for your boobs and long hair.”

“That’s the plan.....babe.”

You couldn’t help but grin as you watched your best friend blush heavily. Don’t get the wrong picture, the both of you were far more into boys. But it was cute to tease your bestie because as much as you loved her, she was such a cute and easy target. When you heard that familiar whine of mortification, you couldn’t help but feel your chest bubble with happiness and relief. Perhaps that talk in the hotel room really did do some good. Nari just simply needed to get some feels off her chest.

After he got Taehyung to finally eat and drink something, Jungkook ended up lugging his butt up from the cafe chair and hauled him outside into the fresh air. It wasn’t like his older friend to get stuck in his feels like this. Sure human trafficking had always been a sore subject, but he was taking it to a completely new level of sore. Stuffing his hands in his pockets and squinting against the sun’s rays, the young inspector said casually,

“Jimin said there wasn’t much to report on the barista from Busan. Apparently she was trying to save her tips from the cafe in order to go into law school. She’s on the fence of whether or not she wants to be a cop or an attorney.”

Jungkook really wanted to meet you. You fascinated him to no end. First the course in Police Science and now law school? You sounded super cool with how you had taken several self defense classes as well. He wondered if you liked boxing......Yeah......maybe he could teach you one day.

Wait what???

Shaking his head to clear it, it was then that he heard Yoongi coming on the ear piece once more.

“Your girls are on the move. They stayed at a hotel last night but they’ve not made any further reservations. Apparently one of the other guests recognized them in the hallways. I informed the manager to keep it quiet because we don’t want to scare them off. If we’re lucky, we can catch them before they depart. The manager said they’ve not returned the room keys yet.”

“Thanks, hyung. Keep us posted.”

“No problem. Forwarding you guys the hotel address now.”

“You hear that, hyung? We’re gonna find them and it’s gonna be okay.”

Feeling a hearty pat on his shoulder, Taehyung nodded and tried to give his younger partner a smile. The two girls must be so scared. Running from not only the organization, but the law as well. When in all reality, this had since then turned into a rescue mission. This was definitely a first for him in his career of law enforcement. Pulling himself together, the blonde squared his shoulders and held his head up high as he walked to the car. Meanwhile, Jeon was reading off the directions to the city where the girls were currently staying in.

“So.....Hyung.......You seem pretty invested in this case. You wanna talk about it?”

Yoongi was right when he said it was a bit of a drive. At the same time, Jungkook couldn’t help but mentally praise the girls for thinking of taking such a far, out-of-the-way route to escape danger. It was a quieter town too. Or so he had heard. Listening to the ticking sound of the vehicle’s turn signal, the blonde detective finally spoke up but in a small voice.

“I just want to find them and bring those dirt bags to justice.”

Okay. So clearly his hyung wasn’t ready to talk about it. Which was totally fine. But it was easier to work with a Kim Taehyung when he had his head on straight and he wasn’t thinking with his heart instead of his brain. Subconsciously nibbling on his bottom lip, a nervous habit of his, Jungkook silently nodded and turned his attention to his phone. With the help of Yoongi and his ability to enhance images, he was able to get a better look at the two girls they were trying to rescue.

“They’re both kind of cute. Once you get past their bird nest hairstyles and grungy clothing.”

That didn’t seem to make matters any easier as Jungkook could hear his hyung gripping the steering wheel all the tighter; the sound of his skin squeaking against the material of the wheel. Oops....

“What hotel was it again? I think we might be approaching the town soon.”

Yeah. Definitely not ready to talk about it.

“Bestie.....are you sure you want to do this? We can get you a ball cap too, you know. It doesn’t have to be this extreme.”

“I’m absolutely positive, Nari. Lay it on me.”

Nari couldn’t believe what she was about to do to her best friend’s hair. It was already painful enough to watch you chop it all off. She knew the point was for you to look as far from yourself as possible but still......This was just crazy. You had chopped your own hair off and now sported a boy cut of sorts. Bangs hung in your eyes to try and hide them while your back had been completely taken up. Not a single strand of hair was hanging down or coming anywhere close to your shoulders. Nothing framing your face. Just your bangs.

“They won’t be looking for a blonde, Nari. Just trust me.”

And that was how you got your hair bleached for the first time ever. It was worth it, though. Everything you were doing, you were doing for you and Nari both. What was a little hair if it meant keeping you both alive and getting your tickets to true freedom? It was so worth it in your mind and you could only hope your bestie would see that too. With time.

After washing and drying it, you stood there in the hotel bathroom mirror with your girl next to you. Nari looked shocked and a bit pale while you were grinning like an idiot. This was perfect. Sporting your outfit you had picked out from the store and turning your head this way and that way to inspect your new hairstyle, you couldn’t wait to throw both the organization and the police for a loop.

They’d never see you coming.

“Okay, Ri. Sadly we can’t stay here. We gotta keep moving. Let’s check out and find a different place to stay. We’ll grab a bus to the next city over and grab another hotel room. We still have plenty of won left. The guy was stupid enough to leave his wallet loaded.”

Helping your bestie secure her baseball cap on and making sure her hair was tucked in nice and neat, you couldn’t help but think how cute she looked dressed so casually compared to the rags she was forced to wear for the last four months of her life. Nari was way too pretty to wear such filth. You couldn’t wait for things to get back to normal. The first thing you’d do is take her shopping for some pretty new clothes to wear to the kindergarten class she shadowed. You knew how much she loved those kids.

Once the both of you packed your items from the convenience store last night and the new batch of instant noodles and snacks from the pharmacy earlier today, you hoisted up the duffel bags and made your way out of the room; making it look just as it did when you arrived. It would be like you were never even here. Although you couldn’t help but notice how deadly quiet it was in the hotel hallways.

“Thanks for staying with us. Have a wonderful day!”

Cool. You were out and on the street once again. The next step in your plan was simple. Find a bus routing out of town to the next city and hop on. Simple, right? Just as you were about to make a step for the bus stop down the street, you felt something hard and cold pressing into the small of your back. Not only that, but a chin rested on your shoulder and whispered in your ear,

“Scream and I’ll shoot you right where you stand, slut.”

Well that sucks.

#bts #jungkook #taehyung #jeon jungkook #kim taehyung #jungkook bts #taehyung bts #jungkook smut #taehyung smut #bts smut #jungkook x reader #taehyung x oc #officer!jeon #officer!jungkook #officer!taehyung #officer jeon #bts fanfiction #jungkook fanfiction #taehyung fanfiction

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william-nylander · 5 years ago

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having a very rough day, do you have anymore top willy moments to gift us?

i am so sorry u are having a rough day pebble. i decided to go a bit rogue with this, in that it is instead a Top Willy Interviews On the Leafs Youtube Page listicle. i hope it makes ur day a teeny bit better.

idk if you’ve ever been to toronto BUT this look is very like. like this willy lives in the junction and hates the “noise” of the downtown and has waited 2 hours in line for bangbang ice cream in august. he likes to smoke weed in trinity bellwoods. he goes to poetry readings on bar roof tops and says shit about how everything north of dupont is “north york”. hes been known to sit at the piano in the common room at university college (uoft) and play scales. he can and has fucked ur boyfriend.

this willyum is your coworker at canadas wonderland one summer. he does not know what hes doing. he is either like :| or like :D depending on the moment. his nose gets sunburnt at the beginning of the summer but only ever in a charming way!!! u never see it peel. he works the stuffed animal stands and cannot understand why his has a line and none of the others do (hint: its bc every1 has a crush on him!!!!). before the park opens he wanders around with one of those velcro monkeys around his neck. he likes the mindbuster the best bc thats MY favourite ride and this is my listicle.

also i miss willys gigantic front teeth gap. he used to have little tombstone teeth. what has he done to them.

hey i love kyle dubas with my whole heart and all but there was something to be said about how when lou made them all be clean shaven and hair short it meant that willys hair was always kinda like a dragon ball z character and also his skin was all fleshy and elastic like a babys arm

speaking of kyle dubas i found this choice shot of willy blinking while kyles prattling on about nothing and like has anything ever been more My Aesthetic

god. has any1 ever been more iconic. this willy lives just north of bloor on dufferin and will tell anyone that the ossington strip is the “most underrated part of the city” (& hes right!!!!). they know his name at sugo. he takes all his out of town friends there and he gets tattoos at ink + water (thats at lansdowne right? now ive confused myself). he goes to the value village there and owns 29 pairs of sunglasses. he has his bed on the floor. he listens to a lot of better oblivion community centre. he long boards. he goes to bulk stores for groceries. he wants to start brewing his own kombucha. actually u know the more i typed this willy might just be me whoops.

this man is my next door neighbour for the summer in cottage country. he has a fishing boat but he doesnt fish because fish suck. i invite him over for bbq and telling stories around the campfire. we drink shitty beer. he is not interesting but he is hot. maybe we make out on the dock. willy looks weirdly good in green.

whenever someone has bracelets on their wrist my mind goes str8 to SUMMER CAMP. willyum is a camp counsellor at a camp maybe on like idk lake erie or some shit. he is a cabin leader and he loves his little sprouts/campers. frederik gauthier is the HEAD LIFEGUARD and willy thinks hes so funny and weird and sweet and cute and he doesnt realize!!! until the end of camp!!! that he has a big crush on freddie goat!!!! its the last night of camp and theres a big campfire and a camp dance and willy asks goat to sneak away with him. they go down to the beach and sit on the picnic table under the lifeguard tent and willy kisses goat and its very romantic.

okay 1) love a man in a puffy coat & 2) there is something about “my father will hear about this” draco malfoy looking like He Was a Diplomats Son mp3 willy that just really gets my goat. he went to a boarding school in the swiss alps and fucked ur girlfriend. he has a closet for his shoes. he dated a member of the swedish royal family for a summer but broke up with him bc he was too clingy.

speaking of that bitch…..here he is again. this is after his tour after high school. he rented out an apartment in lisbon and would smoke cigarettes with beautiful people on the balcony. he spends a month in the south of france turning golden on the rocky beaches and buying dinner every night from the market on his way back to the hotel. this willy takes molly at a gay club in dresden and wakes up in an architect students bed and then he goes to the park to sweat off a hangover and pretend to read nietzsche

this willy is absolutely the rapscallion son of the president. whats that movie with mandy moore (maybe???? oh no wait i just googled it its katie holmes) - that movie with katie holmes where the first daughter like falls in love or whatever?? this is willy. OOH IVE GOT IT. okay so this willy is absolutely a zoey barlett type from the west wing who is very cute and everyone loves him even though he is a spoiled brat sometimes/all the time. ENTER the assistant to the president - zach hyman - in a charlie young role. they fall in love over a pot of chilli. its the most beautiful thing u have ever s33n.

okay so like willy is the new Legal Assistant at the office. kyle is a Partner in Law or whatever tf they’re called. willy and he are Working Late One Night and u know what that means…..they go to rol san bc its open until like 6am and they eat the FUCK out of some dumplings and then kyle drives willy back to his apartment (maybe in this one he lives in a shitty place at yonge & college???? like classic “roommate in the living room” toronto living??) and they KISS in the CAR and its ROMANTIC.

this willyumm is your date for thanksgiving dinner. he comes extremely bundled. my parents live north of toronto so i imagine this willy driving us north for the weekend. his scarf is very evan from skam and its sexi. he does not like the folk playlist that you have put on but its FALL and the TREES and OCTOBER MEANS HOZIER and hes like UGH FINE WHATEVER and is a bit grumpy but then u pass thru the holland marsh and he’s like “hm smells like onions” and its all fine again. his laugh confuses your extended family and he sucks at scrabble and is a pouty bitch about it but its a GOOD TIME.

god THIS WILLYAM is ur older brothers BEST FRIEND and he comes over to play video games ?? i guess ?? i never had a brother but i YEARNED to crush on a brothers best friend. he is very handsome like a lion. maybe you write some weird diary shit about it. every time he comes over ur SO WEIRD and he KNOWS ABOUT UR CRUSH and hes VERY NICE ABOUT IT.

also would a willy listicle be complete without me marvelling over his long straight nose??????????? look how straight it is!!!!!!

this will ham is in ur intro to gender studies class on friday mornings in sid smith. hes in one of ur projects and hes got no fucking clue whats going on. hes on the varsity blues hockey team and he thought that he clicked on “intro to geography”. despite the fact that he has no idea whats happening ever hes enthusiastic about listening. one time u go for coffee at mallo across from where honest eds used to be and he asks u what the male gaze is.

okay. i hope u enjoyed this. it took me awhile and i enjoyed every second of it. to conclude, here is several screen shots from my favourite willy interview:

u ever see a man more beautiful

lil elastic face weirdo

#ask #william nylander #toronto maple leafs #This Is My Magnum Opus #Anonymous

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scribbleb-red · 5 years ago

Text

Hello Ghost (An Afternoon Andreil AU)

After college, the Minyard-Hemmicks sell up in South Carolina and Andrew is signed by the Baltimore Bombers.

He buys a house on the outskirts of Leakin Park, it's pretty grand but he has a vision of inviting his family to stay, one day, perhaps.

The house is also more than a bit run down (which is why Andrew figures it was a good price).

He starts to fix the place up. New paint. New floors. New windows.

But then weird stuff starts happening.

Food he was sure was in the fridge disappears. Stationary and paints will vanish from almost under his nose. Tools go missing only to reappear somewhere else. And clothes too (he is sure he brought his favourite black hoodie with him from SC, and Aaron swears he hasn't got it...).

He starts to hear noises - not loud, just like shuffling, sliding, sometimes like a door is creaking open.

Andrew has nearly done the ground floor when he thinks he's found the answer - navy paint paw prints - all across his freshly stripped and varnished wood floor.

He won't lie, they're kind of cute. The creature must have knocked over the feature-wall paint.

But then, one day after practice, he comes home and takes off his headphones and he's sure he can hear humming. Whatever animal the pawprints came from, he's sure most of them won't know Bohemian Rhapsody.

He creeps up the stairs, it's pretty tatty up here still. The only room he's really bothered is his own. There are rooms he's barely opened since he arrived - particularly the one that looks like it once belonged to a kid (the yellow clown wallpaper *has* to come down soon).

The humming is coming from the main bathroom.

His hand hovers over the handle.

He presses down.

The door swings open.

He swears he sees a flash of red. Blue eyes in the mirror.

But when he pushes inside, nothing and no one is there.

"The actual fuck??" he mutters.

The actual fuck is right.

Over the next few weeks Andrew becomes increasingly paranoid. Summer has bled into autumn and he is pretty sure he's being haunted.

There is a ghost in this house. There is a ghost in these walls.

He talks to Aaron who just shrugs and tells him to call an exterminator if he has rats in the walls. Andrew is sure there aren't rats in the walls. That's not what he's hearing. Rats don't have nice tenor voices that hum Queen and Blue Oyster Cult through the piping.

He talks to Nicky, who freaks out because omg Andrew you have to get out before the ghosts turn violent Andrew, you don't know what kind of ghost it is Andrew, what if you piss it off by accident Andrew. Maybe you can get an exorcist Andrew. Or salt? Isn't salt bad for ghosts?

He calls Kevin, who frowns down the line.

"Are you okay, Minyard? Not getting rattled now you're in the pros?"

No, Andrew is not rattled. He's doing fucking great for the Bombers.

"Then get some sleep and... maybe call Bee?"

Great so Kevin thinks he's mad.

He calls the estate agent last. Though really he should have called them first.

"There's something wrong with this house," he says. "Tell me what's wrong with this house."

"Oh dear." The estate agent is very anxious. "I'm so sorry, Mr Minyard. I thought everyone knew."

Turns out everyone except him did know. Andrew's grand house that he got for basically pennies was once the home of the Butcher of Baltimore. Andrew missed the memo though, too busy getting his brother clean and surviving the mood-meddling, court-prescribed drugs at the time.

"I'm so very sorry," says the estate agent. "I'm afraid there's nothing we can do now, but I do know a good geomancer who could feng shui the property for you."

Andrew slams down the phone.

So he has a ghost in his house.

Probably a murder ghost too.

Fuck.

He decides that if he's going to get rid of his ghost, he's going to have to figure out what exactly the ghost is taking, when and why. He starts keeping track in a little notebook. He quickly notices something even weirder than the missing stuff though.

The ghost takes food - not a huge amount - but enough each week. It's mostly fruit and vege, the occasional protein bar. If Andrew makes smoothies from fruit, the ghost will take some. And sometimes the ghost will make smoothies itself and leave half for Andrew.

The ghost launders any of the clothes it borrows. Not everything is returned. But socks will miraculously reappear. So will tshirts and sometimes jumpers. The black hoodie has not made a reappearance. But his woollen winter jumper does, with the elbow holes freshly darned.

The ghost showers. Andrew has noticed more than once that the bathroom mirror is misted and the towels damp when they shouldn't be.

The ghost leaves red hair behind, long curls of it.

The ghost is probably not a ghost. Or if they are, they're a very very corporeal one.

He decides maybe - just maybe - he could lure the ghost out.

After a shower one day, he writes on the misted mirror: HELLO GHOST.

The next day, the ghost leaves a reply: HI HUMAN.

Andrew frowns and scrubs the note away.

He goes out to buy clothes for the ghost - no need for them to nick his favourite stuff if they have their own right?

He leaves the bag in the bathroom and writes: THE BAG IS FOR YOU.

The next day he sees: THANK U.

The day after: CAN I HV A TOOTHBRUSH?

Andrew buys one, even though the ghost writes like a fuckboi.

When he comes home from a long weekend of away matches, the toothbrush is used and wet. There's a Smiley on the mirror in the the mist. Andrew scowls. And he realises the ghost is near - because there's a shuffle, a sigh & for a second he's sure the shadows behind him move.

Andrew and the Ghost fall into a rhythm.

Sometimes when the ghost needs something there will be a note on the bathroom mirror. Sometimes when the ghost is thankful, they'll leave homecooked left overs in the fridge for Andrew, presumably made when he's at practice.

Aaron asks him one day if he solved his rat problem.

"It's a ghost problem,” Andrew tells him. “But yes, something like that."

For Christmas, Andrew goes to visit Nicky and Erik in Germany.

It's three weeks away and he's so anxious about the flights, he forgets about his little ghost in the walls.

He packs in a hurry. He turns off the lights. Turns down the heating. Locks the doors.

The holiday itself is good. Nicky is thriving now he's back with his boyfriend and Andrew almost feels bad that he kept Nicky from being this happy for so many years. Almost. Because he wouldn't trade those years with Nicky and Aaron for anything.

He goes home, content.

As soon as he opens the front door, he knows something is wrong.

It's freezing cold. So cold his breath is vapours on the air.

There's a smell too, stale and fetid. Like old fruit.

And that's when he sees him, the ghost.

The ghost is a boy, but he certainly looks half dead.

He's sprawled on Andrew's new sofa. He's all bones. Emaciated to a point where he looks childish. His skin is sickly pale. His hair is dank and plastered to his forehead. His eyes are closed.

Andrew drops his bag and the ghost's eyes flutter open, just a slither before closing again.

The ghost is sick. Incredibly sick.

Andrew calls Aaron.

"My ghost is sick," is the first thing he says. "He has a fever. I don't know what's wrong with him."

Aaron doesn't pretend to understand, he just lists off ways to bring down a fever. "I can be there in the morning," he tells Andrew. "Just --"

-- Aaron stops short. He can't tell Andrew to keep a ghost alive can he?

Andrew does what he can. He lifts his ghost up into his arms, wrinkling his nose at the sweaty, sick smell rolling off him. He's far too light and far too small.

Andrew tucks him into his own bed.

He finds a can of fizzy lemonade and brings it upstairs to the ghost. He's barely stirred but as Andrew cracks open the can, the ghost lets out the tiniest of whimpers and it breaks Andrew's heart.

Carefully, he nudges the ghost awake and helps him to drink some of the lemonade.

"Bring up his sugar levels. Make sure he has plenty of fluids. Anything cold to bring down his temperature."

It takes nearly an hour for the ghost to drink the lemonade.

Andrew doesn't sleep that night. Doesn't stop applying cold flannels. Checks his temperature every 30 minutes.

"You better not become a real ghost, Ghost," he warns the boy in his bed. "I want my fucking hoodie back."

Aaron arrives and it’s a good thing he's just finished his rotation in the ER because Andrew's ghost is a young man with one of the worst cases of pnuemonia he's seen in a while. He calls up a professor and explains why he needs a prescription for a variety of medications.

He's able to get them within the morning and they set Andrew's room up to be a hospital bed minus the bleepity-bloopety machines.

Andrew finally sleeps when Aaron forces him to - but only for a couple hours before he's back at the ghost's side.

Two days go by.

Ghost wakes up.

For all that he looks like he hasn't eaten a full meal in his life, his eyes are the most striking Andrew has ever seen in his life. They are coldest blue, like a winter's sky.

"Hello Ghost," Andrew says.

"Hi Human," replies the ghost.

Ghost recovers slowly. He sleeps a lot. Andrew cooks for him. Makes him eat soups and broths and slowly reintroduces solids.

Turns out when Andrew left, he'd locked Ghost inside with only enough food in the cupboards for a week.

Ghost managed to make it last 12 days.

But with the heating off, Ghost had shivered his way into sickness.

Andrew asks him how the hell he's been haunting his house when he's clearly not a ghost. Ghost frowns.

"The walls," he says. "He built the walls too thick so they could hide escape routes."

"The Butcher?"

Ghost nods. He's so pale. Andrew presses because he knows there's a secret here and Ghost finally admits: "He was my father."

The pieces fall into place as Ghost recovers. His name is actually Nathaniel but every time Andrew uses it, Ghost flinches.

Andrew moves Ghost out of the walls where he used to hide and into the house.

"Why didn't you leave after your father died?" Andrew asks one day over hot chocolate and coffee.

They're curled up on the sofa, their feet overlapping but nothing else.

"Because he didn't die," Ghost says. "He was killed."

And out comes the story of how Ghost lived in the house as his father's prisoner. How he was trapped and how he was punished the few times he tried to escape.

There are scars, Andrew has seen them. They make sense now.

"My mother escaped though. With millions that belonged to my father. A couple years ago my father killed her... my uncle came in retribution. He killed my father. I was there." Ghost's voice is thick and raw. His eyes won't meet Andrew's. "He said he'd come back for me."

"He never came back," Andrew fills in the next line.

"No."

"But you stayed."

"I've barely been outside before. I never... I had rations stored and I figured, it was safe here at least, now he was gone."

"And then I arrived."

"Yeah. And it was kinda nice. Being your ghost."

Andrew chest feels warm and full. "You're still my ghost," he says after a minute.

And it's true. This boy from the walls is going to haunt Andrew forever - and he doesn't even mind.

Andrew learnt to live in increments, one breath at a time, one minute, one hour, one day. He'll teach Ghost to do the same, over years.

They'll find a human name for Ghost. They'll settle on "Neil", a name untainted by the father who hurt him or the mother who left him.

They'll cook together in the evenings, brushing against each other in whispers.

They'll fall asleep together on sofas and then, later, in their shared bed.

They'll move house together one day, when Andrew transfers to another team.

One day Andrew is lying in bed next to Neil, tracing patterns over freckled skin and taut muscles.

"I meant to ask, what was with the pawprints that time? With the paint on the floor?"

And Neil looks puzzled, then smiles. "Maybe it really was a ghost."

THE END

#andreil #andrew minyard #neil josten #neil is a ghost #or is he?#Andrew might be being haunted #But only Nicky believes him #Neil haunts the walls #ghosts #ghost story #The Haunting of Baltimore #Soft I think #I'm never sure is something is soft or sad tbh #I listened to a lot of MFM stuff in the wall episodes and this happened.#aftg

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officialisbeth · 4 years ago

Text

SET ME FREE is the debut mini album of Korean soloist LISBETH, the album has two title tracks, being those NO LIMITS and HURT. The album was released both digitally and physically on July 11, 2018. Lisbeth described the lyrical theme of this album as being about "a growing dependence over something or someone".

[may be triggering for others as it talks about an obsession over something unspecified, skip the lyrics breakdown if this applies to you]

TRACKLIST.

1. No Limits [Insp. Tove Lo's Cool girl].

Lyrics: Lisbeth.

Production: Park Jinjoo.

The first title track kickstarts Lisbeth's story as she allows to introduce herself both to the listener and to what would turn out as the obsession described in the next songs. No Limits is a catchy electropop song that talks about nothing but Lisbeth's own personality before everything starts to fall down as the story goes.

2. Hurt [insp. Tove Lo's True disaster].

Lyrics: Lisbeth, Park Jinjoo.

Production: Park Jinjoo.

While No Limits introduces Lisbeth, Hurt introduces what fans started to call the Obsession, as of Lisbeth's point of view. The lyrics talk about willing to do anything to know more about what the Obsession shows, knowing that they're going to get hurt in the end. Sometimes, it can be confused as a love song, as it seems like Lisbeth is talking to a person. Hurt is a song that mixes synthpop and electropop, keeping a slightly slower pace compared to No Limits, but still as upbeat as the other.

3. Loveless City [insp. Tove Lo's This time around].

Lyrics: Lisbeth, Park Jinjoo.

Production: Park Jinjoo.

The fans reached to an agreement that this song describes a dialogue between Lisbeth and the mysterious man seen in the Hurt music video. Lisbeth asks: what am i doing in this loveless city? As her dependence grows and she starts to think nothing else matters besides the thing she wants the most.

4. getoutofmyhead [insp. Charlotte Lawrence's Why do you love me].

Lyrics: Lisbeth.

Production: Park Jinjoo.

In this song, Lisbeth has a minute of realization and tries to fight the Obsession before it's too late, having a lot of contradicting lines to support this point. The song grows darker and, even, slightly creepier until it reaches the end, suggesting that she couldn't run away from her own wishes and that her obsession finally won her, even if they meant her downfall.

5. plz answer me [insp. Dean's Bonnie & Clyde].

Lyrics: Lisbeth.

Production: Park Jinjoo.

The song starts with the sound of an unanswered phone call. The story progresses and, whatever is the so called Obsession, it seems like it's getting away from Lisbeth, but, since she's already in such a heavy stage, she's not happy with it and wants it back, the lyrics describe these feelings using methaphors with missing calls.

6. Better without u [insp. Suzy's Les Préférences].

Lyrics: Lisbeth.

Production: Park Jinjoo.

Better without u is a slower, softer songs that talks about Lisbeth's questionings as she gets more and more aware of her current situation, asking herself if it's really worth it to keep going and that maybe she's better off without concentrating with that. Is the song that concludes the theme Lisbeth wanted to talk about in this album.

7. Hopes and dreams [insp. Lorde's Homemade Dynamite].

Lyrics: Lisbeth.

Production: Park Jinjoo.

A song that doesn't apply to the storyline described in the album, Hopes and Dreams has a self explanatory title and is, overall, a lighter song, describing Lisbeth's dreams and goals as of becoming an idol. The album, in general, even if it has a way deeper meaning, can be applied to a lot of trainees' feelings about their dream and the hardships and confusion they experience in their journey, Lisbeth wants to bring a message to multiple people and permit that they interpret her lyrics to their own situation, making it the most relatable as possible.

ERA HIGHLIGHTS.

Babygirl finally debuted, yay!

She was so happy with her debut, really. In her first stage with Hurt, she had to concentrate a lot because she wanted to smile, that contributed to her gaining a fame of duality between her fans as they thought about how could she be such a sweetheart and write those type of lyrics and perform the way she does.

No first win this time, sadly, but she gained a spot on the heart of a lot of people around their 16-24, if it had to create average, as her songs fitted the sound and lyrics a lot of younger people in South Korea like to listen, specially k-hiphop/rnb fans, as it got close to the sound they like.

Her personal youtube channel Days with Liz opened, and she got to contact a lot with fans through that and vlives.

When talking about achievements, she was average and had a solid debut, peaking at #8 in the Gaon Album Chart and she had more than 10.000 physical copies sold.

Let's not even talk about her first fansite, FleurDeLiz, that person is truly privileged and the love of her life, Lisbeth gives a lot of attention and poses a lot for them in events as they were her first, but tries to treat them all equally.

Fans also became curious about the model in Hurt's Music Video, he got known as 'the boy with a pretty smile' since his face never fully showed up, not even in the behind the scenes video where he and Lisbeth are seen playing around in the recording, because his face was blurred there. Fans started speculating that maybe he's a trainee for an upcoming debut.

ERA STYLING.

Lisbeth had light purple hair for the entire promotions of the album.

The styling for both songs was pretty casual, actually, but the concept itself didn't fit outfits with a lot of details and patterns.

No Limits' styling was fresh and free, she wore a lot jeans and skirts. There was also a performance where she whore the sleeveless jumpsuit and sports top outfit she wore in the MV, which had mixed opinions of netizens as some thought of it as too revealing, but she remained unbothered.

What is this miracle? Female idols stylists being smart and giving outfits they can actually move in? Yes.

Since Hurt's choreography was more complex and needed more movement, the styling was restricted to pants and shorts, no dresses or skirts where worn.

The color palette was different compared to No Limits' styling, as the latter focused on lighter colors, Hurt went for a theme that reminded night.

#kocsociety #kumokocnet #lisbeth.discography #era.setmefree #fake kpop idol #idol au #idol oc #kpop oc #kpop oc soloist #kpop rp #kpop scenarios #oc soloist #oc #fake kpop group

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plumblossomkun · 5 years ago

Text

𝙲𝚑𝚊𝚙𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝟷:「𝙻𝚒𝚔𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚛, 𝙸'𝚕𝚕 𝚋𝚎 𝚋𝚢 𝚢𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚜𝚒𝚍𝚎 / 𝚕𝚒𝚔𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚖𝚘𝚘𝚗, 𝚠𝚒𝚕𝚕 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚜𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚎 𝚘𝚗 𝚖𝚎?」

word count: 3.5k

setting: student!Taeyong x writing assistant!Female Reader, University!AU

warning[s]: none for this chapter besides some angst. later chapters will have more sensitive topics and they will be mentioned.

chapter summary: in which Taeyong reminisces & tries to forget, but doesn’t stand a chance against the stars & their song. or, in which Taeyong & y/n meet again under the same sky, after years apart.

a/n: this is heavily inspired by Love Deluna; a big thank u @starxblossom for the help on this fic, which is VERY loosely based on something between a boy & me that began sweet. here is chapter one, as inspired by my messy [love] life.

READ ME: this story will contain a LONG series of chapters :) i will italicize flashbacks in their entirety & indicate any changes in scene or point of view in bold. furthermore, chapters will alternate between Taeyong and y/n unless otherwise indicated.

other tags: @bunny-doyounq! enjoy~ ♫

previous | next

Exactly 4 years ago—

“What are you looking for?” he asks, leaning into her so that their shoulders are barely touching. She stares up into the dark, cloudless sky, eyes focused on something he cannot see, painted coral lips slightly parted.

He wonders if one day he’ll feel them against his skin, instead of the winter breeze. Instead of the knowledge that her heart is somewhere else, has always been somewhere else.

“The stars,” she replies, abandoning her search in favor of looking sideways at him with a faint smile. Her gaze is distant, though, and it feels like something sharp has lodged itself in his gut, because he can’t remember if she’s ever really looked at him. “I love the city lights. I really do. But I want to see the stars, I want to see the sky covered in them.”

And then her eyes turn back to the heavens.

He wishes he could anchor her, bring her down from the clouds— but he knows she won’t let him. At least, not as they are.

Not as he is.

So, instead, he places his hand on top of hers, the words he really wants to say stuck somewhere between his heart and his throat, threatening to choke him as he assures her, “We’ll go somewhere you can see them, someday.”

Someday, when I return, he promises silently.

She looks at his hand, then at him, and her voice is tiny, barely audible when she asks, “How far?”

He sees the glimmer of fear in her eyes, and takes his hand away, missing the warmth of her even as he does so. But he knows better than to linger too long and spook her.

“As far as you want.”

Now —

Daly City, CA

—in one word, home

How many moons has it been, since he last set foot in this tiny city, engulfed in a sea of fog pierced only by the headlights of the Model Y Teslas that speed away towards the skyscrapers of the big city to the north?

Too many.

And yet, though he’s returned to the place he’s loved most out of all the homes he’s forged, he feels like he is about to make the second greatest mistake of his life.

He scales the moss-lined steps leading up to the park from the main road, relishing the way the sounds of traffic are muffled by the towering, groaning pines. But when he steps off the uneven dirt path, his heart drops a little when he digs his heels into the earth and finds that the soccer fields have been filled with fake grass and rubber dirt.

He shuffles towards the library, passing through the playground and its vacant swings, sparing a wistful glance for the sand pit, which is filled with mud and litter and not a single child to dig through it. It’s early, the sun hasn’t even started to peek its head over the horizon, but he remembers when he was a child, the seesaw was always creaking away, and the swings were never left unoccupied.

The jingle of a bell lifts his chin from his chest, though, and he sucks a breath in between his teeth in disbelief. There’s no way it’s the rickety old ice cream truck that used to come around when he was a kid, the one with the smiling old man and his wife.

And he’s right, though he’s never wished more in his life that he was wrong.

It’s a cluster of kids on their bikes, ringing their bells like mad and whooping as they zoom through the parking lot, past the basketball and tennis courts that have always been worn and gray, but seem all the worse for wear without the thud of shoes against the cement to fill the spaces in between the groaning fences.

He shoves his hands in his pocket and walks back to his car, shoulders heavy with the knowledge that the world he left behind was not untouched in his absence.

You included, though he knows better than to think you’d be waiting for him. You would never have looked back, not when he’d left like that, without warning, without so much as a goodbye.

You probably hate him for it.

So he gets back into his car, grits his teeth, and promises himself, later, he’ll forget about it. He’ll start at a new school, make new friends, focus on his classes, and act as if the past doesn’t still have its claws in his heart.

Later, he’ll pretend he doesn’t miss the days you’d sit at the top of those steps and drink Arizonas together, wasting the hours until the sun set and you had to decline call after call from your overprotective father, insisting you come home because it was getting too late.

Later, he’ll unpack his boxes at the university apartments, and thank his parents for leaving out the pictures of you and him.

But for now, he grips the steering wheel and takes the I-280 south, all four windows down, using the roar of the autumn wind to drown out the voice inside that says he’s made a mistake, coming back home to California. The voice that insists he came back not for a new start, not because his parents insisted he finish his education abroad, but to see you again.

Santa Clara, CA

— the place you imagine when you think California vibes.

“You know, Taeyong, you didn’t have to come all the way from Korea to bring me flowers.” Johnny eyes the bouquet of violently pink hydrangeas that Taeyong has just produced from the passenger seat of his car like they’ve offended him. “These are pretty, but you know I have allergies, right?”

“They’re not for you,” Taeyong snorts, lifting his computer tower from the backseat with a grunt. “Can you grab the other box from the back?”

Johnny grabs the storage box filled with peripherals and shuts the trunk. “Who else would they be for?”

“My mother told me your mother was visiting.” Taeyong kicks the door closed and locks the car twice, holding his beloved computer tower close to his body and the flowers under his arm. “And that we’re getting lunch together, apparently. Also, since when have you been allergic to flowers?”

“Since I saw these.” Johnny wrinkles his nose at the flowers. “And we’re not eating on campus— I never thought I would say this, but I am sick of burritos.” He shudders as he taps his ID to the scanner at the front entrance, and holds the door open as Taeyong tiptoes through, careful not to trip over the door frame. “There’s a good Korean barbecue place in San Jose, ten minutes out from here. Mom’s checking out the stationery store at Santana Row, said we can call her when we’re ready to go. Have you toured the campus yet?”

Taeyong laughs. “No, I haven’t had the time to look around—”

“Seriously?” Johnny purses his lips in an exaggerated pout. “Okay, come on. Let’s put this stuff away, and I’ll show you around.” He ushers him through another set of double doors, past a small expanse of grass complete with a volleyball net and red flowers draped across a wooden pavilion, shining steel grills polished and ready for the next Sunday playoffs, to the ground floor apartment of a building on the opposite side of the complex.

Taeyong can’t help but already imagine himself sitting on the grass, when he has time after classes, taking the time to watch the sun sink below the rooftops, coffee in one hand and music filling his ears. He can imagine himself mapping the skies, searching for stars.

He catches himself there, shakes his head at his own foolishness. “Lee Taeyong,” he mutters, running a hand through his hair, “this is no time to think about stargazing.”

“Stargazing?” Johnny echoes, emerging from the bathroom with his hands still a little wet, waving them about to dry them. “We have an observatory, if you’re interested in that.”

Taeyong tries to act like the idea hasn’t excited him, bending down to tie his shoes to hide the grin splitting his face. “We can check it out if it’s not too out of the way, I guess.”

Johnny chuckles, closing the door behind him. “Of course. Last and least on the list.”

Palm trees overlook the majority of the campus, leaning low over the buildings and casting long shadows along the pavement. And where there isn’t red or gray brick, there is carefully curated grass, neatly clipped hedges, and collections of too-perfect, too-saturated flowers highlighting each walkway.

It’s a little artificial, a little unreal, but Taeyong can’t deny that, with the afternoon sun beating down on his shoulders, casting golden light without a single wisp of fog in the air, and a slight breeze nipping at his fingertips, it feels like a slice of paradise, straight out of the movies.

Near the end of the main road, Johnny points out a pastel rainbow of roses that lead to a side path that wraps around the church, under a canopy of vines and branches and ornately wrought wood. “I like to come here instead of on the quads; it’s quieter. Some people even take wedding pictures here when the weather is nice.”

Taeyong spots a bench a little ways down the path, surrounded by roses— the perfect spot to take a picture, one to remember his first day back under the California sun.

When he turns back to ask his friend to capture the moment for him, Johnny is already motioning for him to hand over his phone, a knowing smile playing across his face. “I’m surprised you didn’t ask me to take a photo earlier.” Taeyong laughs, brushes rose petals off of the bench before he sits, squinting as he finds a spot that is both well lit and doesn’t have the sun blazing directly into his eyes. “This is too pretty to pass up.”

“Ready?”

Taeyong nods, smiling chastely into the eye of the camera.

“Okay, three, two, one—”

Click.

“Another pose~ three, two, one—”

He adds a peace sign. He knows his mother will definitely ask for one of him and Johnny later, and makes a note to take one at lunch.

Click.

“Last one, look sexy, Taeyong-ah, say mwah for the camera~”

Taeyong bursts into laughter at that, but Johnny snaps the picture anyway.

Click.

“That’s the candid I was looking for,” he says, clearly pleased by his work, handing Taeyong’s phone back to him. “You look good.” And for all his teasing, Johnny is right about the photos— he looks sun-kissed and happy. Nothing like how he’d felt earlier that morning.

He takes a deep breath, taking in the rich scent of the roses around them as the church bells sound, signaling noon. He gathers a handful of pink petals and marvels at their unmarked, silken beauty. “I feel good, too.”

“What did Seoul do to you?” Johnny asks thoughtfully, looking him up and down as if this is the first time he’s really looked at him all day.

Taeyong tosses the petals in the air with a chuckle. “What do you mean?”

“I mean, when we were teenagers...” Johnny snaps his fingers, looking for the right words. “You look like you know yourself better. Is that it?” A girl’s wail splits the air before he can answer, followed by the pitter-patter of quick footsteps. “Excuse me, I’m laaaate—”

Taeyong steps aside automatically, and as the girl runs past him, long hair whipping him in the face despite his quick reflexes, he catches a whiff of summer, of wildflowers, jasmine, and something of the ocean breeze.

And while he doesn’t recognize the perfume, his heart sinks when he realizes he does know that voice.

Your voice.

His phone drops from his hand, and he jumps to his feet.

There’s no way.

Luckily, Johnny snatches up his phone before it hits the ground, and when he sees the expression on Taeyong’s face, leans in front of him with a concerned look, waving a hand to catch his attention. “Whoa. You good, buddy?”

Taeyong’s eyes don’t even register the movement. He presses a hand to his chest to check if his heart is still beating, and has to sit down on the bench again, because he is shaking like a leaf caught in a hurricane.

He feels like all the breath has been sucked out of his lungs, like the bones in his body have suddenly become hollow and thin like glass. “I… was that...?”

Johnny follows his gaze, staring at the back of the girl who is still rushing down the path. “Oh...” he exhales, craning his head to get a better look. “Oh.”

Slowly, he nods his head, and the confirmation is like a death rattle to Taeyong. “I heard she was here, but, you know... I didn’t really go looking.”

Johnny places a firm hand on Taeyong’s shoulder, and his voice is gentle when he reminds him, “You shouldn’t either.”

Taeyong closes his eyes and shakes his head, because after all this time, despite the years he’s spent under a different skyline— here you are— here—

The thought chokes him. It wraps icy fingers around his heart and crushes it, crushes him.

He can’t remember the reason he left, only that it wasn’t right, only that he should’ve stayed.

And though he has only caught a moment’s glimpse, shared a single breath, he can’t deny it, he hasn’t changed at all.

He is still the same boy, praying that a flower that lives for starlight will bloom for him instead.

6 and a half years ago—

Taeyong did not want to attend Winter Ball— in fact, he would rather have eaten dirt— but Yuta and Ten ended up buying him a ticket anyway. He had tried to escape after the last bell, ducking towards the door before the teacher had even dismissed them, but Johnny locks an arm around his shoulders before he can escape.

“You can skip every dance after this one,” he bargains, clicking his tongue, and drags Taeyong down the street to his house to lend him clothes for the night. “Come on, it’ll be fun. Live a little. Dance a little.”

“No, it won’t,” Taeyong grumbles, but puts on the white collared shirt and black tie ensemble anyway, Mrs. Suh cooing “So handsome!” a thousand times at them as she snaps photos to keep in her newly-bought scrapbooks, before ushering them out. “Be back by midnight, okay?”

And now, he plays the wallflower in the small gym, watching in faint amusement as the people dancing freeze in confusion as they try to guess at what song is playing next, the DJ’s transitions between songs awkward and stilted. Despite that, towering over everyone in the very heart of the crowd, Johnny dances like there’s no tomorrow. Yuta and Ten had tried to get him out there, too— they had tried to drag him, princess-carry, and Yuta had even tried to throw him— but Taeyong isn’t in the mood to dance.

A flash of silver catches his eye, and he momentarily forgets that he is supposed to be uninterested in everything that the evening has to offer.

A girl strides towards him, sparkling white glitter sliding off her collarbones like someone has poured starlight on her, refracting tiny pinpoints of light onto her face. She is smiling, and her cheeks are a deep shade of rouge, but her smile is more like a lioness baring her fangs, and the rest of her expression is cold and hard.

Her lips purse as she stares at the half-open door to his left, and the wind whispering behind it. She pauses in the doorway, gaze flicking back to the crowd. And then to him.

When she sees that Taeyong’s looking back at her, her expression lightens, the corners of her eyes crinkling in true mirth.

And then she’s gone, the door swinging shut behind her with a sigh.

He finds her perched on the railing outside, on the balcony that overlooks the entire campus, watching the last snatches of day start to die away. She turns as he approaches, the light on the horizon line pooling around her, framing her figure in gold and scarlet. The breeze bites at his cheeks, and her midnight blue chiffon dress clings to her body, but unlike him, she does not shiver; instead, she leans into the icy caress of winter like it is an old friend.

So when her eyes burn into his, he is already half-convinced that she is some ethereal creature. He opens his mouth to speak, but she shakes her head, as if the sound of his voice will break the spell she’s cast, one that blurs the noise behind him in favor of the shifting world before him.

A wry smile curls her lips, like she’s laughing at some unspoken joke, and she pats the railing next to her, inviting him to join her in the moment.

Mutely, they watch the sky until it darkens and the northern star has begun to twinkle, the last murmurs of gold plunging below the school buildings. So much time passes, in fact, that when she suddenly takes a deep breath, consuming the night air like it is her lifeblood, it startles him, and he almost falls off the railing into the uneven hedges below them.

She laughs aloud then, and says, in a low, almost husky voice, “Are you afraid I might bite?”

His brain fizzles as he tries to think of something to say that isn’t stupid. He settles for the truth. “You look like you might just fly away if I come too close.”

She looks startled, like she wasn’t expecting him to respond with those words, and then shakes her head, that same mysterious smile curving her lips. She tips her head back and lets the wind comb through her long hair. “I wish I could fly. Don’t you?”

He thinks about it, looks up into the sea of gray clouds filtering the moonlight into ivory shards. “Maybe. Where would you go, if you could?”

She leans back a little too far and loses her balance for a split second— and he instinctively reaches out to catch her, gripping her hands in his.

Her hands are small, and freezing, but still, they do not shake. Her heartbeat thrums against his palms, and she laughs breathlessly, the noise dragging his eyes up to meet hers.

He can’t help but flinch; her gaze is filled with stone that had not been there a second before. It does not soften until she has extracted herself from his hold, and the cold railing is the only thing they share in common.

Only then does she answer his question, clearing her throat. When she speaks this time, her voice has lost its airy quality, becoming sweeter, softer. He loses himself there, and openly stares at her, awed by— everything about her. “I think I’d see if heaven existed,” she breathes, reaching towards the stars, cupping the curve of the moon within her hands. “Go as high as I could until my lungs cried out for mercy.”

She slips down from her perch, lighting down quietly on the hard cement. On level ground, she is quite a bit shorter than him, and yet he feels intimidated by her proximity when she leans towards him, face impassive as she studies his.

“What?” he asks, jutting out his chin in challenge.

The girl rolls her eyes, unimpressed. But whatever she finds in his expression, she clearly doesn’t dislike because she says carelessly, tossing the words out at rapid-fire speed, “I’m going to go find a better view, and real food. Feel free to tag along, if you want.”

And then she’s walking away before he can even accept the invitation, tugging off both her heels in one fluid motion and dangling them off of her shoulder as she starts heading down the five flights of stairs leading down to the main entrance, completely barefoot and humming a tune he does not know.

He looks back at the gym. He doesn’t see Yuta, or Ten, or Johnny through the glass— in fact, he’s sure they won’t notice him leaving, either, not while they’re dancing— so he makes his choice.

He can be back by midnight, if he keeps track of the time.

“Wait—” he calls after her.

She pauses, and their gazes lock. For a split second, something flickers to life in her eyes, summons a peal of laughter from deep within her throat. She licks her lips, head tilted up towards him, and he understands it then. She is lovely, and the moonrise suits her, but she is no ethereal being, no angel, no goddess.

“Catch me if you can, then.”

Still— he can’t look away.

He can’t help but chase after her.

a/n 2.0: feedback of all kinds is appreciated! ♥ luv y’all

#nct #nct fics #taeyong fics #taeyong smut #taeyong #lee taeyong #nct smut #nct imagines #taeyong imagines #taeyong x reader #taeyong x female reader #nct fanfics #taeyong fanfics #taeyong was my first bias in nct ever #everyone involved in this fic is legal #dulce et feram

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artificialqueens · 5 years ago

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Houroubing to Aruba, Chapter 1, (Branjie) - Blackhighheels

They are off to Aruba for their first vacation together

Belongs to the “For they know what they do now”- verse

Chapter 1 : Pepito

“You got everything? The presents, wallets, cellphone?” Brock asks and looks around the room, making sure they don’t forget anything important. They are in Orlando, their first quick stop on their way to Aruba, because Jose decided it would be a good idea to visit his grandmother and Alexis. Therefor instead of just changing planes, they stay for the night and then continue their flight tomorrow. Not that Brock minds, because he’s all for splitting up the close to 14 hour journey. It helps a lot with his nerves and anxiety.

“Yup, packed everything. You got the car key?"

Brock holds it up to show it to him. "Alright, then let’s go or we’ll be late.”

“Calm down, boo, it’s just a twenty minute drive from here and also it’s just my grandma. She knows I’m always late.” Jose tells him and closes the door of their hotel room behind him, follows him to the elevator.

“Really just twenty minutes? I thought it’d be farther.” Isn’t it also another town, he wonders.

“Nope, we gonna go south on Jeff Fuqua Blvd, which becomes Access Road and then stay on and we’re basically there.”

“It’s kind of weird that you suddenly know your way around and can even name the streets. Usually you need navigation to find the Starbucks around the corner from our house,” Brock teases him.

“Bitch, I grew up around here,” Jose turns around in the elevator, facing him and taking his eyes off the mirror for once. “And I find the Starbucks without navigation… now.” He admits with a chuckle. Brock makes use of the otherwise empty elevator and pulls Jose close by his suspenders for a quick kiss.

“You wanna drive?” he offers, which is unusual, because he hates being a passenger when Jose is driving in L.A, or anywhere for that matter. If Brock had the power, he would have already confiscated Jose’s driver’s license. It remains a mystery to him, how his boyfriend doesn’t get into car accidents on the regular, his driving erratic and sometimes even careless. The only reason he’s been without a driver’s license his several DUIs.

“Nah, you good. I’m just gonna pretend I’m Siri and tell you where to go. Maybe that could be a new business idea? Miss Vanjie navigations?”

Brock laughs. “Turn right… no the other right, bitches. Imma tell ya what to do now… and I look good doing it,” he tries to imitate Jose’s Vanjie voice and makes him laugh.

“You better not do Vanjie at Snatch game ever, boo. You suck! Oh, and it’s a toll street so we’ll need quarters. Dunno, if they accept credit cards now.” They get out of the elevator.

“I think I got some. Can you check?” Brock unlocks their rental car that they’ve reached by now. They both get in and buckle their seatbelts before Brock drives out of the garage while Jose digs through his backpack, looking for Brock’s wallet.

“Yup, should be fine.” He states when he has found it. “Your wallet weighs a ton. What have ya got in here?”

“Still got the tip money from the last gig,” Brock shrugs. “Left here, right?”

“Yeah, it’s a one way street, so you need to do a u-turn here,” Jose confirms after looking up for a second. Then he focusses back on Brock’s wallet and checks each compartment, takes the papers out and looks at the cards.

“What are you doing?”

“Snooping.” Jose admits it with a bratty smirk and isn’t ashamed at all. “Got something to hide? Better confess it now.”

“Not that I know of.” He knows that there’s nothing in there that he needs to hide. Not that hiding anything from his boyfriend is ever a good idea.

“You got a condom in there? No, wait, two? What’s next? Lube?"

"Of course, I got condoms in my wallet. Where else would I keep them?” It was kind of obvious. But then he remembered that his boyfriend stashed them wherever convenient, sometimes even his cellphone cover, under his hat or in his shoes- Brock wasn’t sure how save that really was. Yet, the easy access was the reason why Jose was in charge of these things.

“Where were they when we needed them that time in London, when everything was closed and we were desperate?”

“They were most likely already in there, but I was too drunk to think of it.” Brock tries to remember what happened back then, but the nights in London during their first tour together, are still kind of a blur.

“Child, I will remember from now on! Won’t happen again,” Jose huffs and puts his feet on the dashboard of the car, after he threw the wallet back in the backpack.

“Yeah, just one thing,” Brock grins and quickly looks at him before concentrating back on the traffic.

“What thing?”

“We stopped using condoms months ago?! You remember the testing and discussions?"

"Took us long enough to rid off these romance killers,” Jose rolls his eyes, but can’t hide the small smile.

“You think it took us long?” Brock asks curiously.

“Yeah, we’ve been back together eleven months and we stopped using them like what? Two months ago?”

“Bit more. I remember we discussed it right after your birthday and then got tested just to be sure. We didn’t bring any condoms on tour. November maybe? So more like four months.”

“Mmh.”

“How long did it usually take, until you stopped using protection with your ex boyfriends?”

“Never… like… No wait. With one I did, but then we broke up shortly afterwards. But the others were always cheating… or I thought they were cheating and then it turned out later I’d been right.”

“Oh, ok.”

“What? I won’t let any fuccboi gamble with my health. If I wanna fuck that up, I can do it on my own. Don’t need anyone tell me about love and trust and shit and then stick his dick somewhere without a cover.”

“You know I agree with you.” Brock points out. He’s never been one to skip protection the few times he actually had real sex with a random guy. And since he’d never had a boyfriend before Jo… and he still got tested regularly.

“I do. And I trust you, so no raincoat needed… well, other than for practical reasons.” The smirk is back on Jose’s face. “We can throw ‘em out?”

“We probably should anyway. I can’t remember when I put them in there. Better check the expiration date,” Brock laughs.

“Not like one of us can get pregnant, cause if we could… girl. We’d have grand-babies by now.”

“No, but if they rip, it kind of defeats the purpose, no matter which one we might have in mind.”

Jose wrinkles his forehead, then nods. “Turn right here on the 417 and the toll station should be right ahead.”

“Ok, papi,” Brock nods and does what he is told. “Can you hand me the quarters?”

***

They reach their destination fifteen minutes later, park the car and both get out. It’s a narrow street with small houses left and right and an apartment complex at the end of the cul-de-sac. Children’s toys seem to sit on nearly every free strip of lawn, along with grills, chairs and the odd dog on a chain. It’s obvious that it’s not a rich neighbourhood, but Brock doesn’t feel unsafe either.

“You grew up here?” Brock asks and looks around.

“Lived over there for a while,” Jose points in the general direction of a couple of houses. “But we moved a lot. Longest house we stayed in was on the other side of the lake. Five years, maybe?” He takes Brock’s hand in his and leads him down the street.

“Because of the divorce?”

“Divorce, break-ups, money or the wrong people around us. My mom didn’t want a repeat of what happened with her brother, so she tried to keep us out of trouble.”

“You know I’m glad my parents are finally divorced because they weren’t good for each other and everything, and are much happier now, but the whole moving thing is a reason why I’m glad they didn’t get divorced until we were all grown up.”

“Yeah, it sucked sometimes. Not always.”

“Any last warnings?” Brock asks then when they reach a small blue house. He is suddenly overcome by nervousness.

“Just do you, boo,” Jose smiles and they exchange a quick kiss before he knocks on the mesh screen door, because the main door is already open. “Abuela?” Jose yells.

“Come in, Pepito,” a female voice calls from the inside.

“Lita!” Jose exclaims when they walk inside and a tiny, dark haired women rushes towards them once they have crossed the small living-room and reach the kitchen.

“Pepito! Cariño!” She squeezes him tightly and holds him, tears in her eyes. “It’s been so long”

“Yeah, it’s been a while,” he agrees, wipes his eyes and sniffs. “Grandma, this is Brock,” he introduces them. Before Brock can react he is pulled downwards and into a bear hug. The small elder woman has a lot more strength than he suspected.

“So nice to finally meet you,” he tells her when she lets him go.

“Que hombre bonito,” she says to Jose, but Brock understands enough to blush.

“He not too bad,” Jose teases with a nonchalant shrug and winks at his man.

“Neither are you, Pepito,” Brock teases right back, because he hasn’t heard this nickname before, even though he spends a lot of time around Jose’s mother.

“Oh, stop. Only my abuela is allowed to call me that.” He turns back to his grandmother. “We brought you a little something something. The green one is from us and the pink one from mom.” He hands her the wrapped gifts that are still for Christmas.

“Thank you, mi corazon.” They both get kisses on the cheeks before she sets the gifts aside without opening them. "You want something to drink before we leave?“ she asks the both of them.

"We leave? Where to?” Jose is as puzzled as Brock.

“The BBQ spot by the lake. The others will be here in a minute, food is done.”

“The others?” Jose doesn’t look too happy.

“Lita?” another male voice yells from the front door and then steps can be heard coming towards the kitchen where they are standing. Brock can feel Jose tense up even though they are not touching. He looks like he might run any second and shrinks into himself. “Oh, you already here,” the man says. He is about Jose’s height, maybe a bit taller with tan skin, dark short curls and Jose’s eyes. Tattoos cover his hands, arms and what can be seen of his chest and his neck. He is wearing Nike’s, grey baggy sweats and a white wife-beater. Two little girls are by his side.

“Yeah.” Jose just nods.

“Uncle Jose!” one of the girls storms towards Jo and jumps up to hug him. That’s when Brock finally understands that he’s just met Jose’s older brother.

“Vicky! You so tall now, girl! Look at that! You nearly as tall as Brock here,” Jose jokes as he holds his niece, her legs slung around his stomach. Her skin is a bit lighter than Jose’s, but the family resemblance is uncanny. Her dark curls are done in complicated braids on her head.

“Hi!” The girl smiles charmingly up at him, still in Jose’s arms and Brock smiles back. She’s really cute and Brock realises she has bright green eyes.

“Hi,” he replies and then turns to the man staring at him. “Hello, I’m Brock,” he holds out his hand. It takes a moment but then Jose’s brother shakes it.

“Hi, I’m D. Heard a lot about you, man. Mom sure can’t shut up about your house with the pool and all the other rich shit.”

“We just rent it.”

“Hey, Feli, do you remember me?” Jose puts his older niece back down on the ground and crouches down in front of the younger one, who seems to be about four or five. She looks a lot like her sister, but her eyes are as dark as Jose's and her hair is simply pulled in a tight pony-tail. She shyly shakes her head and clings to her father’s hand more tightly, hides partially behind it.

“That’s uncle Jo, Feli. Miss Vanjie!” her sister informs her.

“How do you know about Miss Vanjie, little lady? How old are you?” Jose puts his hands on his hips and plays it up for her amusement.

“Everybody knows about Vanjie. You famous now, uncle J! And I’m ten!”

“Ten? When did you turn ten? Wasn’t it just yesterday that we played with your my little ponies and braided their hair?”

“You’re silly.” She giggles. “Look, I’m even wearing mascara and nails!”

“I can see that,” Jose smiles, but the look he gives his brother is disapproving. Then he holds up a hand towards Brock. “Help me up, boo?” he asks and Brock knows it’s only because his knee is still hurting after the six hour flight earlier in the morning. Brock pulls him up.

“Lita, you riding with us or Jose?”

“You can ride with us, if you want,” Jose offers.

“Ok, then we’ll meet you at the park.” Without another word Jose’s brother takes his daughters by the hands and leads them out of the house.

“Esper… we need to take the arroz con guandules,” grandma sighs.

“In the caldero?” Jose’s eyes widen and he looks over to the oven where a huge metal pot is standing.

“Can we even lift it?” Brock laughs when he sees the size of this thing.

“You a tall man, mi amor. You can do it,” Jose’s grandmother seems to have confidence in him and the term of endearment doesn’t miss its’ aim either. He walks over and tests it, manages to lift the heavy pot off the stove.

“Pepito, ven aqui,” she waves Jose behind her and when they come back they each hold two large bowls with even more food. “Let’s go!” she smiles and follows them out to the car.

***

“That your ride?” Jose’s brother asks Brock when they reach the picnic area at a lake not too far away from the grandmother’s house. He doesn’t help with the heavy pots though.

“Rental. We’re only here for a day.”

“Only a day? Why’d you even come here then? Or you owning your own jet now and just don’t care?” he laughs, but Brock recognises a dig when he hears one.

“It made sense to stop here or in Miami, since we need to change planes here anyway on our way to our vacation.”

“Where you going, man?”

“Aruba.”

“Sweet.”

“Yeah, we think so.”

“Must have cost you a couple of coins.”

“A couple. The flights and part of the stay is paid for, however. I won it on the show.”

“The show?” he seems puzzled for a moment. “Ah, right. You’re one of those as well.”

“One of what?” Brock stands up to his full height after he’s finally managed to put the pot down on one of the tables. He tries not to be offended and give him the benefit of the doubt, but Jose’s stories about his brother combined with the way he just said it, rub Brock the wrong way.

“Hombre!” A loud scream interrupts them and they turn around. D smiles and walks over to the ten to twelve men coming his way. Behind them a couple of women follow, most of them with children in tow. Brock feels like he’s watching a documentation about hispanic gangs in the Bronx or something. For a second he wonders how many of them are armed, but then he pushes the thought away as quickly as he can. As a Canadian the thought of guns all around him always freaks him out.

“Fuck, he brought his whole posse,” Jose mutters and shows up beside Brock, but doesn’t touch him.

“They’re family, too?”

“Some of them are cousins, yeah. Rest friends. All of them as fucking dumb as my brother.” Jose seems angry. Or annoyed?

“You ok, papi?”

“I’m fine… just… ignore everything they say and remember we’re only here for today, k?” Jose looks up at him, a strange look in his eyes.

“Same goes for you,” Brock points out and wraps one arm around Jose’s shoulder and pulls him into his side. For a moment the tension leaves his body as he melts against Brock’s body.

“Oy, loca!” Another scream from one of the guys and the tension is back in Jose’s body, fists clenched.

Brock holds him tighter and massages his shoulder with the one hand resting there. “Breathe.”

***

A while later Jose and Brock have sat down to eat, Jose’s grandmother at their table, his nieces there as well. The other men have retreated to a table at the edge of the picnic area and Brock can’t say that he minds in the least. The longer he’s been around them, the less him likes them. The women left after a while, taking most of the kids with them after they’ve served their men with drinks and food.

“Oye, Jose!” a guy that was introduced as Tivo, a friend of D’s, yells over without getting up.

“What?”

“Bring me another beer.”

“Please,” Brock adds with quiet sarcasm, can’t help it. He waits for Jose’s sarcastic reply to the unfriendly request, but he just gives Brock’s leg a squeeze underneath the table, then gets up and brings him the requested drink. There is some laughter at the table when Jose gets there, but Brock can’t hear or understand what’s being said. When Jose comes back with an empty plate, he refills it and carries it back over. Brock can see that he’s still slightly limping, his knee still acting up.

“Sit down, babe, I’m gonna get you some ice,” Brock decides and gets up himself to fetch some ice from where the drinks are. He places the cubes on a towel and then hands it to Jose.

“Thank you, boo,” Jose replies and pecks Brock’s lips a couple of times. Wolf-whistles can be heard from the other table.

“Jose! No delante de mis hijas!” Jose jerks back from Brock at his brother’s angry command, the ice falling to the ground.

“What did he say?” Brock questions.

“Nothin’” Jose mumbles and tries to pick the ice back off the ground.

“I’m gonna get you some fresh ice,” Brock shakes his head, takes the dish towel, gets up and refills it.

“Jose! Bring the bread over.”

Brock isn’t even back at the table yet when the new command comes from the table of guys and the whole table erupts in laughter. Brock had the feeling before that they were doing it on purpose, making Jose serve them, since their wives and girlfriends were gone, but now he knows. And he is furious.

It also puzzles him why Jose is obliging them and doesn’t say a single thing. His usually so feisty and hot-tempered boyfriend is acting like a scared little kid, which adds even more fire to Brock’s anger.

He stops Jose from getting up by placing a hand on his shoulder. “Stay, I’ll do it. Put the ice on your knee.” He grabs the bread and marches over to where the guys are sitting. “Here,” he pushes the bread in the hands of a guy whose name he has already forgotten. “And now get the rest yourself."

"Ooooh,” the other three men howl and laugh.

“Mind your own business, sissy.” More boo-ing, more laughter. “We not talking to you, white boy.”

“Sissy? Fine by me, but maybe you should man up. You can’t even get your food or drinks yourself.”

“Jose! Your loca is running her mouth!” One guy calls.

“We can, we just don’t want to. That’s what you guys are for,” another one says. Brock looks at Jose’s brother, who hasn’t said anything and doesn’t holler and laugh as loudly as the others. But neither does he stand up for his brother and stop this.

“Mmh, and apparently we’re also here to pay your phone bill debts, right D?” Brock knows and addresses him directly. “How about you earn your own money first and stop relying on your little brother? How’s that for man-ing up?” More howls, boos, this time directed at D.

“Fuck off, maricon!” Brock knows that word. If there is one thing every gay man knows, it’s insults and slurs in all kinds of languages, the cruder the more familiar. And this time it came directly from D.

“What did you just say?” he asks unnecessarily, dares him to repeat it.

D gets off the bench and stands in front of him. D’s best friend Felix does the same, steps closer and puffs out his chest. “Chupa mi huevos, maricon!”

“I’m gonna fucking kill you!” Jose’s furious threat echoes as he rushes over, already halfway there, even limping. He must have started his way over when they called him. Brock holds him back though, when he basically flies towards his brother and Felix, ready to tackle them. With both arms wrapped around his waist from behind, he is reminded how strong Jose really is. He has trouble holding him back, his boyfriend set on a physical fight with all ten of them, if he has to.

“J, you really wanna try me again?” his brother laughs, comes closer and steps in front of Felix. Brock knows that even though he doesn’t have any experience in fist fights, he will step in front of Jose and try to protect him, before he will stand idly by and watch them hurt Jose even more than they have in the past.

“Siétate! Ahora!” Suddenly Jose’s grandmother is by their side, glaring at his brother and his friends. They obey and no one dares to laugh this time. A fast rant, that Brock doesn’t understand a single word of, starts and at the same time she waves him and Jose away, signalises them to go back to their table. Brock isn’t sure if that’s a good idea though, grabs more ice as they pass the drinks and leads Jose away from the picnic area and towards a small park by the lake side.

“You ok, papi?” Brock asks when Jose is still silent once they reach a wooden bench underneath some trees, hidden away from sight.

“Did they hurt you?” Jose asks instead of answering the question.

“No, they didn’t even touch me.” Brock pulls him down onto the bench and into his lap, then places the ice on Jose’s knee for the third time. “Has it always been like this?”

“No, not when we were younger. I always wanted to be like him, all manly and cool and shit. But when he found out I was gay… at home it was ok and when we were alone, but when his friends found out…”

“Did they hurt you? Physically?”

“Sometimes.They thought they could beat the gay out of me or some shit. Until my mother found out. Then she beat the crap out of them.”

“I can imagine,” Brock chuckles, because he can imagine well how that went down.

“She took my side and he thinks she loves me more, like, I’m the favorite. When the Vanjie thing happened and they moved to L.A. for me… D really hates me now.” Jose slumps sideways against Brock’s chest. For a while they just sit there, Brock rubbing Jose’s arm and placing kisses on his forehead from time to time. Jose is deep in thought.

“You wanna go back?” Brock asks when Jose starts responding to his caresses and starts sucking on his neck.

“Mmmh, I wanna talk to my grandma some more.”

“But Jo? If they start bullying you again, we’re leaving. I will not sit idly by and watch it. We’ve come too far in our life to go back to who we were ten or fifteen years ago.”

“Thank you.” Jose kisses him gently before they both get up and walk back to Jose’s family, their fingers tightly linked. They haven’t reached their table yet when D walks towards them. Brock slightly steps in front of Jose. The fact that he is already injured makes him protective in a way he usually isn’t. Or maybe it’s just the company they are in?

“Mira… Jose, can I talk to you?” Jose looks to Brock.

“You want me to come with you?” he offers.

“Nah, we gonna be fine.” He decides and looks around.

“Stay where I can see you, please?” Brock requests quietly.

“Will do, boo.” Jose gives him a small smile and then points to a swing set not too far away. His nieces are playing there now and Brock thinks that hopefully they won’t get too intense in front of the kids. When he looks around he sees that the other men have left and only Jose’s grandmother is sitting at a table.

“They gonna be fine,” she tells him when he joins her and refills his cup.

“Thanks for stepping in. I’m not really good at fist fights,” he tries to joke.

“Tu sabes, D is here 'cause he wanted to talk to Jose. It wasn’t my idea. He’s changed a lot since they all left, his mother, his brothers… his girls. He only sees them once a month.”

“Mmh.” Brock makes, doesn’t really know what to say.

“You found a house yet?” She changes the topic.

“Not really. But we’re in no hurry. The lease isn’t up for another there years, so we’ve got time to wait and see what comes up. First we needed to hash out what we even want,” he explains and smiles, remembering their different ideas about what they wanted to buy.

“Send me some pictures when you found something. I’d like to see where he lives.”

“You could always come and see us. We have a guest room.”

“I know, my daughter told me. But the long flight… it’s expensive, you know?”

“We could book it for you. Both Jo and I have so many points saved up we barely know what to do with them. Would be first class, too.”

“Points? No entiendo.”

“Like, when you fly with certain airlines you get points for flying with them and rewards. After a certain amount of points you get better rewards, don’t have to pay certain fees, get free food and drinks. And because we’re always flying somewhere, we can basically never use up all our bonuses.”

“So you don’t pay money for my flight?”

“No, we wouldn’t.”

“Ok, I will think about it,” she finally accepts and Brock is impressed by this very proud and humble woman. “I could cook for you when I visit you. You’re both too thin.” She adds and Brock knows that he will have to tell Jose that his grandma is going to visit them soon. This is as close to accepting the offer as it gets.

They are interrupted when Jose, his brother and the girls come back. Neither is hurt, but Brock can see the storm of emotions in Jose’s eyes. He looks upset, but not angry, which he takes as a good sign.

“We should get going, boo. Have to get ready for our night out with Alexis,” Jose tells him quietly. “You got this here, D?” He motions to the pots and plates everywhere.

“Si, you go. I take care of it,” his brother confirms and his tone is much softer than before.

“K, bye Lita. Talk to you soon.”

“Bye, Pepito. You tare care.” They hug for a long moment. Brock is next, gets the same bear hug he was greeted with earlier that day.

D holds out his hand when they pull back. Reluctantly Brock takes it, not sure yet what to make of it. He is pulled in a manly hug, with a couple of pats on his back. “I’m sorry about before. And please take care of him, man. His knee really doesn’t look good.”

“I will,” he vows, surprised by the concern, the apology and the approval.

After saying goodbye to the girls, they make their way to the car in silence and Brock has to turn on the navigation, because Jose keeps staring out the window, deep in thought.

“Baby, you’re ok?” he asks him when he can’t take it anymore and touches one of Jose’s hand with one finger.

“Yeah. It was good, the talk and all. Just… a lot. He apologised for the shit he’s done to me and for not protecting me. I told him he needs to apologise to mom, too, for all his fuck ups. It was hard on her. But he doesn’t feel like he part of the family no more and … he done a lot of work, did some therapy, has his own Dr. Laurie. He’s always been a bit of an ass, but he my brother, you know? He’s family, even if he don’t get me or why I’m gay and why I’m so extra all the time.”

“Sounds like a good start,” Brock comments.

“Said he should come to L.A. and see us all. I wasn’t sure if you want him at the house though.”

“I’m not sure either. He’s kind of scary.”

“He wouldn’t do nothing. He still on probation.”

“What?” Brock squeaks and does a double take. Maybe he should have been given that info before he nearly got into a physical fight with the guy.

“Long story with a mug shot and all, y'all.” Jose chuckles.

“Talked to your grandma; she might want to visit us too. Maybe they can come together? We take your grandma and your mom can take your brother?”

“You talked my abuela into visiting us? I’ve been begging her to come see us since I moved to L.A. How’d you do that?”

“I can be charming, too, pepito.” Brock laughs.

“Haha! Baaabe!” Jose laughs loudly, his scream echoing through the car. “I think I’m gonna call Alexis and tell him we not coming tonight. I don’t feel like clubbing anymore. That ok with you?” Jose surprisingly asks when he has calmed down.

“Sure. We’ll see him in L.A. in a couple of weeks anyway.” Brock agrees and stops at the tolling station.

***

Jose remains unusually quiet when they get back their room. They each take a shower and dress more comfortably and chill on the bed before ordering room service later that night. Jose isn’t really hungry, but Brock makes him eat, since he didn’t eat much during lunch either.

Once they are done, they retreat back to the bed and start the next episode of whatever show they are watching in Netflix. Brock doesn’t pay attention.

He doesn’t really know how to deal with a quiet Jose. He’s asked him several times if he’s ok, but beside a short confirmation, he hasn’t added anything to what he said in the car. He calculates how late it is in L.A. and if they should maybe call Laurie, but then decides against it, because Jose moves closer to him and places his head on his chest.

“Today was the first day I felt like that fucking kid again, the one who fucks up at school and goes to therapy for his ADD and knows he’s gay and who is weird and loud and shit. My own brother didn’t want to be around me, 'cause I was so not cool. And now, we here and you… the hottest guy I’ve ever dated, saw all of that shit today.”

“You scared I don’t find you cool and hot anymore?"

"Dunno. Do you?” He looks up at him, a small smile on his face that is also a bit insecure. And Jose should never ever feel insecure about Brock’s love for him.

“How about I show you?” He smiles and presses his lips against Jose’s for a moment, pulls back with a loud smack.

“Starting the romancing early? We not even in Aruba yet, hot stuff.” Jose kisses him, a bit longer, but just as intensely.

“Got a problem with that?”

“No, you go ahead, boo. Show me.” The next kiss leaves them both breathless. When Brock teases him with the tip of his tongue, runs it over Jose’s lips, he lets out a soft laugh before he moves up a bit more, slips his tongue in his mouth and gives back ten fold.

Brock rolls them over, so that Jo is underneath him, lying on his back. Without breaking the kiss or looking, he slides one hand underneath his shirt and moves upward, the fabric bunching up on his wrists. Brock enjoys the feeling of his smooth, hot skin underneath his palms, muscles contracting where his light touch tickles.

He clutches the white shirt, breaks the kiss and pulls it over his head, Jose’s arms lifting on autopilot. While he’s at it, he loses his own shirt and dives back down to kiss him some more. Jose’s lips are always plump, delicious and the little noises he makes shoot straight to Brock’s groin, making him painfully hard.

They pant slightly and look at each other when they have to break the kiss again.

“I love how you always gasp when I do this,” he says and places a kiss in the middle of Jose’s chest; smiles when he hears the sound he just talked about. “So hot.”

A lick of his nipple follows, then the other, the same sounds filling the room as Jose’s hand tangles in Brock’s hair. Next he drags his scruffy cheeks down across his stomach and watches the slight red, that colours the tan skin. “I love it when you’re loud and shit,” he repeats his earlier words back at him. “Tell me what you want… talk to me."

Jose groans loudly. "Your tongue… your teeth,” he says and directs Brock’s head up. They’ve been doing this often enough that he knows exactly what his man is after. He has a go at his nipples, knows they are incredibly sensitive. Jose groans again, his voice high pitched and needy as he raises his torso off the bed, apparently stuck between wanting to pull away and pulling Brock more to him. He sucks, licks and even bites a little as Jose moans, swears and even half-laughs. Brock can feel him hard and hot through his sweats, against his leg.

He slips his hand in Jose’s pants, pulls them down with one tug as he raises his hips without prompting. The sweats join their shirts on the floor.

“How do you want me?” Brock asks him. “What do you want me to do? Suck you? Fuck you? Let you fuck me?” His right hand is wrapped around Jose’s hard shaft, teasing him further with slow and steady movements.

“You’d let me fuck you? Feeling like being a bottom today?” Jose teases and pulls Brock’s shorts down over his hips, pats his naked butt cheeks before he runs his hands over them, squeezes.

“Today I’ll do whatever you need me to do, to show you that you have the power now. No one can tell you what to do anymore, no one can talk down to you or bully you.” He rests his chin against Jose’s chest and waits for his verdict. Giving all the power away is kind of sexy too and Brock has troubles keeping his hips still.

“There’ll be enough time for me to fuck you. Maybe on the beach? Or against a palm tree?” Jose muses, clearly teasing Brock now. “I just want you to fuck me… been waiting all day… got ready while you were in the shower,” he confesses and makes Brock scramble up and get out of his pants in seconds. He grabs the lube from underneath the pillow, where one of them always puts it, and is pushed on his back. He grips the bottle hard when Jose’s wet, hot mouth suddenly surrounds his hard dick, his tongue teasing him. He sucks him, the sounds loud and obscene as he doesn’t hold back. He watches him bop up and down, cheeks hollow from time to time and sometimes his tongue peeks out, swipes over his head, tastes him, before he takes him deep again. Brock’s hips lift off the bed and he hopes he’ll hold out long enough and not come in his mouth. Saliva is covering his dick when Jose finally stops and takes the lube from him.

“You so fucking sexy.” The bottle hits the floor and Brock hopes he closed it properly, the stain disaster on a carpet not something he wishes to repeat. “Should I get the condoms or ride you like this…?” Jose asks, even though they both know it’s not really a question. The intimacy of going bare something they discussed in detail, after they had both been surprised by the effect it had on them once they’d done it the first time. For Brock it was the proof he didn’t know he’d needed, that Jose trusts him and knows he is being faithful.

Jose climbs on top of him and then slowly sinks down with a loud groan.

“God… fuck, papi.” Brick grips his hips tightly and digs his fingers into Jo’s skin. There are no more thoughts about the past, the family, nothing. Just this, his beautiful man on top of him, dominating and directing, trusting him with his body the same way he does trust him.

“I fucking love you fucking me… love you!” Jose leans down for a wet kiss, tongues battling. When he sits back up, taking him fully, he starts moving, eyes closed. “You feel so fucking good!” He gets louder. Brock starts pushing up, making the thrusts harder, deeper. “Yeah! Fuuuck!”

“Jo, yes.” There is no way he can form a full sentence. A couple more thrusts and he’s reduced to simple moans and rhythmic grunts that are drowned out by Jose’s enthusiastic and filthy commentary. That’s the confidence he knows from him, all sexy and not holding back. That’s how he wants him, no needs him, to feel every fucking second of every fucking day. Just when he’s about to come, Jo slows down, then stops and grins at him. He knows exactly what he’s doing, little shit.

“Not done with you yet. I want to come first. Show me you can get me there. Make me come! And maybe I’ll let you come, too. Might be in a giving mood.” Brock pushes up, as hard as he can and surprises him, makes him yelp. For a second he’s scared he’s hurt him.

“Yeees!” The scream is enough to make him repeat the movement, slam him down by his hips.

Their bodies glistens with sweat and he has no idea how long they’ve been at it. The muscles in his legs are shaking and burn, and he knows he can’t keep going for much longer or he has to change their position. Jose wouldn’t approve, though. He lets go of his hips with one hand and wraps it around Jose’s leaking cock, strokes him in the same rhythm as he’s riding him, as Brock’s slamming up into him.

Two, four, eight… “Fuck, yes, Brock!” Jose comes all over his stomach and chest and Brock follows him, still deep inside of him.

“Fuck,” Brock pants, giggles, his arms falling to his sides. Jose lifts his hips and lets him slide out, then moves up, lays down on top of him and kisses him, just once, because they are both still too out of breath for more.

“This was a worthy first fuck for our first vacation together.” Jose sighs into his shoulder and rests his head there. Brock just laughs and wraps his arms around him. They lay like this for a moment.

“You know what this reminds me of, us going away for a break after all of this goddamn mess today?”

“Mmh?”

“When I was still living with Alexis, Jeffrey used to watch these Arabic series sometimes. They like telenovelas but shorter. I got sucked in with one, 'cause the actress was so fucking gorgeous. It was about a woman in Lebanon, who had so much shit going on with her family that she didn’t know up from down. And then her handsome hero came in, swept her off her feet, but her family didn’t like it. And child, that guy was hot! Her brother was an asshole and all… and then they just ran off to Paris for three months and called it 'Houroub’. That was also the name of the show. Jeffrey said that means 'escape’”. I feel like that what we doing. Houroub-ing from drag and our families and fans and every day shit… I think we earned it.“

"Yeah, we do, papi,” Brock agrees and closes his eyes. “Houroub-ing to Aruba.”

Jose makes an attempt to sit up, but Brock tightens his hold around him and keeps him there. “Bitch, if you think we going to sleep with cum glueing our chests together, while I’m leaking all over the place, you better think again. You wanna be lazy like this afterwards, we better go back to the whole condoms discussion.” Jose untangles from him and cleans himself a bit with his shirt. They also had this talk before, more than once.

“I’m exhausted. You just fucked all energy out of me.” Brock sighs.

“You wanted me bossy, you get bossy: Get up! We taking a bath.” Jose decides and tugs on Brock’s arm until he reluctantly sits up.

“You gonna be bossy in the tub, too?” he asks as he follows him into the bathroom and swats his naked ass playfully.

“Maybe. But maybe I just want you to hold me,” Jose shrugs and starts the water.

“Whatever you want, papi. Whatever you want.” Brock tells him and pulls him into his chest as they watch the tub fill with water.

“When’s our flight leaving tomorrow?” Jose breaks the silence just before he turns the water off.

“Twenty past one. We should be at the airport around eleven.” They both climb in, Jose finding his spot, sitting between Brock’s outstretched legs.

“Thank god, mama. We can sleep in and get breakfast at the airport. I’ll need my beauty sleep to be ready and repeat our performance in paradise, as soon as we get there.”

Brock laughs. “You have this all planned out already? What happened to checking in, unpacking and then explore your surroundings a bit?”

“Oh, I’m gonna be all Dora-explorer on your dick, boo… all over our room and bed.” Jose’s boisterous laughter fills the room and Brock presses a kiss to his temple. What a great way to start their vacation.

TBC

#rpdr fanfiction #brooke lynn hytes #vanessa vanjie mateo #branjie #fluff #smut #drama #canon compliant #houroubing to aruba #blackhighheels

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lockdownuk · 4 years ago

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Lockdown Diary Part 7

A personal account during the lockdown in the UK due to the Covid-19 outbreak.

23/03/2020 8:30pm Boris Johnson, UK Prime Minister, gives a live address to the nation to, effectively, put the country on lockdown to stem the spread of the deadly coronavirus strain, Covid-19.

Many of us have been self-isolating for days but this latest development within the UK in reaction to the pandemic feels very serious and very scary. I decided to keep a simple diary and where better but online.

Day 181: Typing on day 182. I received an email from someone at DSM who had got my CV from Helen Proctor (she was the manager that interviewed me along with the founder) and wants me to interview for a IT business consultant role for a shoe firm (Loakes) in Kettering. I called the chap and had a quick chat and arranged it for Wednesday.

A few beers, as it’s Friday, and caught up via video chat with Foggy and Irish Mike (Foggy’s on quarantine having holidayed in the south of France). It was a late one and they were both pissed, but nice to chat. Andy and Ham were meant to join but were no shows - Ham had his sister’s funeral this week - might explain it.

Day 182: I messaged Ham - he went round his folk’s house after work last night as his two sisters were there. I have to admit, I am ignorant of all of Ham’s brothers and Sisters so he may well have meant one was Preaya in an urn.

Someone on the Oundle Chatter FB group asked about Google Hangouts (on behalf of her son who is attending college and they have online classes using it. I am now about to look into it for her. Why did I get involved. It’s 8pm on a Saturday, ffs!

Update, I researched it and messaged her - seems I hit a nail on the head and she seemed suitably grateful. Booze and pizza coming right up (at 9:15pm)

Day 183: Up at just before 2pm - I drank shed loads last night and went to bed after 4am. Faffed about but did manage my stair climb, a 10km walk and I am now making a roast dinner-ish tea (chicken breast stuffed with red leicester and wrapped in bacon) with all the veg and yorkies (I am trying to empty the freezer as it needs defrosting).

Day 184: I posted on FB that today was half a leap year of lockdown (that’s wrong, should have been yesterday). Rachel replied that it isn’t lockdown anymore. I replied that it is for me but that got me thinking - are we officially in lockdown still? Checked, and we are. Posted that on the same thread and Badger replied that the current level of lockdown has been uprated to level 4, whatever that actually means. Rachel’s post worries me - 1. ‘cos it’s indictative of the far-too-relaxed attitude and, 2. I wasn’t even sure even though I’m still observing the same lockdown behaviour that I was before Boris made his announce on March 23rd. Scary how facts bleed into fiction.

Jim contacted me today, asked me to call. I did so, he says I’ll be asked to return to work (from home) on the 5th October (two weeks). Shirley from HR will be in contact. I’ll believe when I see the email from her!

Day 185: Boris announced a tightening of the relaxed lockdown including pubs shutting at 10pm. None of it really affects me since I’m still in as full a lockdown as when it started.

Received an email from John Morton at DSM for an interview at Loakes tomorrow (Wed) at 09:30am.

Received a Facebook message from the editor at Oundle Chronicle - he wants to do a short article about the photos I take and post on the Oundle Chatter fb group.

Day 186: Interview went ok.

Called Dad and Rita to let them know that I received an email from RCI confirming that I will be back at work on the 5th of October.

In the evening, Facebook had posts concerning somebody walking round Creed Road with a knife in his hand, and the police getting involved!

Day 187: Spend spend spend. Paid my speeding fine today £357, my water bill £147, bought two new duvet cover sets and two new sheets £58, a new pair of walking boots (my relatively new Hi-Tec are leaking and falling apart) £75. Oh, and the car insurance renews day after tomorrow, £230. Thank fucking fuck I’m being taken off furlough!

Day 188: Friday and I’m going to have a few beers and watch a couple of films. I’ve been trawling through Seinfeld and am most the way through S3, and it’s brilliant. The Kramer character is mentally good. One episode had the actress who played Janice in Friends - that episode is a classic - which also included an scene whereby the cast are all exclaiming ‘Saturday night’ similar to the Friends TikTok trend. Got a call this morning about a service delivery lead role for EPM, a education service provider, based in Huntingdon. It’s a good role, very involved, reporting directly to the head of IT. But it’s only £32k pa. I replied to the email the recruiter subsequently sent to say I am interested but that salary is less than £5k pa than I am on now as a 2nd line support techie! Lastly, I am well on my way to doing 500,000 steps in September!

Day 189: I was woken by the doorbell - a delivery of one of the duvet cover sets. On the door mat was a missed parcel delivery note from Ryal Mail (I have to get whatever it is from Warmington PO) and a note from next door (No. 34) asking for me to turn my music down at 10.30pm. That’s fair enough but....10.30pm! What are they, 80 years old? I have felt low today. There is no rhyme nor reason as to my moods suffice to say I am not of the happiest dispostion on a permanent basis, resigned to being alone. In fact, I have come to terms with the fact I’ll die alone but, it seems, some days I cope with it a lot worse than others. On that cheery note, it’s 8.45 pm on a Saturday night so, I am about to launch into some beers, weed and pizza. I think tonight I’ll seek out the second John Wick film - watch the first last night - so fucking good. You gotta love Keanu!

Day 190: Hopefully the last Sunday of having an enforced no-work-on-Monday so I’m going to have a beer or two (it’s now 8:20pm - just cracked open a Bud), watch American Sniper and eat Chilli and naan bread and onion rings. I did a 12 km walk today - I recall a time when 40-45 minuts walking was enough. Today’s walk was 2 hours! I know it’s only walking but I feel fitter than I have for years; still unfit, but fitter. Day 191: Well, I enjoyed the decadence of boozing last night but it meant getting up at after midday! Still managed two walks, trip to Tesco’s in Hampton after picking up the mystery parcel from Warmington PO. It was two unknown bottles of beer for a marketing campaign I entered a few days ago! I have to not open the beers until I receive instruction whereby I’ll be joining in with other drinkers in video chat! Day 192: Smahed 500k steps for September with one day to go! Cleaned the kitchen - I’m going to do the whole house over the next few days while I have the free time since I’m back to work on Monday. The lad from next door called round this eveing to ask if I got the note. When I said yes, he told me they (he and his partner) can still hear music. FFS! I asked where their bedroom was, it’s along side mine, so I guess it’s the TV sound that is travelling up and disturbing them. Great, fuck knows what I should do if I want to watch anything after 10:30pm. I suppose going back to work is good timing..I shall be going to bed around that time myself, especially if I want to get up early to get a walk in before starting at 09.00 am.

Day 193: Typing on day 194. Only managed one walk today, before 9.00am. It made a great change walking that early. I then set about doing housework (which I started yesterday) - I want to clean the house from top to bottom before going back to work. i.e. while I have time during the working week. I did the Kitchen yesterday and the whole lounge today. It’s fucking knackering. I managed 519k steps in September, works out at 9.6 miles per day, which is good and, also, annoying. I have taken delivery and laundered all my new bedding. It’s brushed cotton lushness, can’t wait to try it. Last ‘happy hour’ of (this current) furlough, so I had beers (and a fucking spicey sausage casserole)...hence penning this a day late.

Day 194: I didn’t get out of bed until nearly 2pm, FFS. Spome with Ricky Roberts about kayaking, it sound sliek something I could take up but, I would need to join the boat club to have somewhere to get in and out!

Day 195: Sueanne from work called to let me know she’s taking over from Jim ‘til new yer and that the team are looking forward to my return - lovely. Dad called, he and Rita are fine as usual - lovely.

Day 196: Got up fater 2pm. I was seriously fucking wasted last night. Had a video chat with Fog - just checked, it ended at 02.04am and I did a lot more drinking and smoking after that. I still managed a 9.7km walk and am now going to settle down to a few (just a few!) beers, shepherds pie and watch Casino. Day 197: Quiet Sunday with some bizarre results in Super Sunday in the prem. Man U lost at home to Spurs 1-6 and Liverpool were thrashed at Villa Park, 7-2. Work tomorrow, feeling a little apprehensive, not sure why. Got to go to the office (to reset password) at 09.00am

Day 198: Back to work. It went OK. I had to go to the office so that my a/c could be enabled and password reset and t get VPN working. There were a few problems but I was back home and logged in OK in the afternoon. Saw Mark in the office - he’s lost weight and was telling me about a cycling accident - I knew about it, but I didn’t realise he had been in hospital and had a plate put in his shoulder. He also has the exact same issue with codeine as me! I am pleased to be back at work but it’s different - no Jim and Sueanne in charge is the main thing. I’m just going to keep my head down; it’ll be for the best.

Day 199: Second day back at work and I’m (trying to) crack on with it. It’s all coming back... New walking boots arrived today (I have them on as I type); I reckon I’ll be OK to walk in them with no breaking in. That’s just as well as my evening walk took me by the marina and the path between the lock, the small bridge and, especially, the larger bridge into the field at the bottom of Basset Ford Road was flooded, no way my boots will be dry for tomorrow. I did my stair climb before work, 3.5 km walk at lunchtime and then a long, second one, as mentioned, later. I want to try and do a short walk before work in future, hopefully. On the way back from the lunchtime walk, I saw the lad from next door who thanked for me keeping the music down as per the note he left, so, that’s all good.

Day 200: I’ve started a work diary, à la ENDC....nowhere as urgently required but I just think it’s a good idea.

I wore my new boots for the lunchtime walk (3.6km) and they’re fine. However, I didn’t use them in the evening, they niggled the left foot a bit, so some breaking in is required. My usual ones were just about dry enough having been sat on the radiator! Day 201: Popped into the office today to pick up my full headset dongle, did a quick shop at Asda. So, only one walk today. I have not yet managed to get a walk in before work, just the stair climb, so missed out on a lunchtime walk today since I was shopping. Did 8.5km in the evening. Bought a card online for K’s birthday. Not sure why, we seem not to be communicating - I haven’t heard from her for over a month now which, as mentioned before, I shouldn’t find as hard as I do. The card’s pretty cool though, a quip about just getting a card as a present would involve non-essential travel. Now I am back at work, I want a to do loist app. I recall a smart one that was a linear/curved affair that I saw on Producthunt but, fuck me, I couldn’t find it after over an hour looking. Then I checked Google apps and there it was (Lightpad.ai) - I was chuffed and relieved. The lad from oundle School has been trying to get hold of me via Messenger (he tells me by email) so he can interview for the article in the Chronicle. He has pencilled in Saturday at 6pm.Fuck knows if it will go ahead, the whole thing is sketchy. Day 202: First week back at work over and done. I ordered some stuff from Amazon (slippers and socks) and they offered a free trial of Prime, which is the norm, but, seeing as I have had a free trial under that a/c, I assumed it would error, as I have seen before. This time it didn’t! So, tonight, I just about to have some beers, eat pizza and watch The Gentlemen,. It was suggested by Miles on FB when I asked for recommendations. It’s been on my to-watch list since its release. I need some cheering up, I’m having a low ebb today.Day 203: Typing on day 204. The Gentlemen was pretty good. I had lots of beers and smoke and went to bed fucking late, gone 4am. Up at lunchtime. I was meant to be going up Foggy’s for a few beers and to listen to Cobblers vs Posh but I sacked that off. I went for a walk at tea time when it got dark fucking quick and pissed down. I didn’t mind ‘cos Posh won 0-2. I watched two films in the evening: Master and Commander: Far Side of the World and Official Secrets. Both excellent. Day 204: Another late night, so up at just before 2pm. 12.64 km walk! I’m going to make stirfry and watch Knives Out...taking advantage of Amazon Prime.Day 205: I didn’t watch Knives Out last night, Amazon Prime was playing up. Tonight, however, after uninstalling and reinstalling the LG app, it’s working again. But, rather than a film, I have started watching The Boys series. 3/4 through the first episode and I’m kinda hooked. Another long walk tonight (I didn’t go out before work or at lunchtime), over 5 miles. My new boots are a marvel...they’re still new - I can tell I’ve got a little bit of wearing in still to do, but, pretty much from the off, I can walk long distances in them. I’m impressed. I think, because they are so light, they may be susceptible to the cold, especially now I can walk for longer periods without hypo-ing. The snow and frost will be the test.Day 206: Bit of a frustrating day at work. I am pleased I have a diary of events to update, that’s all I will say on this potentially public diary. Had a chat with Mark about certain aspects of the day, it was a good chat whereby he agreed with some of my gripes. In the evening I took part in a Ipsos marketing test of two beers with a whole bunch of people online. Ultimately, you have to choose one of two beers you prefer and answer questions why. It’s then revelaed which beer you chose. The beer I iked best was Stella but 4.6%, I think that’s the next product iine for them. You don’t get to find out the other beer. I shoudl recieve a £15 amazon voucher for partaking. If that actually happens, I’m going to buy a pair of gaiters. My new boots are fab (although I did turn my ankle last night) but their insides don’t half attract gravel and debris.Day 207: A productive day incorporating ToDoist with work and GCal, I have sacked off Lightpad.ai (it was too cumbersome moving tasks between dates) - so I managed to tick a few things off the task list as a result (responding to Jo Broom’s voicemail, chasing an eye appointmen, for example). Tim came round and did the garden, nice chinwag. I saw little Derek the other day, as well, he’s not coping great with the whole pandemic atm, certainly now lockdown has relaxed, he’s not as social as before. Day 208: Had a chat with Sueanne today, which is not unusal, and I was asking about creating KBs...she remarked how well, and quickly, I getting up to speed. It pleased me. I am having battered fishcakes, potato wedges and peas for tea. I am looking forward to it the most ridiculous amount (it’s cooking as I type). I shall eat as I watch more of the rather excellent The Boys. Seinfeld is on the back burner atm. Day 209: Emily Folgate’s room mate at uni has tested positive for Covid19! Marc’s avoiding the pub and I am glad I didn’t pop up there last Saturday! Bumped into Ash and Dee when i walked past the vets, chatted for 5 mins, it was really nice to see them. The lady next door (38) stopped me outside to say she recently realised that it was me who posts photos to FB, and said they’re ‘amazing’! End of week 2 back at work. As I type, I’m on my first beer, about to have many more and a smoke, half way through The Trial of the Chicago 7 on Netflix. Living the dream! Day 210: Things got messy last night. Sugar levels were a mess. I couldn’t even make it upstairs at one point, laid down on the long rug nursing a big bottle of coke. Got up at around 1pm and did usual shit, now having a beer, spicy sausage casserole in the oven (and it is fucking spicy) and I’ll pick a film to watch in a bit. Posh won, 2-0 at home to Oxford, up to 4th, one point behind Lincoln.

#diary #Tumblr diary #lockdown #covid19 #lockdownuk

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wellntruly · 5 years ago

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The Exorcist (The Show) - Season Two, Eps 9 & 10

Okay. Whew, okay. Let’s go through this together. HOOOOOOOO okay no we’re gonna be okay, we’re.....wow GOD BLESS, okAY!

I mean just, The Exorcist show....god they did the dang thing. I mean you just have to gaze in awe.

OKAY, LET’S:

Season 2, Ep 9: Ritual & Repetition

this episode is sponsored by the wholesome Tom Hanks Mr. Rogers movie and I just feel like Hulu’s trying to take care of me with very gentle ad breaks

Marcus dragging Tomas out of the room as he repeats his name to himself with barely contained panic, over and over, “Tomas, Tomas,” like a prayer, like a rosary, like my heart in my chest. Ritual & Repetition!

I...workshopped this story all season...and they’re just...doing it out loud

yesss, this was very key to my most recent iteration of this, Tomas distantly hearing/feeling real Marcus’s voice trying to reach him while he’s looking at a false Marcus. god, that one of the only things that could keep Tomas from Marcus is, of course, something that looks like Marcus.. a perfect trap! ha ha, I feel pain

Marcus desperately praying over him with his hand pressed to Tomas’s chest was aaaalways part of it

annnd Shade Marcus getting suspicious and this edge of threat creeping in to his form was ALSO SOMETHING I DEEPLY CONSIDERED

Shade Marcus advancing on Tomas: “You’re not going anywhere.” one version just stays in this mode for a distressing amount of time. because Tomas getting menaced inside his head by a demon that looks like his partner is an evergreen end-of-the-season move, great legs on that one.

!!!! oh but I didn’t think to do THIS!! Tomas wrenching open the door to escape, only to reveal a room from somewhere else, like in that one episode in the good season of Legion aka one of my favorite sorts of thing!!!!!! ALL MY FAVES HAVE SPOOKY BEAUTIFUL MINDSCAPE LABYRINTHS I JUST AM WHAT I BE

your outfit is so fancy now, have you been dream-promoted?

he’s a Bishop!!

Tara!!!

aww, of course Father Tomas Ortega would miss having a congregation, well-played Satan

o-KAY now we’re COOKING, the ferry line “Nachburn” Island is supposedly on includes Bainbridge and, ding ding ding, Vashon! so yeah this is supposed to be way south, not up near Orcas and my family home. I mean in real life I’m absolutely certain they shot in British Columbia with the Vancouver tax breaks, but this whole area looks like this so that not remotely a problem

so who the hell are these guys

Friars of Ascension?

well they are no longer, Mouse got ‘em

sigh, no I can accept Marcus leaving catatonic Tomas to try to find Andy before the demon hurts the kids, because we want to see what happens to Tomas in here and can’t take Marcus out of the action for the whole time that’s happening. and also it’s for sure what Tomas would want him to do.

I wonder where Demandy would have taken them anyway. the Witch House maybe?

y’know I made that Howard Shore reference last time and now Marcus is reading the signs of what happened in here last night just like Strider tracking Merry and Pippin in The Two Towers. I’m chuckling

oh man. who’s gonna get…..pitchforked. grimace.

Shelby why are there NO boats in your marina

yeah I just parked facing straight down the boat ramp—get in! :)

once again, the temptations this demon rolls out only reveal how cutely provincial---lol literally in Tomas’s case---its targets’ fantasies are. its latest Tomas Trap™ is “getting to conduct a mass back in Chicago.” god all of Tomas’s fantasies are just like, doing his job. u nerd.

Casey!!! oh this is very intriguing. did the demon fuck up and thought seeing her would bring verisimilitude to the dream, instead of retriggering his feeling that something is wrong? oooo or is Casey the form his OWN mental defenses are taking, to help him fight this? I’d pick that one, ohohoho yes

Witch House, nailed it

“What do you think, Harper?” “I think you killed my mom.” oh my god, biscuit :(

“You can be mad all you want. But if you think about it, God killed your mom.” listen we must say this about Demon Andy: he’s got a delivery and a way with words that is never dull!

Caleb reaching over and taking her hand, oh the solidarity with these kids!

Shelby: “I’m not going to let him hurt you.” Harper: “Shelby!” Shelby: “Don’t watch.” a little Marcus in training :(

my babies! I love Harper’s face a lot because this almost comical sad grimace is also me watching this show!

sidebar but this series nearly always takes place in autumn and it’s right and good

oh poor Caleb, can only hear them screaming!

—I was really not prepared for Marcus walking through the spiderwebbed woods and almost getting run over by a horse. to be fair, neither was Marcus.

ohhh, all the animals running away, past him

to be perfectly honest, Demandy whispering to Caleb “I got you, I got you” as he carefully carries inside, then just dumping him on the ground, made me laugh

Shelby: “V! Rose! Oh thank God.” Demandy: “God?” Demandy: [kicks Shelby over] this demon has gotta stop being so funny, I have got to stop laughing at this oh no

oh it’s Tomas’s cute little nephew hiii!!

Casey, Casey, please tell me you’re here to help, that would be so cool

I forgot how beautiful she was. y’know since she spent so much of last season looking like a demonic nightmare

ah, no, this Casey is an enemy

ooo it’s interesting watching the demon’s tactics not quite work. her face sorta falters, and then she tries a new track.

“You’re not Casey Rance. And none of this is real.” good job Father!

eurgh, gruesome, Shelby’s broken ankle…

I like when the demons get all mad about God because it’s reminder that it’s all just this like, petty grudge gone WILDLY out of control

it’s a good thing the Island Demon is a such a drama queen, it’s buying Marcus a lot of time to get over here. hope he rides up on the horse.

Rose :(

the Kim kids had a bit of a coordinated effort there and I’m impressed! run Verity run!! maybe you’ll collide with Marcus in the woods like aahh and he’ll be like “eeasy, I got you---where are they?”

Demon your arguments to Tomas are such a mess, none of this logically holds together. that’s one thing we don’t talk enough about: the Devil’s Advocate does not make strong points.

oh they went with the other option for the Marcus reveal: the footsteps at the door to the Witch House are OUR GUY

oooooo, clever clever girl, walking backwards over your own footprints! damn now that’s a survivor

this is nice, Caleb will be Shelby’s leg and Shelby will be Caleb’s eyes

yeessss Rose is still alive!!

Rose: “You gotta get out of here please run, run, don’t worry about me please!” Caleb: “Yeah that’s not happening.” <3

aah glasses, the little boy! oh my god if there’s a drownedy ghost in here….

oh worse, a fucking snake

Demon Casey just called him Tomasito and I horked

“Maybe. Maybe I wanted that a long time ago, when I was a very different man. Do you really want to know what I want?” yeah. yeah I do. “I want to watch you die, you son of a bitch.” Tomasito!

bahahaha

aw, aw, family, you guys are cute. now get OUTTA here!

Marcus just body-slammed Demandy in midair, if you were wondering after that horse moment if this episode was just going to keep really going for it

...I think I have this holy water jam jar. that design on the lid, the bevelled….hold on

well what do you know

ugh I’m really not liking dead-looking Nicole, this gal is freaking me out

c’moonnn Tomas, we need you

Tomas: [bangs open the bathroom door; Full Demon Casey is standing there] me: “oH jesus christ you’re still in the fucking dream”

yes yell it away Tomas!

well Denikki just up and bit Tomas on the shoulder like a vampire, and I can’t say I saw that one coming. honestly why is Tomas always getting bit anyway... oh, hah well that’s an easy joke: he’s a snack

yes, yes, yes, I wanted this too: Tomas starts fighting ~The Presence~ from within his weird in-two-worlds-at-once position, and it has a noticeable impact here in the waking world

oh Andy! real Andy! of course, he’d be here in the liminal space the same way real Cindy was at the start of this season

Mouse??

she did it she woke him up! “I’ve come a long way to find you.” imagine waking up from like 24 hours in Demonland and hearing that first thing.

Season 2, Episode 10: Unworthy

oh no, visions of his sister: Bennett is definitely dying.

these jerkfaces have gotta stop trying to en-demon Father Bennett, I’m gettin’ annoyed. can I suggest a book to you all, entitled He’s Just Not That Into You?

Marcus has spent so much time in the last day dragging unconscious men around

finally, bring my boys back together

I appreciate the gradations of guilt across Tomas’s face here—guilt over getting took, transitioning into guilt that he hasn’t come alone, and seemingly knew that upon seeing Mouse Marcus was gonna be like !!!! oh god

Tomas, hilariously: “Are you gonna talk to her? Or just keep brooding?”

Mouse: “I left [Bennett] in a hospital outside of Spokane. He was injured by your friend, Maria Walters.” Marcus, concerned: “Is he alright?” Tomas: wait---

ohhh, their warning message was about how the Church was compromised and the exorcists are being hunted down, I remember now. yeah that kinda got lost in the shuffle for me what with all the other dangers.

Mouse: “I was in hell, Marcus, for six months!” Tomas: [~*swivel*~]

seriously Alfonso Herrera is just reaction imaging real hard in this scene and I’m loving it. this is so funny. like imagine you’re Mouse, and you’re having this weird reunion with Marcus who is really uncomfortable and upset that you’re here, and meanwhile his new partner is just bopping around openly listening to you like “what! ohh! hey wow” while he ties up a dude to an indoor tree

Marcus: “I fought to save you, day and night, everything I had, everything inside me—it wasn’t enough. *I* wasn’t enough. You needed help that I wasn’t fit to give.” ohhhhh. it’s A Metaphor. and suddenly there we go I’m fine with the Mouse/Marcus plot, it was that easy!

LIT ERALLY Tomas: “We have no time for this.”

annnnd literally Demandy, this show’s funniest demon:

whose boat are you even on kiddos, where are you going, it’s going to take you SO LONG

oh you shouldn’t be out on the water with another uncharacteristic northwest thunderstorm rolling over

Verity: “Is there like some, stupid Bible verse we can say or something?” Shelby: “…You mean like a prayer?” them

Marcus’s Tomas Soft-Focus extends to also being able to swiftly protect him from getting beaned by an old timey stove flying across the Witch Room

well good thing there’s three of you to fight this very strong demon then huh!

oh yeah kinda forgot Mouse’s “fuck it, just kill them” attitude. compLETEly at odds with Marcus Keane, if we recall that one episode with the nuns and the belladonna.

“Tell me I’m wrong,” Mouse challenges, and lord you can visibly SEE Tomas fighting against just going like “Okay—”

Marcus: “We’re exorcists.” Me: “not executioners?” Marcus: “Not executioners.” Me: “there we go.”

Demandy just went “That’s what makes it all so taasssty” and I FUCKING LOST IT

I’m really really grateful for whatever mood Alfonso Herrera was in when they were filming this, his reaction to everything is a delight. it’s like he’s our audience representation in the room and I’m living for it.

Marcus telling the demon it’s the first one who actually got one of his neuroses right is a fun neat moment, because the demon is happy and flattered but this also kinda diminishes its power in an odd way, because Marcus just cavalierly admits it but isn’t acting on it

OH oh, oh is this gonna be it, is this when Tomas proposes he go in there, help Andy and try to make the demon easier for them to kill? just like I keep predicting? yes yes?

oh my god it was possibly even better I imagined: Tomas: “There is another way. We offer something it wants even more. Bait.” Marcus, springing the fuck to attention and coming over real close: “Absolutely not.”

of course he’s going all self-sacrificing on you, he’s a priest. this is one of the reasons I love priest characters so much!

oh Marcus is just panicking at the thought of the darkness eating Tomas’s soul, and can we blame him

Tomas: “It’s my fault. … I need to make things right.” Marcus, desperate: “What by throwing your life away?” Tomas: “My life belongs to God.”

I cannae handle it Captain!

Marcus: [nods, trembling and fierce]

*GIANT SWELL OF AN ECCLESIASTICAL CHORUS* *IT’S ME SINGING WHILE MY HEART FUCKING BELLY-FLOPS INTO THE SEA*

the……entire promise of this show, just….given to us, here in the last episode. this is why we did all of this, it was always for This. ever for this. for Tomas to take a breath and walk open-eyed into Hell, and Marcus behind him wrapping a rosary around his hand, getting ready to fistfight the Devil to get him back. and you very much might lose him, and it’s TRUST and DANGER and ohh I am just calling out into my arms, just wordless pained joy! WHAT a special, special series. what a treasure I will hold always. the sad hot priests show that knew what it was ABOUT son. IT’S THIS, IT’S ALL ABOUT THIS.

in the first episode of the series Father Marcus looked at the young priest standing in front of him, led to him by strange visions, and said sadly: “They’re gonna love you.” and in the final episode of the series, he holds himself back as Father Tomas walk up to the monsters and says: “You want me? Come and get me.” as the monsters were always going to. and he’ll do everything he can to drive them back from him, like he was always going to.

I mean this is a PROGRAMME

(there is one other step though I would have liked and also would have been smart: Marcus tying Tomas up before he basically just asks to be possessed. testing the ropes to make sure they’re secure and then faltering because it’s Tomas’s wrist he’s tying down, and Tomas just smiling reassuringly as he winces a little, going “It’s okay; I don’t want to hurt you.” oh god and then we can---nope, nope not the time)

oh the dark light in here is real good

oh the dark light in here is REAL good

wait hold on, why I am a watching this SOBER? hang on, drink necessary

okay I made my emotionally reckless Babylon Berlin drink from last winter: a whisky toddy with half a shot of absinthe

I decided to drink half of this before I start playing this again so that the wormwood can hit my system and a) it has, b) I’m beginning to comprehend the possession potential of a demon having access to Tomas’s entire mountain of feelings about Marcus to work with in tormenting them both and ho boy

I cannot BELIEVE the first thing the Devil provided Tomas, literally on a fucking pedestal, was a flashlight with which to poke around, knowing that I hate that. maybe the most! maybe the most I hate this. this feels personal!

oh some dark shape has already run by, excellent! drinking heavier!

great. freaky paintings.

Tomas your mind is *literally* a haunted house

I was full-on just looking at the rose hips on my coffee table and keeping only the corner of my eye on the screen but luckily, did manage to look back to catch John Cho just fucking obliterate a creepin’ shadow figure with a baseball bat in glorious slow motion.

really unexpected Hero Shot and I’ll take it!

Tomas, amazed: “Andy!” Andy, badass: “We have to hurry. It won’t be gone long---it never is.”

y’know Andy, you might find a priest knows a lot about forgiveness

this internal confession scene…aw, aww

Mouse, pacing: “You could have stopped him.” Marcus, sitting cross-legged on the ground, keeping his eyes locked on Tomas: “You don’t know my partner.” ha ha I’m a mess

Andy and Tomas: sneak out into the hall Hulu.com: would like to know your location Me: “fuck you Satan!”

ohhh ahaha, I just recognized the energy of how I’m enjoying this dark mold-dripped set of the house that a newly badass character is stepping through with a baseball bat: it’s Steve in the Upside Down

and I mean, John Cho sure has the amazing hair. I appreciate that they let him keep it throughout, like “so you’re gonna look pretty rough, but your hair’s still gonna be banging”

does fear run on the same channels as pain? this thought brought to you by starting my second toddy and wondering. I find I am more relaxed about alarming things now, and of course just more sloppily fond of everyone. this is ideal.

something I’ve always found very sweet is when non-religious folks call religious leaders by their titles. it’s so respectful and nice, the same way you might call someone “Doctor.”

of course the demon would take Tomas by forcibly making out with him, that is the essence of their thing: assaulty. invasive and bad. I feel cold and nauseous, nooo Tomas, god---

ohhhh, Andy. a beautiful man, a true dad, throwing himself in front of the whole damn world to protect his kids, and anyone else’s kids. back to himself, looking Marcus right in the eyes, the gun in his hand: “Do it.” a father saving a Father, oh it’s so lovely :((

god and Marcus is going to be in agony—he loves Tomas so much that he did something that he’ll absolutely think will move him beyond the range of God’s love. this is the perfect torture for Marcus and also for me to watchhh!

wait….the body in the tub was Mrs. Graham, it was real it was there?? wowww this show did a great job making me think it was just a one of Tomas’s spooky waking hallucinations!

good, good, I’m so glad Rose is coming out of this looking like a baller to the authorities. that’s what Andy would have wanted too

Suit: “Those kids are alive because of you.” Rose, knowing it’s the other way around: “When can I see them.”

ohhhh this is my kind of thing, a priest delivering someone’s messages to others, even the romantical ones—I am just a conduit for Love, the Priest Story. god, into it into it.

Andy, to Tomas, to Harper: “And even though you weren’t in my house for long, you’ll always be my daughter.” I’m genuinely tearing up. found families, foster families, are just as strong as biological families, that is the message of this season and I’m??

Verity..! oh I’m crying, this was so sweet and tenderly done

ahhh, Tomas trying to forgive Marcus so hard, and Marcus resisting!

Tomas, kind of shocked at himself: “I would have done it.” Marcus, in so much pain: “But you would have been lost.” Tomas: “It was a sacrifice I was willing to make.” Marcus, quickly: “I wasn’t.”

AAA-AA-AAHHHHHH?? Aaaaahhhhhhh! desperately pulling himself away from you because he’s so scared that he loves you too hard..!! OH MY GOD

Tomas, pleading: “Marcus, Marcus—I don’t know how to do this without you.” I’m…falling apart

Marcus holding out his hand to him, hurting and jumpy, “Until the next time”, and Tomas just looking down at it, bewildered, how can this be what you’re doing?

Tomas just pulled him into a long hug and whispered “Adios, hermano,” not knowing that’s what Marcus had quietly, wishfully said to his retreating steps in that bar in Chicago and I’m !!!!

“For now,” Marcus, shaking, turning to walk out the door, I !!!

oh you’re just gonna push me deeper, telling Mouse not to let Tomas drive, little things to take care of him...

Tomas standing there so forsaken, I can’t!!

well Season 3 writes itself at this point, but I’ll let you know if it holds after the final act

okay, that commercial break included a Hot Pockets ad and I’m here to tell you that idk, 14 years later they’re still using that “Hot Pockets!” two note jingle, and for a moment I truly felt like I had come loose from reality. I’ve had two toddies. anyway.

I fucking, can’t, I tried to make it more than thirty seconds into this but Tomas was distressedly taking off his collar and rubbing his hands over his wet eyes and apologizing to Mouse, and saying “He does this sort of thing. He’ll come back,” (heartbreak heartbreak) and Mouse said gently “I don’t think so,” and Tomas, Tomas he sat down like his strings had been cut, his hand stretching out on the dresser for support !

ohhh, nooo but she wanted to turn him into a bomb, compared to Marcus’s scalpel….. oh Season 3 writes itself!!

noooo Bennetttttt. booooo, dislike. unless Demennett is also hilariously dry in which case I could at least still appreciate that aspect. but nooo.

why are wide shots nerve-wracking

well that was at least very stylish and visual! Demennett where the FUCK did you get those outrageously oversized shears?!

three months later is a whole half the time Marcus and Tomas spent on the road together, bold

Truck to the orderly, seeing Rose: “Am I allowed to hug her?” Rose: “Yes.”

Rose: “You have to promise me something. This is a brand new foster parent, never done it before. So you’re gonna have to be patient with her, okay?” this…is so so lovely

oh my god it’s Roooooose, ahh i’m crying, this is so sweet god

<333

aaaAAAAH and all the other kids are there!!! MY BABIES. oh god I seriously cry

camera: [panning over this waterfront] me, quietly: “(that’s Vancouver)”

Marcus on a boat? Boat Marcus?

Marcus in a scarf

God???

Marcus, trembling: “Yes. I can hear you. I’m listening.”

fucking No Effing Way, nooOOOOO???:D:D!!!!! I’M SO HAPPY, no, fuck!!!!!

AAYIYIYII’LL BE WORKING MY WAY BACK TO YOOUU BAABE, WITH A BUR-NING LOVE INSI-IDE

OH THIS IS PERFECT WHAT

WHAT GOD you REALLY really did this!!!!?? you ended it this way!!!!!! BIG, GLORIOUS cancelled series energy, a final gift/the ultimate prompt: To Our Audience, you the real ones—go wild you emotionally horny diamonds. Love ya.

I mean, the ~poetic cinema~ in this…because now it would be Marcus trying to find Tomas. God putting Marcus in Tomas’s head in the first season, bringing them together, and now God putting Tomas in Marcus’s head---in terrible trouble, aah Marcus’s broken-open voice---now go bring him back, like you promised.

oh god I feel Incandescent

thank you forever, hot sad priests show

***

Previously Season One Part 1, Part 2 Season Two Eps 1 & 2, 3 & 4, 5 & 6, 7 & 8

#The Exorcist The Show #The Exorcist #Tarra takes notes

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thcbcys · 5 years ago

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Hewwo and welcome to Ken rambles about shit that has happened this year. Cause ya. Why the fuck not. Anyways, Wow...its been a year huh? I use t be in the south park fandom and ran a blog with like over 500 followers, But fuck I came to this fandom and got way into it to where I just left that blog. I met some wonderful people here honestly and wow, I’m very happy I got to meet them!!!

I had my ups and downs with this year though, Mostly involving my last year of school and uh, people in my class and other stuff. But I really rather not bring that horrible stuff up. Other then that, I’ve had a rather uh...rocky year, struggling a little with life and uh then there’s when I got a fuck tun of mood drops. Those were fun. But I’m here so that’s good right? Gotta thank my friends for that!

And this year really helped me come out of my shell a hell of a lot more, I now have become a lot less shy and tend to actually message/talk to people and not think I’ll annoy them or just be too scared to talk to em. I’ve really improved on my social skills a hell of a lot as well though, Even if I do act like boo boo the fool most of the time I uh get social with people!

But I’m really happy about this year and hope it goes as smoothly and quickly as this year did. So Uh, Now I’ma talk about some friends that are like super fucking close to me / has helped me with a lot during this year.

@flyingfluffywolf: Even though we haven’t like, known each other for a year, idc. You’re like my very best friend of all time and I’d like, totally die for you. Let me just tell you how much I love this wonderful person, Like your always there for me when I need you and you just make me very happy all the time. Like, I’ll be in a really shitty mood and you always find a way to make me smile and laugh. Tk, You’ve also like really improved my vocabulary / writing?? Idk I just learn smart words from you that I’ve never really know much about before. God I just wanna like, Fucking hug you, no homo though. I’m not sure how I haven’t like,,,, fucking annoyed you enough to not talk to me?? like wow??? I should Give you a metal for dealing with my bullshit. Anyways I wuv you so much and I just really want you to know that, Cause I really really do wuv u.

@nathanthesoldierboy: Nate, Holy fuck I love you so much like you don’t understand. Like, I’m gonna kick anyone’s ass who like, disrespects you and like is mean to you because you don’t deserve that shit at all. We both been through our ups and down’s together but You’re always there for me when I’m sad! Sick too, Your like the mother I seem to be missing half the time. I want you to stop being so hard on yourself :( You’re a very wonderful person and it makes me sad to see you talk to bad about yourself all the time, Because I love you so much and I just want you to be happy!! Everyone deserves to be happy, So do you.

@ask-a-freckled-sky: Bish come here, I’m gonna love you so fucking much. Aaa I Wuv This bean so much, Like wow. Their so nice and sweet and Always trying to help me feel better when I’m down, and then they have the audacity to make cute as fuck Ships with me?? like?? How dare you do this to my fragile heart. I just really wanna hug you and like tell you everything is alright and just make you feel better like you do to me, and Just wow. I love you so much my dude, But like, No Homo Tho...Cause that’s gay.

@anxious-caffeine: FUCK, We don’t talk as much as I want to!! But Wow, I’d really like to get to know you better. Like, we both know what it’s like when old people give us 100$ to pay for something that’s 1$ and just your characters, I love them so much. I just Wish we could talk a hell of a lot more then what we do!! But I wuv u so much!!!!

@spirit-is-dead: Come here and let me cry cause I’m so fuckin’ happy that I know you. Like, Holy fuck your really nice and caring and I just wish to hug you my dude. You make me very happy when we talk and rp, Even if I tend to forget a lot about reply’s cause I’m rather fuckin’ dumb. But Please forgive me, for I am just a simple Baby. <333 I wuv you and I want you to have the best year you can.

@redclawedkitty: I know we haven’t known each other very long but like, Hi, I consider you a good friend. I’m sowwy if I always forgot to reply to rps and always seem to start new ones before the other ones are Finish. My small Baby brain just can’t do one thing at a time. But like yo dude, Teach me to draw like holy fuck, I want your talent and your patience honestly, I’m surprised i haven’t annoyed you yet!!! But Uh anyways Hewwo I wuv you and like I’d really like to get to know you a bit better, ya,,,,

@messedupmultimuse: Hey there, ya I’m adding you. Why? Cause you fucking deserve it you ball of fuckin fluff. Ya that’s right, I called you a ball of fluff, what cha gonna do about it??? Huh??? Nothing cause you wuv me way too much. Now Come here and accept some love from me because wow, You’ve been through a lot of shit with me webfhwefbwh I mean your my go too when I feel really sad cause you always know what to say to me to make me feel better, like....your the big brother I’ve never had. Come to Canada you dumb dumb so I can fucking hug you and wuv you more. But like, No Homo,,,,

@lcvebctters: And Last, but not least. My lovely girlfriend. God I just want you here with me so we can cuddle and kiss and wow, I just want you here with me. I love you so much with all your positive energy and how it just radiates to me. Like,,,,, I want to be as happy as you are all the time. I also would like to be as cute as you are too. Your so sweet and caring and man you lift me out of a bad mood by just saying hello. I hate that we’re this far apart but I hope soon we will be able to finally get together and cuddle because I really just want to hold you close and love you even more. I wuv you so much, Mwah. I kiss. I wish you the best of luck this year babe, you can make it through that hell place called School so we can both be graduates

#☭ ;; OOC #IDK HOW TO TAG THIS BUT HEY #HAVE THIS YOU COWARDS #ACCEPT MY LOVE

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moroccosoul · 5 years ago

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Jimi Hendrix and the Unidentified Mourner

In the summer after my first year at the University of Washington, the year of the Radical Movement, the Seattle Liberation Front and the shutdown of freeways and takeovers of campus buildings, with tear gas at demonstrations and helmeted police tech squads bashing with batons, I lived in the House of Happiness, a barren white house in a dingy area of south Seattle off Rainier. We were there for Henry, a charismatic Black 35-year-old man with a build and demeanor like the statue of David. His eyes looked deeply into you and were matched by mindful eloquence. The only “furniture” we had was a saw horse in the carpeted large main floor living room and a mattress in one of the bedrooms upstairs. We all slept curled up on the carpeted floor except for Sheila who had her own room upstairs. We were there for a therapy led by Henry of expanding consciousness, of leaving our old conditioned self behind and stepping into a whole new world of natural instinct. Henry had come from a group in Chicago named “Naturalism Inc.” They were part of the revolution that incited the riots during the Democratic Convention which led to the arrest and trial of the Chicago Seven. So Henry had “cred”.

We were just down the road from Sick Stadium, Seattle’s baseball stadium. Down the hill from our house was a discount store called “Chubby Tubby’s”. Word was announced that Jimi Hendrix would be playing at Sick Stadium. I went with my first girlfriend Judy. We sat up in the bleachers under cover while Seattle drizzle sprinkled lightly on the field beneath a gloomy grey sky watching the opening band half-heartedly. I had a couple mescaline pills that we downed. They began to kick in lightly as we went to the inside food stands during intermission. My old friend Johnny Rosenberry was there, grinning mischieviously. Friends since third grade at Sacred Heart Elementary School, we were renegade spirits. No surprise that he would be at the concert, releasing his comical laughing eyes like a Shakespearean sprite. Back in the stands, we saw the deluge of rain come spattering down on the field below. Hordes of people left, or perhaps stayed in the stands, whereas Judy and I went down to the field itself where there were about seventy or eighty of us in separate groupings with a foot of two between us. It was perhaps due to the mescaline that the rain didn’t matter. In fact it looked like thin rivulets of honey running down my arms and face and everyone around us. Hendrix came out and was at the front mic introducing what was to come. A round faced girl with long thick dark hair hoisted a watermelon up as a gift to him. Jimi bent down and took it up, and with a feigned look of awe held it to his mouth and mimed chomping into it. Then with a snarl threw the melon back. That night he played all the major classics from “Are You Experienced” up through “The Power of Love”. Then he jammed with the band, improvising wildly as lightening flashed overhead. It was a stunning nuclear blast, here in his home town. Afterwards as the rain had let up we all stumbled out onto the street, our senses reeling. I looked over and saw Jerry, a friend from our Henry sessions , someone who had become shell-shocked, probably from drugs, grinning at us while he lopped a huge banana into his mouth, appearing as if he just stepped out from the Mad Hatter’s Tea Party.

Later that summer in my family house in Spokane it was in the kitchen that I heard the news. We had an inbuilt intercom system that also was a radio. The intercom was useful for the downstairs boy’s hallway when Dad wanted to yell at us to get upstairs. Mom was fixing my Dad’s lunch. The newscaster said that Jimi Hendrix had just died in London. It was a punch in the gut. I slipped a bland menthol cigarette out of my mother’s purse and retreated to the furnace room beneath the stairs. I sat in the dark numbly smoking.

It was October and time to return to Seattle for the Fall Semester at the U of W. I stayed at Larry’s apartment at the north end of the Ave. at the top facing a little park where men cruised at night. We had just the month before separated from Henry and the House of Happiness. Having enough of being broke, and the attempted rape of Sheila by Roosevelt, a lumbering homeless Black man who in drunken rage threw food including eggs against the kitchen walls, and most of all Henry’s brief imprisonment, did we decide in a group meeting by candlelight (electricity had been cut off) to go our separate ways. Sheila back to Montana, Frances to her father’s apartment on Capitol Hill, Henry to the Bay Area, and myself to Spokane, where I was to hear the Hendrix news.

Now back in Seattle and the room at the top, we listened as the radio announced a public service for Hendrix in Sick Stadium. I was all set to go. Then at the 11th hour, it was announced that the viewing was canceled, that the family was going to have a private service. Its location was to be kept secret from the public. I was crushed. I felt that I needed to be there. Hendrix had been my God, his masturbatory sexuality on stage inflamed the very core of my being. His Black bluesy subtlety took me to an inner depth of quiet genius, this rebel who smashed all barriers and was the nucleus of the hippie consciousness expanding through the universe, the ultimate proof that the world would shift and connect all peoples with the Beatles mantra “All You Need Is Love.” We were to enter the Elysian Fields, holding hands, and now the light was snuffed.

In the morning, determined to find a way, I thought “funeral homes”. The radio report had started that all people involved with the funeral service were instructed to maintain absolute secrecy. I decided to try anyway, and opened the phone book to the yellow pages listing of funeral homes in Seattle. I started off calling one with “You’re handling the Hendrix service, aren’t you?” They hung up on me. This happened a few times. Larry had gone downstairs to the street where he had his car to drive us down to school. I was frustrated and desperate as Frances in the doorway was urging me to get moving down to the waiting car. I frantically dialed one more. This time the person answering replied “Yes, we are.” (pause) He exclaimed. “Who IS This?” I was silent. He hung up.

I had found it. In the car my mind raced. Frances and Larry were indifferent. We got to campus and I needed someone to assist me. Frances and Larry had raced off to their classes. I couldn’t call the funeral home back as they knew my voice. I saw Rochelle, a tall gawky girl with short cropped dark hair. I got her to go into a phone booth in the HUB and call the funeral home stating that she was the florist handling the service but that she has misplaced the address. I saw her jot it down. I grabbed the paper and tore off across campus to find a bus going to that far side of south Seattle. It was late morning and I panicked, thinking I might miss it all. I sat in the back of the bus on the green naugahyde long seat facing the center aisle. I sat sideways facing front, watching for any sign of a church, scratching anxiously on the seat. To calm myself I imagined giving a eulogy, saying how Jimi’s death marked the end of the era, what with Altamont and the Isle of Wight’s violent festivals sending the Woodstock Generation of Peace and Love from it’s Genesis to this ultimate death. This was the end, sadly marked by the loss of its prophet.

Then around a curve I saw a line of silver police motorcycles side by side, their fronts facing diagonally out from the curb. Then the little chapel appeared to my right with groupings of people on either side of the doorway. I got off the bus and joined them. The chapel was filled, and even famous musicians were outside, including Johnny Winters, all facing the center door listening. One could hear speakers and hymns. Then the congregation began to exit. Photographers bound across the grass towards the concrete walkway. First came the family members. A group of teenage girls, perhaps Jimi’s cousins or nieces in black saw the cameras and the plump one in the middle fell out in a Baptist seizure while the other two held her up. Buddy Miles emerged serene and robust in a jacket of multi colored patchwork squares of gold, dark green and maroon leather, like a checkerboard. Miles Davis strode out with a young woman on both arms, one in a hooded red cloak and the other a light skinned thin black girl in a silver miniskirt with accents of lilac, a huge billowy lilac afro and silver boots. The curb was lined with a dozen limousines, black uniformed drivers opening the doors. I went past the photographers and entered an empty limo, sitting against the far window. The limos filled with family and associates and we were off, sailing outside Seattle until a green grassy large cemetery appeared to the right. There was a rope strung across a walkway to keep the photographers and any outsiders back, but I continued past with the family and guests. Up upon a knoll beneath an awning was the casket covered with flowers. Just a few feet away was a large guitar of purple and white flowers propped on a stand angled towards the coffin. Everyone stayed down about ten feet from there as the immediate family went up beneath the awning. They were all in black. There may have been some words shared and a prayer, followed by the singing of a hymn. I think it was “Swing Down, Sweet Chariot.” As they sang, one of the young girls pulled some flowers off of the casket as a keepsake. It seemed like a good idea, so when they stepped away and the onlookers relaxed in position, I stepped up to the casket and pulled some flowers off myself. I didn’t realize it was a moment for Jeffrey Michaels, Jimi’s producer, and the musicians from the original Jimi Hendrix Experience, Noel Redding and Mitch Mitchell to stand before the casket. A photo of this moment appeared in both Seattle newspapers the next day, one of which calls me the “unidentified mourner” while naming the other three. The photo captures me reaching into the flowers.

I walked down through the mingling people and stopped near a group of about eight people, recognizing a few as famous musicians. At the foot of the group a short soft-spoken Black man was the focus of everyone’s attention. He sounded like he had a sore throat, speaking in a raspy voice, as he said that Jimi’s music was what he listened to at home. Then he stopped and looked past everyone at me, with a questioning look on his face like “Who the fuck are you?” As the others turned towards me I gave a thoughtful look into another direction and stepped away. As soon as I began to walk back up the knoll a young woman stepped to me with a microphone and asked what effect Jimi’s death had on me. I was already prepared, as I had already given this speech in my head on the bus coming out to the chapel. Rochelle, the friend who had called the funeral home as the florist, heard my interview on the radio the next morning.

Up a curve a limo drove through the trees and stopped just down from us. The driver in black got out and opened the back door. The woman in the red cloak and dark glasses emerged and walked slowly but focused past everyone and up to the flowered casket. She lifted her arm thoughtfully keeping it straight with her palm extended over the casket and held it still that way for a few moments as everyone else stood frozen and mesmerized. She then receded back to the limo where the driver shut her door and drove back down the curving hillside.

I was driven back into the City. When I saw myself called the “Unidentified Mourner” in the morning newspaper, I was amused. It seemed a good title for my life. The flowers remain in the magazine I pressed them in.

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